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“Yes, ma’am. I’d take you in, but Tuck’s waiting on me. Skylar will answer the door.” His horse sidestepped away. “Good day to you.”
Not so far. She set the brake, stepped down from her buggy and strolled toward the two-story ranch house.
Quite grand, she thought, crossing the wide porch to the double polished-oak doors. Surely Chance would want his own home, away from his brother’s family? Her home wasn’t nearly as large, but it was quaint and she was settled. She rapped her knuckles three times against the wood. Tugging off her gloves, she decided she was very anxious for a visit with her future sister-in-law, and her guest.
The door opened and her gaze locked on an impossibly large belly.
“Salina. What a surprise.”
The poor dear! “Hello, Skylar. Aren’t you…”
“Huge,” Skylar supplied, patting her round stomach.
She couldn’t argue. She’d never seen a woman so heavy with child.
“Twins,” Skylar said.
Salina had always counted her inability to produce a child as a blessing—and was now twice as thankful.
“What can I do for you, Salina?”
“I heard there was another woman in the area, and I thought I’d pay a social call.”
Her neighbor stared down at her in clear surprise.
Salina couldn’t deny that she’d never been one to pay social calls in the past, at least not to women. But that was before they’d brought in a rival.
“We’re in the midst of preparing supper.”
“Oh, thank you, but I can’t stay to eat.” She stepped between the small gap of the door frame and Skylar’s belly and slipped into the house. “I just wanted to say hello and give a proper greeting.” She glanced around the large yet frightfully simple home. The bare tables and clunky furniture reminded her of a bunkhouse. The woman of the house clearly had no sense of fashion or style.
Movement beyond the dining hall caught her attention. A rather plain woman with reddish hair walked toward them, wiping her hands on a white apron tied at her waist.
This is my competition? Wyatt hadn’t mentioned the splash of freckles on the woman’s face or her sturdy build. Pleasantly plump, thought Salina. The woman’s drab gray smock and black dress were similar to that of Salina’s housekeeper’s.
“You must be Miss Tindale.” She hoped.
“Yes.”
Salina glanced back at Skylar and awaited her introduction.
“Cora, this is our neighbor, Mrs. Salina Jameson, owner of the Lazy J ranch, just beyond the east end of our valley.”
Salina flashed her best smile. “Charmed.”
“Likewise,” Cora replied.
“Cora is such a lovely name.”
“Thank you. My condolences on your loss,” she said, glancing at her diamond wedding ring.
“It was a shame,” she said, releasing a mournful sigh. Catching his wife at the peak of passion with a ranch hand had been too much for her late husband’s elderly heart. Had she realized such a scene would divest her of him so efficiently, she wouldn’t have waited four years before seducing Wyatt in the parlor.
“Shall we sit?” Salina asked, making her way toward the furniture.
Cora glanced at Skylar’s perplexed expression as Salina Jameson made herself at home. The young widow flounced onto one of the chairs. Light chiffon ruffles fluttered around her, the black mass emphasizing her tiny waist. The dress could hardly be referred to as widow’s weeds, the stiff bodice barely covered the ivory mounds being pressed toward the woman’s dainty chin. A black bonnet secured a bundle of cascading brown curls.
Cora followed Skylar to the adjacent sofa and offered her arm for support as Skylar leaned back. She felt a twinge of caution as she seated herself across from the woman watching her with calculating brown eyes. Salina sat on the edge of her chair, her hands folded in her lap, her posture impeccably straight, as though she might spring up at any moment.
“So,” Salina said, her voice dripping with sweetness, “how do you know the Morgans?”
“My mother was married to their father for a short time during our childhood.”
“Oh, so you’re related?”
“No blood relation, of course. Two years after our parents wed, their father perished in the war. Chance and Tucker have stayed dear to my heart.”
“And now you’ve come to Wyoming to settle close to your brothers—how lovely. I think you’ll find your chances of finding a husband greatly improved. Men around these parts aren’t so choosy.”
Cora looked into Salina’s perfect smiling face and felt as though she were back in her mother’s house. Skylar leaned forward in a rush, clearly picking up on the barb, but Cora knew this game all too well. “How reassuring,” she said, patting Skylar’s arm as she returned Salina’s fake smile.
“Indeed. And don’t feel as if you have to settle. I feel quite fortunate to be courted by Chance.”
“Courted?” Skylar repeated. “I wasn’t aware.”
“Yes, well. Chance is not much of a talker. Lately I’ve not seen as much of him as I would like.”
“I think that’s wonderful,” Cora said, certain this announcement was for her benefit. “I was just telling Skylar today that I’d never had a sister. The prospect of having two is thrilling.”
“I’ll anticipate seeing more of you, then,” said Skylar. “Seems a shame that in the three years we’ve been neighbors, this is your first formal visit.”
“Truly,” Salina said, beaming. “I would love nothing more.”
A side glance from Skylar told Cora she had her doubts.
Boot steps pounded against the porch just before the front door burst open. Tucker stormed in as though he intended to foil a robbery. Chance walked in behind him. Both men stopped short as their gazes collided with Salina.
“Salina,” said Tucker. “Is everything okay on your ranch?”
Her gaze moved a bit frantically between the two, as though trying to distinguish one brother from the other, which Cora found rather amusing. “Yes. Thank you.”
