His Forbidden Bride (The Brides of Paradise Ranch (Spicy Version) Book 7) (17 page)

A wide grin spread across Bonnie’s face. “Turns out my girls had a bit of a windfall today, and they all wanted to open bank accounts.”

“Windfall?” Bebe scratched her head. “What does that mean?”

“It means they came into some money,” Honoria told her, hardly believing it. “How?”

Bonnie shrugged. “I gave them all bonuses.”

Still confused, Honoria blinked rapidly and asked, “Where did you get the money.”

“Where do you think?” Bonnie drawled.

“Papa!” Vivian jumped to their feet behind them.

“More than that,” Bonnie went on, still ignoring Vivian and Melinda, “they decided that they wouldn’t entertain any man who doesn’t have a bank account. That was Pearl’s idea, and it was a good one. Half the men who had taken out their money earlier in the day rushed to put it back.” Bonnie’s smirk blossomed. “Smart girl, that Pearl. I’m glad I rescued her from—”

“How dare you?” Rex’s voice boomed behind Bonnie before she could finish her sentence.

“Papa!” Vivian and Melinda called in unison, then rushed across the porch, past Bonnie, Honoria, and Bebe, to stand by Rex’s side as he mounted the top porch step. He’d been approaching through Bonnie’s entire speech. Honoria winced. If they hadn’t ignored Vivian and Melinda, they would have seen as much.

“You conniving little bitch,” Rex seethed, marching to stand towering over Bonnie.

Behind him Rance ambled onto the porch and pinched Vivian’s backside. It was a sign of just how absorbed in the scene unfolding in front of her both Vivian and Melinda were that Vivian didn’t even flinch.

“I told you she was a wicked woman,” Vivian barked. “I’ve told you all along.”

“Stay out of this!” Rex hollered loud enough to make Vivian and Melinda both jump. Rance was there to catch Vivian, and to Honoria’s surprise, Vivian cowered in his arms.

That was the least exciting thing going on.

“I treat you like a queen,” Rex went on, bellowing at Bonnie. “I shower you with gifts and take you on holidays, and this is how you repay me?”

For her part, Bonnie stood up to Rex with fire in her eyes. “My money is mine to do with as I please.”

“It is not
your
money, it is mine!”

“The moment you give it over to my hands, it’s mine. That’s always been the arrangement between us, Rex. I give, you give, and after that, it’s none of your business.”

Honoria swallowed the sick lump that formed in her throat. She didn’t want to think about what Bonnie gave to her father.

Rex’s face had gone red, but he clearly wasn’t about to back down. “And where has all this giving led us, woman? You waste my hard-earned money on tarts and trollops and n—s.”

Bebe gasped. Honoria flinched at the offensive word and looked away. Whatever shred of respect she’d had left for her father was withering fast.

“It is not a waste of money to buy young girls out of pitiful situations, to give them proper medical care and nutrition, and to educate them,” Bonnie argued.

“You run a whorehouse,” Rex shouted in return. “You rescue those girls from one bed so they can spread their legs in another.”

“Papa, stop!” Melinda clapped her hands to her ears and scrunched her face.

Bonnie’s expression resolved into one of calm and power. “Those are only the ones you see, Rex. They’re the ones who choose to continue their profession. They make up a fraction of the girls I’ve rescued.”

An odd twist curled through Honoria’s stomach. Is that what Bonnie had been doing all these years? Was that why she had never been able to keep track of the girls who worked over at Bonnie’s place? How many young women had Bonnie saved…using her father’s money? All the respect for her father that Honoria had lost doubled and tripled as it found a new home in Bonnie.

“You’ll focus on rescuing yourself if you know what’s good for you,” Rex railed on, with no sense whatsoever of how much nobler than him Bonnie was.

“And I’m sure you’ll tell me how to do that,” Bonnie answered, crossing her arms.

“Oooh,” Melinda squealed. “Do we have to hear these sorts of things? They’re vile, disgusting, and putrid. I’m never, ever, ever going to do any of that with
anybody
!”

