An Unexpected Groom Page 15

  From the corner of her eye she saw the teasing smile melt from his face. “I didn’t mean that. Louisa please, I swear, you are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, even soaking wet. Especially soaking wet.”

  Ignoring the surge of joy that rose at his words, she produced a sad sniff.

  “Please don’t cry,” he begged, drifting closer. “It was just a stupid joke. Please...”

  Spinning back, she used both hands to push a big splash into him, leaving water dripping down his face and his mouth hanging open in surprise.

  “And now we’re even,” she said, smiling.

  He stared at her for a moment and then burst into laughter. Laughing with him, she couldn’t remember ever feeling so perfectly happy.

  He shook his head slowly as his laughter faded. “You... you are...” He breathed out a sigh. “Incredible.”

  Her heart leapt as he raised one hand to her face, his fingertips tracing a feather-light touch down her cheek. She watched his eyes flick to her mouth and back up again. She’d never before been in such an intimate situation with a man and she knew she should back away, stop this before it started. But instead, she found herself moving closer.

  He closed the distance between them. His hand moved to cradle her head. He leaned forward.

  And his mouth captured hers.

  Her eyes fluttered closed as all the things she’d wondered about her first kiss slipped from her mind in an instant, swallowed in a flurry of sensation that ebbed and flowed with the movement of his lips.

  His right hand was still holding onto the rock wall beside him, but his left was all hers, beginning at her neck and sliding down her back to pull her against him.

  She might have been shocked at their lack of propriety if she’d had any ideas in her head at all, but every thought fled at his touch. The experience was unlike anything she could have imagined, a whirlwind of sensation and emotion that left her breathless and feeling like she was floating on air.

  When they finally, slowly parted, she opened her eyes to find Jesse staring at her, his chest rising and falling in rapid breaths.

  He moved his hand from her back and brushed his thumb over her cheek, whispering her name.

  She would have expected him to be smiling in that way he had when he knew he’d elicited some kind of response from her, but instead his expression was serious. The kiss had been important to him, she could tell.

  “That was my first kiss.”

  Her eyes widened at her sudden, blurted confession. Why on earth had she said that? She’d wanted to convey to him that it had meant something to her too, but that?

  A slow smile touched his lips. “I’m glad. I don’t want to share your kisses with any other man.”

  His reply swept away all her embarrassment and her eyes lowered to his mouth. “Of course, this doesn’t mean I’m staying,” she murmured, leaning forward.

  “I know,” he replied as their lips met again.

  Louisa wasn’t sure how long she spent in the lake, blissfully exploring the new experience of being thoroughly kissed, but it was her shivering that finally prompted Jesse to suggest they get out of the water. She hadn’t even noticed. She felt wonderfully warm and tingly from head to toe.

  He climbed out first, hauling himself into his chair which he’d left at the edge of the lake when he plunged in to save her. She followed his every movement, captivated by the way his drenched shirt clung to his torso. He was like a statue, carved from marble, every facet sculpted to perfection.

  A sigh escaped her lips. She’d never imagined she would develop such an appreciation for wet clothing.

  Wet clothing.

  Her eyes widened.

  “Here, take my hand,” Jesse said, leaning forward and stretching out his arm.

  “I-I can’t.”

  She looked down at herself. Most of her was underwater, but as soon as she got out of the lake her calico dress would be clinging to her as much as Jesse’s shirt was to him. She’d be positively indecent.

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “My clothes will stick to me.” She pointed at his shirt. “You’ll see everything.”

  That wasn’t entirely accurate, her dress was far thicker than his shirt and naturally she was wearing undergarments, but it would still be far too revealing.

  His mischievous grin wasn’t entirely unexpected. “Your point being?”

  She flicked a handful of water up at him with a smile. “You’re shameless. You’ll have to turn around. I can get out by myself.”

  He shrugged and wheeled back from the lake, turning to face away from her. “Am I supposed to not look at you for the rest of the afternoon? Because I’m going to say now, that’s going to be very hard for me to do.”

