Charmed By Knight (The Fielding Brothers Saga) (30 page)

“My dear, are you strong enough to ride with me?” Edmund squeezed her arm.

“I believe so.” She looked back at Jake. “Please don’t worry. I shall be fine now.”

Jake nodded. “May I call upon you tomorrow to see about your welfare?”

“Yes. I thank you for your concern.”

“Then I shall head back home.” The man met Edmund’s gaze. “And thank you for rescuing us from those thieves. You saved our lives.”

“It was my pleasure.” Edmund presented the other man a grin.

Not a word was spoken while Jake returned to his buggy. The man snapped the reins and called out to the animal, urging him forward.

When Jake was a good distance away, Edmund let out the chuckle he’d held for a few minutes already. He glanced at Megan who, surprisingly, didn’t look as upset as he thought she’d be.

“I’m your husband now, am I?”

She slapped at his arm and tried to pull away. “You are despicable, Mr. Knight.”

His laughter grew. “Is that how you greet your dead husband after all these weeks of mourning?”

She rose to her feet and swayed. He bolted up and grabbed her arms to steady her. “Come, let me take you home. You’re in no condition to be standing – and arguing with me – for that matter.”

Placing her hand on her belly, she took in a deep breath. She rubbed her shoulder as she met his eyes. “Then assist me to your horse and I will argue with you there.”

“You are in pain, no matter how hard you try to pretend you’re not.” He chuckled and shook his head. “Stubborn woman.”

He lifted her in his arms and carried her to his waiting horse. Before setting her on it, he leaned over and kissed her forehead. “Are you aware how I have missed your sense of humor?”

He placed her on his horse and mounted behind her. With one arm wrapped around her middle, he took the reins in the other hand. He clicked his tongue and prodded his heels against the horse’s ribs, urging the animal into a trot.

On impulse, he leaned closer to her hair, breathing in her lilac smell, the same scent that had driven him insane over the past several weeks. “So, my love, are you going to explain why you are using my name and telling everyone you are a widow?”

“No.”

He’d almost forgotten her stubbornness. But, he hadn’t forgotten how he’d enjoyed softening her willfulness. He grinned, thankful she couldn’t see behind her. “What lie will you come up with now for my appearance into your life?”

“I will think up one before tomorrow.”

“You had better think up a story to explain why Mr. Mayor was taking you home without a proper escort.”

She swung her head and glared at him, her hair flipping over her shoulder. Her glare pierced right through him. “Widows do not need a proper escort.”

He nodded. “True, but where’s your maid? Didn’t you bring her along on your journey?”

“If you must know, she’s working at the laundry tents, helping to make a living.”

“My dear, if you had only waited to marry me, we could have come over here together and nobody would have to work for a living.”

She huffed and faced the road ahead of them. “If you recall our last conversation, I had decided not to wed you.”

“Which I thought at the time was preposterous.” He leaned forward, nuzzling his face into her neck. She stiffened. “But now, my love, you will have to marry me.”

“Why do you say that?” Her voice strained in a whisper.

“Because I won’t live in sin.” He moved the hair away from her skin and kissed her collarbone. “Since you have told everybody you’re married, you shall be.”

“Where will we marry?”

He pulled back, and widened his eyes.
What? No argument?
Edmund shrugged. “There has to be a quiet little town around here somewhere. I’m certain I will find a preacher who will accept a generous payment for his services.”

Silence lasted all the way to her humble house near the school. He dismounted and lifted her down, but kept her in his arms and carried her inside. Her maid was not here, which he was happy for. This gave him and his
wife
more time to talk.

A single candle sat on a table in the front room. Megan picked it up before he proceeded to her bedroom. Sorrow tightened his chest to see how small the cabin was, and the rickety furniture in the place.

“Megan? Why did you choose to live like a pauper when you could have married me and lived like a queen?”

When he set her on the bed, she scooted away from him. “Because I was tired of men trying to control my life.”

“Are you jesting?”

“No. You’re just like my father, always telling me what to do.” She gave him a cross look, her eyebrows drawn together. “You once asked me why I didn’t have my own opinion. You suggested I could take control of my life and do as I please, as you have done with your life.” She shrugged. “That’s what I was doing when I left England. I followed your advice.”

“Don’t twist my words, Megan. It’s a woman’s place to be by her husband’s side.”

“We aren’t married.”

“We are betrothed, and unless the rules of a betrothal have changed, that means you’re promised to me the moment I sign my name on the contract.”

She threaded her fingers through her hair, pulling on the already loosened pins holding the awkward tilt of her bun together.

“Edmund, could we discuss this in the morning? I have a headache. After everything that has happened to me, I need to rest.”

“I shall allow you to rest, but I have one more question.”

She looked up at him. “What’s that?”

“Who was that man you were with? A new beau?”

She shook her head. “He’s just a friend. Since he’s the mayor of the town, he hired me for a teaching position at the school.” She stopped, nibbling on her bottom lip, a nervous trait he’d always found adorable. “He’s like a brother to me. No more, I assure you.”

“Does he know you feel this way about him?”

“We haven’t discussed our feelings.”

“Where did you go with him tonight? I watched him take you to a fancy house.”

Her eyes widened. “You saw us?”

“Yes.”

“How long had you been watching?”

“For a while now.”

She gasped. “Why haven’t you made your presence known sooner?”

“Because I wanted to surprise you.” He shrugged. “I think I picked the perfect time to do that, don’t you think?”

She rubbed her temple, closing her eyes. “I should have known you would eventually find me.” She squinted up at him. “How did you know I was here?”

