Gerrity'S Bride (3 page)

“He can’t do that!” Emmaline’s words were anguished.

Oswald Hooper looked at her sympathetically, as if he could not bear to deny her claim.

Matt had no such compunction.

“Looks to me like he did do exactly that,” he said with a humorless smile.

“There’s not much more,” said the lawyer. “Just some bequests to the people here, and some legal processes to take place, ensuring the rights of the child. Other than that, you’ve heard the gist of it. Once you two are married, the deed will be changed to include both of your names.”

“Matt Gerrity has no right,” she blurted. “He’s no blood relation.”

“Your father chose the terms, Miss Carruthers,” the lawyer reminded her gently.

“I won’t do it,” she vowed with whispered determination.

“Don’t be so quick to decide, Emmaline.” Matt’s voice was deep, demanding her attention. She looked up quickly to meet his gaze. “If you turn down the terms of the will, I’ll have no choice but to send you on your way. You’ll lose contact with Tessie.”

“And what about you? What will happen to you?”

His shoulders lifted once more, negligently. “Well, I suppose I’ll just stay on here as ranch foreman. The will gives me that option, if I’m not mistaken.”

“It could be interpreted that way,” Mr. Hooper said, prompted by Matt’s questioning look.

“And you’ll have Theresa,” Emmaline said bitterly.

He nodded as he repeated her words. “And I’ll have Theresa.”

“I won’t allow that to happen,” she declared, her chin lifting another notch. Her nostrils flared delicately, and her eyes shone with barely repressed fury. “I’ll do anything I have to.”

She was a fighter, Matt decided, watching the lines of her face firm up before his eyes. Her jaw was clenched, and her lips tightened as she awaited his reply.

With an edge of anger, he accepted her challenge. “So be it.”

Old Samuel had had the last laugh, he thought grimly. He had always told him he’d like to see the day Matt met his match. And this daughter of his damn sure looked like it.

“
S
aai,
Mr. Matt has been in charge here for two years. And every unmarried woman in the territory has been making eyes at him,” Maria added for good measure.

Emmaline’s mouth pursed as she considered the statement. “I’ll bet he eats it up,” she said finally.

Maria shrugged and smiled. “What young man wouldn’t? The ladies have always taken to Mr. Matt, and now...” Her shoulders lifted once more.

“And now?”

“Everyone will be thinking he has been left the ranch. A man with property will not go unmarried for long.”

“Does he have...” Emmaline paused delicately, unwilling to ask such a question.

Maria frowned at her. “If you had come to breakfast earlier, you might have been able to ask him yourself,” she said firmly, as if that would settle the matter.

Emmaline smoothed her fingers over the hem of her napkin once more. True, she’d appeared for breakfast just as Matt and Miss Olivia were leaving the table. At home, meals had been served at more civilized hours. Surely no one had an appetite at dawn.

Then, too, in her experience, servants were not as outspoken as Maria. But things were done differently here, she reminded herself. Lexington was a long way from Forbes Junction. Informality was a way of life. Why, Theresa and Matt didn’t even wear mourning, she realized, not for the first time, as she looked down upon her own black silk gown. She shivered, mutely deciding Arizona was a long way from civilization.

Annoyance was riding the edge of her voice when she finally managed a reply. “It isn’t a question a lady can ask a man. Besides, I asked you, Maria. All else aside, Mr. Gerrity is not the easiest man in the world to talk to, you know.”

The housekeeper shook her head. “Since he is to be your husband, you have the right to ask him anything you wish.” Her sparkling eyes belied the prim pursing of her mouth as she tossed a quick look at Emmaline. “I owe as much allegiance to Mr. Matthew as to yourself.”

Emmaline cast her an unbelieving look. “I doubt if I will ever be given as much,” she muttered beneath her breath.

The husky voice from the doorway cut with precision into her thoughts.

“Just ask away, Emmaline. My life is an open book,” Matt said with deceptive softness. “Don’t make Maria feel uncomfortable. She’s loyal to the family, and that splits her between us.”

Emmaline’s brow raised as she turned to face him. “You consider me family?”

He hesitated only a moment. “Maria does,” he said flatly. “That’s all that matters.”

“Sí,”
the older woman said quickly. “You are your father’s daughter, Miss Emmaline. You are family, as if you had never left.”

The words touched Emmaline more deeply than she wanted to admit, and she smiled with trembling lips as she rose from the table. “Thank you, Maria,” she murmured quietly, one hand lifting to rest for a moment upon the housekeeper’s shoulder as she paused by her side.

Her head bowed for a moment as she considered her position here. When the only truly friendly face she’d come across in the past two days was that of the housekeeper, it was difficult to feel at home. Matt’s words of welcome had been flippant, and his manner had run the gamut from mocking to moody, especially during the session in the library. Since then, he’d retreated into a shell that bespoke his feelings eloquently.

