Have a Little Faith (13 page)

He didn’t know why the answer angered him. Determined not to show it, he brought her around to face h
im. “I
f you want to have a wedding with your friends and family, I can give you a week to get it together.”

“I don’t need a wedding.” But it warmed her heart that he had asked, that he had thought of
her wants.

“Then we’ll sign the papers tomorrow.”

Chapter Nine

They were married on Sunday.

Alex wore a soft lilac sun dress with her ebony hair in curls down her back.
Only her mother,
Tucker
, and the preacher attended the ceremony that took place in the den at the Morgan house.

When Lane slid the simple gold band on her finger, tears welled up in her eyes. He grinned as she slid an identical ring on his finger. After they were pronounced husband and wife, Lane kissed her with
fervor
and sealed the deal.

“Thanks again for coming to witness.” Alex kissed
Tucker
’s cheek after she walked him to his jeep.

“Not a problem,” h
e answered, opening the driver door. “Alex, are you sure you know what you’re doing?”

“No.” She chuckled when
Tucker
gave her a bland stare. “Lighten up,
Tuck
. Everything’s going to be fine.”

“You’ll call me if you need a… anything?”
Divorce
was the word he wanted to use. He knew it as well as
her
.

“I won’t.”

“Well,” he
sighed and
tipped his hat. “Best wishes, Mrs. Tanner.”

She watched
Tucker
back up
,
then
drive out of the driveway before she turned around and made her way into the house.

“Alex.”

She jolted at Lane’s voice
,
then
turned to face him at the base of the stairs. “Yes?”

“I made reservations in the city for dinner.” He studied her face while he rolled up one sleeve of his crisp, white shirt, then the other. “We’ll leave here at six if it suits you.”

“All right.”
She started up the stairs again
,
but this time his hand stopped her. The touch was light enough on her arm
,
but she felt the authority in it. Her gaze slowly slid to his. He was watching her, his gaze unnerving.

“Something wrong?”

“No. I thought I might go over to Mr. Scott’s and help him chop some wood for the winter season. It won’t take but a couple of hours.”

His jaw tightened before he could stop it. A business arrangement, he choked bitterly on his own words. Why did he think it would be any different?

“Fine.
Be ready by six.”

Alex didn’t move for a minute, simply stared after him in shock. There was steel in his voice and Alex wasn’t sure why or where it had
come
from. All she knew was when his eyes darkened, his jaw had tightened, he was angry with her.

What did I do?
She thought almost frantically.
What have I gotten myself into?

On hollow legs, Alex treaded up the stairs, changed out of her dress.

She had saddled Joy
and headed to Mr. Scott’s place. She
rounded the curve in the woods,
then
brought Joy to a run when she saw Sam’s truck at Mr. Scotts.

“Hey, stranger.”
Sam took Joy’s reins and led her to the corral.

“Hey, yourself.
Helping out Mr. Scott today?”

“My mother wanted me to bring him some bread.” Sam made a grab for Alex’s left hand. He
stared blankly at the band on her ring finger. “What the hell is this?”

“Well, you’re
an observant one,
” Alex muttered and yanked her hand away.

“It’s that Tanner
guy
,
isn’t it?”

“So, what if it is?”

“You married him?”

“Yes, I did.” Alex tied her
hair back and pulled
a pair of gloves from her pocket. “It’s a business arrangement
, Sam
. I get some control over what
happens to the ranch, and Faith,” s
he added because it mattered to him, too. “And he needed a wife.”

“So he picked you?”

Her chin came up, her blue eyes glittered. “Is there something wrong with me, then?”

“Don’t put words in my mouth, Alex. You know there’s not a damn thing wrong with you. Does he know about what happened with your father?”

“No.”

“Faith?”

“It hasn’t come up.” But she w
as ashamed
to be keeping such a secret from the man she had just taken vows with. “I’ll explain everything to him tonight. Right now, I need to be getting wood chopped for Mr. Scott.”

“
I’d stay and help, but I’m on at the pub in twenty minutes.
Call me if you need anything, Alex.”

“I will.”

Alex worked with zeal. She wondered what busine
ss she and her husband—shudder—
would be discussing that evening.
Ranch business?
Or would she finally tell him about being abused all her life?
Or the fact that she had a daughter?

Her stomach knotted as it always did when she lied, but she pushed the uneasy thoughts aside and concentrated on bringing the
ax
down and splitting the wood she had already chopped.

She stacked the
logs
neatly in the wood box and treaded back to gather more. After a quick check on Joy, Alex got back to work.

The sun’s position told her
it was nearly five o’clock. She would head back now, she decided as she shut the wood box and locked it. Her curiosity pe
aked when she heard the rumble of a pick
up poking up Mr. Scott’s lane. She saddled Joy in the paddock and tried not to sigh when Gary Fuller stepped out of the truck.

His age was showing, Alex thought as she ran a strap through a buckle. His gray hair was balding on the top of his round, tanned head. His
eyes were still mean.
Just as mean as they’d been when she had confronted him about abusing Crazy Horse. Gary bypassed the house and headed straight for the paddock.

