Their Tempting Bride by Lacey Davis
19
It was hard to work in town while Martin stayed home with Georgia. It was hard to leave each morning and return late every evening. Today, he’d decided that he was tired of working in the office and he felt compelled to return home. See his wife.
Odd how he had grown accustomed to thinking of her as his wife, his woman, and that no one else appealed to him. Yes, she was Martin’s wife as well, but in his heart, she belonged to the two of them and he was beginning to fall in love with her.
Just thinking of her, his heart beat a little faster as he nudged his horse to get them home. Every evening, she met him at the door and wrapped her arms around and kissed him. It was so welcoming at the end of a long day. So today, he was going to surprise her by coming home early.
A buggy was headed straight toward him. A woman and an older man. The closer they came, his heart stopped and he stared.
It was Georgia and her father sat beside her.
What the hell was going on? Where was Martin? Why was Georgia with her useless father?
He spurred his horse, turning to intercept the buggy.
When he was close enough, he pulled up beside them. “Stop the buggy.”
Her father only clicked the horses to speed them up.
“I said stop the buggy. You have my wife,” he demanded.
“No, she’s coming home with me,” her father shouted.
Georgia’s eyes widened and she stared in shock at her father.
“Papa, I said I would talk to Mama and you, but then I was going home.”
Daniel had heard enough. He sped up his horse and reached over and grabbed the bridle, pulling the team to a gradual stop. They fought him, but he held on until the buggy came to a halt.
“What the hell is going on?” he demanded to know.
“Mama and Papa are separating and he asked me to talk to her and him about why I chose to marry you and not Mr. Bartlett. He told me you paid his gambling debts. Is that true?”
Oh, no, she was not going to be happy, but he refused to lie to her. Last night, he should have told her, but he hadn’t wanted to ruin their time together.
“Yes, I paid them. But that’s not why I married you.”
A tear rolled down her cheeks. “Damn you, Daniel. You lied to me.”
“I married you because I was so attracted to you, that I couldn’t bear to see you in so much trouble, and I wanted you as my wife.”
She licked her lips.
“Now, what I want to know is will Mr. Bartlett be at the house waiting on you and your father?”
Georgia’s head whirled to face to her father and the man didn’t immediately reply. “Papa, answer Daniel.”
“He’s just as much involved in this as the rest of us. So, yes, he was going to be waiting at the house so he could speak to you. He still wants you to be his wife.”
Georgia stared at her father. “First you gamble away the money that takes care of the family and then you sell me to an old creepy man who will pay your debts. Then you come out to our home and you convince me that our family can only be saved by me coming home with you. I’m wondering if you really would have taken me home.” She stepped out of the buggy. “I’m not participating in your scheme. I’m married and I’m never coming home and I’m never going to marry Virgil Bartlett. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” her father said softly, his face contorted in pain.
“I'm going home. To my real home.”
She started walking along the road that led back to Bridgewater. Her face was down and when Daniel rode up beside her, he could see she was crying.
“You lied to me too. I gave you the opportunity to tell me the truth and you chose not to. Why?”
“Because I didn’t want you to think the only reason I was paying his debts was to marry you. I would have married you that first day we met. I would have married you without your mother asking me too. All I knew was that I wanted you and I wasn’t going to let your father be blackmailed because he owed money.”
She sniffed, but continued walking.
“I was wrong not to tell you the truth. But, by then, I was starting to care for you and I didn’t want to upset you. Now I see by not telling you the truth, I’ve done more damage.”
Daniel heard her father’s buggy continue down the road toward Butte.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
She stopped and glanced up at him, her eyes full of tears. “Please, don’t ever lie to me again. After the last month of being betrayed by my father, I can’t take any more.”
He stopped his horse and slid off. Quickly, he took her in his arms. “Georgia, I was wrong, but I’m learning this thing called marriage as well. No excuse, I thought I was protecting you and all I did was hurt you more.”
Wrapped in his arms, she broke down. “He was taking me back to Bartlett. I know he was. My own father intended to trade me off.”
They stood in the middle of the road with Daniel comforting his wife as she cried. “I hope Mama is all right, but I’m not going to speak to my father for a long time. We’re done. Take me home. Poor Martin must be worried.”
“Yes, let’s go home,” Daniel said as he kissed her eyelids, her cheeks, and finally her lips as she sagged against him.
Daniel lifted her into his arms and placed her on his horse. Then he crawled up behind her. All the way home, he held her, chastising himself over how he could have withheld the truth from her. How would he have felt?
