Page 208 of Conveniently Wed
“I’ll turn twenty-three in a couple months. Since you’re my husband, you’ll own Townsend Oil and the rest of my father’s holdings. They’ll need to know what you plan to do with them.”
The muscles in his jaw worked. The silence grew thick between them, but she couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
“I don’t want it.”
She blinked. To be honest, she didn’t want the business either, but did he realize how much money he was worth now? “But you have to. It was my inheritance. I heard our steward say one time the oil company makes over three hundred thousand a year.”
Gideon raised a brow at her, then turned his face back to the road. It was hard to read his emotions. Although not quite the impassive expression he used to wear as a mask, this was the closest she’d seen to his old façade. She knew better than to rush him, though. Better to settle in and watch the scenery change as they made their way up the mountain.
After a few minutes that felt like an hour, he finally spoke again. “I don’t know the first thing about oil.”
She opened her mouth to say the directors would teach him all he needed to know. But he didn’t look like he was finished, so she held her tongue.
“And I really don’t want the money. I kinda had in mindIwould support my wife, not the other way around.” He shot her a sideways glance, then focused on the trail again.
But then he released a sigh and turned to face her, threading his fingers through hers. The gentleness in his gaze soaked through her. “But it was your father’s legacy, what he spent his life building. You decide what you’d like to do with it. If you wantus to go back to Richmond, for temporary or for permanent, well…we can talk about it.”
She eased out a long breath. She didn’t want to move back to Richmond any more than he did, but the fact he would even consider it—consider leaving the ranch and all he had poured his life into… He would leave it all if she asked him?
She brought Gideon’s hand up to her cheek and met his gaze with blurry vision. “No, love. I don’t want to go back to Richmond. I want to stay right here with you.”
He gave her a soft smile, then wrapped an arm around her and pulled her against his side. “We’ll figure it out then.”
A few moments later, he asked, “Does the company have good leadership?”
She scanned the recesses of her memory. “I think so. Papa always said good things about the Board of Directors. I guess I could send a wire to the steward to make sure.”
He nodded. “Let’s do that. Then we can wait for God to make our direction clear.”
Her heart squeezed, and she stretched up to kiss his cheek.
He quirked an eyebrow. “What was that for?”
She didn’t try to hold back her smile. “I’m just thankful God gave me such a wise husband.”
His eyes darkened. “It’s a good thing we’re home now.”
She tore her gaze from him long enough to see they were, indeed, pulling into the ranch yard. Her stomach did another flip at the thought of what lay ahead, but she squashed the emotions.
Gideon reined the team in front of the house, climbed down, then reached up for Leah. Instead of helping her down, though, he swept her into his arms and headed for the stairs. She squealed, then wrapped her hands around his neck, giggling.
“I don’t think you’ve carried me since you broke my leg.” She couldn’t resist a little teasing.
He raised an eyebrow. “You had to go and bring that up, did ya?” One corner of his mouth tipped in a grin. “I guess it was the only thing I could think of at the time to keep you here.”
“Oh!” Leah gave his chest a light smack as she caught the twinkle in his emerald eyes. “You rascal.”
He carried her over the cabin threshold and lowered her feet to the floor. She turned to face him, a small distance and a strong awareness filling the air between them.
Gideon’s mouth twitched. “Why don’t you set out a bit of dinner while I put the horses away.”
She turned away from him, grateful for the job. “All right.”
After he left the cabin, she scanned the jars and barrels of food in their little kitchen, but everything there would take hours to cook. Her eyes hovered over the salted ham. That’d be perfect with the biscuits she’d brought from Aunt Pearl’s café. Surely she could do something with these.
By the time Gideon was back from the barn, she had the table set and a fire taking hold inside the stone hearth. And her nerves were wound tighter than a concert violinist’s strings.
For the first time in a while, she longed for her mother. Or even Emily. Someone who would tell her what to expect and what to do.
