Billionaire Flawed 1(86)

“That’s very interesting.” Margaret nodded, politely. She had no knowledge of either Arizona or Nevada and hadn’t been interested in reading the news when she and her father had a business to run. She scanned the landscape again, looking at the heavily male occupied area that seemed like a blight in the middle of plush green all around them. There was almost a line differentiating between where man dominated and land dominated. “I must say it seems quite amazing that you would race horses here. I didn’t know such a thing existed in these small places out here in the West.”

“Well, we have to do something to entertain ourselves, don’t we? Especially us men who don’t frequent the saloon until all hours of the morning. I don’t care for the taste of that beer they serve, and liquor gives me a blasting headache. So no worries in that department. Saves me a pretty penny, I’d say, not drinking like my buddies do.”

They pulled up in front of a small official looking building and she knew it was the local courthouse.

“They got what we need in here. Let’s go on in, sign the papers and be done with that, how does that sound? Oh, and if you want to wait a short time to get in to the marital bed, should I say, that sits fine with me, too. I’d like to get to know what kind of woman you are, if that’s okay with you.”

“That’s a good idea, Mark. I appreciate that.” She did feel a sense of relief. She had been a bit worried about it.

Margaret followed Mark into the building and went through the motions of getting married. The clerks in the courthouse were not congratulatory, nor were they interested in the event whatsoever. They signed as witnesses to the union   and the two of them were walking out of the courthouse less than an hour later.

“So you are Mrs. Mark Brooks now,” He said as he gave her his hand to help her up onto the wagon. “How’s it feel?”

She gave him a small smile. “Not much different than when I wasn’t Mrs. Mark Brooks.”

“It’ll hit ya later.”

Margaret let out a small laugh. It felt good so she did it again. Mark gave her a nice smile in response.

“So we are going to your stables now?”

He nodded. “Yeah there’s some people there I want you to meet. I work with them all the time and they need to… they want to see you.”

She thought it was a strange way to put things until she rolled his words over in her mind a few times. If he was the owner of the stables then all the people were probably his employees. That made her their boss, too, she supposed. It made her smile. She wasn’t about to take over her husband’s business.

Thinking of him as her husband made her feel even more strange inside. In fact, her heart began to thump fairly hard and she felt a cold chill. She was married. It was almost too unbelievable. A year ago, she would have never believed her path would lead in this direction. Her future as the bride of a stranger.

She wouldn’t allow nervousness to take her over. She shook it off and straightened her spine. It made the hard bench feel even harder. He glanced down at her, noticing her discomfort.

“Sorry about having to pick you up in the wagon.” He said. “Friend of mine has my carriage.”

You couldn’t get it for the day? She thought but kept silent. She nodded at him and turned to look out in front of them. They were on a main path that looked well-traveled but quickly turned off onto a small path that looked to be no more than wheel paths in tall grass. She could almost reach down and touch the top of the grass and weeds as they went by. She didn’t and pulled back from it a little, wondering what types of creatures and insects might lurk in there.

Mark didn’t say anything when he felt her press gently against him, drawing away from the foliage. She was wise to, he thought. There were often prickers and flying insects that left nasty welts on their bodies if they weren’t careful. He got through the area as quickly as he could.

Margaret was flooded with relief when the wagon moved out from the tall grass and into a vast clearing. She was staring at a cleared road, dug out from the ground so that the path was obvious and the dirt they rode through was soft but not too soft. On either side, grass had been mowed down to the smallest blade and she wondered how they had ever managed to do that. It looked as though someone had taken a pair of scissors and precisely cut each blade to perfection.

She drew in a deep breath, looking further. In front of her stood a tall building that stretched out at least 90 feet in length. It was two stories. As they got closer, she could see it was one of the most beautiful stables she had ever seen.

If she was this amazed by the building, how awed would she be by the horses? She turned wide blue eyes up to Mark. “I am stunned by this building, Mark. How majestic!”