Wild Montana Nights (20 page)

sweet to eat.”

“I’m sorry.” He truly sounded it, too.

They talked all the way into town. The long ride was slow and

took nearly twice as long as usual, but Randall was being careful. She knew he was worried about going in, but they needed more feed, as

well as fresh produce.

When they drove into town, it looked like some sort of disaster

area. There were piles of snow over the top of her head along the road and around the buildings. The snow plows had shoved it off the roads

but had nowhere to put it, so the piles lined the streets. How in the world they were going to get anything was lost to her.

Once they parked, she could see that there were paths to and from

the different stores where snow had been cleared. Marcus jumped

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down from the truck and reached in to get her. He carefully set her

down on the ground where there was gravel for her to keep her

footing.

“Don’t move. I’ll be right back,” he said.

Darla heaved out a heartfelt sigh and stayed where he had planted

her. She didn’t want to get them riled up in town, that was for sure.

He circled the truck then came back around.

“Okay, I’m going with you, and Randall’s going to see about the

feed,” Marcus told her.

“I can shop on my own, you know,” she groused.

“I know, but you can’t negotiate the snow drifts with packages

alone.”

The fact that he was probably right only fueled her fire of

indignation more, but she would pick her battles, she decided. Instead, she held out her hand and let him lead her through the snow to the

department store.

“What do we need here? I didn’t have anything on my list,” she

said as Marcus opened the door for her to go in.

“You need more clothes. You don’t have enough of the right ones

for winter.”

Panic set in. She didn’t have enough money to buy a shirt, let

alone anything else. She hadn’t received her first paycheck yet.

“Really, I can get it later,” she tried.

“May not be back to town for weeks or even up to a month

depending on the weather. Another storm like the last one could cover us up for a long time, Darla. You need more clothes.”

She pulled his head down toward her so she could reach his ear.

“I don’t have the money to buy clothes right now.” It embarrassed

her, and she could feel her face growing red.

Evidently, Marcus saw it and understood. He hugged her and

placed a kiss on her forehead before whispering in her ear.

“You don’t pay for anything anymore, baby. You belong to us.

We pay your bills for you.”

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Her heart dropped into her stomach. What did he mean by that?

Was she their concubine or something? Maybe their mistress. Anger

flashed at the idea she meant no more than that to them. When she

started to open her mouth and tell him what he could do with his

clothes, the nice woman who’d helped her with choosing boots before

strode up.

“Hey, Marcus, what can I do for you today?”

“This is our fiancée. She needs some of everything.”

“Well, congratulations. I bet your folks are happy that you’re

finally settling down,” she said.

“Well, keep it a secret for now. We haven’t told them yet. We

kind of wanted to be able to do it face-to-face.”

Darla swallowed hard around the lump in her throat. Fiancée? Had

he really just called her his fiancée? They hadn’t said a thing about getting married. Dare she hope? Darla drew in a deep breath and let it out quietly. As soon as Marcus stopped talking with the saleslady, she jerked at his coat arm.

“What, honey?” he asked.

“Fiancée? We haven’t talked about marriage, Marcus. Don’t you

think we need to talk about this before you go telling everyone in

town?”

“Sorry, baby. It just slipped out. I know we haven’t actually asked

you yet, but you said you loved us.” He stared into her eyes. “You do love us, right?”

“Yes, I do love you both. I just think I should have been consulted

before you start the rumor mill running.”

“Okay, here we go, Darla. I can call you Darla, right?” the lady

asked.

“Yes, that’s fine.” She gaped at the underwear the sales lady had

brought over for her to look at.

“I think you can find what you like in this. It’s all the latest in

lingerie.”

“Um, I don’t think I need underwear,” she began.

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“Sure you do. Yours is all worn out,” he said.

Oh, he really didn’t go there, did he? She glared at him, and the

saleslady cleared her throat behind her.

“Let’s move on to the jeans.”

An hour later, she had an entire new wardrobe much to her

embarrassment. He carried the bags to the truck but made her wait

inside the department store. The saleslady walked over and stood next to her as she looked out the window.

“They’re good boys. You’re mighty lucky they fell in love with

you. Been a lot of women around here trying to trap those two for

quite some time.” She smiled at Darla then hurried over to help

another customer.

Marcus came back in and hugged her. “Let’s go on over to the

grocery store. They have a little of everything if you remember.

Should have some books and DVDs we can get.”

“I have my list of things we need,” Darla said.

“We’ll get those after we look at books and DVDs. We have

plenty of time.” Marcus drew her along the salted sidewalks, making

sure she didn’t trip or slide.

When they entered the grocery store, she immediately got the

feeling someone was staring at her. She looked around as they each

grabbed a buggy. Standing at one of the cash registers was the same

teenager—well, she could be twenty-one, she supposed—who’d

glared at her before when they had been there. She obviously had a

thing for Marcus if not both of the brothers. If looks could kill, Darla would be six feet under. She smiled at her and pushed her buggy

behind Marcus since he seemed to know where they were going.

He stopped in front of a large display of books and magazines.

Darla sighed. There would be plenty to choose from. She’d get a

couple of books and choose one or two DVDs. She was used to

rereading the same books, so two books would do her just fine. She

walked over to the shelves and began browsing.

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When Marcus returned some time later, she had two books and

two DVDs in her buggy.

“I wondered if you had gotten lost,” she teased.

His buggy was almost full. He’d obviously been gathering

groceries while she wasted time looking at books.

