The Unexpected Bride (The Unexpected Sinclares Book 1) Page 22

  She smiled and reached over to give his hand a squeeze. “In case I haven’t said so yet, it’s good to see you again.”

  Harm started to return her smile, then stopped and grabbed her wrist. Gently he turned her hand, palm up, and studied it. Then he met first her gaze and then Caleb’s. “Calluses, Elly?”

  Earlier they’d had a taste of the fiery side of Harm. It was rare that he ever let go of his control in such an explosive manner. This steely, dangerous tone was a tool he employed more readily and with great effect when he had a battle to fight.

  How could she keep him from saying something that would clue Caleb in to the extent of the Sinclare family fortune? This wasn’t how she wanted Caleb to find out, especially while there was still this unfinished business between them.

  She sensed Caleb move behind her. Before he could say anything, she spoke up. “Yes, calluses. I’m part of this family, and I’ve been earning my keep.”

  Harm’s gaze speared her. “And just how have you done that?”

  She snatched her hand back and glared at her brother. “Not very well, I’m sorry to say. I lend a hand with the cooking and cleaning and whatever else I can, but just about every one of the children here are better at the chores than I am.”

  Caleb stepped up and put an arm around her. “Elthia’s doing just fine. She’s getting better at the household chores every day, and I doubt there’s anyone better at taking care of kids.”

  Harm raised his brow again. “I see.”

  Elthia saw the thoughtful gleam in her brother’s eye and decided the time for their private chat had come.

  She turned to face Caleb, reluctantly stepping away from the protection of his arm. “Your clothes are wet and dirty from your fall. Why don’t you go upstairs and change? Harm and I can do a bit of catching up while we wait for you.”

  Caleb frowned, and Elthia thought for a moment he’d refuse to go. But at last he nodded. “All right.” Then, as he moved to the door, he caught Harm’s gaze. “I won’t be but a few minutes.”

  The words had the ring of a warning to them.

  Harm answered with a you-don’t-worry-me smile.

  Elthia picked up the cloths and moved to the sink. She could feel her brother’s eyes boring into her back. “What happened to your plans?” she asked before he could question her. “I thought you were supposed to be in New York for another week.”

  “I was,” he answered, gently but firmly turning her to face him. “Then I got a telegram from a friend telling me my sister had disappeared and her reputation was being shredded.” He shrugged, still watching her with that see-through-to-your-soul look. “I thought it best I come home and sort it all out.”

  “Oh, Harm, I’m so sorry.” Elthia accepted another brick of guilt into her already full wagon. “I didn’t mean to interfere with your new project. I know how important it is to you.”

  He shrugged again. “No real harm done. The work will wait. No project is more important than making sure you’re okay.” Then he gave her a stern look. “If you were so set on not marrying Baxter, you should have come to me. I told you I would back you up with Father, make him pay attention to your concerns.”

  “I know you would have. But I couldn’t take the chance—you know how stubborn Father can be.” She held up a hand to halt whatever it was he would have replied. “Besides, I decided it was high time I took control of my own life.”

  Then she heard Caleb descend the stairs. “Harm, listen, this is important to me. Caleb has no idea either why I broke off my engagement or how wealthy our family is. And I want it to stay that way for now. Please.”

  There was no time for further conversation before Caleb stepped back into the room.

  “Well,” Harm said, “now that your husband’s back, let’s all sit down and have a little chat, shall we?”

  CHAPTER 19

  Caleb planted himself on the sofa next to Elthia, offering Harm a seat across from them. He held her hand in a manner designed to let her brother know he’d have to fight to take her from him.

  Elthia’s brother leaned back, looking for all the world as if he were merely making a social call. “Let’s start at the beginning, shall we? Elly, you can begin with why and how you came to be here. And don’t try to tell me you were intending to marry this man all along. You left me a note, remember?”

  Caleb felt Elthia fidget beside him. Glancing at her, he was surprised by her guilty schoolgirl expression.

