The Unexpected Bride Read online

  Those thoughts evaporated as Elthia heard a soft whimpering coming from the still shadowy parlor. Tiptoeing around sleeping children, Poppy at her heels, she located the crier. Josie.

  She knelt next to the child and stroked her hair from her face. “What is it, sweetheart?”

  The girl gave a watery sniff as she rubbed her eyes. “I had a bad dream.”

  Poppy propped his front paws on the edge of the blankets, tail wagging furiously as he tried to stretch his tongue out far enough to reach the child’s cheek.

  “Ooooh!” Josie squealed, her nightmare obviously forgotten. “You brought Poppy back. Can I hold him?”

  “Of course.” As Josie untangled herself from the covers and sat up, Elthia lifted the dog into the child’s lap.

  “I’ll tell you what,” she offered, noting the twins’ restless stirrings. “Why don’t I take you and Poppy out to the porch so we don’t disturb the others. Would you like that?”

  “Oh yes. I haven’t been outside in just days and days.”

  Elthia smiled at the child’s earnest expression. “Well then”—she wrapped both child and dog in the quilt—“let’s remedy that right now, shall we?”

  She carried the squirming handful outside and set them on the porch. Josie was still in her nightclothes, but it was already warm here in the emerging Texas sunshine. While the child and dog played, Elthia allowed herself to dwell on her situation once again.

  How in heaven’s name had she gone from vowing just a few weeks ago that she would never agree to an arranged marriage, to suddenly discovering that tomorrow was her wedding day? Not only was she obligated to marry a perfect stranger, but she had now assumed joint responsibility for the care of six children, the oldest of whom was only thirteen.

  What would happen if—no, when—her family found out?

  Her father would be furious and announce that she’d made a royal mess of things once again.

  Harm, studying her with that big-brother look, would simply ask if she wanted his help or merely his support. He was rarely judgmental and always ready to listen, really listen. Oh but she missed her brother. She could use his counsel right now.

  “What are you doing?” Zoe stepped onto the porch, an accusing frown on her young face. “Josie shouldn’t be out here. She’s still sick.”

  Elthia blinked and pushed her glasses up on her nose. The girl displayed an amazing amount of passion. “It’s all right, Zoe. The doctor said that sunshine and fresh air would be good for them.”

  “You’re not in charge here. You shouldn’t have brought her outside without asking first.”

  Mr. Tanner stepped through the doorway, filling the opening with his presence. “Zoe, you will apologize to Miss Sinclare.”

  “But she—”

  He drew his brows down with an impressively parental air of authority. “No buts. She’s an adult, and she’s going to be my wife soon. You’ll treat her with the same respect you show me.”

  From the mutinous glare Zoe directed at her uncle, Elthia expected her to refuse. But at last, thinning her lips, she turned to Elthia. Staring at Elthia’s chin, she made her forced apology. “I’m sorry, Miss Sinclare.”

  “Thank you, Zoe.”

  Josie tugged on Elthia’s skirt. “Are you going to be my new mommy?”

  “Well, I…” Elthia looked uncertainly toward Mr. Tanner.

  But before either of them could answer the question, Zoe intervened. “Don’t be ridiculous,” she said, reaching down to pick up her little sister.

  Then Zoe leveled another challenging glare at her uncle. “Our mother is dead, and no one’s going to take her place, no matter what Uncle Caleb says.”

  Mr. Tanner’s expression tightened.

  Elthia stepped into the breach. “Of course I won’t be taking your mother’s place, Zoe,” she said, drawing the girl’s gaze away from her uncle. “No one could ever do that.”

  She tried a placating smile. “I will be marrying your uncle, though, so that will make me your aunt.”

  Josie glanced at her uncle, then to Elthia. “My aunt too?”

  Elthia beamed at the child, glad to have a reason to turn her attention elsewhere. “Of course.”

  “That’s right, Josie.” Mr. Tanner finally spoke up. “She’ll be your Aunt Elthia. Won’t you like that?”

  Elthia checked. Her family and friends had long ago turned to the less formal appellation “Elly.” It had been a long time since anyone had used her given name. But she decided she liked the sound of it.

