The Gunslinger’s Untamed Bride (25 page)

“I care for you,” he said, aching to kiss her, his need to hold her tearing at his soul. Closing his heart to the pain, he took a step back. “And I…I wish you well.”

Hurt registered across her pretty features as she comprehended his refusal.

“You two about done?” Kyle asked, stepping around the corner. “Daylight’s burning.”

“Give us a minute,” Juniper said through clenched teeth.

“No need.” Tears blurred her vision as she stared up at his hard gaze. He’d said all that needed saying. He wasn’t willing to give them a chance. He didn’t want her in his life.

She turned in a whirl of skirts and hurried toward the carriage, fighting back the burn of tears. Dear God, why hadn’t she seen this coming? He’d warned her. His hesitation had been clear every time they’d been together. And she’d ignored all of it. She’d only been focused on how she felt when she was with him, the love blossoming in her heart—and
he
hadn’t stopped counting down the days until he’d be rid of her.

How many times had he told her just that?
God knows I can’t get you off this mountain fast enough.

She hadn’t fully comprehended the finality of those words. She hadn’t let herself believe he wouldn’t open his heart to her, as she had to him.

“Front carriage,” Kyle said from behind her. He stepped in front of her to open the door and held his hand out to assist her up.

“Thank you,” she said, refusing to meet his gaze.

“Is everything okay?” he asked, his hand closing over her arm before she could duck inside.

“Splendid.” She was in love with Juniper, and he “wished her well.”

She pulled away from Kyle’s grasp and slammed onto the cushioned seat across from Regi. Her cousin’s eyes widened at the sight of her.

“Oh, dear.”

I tell him I love him, and he wishes me well?

Anger swelled inside her. He’d made her love him, had woven his way into her heart, making her long for more than her life in San Francisco could ever give her. She wanted love.

She would damn well hold him accountable!

“Sweetness?” Reginald said. “Are you all right?”

“Just fine.”

“What of you and your sheriff?”

“I’d rather not talk about it.” The coach rocked forward, and tears again threatened her eyes.

“Did you tell him?”

She drew a deep breath and glanced at Reginald. “Tell him what?”

“The obvious,” he said, sympathy clear in his gaze.

Tears instantly hazed her vision and streaked hotly across her cheeks. “I did.”

“My God, are you crying?”

Lily wiped at her cheeks, but tears continued to flow. “Yes, I’m crying!”

“Sweetness, what did he say?”

“He said he cared about me and he
wished me well.
”

“Oh, Lily.”

“I told him I loved him, Reginald, and he
wished me well.
”

“You have known him just over a week, sweetness. This has to be sudden for a man. What was he expected to do?”

To love her back, to want to build a future with her.

“You asked him to stay on and oversee our transitions. He can’t do that from your bedroom in San Francisco. What would you have him do, become your personal bodyguard and follow you around the office all day?”

“Of course not!” she snapped.

“Well then? Your days are filled with nothing but work and you’re hardly one for relinquishing power. Where exactly would you fit him into your life?”

Realizing she didn’t know the answer, she glanced out of the small window at the trees passing by. Surely they could find a compromise between her life and his.

“Love has addled your usually rational mind,” said Regi.

That was likely true. “I didn’t tell him to just drop his duties,” she protested, the hurt inside her refusing to relent. “I asked if he’d come see me.”

“He will.”

Lily wanted to trust the certainty in Regi’s voice, but she couldn’t. “He said otherwise.”

“He’s overwhelmed. We’ve left him with no small task. Pardon me for saying so, love, but you can be quite demanding.”

She sucked in a sharp breath. She hadn’t demanded Juniper love her. Had she?

“Give him some time. You made your offer. Be patient. Wait for him to come to you.”

“And what if he doesn’t?”

“We do what we’ve always done, love.”

“Feed off each other’s misery?”

He laughed and opened the newspaper sitting on the bench beside him. “See there, you’re coming back to your normal self already.”

No, she wasn’t. Juniper Barns had changed her…for the better. He’d given her a gift—a gift that wouldn’t be complete without him.

