She smiled. “I’m sure he noticed. But parents will always treat their children like children and try to do what’s best for them. They aren’t always right. However, I think he’s come around. You probably don’t need to take a sword and shield to dinner, either.”
He stared at her a moment, then laughed and walked over and pulled her into his arms, hugging her. “So you’re my good-luck charm now? What the heck did you tell him?”
Words caught in her throat, being this close to him again. All she wanted to do was kiss him. She came so close to putting her arms around him and doing it.
But she managed to step back into the hall and say, “Just what you should have told him first: that you got the idea for the emporium from your mother. That’s all he needed to hear. He does have a soft spot for her, you know.”
She hurried on to her father’s room before she changed her mind about kissing Morgan. Good grief, how could she marry Lord What’s-his-name when this man tempted her beyond reason? Because it was what she’d always dreamed of—and yet, Morgan was the one filling her dreams now. He seemed to be with her every bloody night!
Chapter Forty-Seven
MORGAN STOPPED THE BUCKBOARDin front of the house to wait for Violet. His mother was leaning against the porch post drinking her coffee. She was dressed for the range, just hadn’t left yet, and since they hadn’t spoken privately after he’d made his announcement about the emporium last night at dinner, he wasn’t really surprised.
She’d been pleased last night. After she got over her amazement, she’d laughed a lot. His brothers had teased and were already calling him “shopkeeper.” Hunter had even ribbed, “You’ll have to put your gun away, or your customers will think you’re there to rob the place!” His father had been mostly silent, but he’d smiled a few times as he’d watched Mary express her delight.
But this morning his mother said, “You’re really doing this?”
“Dig out your old catalogs, circle everything that caught your eye, that you ordered, that you thought about buying but didn’t, and leave them in my room. Yes, I’m really doing this. ‘Buy it, have it in your home the same day,’ that’s going to be my motto—at least for Nashart. I might even name the emporium East Comes West.”
“I love the idea, Morg,” she assured him. “Don’t think for a minute that I don’t. But I loved having you on the range with us, too.”
“I’m not leaving the territory, Ma. I may even get back on the range someday. But for now, this is the only thing I want to do. My store may never sell a damn thing out here, but it’s going to be fun creating it, and very satisfying to see you shopping in it.”
“What about Miss Mitchell?”
“I’ll give her a tour of town today and show her my property, if she’ll stop primping and get herself down here.”
“That’s not what I meant. You fancy her?”
He grinned. “Who wouldn’t?”
“Have you told her?”
“She’s already picked out an English lord to be her husband. She’s going back to London. And I’m making sure she has a dowry for it.”
Mary laughed. “Now, that’s not how you get the girl. You give her a choice—but first you make sure she knows she has a choice. Do I need to tell you how to spill the beans properly?”
Morgan snorted. “You think I can’t say it?”
“Have you ever?”
“No, but how hard can it be?”
“Pretty hard when you’re not sure of the answer,” she replied.
“Well, that’s not holding me back. It’s because I do care about her that I have to let her go. She doesn’t belong here, Ma.”
“Neither did Tiffany, but you can’t get that gal to leave now. You don’t see it because you grew up here, but Montana has its own charm. Maybe you should ask Miss Mitchell to help you design your store. That might delay her leaving and give her time to start liking the place. Actually, who better than a young lady of London society to advise you on what’s fashionable, what women like, and what fancy stores look like in the big cities?”
Morgan laughed. He was sold on his mother’s idea as soon as she said the worddelay, but he also liked the part about asking Violet for advice on décor and what merchandise to stock. But he teased his mother, saying, “I’m not opening a dress shop.”
“At least stock some bonnets!”
He rolled his eyes, because now he had to. Anything his mother wanted. That was the point, after all.
•••
THEY HAD ALREADY DRIVENdown every street in Nashart so that Violet could see everything the town offered before Morgan took her to the land he’d bought, just a long stretch of dusty ground with some grass and a few trees that intersected with Nashart’s main road. But then she saw the stacks of lumber. “You’re ready to start building?”