  She was pleased to see Josie nod enthusiastically. Then the child met her gaze with a hopeful expression. “That means Poppy will be living here too, doesn’t it?”

  So much for where she stood in the order of things. “Of course. Poppy and I are petals on a flower, we just naturally go together.”

  Zoe hefted the child on her hip. “Come on, Josie, I’ll get you some breakfast.” Without another word, she turned and reentered the house.

  Elthia stooped to pick up the quilt. With a speculative look, Mr. Tanner took the far end and helped her fold it.

  Their hands brushed against each other, and Elthia felt a shiver of awareness. Nonplussed by the unfamiliar sensation, her gaze flew to his. Had he felt it too?

  His expression shifted, reminding her of a guard dog who’d just caught the scent of something dangerous.

  She blinked, and the look was gone, replaced with mere politeness.

  Elthia grasped for the first innocuous thing that popped into her head. “It seems the children don’t share your dislike of Poppy.”

  “They like to play with bugs and lizards too.”

  His dry remark drew a grin from her as he stepped aside to open the door. It seemed the man actually had a sense of humor. And she was much more comfortable with this verbal sparring than with the undertones of a moment ago.

  She shifted the blanket in her arms. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll get Keith and Kevin up and ready for breakfast. I think we’ll all eat at the table this morning.”

  Caleb watched his soon-to-be bride enter the parlor.

  So far so good. She seemed resigned to following through on their agreement. But he wasn’t about to relax his vigilance just yet.

  He’d learned the hard way you couldn’t trust a woman not to change her mind. Still, despite everything, a part of him felt he could trust her to hold to the bargain they’d struck this morning.

  And when it came right down to it, he was more willing to trust his gut than his unreliable heart.

  As for that little spark he’d felt when their hands touched, that meant nothing at all.

  CHAPTER 7

  Elthia entered the kitchen, adjusting her steps to match those of the twins. Poppy trotted at their heels.

  Studying the bounty spread on the long trestle table, Elthia was amazed at what Zoe had accomplished in such a short time. The sturdy table was loaded down with platters of eggs, bacon, biscuits, and potatoes. She could also see butter, two kinds of jam, and a frothy pitcher of milk.

  The children quickly slid into their places on the benches lining each side of the table. Mr. Tanner stood at the head, and Elthia rather self-consciously took her place across from him. When she saw him frown at Poppy, though, she straightened and drew her shoulders back. Catching and holding his gaze, she patted her chair, calling the dog to heel.

  His frown deepened, but he didn’t say anything. Was he just humoring her until after the wedding? Would he be more vocal in his objections once he had her where he wanted her? It was the sort of tactic her father would use.

  Only time would tell.

  Once she was seated, Mr. Tanner took his own place and turned to his nephew. “Peter, would you lead us in the blessing?”

  Elthia was startled when Josie and Kevin, the children seated to either side of her, reached for her hands. Then she noticed that everyone had joined hands around the table. She took firmer hold of the small, warm hands and then bowed her head with the rest of them as Peter
solemnly asked a blessing over the meal.

  She silently slipped in a prayer of her own. The thought of becoming mother to this brood, even if temporarily, was daunting. To be entrusted with the care of these precious little lives was a wondrous privilege and a fearful responsibility. She planned to give them the best she had. But would it be good enough?

  When Peter finished, the whole group echoed his amen, then began to pass the platters. Elthia listened to the children’s chatter around the table, watching them with fresh eyes as she tried to imagine what the next few months would be like.

  Once the meal ended, Mr. Tanner stood. “I think our three patients could benefit from a bath and a change of clothes. Zoe, why don’t you get the baths ready. Alex, you can round up their clothes. Afterward, come back here, because you and Peter have kitchen duty this morning.”

  Then he turned to Elthia. “If you’ll lend me a hand, I think the two of us should work on putting the parlor back to rights.”

  Elthia nodded, relieved. He wasn’t going to relegate her to a mere spectator, but he wasn’t going to assign her a chore that was clearly beyond her reach. Gathering bedding and moving a few items of furniture around were definitely tasks she could handle.

