Page 12 of A Cowboy's Convenient Marriage

He stood up as she stepped into the kitchen, and without thinking about it, he took two steps toward her, his hand out. “I’m Cash. I think I’ve seen you at church.” He was trying to run through his memories of all the people that he’d met in the last two months and which one this one might be. If he didn’t miss his guess, she was one of the Clybourn family. The big family that went to church and filled it to overcapacity when they all showed up.

“I’m Ada. It’s great to meet you. You’re Aunt Karen’s nephew?”

She said Aunt Karen, like Karen was a relative of hers, when he knew for a fact she wasn’t.

Her hand slid into his, and he found himself shaking it and not wanting to let go, which was odd. He’d shaken thousands of hands over his career as a pastor and never had that feeling before.

“Are you married?” He could have clamped his lips down around his chin and up over his forehead after those words slipped out. What was he thinking? A person didn’t ask someone they just met if they were married.

Ada’s brows went way up and her eyes widened before she laughed. “I’m not. What an odd question.” She shook her head. “I need to get back to the kids.”

She turned and practically skipped away. He wasn’t very good at judging anything about women, but he was pretty sure she was in her thirties. And yet she walked like she was a teenager. Still, if the best job that she could get at thirty years old was babysitting for a woman like Kendra, he probably wasn’t interested in her, just because of her lack of industry. He wanted a wife who wasn’t afraid to work. He wanted to work alongside her and build something together. Whatever God put in front of them.

He did not allow himself to watch her walk away but moved back to his chair and sat down in front of the steaming coffee he hadn’t touched.

Kendra pulled a chair out and set her own cup of coffee down before she sat down across from him. “All right. The kids should be happy for a little while, and I have a little time to talk to you. Go ahead.”

He sat there staring at her, wondering if he really wanted to be married to this person for the rest of his life.

He didn’t have to wonder for long. The answer was a resounding no. It didn’t matter how many millions or even billions anyone offered him, this was a no.

But Ada... Ada he could handle being married to. The question was could she handle being married to him.

“I’m sorry. I’m afraid I’ve wasted your time. I just realized the thing I came here to talk to you about is no longer available. Sorry.” He scrunched his face up, waiting for the explosion.

“Are you serious? I had someone come here specifically to take care of my children, I cleaned up the house and interrupted my entire evening so that we could chat, and you changed your mind?” She rolled her eyes. “Fine. You know where the door is. You can see yourself out. I’m going to enjoy fifteen minutes of peace and quiet before I go tell Ada that she can go back home to the ranch. At least she doesn’t charge me.”

A wave of comprehension washed over him. Ada wasn’t doing this as a job. It was a ministry. And she lived on a ranch. Interesting. Maybe he knew that. But she just didn’t seem like a farm girl to him. She seemed...different.

Though he supposed he didn’t know what he expected from a farm girl, probably something more along the lines of what was in front of him with Kendra.

“I’m really sorry I wasted your time,” he said, pushing back away from the table and standing up, grateful he wasn’t going to have to pretend to drink his coffee. “If there is something I can do to make it up to you, just let me know.”

“You can give me a car,” Kendra said, obviously knowing that he was a used-car salesman in his aunt’s business.

“I can’t give you one, but I can make you a deal on one,” he said, but there was no effort to make his voice sound happy or excited the way he would have with a person standing in front of him at the used car lot. Kendra didn’t really want a car. She wanted something for free. And she wasn’t going to buy one. He would guess she didn’t really need one. But what did he know?

“Yeah. Next time I break down, I’ll come see you.”

“All right, you do that.”

She didn’t look at him as he started to walk away and didn’t say anything else before he reached the door and let himself out into the cool evening.

He loved the way North Dakota nights held a million stars, enjoyed the slight breeze and the sense of wholesome wildness. It hadn’t taken him very long in the state before he looked forward to evening walks.

Was he foolish to even try to find someone to marry him?

Lord? Ada is the kind of girl I want.

The breeze followed him as he walked down the steps and started toward his car.

Somehow, there were no audible words and not even a thought, but the idea came that if that was what he wanted, then he should try again. Why not visit Ada?

He didn’t know anything about her or her family. But he knew someone who did.

It didn’t take long to get back to his house. He couldn’t remember being that excited to talk to his aunt before. He found her sitting in her recliner in the living room, a blanket over her legs, a book in her hands.

“Do you have a minute?”

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