Page 4 of Cowboy's Christmas Wife

“You pay for the eggs, and I won’t charge for my time,” she said. “How about that?”

Laura smiled. “Deal.” She handed Lily to Jeanette for a moment and readjusted her wrap so that it was once again in the correct place. Then, she slid the baby back in so that she was nestled against Laura’s heart. Jeanette handed her the diaper bag, and she left the office.

On the walk back to her car, Jeanette’s joking words came back to her again and again. Get a new husband. But no—she couldn’t really do that. Could she? Marry someone just to be free of Clark for real. How long would she have to remain married to the man in question? Six months? A year? And what could any man possibly want out of a business arrangement like that? She certainly wouldn’t be sleeping with him or acting like a wife.But still, she reasoned,if I could lay out all of the terms, and the man agreed, what could it hurt?

Laura found her car in the parking lot and quickly transitioned Lily into the car seat. When she climbed behind the wheel, her intention was to go home, but she kept thinking of steely blue eyes and dark hair hidden beneath a weathered Stetson. She thought of a kind, but troubled smile. Daryl had been her friend for a long time.Maybe, she thought. Laura ended up passing the turn-off that would take her home. Instead, she headed straight toward the open land that lay just outside of Windy Creek. She headed to the River Ranch.

THREE

Daryl was nearly finished making cowboy chili, wracking his brain about how to tell his siblings how things went down at the bank, when someone knocked on the door.Can’t be Georgina, he thought,my sister never knocks when she can just barge right in. Kyle was in the shower—he’d been out mending fences while Daryl was dealing with the bank. Seeing his younger brother practically dragging himself back into the house sent guilt gnawing through him. He’d unloaded too much responsibility on Kyle while he’d been trying to get his head above water on the leatherworking business. Kyle wasn’t the type to complain, but that didn’t make Daryl feel any less guilty over the way he’d been running his little brother into the ground. Daryl stirred the contents of the chili pot—it would be fine for a few minutes—and went to answer the door.

Laura stood on his porch; Lily was in a car seat at her feet, slumped in sleep. “Laura Jo?” She had this wide-eyed look that made him nervous. “What’s wrong?”

“Will you marry me?” she asked. Her words came out in a rush of breath and nerves.

Daryl felt like he had a short-circuit between his ears and his brain. What she said made no sense at all. “Can you repeat that?”

He watched the rise and fall of her shoulders as she took a breath. “You should marry me.”

So, I heard her right, he thought numbly. “Come inside,” he said, ushering her in. They walked through the short foyer and through the family room into the kitchen. He watched as she took in the house—it probably hadn’t changed all that much since the last time she’d seen it. Georgina had her own home in town with her husband and kids, and he and Kyle hadn’t done much in the way of renovating. It felt wrong to change the things that his mother and father loved; it was a way to keep them alive. “You want some chili? It should be ready.”

“Sure,” Laura said in a voice that was barely louder than a whisper. She put the car seat on the farmhouse table that took up the middle of the kitchen and slid into a chair. He forced himself to look away from her and focus on stirring the chili. He went to the fridge and grabbed the shredded cheese and onions that he’d prepped before and started dishing things up. He knew that Kyle would come down for his share soon, so he left a bowl and spoon out for him.

When he turned back to Laura, a bowl in each hand, she was wringing her hands. “Talk to me, Laura Jo,” he said softly and sat across from her. He pushed her bowl at her, and she quickly loaded it with cheese. He noted that she didn’t touch the white onions. They each took a few bites—he preened a little when she muttered that it was good—while Laura seemingly gathered her thoughts.

“My grandfather set aside a trust fund for me,” she said. “It’s a substantial amount of money, but he didn’t trust me with it on my own.” Her voice became icy. “He set things up so that my husband and I had to agree on how to spend the money, or we had no access to it.”

Daryl let out a low whistle. “What an asshole.” Then, he remembered that this was her grandfather that he was talking about—the one who raised her. “I mean, I’m sure—”

Laura held up a hand to stop him. “It’s fine,” she said. “I could try to make excuses for him all day, but the truth is that he didn’t trust me to be smart enough not to blow through his money.”

He winced.I can’t believe anyone would say that about her, he thought. Laura was the smartest person he’d ever met. Even as a kid, she was careful and deliberate in her actions; she was the exact opposite of his own frenetic energy. “So, what does all of that mean?”

“He and I are supposed to make all decisions together in order to spend the money, but all that it’s meant so far is that he won’t allow me to touch it in any way unless I agree to split custody of Lily or come home.”

Daryl had never felt angrier for someone else before. He dug his spoon into his chili a little more aggressively than need be; it clattered against the porcelain bottom of the bowl. “How can that be legal?” he asked.

Laura shrugged. “Jeanette’s trying to find me a way out of it. And today, she had an idea. Because the funny thing is that the wording doesn’t actually name Clark. It just says, ‘Laura and her husband.’ During the divorce proceedings, Jeanette and I tried to argue that Clarkwasn’tmy husband anymore, but the judge ruled that Clark would remain on the trust because he was the closest thing to a husband that I had.” Her face twisted with anger, but somehow, she was still the most beautiful woman that Daryl had ever seen.Stop that now, he chastised himself.It’s not the time. “So that means,” she continued, “that there’s only one solution.”

Cold realization pooled in his gut. “Getting remarried,” he said.

She nodded. “Exactly,” she said. “If I had a new husband, I’m hoping the judge would agree to have Clark removed from the trust. I would be free of him.”

“But then you’d have to deal with me,” Daryl wheezed out.

Her expression softened, and his chest squeezed. For a long time, Daryl had held a candle for Laura; she’d always be his very first crush, and he’d missed her horribly when she’d moved away. Finding her again at college, he’d thought that he’d finally have his chance. And for a moment in their junior year, he’d believed they could make that leap from friends to something more. But then she’d met Clark Longbottom, and that had been blown to hell. “You’re my friend,” she said. “I trust that you wouldn’t act like Clark.”

Daryl felt downright disgusted at the comparison. “Of course not,” he said.

“Besides, if I can get full access to my trust, I can help you too.”

“What do you mean?”

Before she could answer, Lily woke up with a vengeance. The tiny girl began wailing from her seat, and Laura jolted into action. She stood and unbuckled the baby and cradled her while she leaned down and snatched the diaper bag from the floor. “Can you grab the squash while I change her diaper?” she asked.

Daryl nodded and took the bag from her. He nearly laughed when he unzipped the flap: the bag was perfectly organized. He found the container of baby food—orange mush packed into a small Tupperware container. “Did you make this yourself?” he asked and held up the container.

Laura glanced at him, but her hands never stopped moving as she wrestled a new diaper onto a now-squirming Lily. “Yeah,” she said. “When I first started buying baby food, it was just gross, and I thought I could make it better.”

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