Finally a Bride. Renee Ryan

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СКАЧАТЬ right, yes.” She gathered in a tight breath, let it out slowly. “I suppose I could have been more delicate in my delivery.”

      “You suppose?”

      Her lower lip wobbled. And then—God save him—her eyes filled with tears. Just what the afternoon needed, another bout of unchecked female emotion.

      Too much for one day.

      If he were a wise man, Garrett would head down the stairwell, exit the boardinghouse and just keep walking.

      He remained firmly in place, watching Callie, waiting for her to pull herself together. Unlike Fanny, this sister wouldn’t welcome any outward show of sympathy from him.

      After a moment of eye blinking and steady breathing, she morphed into the cagey fighter he knew her to be—and smoothly turned the conversation back on him.

      “You and Molly, overly polite with one another, acting as if there’s no history between you. I want an explanation. A real one, this time.”

      Holding on to his patience, barely, he rubbed a hand over the stubble of a late-day beard coming in. “Haven’t we been through this already?”

      “Yes, and we’ll continue to revisit the topic until I get a reasonable answer out of you.”

      Of that, he had no doubt. Once his ornery sister had an idea in her head, she never let go. “It’s just as Molly said earlier. We joined forces for Fanny’s sake.”

      “How very noble of you both.”

      A portion of his patience edged into annoyance. “Save the sarcasm, Callie, it’s not helping, nor is it productive. In fact—”

      She talked right over him. “I can’t think of a time in the past six months since you’ve been home that I’ve seen you and Molly in the same room, much less conversing with one another beyond monosyllables.”

      She was right, of course. Since taking the position at Bennett, Bennett and Brand, Garrett had made every effort to avoid Molly, and she him. With both of them working toward a common goal, they’d reaped remarkable success, managing to circumvent one another as efficiently as possible.

      That had changed today. Even without Fanny’s situation to bring them together, Mrs. Singletary had tapped Garrett to work with her directly. Which meant he and Molly would cross paths far too often.

      He exhaled sharply.

      “Garrett, I asked you a question.”

      Another ripple of annoyance shred what little patience he had left. “No, you made a statement.”

      She rolled her eyes. “I see you’re going to be difficult. So let me speak frankly.”

      “Never a good idea,” he muttered.

      She ignored the barb. “Why—no, how—did you and Molly end up arriving here together? The truth, Garrett. I won’t accept anything less.”

      Short of muzzling her, he might as well give his tenacious sister what she wanted. “It’s not complicated,” he explained. “When you and I couldn’t talk Fanny out of her room, I went in search of Molly.”

      “Because?”

      “I wanted answers and I thought she had them.”

      “Why would you think Molly knew any more than we did?”

      “I believed she’d been the one to influence Fanny’s decision.”

      Callie gasped. “You didn’t actually accuse Molly of such a terrible thing?”

      He shrugged. “Her history speaks for itself.”

      “Garrett, Garrett, Garrett.” Callie shook her head in obvious disapproval. “You really don’t know her at all.”

      Oh, he knew her. Or rather, he thought he knew her. He wasn’t sure anymore. And that left him even more agitated than before. If he’d been wrong about Molly in this situation, was he wrong about her in other ways as well? Was he prejudging her unnecessarily without gathering all the facts?

      “Maybe I don’t know her as well as I thought,” he conceded.

      With far too much perception in her gaze, Callie studied him out of narrowed eyes.

      Garrett braced for one of her lectures. But she surprised him by switching topics again. “What are we going to do about Fanny? I can’t bear to watch her ruin her life.”

      This abrupt change of subject gave Garrett pause. Callie was trying to tell him something, something personal, perhaps. But what? What was going on inside that complicated mind of hers? He could simply ask, but he suspected she wouldn’t answer him candidly.

      Besides, the day was slipping away and he had a lot of work still to do.

      “We can’t help Fanny until we know more,” he said reasonably.

      “I guess not.” Callie released a resigned sigh. “Let us pray Molly can convince her to see reason.”

      He nodded.

      But then Molly’s words came back to him with alacrity. If Fanny doesn’t love Reese enough to want to marry him, then maybe, maybe she’s making the right decision.

      Pulling out his watch, he flipped open the lid and read the time. “I need to get back to the office.” He refocused on Callie, then glanced around the darkened landing. “Will you be all right if I leave you here alone?”

      Her withering glare was answer enough. Right, his mistake—Callie was a grown woman of twenty-three, more than capable of taking care of herself in her own home.

      “I’ll try to stop by again soon,” he said. “If not later this afternoon, then tomorrow at the latest.”

      “Will you speak to Reese after you return to the office?”

      “I don’t know. Perhaps.”

      Her eyes went cool, accusatory.

      “Stop looking at me like that. For all I know, he might have already left for the day.” Though Garrett doubted it. Reese was nothing if not dedicated to his work.

      Maybe she’s making the right decision...

      He heard Callie say something more, something about his duty as an older brother to his hurting sister, but Garrett had already started down the stairs. He waved a hand in farewell, exited the boardinghouse. And just kept walking.

      * * *

      “It occurs to me,” Molly said to Mrs. Singletary as they awaited Garrett’s arrival in the blue parlor later that evening, “that a night at the opera is an odd place to begin your business association with Mr. Mitchell.”

      The more she thought on the matter the more she realized how truly out of character the request had been. There could be no opportunity to discuss their plans, or any other business СКАЧАТЬ