Mail Order Mishap: Christian Romance (Kansas Brides Book 1) (8 page)

“It all looks great,” he said.

Amber walked over and touched the bench. “It’s dry. Would you sit with me for a few minutes?”

How could he refuse? He nodded and sat down beside her.

“I wanted to ask you something rather personal, do you mind?” she asked.

“I suppose not. If it’s too personal I may not answer,” he said, giving her a weak smile. He dared not be too friendly, since he knew she was in a precarious situation with an insensible, unaffectionate husband, and the last thing he wanted was to confuse her any more than she already was.

Amber seemed to be folding and unfolding her handkerchief, so Garrett knew she was nervous.

“Why has your brother not consummated our marriage?” she finally blurted out.

Garrett was at a loss for words. He could answer one way and lose his brother and his home forever, or answer another way and pave the way for him to go along with what Charles wanted him to do. He felt perplexed.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I can tell by your hesitation that I’ve asked something I shouldn’t have.”

“No, it's all right,” Garrett said quickly. “I’m just trying to figure out how to tell you this,” he said. After another long pause he said, “My brother is a bit shy about intimate things. I know for a fact that he’s never been with a woman in that way, and he probably isn’t sure how to go about it. I could have a talk with him if you’d like.”

“I would be grateful. I so want to have a happy marriage and children. It’s always been a dream of mine to become a mother,” she said. Tears began to form in her eyes.

“I’ll talk to him as soon as I can. I’m ashamed to admit this, but I’ve had some experience with women, although not lately. I’ll tell Charles exactly what to do. Just be patient with him.”

Amber let out a sigh of relief. “Is that all it is?”

Garret hated lying, so he just nodded.

“I’m so relieved. I’d thought he just married me for my dowry. It’s such a relief to know he’s simply shy. Thank you so much, Garrett.” She leaned over and kissed his cheek. “You’re the best brother-in-law.”

Her simple peck on the cheek sent a quiver through him. He’d been truthful with her in one respect: he did have a deep need for love. His mother had showered him with constant affection during his youth, but after she’d given birth to Charles, she was confined to bed most of the time. He’d greatly missed her attention, but being just six at the time, he was forced to grow up quickly. But he never did outgrow the need for love and affection.

Garrett stood. “I’ll do my best,” he said. As he looked down at her, she smiled up at him again, and he knew, in that instant, that he’d do what Charles had asked him to.

Rather than be overheard at home discussing this, Garrett went to Charles’s office at the hotel and found him bent over construction blueprints on his desk.

“So, how do I pretend to be you and consummate your marriage?” Garrett asked.

“You’ll do it, then?” Charles asked with wide eyes.

“Yes, but not for you. I’m doing it for her, and there is one more stipulation.”

“What’s that?”

“I want you to put twenty percent of the hotel profits into a bank account until you’ve replaced Amber’s dowry. You will then present it to her, and tell her the truth, that the marriage was a sham, and set her free. She has a right to find a good man and have a happy marriage and children.”

“What if you get her with child?” Charles asked.

“I doubt that will happen only being with her once, but if it should happen, then, I’ll marry her myself, then pray to God I can make her happy without us loving each other,” he said.

“It doesn’t have to be just once. You could—”

“Once!” Garrett said, pounding on his desk.

“All right. I agree,” Charles said. “Whenever you're ready, just sneak into her room after she’s turned off her lamp and pretend you’re me. Don’t speak unless you have to and even then, just whisper.”

“Then sign this.” Garrett removed a formal document from his pocket.

“What’s that?”

“A legal contact to what you just agreed to. You will return every penny to Amber.”

Charles scribbled his name on the contract. “All right. How soon can you do it?”

“The sooner the better,” Garrett said. “I’ll see that you get a copy of this contract.”

The thought of making love to Amber was anything but distasteful. In fact, his growing admiration for her may have been paramount in his decision to go along with it. He definitely felt an attraction for her so he wouldn’t be pretending his feelings. The only thing left for him to question was what would happen afterward?

He shook his head. How did his brother manage to get himself in such a predicament?

He entered the house and stood frozen to the spot outside his bedroom door. Amber was standing in the doorway of her bedroom, wearing a thin nightgown, in the process of lighting a lamp to carry into her room. She must have had to leave her room to fill the lamp. The light from the lamp illuminated her figure through her thin garment, causing him no end of discomfort. He made up his mind at that moment that that night would be the night he'd do it.

