The Rancher (6 page)

"Edna, I'll not be attending the
festival!"

The woman raised her hand to
wave, looked over her shoulder and smiled. "Of course you will,
dear. Now, have a good evening!"

And with that, she was gone.
Laurel stared after her for long minutes before she finally exhaled
a deep breath.

As hard as she tried to not get
involved with the people of this town, it was getting harder by the
day. And now Edna had practically forced her to do so. Signing her
up for something she had no intentions of even attending.

She turned and resumed her walk
back to the school house, her thoughts on how to get out of
participating in the festival. The sound of a child talking caught
her attention and she turned her head toward the street, her pulse
leaping as she saw Holden and Alexandra on a black stallion headed
out of town. As always, Holden smiled and tipped his hat to her.
And just as she did every time she saw him, she tried to ignore
those fluttering butterflies swimming in her stomach as she turned
her head to look away from him.

Chapter Four

As luck would have it, the first
Saturday in September was as bright and cheery as they came. Laurel
looked out the small window of her room and heaved a sigh. Why
couldn't it have rained?

She turned to check her
appearance in the small mirror hanging on the wall, tucked in a few
errant strands of hair that refused to stay put and straightened
the front of her dress. Dread settled in her stomach and the aroma
of that apple pie she'd labored over all morning was making her
queasy. She was going to have to take the thing across town
regardless of her desire not to.

Just looking at the thing caused
her stomach to quiver. Holden Avery had given her enough apples
over the past month to fill several crusts but she'd purposely
given every one of them away to one of her students just so she
wouldn’t be reminded of him. When she'd ventured to the mercantile
for more, Mrs. Jenkins had informed her all the apples in her store
had come from the Avery ranch.

She just couldn't escape the
man.

Grabbing her pie, she slipped
out the back door, securing it behind her and walked in a hurried
pace to the clearing behind the mercantile. Her intentions were to
leave the pie, let Edna know she was there, and slip away
unseen.

Reaching the clearing, Laurel
smiled. Her plan to slip away would be easy with so many people in
the area. She stopped behind the store to get her bearings.

She hadn't realized there were
so many people in and around the Willow Creek area and noticed a
lot of the children from her classroom in attendance as she looked
at those gathered.

The clearing had been raked free
of the first leaves falling from the trees, garlands of late summer
flowers and early fall blooms strung from the trees and tables,
chairs, benches and long wooden tables covered in bright cloths
made the entire area warm and inviting. Too bad she wasn't staying.
It was sure to be fun.

Spotting a table on the left
filled with cakes and pies, she headed in that direction, avoiding
eye contact with everyone she passed.

One person in particular caught
her attention as she neared the table. Alexandra Avery was
screeching like a hellion and running around the table as if it
weren't filled with food, but that wasn't what made Laurel stop. It
was the pretty blue dress the girl was wearing. Her hair was
flowing loose too, her blond locks curling at the ends and made her
appear much older than she actually was.

The girl looked up at her and
crossed her arms over her chest. "What are you doing here?"

Laurel squinted at her. "Don't
worry, Alexandra, I won't be staying." The girl looked so happy,
Laurel had half a mind to stay just to irritate her but seeing
Alexandra meant her father was there somewhere and she'd been
dutifully avoiding him for the last month. He was the last person
she wished to see.

Setting her pie down on the
table, Laurel took another glance at Alexandra. "You look very
nice, Alexandra."

"Pft.." Alexandra made a face at
her. "Pa bought me this frock and said I had to wear it. I'm a
guessing you're the reason why."

Laurel hid a smile. "I suggested
you should look and behave like a lady, yes."

"I knew it." Alexandra huffed
out a breath and shook her head. "Don't be thinking he'll do
everything you say now. Only reason I didn't cause a fuss over it
was because he said I looked like my momma all dressed up and he
loves my momma." The girl eyed her with a calculating expression.
"Pa said my momma was the prettiest woman in all of Willow Creek
and they'll never be another like her."

"I'm sure there won't be."

Alexandra nodded her head. "So
even if he goes out of his way to be nice to you, it don't mean
nothing. He don't like ya. He probably just feels sorry for you, is
all."

Laurel doubted that. Holden had
made it perfectly clear what his intentions were and regardless of
what Alexandra said, Laurel knew her father wouldn't stop trying to
court her. She didn't know much about the man but stubborn stuck to
some people like a bad haircut and Holden Avery was stubborn to his
core.

Finished with their brief
conversation, Alexandra left with a stiff nod of her head. Watching
the girl walk away, Laurel knew Holden had to be in the clearing,
somewhere, and she needed to find Edna, make her presence known,
and leave before he spotted her.

She turned to look for Edna and
saw her immediately, rushing about the clearing and issuing orders
like a heavyset general to those following close behind her. Laurel
sighed and headed toward her, intent on making her appearance known
and then sneaking away.

"Laurel! I was just looking for
you." Edna beamed as she came to a stop in front of her. "Did you
remember to bring a confection for the auction?"

"Yes. I left it on the table."
She forced a smile on her face and tried to remember to be polite.
"You've done a nice job organizing everything, Edna. I'm sure the
town is grateful."

Edna laughed, her eyes shining
with delight. "Of course they are." She took Laurel's arm and
turned, the women behind Edna's large frame all looking a bit
haggard. "Ladies, I'm sure you all know Miss Montgomery, our new
school teacher." When Edna turned her head to look at her again,
Laurel knew getting away wouldn't be as easy as she'd hoped.