Honoria would have rolled her eyes as her sister’s newfound streak of prudishness if she wasn’t so alarmed by things her father could demand of Bonnie.

But to her surprise, he growled, “I want you to stop resisting and marry me.”

Honoria’s brow flew up. Bebe’s mouth dropped open. Vivian grunted in disgust, and Melinda dropped her hands from her ears long enough to say, “What?”

Bonnie kept her lips pressed firmly shut.

“I am through with you dragging your heels,” Rex went on as though his children weren’t standing there as witnesses. “No more excuses. You
will
marry me and you
will
produce a son within a year!”

Understanding dawned on Honoria, and she winced. Her father wanted a son. Bonnie was the closest, easiest, and most likely woman to give him that without him having to go out of his way to court. He never had cared to associate with women much. Honoria suspected he couldn’t stand most of them. His arrangement with Bonnie had always seemed more like business than pleasure, and now he wanted to take that business to another level.

“You will stop your vain protests and do what you should have done all along and marry me,” Rex continued, glaring at Bonnie. “I want that son. I need that son to carry on the Bonneville name and inherit this ranch.”

“Hey! What about me?” Rance yelped in protest, shoving Vivian to the side. “Ain’t I supposed to do all that?”

Rex clenched his jaw, a vein throbbing in his temple. He whipped around to face Rance. “You have proven to be an even bigger disappointment than my useless daughters.”

Vivian and Melinda shrieked in hurt and offense. Bebe merely sagged. Honoria didn’t react at all. Her father’s pronouncement wasn’t a surprise to her.

“That’s not… I don’t… You can’t…” Rance huffed out a breath. “Well, shoot!”

Rex grimaced and snapped back to face Bonnie. “No more games from you! You will marry me and you will have a son, or you will never see another cent from me! How do you think your precious girls would fare then?”

After so much shouting, the silence that fell over the porch was disconcerting. Honoria’s back ached with the pain that she could see Bonnie was in. And here she’d thought her problems were bigger than anyone else’s. Compared to the situation facing Bonnie, the troubles Honoria had been through were insignificant.

That thought alone made her want to weep. Who was she to play the martyr? She was alive.
Alive
! Alive, healthy, and married to a wonderful, kind man who would never make the kind of vile demands on her that her own father was more than likely to make on Bonnie. She was a fool to have rushed to judgment, assuming Solomon would never forgive her for lying. Right in front of her was what a heartless man who could never forgive looked like. Solomon was not that man, not her father. Once again, she’d made a terrible, foolish mistake.

“I have to go home,” she whispered, taking a half step back. “I have to go back to my husband.”

“You will stay right there, you stupid wench!” Rex bellowed, pointing to the floor in front of Honoria’s feet. “I’ve endured enough humiliation for one day!”

Rather than being cowed by the force of his anger, Honoria bristled. He may have been her father, but he had no right to speak to her like that. Nothing he could say could make her stay in his house for a second longer than she wanted to.

He evidently thought he’d shouted her into submission, though. He turned his attention back to Bonnie. “What will it be?” he demanded. “Will you marry me or will you go peddle yourself to every slavering scrounger with money in his hand?”

Silence fell again. Bonnie faced Rex with her back straight, but Honoria could feel the weight of the decision before her, the decision that could very well destroy her life. It seemed bitterly unfair, but if there was one thing life had taught her, it was that quite often things were unfair.

“All right,” Bonnie answered at last, her voice quiet. “I’ll marry you.”

“Good,” Rex spat. There was no joy in his expression as he got his way. “The wedding will be tomorrow.”

“It’ll have to wait a couple of weeks,” Bonnie countered him.

“What?” Rex’s glare was ominous.

“I said, It’ll have to wait.”

“Why?”

Bonnie shifted her weight to one hip, crossing her arms again. “Do you want to marry me or not?”

“Don’t play games with me, woman,” Rex threatened.

“Then it will have to wait a couple of weeks.”

