Cole's Montana Bride (Sweet,clean Western Historical Romance)(Montana Ranchers and Brides Series Book 7) (3 page)

"It was a beautiful wedding. Wasn't it?" Victoria asked.

Cole nodded slowly. "Indeed it was. They're a lovely couple. I've known Marcus for a long time. He's a good man. Just right for Ruby."

"Yes. They are a perfect couple," Victoria said.

Cole glanced at the other diners in the room. "You must be pleased with your work," he said.

Victoria glanced at Cole with sudden surprise. After a pause she responded. "It wasn't easy. Marcus took some persuading before he came round to the idea of marriage."

"He is a lawyer," Cole said wryly.

Victoria smiled. She looked at Cole searching for signs of similar levity but found none.

"Ruby came to my agency in Helena and asked me to help out. She'd been sweet on Marcus for years. But he'd been so busy with his work that he hadn't even noticed she held a flame for him."

"Sounds familiar," Cole said bluntly.

Victoria looked at him and saw the tightness in his jaw. No use pursuing that comment, she thought. "Ruby and I were friends so I thought I'd help," she continued.

Cole lifted the teacup to his lips and took a sip. The small cup looked incongruous in his strong, large hand. Victoria watched his throat as he swallowed the tea. Cole put the cup back down on the saucer. "So how is the matchmaking business?" he asked.

Victoria moved her cup to one side. "It's doing very well. I've managed to bring together a great many wives and husbands. I haven't had a complaint." She smiled at Cole but yet again his face was impassive, his eyes fixed on Victoria. "Yet," she added quickly with a smile.

Cole's brow rose and Victoria immediately knew that her comment had dug deep into him. He nodded but said nothing.

"And the ranch? How is it?" she asked quickly.

Cole's eyes narrowed slightly and the crease of a smile thinned his lips. "Still where it is when you left," he said quietly. His gaze dropped to the table and Victoria felt her heat sink.

Victoria looked down. Her shoulders felt suddenly heavy and she realized there was no point in carrying on any kind of pretence. The truth was unavoidable. She'd learned the hard way that when it came to relationships honesty was often the wisest choice.

"About that, Cole..." she started to say.

"About what, Victoria? he interrupted. His eyes locked on Victoria's and she shifted in her seat.

There was a long pause. The sounds of the other diners became unusually insistent for a moment.

"About us, Cole. I know that the way I left was less than fair..."

"Fair?" Cole asked, his voice rising. "I'd hardly call a letter like that fair." He placed his elbows on the table and leaned forward. His gaze was fixed on Victoria. "I think I deserved better," he said in a firm voice.

Victoria glanced over at the other diners. "Please keep your voice down, Cole," she said.

Cole responded to her request by leaning back in his chair and tightening his lips into a thin line. He folded his arms and took a deep breath.

"I can only say I regret any distress I might have caused you by staying in Helena. But I hope you can understand that my decision was motivated by what I thought was the best thing at the time."

"Best for who, Victoria?" Cole demanded quietly.

"For both of us."

Cole frowned. "And of course, being a matchmaker, you would know what was best for both of us. Wouldn't you, Victoria."

She winced. The hurt Victoria felt at his question was strangely offset by the pleasure she took at hearing him say her name. There was something about hearing her name in his deep, vibrant voice that produced a tremor inside her that was wholly inexplicable, completely surprising.

"I wasn't yet a matchmaker when we parted," she tried to explain.

"Perhaps your skills weren't fully developed?" he said with a twist of the head.

They both turned and looked away. Victoria suddenly felt that she needed to look anywhere else except across the table at the man who she'd obviously hurt, the rancher she'd known since girlhood, the Montana man who now looked like he thought that the woman sitting across from him was the worst person in the territory.

This meeting was not going according to plan. It was becoming entirely too personal, and Victoria knew she had a job to do. She had made a promise to Lucy Carter. It was a promise that depended on the man sitting across from her trusting Victoria and agreeing to allow her to keep that promise. Even if it meant arranging a marriage for a man Victoria had once told herself she'd felt love for.

"I asked you here for a reason, Cole," she said. Hearing his name from her lips seemed to catch his attention. He looked across at her and she thought she saw a brief flicker of approval glinting in his eyes, but it as quickly vanished.

