The Wedding Deal

He chewed on a bite of pie, then washed it down with a drink of coffee, all the while studying her speculatively. “Which brings me back to my original question. Why are you looking to get married, and why me?”

“Because you’re safe, and you won’t demand anything from me.”

Her candid response seemed to surprise him. She hadn’t meant to be so blunt and truthful, but she didn’t regret her words. If they did marry, she’d be honest for the duration of their short-term relationship, and she’d expect the same from him in return, which meant she needed to be up-front with him now.

“My marriage wasn’t an ideal one,” she admitted, pushing her plate aside. “My husband was very controlling and manipulative, and when he died, his will stipulated that his brother Allen maintain control of the Double L until I remarried. Since I prefer to live alone, without a husband, that means I’ll never secure the ranch and cattle operation as mine. The Double L is Phoebe’s future, and with me barely making ends meet on the paltry monthly allowance Allen gives me, by the time she inherits the ranch there might not be anything left.”

“So you figure the best way for you to gain back control of the ranch and accounts is to get married?”

“Yes. Temporarily.” She had no desire to become emotionally involved with another man, or give up the freedom and independence she treasured. “All I’m asking for is one year of marriage.”

“That’s six months longer than I stay in any one place.”

She’d assumed as much, and was prepared to compensate him for his time. “I’m hoping I have the incentive to make your extended stay worth your while.”

His gaze dropped to her mouth, as intimate as a caress. “What kind of incentive?” he asked, his low, rich voice drizzling over her like warm honey.

There was that melting heat in his eyes again, and her entire body responded, glowing with expectation and need. “At the end of a year, I’ll give you the deed to one thousand acres of prime land in Montana.”

“Your parents’ land?” he guessed.

She nodded, hating to part with the property, but knowing her options were limited. “Yes.”

He blew out a stream of breath and rubbed at the back of his neck with a broad hand. “That’s quite an offer.”

But he hadn’t agreed. Yet. Feeling restless, Eden slid off the stool and rounded the counter into the kitchen to rinse off their dessert plates. The sink faced him, allowing her to keep an eye on him and gauge his response.

“I’d like to think of this as the barter system,” she said in a businesslike voice as she reached for their dishes. “One year of marriage in name only so I gain full control of the Double L in exchange for a deed to land in Montana. During our year of marriage you’d continue to work on the ranch as you are, but you’d live up at the main house for appearance’s sake. You can sleep in the downstairs guest room, and I’ll provide all your meals.”

He braced his arms on the counter. “In return for me playing the doting husband.”

She stacked their clean plates on the dish drainer. “Only when a convincing performance is required,” she said, wanting him to know that his husbandly duties wouldn’t be required on a full-time basis. “I know Allen will be skeptical of a sudden marriage, and I don’t doubt that he’ll ask around town about us, and stop by often.”

“And after a year?”

“We divorce, and go our separate ways.” She dried her hands on a dish towel, wishing her bargain didn’t sound so cold and calculating. “I don’t expect that you’d want to hang around any longer than that.”

Harsh laughter escaped him. “No, you’re right about that.” He stood and paced into the living room, a raw kind of energy pouring off him. “What about Phoebe?”

She knew what he was asking. How would she explain this unorthodox situation to her daughter? “She’ll know we’re married, of course. Just treat her the same way you do now, and I’ll do my best not to let her get attached to you.”

He moved to the window overlooking the ranch and scrubbed a hand down his face. “That would be for the best.”

Hope surged through her. “Then you’ll agree?”

Luke remained quiet, his body taut, as if he was struggling with deep, dark forces.

She knew what she was asking would change his way of life for a year, but he had to see the value of her proposal, for the both of them. Maybe he just needed time, and she could give him that. “Luke, I know this is very sudden and unexpected. Please, just take a few days and think about my offer.”

He turned back around and braced his hands on his lean hips, looking every inch a renegade. “And what will you do if I decline your proposition?”

She didn’t want to think about that, because he was the perfect man for the job. So, she lifted her chin determinedly and bluffed. “Then I’ll have no choice but to find another man who’ll appreciate my mutually beneficial offer.”

Two hours later, unable to concentrate on one of the suspense novels he liked to read at night before retiring to bed, Luke left his quiet apartment and followed the moon’s silvery glow toward the darkened barn. No matter how much distance he put between himself and the main house, Eden’s proposition pursued him, relentlessly dogging his heels, and preying on his mind like a plague.