When she began to turn his way, he ducked quickly into his room, but neglected to close the door, as he didn’t want her to know he was at home. He came out when he heard her bedroom door close.

At that moment, Charles came into the house with Clint, and he followed them into the sitting room. He noticed through the space beneath her door that Amber had just turned her lamp off.

“Charles, go to her door and ask her if you might come in,” Garrett said.

Charles smiled at his brother and walked to Amber’s door.

“Amber, may I come in?” he asked.

“Yes. Of course you may,” she called out.

Garrett put out the lamp that had been lit in the sitting room so she wouldn’t see him when he entered, and then slipped into her room.

Chapter 9

Garrett fumbled in the dark as he tried to make his way to her bed. He sat down on the edge, near her waist, and took one of her hands in his.

“Are you ready to consummate our marriage?” he whispered, keeping his head bent downward.

“I’m glad you came,” Amber whispered back.

Now that Garrett’s eyes had adjusted to the darkness and he could see her, he knew there was a chance she might also recognize him, so he rolled over her body to lie beside her, and kept his face hidden by a pillow. He wondered what he was doing there. Was he really about to consummate his brother’s marriage?

Before he thought about it too much and wound up changing his mind, he reached over, put his arm around her waist, and pulled her against him. Good gracious, she felt wonderful. He could feel her warm body through the thin fabric. Closing his eyes, he visualized what she'd looked like earlier, when he saw her in the lamplight, and he pulled her closer still. He said a silent prayed that God would forgive him this one last time for sinning with a woman.

This favor for Charles would be no burden for him. Without doing anymore thinking, he found her lips and kissed her, gently at first. He groaned and kissed her again, this time with all the feeling he'd been bottling up. To his delight, she returned his kiss with as much passion as he’d given her. Moving from her lips, he kissed her beneath her ear, on her neck and then he rushed back to her lips. He kissed her again and again, each time deeper, and with increased frenzy. His body soon took charge and he instinctively moved on top of her, still kissing her passionately. She had to know how ready and willing he was. He’d never tasted lips so sweet in his life, and her kisses made him wild with desire for her.

As Amber prepared for bed, she wondered if Garrett had had an opportunity yet to speak with Charles about intimacy. No sooner had she thought about it, then she heard his voice outside her bedroom door, asking for admittance, and she quickly and eagerly gave her consent.

She watched him as he entered the room. Her eyes had already adjusted to the darkness, and she was able to see that he was taller and more muscular than Charles. Whatever was going on? Rather than say something, she decided to keep still and wait. It had been Charles’s voice asking if he could enter, of that she was sure.

He sat down on the bed and took her hand. He asked her in a whisper if she was ready to consummate their marriage. Whispering didn’t seem like something Charles would do.

Just before he swung onto the bed beside her, she recognized him—it was Garrett! What should she do?

Before she'd had the time to think, he was pulling her toward him. She smelled his manliness, tempered with his aromatic shaving soap as he pulled her even closer, and kissed her.

That was all it took. Her world began to spin, her mind reeled, her body responded, and she returned his kiss, passion for passion not caring that it was Garrett and not Charles in her bed. In fact, she was glad.

He kissed her again and again, and the more he kissed her, the more her body responded as God had meant for it to. The thought that she was committing adultery never entered her mind.

Garrett rolled on top of her, still kissing her. She groaned and wrapped her arms around his neck, and instinctively she moved her body provocatively beneath him.

That was when he suddenly stopped kissing her, and froze. He lifted himself off of her and climbed from the bed. “I can’t do this!” he whispered. “I can’t do this. I’m so sorry.” He then got up and walked to the door. “Forgive me, please.” He left the room, closing the door softly behind him.

Amber felt as if she'd been about to hungrily devour a sweet cake, only to have had it yanked from her lips. Then, when her emotions settled, she knew it was for the best. She wasn't married to Garrett, which was unfortunate, because she now knew she was in love with him. Had they made love, she’d have been guilty of adultery. God forgive her, she’d hadn't even realized that fact.

What a conundrum! The man she married didn’t care for her, but his brother—what did he feel? Why did he come to her and almost make love to her? She knew it was definitely Charles’s voice asking to enter, so that told her Charles had most likely set the whole thing up. But why?

