McKenna, (Sweet Western Historical Romance) (Nevada Brides Series Book 1) (8 page)

“Make that three specials,” Cole said.

When the woman walked away, McKenna frowned. “I had no idea things would be so expensive.”

“That’s why we’re here. I have prices in mind that should be fair, but we also need to turn a profit if you plan to send for your sisters at some point.”

“I know you’re right. I expected Silver to be more of a town, though.”

“Looks like they’re building new businesses, so it might just be one day. This is how towns are made,” Cole said.

“They’re building quite the hotel, from the sounds of it,” Bret said. He rubbed the knuckles of one hand on his leg. “Before you’ll be able to open for business, we really have a job ahead of us. That place will take weeks before it’s ready to open.”

“Weeks?” McKenna said.

“What did you think, that we’d come here and within a day we’d have it cleaned with supplies to stock the store, too?” Cole said.

McKenna sighed. “No. I-I guess I didn’t give it that much thought.”

“I didn’t mean to sound that way, but this is going to be work for all of us.”

“Bret is staying, too?”

“Only until you two are set to open,” Bret replied. “I can’t have my brother and his new wife doing everything. I wish we could find more help, but we might just find someone handy who is looking for work.”

“Who isn’t mining for gold, you mean,” McKenna said. “I was shocked at how many tents there were in town. And waiting a week for a chance at a bath is way too long.”

“I know. You should have seen your face when the woman at the boarding house told you that,” Cole stated. “If we work hard at cleaning the building up, it might not be as long as you think.”

The food was brought to the table and McKenna’s mouth watered at how tender the pork chop was. She’d be sure to eat here and often if she had her way. She tried not to think of the night to come and how she’d be sharing a bed with Cole.

“Do you have a room at the boarding house, too,” McKenna asked Bret between bites.

“Nope, I’m stay at the building you bought. I don’t mind roughing it. Besides, somebody needs to watch over the place.”

“Good idea. I’m a little worried what the owner of the store in town might do when she finds out we’re also opening a store here,” McKenna said.

“The woman who owns the store in town certainly won’t be happy.”

“I probably shouldn’t have told the server what we were doing here,” McKenna admitted.

“I wouldn’t worry about that. She’ll find out soon enough. I’m more concerned that it’s so close to the saloon,” Cole stated.

“It will be hard to sleep with all the hooting and hollering over there at night.”

“I wouldn’t mind that, if that’s all it is,” he said.

“I hope the woman from the stagecoach makes good over there. She’s gone to be a saloon girl, or work upstairs. I’m not sure how that works exactly, but Bella is very nice.”

“Ladies don’t consort with women like her,” Cole reminded her.

“I’ll thank you to keep your opinions to yourself. It wasn’t like I ever planned to go over to that saloon, just that if I happened to see her elsewhere I’d at least say hello or ask her how she was getting on.”

“I didn’t mean to get you upset. I just don’t want anyone starting a rumor about you is all. Men don’t always think with their brains.”

“Are you talking about yourself or…?”

“I was thinking about if a man thought you were also a lady of ill repute. I’d hate to have to kill someone for touching you. Regardless of how you feel about this marriage of ours, I’m still your husband, and I won’t allow anyone to hurt you.”

McKenna’s icy heart melted. “I’m sorry I got so snappy. I became rather acquainted with the women on the stagecoach.”

“I didn’t want to say that, but we all need to be careful until people in town are used to us. We both need to make a go of this business.”

McKenna nodded and said, “I hope we’ll be heading over to the building where our store will be after we eat. I’d really like to get started readying it.”

“I agree. At least get an idea of how much work it will take.”

She started to worry about how bad of shape the building really was in. She had hoped they’d be able to open the store soon.

After they left the restaurant, McKenna passed the store to see what it looked like from the outside. There was a yellow dress displayed in the window with mining gear advertised. The signage read,
Only Store in Silver for mining supplies.

It
was
the only store in Silver, but that would change very soon.

Cole led McKenna across the street. She held her skirts up so as not to have them get dirty, which was hard to do when dust and dirt was all she could see.

Bret opened the door and lit an oil lamp so they could peer inside. Her stomach dropped at the ramshackle appearance of the interior. It was cluttered with boxes and wood.

“Now, don’t panic, McKenna. You have to envision what it can become,” Cole said. He climbed over boxes and crates. “Now, look here, for instance. We have a counter with shelves behind it, and there’s plenty of wood we can use to build fixtures to display merchandise. Once we go through everything, we might just find something of use here. We’ll remove what we don’t need and clean the place up.”