“Actually, it was the Duke of Ashton who told me.”

“Nicholas?”

“Yes. Apparently, the manager of the hotel you stayed in upon your arrival sent Nick a note, giving his sympathies for the passing of his good friend, Mr. Knight.”

Megan groaned. “I didn’t realize until after I’d said it that this might happen.”

He knelt beside her and stroked her cheek. “Megan, you cannot fight it any longer. We are meant to be together. Fate is lending us a hand. We might as well take it.”

“I suppose I have no other choice but to marry you, do I?”

“None whatsoever. Plan on becoming my wife within a few days, long enough for me to find a preacher, anyway.”

She nodded. “I will.” Her chest heaved with a deep sigh, and her eyes softened. “I cannot fight you now.”

His heart burst with happiness and he wanted to take her in his arms and hold her. But now was not the time. “There’s no need to fight, my love. We will be happy, you wait and see.” He leaned forward and kissed her cheek. Temptation urged him to do more, but he couldn’t take advantage of her injured state right now. Besides, this time he wanted to wait until they were married and she was his wife before he took her intimately.

Placing one last kiss on her brow, he pulled away and stood. “Rest now, my dear, for tomorrow will bring you great fortune.”

She nodded.

He moved to leave, but then a thought hit him, keeping him from walking any farther away. He turned back to her, admiring the way she slid the pins out of her hair one by one, then shook the mass, letting it tumble over her shoulders and back. Happiness rushed through him. It always did when he looked at her. No other woman had made him feel like an infatuated schoolboy – or made his heart hammer with love.

“Do you need help getting undressed?” he asked, his voice lower than normal.

Her head snapped up and she met his stare. “No.”

“Are you certain? Your maid isn’t here to assist you.”

“I will have you know I have been dressing and undressing myself since I left England. I’m most capable of doing it myself.”

“As you wish.”

Content just to gaze upon her beauty, he remained by the door. He’d missed her, more than he had expected. He loved her, even after she’d broken his heart and left him in England without a word.

She arched an eyebrow at him. “Did you need something else?”

He shook himself back to reality and grinned. “Nothing at the moment. My pleasure will come soon enough.” He chuckled. “But there’s one thing I want to ask before I leave.”

“What’s that?”

“Do you still have the deed to my goldmine?”

Within seconds, her expression changed. Her forehead creased and dragon eyes shot fire at him. She reached beside her on the bed and picked up a pillow. Before he knew it, the feather down had hit him in the face.

What had he done this time?

Chapter Eighteen

“I now pronounce you man and wife.”

Megan held back tears as she gazed into Edmund’s eyes. He pulled her into his arms and his blue-gray orbs softened to a lighter gray. Was
this what she really wanted?

His mouth covered hers in their first kiss as husband and wife, and her heart shouted with joy.
Yes! This is what I want.
Her lonely nights were over. From now on, she’d share Edmund’s bed. And, with any luck, he’d be in her life forever. But would he leave her once his mine started producing gold? Would he be the cad she’d been told he had always been?

Edmund withdrew and smiled down at her. Pain clenched her heart. Why did loving him hurt so much?

“Well, Mrs. Knight.” He chuckled. “Are you ready to return home and begin our life?”

Not really.
The uncertain future frightened her. Yet, did she have any other choice? “Yes.” Switching her attention to the preacher, she smiled. “And thank you.”

Edmund had found someone to perform the marriage within a day’s time. They traveled to the outskirts of town to a man of God who’d done the service, for a large fee, of course.

Edmund pulled her hand in his and walked outside the church. The setting sun touched colors of pink in the sky. A gentle breeze teased the tendrils of hair by her ears, and a curl blew against her lips. Edmund lifted his hand, his finger moving it aside. His gaze remained on her, and as always, her body weakened from the look in his smoldering eyes.

She tilted her head, narrowing her eyes. “What are you looking at?”

“The most beautiful woman in the world.”

Her face grew warm, and her heartbeat accelerated. “You are much too kind.”

Edmund’s focus moved from her eyes, down her face to the bodice of her ice-blue wedding gown. “It relieves me to see you thought your wedding dress important enough to take with you when you left England.”

She shrugged. “Actually, you can thank Bertha for that. She was the one who packed it.”

He chuckled and lifted her hand to his mouth, kissing her knuckles. “She must have known I’d come after you.”

They reached the coach, and Edmund picked her up and set her inside. When he joined her, he instructed his coachman to return them to San Francisco. He gathered her in his arms and kissed her neck.

“Edmund? Why
did
you come for me?”

His body shook with deep laughter. “What kind of question is that?”

She pulled back and looked into his eyes. They twinkled with mischief. She prayed he would tell her the truth.

“I left you to suffer the humiliation of my rejection. Most men would be furious.”

His gentle fingers caressed her cheek. “After weeks of searching for you, I retired to my den and drank myself into a stupor. If not for the duke, I’d still be there.”

Her heart sank. It was hard to believe he mourned her loss that much. The Edmund she knew only cared about himself…about his goldmine. He didn’t really want her. He never did. She didn’t dare probe him for further answers. Her heart couldn’t take it.

“The first thing I want to do when we get back to town is find us a house. I cannot remain in that pitiful hovel.”

“I have been most comfortable there, Edmund.”

“I’m sure you have, but nonetheless, I will find something more fitting to our lifestyle.” His smile widened. “Because once the money starts pouring in from the goldmine, we will need a larger place to accommodate our wealth.”