  She grabbed onto the rock and pulled herself from the water, struggling to her feet as a torrent streamed around her legs and back into the lake. Her dress felt like it weighed a hundred pounds.

  “What would you suggest we do?” she said, gathering the front of her skirt and wringing it out.

  He was silent for a while as he thought. “What about over there?” He pointed through the trees into the open. “It’s warm out today. We could lie in the sun until we dry off.”

  She straightened and followed his gaze to the grassy rise. “What if someone sees us?”

  “No one’s come past in the entire time we’ve been here. At least, I think no one has. I was a bit distracted for a while back there in the lake.”

  She couldn’t help smiling at that.

  “But it’s always quiet around here,” he went on. “And if anyone does come, we’ll just tell them the truth – you fell in the lake and I went in after you. It’s either that or go back to town soaking wet, and then everyone will see you.” His voice hardened. “I think I would have serious objections to that.”

  Her smile grew at the possessiveness in his tone. “All right then. You go first and lie down and close your eyes.”

  “Anything you want.”

  She moved behind a tree and waited for him to get out into the sun and choose a place in the grass before joining him. She took off her shoes and stretched out beside him, arranging her skirt out wide to catch as much of the warmth as possible. She wished she could remove her petticoat as well, but she didn’t dare. At least if the outer layer dried she’d be halfway presentable, if not entirely comfortable.

  “You can open your eyes now,” she said.

  He did, turning his head to glance at her.

  “Eyes front.”

  He obeyed with a chuckle, moving his gaze to the azure sky above them.

  After a few seconds, she looked over at him.

  “Eyes front,” he said immediately.

  Laughing, she looked up again.

  A few moments later, she felt his hand wrap around hers, entwining their fingers.

  And her heart soared into the sky above.

  Chapter 15

  “This is all your fault.”

  Adam paused halfway across the office. “What’s all my fault?”

  “You didn’t warn me.” Leaning his elbows on his desk, Jesse dropped his head into his hands. “You’ve been in love before. Why didn’t you warn me?”

  Adam hung his jacket on the coat stand in the corner and turned to him with an unnecessarily smug smile. “I warned you that bringing her here without telling her first was a bad idea. As usual, you didn’t listen to me.”

  Jesse heaved a sigh. “What if she leaves? I thought it wouldn’t be so much of a gamble. I mean yes, I’d lose the money for the train tickets, but I can save that up again. I just thought if it didn’t work out and she left that I could find someone else. But now...” He raised his head and fixed his friend with an accusatory stare. “Confound it, Adam, why didn’t you warn me? I feel like I’m losing my mind! She’s all I think about, all the time. I can’t concentrate on anything.” He rolled his right sleeve up to reveal three red marks of varying sizes on his forearm. “I’ve burned myself three times in the
past two days because I can’t keep my mind on what I’m doing. And if she leaves...” He slumped back in his wheelchair and stared at the desk. “I don’t want anyone else. A thousand women could line up to marry me and I wouldn’t want any one of them. Louisa is the only one for me. I can’t imagine my life without her. I don’t want to.”

  Adam walked over and sat on the edge of Jesse’s desk. “If it’s any consolation, I know exactly how you feel. And I mean exactly.”

  It dawned on him what Adam meant. “You too, huh?”

  “Yep.”

  Guilt prodded at him. He was the one who’d persuaded Adam to advertise for a bride. If Amy left, his friend’s broken heart would be his fault. “Why are women so... so...”

  “Frustrating?” Adam suggested.

  “No. If they were just frustrating we could simply ignore them. Why do they have to be so amazing?”

  Adam gave him a resigned smile. “Would you want it any other way?”

  Jesse groaned and dropped his head back into his hands. “Ask me again in two weeks.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Louisa placed her Bible onto her nightstand and wondered what to do next.

