Page 6 of Cowboy's Christmas Wife

Daryl thought about it and agreed. “This would be a business arrangement, right?” He knew how he used to feel about her, and he was aware enough to know that it wouldn’t take much for him to feel that way again. He couldn’t be in love with someone who didn’t love him back. He wouldn’t do that to himself again. Not after—

Don’t even go there, his mind cautioned.

Laura nodded. “Friends helping friends,” she said firmly, “and a simple annulment once we’ve worked everything out.” Then she cracked a smile. “With the added bonus that I get to change my last name.”

That had Daryl laughing. “Rivers is much better than Longbottom,” he agreed.

“So, you’ll do it?” she asked. “You’ll marry me?”

All of his instincts were screaming that this was a bad idea, but his instincts had gotten him into a heap of trouble before, so maybe he should be listening to them less. He’d always led with his heart—and it kept landing him in hot water. Maybe it was time to do things logically instead. This idea sounded a little crazy…but it also sounded like it would fix things for both of them. He moved to the cabinet where he and Kyle kept the liquor and pulled out two shot glasses and a bottle of the “nice” bourbon. He poured two heaping shots and handed her one. “Yes,” he said and clinked his shot glass against hers. “I’ll marry you, Laura Jo,” he said. The words came out a little huskier than he had planned, and some flicker ofsomethingwent across her face. Still staring into her eyes, Daryl threw his bourbon back, and she followed suit. It burned all the way down and settled in his stomach.I’m such an idiot, he thought, but he met her wide grin with a smile of his own.I could just never say no to her.

FOUR

Laura was pretty sure that it was raining inside the house just as much as it was raining outside. It had been two days since she and Daryl had agreed to get married, and they were avoiding each other. He’d called it ‘time to process,” but she knew he was probably freaking out. She couldn’t figure out whyshewasn’t: she never imagined every getting married again, and here she was doing it a mere fourteen months after the end of her first marriage.

It’s not a real marriage, she reasoned.Daryl and I are just helping each other out.But it wasn’t like the vows would change, would it? She’d still be vowing to love, honor, and obey. That thought rankled her: she’d have to talk to Daryl about the terminology. After Clark, she wouldn’t be making any kind of vow of obedience ever again.

A crack of thunder pulled her out of her thoughts, and she went back to rushing about, emptying pots and bowls that she’d positioned under the dripping leaks and mopping up puddles as they cropped up. She lamented the state of her wooden floors. With everything else that had to be done, she was hoping the floors could be salvaged. Sure, they were a little scuffed up, but that hadn’t bothered her any. They had looked that way when she and her parents lived there. But now, she worried they would be warped from all of the water pouring in.

As she was ringing out the mop for what felt like the hundredth time, her cellphone rang. She plucked it out of her pocket: it was Daryl. Her heart leapt into her throat. “Hello?”

“Laura Jo, I’ve been thinking—” There was a pop and a flash: Laura shrieked as the house went dark. “What happened?” Daryl called out, the hesitance from a moment before totally absent from his voice. “What’s the matter?”

“The power went out,” she said. “It’s nothing—it just scared me.”

“We’ve got power here,” Daryl said, “so it’s probably not a downed grid.”

Great, she thought,the lightning strike probably fried my breakers. “I’ll…I’ll just have to figure out what’s wrong then. Sorry, did you need something, Daryl?”

“It can wait,” he said. “I’m going to head over. We can talk then.”

Laura wanted to tell him not to come, that she could handle it herself, but the truth was that she had no idea what she was looking at in a breaker box. “Okay,” she said. “See you soon.”

They hung up, and she went to the kitchen to dig out a flashlight from the junk drawer. She made her way to Lily’s room—thankfully the only room without a leak in the ceiling—and found the girl happily napping in her crib. She’d be up and would want a bottle soon, but without power and no ability to use the bottle warmer, Lily was going to drink room temperature formula, and that was a fight she didn’t want to have today.

She went around the house and emptied out the filled bowls again, and as she was dumping out the water in the sink, Daryl knocked on the door. “Come on in!” she called.

Daryl came through the door, pale blue work shirt, now wet from the rain, clinging to him despite the Stetson protecting his head. Her eyes got stuck on the muscles that the shirt had molded to. Her mouth was suddenly dry. She knew Daryl was attractive—had even had a crush on him back in the day—but she was usually able to ignore it. Now, though, it was like she couldn’t tear her eyes away. “I’m going to look at the breaker box,” Daryl said by way of greeting, and she trailed him out to the garage. She shone the flashlight for him, and he swore when he opened the box. “You don’t have a GFCI breaker.”

Laura had no idea what he was talking about. “Is that a bad thing?” she asked.

Daryl looked back at her. “If it was hit with lightning, it’s probably shot anyway, but it’s definitely not up to code.”

She looked at him blankly. “Up to code?”

“The GFCI breaker basically keeps the system from being shorted out. Without one, this could happen a lot, and you’re at a bigger risk for an electrical fire.”

Laura felt the blood drain from her face. “Is it safe for me and the baby to be here?”

Daryl closed the box, and they walked back into the house, dodging buckets and bowls as they went. She could feel him looking around, taking everything in, and it made her want to sink into the ground. She knew how bad the house looked, despite her efforts to clean it up. The problems weren’t just cosmetic, and the damage from the years of renters was extensive. “I don’t think you and Lily can stay here,” Daryl finally said. “Besides the electrical issue, it’s chilly outside, and without power, it’s going to get cold in here tonight.” Laura could see the wheels turning in his head. “You really shouldn’t stay here at all, not until we get it fixed up.”

“We?”

He quirked an eyebrow at him. “You didn’t know what a GFCI breaker was—I don’t think I can, in good conscience, leave you to make renovations on your own.”

She felt the slight burn of indignation, but where Clark would be cruel or disparaging, Daryl only seemed concerned for her welfare.Well, that’s new, she thought. “I appreciate that but—”

“Laura Jo,” he interrupted, and she nearly shivered at the low timbre of his voice. Daryl was the only one—outside of her parents—that called her Laura Jo. Her grandfather hated the “fussiness” of a double name and only ever called her Laura, and Clark had rarely called her by her name at all. He was all about pet names—baby and love and the like. It had seemed sweet at first. Later, it just felt like another way that he was chipping away at her identity. “I’m your friend, and I want to help make this place safe for you and Lily. Kind of thought the ‘friends helping friends’ thing was what we were doing here.” He motioned between them, and she could feel the heat in her cheeks.

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