"You mean you didn't ask me here to apologize?" Cole asked with a quiet, defiant tone.

Victoria fixed Cole with a firm look and she restrained the urge to respond to his obvious taunt. She couldn't recall ever having seen Cole with such an edge to his character. Perhaps the years had changed him more than she'd imagined. Maybe he wasn't the right man for Lucy Carter after all. And that was her job, here in this difficult moment that demanded she separate the personal from the professional.

"I asked you to meet me because I have a very important proposal to discuss with you," she said.

The mention of a proposal caused his eyes to narrow imperceptibly. "What kind of proposal," he asked after a brief pause.

Victoria drew herself up and peered across at Cole. "I assume you are familiar with Lucius Carter," she said.

Cole nodded. "I do business with him on a regular basis," he said.

"And I know you have an acquaintance with Lucy Carter," Victoria said.

Cole lowered his head and he peered across at Victoria. "Of course I know Lucy. We've known each other through my business dealings of Lucius."

Victoria cleared her throat and paused. She wondered how Cole was going to take her suggestion. Would he throw his arms up in disgust at the suggestion of a marriage with the daughter of one of the wealthiest men in the territory? Would he accuse Victoria of meddling in his private life? Would he storm out of the restaurant and deny her the opportunity of keeping her promise to Lucy? There was only one way to find out the answers to those questions. Difficult matters required plain speaking. The time for delicacy and tact was past.

"The proposal I have been asked to put to you is the following. Lucy Carter and indeed Lucius Carter have asked me to inquire if you would be amenable to considering a marriage to Miss Carter," Victoria said.

She saw Cole's face freeze for a moment. He stopped blinking and she was sure that she saw his jaw drop ever so slightly. The words hung in the air between them. To Victoria's ears, the clink of cutlery on china from the nearby diners seemed to have become, once again, inordinately loud.

Victoria saw a subtle change in the color of Cole's face. It had gone from the ruddy outdoor bloom to a slightly grey palor. Cole still hadn't said a word.

"Did you hear what I said?" Victoria asked.

Cole's brows furrowed and the corner of his mouth twisted into what looked like a sardonic smile. "I heard what you said. And I'm having a hard time believing it," he said.

"I can explain some more of the circumstances if you like," she said.

Cole held up a hand. "There's no need," he said. "I'm just trying to get my head around just what it is you just said. Are you seriously suggesting that old man Carter is proposing that I marry his daughter?"

"I think "old man Carter" is hardly the right way to describe someone who plays such an important role in your own business," Victoria said.

Cole's eyes flashed. "Lucius Carter is just someone who makes sure my cattle get to market. Nothing more."

Victoria looked at Cole. "I didn't suggest anything other than that."

Cole's head cocked to the side. "Really? Aren't you suggesting that maybe I'd look upon a marriage with his daughter as something that would be good for business?"

"Lucy Carter is a sweet and lovely young woman. She obviously thinks very highly of you. Otherwise I doubt she would have ever suggested I try and arrange a marriage between the two of you," Victoria said.

"Nothing to do with the fact that her papa is a wealthy man who might just be good for a lowly rancher like me?" His tone was cutting, his demeanor that of a wounded man.

Victoria sighed and glanced away. She could see the anger in his eyes, hear the indignation in his voice, sense the hurt in his words. What had she done in similar situations? How had she managed to persuade reluctant suitors? For wasn't that what Cole was? A reluctant suitor who might need a whole lot of persuasion?

"If you must know, it isn't only yourself who is being considered as a match for Lucy," Victoria said.

"Considered?" Cole ejaculated. "So, I'm being considered am I?" His voice was tight and there was a tone of incredulity in it.

"Marriage to the Carter family appears to have been in the air in this town for quite a while," Victoria said, recalling some conversations she'd overheard at the wedding. "There is another man in the picture," Victoria continued. "Paul Edwards."

"The banker's son?"

"The same," Victoria agreed.

Cole shook his head in disbelief. "This is just ridiculous. So, I am to be some chattel in a bidding war between suitors for Carter's daughter?"

Victoria drew herself up erect and fixed Cole with a firm look. "Marriage to the Carter family would be advantageous."

