“Will you have time to do our contract?” Frances asked with a frown. “We can’t wait too long to put everything in order, first because of Luke’s wedding and second because of Maude and Charles’ trip to San Francisco. I don’t want to wait until fall to get to Indianapolis. Even if they decide to go back home soon, they wouldn’t bring me along because they think I’m a child.”
“Did they say that?” Nick asked.
“Pretty much. That’s why it’s time to take matters into my own hands.” She turned to the attorney. “Where’s your office?”
“In the court.” Lowell chuckled at her expression. “I told the mayor I was going to open an office, and he mentioned the circuit judge kept complaining about Lilac City getting big enough to need a prosecutor. Mayor Phelps asked me if I’d take on that responsibility. He said I could use the office for my personal use when I wasn’t doing prosecutor responsibilities.”
“Let’s go then.” Frances stood.
Nick offered her his arm. When she looked about to refuse, he said, “We’re engaged, remember? You said you want this to be convincing.”
She hesitated only a moment before sliding her hand around his arm. A surprising rush of exultation flooded through him, and it took everything Nick had in him not to shout out to the world he was going to marry Frances Lancaster.
Temporarily.
6
On the ride back to the Lucky L Ranch, Frances couldn’t shake the sense of strangeness now hanging between her and Nick. She drove as usual, and he hadn’t offered to help her into the sleigh which she’d been worried he might after he’d insisted on them walking down the street arm-in-arm.
After the feelings she’d experienced in the dream last night, she’d expected something different. In it, Nick had held her hands in his as he’d faced her, the two of them standing before the Reverend Pearce. That’s when she had known what she had to do in order to get her inheritance, and the obvious person had to be Nick. Who else should help her in this but her best friend?
What she hadn’t expected, as she’d taken his arm at the hotel, was a repeat of the dream’s intense sense ofrightnessin the touch. Or the memory of the embrace at the train station. Even now, with him sitting in the sleigh beside her and occupied with his own thoughts, her gut told her it was the right decision.
And how about how he’d unloaded his own little secret in Edgar’s tiny office. Never once had it occurred to her that the cowhand she’d chummed around with for nearly a year was rich. No wonder Nick had insisted on Edgar making sure his own fortune would be protected. Not that his money would tempt her. Would it change him? She glanced at him and found him looking at her.
“I need to talk to you about something.” His expression had turned so serious, it sent a stab of worry through her.
“You’re not backing out, are you?”
“Hardly. I was planning to make a business proposition to your brother before you proposed to me. It shook it right out of my head.”
The twinkle in his eyes kept her from slugging him.
“Yeah. I’ll bet that kind of came out of nowhere.” Frances grinned. “I appreciate how quick you were to say you’d do it. Idobelieve Edgar’s turned a new leaf, but I think if I had to spend much more time with him than I already have that I’d kill him.”
“You’re not worried how it’s going to look what with you jumping from him to me?” Nick asked.
“Nah. I saw the looks of most of the townsfolk when he and I went to a couple of events while you were gone.” Frances shrugged. “He and I weren’t right together. But you—we go everywhere together anyway. To them it’d make sense for us to get married.”
An odd expression crossed his face, and she could tell when he tried to hide it. What was that about?
“No, Nick. Don’t you go all silent on me.” She elbowed him. “Fess up.”
“Well.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s just that a couple of people have been telling me I should get myself a mail-order bride because you weren’t the marrying kind.”
The odd way Frances had been feeling increased. In spite of the cold January weather, heat flooded through her. Angry heat. How dare anyone suggest someone as bright and talented as Nick Reynolds needed to order himself a wife?
“That look.” Nick chuckled. “No, I’m not going to tell you who said it. I don’t want my fiancée sitting in jail for our wedding. I know how you feel about mail-order brides. Now let me tell you about my business plans.”
“All right.” She let out a breath.
“I’d like to see if your brother would consider going into a partnership with me.” Nick’s face took on a pinched look, like he was expecting a blow.
“In what?” Frances asked.
“In his ranch. I wouldn’t presume to offer a fifty-fifty split. But I know he’s been wanting to enlarge his herd and his holdings. That takes capital and what I can offer.” Nick let out a breath. “I’d planned to talk to him about it when I got in tonight or maybe tomorrow. Now, with this temporary marriage, I’m worried he’ll think I was using it to get him to agree. What do you think?”
“I see your point.” She wished everything wasn’t hitting all at once. “You’ve been offering your opinion more lately, and Luke and Tom both listen to you when you do. The last thing I’d want to do is stand in the way of something like this because I think it’s a great idea. Maybe Ishouldask Edgar to marry—”