The only thing saving her self-esteem was the fact that Garrett didn’t realize she knew it was him. He thought he’d fooled her, so she needn't be embarrassed to face him the next day. All that she wanted to know was why he'd attempted the ruse, and why Charles hadn't done the deed himself.

Did Charles favor men?

She knew that, no matter how difficult, when next she saw Garrett she couldn’t let on that she knew it was he that had been in her bed. She couldn’t, even though she now knew she was in love with her brother-in-law.

Amber fell to her knees and prayed for God’s forgiveness and His help.

When Garrett left her bedroom, neither Charles nor Clint were at home, so he went to his room, and fell upon his bed. What had he almost done? When it came right down to it, he couldn’t make love to her under false pretenses. He was ready, and she was more than willing, but she had thought he was her husband.

He discovered he had more scruples than he’d thought. How could he have made love to a woman who thought he was someone else? What satisfaction would he get from knowing how much she loved Charles when he was almost sure he’d fallen in love with her himself.

While he was a strong believer and followed God, he’d hoped his promiscuities were forgiven each time he’d asked in the past. Each time he’d been with a woman, he’d beg God’s forgiveness, but his weakness got the better of him several times, but adultery—that was another matter. He was glad he’d made the right decision last night.

Of all the women he’d known and made love to, none of them could ever compare with her sweet, soft lips and her innocent kisses, but when he'd felt her responding beneath him it shook him into reality. She wasn’t making love to
him
, she was making love to Charles, and that had turned him completely off.

He was glad it hadn’t happened, for if it had, he’d be suffering from remorse. Now there was nothing he could do to help her. Thank God, at least she didn’t know it had been him. She’d just think it was Charles that had gotten cold feet.

Garrett made up his mind: hardship or not, he was moving out. He could no longer stay in that house with the woman he loved, especially when she was supposedly married to his brother.

What a mess.

The first thing he’d have to do after work was to look for a place to live. He wondered if the apartment over the barbershop had been let yet.

“Good morning, Charles, Clint, Garrett,” she said as she entered the kitchen in the morning. She avoided looking at Garrett, though she smiled and acted like nothing had happened the night before. In fact, she made a point of giving Charles adoring looks throughout breakfast.

“What will you do today, my dear?” Charles asked.

That was the first time he’d ever spoken to her with a term of endearment. So, he thought Garrett had been successful at making love to her. She laughed inwardly.

When Garrett got up abruptly to leave the house, she gave some thought as to how she might handle the situation. She nibbled on her toast until Clint left, as she knew he would‒he always left when he'd finished eating.

Amber popped the last of her toast into her mouth and patted Charles’s hand before he was able to jump up to clear the table. His head swung toward her, and he eyed her, looking puzzled.

“You were wonderful last night,” she said. “You surpassed anything I’d ever imagined. I hope we can do it again, soon.”

She enjoyed watching as Charles’s mouth dropped open. He seemed speechless.

“Um, yes it was rather wonderful, but it can’t be done too often, or the excitement would soon wear off, you know.” He started to clear the dishes from the table, much quicker and louder than usual.

“Hmm,” she murmured. “When will you begin sleeping in my bed?”

“That’s something I’ll try to avoid, for your sake, for I snore so loudly, I’m sure to bother your sleep. That’s why I’ve preferred the sofa, which is quite comfortable.”

“Oh, Charles,” she said adoringly. “You’re so thoughtful. How lucky I am to have such an unselfish husband. Just remember: you have open visitation rights.” She smiled provocatively.

After he’d washed up the dishes and cleaned the kitchen, he prepared to leave for the hotel. She met him in the kitchen, just as he was about to leave.

“Don’t I get a kiss goodbye?” she asked. “I do love your kisses.”

“I’m really running late,” he said. “Will your check be forth coming, then?

“I’ll go to the bank today and transfer it to your account.”

“Thank you.” He gave her a quick smack on the lips, quickly, and practically ran over the bridge to the hotel.

Amber would laugh at the situation, had it not been so pathetic. How would she extricate herself from this marriage? She had no intention of continuing with this union, least of all giving him her dowry. Should she make an appointment to see the minister? A solicitor? She’d have to take some time to think about it.