Lucas (14 page)

Lucas stared down into
Lucy’s eyes which reflected the rich grey hues of a coming storm as she looked
up at him, her arms still encircled about his waist. The silence in the room
was palpable and becoming increasingly uncomfortable.

“Why?” she whispered.
“Why do you want to marry me?” she asked a little louder as her eyes flitted
back and forth, searching his for an answer.

He hadn’t expected the
question and now felt slightly disconcerted as he searched for the right words,
willing her to tell him what she needed to hear, but she remained quiet.
Waiting.

“You are the kindest
woman I have ever met. You are strong and beautiful, and I can’t imagine my
life without you.”

There
, he’d said it.

After a light twitch at
the corners of her mouth, she offered a smile that warmed him from the inside.

“Yes, Mr. Deardon, I’ll
marry you,” she finally uttered the words he’d needed to hear all day.

“Ahhhh,” Mara said with
a hand over her heart. “I thought you’d never get there.”

He leaned down close to
Lucy’s ear. “Lucas,” he reminded her, squeezing her close to him.

She smiled, something
he hoped to see every day for the rest of his life. “Lucas,” she conceded.

“Congratulations,
Lucas,” Sam said, stepping forward, his hand extended.

“Thank you, sir. Sam.
Uncle Sam?” Lucas was unsure how to address his uncle.

“Sam’s fine.”

Lucas looked down at
his bride-to-be. He wanted to kiss her plump mouth. To taste the sweetness of
her lips, but he was all too aware of their enquiring audience.

“What the hell were you
thinking taking a chance like that with Lucy’s life? And yours?” Hank didn’t
wait for a response. He marched to the front of the house, but turned back just
before he left. “You are just like your father.” The door slammed behind him.

“He didn’t mean it like
it sounded.” Mara looked up at Lucas. “Gabe and Hank were closer than any two
brothers I have ever seen. He misses your dad is all. And he just lost his own,
God rest his soul. I expect he’ll brood more than ever.” She hugged both Lucas
and Lucy. “Let’s try not to dwell on what we’ve lost, but what we have to
celebrate. A reuniting of Lucas with the family, Lucy coming here to live with
us, and now the two of you finding each other. Liam would be so pleased that you’ve
decided to marry. Somehow, he knew you would be a good match.”

“He did, didn’t he?”
Lucy said as she turned out of his grasp and walked toward his aunt, a smile
brushing across her mouth.

His arms suddenly felt
empty.

“Yes.” Mara grabbed
Lucy’s hand. “Now, let’s go tell Alex. Let’s tell everyone.”

“But the timing. Won’t people
think us impertinent sharing happy news? They will expect us to be in mourning.
Maybe we should wait.”

“Nonsense,” Mara said,
stopping at the door to retrieve their warm coats. “Everyone could use some
good news today. And Liam, more than anyone, would want you to shout it from
the rooftops just so he could say he’d told you so.”

Lucy looked back at Lucas
and shrugged before being whisked out through the front door.

It had only been a few
days since he’d sent a message home about his grandfather’s passing. A short
telegraph message, however, could not possibly convey the sorrow and regret
Lucas felt that his brothers had not been given the same opportunity to get to
know the real Liam Deardon instead of the man their father had portrayed him to
be their whole lives. He’d been good and kind and generous with his fortune.
And had never stopped loving them.

Lucas had to find Seth.
He had no idea how to work a telegraph machine, but wanted to send word to his
family that he was getting married. He figured they’d want to hear something
positive in spite of the tragic news.

Married
. He still could hardly
believe it himself.

As he strode to the
door, he caught glimpse of Lucy’s smiling face through the window as Mara
dragged her from one small group to another. His heart did a little flutter in
his chest when she glanced back and caught him watching her. He hadn’t imagined
he could ever feel this way about a woman, let alone one he’d only known such a
short time, but even as his mind tried to convince him that he was marrying
Lucy out of a sense of responsibility to fulfill his granddad’s wishes, his
heart knew otherwise.

He reached for the
door, his shoulder stiff, but not painful like before, and when he pulled it open,
the distinct smell of snow swirled about him.

Another storm’s coming.

While the sky was still
a vibrant blue, the air held a distinct chill as the sun started to play a game
of hide and seek behind the growing number of ominous looking clouds. Lucas laughed
at the irony. Today was both a sad and a happy day.

“I hear you, Granddad,”
he said with a breathy laugh as he ventured out to find his soon-to-be bride in
the frosty morning air.

He didn’t have to go
far. She sat in the swing that dangled from one of the large trees at the edge
of the main yard. Her arm wrapped around the rope and she leaned to the side,
kicking her feet just enough that they brushed the ground as she swayed back
and forth.

“A penny for your
thoughts.”

She looked up at him, a
smile on her lips, but her wet eyes betrayed her. She brushed the tear from her
cheek.

“I was just thinking
about Liam. I miss him.”

Lucas grabbed the rope
of the swing and slowed it to a stop, then crouched down in front of her. “I
miss him too.”

“I didn’t realize how
much until Mara started telling everyone about our engagement. He was the first
person who would have wanted to know.” She laughed through her tears.

He stared at her for a
moment, unsure how to best offer comfort. He reached out and placed a hand over
hers. “He knows,” he said confidently.