The seething chill in Chance’s eyes must have given him away. “Hello, Chance.”
“Evening.”
The temperature in the room seemed to drop a few degrees. It appeared she wasn’t the only one subjected to Chance’s less-than-welcoming reactions. For a reason she couldn’t explain, her spirits lifted.
Salina sprang up in a flutter of black chiffon. “I really must be going. Skylar, Cora, it has been lovely.” She stepped between the two brothers and slid her arm beneath Chance’s. “Chance,” she said, not seeming to notice the narrowed eyes that had never left her. “See me out, won’t you?” Chance stared down at Salina’s smiling face, then glanced at her arm hooked around his.
What the hell’s going on?
He didn’t wait to find out in front of his family. He turned and guided Salina toward the front door as quickly as he could.
The moment Garret had told him Widow Jameson was at the house, he and Tucker had hightailed it home. If Tucker was right and he had roughed up Salina’s current lover, he didn’t want his sister-in-law bearing the brunt of her anger. Judging by the eerie pleasantries he’d just witnessed, that didn’t seem to be the case.
Salina nestled against his side as he led her onto the porch and closed the door behind them.
“I’ve missed you,” she said, tightening her hold on his arm.
“Lately, I seem to be blessed that way.” Being missed by women was becoming a true hazard.
Once in the yard, he slipped his arm from her grasp.
“Chance,” she said, puckering her lower lip. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you weren’t happy to see me.”
“Well…” He rubbed a hand against the tension in the back of his neck. “I suppose that all depends. Did Wyatt give you my message?”
“Are you referring to the news of your guest, Miss Tindale?” she asked, batting her thick eyelashes.
“I’m referring to Wyatt blocking one of our rivers. I lost one of my best colts yesterday as a result.”
“My gracious. That is truly terrible. I had no idea our pond construction would have such a diverse effect on your land.”
“Pond construction?”
“Yes.”
“Nearly eight miles from your house?”
“Yes.” Her eyes fluttered as she flashed a smile.
“And you didn’t realize diverting water from my land would turn the riverbed into a mud bog?”
“Why, I suppose I just didn’t think it through. I must admit, having you to help oversee such business decisions would clear up this kind of confusion.”
The woman was talking in riddles. “Oversee your business decisions?”
“After you put a ring on my finger, of course.”
He’d definitely missed a big part of this conversation. “A ring?”
She batted those long lashes. “Well, I’ve tried being subtle.”
“Salina, you’re about as subtle as a thunderstorm.”
She beamed a smile. “Then you must have realized that I fancy you.”
The way he heard it, she’d fancied quite a few men even before she’d been widowed, but he wasn’t one for repeating gossip. It wasn’t his business and she wasn’t the first to marry for material comfort.
“You see, I’ve decided it’s time to start thinking about the future, and I want that future to include you.”
“Why?” The question shot from his mouth as if by its own accord, surprising him—and Salina.
“Well…” she said, seeming to search for an answer. “You’re the first real gentleman I’ve come across in a long while.”
“You’d be the first to label me as such,” he said, amused by the title. Just because he hadn’t tossed her to the grass and taken what she’d repeatedly offered didn’t mean he was a gentleman. He’d been tempted. He enjoyed a roll in the hay as much as the next man, but not at the risk of gaining a wife he hadn’t sought. For now, reason outweighed his lust.
“Surely you can see the advantages of seeking my hand,” she persisted. “You’d gain my land and the profit of my stock.”
“That’s a hell of a proposal, Salina.”
Anger firmed her delicate features. “I wasn’t proposing! I was merely suggesting the good that could come from merging our land.”
“Only, I don’t have the need for a cattle outfit. My business is horses. The cattle we range are for training and our own consumption. The ones your men don’t steal, that is.”
“By merging our ranches, there’d be nothing to steal.”
Now he was getting somewhere. “So you admit your awareness of the problem?”
“You’re straying from the topic of conversation.”
“Which is?”
“Marriage.”
This just wasn’t his week. “Then let me be blunt. I don’t want a wife. And we’re getting real tired of dealing with the thieves and thugs you call a cattle crew.”
She sashayed toward him in a way meant to gain a man’s attention. “I think I can change your mind,” she said, placing her hands against his chest, slowly sliding them up to his shoulders. He wasn’t immune to her touch. He’d gone too long without the physical gratification of a woman. “Perhaps you’re not comprehending the finer points of marriage?”
He comprehended just fine.
He let his hands fall against her tiny waist, noting she smelled of rose petals. Not one of his favorite scents, he decided.
“Salina,” he said, leaning his head toward hers.
“Yes?”
“If your men don’t learn to behave themselves, someone’s gonna get killed.”
She shoved him with a huff and planted her fists on her narrow hips. “You’re a difficult man, Chance Morgan.”
“I’m a businessman, Salina. And you are an independent, business-minded woman.”
She beamed as though he’d given her a compliment. “Exactly. We’re well suited.”
She certainly matched him in persistence. “Perhaps,” he conceded. He glanced past her toward the darkening sky. His men had already headed around back to clean up for supper. “It’s getting late.”
Her lips puckered in a pretty pout. “Will you think about what I said?”
