Heart of Gold (8 page)

Frank, seated next to her on the settee, patted the hand she’d laid on his forearm. “And I want to hear all about them, daughter.” He turned intense eyes on Charlie. “But first, I have something to say to you, young man.”

Charlie braced himself. That particular tone in Frank’s voice never boded well.

“While I appreciate having my daughter back and willing to make amends,” he smiled briefly at Opal, then turned to Charlie again, “You and Opal were out all night without a chaperone. The hands are already talking, and if the gossip spreads to the other ranches and in town, like I know it will, this doesn’t look good for Opal’s reputation. Yours either, really, and if we’re going to be partners…”

It was a far cry from the reprimand Charlie had expected to hear that he laughed. He’d thought Frank would be more concerned about the danger his daughter had been placed in. “What?”

“You were out alone all night with my daughter,” Frank said gravely. “We both know you were just trying to keep her safe, but the way people will talk… it won’t look good.”

“Papa, Charlie was a perfect gentleman, I assure you.”

Opal’s eyes met Charlie’s briefly and he remembered those kisses they’d shared. Well, he’d been close to a perfect gentleman.

“Be that as it may, the fact remains you’re going to have to get married.”

While Charlie found himself liking the idea, Opal’s tense frown told it all. She wasn’t in favor of marrying him.

“Papa, you can’t force us to marry.” She sounded so reasonable, so matter-of-fact. “Let’s talk some more about the children.”

Seemed she’d moved right on as if her father hadn’t spoken, totally disregarding his words. Charlie’s stomach clutched. Should’ve known she wouldn’t want a cowhand like him.

Frank squinted at Charlie. “This isn’t exactly how I pictured things when I asked you to find a way to keep Opal on the Circle B, but…”

Charlie didn’t hear the rest of Frank’s words as Opal turned searching eyes on him. Of a sudden, all the air seemed to have left the room. The entire house. Charlie couldn’t catch his breath.

“Charlie?” she asked tentatively. “Is that true?”

He couldn’t tell if she was about to cry or if it was some other emotion clouding her eyes. His breath stuck in his chest painfully but he couldn’t deny it. He’d agreed to help Frank find a way to keep Opal here.

She rose, looking regal and calm and much too good for him as she turned for the door. “Apparently, I have some thinking to do. Gentlemen, please excuse me.”

And she swept out of the room.

Opal couldn’t help staring in dismay at the scene in front of her.

“Why, you little traitor…” she murmured.

Movement from behind her stirred the barn air, and Opal breathed in the scents of her childhood: hay, horses, sunshine.

And the scent of her future: leather and man. Charlie.

“Opal?” his voice came out softer, more tentative than she’d ever heard it before.

She didn’t turn to face him. Not yet. She was still trying to come to terms with a God who would answer her prayers, asked and unasked, to give her all her dreams.

“My cat…” She crossed her arms over the stall railing and leaned her chin on top of them.

Charlie moved beside her, almost shoulder-to-shoulder and chuckled low as he caught sight of the little turncoat.

Opal’s beautiful, once-white Persian cat was curled up in the hay with the largest, mangiest yellow tom Opal had ever seen. He was even missing part of one ear. Opal’s cat opened one green eye lazily and then closed it again, deciding her mistress wasn’t worth missing sleep over.

“Looks like she found a place of her own. Shouldn’t have tried to keep her locked in your room…”

Opal glanced at him sideways. “Are you trying to make some kind of analogy to our own situation?”

He sighed. “Opal, it’s complicated.”

She turned to face him, crossed her arms over her middle. “It can’t be that complicated. Did you or did you not agree to find a way to keep me on the Circle B for my father?”

He winced, fingers tapping nervously on the brim of the Stetson he held in front of him like a shield. “Well, I…”

“Yes or no?”

He shrugged helplessly, not meeting her eyes. “What else could I have done? Frank is my boss.”

“So you were looking for ways to make me want to stay.”

“Yes, but I’d never compromise you in any way. You know as well as I do that I wouldn’t want to trap anyone into marriage.”

So she did, remembering his words last night about his former fiancé being unhappy.

“Besides, when I agreed to help your pa, I didn’t even like you.”

Her hands moved to her hips almost of their own accord and he quickly backpedaled. “I meant-you didn’t like me either, in the beginning. But now, everything’s changed.”

His eyes pleaded with her and she’d never been able to tell a fib. A corner of her lips lifted.

Charlie’s eyes lit. “Everything has changed, hasn’t it?”

She considered him as he advanced, dropping his hat on a peg on the stall door. He took her waist in his hands, leaving her no choice but to move her grip to his shoulders to maintain her balance.

“I don’t want to get married because Papa demands it,” she told the third button on his shirt, the one right in front of her nose.

She watched his chest expand beneath the wool of his shirt as he took a deep breath.

“Well, I don’t want you to go back to Omaha and marry your beau just for those orphans.”

She gathered all her courage and looked into Charlie’s unsmiling face.

His throat moved as he swallowed. “What if we got married because we love each other? We can still find a way to take care of your kids back in Omaha.”

She tilted her head to one side, pretending to consider it. “And it would appease Papa…”

He gulped again, still more unsure than Opal had ever seen the confident cowboy before. “Even if your pa makes me a partner in the Circle B, I won’t ever make as much money as your beau back in Omaha. And ranch life isn’t always easy.”

“You trying to talk me out of marrying you, cowboy?”

He shook his head tightly. “No. I just want you to be sure.”

Opal laid her palm against his jaw. “I’m sure I love you. When I thought you were going to get yourself killed in that mine shaft with those scoundrels, I couldn’t stand it. I was going to come help you—”

He cut off anything further she might’ve said with a fierce kiss, staking his claim on her mouth… and her heart. When it was over and she was dizzy enough to need to lay her head on his broad chest, he feathered kisses at her temple.

“I love you, too, Opal. More than you could ever guess.”

She smiled against the collar of his shirt.

“And we’ve got to talk about your ability to follow orders. I told you to stay in the back of that mine shaft for a reason. A wife has to obey her husband…”

She raised her head enough to see the self-assured grin on his lips before she rose up on her toes and smothered it with a kiss of her own.

They had a lifetime ahead of them to settle the discussion.

THE END

Other books by Lacy Williams

MARRYING MISS MARSHAL

Praise for MARRYING MISS MARSHAL:

"Warmly romantic with a hint of adventure and an unconventional heroine."

--Publisher's Weekly (June)

"Williams’ debut is a great story with a twist, and it will keep readers riveted."

--RT Book Reviews (August)

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