The Most Eligible Bachelor Romance Collection: Nine Historical Romances Celebrate Marrying for All the Right Reasons (20 page)

“There you are.” Sadie met him a few feet from the sidewalk in front of her pa’s office. “You’re late.” She narrowed her eyes. “Were you considering not coming? That would have left me looking like the biggest kind of fool.”

He wisely kept his mouth shut and took his place beside her. Quite a crowd had gathered. All the town and most of those living close enough to make a short drive must be there. Sadie was right. It would increase his exposure as the town’s doctor, but couldn’t they have come up with a different way of doing so?

“In just a moment, I will pull five names from this box.” Sadie held the box high. “Each day, the five chosen women will perform a particular task for which our good doctor will award them points. These tasks will be listed in the paper and performed at dusk on the same day, with the results printed in the next day’s paper. At the end of a week, Doctor Phelps will have narrowed the competition to three finalists.”

Zeke tugged on the collar of his shirt. When had the late summer evenings grown so warm?

“Certain tasks will be completed without the doctor knowing which competitor performed the task, such as baking. Of course, the sewing one will require the participants each wear their entry, so that can’t be a secret. I’m hoping this will make the competition run more fairly.” She cut him a sideways glance. “There can be no ties, Doctor Phelps. You must make a solid decision each day. As for the contestants, once your name is drawn, there can be no backing out.”

He thought he nodded but wasn’t sure. Thank goodness she hadn’t asked him to speak. His mouth was as dry as the Arizona desert.
Good Lord, help me out of this predicament.

Maybe he should have taken a more active role in answering Sadie’s letters while he’d been gone, but medical studies had consumed his time. If he had somehow found the time to write her more, perhaps right now they would be planning their wedding instead of him standing like a stuffed turkey on display in a mercantile window.

Goodness, she opened the box. His heart rate accelerated as Sadie reached inside. The crowd hushed. Zeke thought he might faint.

“The first name drawn is…”

Chapter 2

A
nd the last name…” Sadie pulled out the fifth slip of paper with a flourish. “Sadie Rollins?”

“Wonderful!” Ma clapped. She looked around the crowd as if expecting congratulatory praises.

“The contest is rigged,” someone shouted.

“No.” Sadie shook her head, dread coursing through her. “I didn’t put my name in the box.”

Ma turned to the grumbling crowd. “I want my daughter married off as much as the rest of you want yours to be. At twenty-two, she’s past marrying age, and the doctor is as good a husband as any, I reckon.”

“I’ll draw another name.” Sadie thrust her hand into the box.

Zeke laughed. “Aren’t you the one who said there would be no backing out for any contestant?”

“That’s right, Sadie.” Mrs. Pierson crossed her arms. “Or are you above the rules?”

“It ain’t fair for her to run things now,” a farmer shouted. “She’s biased.”

“I’ll do it.” Pa stepped forward and took the slip from her hand. “Join the other contestants, Sadie.” He turned to the crowd. “As the owner of the
Oak Shadows News,
I vow to you all to make sure things are run in a fair and impartial manner. The names will be listed in tomorrow’s paper along with the announcement of the first competition. Have a good day.”

Sadie joined the group of giggling girls and avoided Zeke’s smirk. He would think this was funny, the scoundrel. Oh, why had Ma put her name in the box?

“Don’t worry.” Zeke patted her head, something he knew she hated. “This will sell a ton of newspapers. The townsfolk will be glued to the results each morning, waiting to see if I pick the town’s old maid.”

“Old maid!” She whirled. Her boot heel caught in her dress and she fell forward, smashing her nose against his chest. He smelled of a woodsy aftershave and soap. An altogether nice smell. She took another sniff before she realized the entire town was watching.

Zeke’s arms wrapped around her, drawing her close until she caught her balance. “I’m holding you to your promise,” he whispered before letting go. “I aim to make sure you win this competition.”