  She followed him out of the kitchen. “What’s first?” she asked as they stepped into the former infirmary.

  “If you’ll move the bedding, I’ll set the furniture back in place. Just put it all in a pile in the hall to be added to the laundry. When we get through in here, we’ll take the quilts and pillows outside to air in the sunshine.”

  As Elthia dismantled the pallets, sorting the bedding into appropriate piles, she surreptitiously watched Mr. Tanner. For all his apparent boorishness, he wasn’t a weak or lazy man. He moved the two sofas into place, facing each other. The sight of the bunched muscles in his arms as he worked sent a tiny fluttering through her pulse. She tried not to think about the fact that he was soon to be her husband.

  Once she finished her task, she looked for something to do besides admire Mr. Tanner’s masculine prowess. Noticing the room had a closed-in, musty smell, Elthia decided to let in some fresh air. She opened all the windows, inhaling deeply of the sun-warmed-meadow smell wafting in on the light breeze.

  Pleased with her efforts, she turned around to look at the now transformed room and caught Mr. Tanner sliding his gaze away from her. Had he watched her as she’d watched him earlier? The thought set her stomach fluttering again.

  Mentally clamping down on such inappropriate responses, she tried focusing her thoughts elsewhere. As Mr. Tanner set a table beside a sofa, Elthia pictured herself seated there in the evenings. Well-stocked bookshelves lined the wall on the other end. Was Mr. Tanner a reader?

  Mr. Tanner met her gaze and nodded toward the open windows. “Good idea.”

  “Thank you.” She felt inordinately pleased that he’d noted and appreciated her efforts.

  He returned her smile, then waved toward the bedding. “If you’re ready, we can take those to the laundry room.”

  Elthia nodded, but paused as she spied a portrait of two young girls hanging above the fireplace. Intrigued, she stepped back to get a better view. Glancing over her shoulder, she found Mr. Tanner watching her. Would she ever get used to that speculative look?

  Don’t think about the upcoming wedding. “Do you mind if I ask who these women are?”

  “Not at all. The younger one is my mother, the older is her sister, my Aunt Cora. I came here to live with Aunt Cora when my parents died. She passed on about four years ago.”

  “I’m sorry.” When he didn’t say anything, she tried a different tack. “Tell me a little about her.”

  “Aunt Cora never socialized much. Not that she was snooty. She was a scholar and a botanist. She was more comfortable out in the woods studying plants than among people. She wrote articles for scientific journals and even wrote a book on the native plants of northeast Texas.”

  “Sounds like an impressive woman.” He’d been raised by a maiden aunt? A maiden aunt who wrote scholarly works? Elthia tried to fit this new information in with what she already knew about Mr. Tanner.

  He nodded, rubbing his neck. “She was.”

  He must have had a lonely childhood. “Would it be too forward of me to ask what happened to her?”

  He gazed back up at the portrait. “She was bitten by a venomous snake during one of her outings. I’d left Foxberry to strike out on my own by that time, so there was no one waiting at home to miss her when she didn’t return.”

  Was that guilt she heard in his tone?

  He seemed uncomfortable, as if he’d revealed too much personal information.

  Apparently considering the subject closed, he gathered an armload of the linens. “Come on, I’ll show you where the laundry room is.”

  He led her past the kitchen. “You’ve already seen most of the downstairs, except for this.” He pushed open a door. “It’s my office. Actually, it’s not much bigger than a large closet, but it’s where I come to do paperwork.”

  Elthia stepped inside to look around at the neatly organized space. It was a small room and felt even smaller with his presence looming behind her. She could feel his breath at her neck. Turning abruptly, she came face-to-face with the wall of his chest.

  With a crooked smile and a lightly drawled Excuse me, he stepped aside to let her escape the room.

  She moved ahead to the end of the hall, regaining her composure as he closed the office door and followed her. By the time he reached around to open the outer door for her, she was able to meet his gaze with a polite smile.

  When she stepped onto the stoop, Elthia found an addition had been constructed at some point, adjoining this back wall.

