Tall, Dark, and Determined (22 page)

Her shoulder ached more than it had when the doctor prodded it, but Lacey thought her heart bore the deeper bruise.
I don't want to be in his debt
, she protested.
Twice over!
But it went deeper than pride or who came out stronger from this interlude.

This even went deeper than worrying about what Chase Dunstan meant for Hope Falls. Deeper than not understanding why he walked away from talking to her or why a man who disliked her saved her from his dog. The thing that hurt was stranger, less important, and somehow more important than all of that.

How can he know me for less than two days, yet already see how far I fall short of being the woman my friends are?

“It'll take a better man than me to get Twyler to justice in one piece,” Jake admitted. Then added, “Aside from his leg, I mean.”

“You shot him in the leg rather than shoot him in the back as he ran like a coward,” Evie soothed. “We both know the choice not to kill him already makes you the better man, Cree—Jake.”

Regret over how they'd met—that he'd needed to give her a false name, that the woman he loved still sometimes thought of him as Jake Creed rather than Jake Granger—stabbed him. He shoved it aside by taking her in his arms and stealing a kiss. Sure, kissing Evie didn't take away the mistakes from his past. But somehow bad memories didn't stand a chance against an armful of warm, soft woman with a warmer heart and the sweet smell of something delicious always lingering around her hair.

“Mmm … Jake …,” she breathed, all thoughts of proper last names good and forgotten as they held each other. “Maybe it's not such a bad thing the doctor said he couldn't be moved for a while. This way you didn't have to leave right away.” A satisfied smile played around the corners of her mouth, prompting him to kiss her once more.

“You know I'd like to stay,” he agreed, ignoring the fact he'd been hunting Twyler to bring him home for half a year. Once an all-consuming quest for vengeance, now that he'd caught his brother's killer, it had transformed into a more tedious chore of tying up loose ends. “When this is over, I'll hurry back.”

“I know, but I'm still not sorry you were delayed. If anyone deserves an infected gunshot wound, it's Twyler.” Her vindictive announcement so beguiled him, he laughed.

“It's not the complication of his leg—worse comes to worse, Doc will amputate so Twyler can't escape clearing my brother's name and facing his own sentence.” He peered at her in the dark of the storeroom cupboard, where they'd gone to sneak a few private moments. The others wouldn't oblige them much longer. “I'm anxious to finish it, put the old away and begin anew.”

Light flooded the small room, ending their private conversation in an instant as Naomi Higgins peered around the doorway and cleared her throat. The oldest of the four marriageable women of Hope Falls, Jake got the impression Miss Higgins appointed herself something of the group's chaperone.

A thankless position, but one Jake appreciated. When it came to the other women. As far as he and Evie were concerned, they were engaged adults, and Miss Higgins's interruptions failed to amuse and succeeded in spoiling a fine interlude. He scowled.

“Don't you glower at me.” She planted her hands on her hips, only to have the door start to swing shut. At that, she abandoned the schoolmarm pose in favor of propping the door. “Up until you two decided you liked cuddling more than arguing, nothing got Evie out of her kitchen before suppertime!”

“We're engaged, Naomi.” Evie's exasperated remonstrance held more fondness than real irritation, but that was just one more thing to love about Evie. His woman loved other people.

“So are Cora and Braden, but back in Charleston we didn't let them traipse off alone for more than a quarter of an hour.” Miss Lyman joined her cousin, effectively blocking the doorway.

“Of course, once Braden recovers his health and enough of his brains, we could change that policy. Your sister might well—”

Even before she finished, Jake knew Lacey Lyman won the war. The slightest mention of her little sister and the mother hen in Evie came out clucking. To be fair, he didn't like the idea of a healthier Braden spending unsupervised time with Cora either. The man might need another whack in the head first.

“Oh no!” Evie slipped from his arms and pushed through the chaperone barricade at the door. “As soon as Braden is able to get out of that bed unassisted, those two won't be left alone.”

“Those two deal with different circumstances.” Just because Cora shouldn't be alone with Braden didn't mean Jake would give up any and every opportunity to hold Evie. He was a red-blooded man, after all. And she was … He looked over at her.
Mine
.

“Only so long as Braden's incapacitated.” Cora Thompson shrugged, seeming vaguely apologetic without giving an inch. How women managed that sort of thing, Jake would never know.

“If you envy his privileges”—Lacey Lyman gave him an appraising look that chilled him—”something could be arranged.”

“Hush, Lacey.” Evie didn't shout, but might as well have.

“It's all right, ladies.” Jake walked across the kitchen and lowered himself to straddle one of the work stools. From this position, he made it clear he didn't intend to leave before supper, but he also lowered himself so he didn't tower over anyone. That was important for what he needed to say next.

Apologies weren't easy, but at certain important points in a man's life, they were inescapable. Much like chaperones.