  “It’s partly your fault.” She sent Harm a mulish look. “You said Father would never abandon the idea of my marrying the man he handpicked for me unless I proved I had a bit of backbone and independence.”

  Caleb frowned. So, she’d broken off the engagement, not her fiancé?

  Elthia’s brother tilted his head. “I said that?”

  She nodded primly. “In so many words.”

  “And you took that to mean you should travel hundreds of miles, alone, without a word to anyone about where you’d gone.”

  Caleb sat up straighter. She’d done what?

  Her brother raised a brow. “Putting half the country between you and Father seems a bit extreme.”

  Elthia shifted. “I hadn’t intended to travel so far, but when I looked at the positions Mrs. Pembroke had open, this was the only one that fit. And I had to do something right away while you and Father were out of town.”

  Caleb was stunned. “Hold it. Are you saying that you really did run away? That no one knew where you’d gone off to?” His blood ran cold thinking what could have happened to her.

  Elthia shot him an I-thought-you-were-on-my-side look. “Mrs. Pembroke knew where I was going. And I left a note for Harm. He just wasn’t supposed to find it for another few weeks.” She shot an accusatory glance at her brother, as if this were his fault.

  Harm, however, seemed unmoved. “And just how long after you arrived did you discover this wasn’t a teaching job after all?”

  Elthia stared at her lap. “The evening of the first day.”

  Harm’s gaze shifted to Caleb with steely purpose. “And just what happened then?”

  Caleb felt a noose tighten about his neck. Rather than answering, he turned to Elthia. “If you truly did think this was a teaching job, how do you explain the contract?”

  Elthia met his gaze, her expression set. “I told you that’s what I came for. And I still can’t explain about the contract.”

  “What contract?” Harm asked, reclaiming their attention.

  “The placement contract I signed,” Elthia explained. “I read it carefully, Harm, and it was for a governess post. But when I got here, both our copies had become marriage contracts.” She wrinkled her nose. “It’s as if it was done by magic.”

  Harm shook his head. “Not magic, Elly, but quite likely a bit of sleight of hand.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “What do you mean?”

  “How many copies of the contract did you sign?”

  “Four.”

  “And did you read all four of them?”

  “Why no. Mrs. Pembroke remembered the other copies at the last minute, and there were so many other things to do I just—”

  Caleb’s groan brought her up short. She looked from Caleb to Harm, then back again. “You mean she tricked me? But why?”

  Harm’s jaw tightened. “I think I can shed some light on that part of the story. Louella Pembroke has nursed a grudge against the Sinclares for longer than you and I’ve been around.”

  Elthia’s hand fluttered, mirroring her confused expression. “I thought she was a friend of Mother’s.”

  “Not exactly—she was more an acquaintance. The way Father explained it to me, Louella apparently had aspirations of marrying him. In fact, she went so far as to try to force his hand by setting up a compromising situation. Unluckily for her, her plan didn’t work—Father had already set his sights on Mother and refused to be trapped by female machinations.”

  “How come I never knew any of that?”

  Harm�
��s lips quirked up in an ironic smile. “Because Father wanted to protect your delicate sensibilities.”

  She stiffened at that, and Caleb gave her hand a supportive squeeze.

  Harm pointed to her with a fond smile. “You look a lot like Mother. When you asked Louella Pembroke for help with this scheme of yours, she must have seen it as a way to get her revenge on Father.”

  Elthia frowned. “But I still don’t understand. How did she think tricking me this way would get back at Father?”

  Harm’s expression hardened. “She tricked you into signing a marriage contract, then sent you alone to the back of beyond where there was no one who would protect you. Learning you’d been put in such a situation would have been enough to break Father’s heart.”

  He leaned forward. “But she didn’t stop there. Once you left town, rumors began spreading, hinting you’d run off to marry a stranger because you were carrying Baxter’s child.”

  Caleb surged to his feet. How dare anyone spread vicious gossip about his wife. “She said what! By thunder, woman or no, if I ever lay my hands on that low-down, scheming, backbiting—”

  “It’s not true.”

  Elthia’s whisper halted his ranting. The stark, wounded look on her face dug the spurs into all his protective urges.

