The Marshal Takes a Bride (8 page)

Trey kept his expression serious, intent. “Well, that’s a relief.”

Little worry lines dug between her arched brows as she toed the wooden slats beneath her feet. “I have a loose tooth, too.”

Trey had seen his share of stalling tactics to know when he was in the midst of some of the best. He stamped down his impatience and continued to play her game. “No kidding?”

She wiggled one of her remaining two front teeth with her thumb. “See?”

“I do, indeed.”

Suddenly realizing there weren’t any other Charity House children in the general area, he took a quick, covert glance down the street. “Are you alone, Molly?”

Skinny shoulders hunched forward. “Maybe.”

Trey’s gut flipped inside itself. If her trembling lips were anything to go by, trouble lay ahead. And there was going to be one ornery schoolmarm at the other end of it. “Does your sister know where you are?”

“No.” She gave him a pleading look that tore at his defenses.

“But I gotta talk to you, Mr. Trey. Really, really bad. Katherine said I couldn’t come see you.” Molly sighed, then puffed out her chest. “But I came anyway.”

A wisp of regret expanded into soul-deep guilt. Because of him, Molly had defied her sister.
Again
. He had to put a stop to it. Now. “Let’s get you back to Charity House.”

“But I came to—”

“You can tell me why you’re here on the way back to the orphanage.”

She looked ready to argue, but Lassiter chose that moment to break into the conversation. Clearing his throat, he cocked his head toward the jail and said, “Well, I’m heading back inside.”

Molly shoved her hand forward. “Good game.”

The grown-up, manly gesture had the older man’s lip twitching. Taking her hand in his, he pumped it up and down. “It was. But next time you won’t be so lucky.”

“Yes, I will.”

Lassiter patted her head. “I like your conviction, kid.” He glanced to Trey. “Are we gonna finalize that date on Hayes’s trial soon?”

Trey shared a look with the sheriff as he spun Molly
toward the direction of her home. “I’ll be back in an hour. We’ll discuss it then.”

“Right.”

Molly slipped a wave over her shoulder. “Bye, Sheriff, see ya.”

“See ya, kid.”

Once Trey had Molly heading reluctantly down the street, he nudged her onto the planked sidewalk and pointed her in the direction of Charity House.

She scuffed her feet, digging the tips of her shoes into a wooden seam every third plank. “Mr. Trey?” she said, keeping her gaze focused on her feet.

He ignored the foreboding skipping along the base of his spine. “Yes?”

“Will you—” She broke off and sighed. “Will you…”

“Will I what?”

Throwing back her shoulders, she jutted her chin toward the sky and turned to look at him straight in the eye. “Will you be my daddy?”

Trey’s heart lifted, then dropped. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he stopped walking and turned to look at her.

She shifted from foot to foot but held his stare, with a hopeful plea in her eyes. For a long moment, a cloak of silence enveloped them, broken only by the sounds of the people and horses milling about.

For one glorious second, he wanted to tell her that of course he would be her daddy, but he hadn’t settled the particulars with Katherine yet. He still had to make the woman understand that this was more than a mere discussion of stability versus her reputation.

He was afraid talk had already begun. If an unsavory
scandal was brewing, Trey knew it could affect far more than himself and Katherine.

Something had to be done. Soon.

“Ah, Molly,” he said. “I’d like nothing better than—”

“Good.” She threaded her fingers with his and grinned up at him. “’Cause I need two parents. And I want you most of all.”

Her look of absolute hero worship frightened him more than her request. What if he let this child down? What if she came to harm because of him?

And what if he hurt Katherine in the process as well?

He hadn’t been able to protect Laurette. What made him think it would be any different with Molly and her sister? “You have Katherine as your big sister. That’s almost like a parent.”

“No.” She stamped her foot. “That’s not good enough. She can be my momma. And you get to be my daddy.”

“Kitten…”

Mutiny swept across her features. “Well, if you don’t wanna, then I’ll get Dr. Shane to do it. He likes Katherine. I know, ’cause he’s always around the house and he smiles at her a lot and he said so when I asked.”

Trey’s heart rebelled at the notion of the good doctor marrying Katherine, sharing her smiles, her future. Her life.

The rush of sickening jealousy took root, the sheer power of it dragging air out of his lungs in an unpleasant wheeze. Dr. Shane Bartlett was a perfect match for Katherine, and completely, totally wrong for her. Trey suspected Molly might have continued speaking, but his own turbulent thoughts smothered her chatter.

Panic rushed blood through his veins, pounding one thought through his head. Although he wasn’t sure he wanted to explore the subject too deeply, he couldn’t let Katherine marry Shane Bartlett.

Eventually, Molly’s words jolted him back to the immediate disaster at hand. “So whattaya say?”