T
he offices downstairs hummed with activity. At nine o’clock in the morning, Lily was just leaving her private quarters on the third floor. She gripped the oak banister and stepped down onto the carpeted stair, lifting her ivory skirt. She would’ve been down earlier had she not tried on more than a dozen dresses. All of them fit too snugly across the bosom. She needed to go shopping soon, or at least call in a dressmaker.

As she descended to the base of the stairs, her gaze swept across the wide room filled with desks and filing cabinets, men milling about between them—the heart of Carrington Industries. She greeted a chorus of good-mornings as she made her way toward her office. A few months ago she’d have been in her office by 6:00 a.m. and worked until after supper. Yet this was the first time in six weeks she’d managed to make it downstairs before ten-thirty.

In spite of her absence, her company hadn’t collapsed. Her staff had easily taken up the slack. Even Regi had stepped up, taking over a number of her projects with surprising zeal and tact.

“Miss Carrington.”

Lily slowed as one of her accountants hurried toward her. Light glinted off his glasses as he rushed past a side window.

“Mr. Allen?”
Nicholas
Allen she silently noted. “Glad to see you back at the office. I hope your children are feeling better.”

His eyes widened behind his spectacles. She supposed her mention of family was still something new to some of her employees. After meeting with Mr. Dobbs’s widow and his two grown children, she’d realized how very little she knew of her office staff, people she saw on a daily basis and had worked with for years. Her lack of interest had been inexcusable. “Emily told me all of your children had come down with the chicken pox.”

“Yes, and I do apologize—”

“No apology needed. Four children with high fevers and blisters—your Agnes must have been a fright with worry.”

“She was that. All four have faired well, aside from the itching. She’s keeping them in mittens until they heal completely.”

“Mittens in July? The poor dears.”

“I can assure you it is their mother who suffers,” he said with a wry grin. “I thought you’d like to see this.” He held out a spreadsheet. “Pine Ridge is doing well.”

She stared blankly at the page, fighting a sudden rush of sadness. Since their return, Regi had handled all of the Pine Ridge business and negotiations. Just the mention of the lumber camp brought back the sting of Juniper’s rejection. He’d made his feelings crystal clear over the past two and a half months. She’d not heard a word from him.

“That’s wonderful news. Is Reginald in his office?”

“He was earlier this morning. We’ve been working on the housing presentation.”

“I look forward to seeing it.”

“I’ll see you in the downstairs boardroom at one,” he said, walking back to his desk.

Monthly reports,
she thought. There’d been a positive vibe throughout the office, and a company overview would cheer her up.

Outside the two oversize offices at the front of the building, her secretary’s desk sat empty. Regi’s door stood slightly ajar. She decided to step in and congratulate him on his progress with Pine Ridge. A new, polished brass plate adorned the wall beside his office, boasting his new title of president. She never would have guessed how readily he’d take to his newfound responsibilities. But then, Regi had never let her down.

She knocked lightly before pushing the door open. “Regi?”

Sunlight poured into the room from the front windows overlooking the street below. She stepped inside the abandoned office lined with cherry wood paneling and sturdy bookshelves. File folders were spaced across his desk in neat piles, a few lying open, with pencils scattered between them.

Bold handwriting on an envelope at the corner of his desk caught her attention. She recognized the large, clear print. The envelope was addressed to Reginald; the sender—one Juniper Barns.

She knew they’d been corresponding, but seeing the handwritten proof felt like a slap in the face. Why hadn’t he written to
her?
The man was more than capable of drafting a letter. She suspected he’d had something to do with the letters she’d received from the six men who’d stood trial for robbing the payroll. Each had thanked her for the letter she’d sent requesting the judge to consider their families and reduce their sentences. According to Reginald, the nine-month prison term they’d received for the robbery could have been up to five years or longer.

She’d appreciated their notes of thanks and apology, but what she wanted more than anything was to hear from Juniper. Had he simply wiped her from his thoughts the moment she’d left?

His sisters had already written to her twice. First to thank her for the chocolate and silver pot, and a second letter a month later, expressing ther enjoyment of her gift and their hopes to see her and Regi when the family came to San Francisco in September. By then she wouldn’t be able to hide her condition.