  “Of course it’s not!” he responded gruffly, dropping back down beside her and taking her hand.

  Her smile of gratitude made him feel ten feet tall.

  “Of course not,” Harm agreed. “And don’t worry, she will be dealt with when I return to Harrelmore.”

  Caleb caught the glance Harm sent his way and wasn’t fooled by the man’s bland expression. Elthia’s brother was a keenly observant man. Refusing to be intimidated, Caleb reached a hand around Elthia, resting it possessively on her shoulder.

  Harm flashed Caleb a smile reminiscent of a hungry wolf’s, before turning to Elthia. “Back to my question. What happened when you discovered why you were really here?”

  Elthia shifted, casting Caleb a quick, uneasy glance. He wasn’t feeling any too comfortable with that question himself.

  “Well,” she began, “of course I was shocked and confused, especially when I pulled out the contract and it wasn’t what I remembered. And Caleb was as surprised by the mix-up as I was.”

  “I’m sure he was.”

  Caleb suppressed a wince at Harm’s tone. Blast! How could a man make such an agreeable sentence sound so menacing? The look he’d shot Caleb was pointed enough to draw blood.

  Harm turned back to Elthia, and Caleb twisted his neck slightly to release some of the tension in his muscles.

  “And then what?”

  “Well, then we discussed options. Caleb explained he needed a wife so he could adopt all his orphaned nieces and nephews.” Her face lit up. “You must meet them, Harm, two girls and four boys. The responsibility is a bit overwhelming, but they’re so wonderful. I won’t pretend they think of me as a mother, but I’m their aunt by marriage, and I think they’re starting to accept me as part of the family. Can you imagine me raising a houseful of children?”

  Her brother’s smile warmed. There was no doubt he cared a great deal for his sister. “Yes, I believe I can.”

  Then, as if giving up on getting a straight answer from Elthia, Harm turned to Caleb. “So you two just talked it over and decided to go ahead with the wedding, is that it?”

  Caleb met his gaze without flinching. “Pretty much.”

  “And of course you didn’t coerce my sister? You did give her the choice to leave if she wanted to?”

  Before Caleb could answer, Elthia leaned forward. “Oh for goodness’ sake, Harm. I told you I agreed to this, didn’t I? Do you think I wanted to run back home and let Father ma—” She coughed, then continued, “know I’d failed at this too?”

  Caleb had the distinct impression her cough had covered something else she’d been about to say.

  Although she addressed her brother, Elthia turned to Caleb, her expression seeking understanding. “At least the Tanners want me. Who my family is or what my faults are were neither enticements nor handicaps. They actually needed me. Right then, freckles, lapdog and all, I was their only hope.”

  She turned back to her brother. “That’s why I agreed to do it. And nothing that’s happened since has made me regret it.”

  Caleb wasn’t sure how he felt at the moment. There was relief that she’d entered into this bargain willingly, hope that she might actually want to stay, and a jab of disappointment that her reasons were so unrelated to him personally.

  And now a new puzzle. What sort of family were the Sinclares that she’d think men would seek her hand just to be linked to them?

  Then Caleb decided he’d had enough of her brother’s inquisition. “Well now, it looks like we’ve got all that settled.” He raised a brow toward Harm. “Unless you have any more questions for us?”

  Harm’s smile was again reminiscent of a wolf’s. “Not right now.” Then he turned to Elthia. “Why don’t you introduce me to the children. I met a few of them when I arrived, but I was in too big a hurry to”—his lips quirked in a half smile—“discover the source of your distress to wait for introductions.”

  Elthia nodded and stood. She linked her arm through her brother’s. “I hope you plan to stay for a nice, long visit. You and Caleb got off to a poor start, but I just know if you spent a little time together you’d learn to really like each other.”

  Seeing the don’t-bet-on-it expression flash across Harm’s face, Caleb doubted it very much.

  The next morning, Elthia sat on the porch swing, helping Zoe shell butter beans. Her efforts were not as practiced as Zoe’s, but she was proud of the fact that she no longer had to concentrate quite so hard on getting it just right.

