I do, I do, I do (48 page)

"Indeed. Mr. Villette left us in comfortable circumstances."

Before Clara could expand on Jean Jacques's methods of providing, Zoe elbowed her aside.

"You have my deepest sympathy," Zoe murmured. She meant it sincerely. She felt sorry for Marie Villette. No good woman should ever be married to a man with so many "cousins."

"Truly, I wish you would come to the vineyard. Couldn't you spare a few minutes? It would mean—"

"My, my, look at the time," Juliette said. "Mr. Glascon, we really must… that is, if you wouldn't mind." Mr. Glascon nodded. Then came a flurry of pressed hands and pressed cheeks, good-byes and false promises to remain in touch. Finally Juliette, Clara, and Zoe climbed into the carriage, and Mr. Glascon stepped up to the driver's perch.

"Well," Juliette said in a dulled voice. "That's that."

Clara scowled. "I've changed my mind again. He was a no-good worthless snake in the grass! How could he treat her so badly? And us, too!"

"I wonder just how many cousins he had," Zoe said, speaking loudly enough that Mr. Glascon would hear. But Mr. Glascon didn't respond. They would never know how many women would appear in Loma Grande wearing the one-of-a-kind wedding ring.

"I feel almost as bad as I did when I realized Jean Jacques was not coming home." Juliette touched her gloved fingertips to her temples. "Maybe worse."

"You can't mean it!" Clara stared. "I cannot believe you hold an ounce of feeling for that miserable weasel."

"I don't. I'm missing Ben," she said simply. "If only we'd known that Jean Jacques had died…"

They fell silent, and then Zoe whispered, "I'd give anything in the world to see Tom again. Even for one minute."

"Stop it, both of you, or I'm going to cry."

Mr. Glascon called to them over his shoulder. "Turn your faces, ladies. A group of horsemen are riding this way and kicking up a cloud of dust."

Zoe started to turn aside—then her head snapped back and she blinked. "My Lord." Peering out the carriage window, she gasped. "I must be seeing things!"

"You sound—" Clara leaned over Zoe to look outside. "It's them! Good heavens, that's Bear! It's really them!"

"And Ben? Is Ben with them?" Juliette practically climbed over them to have a look. "Oh, my heavens!" She called to Mr. Glascon. "Stop the carriage, sir. We know these gentlemen."

Four men reined in close, as fine a sight as any female eyes ever looked upon. All had been freshly barbered and trimmed. They wore spanking new three-piece suits protected by tan dusters. They were armed to the teeth.

Clara didn't recognize the fourth gentleman, but it didn't matter. She treated her eyes to a brown-bear mirage before it disappeared.

"Is it really you?" she whispered.

"It took us a week, honey girl." Bear gave her a lopsided, sheepish smile. "Then Tom said, 'What the hell were we thinking of?' And Ben said, 'We've got to find them.' And I said, 'We'll solve this problem by killing the son of a bitch. Then they're widows and free to be courted.' "

Ben stared at Juliette, drinking in the sight of her, "Where is Villette?"

"Keep going along this road, then turn left at the tall iron gates."

Before they rode off in a swirl of dust, Tom blew Zoe a kiss. "You're pretty, you're a great cook, and damn, I'm sorry!"

The minute they rode off, Clara and Zoe turned on Juliette. "Why did you send them to the cemetery?"

"We need time to compose ourselves," Juliette said, sounding a hundred times more calm than she felt. "We need to decide if we intend to forgive them." She called to Mr. Glascon, "Drive on, please. We wish to return to the inn."

Clara gasped and clapped a hand over her heart. "We need to decide if
we
are going to forgive
them
?"

Zoe frowned. "Juliette,
we
are the ones in the wrong!"

"Well, I don't think so." She lifted her chin. "We confessed all, and they did not forgive us. It took them a whole week to realize they were wrong not to understand. They let us down."

"But they finally understood why we couldn't tell them about Jean Jacques, and here they are! I want to throw myself around Bear's neck!"

"And that's what you should do. But only
after
he begs your forgiveness and you decide to forgive him." She knew she was speaking in the prissy voice, but couldn't stop herself. "Aunt Kibble always said a person should begin as they mean to go on. It's excellent advice." She lifted an eyebrow. "Do you want to spend the rest of your lives always being the one who apologizes and hopes to be forgiven? Or would you prefer to be the one who is apologized to and who grants the forgiveness?"

Zoe nodded thoughtfully. "Clara, I believe Juliette has made a very good point."

"I see it, I see it. How long should it take to forgive them?" Clara hastily pinched color into her cheeks and pulled at the frizzy red tendrils curling on her forehead. "How do I look?"

"You look fine, wonderful." Zoe found a tiny vial of perfume in her handbag, touched the backs of her ears, then handed the vial to Juliette. "Hold out as long as you can, Clara, before you forgive him. Juliette, is my hair coming out of the pins?"

"There are a few loose tendrils, but it's charming." Juliette dabbed perfume at the base of her throat and then gave Clara the vial. "Tell me, does this look soulful?" She blinked her eyes and tried to look wounded but loving. "Do I look like a femme fatale?"

"Your expression will melt Ben to his knees."

They tumbled out of the carriage, called hasty goodbyes to Mr. Glascon, then rushed into the inn's lobby.

"They have to be only minutes behind us."

"Damn. There's no time to freshen up!"

