The Rancher (5 page)

"Not really. A lot of people
are. Take Edna Pierce for example."

They shared a laugh before
sobering. "She doesn't look old enough to be as bitter as she is.
What do you know about her?"

"Nothing much." Morgan stood,
picked up the papers on his desk and tossed them into the stove.
"Comes from somewhere in Arizona, I think."

"You think?" Holden shifted in
his seat. "Can you find out for sure?"

Morgan gave him a curious look.
"Why?"

Holden shrugged his shoulder.
"No reason."

His brother laughed as he picked
up his hat, placing it on his head. "You're a terrible liar,
Holden. I can see it in your eyes." He walked around the desk and
motioned to the door. "Come walk the town with me and you can tell
me all about Laurel Montgomery. I'm sure you know more than any
other man in town does."

"What makes you think that?"

Morgan stopped, turned his head
to Holden and stared at him for long moments before grinning. "I
actually didn't but the look on your face tells me you do. Is there
something you're not telling me?"

"No." Holden wondered if Morgan
could see the lie on his face. He stared him in the eye and kept on
talking, ignoring the accusation. "I just know she's mean spirited,
loathes the sight of me and makes me think things no decent man
should think about a woman."

"You and half the men in town."
Morgan shut the door on the jail and readjusted his gun belt.
"Seems to me the man who can withstand that waspish tongue of hers
will be the one who impresses the lady first and something tells me
you're just the man to do it. Lord knows you're used to
rejection."

Holden smirked at his brother.
"Not my fault all the available women who come through here always
find out I'm here after they made the grave mistake of taking up
with the wrong characters. Speaking of, how's Abigail and the
baby?"

They talked about nonsensical
things as Morgan made his rounds through town. Their last stop was
the Diamond Back Saloon and once inside the talk was the same as it
usually was now. Laurel Montgomery.

* * * *

She just couldn't escape the
man. Laurel hid her face behind the restaurant menu and hoped they
hadn't seen her. Alexandra was talking a mile a minute and her
voice carried as if the child were screaming and so far, Holden
only had eyes for his daughter.

Hearing the sound of chairs
scraping across the wooden floor, Laurel peeked over the top of her
menu. Her exhaled breath caused the menu in her hand to sway when
she saw them taking a seat near the front of the restaurant. They
hadn't seen her after all.

Pushing her embarrassment aside,
she'd had no choice but come to the restaurant. If she had to eat
one more meal alone, she'd hurt someone. Coming to the hotel was
still disconcerting. No one bothered to speak to her, which was
fine by her, but the looks they gave her as they ate, their
whispered words a hushed murmur in the background, was just too
much most days.

She was used to crowds of
people. Had spent her life being the center of attention but look
at her now. Reduced to sitting alone in a restaurant while the
other patrons whispered about her and made no secret she was the
topic of their conversations.

The server came back to her
table and Laurel smiled at her. The dire faced woman didn't return
the gesture. She stared at her unmoving and Laurel placed her
order, reluctantly gave the menu back and sighed.

This town had to be home of the
most unfriendly group of people she'd ever met. Not that she'd
helped matters any with the way she acted toward everyone, but
still. She wondered if acting so off-putting was as smart as she'd
thought. It drew attention to her like nothing else did,
apparently, and the last thing she needed was more attention.

Draping her napkin across her
lap, Laurel made the mistake of lifting her head and looking across
the restaurant again. Holden was staring at her, that irritating
smirk on his face. She felt heat burn her face as she blushed
before looking away.

A shadowy form appeared in the
corner of her eye. Glancing up she saw Holden, standing now and
crossing the room toward her. "Oh Lord," she whimpered, and busied
herself looking into her reticule in order to ignore him.

"Laurel," he said, tipping his
head toward her.

He'd removed his hat, his dark
hair longer than most men she knew wore it. It hung nearly to his
collar and framed his face perfectly. A face the man rarely shaved,
she noticed. The whiskers of a growing beard shadowed his jaw line
and accentuated his lips. His plain shirt was a bit snug and hugged
his chest, hiding those dips and curves she'd remembered
touching.

She blinked, reminded herself
she wasn't getting involved with anyone in this town, and that
included friendship, and lifted her chin, throwing him a disdainful
look. "Holden. Are you lost?"

He grinned. "No. I just came to
ask if you'd like to join us." He motioned to the table Alexandra
was sitting at, the look on the child's face clearly saying she
didn't share her father's good-natured sentiment.

Laurel threw him an aloof look,
said, "No, thank you," and continued to rummage around in her
bag.

He stood motionless for long
moments before he leaned down, bracing one hand on the table, the
other on the back of her chair and lowered his face next to her
ear. "Ignore me all you want, woman, but I'm not leaving. I have
every intention to make you my wife so you might as well face the
fact and stop being so ornery toward me. I want you, Laurel, and I
aim to have you."

He straightened, smiled down at
her and turned and walked away.

Laurel gaped at his retreating
back, his words whispering through her head like a sweet kiss on a
hot, sultry night. Make her his wife? A shiver raced down her spine
as images flooded her brain. Thoughts of being in that man's bed
caused her breath to catch. Listening to his seductive voice every
night as he took her body to heights she could only imagine and
seeing his smiling face every morning when she woke.

A fine sheen of sweat broke out
on her skin as he sat back down and looked her way. The desire in
his eyes caused her pulse to leap.

She forced herself to look away.
If she'd be true to her body's demands, she'd be tempted to just
throw her reservations to the wind and see what sort of trouble she
could make with him, wife or not. Lord knew they had no problem
getting along in bed. That night they spent together came back to
her on a daily basis and she was a woman who'd experienced more
than most. Her shameful past would haunt her forever but there was
nothing to be done about that now. She just had to accept her life
as it was and make the best of what she had, stay hidden and try
not to draw too much attention to herself in order to protect her
whereabouts.

