A Wife by Christmas (3 page)

Startled, he turned, his jaw hanging down, but didn’t move, so Ellie sprinted past him. She reached for the dog, who skittered away and sped around a building, then off into the fields. Unable to stop her momentum, she slipped in a mud puddle, and landed face first into the water trough in front of the saloon.

Ice cold smelly water surrounded her. Her mouth opened in surprise, and she swallowed a large gulp of water. She came up sputtering when two strong hands pulled her up by her shoulders. Her feet still in the water, she closed her eyes, bent over, and coughed, trying to drag air into her lungs. A strong hand slapped her on the back as she wheezed. Finally her lungs were able to fill with air.

Ellie glanced down at herself. “Damn, I’m soaked.” She laughed and shook her hands. Her hat had fallen off, and sopping curls tumbled into her eyes and around her shoulders. She turned to thank her rescuer, and peeked between strands of wet hair directly into the surprised, dark blue eyes of Max Colbert.
Oh dear.

“Miss Henderson!” Max choked out. The woman stood before him, dripping wet, in trousers—
trousers
! Her unbuttoned coat displayed the man’s shirt she wore, plastered to her chest, the peaks of her cold, wet nipples prominent against the wet fabric. Soaked pants outlined her legs, as if she were naked.

She continued to laugh, and pushed the hair out of her eyes. The movement of her arms caused her breasts to shift, the rosy nipples pointing directly at him. Max yanked her jacket closed and buttoned it up.

His jaw tightened as he took her hand and helped her out of the trough. She covered her mouth with her other hand, trying to stifle her laughter.

“Miss Henderson, I don’t see any humor in this whatsoever. You are an upstanding citizen of this town, a member of a prominent family, and a teacher.
A teacher!”
He took her by the elbow and moved her forward. “I can’t believe you would appear in public dressed in trousers.”

Ellie pulled away from him. “I have to go back to the meat store and get my bag.”

Max took her elbow again and walked her in the direction of the bag, resting against the large glass store window where she’d left it. Her shoes squished with every step she took, and she continued to shake herself like a dog. A trail of water followed them. She retrieved her package and turned, her lips blue, her body shaking with the cold. “Thank you v-v-very much, Mr. C-C-Colbert. I guess I will s-s-see you Monday.”

He continued to stare at her wide-eyed. “Miss Henderson, I have no intention of allowing you to continue wandering around town dressed in soaking wet trousers. You’ll catch your death of cold and miss school. I will escort you home.” He stopped and stared at her. “Where is it you live?”

She pulled her hair to the side and squeezed. Max jumped back when the water hit his highly polished boots. “The b-b-boarding house on Elm and S-s-seventh.”

“Very well. My house is closer. I’ll drive you home in my automobile.” He grabbed her elbow again, and Ellie stumbled along, taking two steps to his every one.

“M-m-r. Colb-b-bert, you’re dr-r-raging me.” She yanked her arm.

He slowed his steps and glanced sideways at her while they walked. “A boarding house? I thought your family lived right outside of town?”

She nodded her head furiously. “Y-y-es they do, b-b-but I prefer to live on my own-n-n.”

He took her elbow again and hurried her along. At this rate, she’d be frozen before they got to his house. “And your family allows this?”

Ellie pulled her arm from his grasp again. “They d-d-don’t have to
allow
anything, Mr. C-c-colbert. I am a woman g-gr-grown, with my own j-j-job. There’s no need for m-m-me to live with my f-f-family.”

His gaze raked her up and down. “Indeed. It appears to me you need supervision.” They continued to walk. “Why is it you’re not married, anyway?” He bristled.

Her back stiffened. “I don’t n-n-need a husband, nor do I w-w-want one.”

They crossed the street, and continued down Evergreen, Ellie still running to keep up with his long strides. “Nonsense. Every woman wants a husband.”

She sniffed her answer.

“Here we are.” He stopped in front of his house. “If you wait here, I’ll bring my automobile around.” He ran up the steps and entered the boarding house. Mrs. Davis turned from where she’d watched them out the window and looked at him expectantly. “Who’s your lady friend?”

“She’s not my lady friend. God help me if she were.” He ripped out the words impatiently.

“The poor woman is all wet. You shouldn’t leave her outside, Mr. Colbert, she’s shivering, poor dear. Bring her inside and I’ll give her some tea.”

