“Why did you come here?”
“I had to see you, Rowan. We need to talk.”
“The wedding is off. I can’t marry you.”
“Why not?”
“Because I have nothing to offer a wife now.”
The distress on her face caused his heart to constrict. There was no point in building up her hopes. He was soon to be homeless, without a job, and not a lot of money put aside. He now regretted spending so much money on the cabin. Poor, trusting George would be heartbroken to know what Edward had done.
He had contemplated writing to the old man about it. What was the point of distressing him when it would do no good? Edward only needed to get his attorney brother-in-law to say his father was of unsound mind and it would virtually be impossible to prove otherwise.
“How did you get here?” He tried to concentrate on what was happening here and now.
“I rode.”
“On your own? All those miles?” He could scarcely believe a little gal like her would do such a thing. What if something had happened to her on the way?
“Yes, to save money. I can look after myself on the trail. I’m not some delicate little hot house flower.”
She looked delicate enough for a puff of wind to blow her away, but she had an inner strength, he had no doubt about that. “I’ll buy you a meal at the diner.”
“Thank you, it will give us a chance to talk.”
He watched her mount before doing likewise himself. Straight away he could see she was an experienced rider. She was a ranch gal through and through.
They rode along without speaking. He couldn’t marry her, much and all as he wanted to, now they had met. A man had his pride and he would never live off a woman. Not that she looked like she had much more than him.
They tied their mounts to the hitching rail outside the diner and he stepped back to allow her to enter first. Millie who ran the place was a good cook. “I’m having beef steak with potato mash, greens and gravy.”
“I’ll have that too, if you recommend it.”
“I recommend it all right. Millie here does the best steak for miles around. Her peach cobbler is nice too.”
“Just the steak, thanks.”
“Don’t worry about the prices, I’m paying.” He could ill afford it under the circumstances although there was no way he would allow a woman pay for her meal.
“Just the steak thanks, and some nice cool water would be good.”
They were shown to a table down the back and he pulled the chair out for Miranda, before giving their order to the waitress.”
Once he was seated, she asked. “Have you heard from Bob?”
“Yes, he and Lotte are married now. They’re staying on her farm until they decide what to do. I’m glad it all worked out for him.”
“He was a nice man. I would have asked him to marry me if he hadn’t already proposed to Lotte. I need a husband.”
“A pretty gal like you could easily find herself a husband?”
“I don’t have much time left now?”
“What’s the rush?”
“If I don’t get myself a husband quick smart now my brother has left town, the bank will sell my ranch from under me.”
“I’m sorry, Miranda. If I had something to offer a wife, I would jump at the chance to marry you. Thanks to the treachery of my old friend’s son, who has taken over the place, I’ve lost my home and my job. I’ll be lucky to be able to collect my cattle from the ranch, then I have to find somewhere to keep them.”
He went on to tell her what had happened, leaving nothing out. He at least owed her the truth. To think he had forgotten about her until she turned up here, made him feel despicable.
Like any decent person she was shocked. “You see why I can’t marry you. I’ve got nothing to offer you, no prospects and a bleak future.” He tried not to let his bitterness show. It did, he could hear it in his voice, and if he looked in a mirror, he would see it in his eyes.
Placing her hand over his she said. “It’s terrible what happened to you, but I’m almost in the same position. Pa left the ranch to my brother Jacob and I and until he got tied up with this awful woman, everything was fine.”
She wrung her hands. “It’s all so complicated now, but if I don’t get a husband within the next few days, the bank will sell the ranch out from under me.” He listened without comment as she told her story, and what a dreadful one it was. He stared at her, not doubting her sincerity.
“What a terrible thing to happen. Are you sure the bank is allowed to do such a thing?”
“Clem owns the bank, so I guess he can run it however he likes. He’s an attorney as well, which means he would do all the legal stuff too.”
What an awful predicament for a gal to find herself in.
“I’m pleading with you, Rowan, marry me. We can have a marriage in name only, and you can leave me, and have it annulled once all the bank stuff is done. The bank manager hates women, I’m sure of it.”
Their meal arrived and even though it looked and smelled delicious he had suddenly lost his appetite. Not that he would let it go to waste. “How many ranch hands do you have?”
“None, there was only Jacob and me, and at busy times, we hired a few casual cowhands. We’ve got plenty of acres, a lot of it is rough and after my father died, we couldn’t run too big a spread with just the two of us.”
He thoughtfully