The two of them stared each other down. Honoria hardly dared to take a breath. It looked like her sisters felt the same way.

At last, Rex hissed out a breath and said, “Fine.” He turned away with a sneer. “I’ve got work to do. You can—”

“Honoria!”

Honoria’s heart caught in her throat. She whipped around to look out over the front yard and the drive, everyone else turning to see what it was with her. Joy and terror mingled together in Honoria’s chest as she spotted Solomon galloping down the drive toward her.

“
S
olomon
!” she called out. The truth of where she belonged and what she needed to do was suddenly so clear that she couldn’t have held herself back if she’d tried. She lunged past Bonnie, rushing down the porch stairs to meet her husband as he came for her.

Before her feet could touch the gravel path in front of the stairs, she was grabbed and yanked back. Her feet flew out from under her, and though she twisted painfully, she didn’t fall. It took a few disorienting seconds for her to realize her father had her by one arm and Cousin Rance had her by the other.

“Honoria!” Solomon shouted again. He tugged his mount to a stop several yards away and jumped down like a practiced cowboy, in spite of his tailored suit. Hardly taking a moment to gain his footing, he dashed toward her. “Unhand my wife at once!”

“Are you telling
me
what to do, boy?” Rance snapped. He jerked Honoria’s arm, but the gesture loosened his hold on her, and she was able to wrench herself free. Her father still held tightly to her other arm, though.

For once, Solomon didn’t take the path of calm, silent protest. His eyes flashed with fury and power radiated from him. “If you do not let my wife go this instant, sir, I cannot be held responsible for my actions.”

“Let me go, Papa,” Honoria seconded, yanking and pulling to get away from him.

“She’s mine,” Rex snarled. “Always has been, whether you’ve soiled her with your filthy black paws or not.”

“I am not yours,” Honoria shouted. She put every last bit of her effort into breaking away from her father.

Whether it was her strength or Rex’s shock at her defiance, he let go just as she struggled away. The sudden dizziness of freedom left her stumbling as she lurched forward. Her feet seemed to tangle together, but before she splattered to the path, Solomon was there to catch her.

“Honoria!” His exclamation was filled with more relief than anything else this time. He gathered her into his arms, hugging her tightly as he backpedaled a few steps. “Thank God you’re all right.”

“I am. I am all right.” All at once every emotion that she had kept at bay and every implication of learning she had a long life in front of her hit her. She burst into tears. “I’m not dying, Solomon! I’m so sorry. This is all my fault, and I know you’ll never be able to forgive me.”

“What is the meaning of this?” Rex shouted, but stayed glued to the stairs. “I want this man removed from my property at once!”

Both his question and his demand were ignored.

“Never be able to forgive you?” Solomon looked as though he had been struck with a brick. “Honoria, learning that you are not dying is the most wonderful piece of news I’ve ever received.”

“Honoria is dying?” Vivian asked from the side of the porch. She leaned against the railing, watching the scene unfold with wide eyes.

“No, she’s not,” Bebe announced as though she’d staged a coup. “Dr. Abernathy told her the wrong thing. She’s not really dying.” Bebe looked so proud of knowing what was going on before her sisters that she tilted her chin up with a smug grin.

It lasted until Vivian and Melinda snapped in unison, “Shut up, Bebe!”

Bebe slumped, but her humiliation was quickly overshadowed.

Rex shouted, “Explain this all to me now!”

It was a shock that Honoria didn’t have to summon vast amounts of courage to turn to her father and say, “I thought I was sick. I thought my cough was the sign of something worse. So I went to see Dr. Meyers about it.”

“How dare you see anyone but Dr. Abernathy without my permission?” Rex growled.

“I saw Dr. Meyers specifically because I didn’t want to seek your permission,” Honoria blasted him in return. “I am tired of needing your permission to move or think or breathe, especially when you don’t care one way or another what I do as long as it doesn’t draw attention.”