  She’d spent most of the morning at the church with Mrs Jones, giving the wooden floors a polish while thinking about Jesse. Mostly kissing Jesse.

  After lunch, Mrs Jones had left to visit Mrs Knapp, an elderly member of the congregation who was unwell, and Louisa took the opportunity to spend some time praying and reading her Bible. After just managing to drag her thoughts away from Jesse and the whole kissing thing.

  Though this was only the second day on which she’d set aside time to concentrate on God, she undoubtedly felt closer to Him for it. She wished she’d done it earlier in her life. She felt as if He’d been waiting for her all this time and it was exciting to think of all He might have to teach her. Even if she returned to New York when her two weeks here was up, she would definitely continue.

  As it turned out, most of that afternoon’s time with the Lord had involved asking Him to guide Jesse concerning the situation at the bank. When she was around him, Jesse was almost always cheerful, but she could tell the situation was worrying him and she desperately wanted to help.

  “What can I do, Lord?” she whispered. “There must be something.” She rose and began to pace back and forth across her bedroom, talking to herself as she often did when working out a problem. “There’s nothing in the ledgers or loan agreements that indicates anything wrong with the loan or payment amounts. And yet that man, what was his name? Mr Foster, that was it. His son thought something was wrong. If I could talk to him... but he seemed happy with what Mr Ransom told him, whatever that was. I wish I could have heard what he said. All right, so I can’t talk to him, but there are other people who borrowed from the bank. Lots of them. If Mr Ransom is somehow cheating Mr Foster, then he must be cheating others, because why only cheat one person?” She clapped her hands together, coming to a halt in the centre of the room. “I need to speak to the other people who took out loans!” Her joy at discovering a course of action came to an abrupt halt. “But how am I going to do that? Why would any of them speak to me? They don’t even know me.” She resumed her pacing. “Somehow I need to get them to trust me. But how?”

  A knock on the front door pulled her from her monologue. She walked through to the hallway, opened the door, and broke into a grin.

  “Jo!” She grasped her friend’s arm and pulled her inside. “Perfect timing.”

  “For what?” Jo said as she was dragged to the kitchen and pushed into a seat at the table.

  “I need your help,” Louisa said, going to the pantry. “Would you like a scone? Coffee?”

  “Just water, thanks. It’s too warm for coffee. And yes to the scone, as if you need to ask. Why do you need my help?”

  Louisa gave her a glass of water and set about buttering two of the batch of raisin scones she’d baked the day before. “I have a problem and I need help to find a solution. Apricot preserve?”

  “Please. So what’s this problem?”

  Louisa carried their scones to the table and sat opposite Jo. Her arrival had seemed the perfect solution, but now she wasn’t sure how much to tell her. Jesse didn’t mind Mrs Jones knowing, but he’d never even met Jo.

  She took a bite of her scone and chewed slowly, considering what to say. “I need to get people I’ve never met to tell me something that’s a bit... private.”

  Jo swallowed her first bite of scone. “I’m not sure you could be any more unspecific there if you tried. Did you make these? They’re delicious.” She took another bite.

  “Thank you, I did. Mrs Jones made the preserve though.” She put her scone down on the plate. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, but this is somewhat sensitive. If it got out... Not that I think you’d tell anyone.” She sighed. She’d been raised to be more diplomatic than that.

  Jo snorted a laugh. “Don’t worry, I wouldn’t trust me either. Look, I’ll try to help you no matter what you want to tell me, but for what it’s worth, I won’t tell anyone a thing. I know how important secrets are to keep, believe me.”

  Louisa stared at her plate. Jo was her friend, one of the first real friends she’d had as an adult. If you couldn’t trust friends, who could you trust? “All right, but please don’t tell a soul.”

  “I promise. Now tell me what’s going on because I’m dying to know.”

