Rugged and Relentless (11 page)

Lacey paid him no heed. “Don’t be such a bear, Braden. You’ve put your fiancée through a lot these past few months.”

“She’s not my fiancée.” He refused to look at her—saying the words was hard enough without seeing what he was giving up.
Yet another reason she has to leave. If she’s near, I won’t be able to let her go
. Her gasp pierced through him, but he held firm.

“We thought you were dead!” Tears wavered in Cora’s voice. “The news devastated me, Braden. When I learned you’d survived, that was all that mattered. Don’t worry about whatever else you said. You’ve been through a harrowing experience. In time—”

“I won’t change my mind.” He wouldn’t turn his head to face her, either, for fear she’d see the truth. It would be all too easy for him to change his mind, to claim her as his own and ignore the fact that she deserved a whole man.
A real man
.

“Neither will I.”

“Now isn’t the time to be discussing the particulars of your engagement, really,” Lacey broke in, hands fluttering as though warding away worries. “We need to discuss our plans.”

“The plan …” Braden’s clenched fists began to ache as he
reiterated, “The plan is for you to
get out of here
!” He raised his voice to a shout on the last four words.
“Now!”

“No need to yell, Mr. Lyman.” Evelyn Thompson swept into the room, Naomi Higgins close behind her. “Our hearing works quite well, thank you. Besides”—she bustled over to lay a bracing hand on Cora’s shoulder as she spoke—“we just arrived.”

Good. Her sister will take care of her
. Braden’s hands relaxed a little.
Evie’s the practical one. She’ll listen
. He’d made a mistake in watching Evie cross the room to Cora, because it let his eyes fall on his fiancée.
No. Not my fiancée
.

Her eyes—her glorious, mismatched eyes that saw straight through him—shone with tears. Her lips, usually curved into the sort of smile a man felt all the way through, pressed together tight, as though damming up a torrent of words. But her hands nearly broke him. He’d ordered her not to touch him, so she’d stopped. Now he saw her hands rested on the edge of his bed, long fingers splayed atop his sheets, stretching as close to him as possible without making contact.

Braden groaned and slammed his eyes shut.
She has to go, Lord. There’s a limit to my strength. To any man’s strength
.

“It’s good to see you, Braden.” Naomi’s voice pulled him.

“You’ve all seen him now.” Pompous as always, the doctor pushed his way into the crowded room. “That’s enough visiting.” Choice phrases like “tiring,” “overtaxed,” and “setback” promised dire consequences if Braden wasn’t left to rest and heal in peace.

Strange how the same ominous warnings he’d disregarded, barking orders at the mutinous little man to unstrap his arms, now made perfect sense. Better yet, they shooed the women from the room.

When they left—with every intent to return, despite Braden’s orders—the doctor took one look at him and advanced with the morphine. Braden didn’t protest. For now, the memory of the mines couldn’t be half so wracking as thoughts of Cora crying because she wouldn’t listen …

“I couldn’t have heard that right.” Lacey sank onto a sofa and scarcely noticed the sudden poof of dust. A clear sign of duress, that the fact their current home needed thorough cleaning ranked so abysmally low on her list of priorities.

Somehow she’d thought everything would fall into place once they arrived in Hope Falls. So why was it that, all of a sudden, everything seemed even more complicated? The town seemed far emptier and more dismal than she’d imagined, which meant setting up the café and mercantile and even the mill would be a greater challenge than expected. Mr. Draxley, whom she’d counted as a resource, clearly wouldn’t provide much help.

Braden looked worse off than she’d hoped. Worse yet, he’d not been happy to see her.
Ingrate
. She scowled at the thought of all they’d gone through for such an ungracious reception.
My brother needs more than medical attention—he needs to relearn several lessons in manners!

Because, as disappointing as everything else may be—and there was no “may” about it in Lacey’s book—the absolute worst thing about their first day in Hope Falls was Braden’s callous treatment of Cora. If Lacey’s heart broke at his harsh words and clear wish to never see his fiancée again, she could only imagine how her best friend felt.

Though, judging by the stiff way Cora moved, the absolute lack of expression on her face, and the way she kept blinking, it didn’t take too much imagination. Shock, sorrow, and a desperate will not to dissolve into tears seemed about right.

If my brother weren’t crippled, I’d tell Evie and let her wallop Braden until he remembered himself!

With all that swirling around in her head, it didn’t leave much room for dust balls to loom large. Especially not with Evie telling her how all the men unloading their luggage were going to be trying to marry them. Which made no sense. None at all.

I need a nap. A good lie-down will help sort things out
.

“You heard it properly,” Naomi chimed in. “Be thankful you weren’t there when we heard it from the men themselves.”

“Draxley didn’t hire them, then?” Cora bestirred herself—a good sign. “I must admit that part makes some sense. He doesn’t seem the most effective sort of business manager, does he?”

“In all honesty, he puts me in mind of a rabbit.”

“Naomi!” Evie’s gasp at the other woman’s statement made them all jump. She began to laugh. “Thank you! It’s been bothering me the entire time—I couldn’t decide exactly who it is that Mr. Draxley puts me in mind of, but that’s it. It’s as though the White Rabbit from Lewis Carroll’s
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
sprang to life as a man and hopped here!”

“My word.” Lacey went into peals of laughter. “Now that you point it out, the resemblance is uncanny. The spectacles …”

“Something about the twitchy mustache.” Cora chuckled along with them, beginning to rally from the encounter with Braden.