“How long do you think that will take?”

“If we really dig in and work very hard, perhaps a week. I heard a supply wagon would be in later today. I’ll put in an order for goods to stock the place with.”

McKenna doubted what he said was even possible in a week, but she had no other choice since they couldn’t just give up. “I’d like to see what the upstairs looks like.”

Cole took the oil lamp and they made way up the narrow stairs. They first walked into a sizable room that had a fireplace and would serve as a parlor. McKenna moved into the next room, and there were shelves to put food supplies on and an iron stove with a pipe, which disappeared in the ceiling.

There was a room that could serve as a washroom, which had a water pump, as did the kitchen. At least whoever designed this building had given it some thought. The other two rooms were large bedrooms, one of which overlooked the street of Silver.

McKenna finally turned and faced Cole. “Well, it needs a good cleaning, but otherwise is in good shape. We shouldn’t have to stay at the boarding house too long.”

“We’ll need furniture before we move in here,” Cole pointed out.

“Yes, two beds, also.”

Cole frowned. “One bed will have to suffice until we can afford more than one. Stocking the store will be more important to start with.”

McKenna didn’t like the sound of that, but she had no other choice. How was she going to distance herself from Cole if they would be sharing a bed?

They spent the next two hours going through the boxes downstairs, which contained dishes, pans and other items miners would buy.

“Why would someone leave all of this behind?” McKenna asked.

“The owner was killed at the saloon. Apparently, he was cheating at poker,” Cole explained.

“And they just sold the business with everything in here?”

“Mr. Smith sent me a letter explaining how the daughter lived in Boston and wasn’t about to come out to settle her father’s estate. She hired the banker to sell the business for her.”

“That worked out in our favor since some of these items can actually be sold by us when the store opens.”

“Exactly. We should head back to the boarding house now,” Cole said.

“Don’t worry about me,” Bret butted in. “We brought blankets with us.”

“Do you need help unloading the wagon?”

“Nope. I did that already.”

Cole motioned for McKenna to leave the store and she did so reluctantly. She was nervous about sharing a bed with her husband. When they walked out, they nearly ran headlong into a woman who was obviously trying to peer inside.

The blonde stumbled and Cole caught her before she fell.

She took ahold of his arm as she said, “Thank you, kind sir. I’m Chastity Burke from across the street. Did you just buy this building?”

“Yes, we did,” McKenna responded coolly, staring at the woman until she removed her hand from Cole’s arm.    

“Oh, are you planning to open a business here?”

“Yes. A mercantile store, to be exact,” McKenna informed her. 

Chastity just shook her head. “No, that just won’t do. As you can plainly see, Silver already has a store in town, which I own. You’ll have to think about a different type of business to open.”

McKenna shook her head at the woman’s audacity. “I’m quite sure Silver needs more than one store, unless you’d want to convert your store to something else.”

“How about I just buy you out and you can be on your way?”

“We’re not for sale, nor is our building,” McKenna said.

“I agree with my wife. We just got here, and it would be foolhardy to leave when we could stand to make a good sum of money. I’m sure a little competition won’t hurt you.”

Chastity’s blue eyes bulged slightly. “Fine then, but you’ll be sorry.” She strutted back across the street, speaking with a man near the entrance to her store.

“Looks like Chastity is going to be a real thorn in our shoe,” McKenna said.

“She’ll calm down when she finds out that having another store in town won’t affect hers.”

“I’m not so sure about that. She doesn’t seem like the sharing type.”

“Let’s get back to the boarding house. It’s getting dark,” Cole stated.

They walked up the wood-plank sidewalk and passed two cowboys who tipped their hats at McKenna as they passed by the saloon. It looked quite packed inside, and she wondered if Bella was okay. She didn’t much care for Cole voicing his opinion about her never speaking to Bella. She was determined that, if given the opportunity, she would most definitely say hello and ask how she was.

* * *

Back at the boarding house, McKenna took her dress off while Cole was out of the room, putting on her nightgown, which was much too warm for the temperatures in Nevada. She still had her corset on and wished she had the nerve to ask Cole to loosen it for her. Since he wasn’t in the room at that moment, she hiked up her gown and tried to untie it, freezing when Cole walked into the room and cleared his throat.

“Do you need any help?”

“No, I can get it, I think. Would you mind turning your back?”

Cole smiled and did as she requested. After five more minutes of trying to free herself from the corset, she finally did ask, “Could you help me, please? I’m going to pull my arm out the joint trying to get this off.”