“Thank you very much, Mrs. Davis, but I’ll be driving her home as soon as I get my driving gloves. She can warm herself and drink tea in her own house.” He stalked past her, got his leather driving gloves from his room, and went out the back door where his Oldsmobile stood.

Ellie’s body shook uncontrollably with shivers when he pulled the automobile in front of the house. Guilt settled in his stomach. Should he have brought her into the house for Mrs. Davis to mother? No, better to get her away from him. The thought of her soft body inside her wet clothes, probably covered with goose bumps that he could run his hands over, warming her, drove him crazy. The outline of her long trim legs was still emblazoned in his memory. The woman had no shame. Parading herself around town dressed in those clothes. Her uncle should be horsewhipped for allowing that.

Before he could help her in, Ellie jumped into the automobile and settled herself. She glanced at him and grinned, her arms wrapped tightly around her. “I hope I don’t get your motorcar all w-w-wet and muddy.”

Max reached into the back seat and took two wool blankets from a small pile and dropped them in her lap. “Take off your wet jacket and wrap yourself up. He pulled a pair of goggles from the glove box and snapped them around his head. “Try not to move around.”

A three mile ride brought them to Ellie’s boarding house. She stayed huddled in the blankets, curling herself into a ball in an attempt to create warmth. Neither one spoke as they traveled the distance.

As they pulled up to Ellie’s house, a middle-aged woman stood in the open front door. “Ellie, dear, what happened? Are you all right?” She started down the steps. Ellie groaned and opened the door of the automobile.

“Miss Henderson, please wait for me to assist you from the motorcar. Hoping in and out like that is most unladylike.” Max turned the engine off and hurried to her side. He tapped her gently on the shoulders. “Your bag, Miss Henderson?”

Ellie sighed and took it out of his hands as he gripped her elbow and started up the stairs with her.

“You d-d-don’t have to do th-th-this,” she muttered.

“Behave yourself.” He shot back.

She yanked her elbow from his grasp. “Don’t t-t-tell me what to d-d-do.”

“Someone has to.” He turned and smiled, tipping his hat at the woman. “Good afternoon, ma’am.”

“Good afternoon. Are you a friend of Miss Henderson’s?”

Max winced. “No. I am Miss Henderson’s supervisor. Max Colbert, Principal of Logan County High School.”

She held her hand out. “It’s lovely to meet you, Mr. Colbert. I’m Mrs. Beamer. Miss Henderson is one of my boarders.”

“Lucky you.”

Ellie rolled her eyes and nodded at Max. “Th-th-thank you for the ride home, Mr. Colbert.”

Mrs. Beamer tsked as she reached for Ellie. “Oh dear, look at you. You’re wet and cold. Come into the house and sit by the fire.”

“You’re welcome.” Max nodded stiffly and barreled down the stairs.

He entered the Oldsmobile, and shook his head. It appeared he needed to get Miss Henderson married and fast. Running around town in trousers, chasing after vermin infested animals, falling into water troughs.

And looking like a lady of easy virtue in that soaking wet outfit. Then laughing! Yes, the sooner he put his plan into action and got Miss Henderson off the streets of Guthrie, and in some sap’s kitchen...
and bed.
He swallowed. He must not think of her that way. She represented trouble, a disaster waiting to happen.

Tomorrow at church he would select one of his friends to meet Miss Henderson. According to the notes he made from her appointment book, she had a Women’s Rights meeting Tuesday evening. There would probably be some man at church who could be convinced to embrace the women’s crazy ideas long enough to get Miss Henderson off his hands.

Chapter 3

Ellie peered in the small mirror in her bedroom and her shoulders slumped. Monday morning, and she still had a black eye. The man who’d elbowed her in town Saturday had hit her harder than she’d realized. What would Mr. Colbert say when she arrived at school looking like a barroom brawler?

She would just have to avoid him as best she could. The watch pinned to her shirtwaist confirmed she would be late once again. After gathering up books and papers, she ran down the stairs and burst out the front door. Her stomach growled. No breakfast again.

The five block walk to the school went quickly, but not fast enough.
Damn
. Seven minutes late. She pulled on the heavy door, and then glanced through the glass into the office where Mr. Colbert wrote at his desk. Ducking down, she scurried past his door and hurried to her classroom.