Introductions were made and
after long minutes of greeting the other ladies responsible for
making the festival run like clockwork, Laurel was ready to just be
rude and excuse herself. She was saved from the embarrassing
episode by a woman Laurel had seen around town, a petite woman with
blonde hair and an easy-going smile.

"Thank you, Edna, for
introducing the ladies to Miss Montgomery, but I'm afraid I have to
steal her away. I have things to discuss with her about teaching
Elizabeth when she's old enough to start reading."

Edna's mouth opened and closed
like a fish before the blonde woman grabbed Laurel's arm and had
whisked them both away. When they stopped on the other side of the
clearing, Laurel could only stare.

"Well, that was easier than I
thought it would be." The blonde woman laughed, holding out her
hand. "I’m Abigail Avery, by the way. I don't think we've been
formally introduced."

Avery
? Laurel's stomach
clenched tight. "Any relation to Holden and Alexandra?"

Abigail's beaming smile lit her
entire face. "I'm married to Holden's brother, Morgan, the marshal
here in Willow Creek."

"I see." Laurel wondered if
Holden had sent his sister-in-law over to her in hopes she could
persuade her into seeing his finer qualities. She'd already seen
most of them, she was sure, but that didn't mean she wanted to hear
more. The less she thought of Holden, the better off she was.

Glancing across the clearing to
where Edna still stood, Laurel watched her before saying, "Do you
think she'll notice if I'm not here?"

Abigail laughed. "Oh, she'll
know, trust me, so don't get any ideas of sneaking away. If I have
to suffer and be made to stay, so do you."

They made their way back to the
dessert table where Laurel had sat her pie and just seeing it there
made her cringe. Baking wasn't something she'd spent much time
doing but thankfully her pie looked edible. She noticed the name
cards beside each dessert, the name of the lady who'd baked it
proudly displayed and her eyes widened. "I wasn't aware everyone
would know who baked what."

Abigail nodded. "It's Edna's way
of showing her superiority. Everyone knows her cakes are the best
in town and the price she'll get from hers will cause her ego to
grow three sizes." She laughed and fingered a few of the name tags,
looking to see who had made what, Laurel supposed. "Which one is
yours?"

Laurel wanted to refuse to
answer but saw no reason to do so. Edna would be sure to make a
fuss because it wasn't tagged and Abigail would find out anyway.
"This one," she said, pointing it out.

"Oh, that looks fabulous."
Abigail looked around the dish before saying, "You didn't tag it as
yours?"

"No."

"Well, let's just fix that,
shall we?"

Laurel sighed as Abigail took
one of the small slips of paper, wrote Laurel Montgomery on it and
propped it against the side of her pie. She glanced around the
clearing again, noticed the men looking at that dessert table with
hungry eyes and knew Edna had been right. The money they'd raise
from the baking auction would help them raise the funds they needed
to attract a new doctor but as she looked back at her pie, Laurel
couldn’t help feeling embarrassed by it. When the men in town heard
she'd made that pie, the silence that followed the bidding for it
would be eerie.

* * * *

Holden saw her standing near the
baked goods table with Abigail and wasn't sure who to thank for
that small blessing, his sister-in-law or Laurel for even showing
up.

When he'd heard of the festival,
he knew he'd have the perfect opportunity to talk to Laurel without
her shooing him out of her classroom or walking past him in the
street as if he didn't exist. He wasn't even sure why he bothered
anymore. The woman obviously didn't like him, regardless of the
time they spent together in Missoula.

Her disdain where he was
concerned didn't make him want to stop trying though.

If it hadn't been for Alex, he
would have already been at Laurel's door trying too woo her but his
daughter's adamant refusal to like the woman had stayed his
actions. He couldn't make Alex like her and courting the woman
would only cause problems in the future. Which left him staring at
her from afar and watching to see if anyone else in town could
break through her icy exterior and actually get her to talk.

"I don't care how much you stare
at her, Holden, she won't walk over here and start a conversation
with you."

Holden grinned and turned to
look at his twin brother, Colt. "She wouldn't come over to talk to
me even if you paid her."

"Well, she's smart." Colt
laughed and crossed his arms over his chest. "Any woman willing to
talk to you would make me think they were daft."

"Oh, she's smart all right. And
hiding something."

Colt raised one eyebrow at him.
"You're getting as suspicious as Morgan now. Everyone he meets, he
thinks they're hiding something."

"Most people are."

"Really?" Colt grinned. "And
what are you hiding?"

Holden gave him a sideways
glance, one corner of his mouth slanting up. "None of your
business."

Edna interrupted their
conversation when she gave an unladylike whistle and gained
everyone's attention. She made a boring speech, gloated about how
wonderful the festival was turning out, thanks to her efforts, and
mentioned the number of activities that would be taking place
throughout the day. The dance planned for later that night had
everyone in good spirits, himself included, as long as one spiteful
little schoolmarm was planning on being in attendance.

The auctions started and
everyone seemed to congregate in one general area. Directly in
front of him. He lost sight of Laurel in the rush and craned his
neck to try and find her. It was hopeless. There were too many
people gathered to spot her.

The cake auction went about as
fast as he thought it would and he waited, listening to every
ladies name called as her cake or pie was offered and it wasn't
until that last plate was lifted that he smiled. An apple pie,
baked by the new school teacher herself. The fact she'd baked apple
pie amused him. He'd given her enough over the last month to bake a
half a dozen pies.

Edna started the bidding and the
silence that followed was astounding. Holden watched the faces of
the men around him and they all seemed to be looking at their feet.
That's when he realized why Laurel had looked so forlorn when she'd
looked at that table of desserts. She'd known this would
happen.