  Mr. Tanner knocked on the door, giving her a wait-till-you-see-this grin. “Aunt Cora added this on right after I moved in with her. She designed it herself and was mighty proud of it.”

  Elthia raised a brow in question as Zoe’s voice called, “Come in” from inside.

  He threw the door open with a flourish. “You are now looking at the gaudiest combination bathhouse and laundry in the county.”

  Elthia blinked as she took in the opulence and startling colors. The floor was covered in a deep blue tile. A roomy pool of a bathtub was built into one corner of the room.

  The tub was fashioned entirely of pink veined marble and fitted with ornate brass fixtures. It was large enough to bathe a horse in. A pair of trifold screens, each brightly decorated in a floral design of mostly rose, gold, and green, stood nearby. Elthia could easily picture such a bathing pool gracing a sultan’s harem or some ancient Roman emperor’s palace. But here, in this out-of-the-way corner of Texas?

  Zoe was bent over the tub, pouring steaming water from a large copper kettle. Elthia’s glasses fogged, and she wiped them with her sleeve, impatient to see more. Shelves lined the wall near the tub. These held thick, soft-looking towels as well as an abundance of soaps, lotions, and bath salts. That must be where the faint floral and spicy fragrances were coming from.

  This was even more decadent than the bathing room at home. How lovely it would be to sprinkle that steaming tub with foaming bath salts and sink herself in the decadence of it all. To let the warm water caress her bare skin and soak away her cares, if only for a few moments.

  She cast a quick glance toward Mr. Tanner, and heat crept up her face at his knowing expression. Could he read her thoughts?

  Tilting her chin defensively, she turned to examine the rest of the room. To her left, past the shelves, Josie sat on one of a pair of backless benches. Keith and Kevin stood nearby, studying something crawling across the floor, something Elthia refused to look at too closely.

  A sudden squealing from Josie made her jump. She hid a grin as she realized the boys had apparently decided to gift their sister with the subject of their study.

  Before she could say anything, Mr. Tanner intervened. “All right, boys, that’s enough. Leave Josie alone.”

  The twins turned in
nocent, injured expressions his way. “But Uncle Caleb,” one of them reasoned, “it’s just an old beetle. It wouldn’t hurt her. She’s just being a baby.”

  Josie popped up from the bench and stood glowering at her tormentor. “You take that back, Keith Tanner. I’m not a baby.”

  Keith held out the beetle, waving it in her face. With another squeal, the girl retreated a couple of steps.

  “That’s enough, Keith. Now, Josie’s not being a baby. She just doesn’t like beetles, is all. So stop teasing her.”

  Keith scuffed his toes against the floor. “Yes, sir.”

  Then Mr. Tanner turned to the other boy. “Kevin?”

  The boy gave a quick nod. “Yes, sir.”

  Elthia was surprised by the ease with which Mr. Tanner dealt with the children’s squabble. Then she hid a grin as Josie, from the safety of her uncle’s back, stuck her tongue out at the boys.

  A hissing sound captured her attention, and Elthia turned to see a second kettle resting on a cast-iron stove, steam escaping from its spout. How clever. Having the stove in here would not only be useful for heating water but would also keep the room toasty warm.

  So much for the bath part of the room. Near the door was a laundry tub, a large set of work sinks, and a very modern clothes wringer. A very efficient arrangement for doing laundry.

  With transom windows lining the upper walls on three sides, the room was both well lighted and well ventilated.

  She turned back to Mr. Tanner, still feeling slightly stunned. “Your aunt, the botanist scholar, designed this?”

  He grinned. “Not what you’d expect to find in the home of a proper spinster lady, is it?” Without waiting for her answer, he dumped the linens near the washer. “Need any help, Zoe?”

  The girl straightened, setting the now-empty kettle down. “No sir. The water’s all ready for Josie.” She moved to the screens, but her uncle was a step ahead of her.

  In a matter of seconds, he had the screens placed around the tub, affording the soon-to-be bather optimum privacy. Then, as Zoe ushered the younger girl behind the screen, he retrieved the kettle and moved to the sink to fill it. Setting the kettle on the stove, he called a goodbye to the children, took Elthia’s arm, and escorted her out.