Goddamn.
Caleb didn’t have to look at Lily to know her expression. The heated waves of anger from her body as she gasped at Desiree’s words warmed the air like the strongest sunshine.
“No. I haven’t seen it,” he mumbled as he grabbed Lily’s elbow and practically dragged her to the sleigh.
“Well, check the sheets on your bed,” Desiree shouted.
Lily climbed stiffly into the vehicle and showed him her back, until she must have realized that left her facing Desiree, so she quickly turned again until she was looking forward. It surprised him that there wasn’t steam coming from her ears.
He slapped the reins and the horse moved forward. Damn Desiree and her big mouth. Sure, she’d slept in his bed that night, but she ‘forgot’ to mention he wasn’t in the bed with her. He’d been curled up on the damn floor in the other room. His brothers had seen to that.
Not sure whether it was better to explain or simply let it go, he clamped his lips tight. They’d only gone three blocks when Miss Bonnie Sanger stepped from the boardwalk to stand directly in front of his wagon. He groaned, but couldn’t ignore her without running her down.
He drew up on the reins. “Hello, Bonnie.”
She walked up to him, her hands on her hips. “I just heard a rumor that you got married.”
“Yep. Sure did.”
She pouted in a way he used to think was sweet, but now just annoyed the hell out of him, with Lily sitting right there.
Bonnie reached up and covered his hand with hers. “Honey, if I knew you were looking for a wife, I would have been first in line.” She batted her eyelashes, making his stomach churn. “You know we were pretty good together.”
Good God. It had been a really, really bad idea to come to town with his wife in tow the first time after word has spread of his marriage. He didn’t exactly regret the life he’d led until now, but why did his past have to show up on every block?
He ran his finger around the inside of his collar. “I, ah, wasn’t exactly looking for a wife.”
Lily’s sharp intake of breath told him he’d said the wrong thing. “What I mean is, it was kind of a surprise.”
“A surprise? Honey how can getting married be a surprise?” She glanced at Lily, eying her with outright curiosity.
“I gotta go, Bonnie. Nice seeing you.” He tugged on his hat brim and flicked the reins. He faced forward before anyone else halted their progress to ask inane questions. Lord above, if another woman stepped in front of the wagon, he’d run her over.
“Stop in and see me sometime.” Bonnie’s husky voice followed them.
It was a quiet ride back to the cabin. Lily sat like a stone statue, her lips tight, her jaw clenched so hard she had to be in pain. He glanced in her direction a few times, but she never wavered from her bearing. He had the feeling if he nudged her she would tumble over the side with as stiffly as she held herself.
Once they arrived home, she jumped from the sleigh, slipping on the ice, but righting herself before he could reach her.
“I’ll unload everything and bring it in,” he said.
She gave him a curt nod, grabbed a small sack from the back, and headed to the house.
It took him a half hour to unload everything. He forced her to speak to him by asking her with each item where he should store it. Her curt answers soon turned into pointing where she wanted it.
Eventually the last item was shelved and he removed his coat and hat and hung them on the hook. Still in her coat, Lily sat at the kitchen table, glaring at the wall.
“Um, are you all right?”
“Caleb Fraser, I have never been so embarrassed in my entire life.” She spoke through her teeth, making him not one hundred percent sure what she said.
“I’m sorry.” He figured he needed to apologize for something. Whichever disaster they’d encountered in town.
She turned to him, her eyes bright with tears. “Why don’t you take out an ad in the Angel Springs newspaper and announce to the entire town that I arrived as an unwanted mail order bride on your doorstep?”
He shifted his hands to his hips “Now why would I do that?”
She stood and rounded on him. “Because since you told whoever that tart was that your marriage was a ‘surprise,’ I’m sure every young lady in town who had her eye on you will find it quite hilarious that you were trapped into marriage.”
“Well, dammit, what did you want me to say? You were a surprise.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Yes, I know that. But it wasn’t what I had been told before I left my home to come to this. . .this . . .” She swiped her cheeks with her finger.
Lord she was crying. He hated it when women cried. But, somehow, he knew with innate male wisdom that she didn’t want to be comforted. At least not by him. He raised his hand, then dropped it. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”
She moved closer, her finger poised to stab him in the chest. “And what about the woman in the scandalous dress who thinks she lost her necklace in your bed? The night before our wedding!”
Now he was getting mad. Lily had no right to upbraid him about things that had happened before they’d tied the knot. He gave up his freedom to marry her, and here she was complaining about what he’d done before he even knew her name. He never wanted to get married in the first place, but had done his duty instead of sending her home.
Hell, he’d even spent the last few nights celibate because he was careful of her sensibilities, and he wasn’t one to cheat on his spouse like the women he’d been chasing off for years. Did she give him credit for that? No, she acted like he had some sort of commitment to her before she’d even arrived. Well, he hadn’t.
Lily wanted to crawl into a corner somewhere and lick her wounds. Because she’d married this man, she would spend the rest of her life on this ranch, and making visits to town. It was pretty obvious that within hours everyone in Angel Springs would know Caleb had married her against his wishes.
There were apparently a lot of women who had hoped to have Caleb’s gold band on their fingers. Well, they were welcome to the cad.
Except if she left him, or if he turned her out, she would have nowhere to go. Her home was gone, her job, and her reputation. Fred’s deception still stung.
“I don’t have to answer to you for what I did before you leg-shackled me!”
Lily sputtered, trying hard to form words. “Leg-shackled you! Since my memory has never been called into question before, I recollect that no one stood behind you with a shotgun aimed at your back.”
“There might as well have been.” He threw up his hands and marched to the window, leaning against the frame, his arms crossed. “Mama sure left us all no choice. Not even to be able to choose which bride we wanted.”
Well!
