His Brother's Wife (3 page)

He was handsome and tall,
with dark hair that fell to his shoulders in waves. The brown hat
on his head left much of his face in shadow but she could see his
eyes were green, in a shade so pale she was mesmerized just looking
at them. A light dusting of whiskers was growing in on his
chin.

When he stopped in front
of her, Grace hoped this was the man she’d been waiting on. He fit
the physical description she’d received from Jesse in the letter he
sent with his request, and he was more handsome than she’d hoped he
would be.

“You Grace?” he asked,
repositioning his hat.

Grace nodded her head, her heart thumping in her chest.
It
was
him. This was the man she was to marry. The joy
she felt was overwhelming. She smiled when she realized the
prospect of being stuck in this tiny town didn’t seem like such a
burden now. Jesse Samuels was everything she’d hoped to find. A man
who was strong, handsome… and who had all his teeth. He wasn’t fat
nor ugly. He didn’t have the look of a drunk and his eyes didn’t
hold that predatory glint she’s seen in so many of the men she’d
known in her life. He didn’t look like a wealthy rancher but she
supposed he wouldn’t if he worked his land instead of just hiring
others to do it for him.

When he did nothing more
than stare at her in return, she looked away. The boy had climbed
down from the wagon and was staring at her. His face was bright
red, as was his hair, and Grace gave him a smile. His blush
deepened before he looked away.

She managed to snap out of
her stupor and returned her gaze to the man in front of her. “I was
beginning to think you weren’t coming.”

“It’s a long trip into
town and that old mule can only go so fast.” His gaze moved from
her face to her breasts to her hips before coming back up. Grace
would have been offended if it hadn’t caused such a delicious
tingle to run laps up and down her spine. She averted her gaze,
watching the boy as he kicked at the sidewalk with the toe of his
boot. He was young, long legged, and thin. He’d yet to put on any
muscle she could see. He favored her new bridegroom in facial
features but that was about it. Their coloring was completely
different.

She smiled again, pleased
her trip hadn’t turned out to be a total mistake and settled her
gaze back on those soft green eyes of the man standing before her.
“Will we marry now or at some later date? Is there a preacher in
town?”

He grinned at her before
turning to the boy. “You want to go hunt down that
preacher?”

Ellie chose that moment to
stick her head out the door of the stagecoach station. She gave a
chuckle in Grace's direction before saying, “The preacher ain't
here.” Nearly everyone in the stagecoach station was hovering in
the doorway of the building. Ellie was smiling, amusement flashing
in her eyes. “He left yesterday morning.”

“Are you sure?” the youth
by the wagon asked.

Ellie laughed before
nodding her head. “Afraid so.” She glanced at them all before
looking toward Grace’s bridegroom. “Afternoon, Rafe. I hear there’s
to be a wedding.”

“Seems so.”

Grace turned. She stared
up at her bridegroom, the man she knew just spoke, but he didn’t
answer to the name Jesse. “You prefer to be called Rafe?” she
asked.

He nodded. “Yep. It’s the
name my Ma gave me. Everyone uses it.”

The snickers started
again. Grace took a step to the side so she could see everyone at
once and her fatigue started to take its toll. She was getting
irritated as well and her confusion was growing. “All right. I’ll
call you Rafe as well.” She smiled at him before asking, “How long
will we have to wait to be wed?”

“A while I suppose. The
Preacher doesn’t get around to these parts but every few months.”
Rafe repositioned his hat again, glancing over his shoulder to the
boy. “But don’t worry. Jesse will do right by you. He sent for a
bride and he’s determined to have one.”

Now Grace
was
confused. She looked at Rafe, then
Ellie and the men standing in the station, before turning to look
at the wagon. The redhead boy was still standing there blushing and
Grace felt as if she was being pulled in endless circles. Ellie
chuckled one last time before ushering the men back into the
building and leaving her alone with Rafe and the boy. “It’s been an
extremely long day," she said. "I’m afraid I’m a bit
confused.”

“About what?”

“Well, everything.” Grace
sighed. “Are you Jesse Samuels?”

“No. I’m Rafe Samuels.
Jesse’s brother.”

Grace’s eyes widened. “Oh!
Well, that explains my confusion.” She laughed, trying to mask her
disappointment. “I thought you were my bridegroom.”

Rafe smiled, those fine
white teeth of his gleaming. His gaze traveled the length of her
again, stopping to linger on her breasts for long moments before
meeting her eyes. “I’m sorry to say I’m not. There’s your groom.”
He turned and pointed toward the wagon.

The redheaded boy was still there, looking at anything but
her. It took Grace only moments for Rafe’s words to sink in. Jesse
Samuels
was
there. He just wasn’t who she
thought he was. “That’s Jesse?”

“Yep.”

Looking up at Rafe, Grace
could see amusement dancing in his eyes. He knew she’d mistaken him
for Jesse and he was enjoying her stupidity. And stupid is how she
felt. Not only had she agreed to marry sight-unseen, but she’d
somehow promised herself to a child. A boy who was too embarrassed
to even look her in the eye.

Chapter Three

“He’s just a boy.” Grace
felt her chest tighten before her heart started thumping wildly. No
wonder everyone inside the station had laughed at her. Jesse
Samuels was a child and no one bothered to inform her. They said
nothing. Just stood there laughing at her while she made a fool of
herself.

