Page 441 of Conveniently Wed
“Your age difference for one,” Colby said. “I know age is no respecter of true love. Just curious how two people in totally different age and social groups would meet. After all, I have to find myself a wife.”
“Yes, you do, and I’ve run out of fingers on my hands telling you the names of those interested.” Her laughter flowed free, as pure as a babbling brook.
Josiah’s heart squeezed tight in his chest.
“I’d like to be as lucky as you two,” Colby said. “Any tips on how to find a love like yours would be appreciated.”
Josiah took a sharp breath in.
“What did I say?” Colby’s voice had shifted from amused to concerned. “You look like you saw a ghost.”
Her voice wobbled. “Didn’t Josiah tell you our marriage was arranged?”
“Really?”
“I see he failed to fill you in on that small detail.”
Josiah’s hands turned clammy. He should enter the barn and take over the conversation, yet he couldn’t move.
“But you two are so in love. I would’ve never guessed.”
“Josiah is in love.”
Silence filled the space, and Josiah’s heart dropped into his boots.
“I thought I was in love with Charles, yet that blasted war stole him from me. I wasn’t in love with Josiah, but life forced us together.”
Her words were like a razor-sharp knife chopping and dicing his world.
“The arrangement was made to suit everyone but me. I’ve felt like a pawn in the game of everyone’s life but my own.”
Josiah turned and fled the barnyard, unable to hear more. But shame dogged his heels. He’d married her to suit his needs. He’d arranged everything with the arrogant pride of one so confident he could make her fall for him. The cold, naked truth smashed in—a fatal blow to his heart.
He should’ve taken his time courting her, wooing her, allowing her to fall in love with him—or not. Instead, he set up a marriage deal that forced her hand. He’d been so afraid of losing her to someone half his age that he’d manipulated the circumstances to ensure she didn’t have a choice.
Her feisty words on their wedding day often came back to him. “Love was never part of this deal, Josiah.” She hadn’t lied to him. In fact, she’d been brutally honest.
The good times they shared, the laughter, the friendship, the pleasure, had lulled him into thinking things had changed.Yet, she’d never declared her love to him. It was time for his delusions to end. He would no longer force his way into her life.
Something was wrong, but Katie didn’t know what. Josiah had begun keeping far longer working hours than the rest of the household, missing supper hour on many occasions. Was his avoidance intentional? Had she done something to disappoint him? Maybe as the widow Laurie had said, he was indeed tiring of her.
When she tried to join him at night, slipping into his bed, he more often than not turned away, telling her he was too tired. She believed him, for he continued to work from dawn to dusk, and often beyond.
Loneliness pressed in. She missed their friendship more than she’d thought possible.
She’d endured weeks of his cold shoulder. But now it was time for a serious conversation. This could not go on. After another evening without him her frustration hit its limit, fueling the courage she needed.
At bedtime, she walked into his room unannounced and stood waiting for him to turn.
He pulled off his shirt, and the ripple of his muscles caught Katie’s breath. He spun around at the sound of her intake. Her eyes collided with the molten gray of his.
“What do you want?” His tone was cold.
She gathered her courage and moved within arm’s reach. “I want my husband back.”
He let out a hot breath that fanned across her cheeks. The faint smell of hay, soap, and his earthy scent wafted her way.
“I miss you,” she said, the truth of those words pressing a hard ache in her chest. “We used to be friends, and now…I don’t know what we are.”