She snatched up the envelope. Her thumb brushed over the dried ink. Addressed to her office and yet he couldn’t be troubled to write even the shortest note to her? Did he truly have nothing at all to say to her?

Her finger slipped beneath the flap and ripped. What did he have to say to Regi that he wasn’t telling her? She unfolded a handwritten letter, dated the week prior.

He was leaving.

Lily slumped into Regi’s chair.
I’ve been patient. I’ve waited. He’s not coming.

“Sweetness?” Regi walked across his office looking crisp and dapper in his dark suit, a steaming cup of coffee in his hand, his expression creased with worry. “Are you feeling ill? Should I call for some sweet tea?”

“No,” she said, forcing a smile. “I feel quite well, better than I’ve been in weeks.” She couldn’t force the man to love her. She could survive without Juniper. “Mr. Allen just showed me the increased profit reports for Pine Ridge. I came to congratulate you.”

Regi stared at her a moment. He glanced at the open letter in her hand, then again met her gaze. “What’s wrong, Lily?”

“You received a letter,” she said, the ache in her chest expanding with each breath.

“One I see you have opened for me. The letter from Sheriff Barns?”

She glanced down at the page in her hand, and couldn’t help but brush her fingers over Juniper’s bold signature, the closest she’d been to him in nearly three months. “He’s resigned.”

“As we knew he would. That was the agreement. He’d stay on as sheriff until our new management was implemented. Next week we present the plans for the Pine Ridge Sierra Lumber Camp community, and his obligations to the company are finished.”

His obligations to the company.

Her nausea was back.

“Lily, why don’t you just tell him? He would be here in a flash.”

“My condition is hardly a reason to—”

“Dearest, your
condition
is going to produce a child in just over six short months. Had I known the cause of your sickness before attending the trial, I’d have dragged him out of those hills by his ear.”

Lily frowned at Juniper’s letter of resignation, fighting another wave of useless tears. “I don’t want him to be dragged anywhere. I am fully capable of taking care of myself and a child.”

Regi moved beside her and leaned against the desk. “Lily, you have to tell him. He has a right to know.”

“
No, he doesn’t.
If he wanted to know of my well-being, he could have included a note with his resignation.” She tossed the letter onto his desk. “At the trial he told you he was glad that I’d stayed in San Francisco and had allowed you to head up the project.” That had hurt. Not only did he not miss her, he’d been pleased by her absence.

“I also told you he was lying through his teeth.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I most certainly do. When I stepped from the carriage and you didn’t follow me out, his expression was positively crestfallen. His first concern was for you. Had I even hinted that you were ill, I have no doubt he’d have ridden straight to this office. But I kept my word and my silence. He cares for you, Lily.”

“Yes, he told me, right before he
wished me well
and sent me off to live my life without him. You were the one who said to be patient! I’ve been patient, Reginald!”

Regi wasn’t the least bit put out by her show of anger. He’d rather see fire in her eyes than the sadness she’d been trying to conceal from him.

“Since when do you listen to me? For that matter, since when do you sit about and allow others to dictate how you should live your life?”

“I’m not!”

“Oh, no? Then why aren’t you accompanying me next week? This housing community was your idea, Lily. Who is he to take away your joy of seeing your plans come to fruition? You should be there to see their reaction to this project.”

Regi watched her eyes spark with interest and irritation. He wasn’t about to let her walk away from Barns unwed and miserable.

“I am feeling better,” she said.

“Then it’s settled.”

“But you have to promise me, Regi, not a word to him about me. You have to let me deal with Juniper.”

“Agreed. So long as you talk to him.”

“And you’ll support me, no matter the outcome?”

“Of course.” She would be blissfully wed or Juniper Barns would have hell to pay. “I’ll make all the arrangements.”

“Very well.” She straightened out of his chair. “Don’t be late for the one-o’clock meeting.”

He smiled, glad to see some of the old Lily spark back in her eyes.

“Poor man has no idea what he’s in for.”