Their gazes met, hers hopeful, his unable to focus. How could he become a husband and a father with Ike Hayes still alive? Could he live within one set of parameters, for Molly and Katherine’s sake, and still pursue the most important goal of his life?

“You haven’t been listening,” she accused.

He shook his head. “Sure I have. You want me to…to…”

“Marry my sister. Then you can be my daddy.”

“I think we better slow down here.”

She gave him a look that made him feel like the five-year-old instead of the adult. “We aren’t walking, Mr. Trey.”

“That’s not what I meant. We need to think this through.”

“What’s to think about? Just ask Katherine to marry you.”

“Let’s say I agree to this.”

The air around her crackled with pleasure. “You’ll do it?”

“Now wait a minute. Aren’t you forgetting that Katherine doesn’t like me very much?
She
might not want to marry
me.
” The thought made him unreasonably anxious.

Jamming her fists on her hips, she gave him another pitying look that had five-year-old tenacity clinging to the edges of it. “Well, then, you change her mind.”

Doomed.
He was doomed. He knew it with a lawman’s
instincts. The same innate reaction that had kept him alive in deadly situations told him it was too late to stop the inevitable now. No matter his drive for vengeance on Laurette’s behalf, no matter how ugly his own life had become, Trey could not find it in his heart to let this child down.

Acting as though he still held a portion of the control, he carefully said, “If I agree to this—”

Molly’s flushed words cut him off. “I knew you’d say yes.”

“Now let me finish.
If
I agree, I’m gonna need your full cooperation.”

Her eyes lit up. “I’ll do anything you say.
Anything.
As long as you’ll be my daddy.”

She punctuated each word with a little swish of her shoulders, each movement solidifying his resolve.

“The first thing you’ll have to do is stop disobeying your sister.”

“Well…” She went perfectly still. “Okay. I guess.”

“I want a solid answer out of you.”

“Yes. I’ll do it.”

“And you’re gonna have to let me do all the talking.”

Her face scrunched into a scowl. “You think that’s a good idea, Mr. Trey? She gets kinda, I don’t know…upset when you talk to her.”

Ah, there it was. The truth spoken so bluntly by the five-year-old had him second-guessing himself. Talking sense, logic—or even reason, for that matter—into Katherine Taylor might prove impossible.

Then again, perhaps it was time to stop thinking in terms of logic and reason. Perhaps it was time to consider alternative weapons.

Perhaps
it was time to stop playing by the rules.

As he stared into Molly’s eager face, Trey realized he still held a portion of the control. No matter her arguments to the contrary, Katherine Taylor would marry him. For all the right reasons, and maybe even for a few of the wrong ones.

“Just leave it all to me, kitten. I’ll convince your sister she needs to become my wife.”

“Really? How?”

“I have a plan.” And this time, Katherine Taylor would not get the chance to walk away from him.

O
nce back in the safety of her room, Katherine changed clothes and then washed her face, never once allowing her mind to think beyond one task at a time. It was only after lacing up her boots that the shock finally set in. She sank slowly to the bed and then simply sat motionless, in a state of disbelief.

Holding back a sob, she buried her face in her hands, taking only mild comfort from the black solitude she found there.

She’d been caught in a compromising position, in front of Molly, no less. And although innocent enough on the surface, she and Trey had been caught alone—
alone!
—inside the school’s supply closet. Katherine had always tried to remain above reproach, and not just for Molly’s sake. In spite of the whispers, and the public shunning, Katherine held herself to a high moral standard for the benefit of Charity House and the school.

Which made the whole situation so much worse. In fact, if she and Trey hadn’t been interrupted, Katherine could only wonder how far things would have gone.

What must Megan and Johnny think of her? Katherine was supposed to be an example to the children. She was not supposed to be some reckless woman who allowed herself to be caught up in the moment.

She pounded her fists into the bed, stood up and trudged toward the mirror hanging over her dresser. Studying her image for a long, breathless moment, she wondered why she didn’t look any different than she had before she’d met up with Trey at the schoolhouse.

Where was the remorse? The humiliation?

The fear?

Pressing her palms against her temples, she prayed for sanity to return.

On that terrible night two years ago, her attacker had claimed she’d led him to believe she was a willing partner, simply because she hadn’t told him to stop. And now, another man had nearly kissed her because she hadn’t told him to stop.

She closed her eyes against the sting of tears.

Was she like her mother, as her attacker had viciously claimed in front of all the townspeople, a woman with carnal appetites that made a man force himself on her?

Her heart clenched.

No.
She would not torture herself with such flawed thinking. No matter what her attacker had claimed, and what others said now, she’d been the victim that night.