The server returned with her
meal and it took everything in her to concentrate enough to eat.
She was half tempted to have it packaged to go but wasn't about to
run to her little room in the back of the school house with her
tail tucked. Especially not from a man. She didn't care how
good-looking he was or how much her heart fluttered just looking at
him.

Taking her time eating had been
the plan, just so she'd have something to do besides stare at the
same four walls of her room but those nervous butterflies in her
stomach screamed disaster. She ate quickly, trying to not seem as
if she was shoveling it in and was ready to go in record time. She
stood, not waiting for the server to come back with her ticket and
kept her eyes on the floor as she passed Holden Avery and his
daughter. Holden's soft, "See you soon, Miss Montgomery," was
ignored and it wasn't until she'd paid for her food and was outside
on the wooden sidewalk that she realized what a hypocrite she
was.

She made the children in her
classroom behave in a certain manner. They were to say thank you
when appropriate, greet others with courtesy and treat everyone
they met as they too would like to be treated. As of yet, she
hadn't lived by her words. She acted in the complete opposite
manner. She was rude, met everyone who spoke with her in a brash
manner and stuck her nose up at those who dared look upon her. All
because the men in her short twenty-six years of life were
controlling to the point of suffocation.

Slipping her straw hat on her
head, she tied the ribbon under her chin, exhaling a deep breath
before glancing back inside the restaurant window. Holden was
staring at her and somehow she knew he would be. The man just
didn't give up. His arrogant assumption that he'd marry her came to
mind as she looked at him and she smiled before she could stop
herself. She knew it was a mistake the moment his eyes lit up in
reaction.

If only her circumstances were
different. On one level, being married to a man like Holden Avery
would be a dream come true for her, but she knew men to be lying
and untrustworthy. He was probably no different. So what if a
single glance made her heart race. Or remembering him in the
altogether was enough to make her mouth water and want to beg for
more. He was certainly a man any sane woman would want to know more
about. Unfortunately, she wasn't just any woman. She didn't need or
want a man in her life and that was a plan she intended to stick
with.

Trying to forget her past, she
gave Holden one last look before starting for the school. She'd
only made it as far as the stagecoach station when Edna Pierce
yelled her name.

"Miss Montgomery! I'd like a
word with you."

Laurel sighed and stopped
walking. She'd seen Edna on the other side of the road and had kept
her head down, hoping the woman wouldn't see her.

Of all the people Laurel had met
in Willow Creek, Edna was the one she avoided the most. The woman
was just too irritating to carry on a civil conversation with. She
gossiped too much and gave Laurel disapproving looks when the
whispered secrets she loved sharing were met with silence.

Laurel folded her hands in front
of her and waited for Edna to cross the street. She forced a smile
onto her face as she reached her. As much as it pained her to be
nice to the woman, having her as an enemy would be disastrous.

"Miss Montgomery," Edna said,
breathless, "I wanted to formally invite you to the town festival
that will be taking place a month from Saturday." Edna smiled and
lifted her chin, a haughty look crossing her face. "We'll be
raising funds for the new Doctor we hope to attract and everyone
will be participating. There will be picnics and dancing, games and
auctions. It looks to be the event of the year."

"Oh. I'll help anyway I can,
Mrs. Pierce, but a teachers salary is very meager."

"Yes, I'm well aware of that,
which is why I signed you up for the auction."

Laurel raised one eyebrow at
her. "Excuse me?"

Edna smiled again, her chest
puffed up arrogantly. "It was my idea, really. As a woman of
standing in our community, and a member of the town council, I've
been asked to oversee the entire affair and it wasn't hard to come
up with an idea I knew would raise the most money. With so few
women in Willow Creek, the men here in town, and the surrounding
area, don't have the pleasure of sweet treats very often." Edna
heaved a breath, her eyes twinkling as if she'd accomplished some
great feat. "You'll need to prepare a confection for the auction. A
cake or pie. Cookies if you prefer but the more appealing the
treat, the more men will bid on it."

"Bid?"

"Yes, bid." Edna straightened
her spine and gave her a disapproving look. "Goodness, Miss
Montgomery, do you not listen?"

Laurel opened her mouth to
respond but thought better of it. She'd been listening, and wasn't
at all happy this woman had signed her up for something she wished
to take no part in. "I don't do much baking, Mrs. Pierce. And
actually, I'm sure I'll be too busy with lesson plans to attend
this town festival."

Thoughts of mingling with the
townsfolk set Laurel's teeth on edge. She avoided people most of
the time but being forced to socialize with them… that would never
do.

She smiled to lesson the blow.
"I appreciate you including me but it wasn't necessary. I'll donate
what funds I can for this new doctor but baking in order for
someone to bid on my pie? I can't see how that will help you."

"Oh, pish-posh!" Edna said.
"I've heard the rumors about your displeasing personality, dear,
but trust me, once the gentlemen in the area get a chance to talk
with you, they'll change their minds. Now, shall I put you down for
a pie or for a cake?"

Laurel blinked. Was Edna Pierce
daft or did she just not care about anyone's thoughts and feelings
but her own? When the woman just stood there looking at her, Laurel
realized it was the latter. What Edna wanted is what Edna got. She
sighed. "I can bake a pie for you. Where shall I drop it off?"

Edna's smile lit her face. "Oh,
just bring it to the clearing behind the mercantile on the first
Saturday in September." She turned in a whirl of skirts, mumbling
to herself and Laurel's eyes widened.