His Substitute Wife. Dorothy Clark

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СКАЧАТЬ from the train, trotted to the second tub and swung its black-stained chute into place above the coal car. The fireman pulled a cord and coal tumbled down the chute, black dust puffing against the rose-streaked dusk sky. She shifted her gaze to the wood sign hanging from the deep eaves of the depot’s roof—Whisper Creek Station, Union Pacific Railroad.

      If you’re so worried about Blake, Audrey, you go marry him!

      Bile crept into her throat. Challenging Linda to do the right thing and keep her promise to marry Blake had only made her sister more determined to have her way. Nothing interfered with Linda’s “fun.” Certainly not a little thing like a promise! Audrey swallowed hard and slipped the letter back into her purse. She never should have picked it up when Linda threw it at her and flounced from the room. But it was too late to think of that now. It was too late for anything but clinging to the foolish mission that had brought her here.

      Movement caught her attention. The soldiers were standing, waiting for her to detrain first. She dipped her head to acknowledge their politeness, lifted her satchel off the seat beside her and walked to the door. Blake! She froze, stared at her sister’s fiancé hurrying toward the steps the conductor had shoved into place. The strength left her legs. She grabbed for the edge of the door and turned back, but her way into the passenger car was blocked by the line of soldiers behind her.

      “Linda, dar—Audrey!” Blake stared up at her, blinked then made a visible effort to collect himself. “I didn’t know that you were—I mean—How nice to see you again, Audrey.” Blake stumbled over the polite words, reached up to take her satchel.

      “And you, Blake.” She took a steadying breath, placed her hand in his proffered one and stepped down. He peered behind her, and the eager joy in his expression died. His gaze lifted to the soldier who followed her from the train, raised to the next, then came back and fastened on her. She forced herself to look into his eyes and answer the question that hovered there. “Linda’s not on the train, Blake. She’s not coming.”

      “Not com—” His face paled. “Is she ill? Or—”

      She shook her head, pushed at the unruly curls on her forehead and wished she hadn’t come either. How could her plan ever have seemed sensible? “No, Linda’s not ill. It’s—” She glanced at the soldiers milling about, took another breath to squelch her nerves and looked back at Blake. Worry shadowed the handsome face she remembered so well. “It’s...complicated. Is there someplace we can go to talk?”

      “My store.” He took hold of her elbow and led her toward the steps.

      “Wait! My trunks...” She stopped, glanced over her shoulder at the two trunks sitting on the platform close to the tracks.

      “Trunks?” His gaze bored into hers.

      “It’s a long journey.” She winced inwardly at the lame response, but she couldn’t just blurt out the truth. She needed time to prepare him for that. She did her best not to squirm beneath his long, measuring look.

      “They’ll be safe here at the station. Fortunately, an eastbound train arrives in about an hour.” He frowned and urged her forward. “Forgive me, Audrey. I don’t mean to sound rude or unwelcoming. But there is no place in town for you to overnight.”

      “But, I’m—” She bit off the words and nodded. “All right. If you’re certain they will be safe.”

      He gave a curt nod, ushered her down the steps, then released her elbow. A sound of hammering vied with the whisper of coal sliding down the chute and dropping into the tender car. She lifted the hems of her green gown above the trodden dirt and walked forward eyeing the new buildings framed on either side by the skeletons of more buildings under construction at the end of the road. Behind the raw, unpainted structures, a waterfall gushed from a mountain to splash and dance down a massive rock face to where dark pines sprawled in dwarfed splendor. A creek shimmered its way between the trees and flowed away down the length of the broad valley. The cluster of buildings looked puny against the towering mountains. She stopped and tilted her head back to look up at the snowcapped peaks. “I’ve never seen anything like these mountains. They’re breathtakingly beautiful but...frightening. I—I feel so...small.”

      “They take you like that at first.”

      Blake’s tone didn’t invite any more casual comments. She walked on beside him, looking at the beginning of Whisper Creek village. Would the new town become her home for a while? She glanced at Blake through her lowered lashes. He looked distressed, concerned. Would he even listen to her plan after he learned—

      “Here we are.” He shifted her satchel to his left hand, helped her up the steps, then crossed the deep porch and opened the door.

      She moved forward into his store and inhaled the scent of newness, then waited for Blake to lead her to where he intended for them to talk.

      He closed the door, set her satchel on the floor and faced her. “Again, I don’t mean to be rude, Audrey. But where is Linda? We’re supposed to be married today. If she’s not ill, why is she not here? What has happened to her?”

      The strain in Blake’s voice brought the guilt washing over her. She clenched her fingers around the cord on her purse and wished it was her sister’s pretty neck. “I don’t know where Linda is, Blake. She...married two weeks ago and left town. I’ve not heard from her since. Of course, I’ve been traveling the last—”

      “Linda is wed to another?”

      She couldn’t tell if his harsh, choked tone was caused by pain or anger—probably both. “Yes.” She rushed to push out words to ease the shock of the news. “I’m sorry—”

      “Sorry! My betrothed has given herself to another, and you’re sorry?”

      The words exploded from him. She flinched, then pressed her lips together against the useless words of sympathy. There was nothing she could say. It was too late. She should have warned him of Linda’s flirtatious nature when he first started courting her—though he wouldn’t have listened. None of Linda’s conquests did. They were all too blinded by her blond beauty, too smitten by her womanly charms and coquettish manner. Still, she should have tried. The guilt held her mute.

      Blake strode away from her toward the interior of the store and stopped. He sucked in a sharp, ragged breath. “I believed her. I built this store—our home upstairs—on the strength of my faith in our love. How could I have been so wrong? Her letters were so full of love and caring...”

      My letters. The guilt bit deeper. There was no mistaking the agony in Blake’s voice. She glanced at the door wanting to leave, to not have to witness the pain Linda’s selfish behavior had caused, but Blake’s situation was dire and time was short—and she was his solution. Dear Lord, give me strength. She braced herself for his reaction to her absurd plan. “That’s why I’ve come, Blake. Because of the store.”

      He turned, stared and raked his fingers through his hair. “Forgive me, Audrey, I forgot that you were here. I—What?”

      “I said that I’m aware of your situation, and I’ve come because I believe there is a way you can keep your store.” Please, Lord, let it be so.

      “Keep my store?” Awareness flickered through the shock in his eyes. His face went taut. “No. That’s impossible now. There are only four days remaining before—” He clamped his lips shut, turned away.

      “Before you must marry.” How cruel that sounded.

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