Montana Groom Of Convenience. Linda Ford

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СКАЧАТЬ this wasn’t going to happen. She wasn’t seriously considering his suggestion. No. She wasn’t that desperate.

      “I heard you say your father gave you two weeks.”

      She stared at the wall behind him. Could she find someone else to marry in two weeks? As Annie said, it didn’t allow time to advertise for a husband, and even if it did, there would not be enough time to get to know and evaluate any man who responded. No one from around here would marry her knowing how she conducted herself. Every man she’d ever met wanted her to go to the house and pretty herself up. The few single men in the area who might be desperate enough to marry her had already been dismissed as old, ugly, mean or simpering. Old Billy Cameron was but a sample of what she had to choose from.

      She simply didn’t have the luxury of picking and choosing.

      She squirmed in her chair. But to marry a complete stranger!

      Jill got down from her chair and kicked at the table legs.

      “Jill,” Sawyer said. “Don’t do that.”

      The child kicked harder, causing the table to hop away. Then she gave Sawyer a look full of disdain, challenge and—

      Despair.

      Carly saw it. She felt it and her heart went out to the orphaned child who didn’t know where she belonged. She couldn’t imagine the pain of not having a home, no place to call one’s own.

      If Carly didn’t marry and present her father with a man to help run the ranch, she was about to lose the place she called home, the place she considered her own.

      “Okay. Let’s do it.” She would marry the man, ensure her own home and give Jill one at the same time.

      * * *

      Sawyer didn’t move a muscle. Didn’t blink. Didn’t so much as allow his eyelids to flicker, even though the woman’s ready agreement left him feeling like he teetered at the brink of a bottomless ravine. Shouldn’t she have asked a lot of questions about him and his character?

      “I’m an honest, honorable man.” The words fell out of his mouth. “I’ll treat you right.”

      Carly gave him narrow-eyed study with those dark brown eyes. He had to concentrate not to shift his gaze away. “Mr. Gallagher, you might hit me once, but you’ll never hit me twice. I’ll see to that. I’ll not tolerate a man who rules with his fists.”

      He didn’t know if he should laugh at the idea of this little gal getting all feisty or congratulate her on her stand. “Warning duly noted.” He wondered if she heard the humor in his voice, then remembered she wouldn’t. He’d kept his responses cooled for so long that he seldom felt them and even less often did others recognize them. “But completely unnecessary. I’d never hit a woman or child.”

      Her lips pursed. “I won’t abide rough treatment of my animals, either.”

      He nodded. “You and I see eye to eye on that matter.”

      She studied him so hard he felt something inside shudder.

      To avoid her gaze, he turned to Jill. “Her parents died right after Christmas.” It was the last time he’d been home and he’d stayed only two days, anxious to be on the move. Mostly from not wanting to feel like an outsider to the happy family of his pa, Judith and Jill, although Judith did everything she could to include him. He’d seen the pain in her eyes and Pa’s when he rode out.

      The neighbor said they had taken sick shortly after he left and the fever had claimed their lives. “I was away and when I came home, I found Jill living with an elderly woman who provided nothing but a roof over her head and some meals. From what I could see, Jill took care of herself, which meant she ran wild. She’d been shuffled from home to home. No one wanted to keep her.”

      He studied his little sister. Already he saw the evidence of her reaction to losing her parents and having a home where no discipline or affection was given. “She accepts no affection. Rebuffs attempts of people to befriend her.” He gave a sound that was half snort, half amusement. “Course I’m hardly one to judge what a normal reaction is.” He subdued a sigh. “Like I said, I don’t want her to end up like me.”

      “I expect she’s just wanting someone who will accept her as she is and be there for her every day.”

      Those words ricocheted back and forth inside Sawyer’s heart. Every day? He’d long ago learned there was no such thing as counting on someone every day. He’d discovered the best way to keep from being hurt was to not allow himself to feel anything, not to trust anyone to always be there.

      He’d gotten really good at it. So good that women considered him cold and distant. He’d tried to change when he met Gladys Berry. She talked of home and family...things he thought he wanted. He soon learned he couldn’t become what she wanted and she’d stopped letting him call on her. Accused him of having no feelings—something he could not deny. Said he was a loner and would always be so.

      He’d been better off than Jill. He’d had his pa. Sort of. Pa was there in body but absent in every other way until he had met and married Judith.

      By marrying Carly, Sawyer could hope to give Jill what Pa had found. He wasn’t sure what to call it but figured security best described it.

      “How soon you want to get married?” he asked.

      “Today suit you?”

      Long years of hiding emotions enabled him to sit perfectly still, revealing none of his surprise. “Today is fine by me.” There seemed nothing to be gained by waiting except to allow her time to change her mind. “You know someone who will marry us on such short notice?”

      She rumbled her lips. “Now that might pose a problem.”

      “How much of a problem?”

      “I don’t know if I can find anyone to agree to our plan.”

      He should have known this wouldn’t work out. With studied indifference, he got to his feet. “In that case, I’ll be moving along. Nice talking to you.” He grabbed his worn and battered cowboy hat from where it hung on the back of the chair and reached for Jill’s hand. “Come on.” Jill raced ahead and was out the door before he’d made three steps.

      Knowing she could get into all kinds of trouble in less time than it took to say her name, he rushed after her.

      “Mr. Gallagher, wait just one minute.”

      He ignored Carly Morrison’s imperative call and hurried out the door just in time to see Jill dash into the middle of the street, right into the path of an oncoming wagon. He rushed after her, praying he’d get there in time to prevent a tragedy.

       Chapter Two

      Carly stood with her hands on her hips, staring after Sawyer as the door slapped shut behind him. What had caused him to up and disappear like that? All she’d said was...

      She groaned as she recalled her words. Did he think the problem she mentioned was unsurmountable? Her only concern was that СКАЧАТЬ