Page 36 of My Heart Will Find You

“Remember the rainstorm? We were trapped in Papa’s barn for hours. We took off our clothes and—”

“That’s done! It’s over. In the past.”

“It doesn’t have to be. This marriage of yours could be annulled. There are lots of grounds. She’s too—”

“Your father sent you to me, didn’t he? He told you to say anything it takes to get me back.”

“Yes!” She looked at him without the tears, without the anger. “You hurt me. Badly. I thought our lives would be spent together. You, me, and Alice. I’ve always loved your little sister.”

“I know.” Max could feel guilt seeping into him. “But I couldn’t think when you were around. Alice said I should...” He couldn’t reveal what was private. All he wanted was to get away from this.

“Alice was in on it?” Cornelia sounded genuinely hurt. “But she and I were friends. Has this woman won her over? Are you already in love with her?”

“Alice likes her. I need to go.”

“Where? To that new lawyer? I saw you go up there. Papa owns him, so it’s no use trying to get him to help you.”

“I’m not hiring him.” He started to turn away.

When she caught his arm, she had the look of her father. Max knew that under her feminine facade she was as ruthless as that man was. Cornelia got whatever she wanted. Most of the time, anyway. “If you’re not hiring him, why are you going to see him?” Her eyes widened. “You want out of your revenge marriage, don’t you? You want an annulment. Unless you’ve already been to bed with her. Then it’ll have to be a divorce. But that can be arranged.” She drew in her breath. “That’s why you went to the preacher at the Blue Moon and bought him a bottle of whiskey. He can just tear up the papers. I bet that’s already been done and you’re free. The lawyer will do the paperwork, then you and I can—”

He stepped back from her. “Stop it! There will be no annulment, no divorce. Quit spying on me. What I said to the preacher had nothing to do with the marriage. Nor does seeing the lawyer.”

“Thenwhy?” she yelled. “You owe me that much. What is going on?”

He closed his eyes for a moment in surrender. “I hired the preacher to do my accounts, and I’m inviting the lawyer to dinner. Etta wants him to meet Alice.”

Cornelia took a step back, her face showing her astonishment. “Etta?” she whispered. “The wife? You are obeying her? She runs everything now?”

“It’s not like that.”

Cornelia glanced down at his crotch, then up again. She wore a sneer of contempt. “She’s made a gelding of you.” The sneer strengthened. “Was she that good in bed? Did she do something I haven’t done to you? Did she—”

Abruptly, Max left the alley. He took the stairs up to the lawyer’s office two at a time, then flung the door open and slammed it behind him.

Mrs. Ellis didn’t look up. “You break that glass and you pay for it.”

“He here?”

She shrugged in answer.

Max thought that he’d had all he could take of women today, but wisely didn’t say so. He strode to the man’s office, went inside, and shut the door.

The lawyer looked up from his desk. “If it isn’t the kissing prince. I hear you tossed aside the ruling princess for a commoner.”

Max sat down so hard on the wooden chair he almost broke it. “Don’t give me crap or I’ll hit you.”

“I am warned. However, my free advice is for you to not add Mrs. Ellis to your conquests. She devours husbands like candy.”

Max glared at him.

Bert Lloyd leaned back in his chair. “Gossip is that you got married this morning, but I just saw you kissing a stunningly beautiful young woman in the alley. I don’t think she’s your mail-order bride. Kecklin’s daughter is my guess.”

“Cornelia came at me, not the other way around.” Max waved his hand. “Forget that. I’m here to—”

“I know why you’re here. You own a very large piece of land and you run a big herd.”

“Yeah,” Max said. “And John Kecklin wants it all.”

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