Page 23 of Conveniently Wed
She stood and stretched her back as she waited for him to finish the cup.
“You’re sore from driving the wagon?”
“Mm hmm.”
“Regretting riding along this morning?”
She thought about it for a moment. “No.” She’d worked hard today, but it was a good feeling knowing she’d also protected her sister.
He stood, picking up the skillet when she would’ve reached for it.
But he didn’t move. He stood in the darkness, and she could feel his gaze on her.
“Why’d you marry me, anyway?” he asked.
She hesitated. It was almost the same question he’d asked the night before. He deserved more of an answer than he’d gottenout of her then, if only because he’d allowed them to tag along without much complaint.
Finally she said, “I did it for Emma.”
5
Idid it for Emma.
Edgar lay in his bedroll, wide awake when he should’ve been sleeping. Dawn was going to come early.
And he kept hearing Fran’s soft-spoken words.
Did the woman never think about herself?
She’d babied her sister all day. He’d witnessed some of it himself, and Ricky had told him about what he’d missed.
His brother had also sung her praises. How she’d driven the wagon until just before they’d made camp for the night. How she was smart, and proper.
Then he’d watched her cooking supper, and though it hadn’t been the best meal he’d ever had—it reminded him a bit of his ma before she’d really learned how to cook—he was reluctantly impressed that she’d made the effort.
And then she’d done the dishes.
He’d needed distance when they’d returned from washing the dishes, so he’d sent her to bed in the wagon with her sister. He wanted to like her—too much.
Fran reminded him of both his ma and his sister Breanna. Willing to work hard. Protective of her family.
But she was holding something back, too. He needed to remember that.
There was a reason he didn’t trust women. Between his birth mother and the other woman who had lied to him, his whole life had changed at a young age. Penny had earned his trust with her steadfastness to Jonas and their mismatched family. And while he’d known Breanna since she was a tot, he’d seen her twist the truth to her own ends a time or two.
Women didn’t play fair. And couldn’t be trusted.
He’d done his best to stay away from Fran all day, riding as far away from the chuck wagon as he could manage.
And even so, he’d found himself constantly looking over his shoulder, finding her on the wagon seat next to Ricky. He’d stuck her with his brother all day, hoping she would succumb to Ricky’s charm and give Edgar a reason to dislike her. At supper, she’d given his brother the same treatment she’d given everyone else, basic kindness.
Edgar didn’t want to like her, but he did.
Movement in the grass between the bedroll where he’d bedded down and the snoring figure of Seb had Edgar turning his head slowly to one side.
What he saw froze him in place.
The dancing firelight glistened off the patterned back of a snake as it slithered between the brothers. In the cool evening air, the reptile probably sought the heat from the fire.