Her students were indifferent all morning. After she’d explained away the black eye to their satisfaction, they moved reluctantly on to the day’s work. Every time the classroom door opened, she jerked, expecting to see Mr. Colbert glaring at her from the doorway.

Finally, the lunch bell clanged at the front office and the students grabbed lunch pails and raced out of the room. Ellie followed on their heels, her stomach still growling. She snuck a look in the teacher’s lunchroom. Mr. Colbert was not there.

The empty classroom that served as a teacher’s room stood at the very end of the building. Since storage space in the school was at a premium, excess furniture had been piled in one corner. Shelves with pencils, chalk, and textbooks took up an entire wall, although the shelves were scantily stocked. Someone had donated the long wooden table and two benches that sat in the middle of the floor. Yellow shades covered the large windows, and no one had bothered with curtains.

Once Ellie got her pail unpacked, the door opened and she held her breath until Rose peeked around the corner. She stared at Ellie open mouthed as she took a seat on the bench alongside her. “What happened to your eye?”

“My eye ran into some man’s elbow.” She took a swig of cold, sweet tea out of the jar from her lunch pail, washing down the bite of chicken sandwich Mrs. Beamer had made for her.

“Goodness, it looks painful.” Rose grimaced as she took out a sandwich and an apple. “When did this happen?”

“Saturday. Right before I saw you, but it didn’t blacken until later that night.” Ellie continued to eat.

“What did Mr. Colbert say?”

Ellie swallowed. “Luckily, I haven’t seen him yet. Marion told me he went to a meeting in Oklahoma City this morning, but I thought he may be back by now. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.”

Before Ellie could relate the story to Rose about falling into the water trough, two other teachers joined them. Once again she shared the story of her black eye, saving the water trough episode for Rose’s ears only.

Thankfully, Mr. Colbert didn’t join the teachers for lunch, which he rarely did anyway, but there was always the chance. If she could only dodge him for a couple more days, there would be no need to have to view the censure in his eyes again.

Her thoughts turned to him as the other teachers chattered around her. She had never in her life found a man who interested her in a way that made her question her vow to never marry. Until now. Why in heaven’s name would Max Colbert, arrogant, self-righteous, and narrow minded, make her heart beat faster? When she looked into those deep blue eyes, above a well-shaped nose, and sensuous lips, her stomach did funny little things. Things that made her squirm.

She’d been very aware of his strength when he gripped her shoulders and pulled her out of the water. And she may be a spinster, but at twenty-eight years, she’d known his thoughts when he glared at her soaking wet clothes. The only way to describe his eyes was smoldering. She was surprised her clothes hadn’t dried on the spot under the heat of his glare. But Max Colbert stood for all the things she and her fellow suffragettes were fighting against. Male arrogance and superiority. It would behoove her to remember that and stay as far away from him as possible.

Max braked in front of Dennis Hoover’s home. Hoover lived in a small apartment building on the corner of Fifth and Lexington, several miles from the Guthrie Library where the Women’s Rights members met. He checked his watch. The meeting wouldn’t start for another ten minutes.

“Thanks for coming, Dennis. I appreciate the company.”

The pudgy man with spectacles and thinning hair tugged at his collar. “I don’t mind, Max. Like I said, it isn’t as though I had anything better to do tonight. I just don’t understand why you want to go to this here meeting. You don’t seem like the women’s rights type.”

“One of my teachers is involved with the group. I want to see if it’s an activity befitting a lady.”
And possibly handing her off to you.

They stood at the door to the meeting room. Much to Max’s surprise there were a few other men sprinkled throughout the audience. He grunted. Probably dragged there by their wives. He scanned the room until he spotted Miss Henderson. She spoke to another woman, her back facing him, but he’d recognize that messy bun of brown curls anywhere. Also, the slender shoulders and back. And the way her waist dipped in, and her bottom charmingly outlined by her slim skirt. Sweat beaded his forehead and he mentally shook himself.

“This way.” He stepped in front of Dennis and led the way to two empty seats next to Miss Henderson. He motioned for Dennis to sit next to her, and he took the seat after. Max cleared his throat. “Miss Henderson.”

She turned, her smile faltering. Her eyes widened. Her mouth opened as if to say something, closed abruptly, then opened again. “Mr. Colbert?”