“Of course.”

She stood and smoothed down her chemise so it covered her lower body, holding up her nightgown so Cole would be able to get at the corset.

“Aren’t you going to be a little warm with the chemise and that heavy nightgown on?”

“You’re right.” She pulled off her heavy nightgown and felt much cooler until Cole began to work on the knot that she most likely had created when she tried to get the corset off herself. Every so often, his warm fingers brushed against her, and she felt it all the way to her toes. Since she had never felt that way before, it really confused her. This was going to be a long night.

“I think I got it now.” He loosened the strings until the corset fell to her feet. “I don’t know why you women insist on wearing that contraption. You have a nice shape,” he complimented as his hand went to her waist, holding it slightly.

McKenna’s heart beat madly and she felt weak in the knees. She elbowed him away and bent down to pick up her corset, placing it in a drawer. “Thanks.”

It was dark outside by then, and McKenna nervously fidgeted with her chemise. She finally went over and slipped under the covers, turning to face the wall. Her breath caught in her throat when Cole sat on the edge of the bed and his boots hit the floor. She ached when she heard his zipper moving down, but then it was silent.

“I’ll be back. I forgot to speak to Bret about something.”

McKenna sat up with a jerk. “You’re going to leave me here by myself?”

“You’ll be fine; just don’t open the door to anyone.” He pulled out a pistol and sat it on the bed. “For your protection, but please don’t shoot me when I come back to the room.”

“Okay,” she agreed, not knowing what else to say since she didn’t even know how to shoot a gun. They made her nervous. She had even forgotten all about bringing Papa’s gun like Abigail had told her to do.

When Cole finally left, she fell back to the sheets. She almost regretted that he left.
Stop it, McKenna. You simply can’t get involved with this man, even if he
is
your husband.

* * *

Cole went down the stairs. The last thing he needed to do was spend another moment with that temptress who happened to be his ‘in name only’ wife. He about came unglued when he walked into the room and her gown was pulled up nearly to her waist. The sight of her milky skin was more than he could stand. He had to use every bit of restraint he had when he loosened her corset. That wasn’t the only thing he wanted to take off her, but he had promised to leave her alone in that regards. If they were ever truly to be man and wife in a real sense, he’d have to prove to her that he was a man worthy of her affections. It was so much easier back in Ohio when he first proposed the business venture, but he never thought he’d begin to have feelings for her.

He had to admit he rather liked her spunk when she spoke to Chastity who tried to buy them out. It was nice to know that McKenna was committed to make this work.

He opened the door to the store and Bret was pouring a shot glass with whiskey.

“I hope you have another glass,” Cole said.

“Your wife too much for you tonight?”

Cole laughed. “Let me just say I never thought this marriage in name only would be so darn hard.”

“What did you expect? McKenna is quite beautiful. Are you falling for her already?”

“I’m trying not to feel anything for her, especially as she plans to get out of this marriage when she makes enough money.”

“Give it time, brother. I’ve seen how the lady looks at you.”

“Don’t give me any false hope, but sleeping in the same bed is certainly going to be a challenge,” Cole lamented.

“Just put a pillow or rolled-up blanket between you, so you don’t frighten her if you roll to close.”

“That might be a good idea, but it won’t help me sleep any better. Did you happen to catch up with the delivery driver to place our order?”

“I did. I figured you had too much on your mind today,” Bret told him.

“You have that right.”

Cole took the shot glass Bret filled for him, slamming it down. He almost enjoyed the burning way the liquor trickled down his throat. It took his mind off McKenna and how her chemise clung to her curves, revealing her pink nipples beneath the thin fabric.

Stop it, Cole. If you keep thinking like this, you’ll never be able to get any sleep tonight.

“I should get back. I don’t want to leave McKenna alone too long.”

“Probably a good idea. Gold mining towns are notorious for attracting the wrong type of men.”

Cole thanked his brother for the whiskey and he stumbled back to the boarding house. He had to ring the bell to be let inside.

“We lock the doors at nine o’clock to make sure men from the saloon don’t wander in. I’ll let you in this time since you might not have been told,” the woman who answered the door said.

Cole went upstairs and grimaced as each one creaked. He didn’t want to wake anyone up since it was so quiet. He slipped into the room, disrobing in the dark. He got into bed between the top sheet and blanket so there’d be a layer between them. He turned away from McKenna, trying to ignore the fragrance of jasmine that seemed imbedded into her skin. Sleep didn’t come easily in his aroused state, but even that eventually was overtaken by exhaustion.