Grace glared at those she
could see. They had the decency to blush and look away before
snickering. She turned back to Jesse. The real Jesse. He was still
staring at his feet, his hands shoved into his pockets. The hat on
his head shielded his entire face but embarrassment tinted his ears
pink.

She sighed, her shoulders
dropping before she shook her head. How had this happened? Grace
lifted her hand, laying it to her forehead and tried to think. What
did she do now? “How old is he?”

Rafe cleared his throat
and shifted his weight to one leg. “He’s fourteen.”

Her eyes widened.
“Fourteen?”

“Almost fifteen,” Jesse
said, managing to look up then. He still didn’t look her in the eye
but he wasn’t a mute as she’d begun to think. He stepped up on the
sidewalk and shoved his hands deeper into his pockets. “Well, in
nine months I will be.”

“Fourteen?” Grace mumbled
the number under her breath before her knees gave out and she sat
down hard on top of her trunk. She'd traveled across the entire
country to marry the man painted so eloquently in the pages of his
letter and here she sat, staring up at a child not even old enough
to shave the whiskers from his chin.

When she woke this morning
her first thought had been of him, Jesse, the sweet, shy man she’d
come to know through the letter he'd sent. He owned his own ranch,
he’d said, with a herd of steer so large he lost count of them most
days. He worked hard, had a grand two-story home on five hundred
acres of prime Montana soil. But he was lonely. He wanted a wife.
Someone to share all his fortune with.

And she’d been gullible
enough to fall for every single word.

She realized now how
foolish she’d been. Her father often accused her of making rash
decisions. He was right, of course, and this mistake had cost her
everything. Every dime she owned.

Looking up at Rafe, the
man she first thought she would marry, she noticed he fit the
description Jesse had painted of himself in his letter. But he’d
lied. Lied and led her to believe he was someone he wasn’t. Why
would he do such a thing? She’d been truthful with him. She'd held
nothing back from her history. She'd told him of her parents being
gone and how she had sell every possession she owned to pay her
father’s creditors.

Rafe cleared his throat,
drawing Grace from her musings. “It’s a long way to the house. If
we want to make it before dark we’d best get a move on.”

The house? Grace stared at
him for long moments before what he said registered. Home. He
wanted to go home. With her? She stood and looked between him and
Jesse. They were both staring at her. When she said nothing, or
made any attempt to move, Rafe said, “Grab her things,
Jesse.”

She gaped at him before
turning toward Jesse again. He crossed the sidewalk and grabbed one
of her trunks, lifting it with a grunt before staggering with it to
the back of the wagon. She stared at him for long moments. He wore
a smug look on his face… until he looked at Rafe. Him, he glared at
before crossing the sidewalk to grab her other things.

This can’t be happening,
she thought as she watched him. He didn’t seem to mind that she was
older than he was. Or that the age difference even mattered. Or the
fact he lied to her and had now been found out. He loaded her
trunks and bags as if he hadn’t a care in the world.

“Jesse?” When he stopped
to look at her, she felt her chest tighten again. She was going to
disappoint him. “I’m sorry, but I can’t marry you.”

Rafe inhaled a deep breath
before looking down the road. Grace watched him, his silence
telling her he wasn’t going to say a word. He was participating in
this farce of a marriage arrangement, or so it seemed.

She turned back to Jesse.
“I appreciate your offer of marriage but I’m afraid there’s been a
terrible mistake.”

Jesse’s eyes narrowed, his
brows drawing together. “There’s no mistake. I ordered a bride.
They sent me you.”

She stared at him and knew
things would get worse before all was said and done. “Yes, but you
weren’t truthful with me.”

His lips were bloodless as
he pinched them together into a defiant little line. “Everything I
said was the truth. I didn’t tell you how old I was, that was all.
I’ve my own house, just like I said. We’ve a herd of cattle so you
won’t starve and I can support you as good as any man here
can.”

She looked at him and
raised a sculpted eyebrow. “Your appearance isn’t as you
described.”

He blushed again and
shrugged his shoulders. “Well, most people don’t like redheads so I
fibbed about that but the rest is true.”

Grace sighed. “But you’re
only a child, Jesse. How can you expect me to marry
you?”

The tension Grace felt
then was palpable. Jesse turned and glared at Rafe. Rafe glared
back. Something was happening between the two and she wasn’t privy
to the information.

Jesse’s body went stiff,
his ears now matching the redness of his face and hair when he
shifted his attention back to her. “I’m not a child. I can provide
for a wife. I’ve been taking care of myself for a long time now.”
He turned and stalked toward the wagon, leaning against the side of
it and crossing his arms over his chest.

Grace sighed and turned to
look at Rafe. “Can you help me, please.”

The man did nothing but
shrug his shoulder. Laughter danced in his eyes when he looked at
her but the moment he turned toward Jesse, the look softened.
Regardless of his actions, or lack of, Grace could tell Rafe knew
how touchy the situation was and he didn’t want to sway her
decision. She felt better knowing he at least shared in her dilemma
but that still left her wondering what she was to do
now.

She exhaled a long breath.
This was all wrong. Everything was falling apart. She couldn't
marry a young boy regardless of how much he claimed she could. She
almost laughed at the ridiculousness of it all.

Looking over at him again,
seeing how young he was, she said, “You do realize I’m much older
than you are, don’t you?

“So?”

“So, when you’re my age,
I’ll be near forty. Will you want a wife so old then?”