"The Carter family don't own this town. And Lucius Carter doesn't own me," Cole stated firmly.

"So, you have no interest in Lucy Carter?" Victoria asked. She suddenly realized she was holding her breath, awaiting his reply. Would he declare a long standing relationship with Lucy that Victoria had previously been unaware of?

Cole looked at Victoria and there was the shadow of a smile at the corners of his mouth. In his eyes there was a glint of the old mischievous nature that Victoria had known so well. It was the first sign that there were parts of Cole which hadn't changed.

Cole's eyes moved from side to side for a few moments. She could see he was deliberating, calculating what the right response should be to this surprise proposal. Finally his eyes locked on Victoria's.

"You say you've promised Lucy Carter to help her choose between me and Paul Edwards?"

Victoria nodded and watched him, realizing that her breathing had slowed to a shallow, tense rhythm.

"Despite the fact that I find the proposal ridiculous, I'm willing to let you do your job. You claim to be a skilled matchmaker. And I have no doubt you are. I tell you what," he said, his gaze burrowing deep into her. She felt something quiver inside herself at the intensity of that gaze. "I'll let you do what you need to do to keep your promise to Lucy. She's a sweet girl and I don't want her feelings getting hurt. She doesn't deserve that. But she's put me in an awkward situation."

Victoria squinted at Cole. He nodded and looked at Victoria. "Lord knows I don't want to make an enemy of Lucius Carter," he went on. "I know if you do your job you'll be able to convince Lucy that I'm not the man for her. She'll be much better off with Edwards. He's a dependable sort. Nothing like me," he said with a quirk of his brow.

Victoria shifted in her seat. "You have no intention of marrying Lucy?"

"Of course not. But it'll be your job to convince her that I'm not the right man for her. You know what it's like to convince a woman that a man isn't right for her. Don't you?"

Cole's words stung Victoria and felt the color drain from her face.

"I'll let you do what you need to do. The only condition is that you must visit my ranch, spend as much time there as I decide is necessary. After you've assessed me and evaluated my lack of suitability as Lucy's suitor then we can both go our separate ways. You get what you want by convincing Edwards to become her husband. I avoid an unpleasant situation. And I get to carry on doing what I do best. Being an unmarried rancher."

He'd spoken with a quiet authority, all the while gazing into her eyes. She'd felt the earth shift beneath her as his low voice had murmured his long speech of assent. Victoria was at a loss for words. Was this what it would take for her to honor a commitment? How hard would it be to spend time with a man who'd once been so sweet on her that she'd thought they truly belonged together? But all that was in the past. Wasn't it?

Victoria gazed across the table and saw a man who was resolute in his determination to seize an opportunity which had literally landed in his lap. But for him it was a chance to do what?

After a moment she nodded. "I'll visit you at your ranch. I'll appraise you, as you so delicately put it." She scowled at him and saw the satisfied glint in his eyes. "And then I shall report to Lucy. But ultimately it will be her decision who she marries."

Cole shook his head, his eyes narrowing in disbelief. "I think Ill have something to say in the matter, too," he said.

Victoria nodded. "Of course. But I'm sure Lucius Carter is a persuasive man," she said.

Cole cocked his head. "Now that just might be the first accurate statement you've made since I arrived," he told her.

And, as Victoria lifted her teacup to her lips, she wondered just what she'd gotten herself into by agreeing to spend any time at all at the ranch of Cole MacAllan.

CHAPTER FOUR

"I don't know what to do, mother," Victoria said to her mother, Lucinda Carr.

The two women sat in the parlor of Victoria's mother's home, a modest two story building on the outskirts of town. Victoria leaned back on the sofa and sighed. Lucinda was seated in her favorite chair, next to the fireplace. It was late afternoon and the fatigue that Victoria knew would inevitably overcome her after the meeting with Cole had finally drained every last bit of energy from her.

The tea her mother had made for her hadn't made much difference. But it still felt good to be home, even if it was only for the next few days, while she carried out what had now become a troubling and onerous duty.

The elegantly attired, grey haired woman smiled warmly at her daughter, eyes filled with patient concern. "I'm sure you'll do the best you can dear," her mother said in that familiar, comforting voice. "You've become very skilled at finding wives and husbands. I'm sure you'll make everyone very happy."