“Why, you impudent—”

“Dr. Meyers ran tests, but he was called out of town before he could deliver the results,” Honoria charged on over top of her father. “Your precious Dr. Abernathy was supposed to share the results, but he confused my file with another patient. He told me I have consumption, when in fact I’m perfectly healthy.”

“Why would you—”

“I left your house as fast as I could when I thought my time on this earth was short,” Honoria raged on, taking a few steps closer to her father. “I begged Solomon to marry me, to keep me safe and to make my last days happy ones. I knew that he was far more capable of making me happy than you ever were.”

“Honoria, if you don’t cease this foolishness this instant—”

“The only foolishness that I am ceasing is the foolishness of this family,” Honoria capped off the last of the things she needed to say. “I am not a Bonneville anymore. I don’t think I ever was one. I’m a Templesmith now.”

That was it. The beginning and end of everything she had to say. She held her head high and turned to walk back to Solomon.

“Don’t you turn your back on me, young lady,” Rex boomed.

Honoria didn’t pay any more attention to him than she would pay to a fly. Unfortunately for her, she owed far more to the person who did deserve her attention.

“I’m sorry,” she repeated, walking until she stood in front of Solomon, her head lowered. “I feel as though I lied to you and forced you to marry me for a reason that doesn’t exist. And so much trouble has come because of it.”

“Oh, sweetheart,” Solomon sighed. Honoria snapped her head up, eyes wide. Solomon rested a hand on the side of her face. “I don’t care what your reasons where when you asked me to marry you. I should have had the courage to speak to you and court you long before that.”

“I… Really?” She could hardly believe her ears, hardly dared to see the hope and love in Solomon’s eyes.

“Of course.” He reached for her hands, holding them tightly to his chest. “I’ve admired you from afar for years. When you came to me, when you trusted me with something as precious as your final days, I…” He shook his head, unable to find words to express the emotion that was growing bigger and bigger around him. “And then to find out that you’re not dying after all?” He burst into laughter and tears at the same time. “I never thought I could be so blessed.”

The maelstrom of emotions raging inside of Honoria broke into tears with the force of his reaction. “I couldn’t possibly let myself hope,” she managed to squeak out, though her whole body was trembling with rapture. “After all the problems I caused, all of the disaster that was because of me…”

“It was nothing, my sweet, wonderful darling wife. Nothing at all.” He pulled her into his arms, holding her close. “I would endure it all again and more to be with you for the rest of our long, long lives.”

She was too overjoyed to say anything but, “Solomon!” and to throw herself against him. With all her heart, she kissed him, knowing that this was just one of a thousand more kisses to come.

“Disgusting!” Melinda cried out on the porch.

“You’ll regret this, you usurping darkie,” Rex grumbled.

“Want me to shoot him, Uncle Rex?” Rance asked, though with a large amount of worry that Rex might actually say yes in his voice.

Rex ignored him. “If you think you can get away with this, then you have another thing coming, boy.”

With her arms still around him, Honoria could plainly feel the jolt of tension that shot through Solomon. He turned, still clasping her in his arms, to face Rex.

“If you think you can intimidate me with your hollow threats, you’re dead wrong, sir,” he declared, back straight, head held high. “You can bully me and undermine my business and my life all you want, but today has shown me that I have friends who will be there when I need them, and that good wins out over evil every time.”

“I will not be spoken to that way by the likes of you,” Rex hissed.

“You will be spoken to in any way I wish to speak to you,” Solomon fired back. “I have earned that right by weathering every storm you’ve sent in my direction. And if you choose to send more, why, then I’ll just take Honoria and go somewhere far beyond your bitter, impotent influence.”

“How dare you speak to my papa like that?” Vivian shrieked. “Papa, do something!”

“There’s nothing he can do,” Honoria bit back at her. “There’s nothing a weak man can do when he’s met a man who is far superior to him in courage and character.”

“Somebody make her stop,” Vivian whined, shaking her hands in useless irritation.