Lily drew herself up and gathered her wounded pride around her like a cloak. “Very well. I see now there is no possibility of us ever living in harmony.” She turned on her heel and headed to the bedroom where she proceeded to throw her belongings into her small satchel.
The man was absolutely horrible. Vain, over-confident, and a bully. He’d apparently lived a charmed life with the ladies up until now, but she would not stand by and have him make a fool of her with the town. As soon as she could gather her thoughts, she would decide where she would go from here.
Caleb’s large body blocked the front door. “Where the hell do you think you’re going?”
“Don’t cuss.” Lily arched a brow. “Why do you care? You can take yourself off to town anytime you wish and request an annulment. Then you can form a line of all the women who want to marry you. Most likely there are hundreds.” Her stiff fingers pulled up the collar on her jacket. “I’m sure the judge will sympathize with you since poor Caleb was so taken advantage of by me and your own mama.”
“I don’t need your permission to do anything. And leave my mama out of this.”
“And I don’t need your permission to do anything, either, nor do I have to answer to you. And in case your memory is not as good as mine, your mama started this whole thing.” Her hand tightened on her satchel enough to turn her knuckles white. “Now get out of my way.”
They both stared at each other, their bodies tense, eyes flashing, neither one ready to back down.
“If you don’t move away from that door, I will scream to bring the roof down.”
He put his hand out. “Lily, please, this is silly.”
“Move.”
Reluctantly, he stepped aside. She flung the door open, wincing as it slammed against the wall. She stepped out into the early evening air and took a deep breath. With her head held high, she marched to the end of the path and stopped. Where was she going? The walk to town was much too far. She turned in a circle, viewing the area, noting Caleb leaning against the doorframe, his arms crossed, watching her with narrowed eyes.
Ignoring him, she continued her survey until she spotted a small cottage on the east side of the barn. She remembered Caleb pointing it out when he had given her a tour of the grounds. It had been the foreman’s house before they built a bigger one for the man before Pete, who had a wife and several children.
That would be perfect for her to use until she decided what she would do with her life. She had been an independent woman before this fiasco, and she would be one again. If there was no library in Angel Springs, then she might secure a job at one of the many stores until she saved enough money to . . .
To, what?
Go somewhere else. A place where no one knew her, or her sorry history with men. She would have her own little house again, maybe get a dog or cat and be very happy without Mr. Caleb Fraser, or Mr. Fred Dillon, or even that worm, Sydney Drummond. In fact, were she Catholic, she’d consider entering a convent. A lifetime spent with all women seemed very appealing right now.
The snow crunched under her feet as she made her way to the small house. A quick glance over her shoulder confirmed Caleb followed her. She snorted. Why would he want to know where she was headed? He obviously didn’t want her, had never wanted her, and would probably kick up his heels once she was gone from his life.
Let all those legions of broken-hearted women comfort him.
The door creaked as she shoved it open. The tiny area had a few pieces of furniture. A bed, a small table and two chairs. She moved further into the space and set her satchel down on the table.
“You can’t stay here.” Caleb’s deep voice shattered the silence.
“Indeed? And why not?” She hurried on, “Not that I need your permission.”
“You have no wood for a fire, there’s no food here, and wild animals roam the area.” He banged his fist on the door. “This wouldn’t keep out a bear if he decided he wanted to make a visit.”
“I can put a chair under the doorknob.”
Caleb shook his head. “Lily, come back to the house, please. This is not a good idea.”
She hesitated for a moment. It would be cold and lonely here, and Caleb was right, what would she eat? Then she stiffened her shoulders. She was plumb tired of men wreaking havoc in her life. She was done with them.
“I will do just fine. You needn’t worry about me.” She brushed past him to exit the house. Once outside, she gathered kindling and large pieces of wood.
“Lily.”
“Go away, Caleb. I don’t want you here, and I don’t need you here. I can very well take care of myself. I’ve done it since my last parent died eight years ago.”
“But you’ve never had to survive alone in a cabin in the middle of the mountains.”
She strode past him, her arms full of branches. “Then it’s time I learned.” She walked through the door, and kicked it shut, leaving him standing on the porch.
After dumping the kindling sticks in the fireplace, she found a flint on the stone mantle and lit the wood. Since they’d had a week of sunshine after the last snowstorm, the wood was dry enough that there wasn’t a lot of smoke. Once the kindling burned brightly, she threw on one of the logs she had carried in.
She glanced around and noted a cabinet on the far wall. A quick search of the small cupboard revealed a jar of peaches, a bag of salt, and a cup of sugar. Not exactly a meal, but something to fill her stomach tonight. She would worry about tomorrow when the new day arrived.
A couple of hours later, Lily sat on the damp bed and decided the floor in front of the fireplace would be much better. The fire was low, but still burning. Perhaps she could fall asleep before it went completely out. Wrapping the threadbare blanket around herself, she curled up on the floor. She shifted around, trying various positions.
She had just drifted off to sleep when there was a knock on the door. Her heart sped up. Was that a bear?
Stupid. Bears don’t knock.
She rose and shivered as she walked to the window next to the door. Pushing aside the threadbare curtain, she saw no one. A movement on her left side caught her eye, but it was too dark to make out who it was. Certainly of the human kind, though.
Gingerly, she eased the door open and looked down. A basket, with a colorful cloth laying over it, sat on the step. She looked around again, and then shrugged and reached for the handles. Wonderful smells rose to her nostrils, causing her stomach to let out with a loud growl.
She set the basket on the table and removed the cloth. Inside was a whole roasted chicken, potato salad, a loaf of bread, a chunk of cheese, a jar of lemonade, and a large piece of what smelled like apple pie.
Tears sprang to her eyes as she removed each item. Someone cared enough about her to deliver food.