Winnie Griggs - Handpicked Husband

Reggie was determined to cut through his indifference. “So what do you get out of this blackmail scheme?”

His eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

She moved closer. “According to the letter, your companions are getting nice incentives to participate.” She fisted her hands on her hips. “What form does your thirty pieces of silver take?”

His ice-blue eyes stared at her with irritating dispassion. “Not that it’s any of your business, but I’m doing this mainly because the judge asked me to, and I owe him.” He tipped his hat back and crossed his ankles. “It’s as simple as that.”

“You owe him?” Reggie lowered her arms and glared. How she itched to wipe that calm expression from his too-handsome face.

The fact that he could still stir something in her besides anger only made this whole mess more maddening.

Reggie sniffed. “Because he stood by you during the trial, you mean?”

If she’d wanted to get an emotional reaction from him, she’d finally succeeded. He stiffened, his jaw clenched, and he looked as if he’d like to throttle her.

* * *

Adam felt that sense of injustice, of being branded unclean, of honor lost, wash over him again. He’d expected to be the target of her emotions once she read the letter, could even admire her for reacting with outrage rather than helpless tears.

But her disdain gnawed at him.

Foolishly, he’d assumed Miss Nash shared her grandfather’s opinion on his conviction. The exchanges they’d had up until now had only reinforced that assumption. They’d been heated and challenging, but had seemed tempered by a degree of mutual respect.

Apparently he’d read her wrong.

So be it. He’d quit trying to change people’s minds about his innocence with mere words long ago. It was proof he needed, and proof he was determined to get. Just as soon as he finished this business and could get back to Philadelphia.

“The relationship I have with the judge,” he said evenly, “and what it’s based on, is also none of your business. As I’m sure it states in that letter you’re waving around, he trusts me enough to send me here to preside over this arrangement.”

“But not enough to be completely honest with you.”

He tightened his jaw, but let that barb pass. “What does concern you are the terms the judge outlined, and my duty to see them carried out as he intended.”

She narrowed her eyes. “So, just like that, I’m supposed to line up three strangers, look them over, and pick one to be my husband.”

If only she’d get it over with that quickly.

But an adversarial attitude wouldn’t help him. Time to use the two main tools he’d learned as a lawyer—reason and persuasion. “I understand this is not the best situation to find yourself in. But you must know your grandfather would never send you a man he didn’t have complete confidence in.”

She raised a skeptical brow and he hurried on. “That being so, it’s a given that any one of them should to make you a good husband. And they won’t be strangers forever. After all, you have two weeks to get to know them.”

The thought of having to cool his heels here even that long was frustrating. He’d already had to wait for what seemed an eternity.

“Two weeks,” she repeated, her voice ending on a squeak.

He grimaced as the color drained from her face. So, Judge Madison hadn’t put everything in his letter after all. Hang the old conniver for his sly games.

“According to the terms your grandfather has laid down,” he explained, “you have two weeks to select your groom, and then another week to plan your wedding.”

“All the time in the world,” she said bitterly.

She looked so brittle—vulnerable almost. He felt an unwanted stirring of sympathy, but pushed it ruthlessly aside.

“There’s no point fighting this,” he said, hoping she would see reason. “They’re all good men, but different enough to give you a real choice. I’m certain you’ll decide which you find most compatible in that period of time.”

“Are you now?” The vulnerable air evaporated, replaced by the scorching look and frigid tone she’d brandished before.

So much for his stirring of sympathy. Obviously, she could hold her own in any war of words.

“As for this contract—” her chin titled up at a militant angle “—I’m sure I’ll need time to study it, perhaps have a lawyer look it over, before I sign.”

He was here to help her through this. “I’d be glad to explain any—”

“I’d as soon ask a heathen to explain a scripture.”

Adam tightened his jaw. Taking a slow, deep breath, he decided to let that one pass as well. She’d been backed into a corner and it was only natural that she’d lash out.

“Have it your way. But don’t think by putting off signing you can delay the deadline. According to the judge’s instructions, your two weeks start when you meet your suitors.”

Suspicion flashed in her eyes. “Tell me, Mr. Barr, why did you drag those men out here rather than leave them in Turnabout and deliver the news alone? Or better yet, wait for me to return, since someone in town likely mentioned I’d be back inside of a week?”

She pointed a finger at him and he could almost see it tremble with the urge to poke him. “It was because you wanted to start the clock ticking on this ridiculous scheme as soon as possible, wasn’t it?”

The woman was too perceptive for her own good.

She must have sensed her words had hit their mark, because she tore into him again, this time her finger actually jabbing his chest to underline her words. “Of all the insensitive, ungentlemanly actions. You just couldn’t wait to deliver this little ultimatum.”

She gave his chest another jab. “You had to come racing out here to spoil our outing just so you could hurry things along.”

The woman presumed too much. Adam captured the offending finger. “Miss Nash, I haven’t claimed to be a gentleman in quite some time.”

Her eyes widened and a flush blossomed on her cheeks. Her reaction told him her aggressive contact had been unintentional. After another moment to make his point, he released her.

She snatched her hand back as if stung.

“What’s done is done,” he continued. “As you so eloquently stated, the clock has started ticking, and there’s no setting the hands back.”

It didn’t take her long to recover. Her shoulders drew back before he’d stopped talking.

“Doesn’t it matter that I don’t want a husband?” She flung the words like rocks. “That I think turning control of my life and possessions over to someone else simply because he’s a man is akin to slavery?”

She threw up her arms. “Why does every male think the sum total of a woman’s ambition should be to find someone to marry so she can go straight from her father’s care to her husband’s?”

He’d never met a female like her before. No wonder the judge felt compelled to take such a drastic step. “I personally don’t care a jot whether you marry one of these men or not. In fact, my only concern in this affair is to see that Judge Madison’s wishes are carried out.”

He leaned back again. “Now, part of his instructions was that I make certain your interests are protected—within the scope of his plans, of course. But that doesn’t mean I can let you ignore the rules. On that score I’ll be scrupulously, might I say ruthlessly, single-minded.”

By the stiffening of her spine, he knew she’d gotten the message.

“In other words, I’d advise you not to use any of your feminine wiles on me. It’ll do you no good to try to play on my sympathy. I have none. It’ll do you no good to try to bribe me. There’s nothing you could offer to make me betray the judge. And as for trying to seduce me—” he shrugged “—let’s just say it’d be wasted effort.”