“Weren’t his first words something about being late?” Naomi’s observation set them off in a fresh round of titters.

There’s only so much a woman can endure in a single day without a bracing bout of giggles
. Lacey decided that the four of them had been overdue, but the timing couldn’t have been better. When they caught their breath, they were far more ready to tackle the situation at hand. Well, situations, but one at a time would simply have to do until they’d settled in.

And cleaned
. She beamed as she noticed how the dust had gained importance now that her vexation over Draxley eased. Dust could be done away with, which meant even more progress.

“So the men currently carrying things to the café and mercantile aren’t workers. They’re prospective grooms.” Lacey brought the conversation back to the most pressing topic.

“Both,” Evie corrected. “Once they’d clarified their intentions, Naomi and I struck a bargain. Our erstwhile suitors will also be doing the initial work clearing the mill site and so forth in
exchange for room, board, and meals.”

“And the chance to cut out the competition they might face if other loggers came in to do the job.” Naomi sighed. “It seems our earlybirds already expect another influx of men.”

No, no, no! This wasn’t the plan! The men were supposed to write their responses, and then we’d choose
. She grappled with this displeasing sensation of being thwarted for a few moments.
Think, Lacey. What do you do when things don’t go your way?

The answer to that was startling.
Why have I never realized before how rarely things don’t turn out as I’d like?
Most likely because she’d never needed to think about it. So she’d think about it now until she came up with a solution.
Ah … there. I’ll simply turn it around again to work for me
.

“What an excellent stroke of luck!” Her interpretation stunned them all. She understood. Lacey would have stunned herself with such a declaration mere moments ago. “Yes, the unexpected is unsettling, but look at all the benefits of having so many men already here! We won’t have to wait to meet them, already have several options, and don’t need to feel guilty over those we don’t choose, as we didn’t send for any of them!”

“Yes, but selecting our husbands was supposed to take several steps and a certain amount of time,” Naomi protested. “And, while I’m not saying these aren’t fine, upstanding, hardworking men, it’s belatedly occurred to me we didn’t mention anything about education, refinement, and the like.”

“Refinement isn’t a requirement to make a life out West,” Evie pointed out. “As far as education goes, yes, I noticed their coarse speech, but they know what we do not about the business of lumber. That’s what we need—and what we asked for.”

Lacey wanted to cheer Evie’s speech, but a small corner of her thoughts whispered doubts.
Coarse speech? Lack of refinement? Little or no education? Why didn’t I consider that would be the case when we asked for working-class men!

“Ingenious of you to elicit their help while they’re courting.
That way, you don’t have to rely on Mr. Draxley to hire workers.” Cora raised a single brow. “Better still you bargained for room, board, and meals without any mention of wages!”

“Better yet, they have motivation to work hard to impress us.” Evie’d been thinking about this in great detail, it seemed. “And when others arrive—if any other men arrive—they’ll have to abide by the same bargain or be forced to leave, having lost face. The men won’t stand for anyone not pulling his weight.”

“It’s obvious which of us is the businesswoman!” Naomi gestured toward Evie with obvious admiration. “I only thought of the basics when you started enlisting them as our workers!”

“There’s nothing basic about any of this.” Sorrow drew across Cora’s face. “This place makes everything convoluted.”

“We’ll sort it all out.” Lacey drew her into a hug. “Braden hurts and his pride put his nose out of joint when you saw him lying there. Give him time … And if that doesn’t work, you have my permission to do whatever else you feel necessary.”
He already deserves it for acting like a fool!

“I might take you up on that,” her best friend warned.

“We all might.” From the grim note in Evie’s tone, she’d already surmised what sort of reception Braden had given her sister. “But for now, I promised those men supper, and I’ll need your help to get it done in time. Besides …” Her glance shifted toward the window as she added, “We promised the men proper introductions, so we can all get a better look at them.”

“You know you want to get a gander at ‘em yourself.” The other occupant of the diner waggled his brows in what he clearly intended to be a persuasive manner. The effort failed.

“Doesn’t make a hill of beans’ worth of difference to me what the three ladies look like.” Jake shook his head, suppressing a sudden swell of curiosity. If nothing else, witnessing this strange event would be entertaining—the sort of detour he would’ve
easily made in happier times.

“Ya never know. Could surprise us all and be real lookers. Then you’d regret not tagging along to find out what’s what.”

“That’s a turnaround from ‘hatchet-faced Methuselah.’” Jake didn’t bother to hide his amusement. “Why the change of heart?”

“Dunno.” He scratched his head. “Can’t stop thinking it might be a buncha widows with more land than they can handle, not bothering to look for love or money the second time around—just a strong arm and a steady smile. Then I’d kick myself for a fool for not finding out.” The fellow suddenly seemed to realize he’d let his inner romantic out in public. “Though it’s most likely they’ve got hairy lips and squinty eyes, o’ course.”

“Of course.” His coffee mug hid his chuckle until Jake knew he wouldn’t offend the other man. “But you misunderstood. I meant they can be bucktoothed or beautiful—it doesn’t matter.”

“In it for the money, then.” The flat statement, devoid of any humor, tattled of the other man’s disapproval. “Or getting the land out of trust or whatever sort of arrangement must tie things up. Reckon on there bein’ plenty of those sorts.”