“Nope, just gathering what we need. I have a few questions about

the list though.” He held out the well folded list. “What does this

say?” He pointed to Karo syrup.

“It’s Karo. You cook with it.” She looked at where he’d crossed

out most of the groceries. “You should have let me help. I thought we didn’t have to be in a hurry.”

“We don’t. I just didn’t think you would want me watching over

your shoulder, so I kept busy.”

She felt petty now. He was being considerate, and she had fussed

at him. What was wrong with her? That small kernel of a thought

bubbled up inside of her again. Could she be pregnant? Surely not.

She shoved the thought to the back of her mind and smiled up at

Marcus.

“Good idea. Thanks. I found what I needed.” She indicated the

items in her buggy.

“Only two books? You need more than two,” he fussed. “Find a

few more. You should have at least six or seven.”

“That’s too many. They cost an arm and a leg.”

“Money doesn’t matter to you, Darla. We have plenty of money

for you to get a few books.”

“I got a few.”

He huffed out a breath and walked over to the books pulling down

a handful and dropping them into her buggy.

“Now, if you don’t want to read those, you better replace them

with books you do want to read. We’re buying that many, so you

might as well have what you want to read.” He frowned at her and

jammed his hands in his pockets.

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Darla stared down into the buggy at the books. He was serious.

She didn’t need to look at his face again to know he was pissed. She

picked up the books and replaced them on the shelves then chose four

more books that she would enjoy and placed them in the buggy.

“I honestly didn’t see any DVDs I wanted to watch that you don’t

already have. I picked out these two anyway.” She raised her chin

daring him to argue with her now.

“Fine,” he said. Then he sighed and grabbed her.

He kissed her as if they weren’t in the middle of a grocery store in

town. She couldn’t help but respond until someone cleared their throat behind them. Darla felt the heat suffuse her face. Marcus didn’t seem the least bit uncomfortable about being caught making out in the

store.

“Howdy, Marcus. Heard tell that you and your brother had found

yourself a woman.”

The man could have been fifty or seventy. He had work

roughened hands and permanent squint marks around his eyes. His

skin appeared leathery, probably from being out in the sun.

“Darla, this is Sheriff Tom Hobson. He’s ornery and mean as a

snake, but honest as the day is long.”

Darla frowned at Marcus and held out her hand. “Pleased to meet

you.”

“Same here, little lady. What you see in them two boys is a

mystery to me. Sometime when you’re in town without these two

underfoot, you stop by my office and I’ll tell you some stories about them that will have you running for the hills.” He smiled and nodded

his head to Marcus.

“See you around.”

“Bye, Sheriff Hobson.” Marcus squeezed her against him. “We

better get a move on now. See if you can find what’s left on the list.”

Darla quickly located the few items he hadn’t been able to find or

decipher. They wheeled their buggies to the checkout lanes. Much to

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her disappointment, he chose the line with the young woman who

obviously wanted Marcus for herself.

They piled everything on the belt, and Marcus went to the bottom

of the conveyer belt to bag up the groceries as the jealous woman

checked them out. Every time she looked up, the girl with a name tag

that read “Kristy” glared daggers at her. She looked down at Marcus,

but he seemed oblivious of it, so she ignored it, too.

When everything had been checked out and bagged up, Kristy

smiled over at Marcus and gave him the total. Marcus walked back up

to where Darla stood and pulled out a check which he filled out, then accepted the mile long receipt. He put his arm around Darla and

ushered her out of the grocery store. He’d already pushed the buggies outside.

“Did you know that Kristy has a crush on you?” Darla asked.

“The girl at the checkout? She’s just a kid,” he said as they waited

for Randall to make the short drive from the feed and seed store.

“Well, she obviously has a major crush on you.” Darla liked the

way his face turned pink. It wasn’t hers turning pink this time.

Before she could say anything more, Randall drove up with the

truck. He jumped out and gave her a big hug and kiss before helping

his brother load up the groceries. She glanced toward the grocery

store and noted that Kristy was at the window watching them. She

couldn’t help it, she waved at the girl. With obvious disdain, she

turned away from the window and returned to her post.

“You ready, honey? I thought we would stop by the diner and

have dinner,” Randall said.

“Sure, that will be fine. I’m kind of hungry.”

“You didn’t eat much at breakfast. I figured you would get hungry

fast in these temperatures,” Randall said.

“I wasn’t really hungry this morning.” She shrugged and let

Marcus swing her into the truck next to Randall. Then Marcus

followed her up and strapped in. When she fumbled with her belt, he

fastened it for her.

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They each got the diner special of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and

green beans. Darla was starved, but found she could barely eat. Every time she put a spoonful in her mouth, she nearly gagged. It took her

twenty minutes to take five bites. If the men noticed, they didn’t

comment on it, for which she was eternally grateful. She moved her

food around on her plate to make it look like she’d eaten more than

she had.

“You ready to go?” Randall asked.

“Yeah, I’m full.” She prayed he wouldn’t call her on it.

“Marcus, you pay up and I’ll get her out to the truck.” Randall

stood up and helped her from her chair.

“Got it.” Marcus dug in his pocket for tip money then headed with

the ticket to the front counter to pay.

“You look a little worn out. Are you feeling okay?” Marcus asked.

“Yeah, just overwhelmed, I guess. It’s like we bought out the

entire grocery store.”

Randall chuckled. “I’m sure it’s like a foreign land to you. You’ll

get use to it in time.” He helped her into the truck then followed her.

“I sure hope you got some warm clothes. You didn’t get nearly