Linda Ford - Montana Groom Of Convenience

“I apologize for the spilled milk,” Sawyer said.

“No need. She’s just a child.”

Something flicked through his eyes before that bottomless empty pit opened up again and swallowed every hint of feeling but it was enough to make Carly wonder if he had a secret concerning Jill.

Now she was getting fanciful. Jill was an eight-year-old. But she did not look at Annie for fear her friend would see a hint of Carly’s worries. This time for serious second thought allowed for far too much second-guessing. The reasons for marrying Sawyer were just as valid now as they had been an hour earlier.

She took a cookie from the plate in the middle of the table and passed the plate to Sawyer. He also took a cookie and bit into it.

“These are good.” He turned to Carly. “You can cook, can’t you?”

Carly caught Annie’s eyes, silently signaling her not to reveal anything, then she turned to Sawyer and gave him her best innocent look. “Why? Can’t you?”

He held her gaze, allowing her to see nothing. She did her best to do the same.

“What I do best is open a can of beans with my pocketknife. Peaches, too. I can stir up a batch of biscuits if I have to but I’ll be the first to admit they aren’t very good.”

“Might be as good as anything I make.” For all you know.

He continued to look at her and she kept her expression bland.

Annie chuckled. “I can assure you, you won’t starve to death.”

“I could say the same about my own cooking.”

Carly laughed at the wry note in his voice. Good to know he could express some feeling, though food might be the only reason he did so. “What more can you ask?”

He swirled the contents of his tea cup round and round, stared at them and gave a little sigh. “I guess it’s too much to hope for crispy fried chicken, sweet berry pie and melt-in-your-mouth biscuits.”

Carly decided she’d let him wonder about her cooking ability until he got a chance to see for himself. “I don’t recall cooking being part of our agreement. You going to start adding in things now?”

“No.” One shoulder rose ever so slightly. She wouldn’t have noticed had she not been paying close attention. And likely closer attention than one normally would as she tried to figure out what sort of man she was about to marry. Hopefully he wouldn’t turn out to be the demanding type that wanted meals served by a gal who had prettied herself up.

Annie shook her head and Carly knew she would abide no more teasing.

Carly shrugged, grinning and feeling rather pleased with herself. It had been fun to try to get some sort of reaction from Sawyer.

A cry from outside jolted all three of them to their feet and they rushed for the door.

Annie was the first into the yard and yelled, “Evan!”

Evan stood in the middle of the yard, pointing toward the tree in the back corner.

Three pairs of eyes followed the direction he indicated.

Jill perched in a branch a goodly distance from the ground, holding Happy, who shivered and whined.

Annie rushed to Evan to console him. “Don’t worry. We’ll get him down.” She turned to Sawyer, her meaning plain. She expected him to settle this problem.

Already Sawyer had crossed to the bottom of the tree. “Jill, come down immediately.”

She shook her head.

“Right this instance.”

“Can’t.” She sounded quite certain.

“You must.”

“Can’t,” she yelled.

“Can’t or won’t?”

Carly went to Sawyer’s side. “Can you go up there and get her to hand you the dog?”

“I don’t think the branch will take the weight of both of us.”

He was right. Only one thing to do. She pulled the back of her skirt up and fixed it at her waist forming a pair of loose trousers. Not for the first time and certainly not for the last, she wondered at the impracticality of women’s wear. Thus girded up, she quickly climbed the tree until she came alongside Jill and reached for the dog. “Let me hand him down before he falls.” She managed to pluck the animal from her arms and shinnied down far enough to hand Happy to Sawyer.

“Are you coming?” she called up to Jill.

“No.”

“Do you want us to leave you here?”

“You can’t leave her,” Annie protested. “It isn’t safe.”

“I’ve climbed lots of tree. Never got hurt. Besides, she got up there. She can get down.” She jumped to the ground, freed her skirts and shook out the wrinkles as best she could. Then she faced Sawyer. If seeing her like this was going to shock him to the core, best they all find out now.

“Thanks for getting the dog.” He put Happy in Evan’s arms.

Carly headed for the house. When she realized no one followed, she turned. “Anyone coming?”

The two adults remained rooted to the spot, watching Jill.

“I can’t leave her,” Sawyer said. “What if she falls?”

Carly slowly retraced her steps. “I don’t think someone who climbed a tree with a pup in her arms will have any trouble getting down with her arms empty.”

Sawyer gave a low sound of disagreement that could be best described as a grunt. “I have no desire to stand by and do nothing and then see harm come to her.”

“Me, either. But I simply don’t think Jill needs help.” Was the child playing games with them? Perhaps testing them to see if she could make them jump to her tune? Like Carly had done when she was younger. Before she learned it was easier to do what needed to be done without waiting for or expecting approval.

“Then why isn’t she coming down?” Sawyer moved closer to the tree and looked up through the branches and spoke to his sister. “You can get down easily. Just lower your foot to the branch below you.”

Jill kept her gaze locked on the distance.

Carly studied the child. There was something about her expression that made Carly change her opinion. Jill’s knuckles were white where she clung to the branch. Her lips were pressed into a narrow line. Perhaps the bump on her head had affected her balance. Whatever the cause, Carly knew the child feared to climb down and she nudged Sawyer aside. “I’ll help her down.”

“I should be the one.”

“As you already pointed out, the branches aren’t strong enough to take your weight.” Already she had her skirts tucked out of the way and began to climb. Again she came alongside Jill. “Can you let go of the branch?”

“Not going to.”

Even though Jill tried to sound tough, Carly caught the thread of fear in her voice. “Okay then, let’s try something else.” She edged closer to Jill, pushed herself to her tiptoes. “Climb on my back and I’ll give you a ride down.” If she made it sound like fun, maybe Jill would forget her fear.

“Don’t want to.”

So she wasn’t going to let go of that branch. Praying the branch would hold the weight of both of them, she hoisted herself up beside Jill. “Will you let me carry you down? It will be fun. Just like when I carried you off the street.” She pried open the fingers of one hand as she talked, hoping her conversation distracted Jill. She freed the hand and pulled one arm about her neck. Then talking softly to Jill, as she would with a frightened colt, she pulled the other arm about her neck. “Hang on.” She needn’t have told Jill to do so. The child’s arms about her neck almost choked her.

Carly began to inch toward the trunk.

The branch upon which she sat, creaked, cracked and bent.

* * *

Sawyer held his breath when he saw the branch under Jill and Carly bow. He would not stand here and be a spectator. He couldn’t live with that sort of memory to add to another he could not erase. He reached the trunk of the tree in seconds and pulled himself upward from branch to branch, ignoring the way they creaked under his weight. He drew even with Carly’s foot and clamped his hand around her ankle. He would stop her from falling no matter what.