His eyes had been upon her more than once, but the message they conveyed was guarded. He’d be happiest if she hightailed it out of here, she thought.

“Emmaline.” His voice brought her back from her meanderings.

He stood in the doorway, his hands tucked into the slits of his pant pockets. “What do you want to know about me?” he asked, with a taunting grin that made her clench her jaw.

She shook her head mutely, unwilling to allow her irritation free rein. Where he’d been and what he’d been doing for all his life was none of her business, she decided swiftly. Better that she tend to today’s business and forget his yesterdays. She might find out more than she wanted to know. And besides, she probably would soon be learning more about him than she had ever planned on.

With long fingers, he set his wide-brimmed hat upon his head, covering his dark, glossy hair and tilting the brim to shade his eyes, hiding their expression from her view.

“You missed your best chance,” he said evenly. “See you at supper time.” With a nod toward both women, he left the room, and Emmaline was left to wish she’d asked him just one question.

How did Matt Gerrity feel about entering a forced marriage?

Her heart pounded in an accelerated rhythm as she considered the thought. Somehow, Matthew Gerrity didn’t appear to be the sort of man who would take kindly to being forced into anything, she decided. Especially something as final as a marriage. A marriage that would, by necessity, involve the birth of a child.

* * *

Bathing every day was a habit deeply ingrained in Emmaline. She had responded to Matthew’s suggestion that she take a dip in the shallow creek several miles to the north with utter silence. His mocking grin had infuriated her.

The alternative was a procedure involving pails of hot and cold water, and the aid of others. There was no help for it, she’d decided by the third day. Sponge baths in her room were inadequate, and she yearned for the luxury of being wet all over.

The tub was large, sloped at the back, and longer than the one Emmaline was accustomed to. “I can almost lie full length in that,” she said to Maria as the housekeeper supervised its filling. The bathing room was just off the kitchen—a rather primitive way of doing business, Emmaline thought privately. Two of the hired hands carried brimming pails of hot water and dumped them quickly into the tub. Then Maria pumped cold water in the kitchen and sent two buckets along to lower the temperature to Emmaline’s liking. Another pail of steaming water was left next to the tub, should the bath cool before she finished.

“Your papa needed a big tub,” Maria told her with good humor. “He was a large man, and didn’t like to have his knees poking out of the water.”

“I remember him a little, you know,” Emmaline said wistfully. “He seemed a giant of a man to me—all legs, in fact, until he picked me up. I remember him holding me, and then sometimes I wonder if it might be just wishful thinking on my part. Maybe my memories and dreams get all tangled up in my mind.”

Maria moved behind her to plait the abundance of hair flowing to the middle of her back. “I’ll pin this up to keep it out of the water,” she offered, her fingers quick as they formed the loose braid and attached it to Emmaline’s crown with a bone hairpin. Her hands dropped to the younger woman’s shoulders, and she sighed, shaking her head at the memories Emmaline’s words had brought to life.

“I think we have many pictures in our minds, Miss Emmaline. If you remember your papa at all, it is because his love for you was so strong. Don’t think badly of him. He only wished that you had received his letters and could have answered. But he never held it against you.”

“He wrote me?”

“
Sí,
every month he sent a letter. For years he hoped...but your mama or your grandparents... Well, it’s done now,” she finished briskly. Her face brightened. “When Arnetta Gerrity came here, his life changed. He decided you were lost to him, I think.” She bent to test the bathwater, dismissing the subject.

“I have left towels, here on the stool,” she said briskly. Quickly she patted once more at Emmaline’s hair, testing the security of the upswept braid, and her eyes were moist with tender feeling. “So like your papa,” she whispered, shaking her head as she left the small bathing room, pulling the door shut behind herself.

Emmaline’s movements were slow, her fingers deliberately undoing the row of buttons on her dress. That her mother had kept so much from her was almost unbelievable. If her father had truly written letters to her all that time, what had happened to them? Carefully she stripped her petticoats from her body, silently condemning them to perdition.

“You’re right, Matthew Gerrity,” she muttered through clenched teeth. “It’s too dratted hot here for civilized clothing.” The black dress, with its yards of skirt, received a baleful glance, and she stepped carefully into the tub of water. And then she sighed with contentment as the scent of lilacs wafted about her.

Bringing her own soap along had seemed a luxury while she packed for the journey, but now it was a dire necessity, she decided. The sudsy fragrance she used washed away her tension, even as it removed the dusty residue and perspiration from her body.

“Are you still here?” asked a small voice from the doorway, even as the knob squeaked at being turned by the child’s hand.

Automatically Emmaline slid beneath the surface of the water and turned her head to peer at the intruder.