Heaven help her. “Not if I have anything to say about it.” If Ma had her way, she’d do all the work for Sadie. But it wouldn’t matter. Sadie would sabotage her entry in each competition. If she hadn’t been good enough for Zeke while he’d been at medical school, then he could just go ahead and pick someone else. Couldn’t he see she was only trying to help him?

“Look.” Annabell Larson, the youngest of the banker’s daughters, frowned. “She’s already competing.” She stomped her foot. “Since when does Sadie Rollins play the defenseless woman?”

Sadie’s face heated. She must be as red as the flowers on Annabell’s dress. “I tripped, nothing more.”

The other girls shot daggers out of their eyes. Sadie took a step back. These were her friends. Now, because of a simple idea on a way to increase her pa’s business, they were turning on her like badgers fighting over a dead rabbit. Only, she didn’t want their old dead rabbit. With a swish of her skirt, Sadie marched into the newspaper office.

She collapsed at her desk and buried her face in her hands. “What am I going to do?”

“You’re going to win this thing,” Ma said. “And I’m going to help you.”

“That would be cheating.” Sadie raised burning eyes to her gloating mother.

“Nonsense. The only competitor that might know a skillet from a bedpan is Ruby. I guarantee the other empty-headed girls will have their mothers helping them.” Ma shook the paper on which Sadie had written the list of contests. “We need to find you a new dress, and fast. The calicos you wear won’t score any points. I’m heading to the mercantile right now.”

Sadie thought fast. “I’m sure Lucy will find her dress there.”

“True. Since her family owns the place, she’ll have her pick of gowns.” Ma clapped. “I have just the thing. Come with me.” She grabbed Sadie’s hand and yanked her from her chair. “We have some alterations to do.”

She dragged Sadie home and into her bedroom. Releasing her hand, Ma commanded Sadie to disrobe. “This will be perfect with some modernization.” She pulled a dress from the wardrobe.

“But that was your wedding dress.” Sadie reached out and ran her hand over silk the color of spring grass.

“I know it’s a bit out of date, but with some minor changes, it will be perfect.” Ma hugged the dress. “And I’ll get busy on a wedding dress for you at once.”

“There is no guarantee I’ll win.” Of course she wouldn’t win. She’d never thought seriously about marriage, not since Zeke left and didn’t uphold his promise to write.

“Oh, you’ll win.”

Sadie sighed and let her dress fall in a puddle around her feet. Ma slipped the dress over her head then turned Sadie to look in the mirror.

The color brought out the green in Sadie’s eyes and complemented her dark hair. Perhaps Ma was right and Sadie had a chance with the first competition. Wonderful.

“Take this.” Ma thrust a thick book into Sadie’s hands.

“What’s this for?”

“Put it on your head. You need to practice posture.” Ma grabbed her pincushion off a bedside table. “Balance it while I pin the dress, and while you walk around the house. We don’t have a lot of time to turn you into a lady. Your normal gait is like a long-legged colt trying to win a race.”

Sadie opened her mouth to speak then closed it. Just because she enjoyed riding and fishing didn’t mean she wasn’t a lady. She wouldn’t give up the things she enjoyed for any man. She was no longer the girl Zeke remembered. She was a strong-willed woman with plans for her future. It was best that Zeke find a wife better suited to tea parties and social gatherings than simple Sadie. She took a deep shuddering breath. A true friend would step aside and let him find happiness with someone else.

“A doctor’s wife will have to meet certain criteria,” Ma said around the pins in her mouth. “We’ll have you ready in no time. You’re a smart girl. That’s one thing you have over and above your competitors. You’re comely, too, but that Annabell has a peaches-and-cream complexion. Something you could have if you would wear a hat once in a while.”

“Don’t be mean, Ma.” Sadie shook her head at her reflection. All Ma would accomplish was the equivalent of putting a silk dress on a mule. Still… she needed a way to ruin the beauty of the dress without ruining the dress.

Zeke chuckled all the way to the diner, thinking about how Sadie had sabotaged herself. Since delivering the baby had taken all day, then the drawing right after, he hadn’t had a chance to grab dinner. He’d make it to the diner a few minutes before they closed.