So
it was
hardly a social call, Alex thought while her stomach did a quick
somersault
from nerves.

“Mr. Fuller.” Alex greeted, leading Joy out of the corral.

“I hear congratulation
s are in order.” He
stuck two beefy hands in his overall pockets. “Your young man came into town
a
couple hours ago.”

“Did he now?” Now, the whole town knew they were married. She banked down on the urge to ask him what Lane had said.

“Is that the ugly horse I sold you?”

Alex bristled. “She’s not ugly. But yes, this is the horse you sold me.”

“I’ll be damned.” Gary walked around Joy slowly, appraising her. “You certainly got a deal with this one. She grew into her head, didn’t she?”

“She did. But she was beautiful before. Was there something you needed, Mr. Fuller?”

“Yeah,
Mart Dell down at the market was saying
something about
your husband
putting a damned theme park up on your ranch. Seein’ as how Cedar Grove here’s a slow town, I don’t know how that’s going to go over with the residents. Do you?”

“I don’t handle the business aspect, Mr. Fuller.”

“That’s obvious enough. We don’t want
no
crowd-bringing amusement park coming to Cedar Grove.”

“I’m sorry you feel that way.” Alex suppressed a shudder when he hissed through his teeth.
He reminded her hugely of a snake.
“Plans, however, are not final. I’m sure Lane would value your opinion. You’ve only to call him.”

“Tell me, he’s only been here about a
week, is that right?” He snorted when Alex failed to answer. “A little quick for wedding bells, wouldn’t you think?”

“That
’s my business, and Lane’s. I need to go
, Mr. Fuller.” She would have hoisted herself up in the saddle
,
but his hand snaked out and grabbed her arm.

“You wouldn’t want to lose that hand, Mr. Fuller.” Her voice was calm and quiet. She thanked God for it because inside, she was trembling all over.

“You listen here, bitch.” He hissed and had the pleasure of seeing the color drain from her face. “You tell that rich husband of yours to pack up his corporate bullshit and get the hell out of Oklahoma.
And to take his whore with him.”

“Excuse me?”

“Everyone in Cedar Grove knows why he married you.”

“His reasons and mine
is
our business and no one else’s. You’ll take care to remember that.” She tried and failed to jerk free. She knew she would have a series of bruises right above her
elbow where his fingers were digging
into
her skin.

“Your Daddy shoulda’ taken a strap to you and your wasp tongue,” Fuller said between his teeth.
“God knows you wouldn’t have run off and gotten yourself pregnant, borne a man’s bastard. You’d have never caused yourself and family the shame that killed your Daddy.”

That, Alex thought dully, was the biggest pile of nonsense she had ever heard. And worse, she believed every word.

“Your opinion is noted, Mr. Fuller.
Now
take your hand
s
off me.”

He did. He pulled her around and shoved her, hard. Her back collided with Mr. Scott’s tractor and stole her breath. She sunk to the ground and thought her spine had snapped. Before she could even catch her breath, he had her by the shirt, yanked her up, and slammed her against it again.

“Take your fu
cking circus back to California,” s
he heard him say
through the roaring in her ears
before he released her abruptly. She sunk to
the ground and shook violently. S
he heard the start of his rusty, old engine.

It physically hurt to push air in and out of her lungs. Her chest ached from the attempts to catch her breath. Because she felt like weeping, she let out a stream of curses while she attempted, and failed to stand up. Giving in, she laid her back against the hard ground and peered up to the bright
,
blue sky for a moment.

When she began to feel her back again, Alex sat up. It infuriated her that tears were streaming down her face. She wiped at them furiously.

It had been years since she had been physically hurt by a man. Her father had left her alone since the day Faith died. Not so much as ten words had passed between them since that day almost seven years ago. And Alex liked him the better for it.

She walked stiffly over to Joy. Her entire back side protested as she mounted her and the pain intensified as she took her home in an easy trot.

Lane’s mood had not improved when he walked into the house a little before six. One thing Lane didn’t mind was disgruntle members of the communities where his company built their parks
,
but it wasn’t something he should have been worrying about on his wedding day.

Yet, his wife treated their wedding day as if it were any other day of the week. Not that he could rightfully blame her, h
e mused. He had made it a point several times
to establish their union as strictly business.

The thought cr
ossed his mind that he might in
deed have hurt her feelings by referring to their marriage as business.
He doubted they would even be married had he told her he wanted her to be his wife because he felt for her more than he had his first wife.
Well, he decided as he walked up the stairs, it was time they had a talk and time that she opened up to him.

Lane knocked on Alex’s bedroom door and waited. When
she
opened the door
,
he
could only stare. She wore a black dress that stopped above her knees and hooked around her neck, leaving her creamy shoulders bare. Her long
,
ebony hair was curled in loose spirals down her back and over her shoulders.

“You look—” H
e trailed off
when he couldn’t find the proper words
.

Alex shifted nervously and reached over to grab her purse. “You said you’d made reservations so I assumed it was formal.”