“Yes,” she responded
quietly, “I suppose he does.”

Lucas leaned forward,
his lips mere inches from hers.

Bark. Bark. Bark.

The large, beautiful border
collie jumped up between him and Lucy and rested his paws in her lap.

She laughed. “All
right. Come on, boy! Let’s get you some food.” She looked up at him
apologetically. “Sorry,” she mouthed, then followed the barking dog toward the
house.

He stood, unable to take
his eyes off her retreating form.

“So, I understand
congratulations are in order,” Seth came up behind him and clapped him on the
back, followed by several of his cousins as they circled about him.

Lucas watched Lucy
until she disappeared into the house, then turned to face them.

“Granddad was right,”
Seth said with a wide smile. “You just needed a little push.”

“A push for what?”

“Uh…nothing.” Seth’s
eyes opened a little wider as he patted him again on the shoulder. “He just had
a…um, a feeling about you and Lucy.”

“I thought you
all
wanted the chance to marry Miss Russell.” He looked at each of his cousins in
the circle, recognizing that many of them were well under the marrying age. “If
you thought granddad was right, why did you agree to compete for her hand?”

“Yeah, um…oh, I think Jake
needs some help with all the horses from town.” Seth turned on his heel and tapped
the edge of his hat as he ran toward the barn, a grin spreading widely across
his face.

Within seconds, all of
his cousins had dispersed.

Odd.
Then it hit him. It had
been a ruse all along.
Smart man, Granddad.
He bobbed his head, not sure
whether to be annoyed or impressed at his grandfather’s ingenuity.

“I concede,” he said
aloud. “Lucy is most definitely the right woman for me.”

The majority of those
who had come to pay their respects to his grandfather had already headed for
home, but a few hearty stragglers remained, making their way to the barn to
retrieve their buckboards and horses.

A tall, gangly man, dressed
in a fancy black suit and a matching bowler, caught Lucas’s attention as he
marched toward Hank. Lucas recognized the man as the lawyer he’d seen his first
day at Whisper Ridge.

The will.

Hank pushed himself
away from the fence he’d been leaning against and he and Sam headed indoors
with the lawyer at their heels. Lucas reached inside of his thick winter coat
and pulled his watch from the pocket of his vest. Quarter of twelve. They had
just a few minutes.

As the sun broke out
from behind a blanket of darkening clouds, it warmed the biting chill of the
morning. The brief refuge from the unrelenting cold of the shadows quickly
turned rival as the day darkened to a bitter grey. One lone snowflake drifted
through the air, but he placed a hand on the top of his hat to keep it from falling
and looked heavenward. Thousands of tiny crystals, glimmering in the low light,
descended with increasing speed.

Lucas strode to the
house, took the porch steps two at a time, and hurried inside. It appeared
empty, but muffled voices reached him from the direction of the study. He hung
his coat on the rack in the corner of the entry, but held onto his hat. It
would give him something to do with his hands.

As he approached the
study, he stopped at the sound of Lucy’s voice.

“Thank you.”

“I’m telling you, my
dear, you should be on a big city stage. One of our associates is opening a
theater in Denver and I think you would be just perfect. Folks would travel
long distances to hear a voice like yours.”

Lucas couldn’t breathe.

No.

“That is very kind of
you, Mr. Tacy…”

Lucas didn’t hear the
rest of their conversation. He needed air. He strode down the hallway and
opened the door, but when the cool air hit his face, he stopped in his tracks.

Not every woman is like
mama. NO! This stops now.

He turned around and marched
back toward the study at a determined pace.

“If you, gentlemen,
will just excuse me a moment…” Lucy rounded the door of the study into the
hallway. “I’ve been looking for—”

She didn’t have time to
finish before Lucas’s hands delved into the hair at her nape, his fingertips
guiding her head up to meet his kiss, his thumb caressing her jawline as his
lips descended until they captured hers with hearty abandon.

She returned his
affections, her arms wrapping beneath his and up his back to his shoulders,
pulling him closer. He groaned. His hands dropped to her back, his fists
clutching the material of her dress.

Easy, Deardon.
It took him a moment
before he garnered the will to stop. He pulled back, his eyes still closed,
then with another quick peck of her lips he released her.

“Hello.”

“I would like you to
know, Miss Russell, that I think you
do
have a wonderful voice.”

She glanced at the wall
into the study. “You heard?”

He nodded.

“Well, thank you,
Mr.
Deardon
, but you—”

“Having said that, I
also need to tell you that I have seen too many misunderstandings and too much
pride destroy too many lives for me to stay quiet. No matter what happens in
there, I am in love with you, Lucy Russell. I…I just needed you to know.”

“And I need
you
to know that what I said before is true. You asked me to tell you if I dreamed
of singing on a fancy stage. I don’t. You asked me to tell you that I don’t
think about or want you, but I do.” She leaned in closer to him and stood on
her toes, so that her warm breath caressed his neck. “And I’ll tell you what I
told Mr. Tacy. I am not going anywhere…unless it is with you,” she amended,
“the man I want to spend the rest of my life with.” She raised her hand and
brushed it across his cheek. “I love you, Lucas Deardon.”

Lucas kissed her
firmly, then picked her up and spun her around, reveling in the sound of her
laughter.