Frustration snuck up on him, at her for enticing him with a chance at the freedom and independence that had eluded him for the past eight years, and at himself for wanting that land in Montana so badly.

But not at the cost of her reputation.

I’ll have no choice but to find another man who’ll appreciate my mutually beneficial offer.

Luke scowled at the moon, and stopped at the split-rail fence surrounding the paddock. Eden’s sassy reply didn’t seem to take her reputation into consideration. But then, he suspected her words had been a show of bravado, a dare to provoke him into agreeing to her outrageous, and very desirable offer.

A marriage in name only.

Laughing at the incongruity of that, he leaned against the fence, and propped the heel of his boot on the bottom rung. He gazed up at the main house, unable to imagine any healthy, red-blooded male agreeing to her marriage of convenience scheme. A year of living with Eden would surely test a man’s self-control, and his libido. Granted, she wasn’t offering her bed or her body as part of the deal. The guest bedroom downstairs would lessen temptation, but she obviously wasn’t taking into account the day-to-day intimacies that a husband and wife shared that would surely heighten their awareness of one another. Living in the same house meant constant contact with each other, and the risk of casual touches turning into burning, needy caresses.

He already found her too attractive for his peace of mind. And as their relationship currently stood, this evening proved that they were struggling to evade their attraction, and trying to ignore its existence.

Releasing a deep sigh, he reached into his shirt pocket for one of the hard cinnamon candies he favored in lieu of a cigarette since he’d quit smoking four years ago. Unwrapping the disc, he popped it into his mouth, welcoming the sharp sting of cinnamon on his tongue that curbed his craving for nicotine.

His craving for Eden wasn’t as easily appeased.

As if his thoughts had beckoned her, the light in her upstairs bedroom went on. A moment later, she walked up to the window, pushed aside the sheer curtains, and lifted the casing to allow fresh air into the room. The diaphanous drapes fell back into place, enabling him to see her silhouette as she bent her head and began releasing the buttons down the front of her dress.

Her hair tumbled over her shoulders, looking like burnished gold from the lamplight reflecting off the strands.

He told himself to go, but his feet wouldn’t move. He told himself to look away, but his eyes remained riveted on her shadowy outline, which was far more provocative than seeing her without the flimsy obstruction of the curtain. This ethereal view of her was soft, unfocused, and teasing. He found himself completely enthralled with this unveiling…and powerless to resist her.

When the button task was done, she shrugged her shoulders and the dress slid to her waist, and with a subtle shimmy of her hips it glided the rest of the way to the floor. Next came her bra, allowing him a profile glimpse of her lush curves before she walked out of sight.

Luke’s breath left him in a rush, and his body throbbed in startling awareness and need. He crunched into the hard cinnamon candy, but the fiery flavor only inflamed him more.

When she walked by the window again, she was dressed in a gauzy nightgown that reached her thighs. She climbed up onto a high poster bed, and turned off the lamp. Darkness enveloped Luke as well, and for as much as he’d learned to live a solitary existence, at the moment he wanted to trade in his lonely life for a real home, family, a wife.

He could have that with Eden, for a year. In exchange for land in Montana, which would go a long way in expediting his personal dreams of having his own spread, and the security of being his own boss. But for as much as he would gain, he couldn’t dismiss what Eden might lose if someone discovered his past and brought it to light. Without a doubt, scandal and outrage would erupt. Her own reaction to his deception wouldn’t be pleasant, either. It never was.

Eden was so sure of him, so trusting in believing that he was a good, honest, hardworking man. He’d like to think he was those things, and could be all that she needed. Eight years ago he could have been, before another woman had destroyed not only his reputation, but the course his future would take.

Always drifting. Always running. Always alone.

That land in Montana beckoned, as well as his freedom, and Luke struggled with his conscience. He thought of Eden’s parting remark that she would find someone else to accept her offer, and felt something deep within his gut twist at the thought of another man reaping the benefits of taking her for a wife for a year.

She had to be bluffing, provoking him. She’d told him to take a few days and think about her offer, and he’d do just that—not because he was considering accepting her wedding deal, but to give her time to realize just how crazy this harebrained scheme of hers really was. To realize that taking a husband wasn’t the solution to her problem with her brother-in-law.

CHAPTER THREE

IF she had a husband, Eden firmly believed her biggest problems on the Double L would be solved. With Allen unable to control the trust Bryce had set up, her bills would be paid on time, she’d be able to expand her cattle operation, and she’d even be able to indulge in a few luxuries for Phoebe.