Theresa watched her with wide, hostile eyes. “I thought you’d be gone,” she said, her chin jutting forward as she eyed the unwanted woman who’d taken up residence in the bathtub.

Emmaline chose her words carefully. “I came to see you, Theresa. I can’t leave till we get to know each other. We’re sisters, you know.”

The child sniffed and sidled into the room. She propped one hand on her waist and assumed a belligerent stance. “I don’t need a sister,” she declared firmly. “I have Maffew, and he’s my brother.”

“I know,” Emmaline answered softly, aware of how gingerly she must tread. “But all girls need a sister, you know. I’ve always wanted one of my very own. And now that I’ve found you, I really want to get to know you.”

“Why?” Theresa frowned, pushing her lips into a pout.

Emmaline hid her amusement at the look. “Because I’m sure you’re a nice girl and we’ll get on well together. I can show you how to play some games I know,” she added gently, coaxingly.

“Games?” Theresa’s eyes lit with interest for a moment, then the frown settled back in place and an uncaring gesture lifted the small shoulders in a shrug.

“I brought along some things I thought you’d like to see,” Emmaline said as she began once more to wash. She lifted one leg and used the cloth with long strokes, enjoying the sensation of the rough fabric against her flesh.

There was a long moment of silence. Then the child spoke, in a small voice that struggled to be offhand. “What kind of things?”

Emmaline cocked her head and looked over her shoulder, her mouth pursed as if in thought. “Oh...I have a set of jackstraws, and a skipping rope.” She slanted a glance at Theresa once more. “Can you skip rope?”

Theresa’s head shook as she took another step closer.

“Oh, I almost forgot,” Emmaline said, as if in surprise. “There’s a package from France that I found in my room back home in Lexington that I thought you might like.”

“From France?” Her eyes widened as Theresa sank onto the bath stool, oblivious of the towels beneath her bottom. “My Miss Olivia says that’s a place across the ocean.”

Emmaline nodded agreeably and resumed her washing, donning a façde of nonchalance. “Of course, you might not like playing jackstraws. But...we could skip rope.” She dared another look at the child, who had leaned even closer. “But then, I’m really a very good rope skipper, and you might have a hard time learning.”

“Oh, no,” Theresa said quickly. “I can learn real fast. My Maffew says I’m smart as a whip.” Her mouth drew down suddenly as a new thought struck her. “You won’t be here very long, anyway. Maffew says you’ll be leaving soon.”

“Well...” Emmaline turned quickly to the child, but it was too late. She had jumped from the stool and, with only one backward look, was gone, slipping through the doorway and running through the kitchen.

“Where’ve you been, pigeon?” The deep voice sounded beyond the half-open door, and Emmaline slipped once more beneath the surface of the water, sloshing it precariously close to the brim of the tub.

“Talkin’ to that lady,” Theresa said. “She’s takin’ a baff.”

“With the door open?” Tinged with a trace of amusement, the voice came closer, and Emmaline reached for the towels Maria had left.

“Are you wantin’ more company in there?” Matt asked from around the doorway. “We usually keep this door shut when the room is being used,” he drawled.

“Please pull it shut, would you?” Emmaline held the towel in readiness as she bent forward in the water, her knees pulled to her breasts.

“Sure you don’t want company?” From just beyond the door, his voice reached her, tinged with taunting amusement.

“Please, Matt,” she whispered, her words wispy with embarrassment.

He reached one long arm within the room, his fingers grasping the knob, and deliberately closed the door.

“Don’t be late for breakfast,” he called to her abruptly. “Maria usually only serves once. After that, you’re on your own.”

“And I hope you choke on yours,” she muttered as she stepped over the edge of the tub and enfolded herself in the towel she still clutched.

* * *

The last rays of the sun set the sky aglow in shades of pink and orange contrasting with the darker bands of purple that chased the daylight below the horizon. The porch faced west, and Emmaline sat on the top step, her arms wrapped about herself as she watched in awe, her eyes wide.

“Never seen a sunset before?” he asked in a faintly teasing fashion.

She shrugged, the movement lifting her shoulders, then allowed her glance to meet his. “Lots of them,” she answered, her arms dropping from her waist, her hands clasping easily in her lap.

“Looked like you were all wrapped up in this one.” He nodded toward the sky in the west, where the scudding clouds were still gleaming at the edges. The pink had darkened to cerise, rimming the gray, ominous cloud bank as though a paintbrush had been swept across the upper edge.

“It’s different,” she admitted quietly. “Stronger, somehow. Maybe just because there’s so much more of it.” She turned back to the vision that was even now fading rapidly beneath the horizon, and her sigh was audible.

“There’ll be another one tomorrow night.” He made his way to where she sat, his stride long and his boots loud against the wooden porch. In an easy motion, he sat down beside her and stretched his long legs before him.