Mrs. Nash was resting before the meal, and Mrs. McCreedy—always a discreet soul—had ventured off to go check on her and help her back to the diner. That left the four women of Hope Falls—three who'd written the infamous ad to bring Twyler here, and one woman resolutely staying by the side of her querulous and now reluctant fiancé. In short, the four trusting women whose welfare he'd placed below his own personal vendetta.

“I owe all of you an apology.” This statement had the instant effect of silencing the room; no mean feat even when one of the women was distant and huffy toward the others. It surprised him that, out of all the women, it was frilly little Lacey Lyman who seemed most furious and least inclined to forgive Jake's deception.
Then again, the victim of Twyler's final crime probably
should
be most difficult to placate
.

Hopefully, what Jake had to say would smooth the way for all of them—especially Dunstan, whom Jake suspected bore the brunt of Lacey's anger over how he'd mishandled things so far. Only later, when they seemed so put out, did he realize he shouldn't have hired Dunstan without consulting the women. He didn't regret the decision, but he didn't want them to either.

“There's a verse in Proverbs that keeps running through my mind.” He started in full steam, intending to blast through this apology at top speed. “ ‘Bread of deceit is sweet to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel.' ”

“Since this is going to be an apology,” Miss Lyman broke in, a reluctant smile twitching the corners of her mouth, “I'll just ignore the fact you've singled out the one item I bake.”

Everyone else smiled wholeheartedly, whether amused by her comment or simply relieved at the indication she had a mind to listen. A little humor went far, as Jake had hoped when he chose the whimsically appropriate verse, though he hadn't known the particulars about who baked the bread.
I assumed Evie made it
.

“I arrived under false pretenses, using a made-up name and letting everyone believe I wanted to work in Hope Falls.” His admission sobered everyone in a hurry. “I came here looking for my brother's killer and found myself a bride along the way. That's how I found the truth behind that verse—revenge seemed so sweet while I chased it, but the aftermath is bitter indeed.

“I tried to protect you, but chose to hide it. It leaves me sour to know my silence put you in danger.” Here, he looked to Lacey. “Small deceptions have big consequences, no matter the intentions behind them. Please forgive my mistake and know I'll work hard to earn back the trust I failed to deserve.”

Having spoken a lot longer than he'd thought he'd need to cover everything, Jake fell silent. And became distinctly uncomfortable as no one said anything. Four women, united by circumstance, but divided by emotion, stared back at him.

    EIGHTEEN    

C
ora stopped gaping at her sister's fiancé before anyone else managed it. Naomi hadn't blinked in so long, she looked as though she'd forgotten how. Lacey seemed thunderstruck, unsure what to make of this and not certain she wanted to examine it.

If Cora knew her best friend, Lacey wanted to stay mad for a while longer, and Granger's humility pulled the rug from under her. Would Lacey forgive him or resent him even more for pressing her already overstressed emotions? Cora couldn't guess. Too much had gone wrong with her friend's grand plans, with no way for Lacey to express her frustration, for anyone to predict her reactions as of late. She was too hair-trigger.

Evie, predictably, looked at Granger as though he'd hung the moon, which seemed an almost equitable feat to what he'd just done. Silencing a room full of women wasn't easy, but, then again, men so rarely apologized for anything … and he'd
meant
it!

But how to acknowledge the extraordinary nature of what he'd done, when it was no less than he should have? No wonder they all sat there, dumbfounded and pleased, as things threatened to grow awkward. What could one say to the man?

Maybe I don't need to say anything to him!
Instead of addressing Granger directly, she directed her comment to Evie.

“Do you think he might be able to teach Braden to do that?” She glanced at her sister's fiancé, offering a broad smile. “Because if he can show Braden how to admit when he's wrong …” Cora felt her own smile fade as the request freed her strictly pent-up thoughts about the Braden she'd found in Hope Falls.

Everything sprang forth, tumbling over each other in an unstoppable tide. Snatches of conversation, hurtful words Cora tried so hard to ignore, threatened to overwhelm her. To the fore rose the memory of the first time she saw Braden since mourning his death, discovering his survival, and leaving everything she knew to rush to his side. The first time in more than a year they'd laid eyes on each other, and her beloved shouted …

“Get out!” More and more agitated as she tried to console him, reassure him of her love and dedication, he ordered: “Just leave…. I don't want you here.”

Things worsened until the only man she'd ever loved, who'd sworn he loved her, too, refused to even look at her. And suddenly it didn't matter so much that Braden survived the mine collapse after all. Cora was losing him all over again
.

“She's not my fiancée.”

“Some things can be shown, but not taught.” Granger's voice pulled her from the bog of her thoughts, his gaze sad and kind. “A man has to admit to himself that he's wrong before he can do anything else about it. It takes time, patience, and prayer.”