Swallowing, she forced all doubt to the back of her mind and went to the Bible for solace. After flipping to 1 Corinthians, she quickly found the verse she was looking for in chapter ten. “God is faithful.” She read aloud, “He will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye
are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”

Unfortunately, God’s Word only brought more trepidation. Just how much temptation could she stand around Trey Scott? How long before she…before he…before they…

No
.

Appalled at her own worries, she set the Bible down and took to pacing. After what had nearly happened between Trey and her, she should be staying far, far away from him, and yet she didn’t want to stay far, far away. Against all signs otherwise, she was beginning to trust the man.

And wasn’t that ridiculous? Nothing was resolved between them. Trey was still a lawman. He was still in love with his wife. And he was still set on seeking vengeance by his own hands. If talk began…Well, they would deal with that when and if it happened. Katherine wouldn’t worry about something that had yet to occur.

At least Trey had let her walk away from him this morning, even after he’d lectured her on her reputation and the consequences of their time alone together. Unfortunately, she’d recognized the look of unyielding determination in his eyes. He wasn’t through with her yet.

If only he would…

Her breathing picked up speed.

If only he would what? What did she want from him?

Determined to get her answers, one way or another, Katherine took a deep breath and pivoted toward the door. She was a grown woman. A Christian. It was time she started acting like one.

My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever.

Fortified once again, she sailed into the hallway,
marched down the stairs and out of the house. But the moment she turned toward town, her gaze connected with Trey and Molly laughing in tandem as they made their way down the lane, toward her. With the manicured lawns and perfectly sculpted hedges lining their path, the two looked like a real father and daughter journeying home from a day of play in town.

Katherine didn’t have time to wonder why they were together before a swift jolt of pleasure took hold of her.

If only Trey wasn’t as driven as he was to seek vengeance. If only he wasn’t so bitter toward God. As things stood, he would never be able to provide the stability Molly needed—or the security that Katherine secretly wanted for herself.

Miserable and heavyhearted, Katherine shifted out of sight and watched the two interact. Molly stumbled, but Trey caught her before she fell and scooped her up into his arms. Raising her high in the air, he spun her around in fast, dizzying circles. The little girl’s childish giggles united with Trey’s deep, masculine chuckles.

Katherine’s knees nearly gave way, and she reached for the railing to steady herself. Trey Scott brought out the child in Molly, the one Katherine had once feared didn’t exist.

In those first few weeks after retrieving Molly from the mining camp, Katherine had fretted that the little girl was lost forever inside the frightening silence she’d wrapped around herself after her father’s death.

How could Katherine have forgotten the role Trey had played in bringing Molly out of that dark world? He’d been the first person to make the child laugh. It had happened several months ago, during one of the infamous
Charity House baseball games. Trey had just hit a home run, but instead of running the bases alone, he’d rushed to the porch, whisked Molly into his arms and taken her with him. From that day forth, Trey had found ways to include the little girl in other games, until she had taken to joining on her own.

Oh, how Katherine wanted to believe in Trey Scott. But she was honest enough with herself to admit that her own fears and her concern for Molly’s future chased away any hope. The reality of his badge and what drove him to wear it wouldn’t go away.

Molly couldn’t handle another loss, and Katherine couldn’t bear to watch the little girl close herself off from the world again. No matter how happy Molly and Trey looked right now, Katherine wasn’t going to allow the man to stand in her way of protecting her little sister.

Trey chose that moment to look up. As though he sensed her confusion, his piercing gray eyes turned serious and intent, silently demanding of her the one thing she couldn’t fully give him. Her trust. As he continued to hold her stare, her head started to pound. She wanted to run, to flee.

To
him or
away
from him, she couldn’t say.

Maintaining eye contact, he started advancing on her, his eyes communicating his resolve. Desperate to free herself from the power he suddenly held over her, she searched for a flaw in him. Just one. But she found only masculine beauty in his fiercely handsome features, arrogant scowl and bold swagger.

Katherine couldn’t remember ever having been so aware of a man before. Was she more like her mother than she thought, after all? Was she a “tramp,” like the ladies
had claimed earlier today? Was there something deep inside her that wanted to explore the temptation Trey Scott presented?

Ridiculous. Absurd.

Shocking.

Determined to regain control over her emotions, Katherine forced her gaze to Molly. The look of guilt in the little girl’s eyes put Katherine instantly on alert.

“Where have you been, Molly?” she asked.

Shifting her gaze to Trey, Molly drew her bottom lip between her teeth. “Um…with Mr. Trey?”

Katherine angled her head and waited for more, but neither man nor child felt the need to explain further. “I see.”

Trey’s lips pushed into a lopsided grin. “No, you don’t.”

Katherine bristled, ready to do battle, until she noted the hint of worry in his gaze and the twinge of some other, deeper emotion she didn’t dare name.

“Run inside, kitten. I want to talk to your sister.” Trey paused and looked meaningfully at the little girl.
“Alone.”