  Caleb had headed for his workshop after breakfast, but Harm lounged on the steps nearby, no doubt keeping an eye on her.

  It worried her that she and Caleb still hadn’t settled matters. Much as she longed to confront her no-longer-in-name-only husband to find out what his true feelings about her were, she was also just the tiniest bit afraid of what he’d say.

  Besides, she wouldn’t do anything while Harm was around. He was uncomfortably perceptive, not to mention very big-brother protective. If he suspected things weren’t as they should be or learned of the unconventional bargain she’d made, he might try to haul her back home, whether she wanted to go or not.

  And she definitely wasn’t ready to leave Texas yet. After she and Caleb talked, well, she’d just have to see.

  As she worked, she watched her brother interact comfortably with the six youngsters who were all trying to get to know their newly discovered Uncle Harm better. Not for the first time she thought what a shame it was Harm had never found a woman to marry. He’d make such a wonderful father. As good a father as Caleb.

  A buggy turning up the drive caught everyone’s attention. Elthia shaded her eyes, trying to identify the visitor. Catching sight of a bright yellow shawl, she set her bowl aside with a smile. “Peter, please let your uncle know Granny’s here.”

  Harm caught her gaze with a raised brow. “Granny?”

  “Oh, she’s not a relative,” Elthia answered as they stepped off the porch. “Everyone just calls her that.” She flashed him a just-you-wait grin. “I can’t wait until she meets you.”

  They’d reached the buggy, so Harm only quirked a brow at her and turned to help Granny climb down.

  “Thanky, son,” Granny said as he steadied her. Then she flashed him what Elthia could only describe as a coy smile. “My, but ain’t you a handsome one.”

  It seemed her brother had made another conquest. “Granny, I’d like you to meet my brother, Harmon Sinclare. Harm, this is Miss Odella Mae Picket, a neighbor and friend.”

  Harm bowed. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Picket.”

  To Elthia’s surprise, the older woman didn’t ask Harm to call her Granny. Instead, she rapped his arm playfully. “Such a fine gentleman.” She offe
red him her elbow. “If you’d be so kind as to help me to the porch, I’d like to sit and visit a spell.”

  “Of course.” Harm tucked Granny’s arm in his with a smile and escorted her across the yard as if they were in a grand ballroom.

  After he seated her on the swing, Granny patted the spot beside her. “Sit yourself down so we can have us a little chat.”

  “It would be my honor, ma’am.”

  Elthia sat in the rocking chair, smiling as her brother stretched his arm along the back of the swing. He complimented Granny on her colorful shawl, and the woman actually preened.

  “Hello, Granny.” Caleb stepped onto the porch. “You’re looking in fine fettle this morning.”

  Granny turned her smile from Harm to Caleb. “There you are,” she said, thumping her cane on the porch as if she’d been looking for him since she’d arrived. “I’m spreading the word. There’s a barn raising at Billy Hagar’s starting day after tomorrow.”

  Caleb leaned against a support post. “So, he finally got his land cleared and all his supplies in.”

  Granny nodded. “Yep. Everything’s ready.”

  Elthia looked from Caleb to Granny. “What’s a barn raising?”

  Granny stared at her as if she’d asked what color the sky was. “Don’t they have barn raisings where you come from?”

  When Elthia shook her head, Granny turned to Harm as if for confirmation. Harm merely shrugged, his disarming smile admitting that he didn’t know any more than Elthia did on the subject.

  “Well, land sakes.” Granny shook her head. “Don’t folks back East believe in helping each other out?”

  Elthia spread her hands. “Well of course, but—”

  “I see.” Granny patted Harm’s knee for good measure. “You folks just have different customs. Well, a barn raising is just what it sounds like. A man gets ready to build a new barn, and his neighbors pitch in. That way you get the thing built in just a few days.” She pointed her cane at Caleb. “Your man is always sought after for these things. He’s right handy with a hammer.”

  Elthia smiled. “So I’ve noticed.”