Finally a Bride. Renee Ryan

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СКАЧАТЬ himself to count on—and to blame. Best that way. Less messy. Less complicated.

      Focus, he ordered his wandering mind.

      And he did just that, absorbing the legal language on the page as if it were as fundamental as air. It was exacting, meticulous work, and he let it consume him. This was why he’d come back to Denver—to work for this firm, overseeing business contracts, drawing up others.

      Or so he told himself.

      But that wasn’t completely true. He’d turned down a better position in St. Louis, one more suited to his skills, so he could be near family. He’d missed them. He’d missed...

      No one else. Just his family.

      Focus.

      Once he was satisfied all was in order, he gathered the pages, stuffed the entire document inside a leather satchel and set it aside for his meeting tomorrow with Phineas Phipps.

      He stood and rounded his desk, set on addressing the next pressing issue on his agenda—Mrs. Singletary and her unprecedented request.

      Before he made it across the room, two hard raps came at the door, no more, no less. Reese’s signature knock.

      “Excellent timing.” Garrett opened the door with a swift pull. “I was on my way to your office to discuss Mrs. Singletary’s business proposition.”

      For a long moment the other man said nothing. He didn’t move, didn’t blink. The unnatural stillness in his stance was completely out of character, as was the cold silence.

      Was he disturbed over Mrs. Singletary’s proposal? If he was, it would be out of character. Reese never begrudged another attorney’s chance to further his career. What’s good for one of us in this firm, he said often, is good for all of us. That philosophy was one of the reasons Garrett had joined the firm six months ago.

      No, Reese shouldn’t have a problem with Garrett assisting the widow in the expansion of her business holdings. Something else had to be wrong. “Reese—”

      “Come with me.”

      Garrett nodded, even as his boss turned and headed down the hallway in swift, ground-eating strides.

      Once they entered his office, Reese glanced over his shoulders. “Shut the door behind you.”

      Garrett did as requested.

      In silence, the other man moved behind his desk and sat. His brow creased in utter confusion, he clasped the back of his neck, circled his head and sighed heavily.

      “Problem?” Garrett asked.

      Reese’s jaw tightened. “You could say that.”

      “Something to do with the firm?”

      “No. I...” He trailed off, glanced out the window then back to Garrett. “I just spoke with Fanny.” He didn’t expand. He simply leaned back in his chair, eyes locked on a spot just over Garrett’s shoulder.

      Sensing he wasn’t going to like what came next, he remained tactfully silent. But when Reese continued blinking at nothing in particular, Garrett pressed for more. “What did my sister have to say?”

      Reese closed his eyes for a second and then opened them, his gaze sharply focused on Garrett now. Anger. Pain. Bafflement. All three glared out at him.

      Garrett braced himself.

      “Fanny broke off our engagement.”

      “She...no.” Garrett exhaled roughly, completely astounded by the news. “That can’t be right.” He must have misunderstood, must have heard wrong.

      “I assure you, it’s true.”

      “But...” Garrett struggled for words. “She’s happy, really happy. She told me so.” Just the other day. She’d jumped into his arms and said, Oh, Garrett, I’m the most blessed woman in the world.

      What had changed since then?

      Something. Something she hadn’t shared with him. “What did Fanny say, exactly?”

      Reese scrubbed the back of his hand across his mouth. “It wasn’t what she said so much as how she said it. She was upset, on the verge of tears. I’d never seen her like that, so...” He shuddered. “Emotional. She’s always been a steady sort, solid, even-tempered. I can’t fathom what’s put her off like this.”

      None of what Reese said sounded like his sister. Not the Fanny that Garrett knew, at any rate.

      “I asked her what was wrong,” Reese continued, “told her we’d work it out, together. ‘That’s what couples do,’ I said. It was as if she didn’t hear me. Or maybe she didn’t want to hear me.” He shook his head. “She just kept babbling, on and on and on, her words tumbling over one another. I could barely keep up.”

      This time, Garrett spoke his thoughts aloud. “That doesn’t sound like Fanny.”

      His mind kept returning to that particular point.

      “No, it’s not,” Reese agreed. “She said we didn’t add up, those were the exact words she used.” He shook his head again. “We don’t add up, as if our relationship was nothing more than a mathematics equation that needed solving.”

      Garrett’s blood turned cold. Ice-cold, but he remained silent, letting Reese talk.

      “We don’t add up?” Reese pressed his lips into a grim line. “What sort of convoluted math was Fanny using?”

      Garrett knew. God help them all, he knew.

      How many times had he sat, mesmerized, as he listened to Molly applying one of her “formulas” to a personal problem? He used to find her process of applying mathematical equations to life’s troubles charming.

      He wasn’t charmed now.

      Garrett only had himself to blame for this disaster. He should have followed his instincts and spoken with his sister himself, rather than trust Molly to handle the problem.

      “You and Fanny will work this out,” he said, determined to see it come to pass. “This is probably just a case of cold feet on her part.”

      “I’m not so sure.” Angry shock leaped into Reese’s gaze. “She said she had to follow her heart.” Shadows swirled around his eyes, dark and dangerous. “Follow her heart,” he repeated, spitting out the words one by one. “What’s that supposed to mean anyway?”

      “I have no idea,” Garrett admitted, feeling uneasy and puzzled over the phrase. Something tickled at the back of his mind, a distant memory, but he couldn’t capture the thought fully so he focused on what he could address. He would find out what was going on in his sister’s mind, from the source herself, sooner rather than later. In the meantime...

      “Reese, don’t give up on Fanny. I’m sure she’ll be back, maybe even later today, retracting everything she said.”

      “I don’t know, Garrett.” Reese inhaled a ragged breath. СКАЧАТЬ