To Katherine’s utter surprise, Molly instantly obeyed. “Okay, Mr. Trey. See ya later.”

Trey tugged on her braid. “Bye, kid.”

He waited until the door banged shut behind Molly before joining Katherine on the porch.

“I’m not sure I have anything to say to you right now,” she said.

He removed his hat and gave her a grin that had her thinking about…well, things better left alone.

“Good,” he said. “Because I’m not sure I want to hear what you have to say.”

Astoundingly enough, fear of his touch wasn’t her first concern at the moment. No, no, it was the possibility of
future happiness with the man—or rather the
impossibility
—that frightened her now.

“What do you want from me,
Marshal?
” She made sure she put special emphasis on his job title, as much for her own benefit as for his.

He inched closer. “You’re looking very lovely this fine afternoon, Miss Taylor.”

She took offense at his far too late attempt to soften her with pretty words. “Charm won’t work on me at this point in our relationship.”

His boot heels clicked on the wooden slats as he edged around her, circling her like a dog with a particularly meaty bone. “Pity.”

Feeling more than a little unbalanced, she decided not to argue the point. Yet.

He stopped behind her. “What? No clever reply this time?”

“I’m working on it.”

He paced to the front of her. “I see you changed your dress.”

She pursed her lips into what she hoped was a mixture of boredom and prim scolding. “I felt it necessary after you pestered me earlier.”

“Are you claiming I acted against your will?” His words were barely above a whisper.

Katherine shut her eyes against the implication of his question, trying desperately to keep her thoughts in the present. But slowly, oh so slowly, her mind slid back in time to a place where a man
had
forced her.

The muscles in Katherine’s heart tightened from the effort to stop the memories from overwhelming her. The effort left her breathless.

Panicky.

The other man had made her feel so dirty, while Trey never, never ever, did. She shouldn’t have let him believe otherwise, not even for a moment.

Feeling remorseful, she lifted her eyes back to Trey’s. His stricken expression sent fresh guilt through her.

“Against my will? No. No, of course not,” she rushed to say. “I didn’t mean to imply otherwise.”

He nodded, relief filling his gaze. “Then let’s settle down and talk this through.”

“Oh, Trey, the past few times we tried to talk, we didn’t do so well.”

He slid her an amused grin and then waved her toward one of the chairs. “So we get back on the horse and try again.”

“I don’t ride horses.”

“Well, then.” He tapped her lightly on the nose. “That makes it more likely you’ll learn something here.”

She bit back a flippant retort, annoyed as much by her shaky reaction to his nearness as by the arrogance of his tone. He had the insolence to smile at her again, and everything in her softened. “Don’t, Trey.”

“Don’t what?”

“This is hard enough as it is.” Resignation tripped along her spine. “Don’t make me like you on top of everything else.”

He touched her cheek. “Would that be such a bad thing?”

“The worst.”

He dropped his hand and clenched his jaw so hard, a muscle jumped.

Realizing she’d insulted him, she shook her head. “I’m not making myself clear. Perhaps this isn’t the best time to talk.”

She started to turn, but he caught her by the arm.

“No, it’s the perfect time. We…Let’s start again, shall we?”

“Can we do that?” She had her doubts, for very good reasons.

He steered her toward one of the rockers. “We can try.”

She scooted out of his reach and perched against the railing. “How do you propose we start again when we can’t have a single conversation without arguing?”

“I’m confident we can do this. I’ll start. By apologizing.”

He took her hand gently into his.

“I don’t think this is a good idea,” she said.

“The apology or—” he dropped his gaze to their joined hands “—this?”

She quickly pulled her hand free. “
This
is the sort of behavior that got us into trouble earlier. Aren’t you rather forgetting yourself?”

He made a deep sound in his throat. “Seems I always do when I’m around you.”

“Well, in my estimation, that makes you
very
unpredictable.”

His smile never faltered. “I certainly hope so.”

Resisting the urge to smile back at him, she swallowed.
Slowly.
“Your charm isn’t working on me.”

“So you said already.”

“Keep it up and I might say it again.”

“You know, Miss Taylor, there is nothing worse than when a man is trying to be sincere and the woman is not.”

“This is your attempt at sincere?” she asked.

“I’m trying, Katherine.” He let out a slow breath, his eyes slightly less haunted than usual. “I’m really trying.”

She shut her own eyes against the intensity in his gaze, wishing she knew how to shut out the tender emotions trying to break free from her heart. “I won’t marry you.” She hissed, “I
won’t.
”

“I didn’t ask.”

Shocked, she whipped open her eyes and gaped at him.

He winked at her.

“You’re a skunk, Trey Scott.”

“Make no mistake, Miss Taylor. I’ll ask.” Masculine triumph narrowed his eyes. “When I’m ready.”