  “Jesse suspects a man he works with of cheating either the bank or its customers or both out of money. He deals with small loans and Jesse thinks it involves that, but he can’t find out how he’s doing it. I know he’s worried and I want to help, but the only thing I can think of to do is go and talk to the individual people who’ve taken out loans in the past couple of months, see if anything doesn’t seem right. But I don’t know how to get them to speak to me. They don’t know who I am so why would they talk to me?” She slumped back in her seat. Now she’d explained it to another person, it felt even more impossible.

  A smile sidled onto Jo’s face. “Now this just happens to be something I know a little about.”

  “Banks?”

  “Getting people to do things they don’t necessarily mean to.” She finished her scone and sat forward, resting her elbows on the tabletop. “Right, what’s your plan?”

  “Um... I don’t really have a plan. I just thought I’d go to their houses and ask them.”

  Jo heaved an exaggerated sigh and shook her head. “Louisa, you are very lucky I’m here. Now here’s what we’re going to do...”

  ~ ~ ~

  Louisa looked down at her dress and smoothed a non-existent wrinkle in the material. Black was a terrible colour on her. “I look like I’m in mourning.”

  “That’s the point,” Jo said. “They’ll think you’re working because you’re recently widowed and have no choice and they won’t ask any questions because what would be more rude than questioning a young widow? It’s a good thing Mrs Jones had this hideous thing.”

  “Hideous?!” Louisa looked at the dress again, horrified.

  “It’s meant to be hideous. You’re in mourning for your tragically departed husband, not trying to attract a new one. Turn round, one of your arms is sagging.”

  Louisa turned her back, being careful to not twist her body at all. There were so many pins holding the too big garment in place that one wrong move and she’d become a pincushion. They hadn’t found enough safety pins in the house to do even one sleeve.

  Jo carefully removed Louisa’s shawl, re-pinned the loose right arm, and replaced it to hide the excess material. She walked around to face Louisa again, running her eyes over the dress and nodding. “Good. It should be okay. Just don’t, whatever you do, sit down.”

  Louisa rolled her eyes. “This is not going to work.”

  “Of course it’s going to work,” she replied, smiling happily. “I know what I’m doing.”

  “You’re enjoying this far too much.”

  “That’s because it’s the
most fun I’ve had all week.” Jo grasped her hand and pulled her towards the door. “Come on, let’s go save Jesse’s bank.”

  ~ ~ ~

  They reached the first house on the list of addresses they’d taken from the loan agreements far too quickly for Louisa’s liking. She’d spent the whole walk there torn between wanting to go as fast as possible in case she was recognised by someone on the streets and wanting to drag her feet to delay getting there.

  They were starting with the places they could walk to in the town, her inability to sit affecting her ability to travel by buggy. If none of those worked Jo said they would rethink the dress. Louisa wanted to rethink the dress now, but Jo insisted and Louisa had to admit she seemed to know what she was talking about. All she’d expected when she asked for Jo’s help was someone to run ideas by, not a complicated, in depth plan with nuances within nuances. She couldn’t help wondering how Jo knew to do it, but she didn’t dare ask. It was certainly a good plan, if somewhat nerve-wracking.

  “Right,” Jo said, looking her dress over one last time, “who are you?”

  “Mrs Clara Peterson,” Louisa said immediately.

  “And why are you here?”

  “To make sure the bank’s customers are happy.”

  She nodded and stepped back. “I wish you had some spectacles. Everyone trusts a person wearing spectacles. Well, can’t be helped.” She smiled. “Now go and lie like you mean it.”

  Louisa winced. “Must you?”

  Jo took hold of her shoulders and rotated her in the direction of the small house behind the tall hedge. “Just keep telling yourself it’s for a good cause. The man you love is depending on you.”

  Louisa spun back. “I don’t... I mean, Jesse and I... it’s just...”

  Jo raised one eyebrow and smirked. “Yes?”

  Huffing out a breath, Louisa turned back to the house. “Let’s just get this over with.”

  She walked the short path through the unkempt garden to the front door and knocked. Seeing her hand trembling, she clamped it around the paper and pencil she’d brought and hugged them to her.