The Unexpected Wife(16)

“Miss Abby.”

Mr. Barrington’s gaze locked on her for an instant. Dark blue eyes reflected a mixture of gratitude, anger and frustration.

Abby looked past Mr. Barrington to Mrs. Clements. “Would you do us a small favor and take the boys outside? The boys can toss their new balls, while Mr. Barrington and I talk.”

Mrs. Clements hustled around the side of her counter. “That’s an excellent idea. You two just need time alone.” She took Tommy from Mr. Barrington and grasped Quinn’s little hand. “Come on boys, let’s play a game of toss with those fancy new toys of yours.”

Tommy started to whimper and reached out to his father. “No.”

Mrs. Clements kept moving toward the door. “I’ve a new horse you two boys haven’t seen yet.”

Tommy stopped whimpering immediately. “Horse.”

“That’s right,” she said as she opened the door. “I bought him off an Indian. He’s got white and brown spots.”

The door closed behind them. Abby could still hear Mrs. Clements’s cheery voice but it quickly faded until nothing remained but an uncomfortable silence.

Abby shifted her gaze from the door to Mr. Barrington. Dark circles smudged under his eyes and three or four days’ growth of beard covered his square jaw.

“I thank you for what you’ve done for my boys, but I don’t want a wife.”

She was used to not being wanted. But she understood her value. “But you need one.”

He shoved out a deep breath. “I’ll make it without one.”

“Pride is a wonderful thing, Mr. Barrington, but there is a time and place for it. Believe me, mine has taken a sore beating today. This is not how I pictured our first meeting.”

Frowning, he shoved his fingers through his hair. “I’m sorry for that, Miss Smyth. If I’d known what Mrs. Clements and the others were up to, I’d have stopped it instantly. But that doesn’t change anything.”

She shrugged, trying to look casual when she felt anything but as she watched her dreams fall apart. “I have spent the last ten years swallowing my pride and doing what was practical. I’d leave now if I had any other options. I severed all my ties with my family to move out here. Going back is not a choice for me, even if I did have the money to finance the trip.”

He shook his head. “Miss Smyth, I am sorry—” He stopped himself. “You are better off trying your luck in the marriage mart somewhere else.”

She swallowed, her throat tight. She wouldn’t leave now. “I disagree. We can help each other. I am a hard worker, and I already have affection for the boys.”

Suddenly he looked very weary. “You are not their mother.”

His words were true but they stung nonetheless. “That does not change the fact that they need a woman to care for them. Mrs. Clements has already told you she can’t watch the boys.”

Anger flashed in his blue eyes. And then just as suddenly it was gone. He rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. “Miss Smyth, I don’t doubt that you are sincere and that you mean well. But this land chews young women up and spits them out. Montana will wring the life out of you and make you sorry you ever came to this place.”

Had his first wife felt this way? “I’ve survived a lot, Mr. Barrington. Don’t underestimate me.”

“Frank is a strong man, but after one Montana winter he was desperate to leave.”

“He is old. And this place claimed his daughter.” She moved closer slowly until she was less than a foot from him. “This is a land that’s full of possibilities for me.”

“Elise, my wife, said the same thing before we moved out here. Within a year, she’d grown to hate the place.”

“She said that?”

“She never would admit it, but I knew.”

He may have loved his first wife, but she suspected it had not been a successful partnership. “I am not your late wife.”

“No.”

“When I was nine, my parents opened a mission in the Arizona territory. We lived in a small adobe with dirt floors the first year. A half-mile walk separated our house from fresh water. Every morning, we had to shake out our shoes in case scorpions had nested in our shoes overnight. We stayed for six years and those were some of the happiest times of my life.”

He stared down at her as if he were really looking at her for the first time. “I swore on my wife’s grave I’d never subject another wife to Montana—that I’d never marry again.”

She felt as if a door had cracked open in his heart. She sensed he was a man who rarely shared his feelings yet he was telling her. “I’m up to the challenge.”