Clara stepped up to the startled Mrs. Wilson. "Some gentlemen will be arriving momentarily. We have need of the privacy of your dining room again." A clatter of hooves sounded outside.

Without waiting for Mrs. Wilson's approval, they lifted their skirts and dashed for the French doors as the inn's front door slammed open and men's boots sounded in the foyer.

Bear burst into the dining room and his gaze devoured Clara. "Of course you're respectable and better than me. That's how I want it, and that's the end of it." He talked as if picking up a conversation begun a minute ago. "As for the rest, I'm an idiot."

"I've held out as long as I can. You're forgiven!" Dashing across the room, Clara flung herself into his arms, and he swung her up and in a wide circle before he set her on her feet and wrapped his arms around her.

"I understand why you couldn't tell me…" She smothered his words with kisses.

Ben swept off his hat in front of Juliette. "I was angry and I said it all wrong. I don't give a damn if some garbled story gets out and creates a scandal that rocks San Francisco. And I don't care about Villette. The only thing that matters in my world is you, Juliette. I love you and want to spend my life with you. Can you forgive me for not seeing the situation from your viewpoint?"

"Oh, Ben. I'll always forgive you, and I'll always love you." A joyous smile lit her expression, and she rushed into his arms. "I've missed you so much!"

Tom gazed down at Zoe. "I love you, and I believe you love me. We can work out everything else."

"I lied to you, Tom."

"I know it, and I don't like it. So don't do it again."

"I won't." She tilted her head and gazed up at him, loving the sharp handsome angles of his face, the twinkle in his green eyes. "It took you a week, huh?"

He laughed and pulled her against his body. "You never saw three more miserable men in your life. Lord, I've missed you, darlin'! Are you going to forgive me for not trusting that you had reasons for doing what you did?"

"I forgive you," she whispered as his lips came down hard on hers.

"Ladies? Gentlemen?" The man who had ridden with them cleared his throat and led a somewhat dazed Mrs. Wilson into the dining room. "Take your places, please."

"Who is that man?" Clara asked in a breathless voice. Her lips were swollen and her skin glowed.

"Maybe we're presuming a lot…" Bear said, anxiously examining her expression.

"He's Reverend Wainwright." Ben smiled down at Juliette. "We hired him to bury Villette and marry us."

Tom pressed his lips to Zoe's forehead. "Our plan was to ride in here, get rid of Villette, then marry you before you could say no. We're about to commence the marrying part."

Reverend Wainwright waved them forward. "Mrs. Wilson has agreed to act as witness. Will the brides stand here, please, and the grooms over here."

"I'm not certain we've discussed everything that happened in the detail it deserves," Juliette said. But her gray eyes flashed and danced.

"Darling, we have the rest of our lives to discuss anything you wish to discuss." Holding her arm to his side as if he would never let her go, Ben led her forward.

"Honey girl? Tell me you love me." Bear pressed Clara's hand against his big barrel chest. "I've waited all my life to hear a woman like you say those words."

"I love you," Clara said softly, gazing into his brown-bear eyes. "I've loved you from the minute I saw you."

"There is going to be some house-wrecking tonight," he promised gruffly, gazing happily into her eyes before he led her forward.

"Zoe? I've wanted to marry you for half of my life." Tom clasped his hands behind her waist. "But you have to know—no matter where we end up, I'm Newcastle through and through. I'm not a prince promising you a rainbow."

"Oh, yes, you are," she said softly, blinking at tears of happiness. "I'm Newcastle, too, Tom. Nothing more and nothing less."

"That's all I ever wanted."

"Me, too. It just took me longer to know it. Oh, Tom. I love you so much!"

He kissed her deeply. Then, grinning broadly, he led her forward to join the others.

Reverend Wainwright smiled at three radiant brides and nodded to three impatient grooms.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today in the presence of this witness to join…"

"Do you, Juliette March, take Benjamin James Dare to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I do!"

"Do you, Clara Klaus, take Bernard T. Barrett to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I do!"

"Do you, Zoe Wilder, take Thomas John Price to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I do!"

"If you like to hoot with laughter and have your heartstrings twanged, don't miss…
Maggie Osborne."

—Catherine Coulter

SILVER LINING

by Maggie Osborne

As scruffy and rootless as the other prospectors searching for gold in the Rockies, Low Down wanted nothing in return for nursing a raggedy bunch through the pox. But when pressed to reveal her heart's wish, she admits, "I want a baby." Not a husband, not a forced marriage to the proud man who drew the scratched marble and became honor bound to marry her.

To be sure, Max McCord was easy on the eyes, but he loved another woman and dreamed of a different life. Yet they agreed to a temporary marriage that could end only in disaster. But can this strange twist of fate lead to the silver lining that both have been searching for?

Ask for SILVER LINING at your local bookstore.

Published by Ivy Books.

Coming in Fall 2001
...

BAND OF GOLD

by Maggie Osborne

Ten years ago Sam Holland had wanted Angie Ballard but couldn't have her. Now he's stuck with her, a wife he doesn't know and doesn't want. Angie has been waiting a long time for her life to begin, but first she must deal with Sam, his betrayal and a marriage that never should have happened.

Only Sam isn't the boy she loved and impetuously married. Now he's a man—rugged and handsome—with two children to care for. And soon their irresistible attraction blazes anew, and Sam and Angie are faced with a terrifying choice—can they risk making their ready-made family a reality after all?

Published by Ivy Books