“You may hound me,” Solomon went on. “You may destroy my business and take all my money, but you can never take Honoria away from me. I might end up without a penny to my name, but I will be the richest man in the world as long as I have my wife by my side.” He turned to Honoria with a wide smile. “My beautiful, clever, vibrant wife, who I will love for all of our many, many days.”

For a moment Honoria’s heart stopped in her chest. “You…you love me?”

Solomon blinked, looking startled at her question. “Of course I do. Didn’t you know?”

“No!” She broke out in trembling from head to toe. “I…I knew you cared for me and that you…that we enjoy each other.”

“No, no!” Melinda slapped her hands over her ears again, squeezing her eyes shut. “It’s too disgusting. I don’t ever even want to think about it!”

“I love you,” Solomon said loudly, drowning out Melinda’s whine. “I love you more than anything I’ve ever known.”

“And I love you,” Honoria was quick to tell him. She hugged him tight, but then leaned back so she could study his handsome, joyful face. “I’ve loved you for so long. Longer than you could ever guess.”

“And we both have so much time ahead of us to love each other,” he added, then kissed her soundly.

Somewhere on the edges of her awareness, Honoria heard Melinda squealing again and Vivian making some sort of snide comment. It didn’t matter. Bebe was jumping up and down and clapping, and her father had turned to say something low and bitter to Rance, but that didn’t matter either. All that mattered was that she was alive, she was in Solomon’s arms, and not only was he not angry, he loved her.

When at last she burst through heaven and landed back on earth once more, it was in time to hear Rex growl, “Get off my property, the both of you. I never want to see either of you again.”

Honoria took a breath and turned to face her father with defiance. “Well, you’ll have to see us, Papa. We live in the same town, and with Solomon’s bank on the mend, we’re not going anywhere. You can complain about it all you want, but I’m still your flesh and blood, and all of the children Solomon and I have will be your flesh and blood too.”

The thought sent Honoria’s heart soaring, even though Rex cursed and spit in the dirt. He didn’t even reply. He grabbed Rance by the sleeve and marched away with him.

“Darling, let’s go home,” Solomon said, taking Honoria’s hand. “There’s nothing for us here and everything for us back in town.”

Honoria smiled like she had never smiled before and leaned into him for another kiss. She turned to go with him, but at the last minute gasped and turned back.

“Bonnie,” she called to her friend.

Bonnie was watching them with a sad smile, but blinked and stood straighter at her name. “What?”

“Come back to town. You don’t have to marry Papa. I’m sure we can figure out how to finance your efforts on behalf of the girls.”

Solomon sent Honoria a confused and gently wary look.

Bonnie must have seen it. She sighed and shook her head. “I’ve made my bed, honey. It’s about time I lay in it.”

“But—”

“Nope. It’s already decided.” Bonnie cut her off before she could say more. “I knew this day would come, and I accept it as the price I must pay.”

“Ugh, she’s so melodramatic,” Vivian snorted. She grabbed Melinda’s arm and turned to go inside. Before they took more than a few steps, Vivian turned to Bebe. “Bebe! Come! Now!”

A stricken Bebe looked between Vivian and Honoria, at a complete loss.

“Bebe!” Melinda added her command to her sisters.

“If you ever need me, I’ll be there for you,” Honoria told Bebe.

Still looking miserable, Bebe nodded, then scurried after Vivian and Melinda.

“She’ll take you up on that offer in time,” Bonnie sighed.

“Will you take me up on it too?” Honoria asked.

Bonnie shook her head. She didn’t say anything more except, “You two go on before your father takes it into his head to do something stupider than he’s already done.”

Hard though it was, Honoria accepted Bonnie’s choice. She squeezed Solomon’s hand. Together they turned and walked back to his horse. Solomon helped her to mount, then climbed up behind her.

“I meant what I said,” he insisted as he reached around her waist for the reins. “I would happily lose everything else now that I have you.”

She twisted to face him as well as she could, laying a hand on the side of his face, “And I would gladly die if it meant that you could be happy.”

He laughed. “Lucky for us, we don’t have to worry about that for years to come.”