Page 3 of Willing to Wed the Rancher
“What about Luisa’s family?”
“They do not write back either.”
She couldn’t fathom being cut off from family, not with how close she’d always been to her own. What had happened to create such a rift? It wasn’t her place to ask. But she could offer him reassurance that she’d help him just like her ma had done. It was the neighborly way. “If anything happens to you, I’ll gladly help you and the children.”
“As mine wife?”
She had to tell him no. She had to. But even as she tried to force the word from her mouth, something else came out instead. “I can’t promise that. At least, not now.” Maybe someday she might feel differently about him. That was possible, wasn’t it?
He was watching Bianca and Dieter on the wagon bench as they started to squabble with each other. “I will take goot care of you, give you everything I own.”
“That’s not necessary—”
“You will use it to care for Dieter and Bianca.” Eric’s gaze shifted back to her, pinning her with his intensity.
This conversation wasn’t going the way she wanted. If she weren’t careful, she’d find herself wed to him before the week was finished.
If only she had some of Clementine’s pluck, but her twin sister had gotten all the boldness for the both of them, and then some.
“Please?” Eric’s tone dropped to a hoarse whisper.
How could she refuse him? She couldn’t. That was the truth. “Okay.”
He expelled a breath. “Goot.”
What had she just agreed to? Certainly not to marriage. She’d simply offered to help with his children if anything happened to him.
He cocked his head toward his wagon. “I will give you a ride home, yes?”
“Thank you, but I have my horse.” The ride to High Country Ranch, known by most as High C Ranch, was only a couple of miles north of town, and she liked the time to think and be alone after the busy day with the children.
Placing his hat back on his head, he nodded and took the first step before halting. He hesitated a moment before facing her again, his eyes somber, his expression serious. “Then we will marry in one week?”
Her hands began to tremble, and she clutched them together tightly. Apparently he thought she was willing to wed him. How could she set him straight? “I think you misunderstood me, Mr. Meyer.”
“You do not want to rush.”
“Right.” That was sort of what she’d alluded to.
“Then two weeks?”
She hesitated. She just had to tell him no. Why couldn’t she get that one little word out?
He watched her expectantly.
Maybe she could put it off for as long as possible. “Can we discuss it at the end of the summer?”
“We will one month wait. That is long enough.” Without giving her a chance to contradict him, he bounded down the rest of the steps.
She pressed a hand to her forehead. She had to call after him and tell him that this was all a mistake. But as she opened her mouth, only a sigh of exasperation fell out.
She wasn’t planning to marry Eric Meyer in one month no matter what he might think. Surely she’d find a way out of her predicament by then.
2
What was he doing in America?
Franz Meyer stepped off the Denver-Pacific Railroad into the busy fray of passengers coming and going on the platform outside the depot. Even though he knew he should keep going, he halted, forcing people to step around him.