A bell jingled over the door as he walked in. The room was full. Every head turned to stare and all conversation hushed. Then applause broke out. Zeke froze like a mouse facing a cat.

“You’re a good sport, Doc,” Mr. Larson said. “I’ve been trying to marry off my Annabell for months now. Sixteen is the downward slide toward being an old maid, you know. She’s just hit the mark. Her seventeenth birthday is only a few months away.”

“Great idea,” Mr. Hoffman added. “What a way to liven things up.”

“Dinner is on the house.” Mrs. Newman ushered him to a table. “Pot roast, your favorite. Sally, get your future husband a plate.”

Zeke decided right then and there to take any future meals to go. At least until the silly contest was over. He noticed that the only folks who spoke to him were the ones who had daughters in the competition.

He ate the food placed in front of him without tasting it and tossed his money on the table. Accepting a free meal could be construed as a bribe. Since Sadie had locked him into her ridiculous idea, he would perform his duty with integrity.

Not ready to close his eyes and relive the last few hours, Zeke headed for a path he often took for his evening stroll. A path that led him past the creek he used to fish in with Sadie years ago.

Why did he torture himself by strolling there of an evening? Why hold her to a promise she’d made so many years ago?

He’d stopped writing but had thought his last letter explained how busy he was with finals and apprenticing with a doctor known throughout the country for his skill. His steps faltered. What if Sadie had never received that letter? It wasn’t unheard of for mail to be lost. If she never received it, then she would have thought he’d simply lost interest. He needed to speak with her at once. But… what if the letters weren’t the reason she no longer wanted to marry him? What if she’d changed her mind over the years? Now that she had a career, she could have decided she didn’t want to be married. He’d have to find a way to change her mind.

He turned and headed for her house. He approached the back door, as he had so many times when they were children, and knocked.

“Why, Doctor Phelps.” Mrs. Rollins grasped the collar of her robe. “What brings you out so late?”

“I’d like to speak to Sadie, if you don’t mind. We won’t leave the light of the kitchen window.”

“Oh, I trust you. Sadie!” She looked as if she would burst.

It probably wasn’t a good idea for Zeke to have come, especially with the day’s happenings, but he simply needed to know whether Sadie had received his last letter.

“Zeke?” Sadie pushed open the door, her thick hair falling around her shoulders and catching the moon’s light. Strands of silver threaded through her dark tresses.

“I’m sorry to come by at such a late hour, but I need to ask you something.” He held out his hand, hoping, praying, she would take it.

She slipped her small hand in his and allowed him to lead her a few feet from the house. “What is it?” Her eyes glittered.

“What was the last letter you received from me while I was away?” He took her other hand, keeping their gazes locked.

“Zeke, if someone sees us, they’ll accuse me of cheating.” She tried to pull away.

He held fast. “I need to know whether you got the letter saying why I wouldn’t be writing and that I would see you upon my return.”

She shook her head. “No, I received no such letter. Why does it matter? Zeke, that promise was between two silly children. I never intended to hold you to it.”

He dropped her hands and stepped back as if she’d shot him in the heart. “Then why are you going through with this silly contest? Perhaps God encouraged your mother to put your name in that box. This could be part of His plan.”

“We don’t know each other anymore.” A tear slipped down her cheek. “What if you don’t like the adult Sadie?”

That could never happen. He knew he still loved her the moment he saw her walking down the sidewalk on his first day home. He no longer loved her as a boy loves his sweetheart, but as a man loves a woman. During all the years away he dreamed of coming home to her; looked forward to declaring himself. Instead, now he had to win her hand, and her heart, through a silly competition. What if the wrong girl won?

“I have to go in,” she said. She raised her hand toward his face then turned and dashed back into the house.

He watched her go as far-off thunder warned of an approaching storm. It wouldn’t do for the town doctor to be caught in the rain and catch a chill. With his hands deep in his pockets and his head hanging, he headed for home.