Heartland Wedding by Renee Ryan Read Free Book Online

contact. He had to remember that although she was no fragile miss, he was still much larger than she.
    “We have a problem,” he said in a more contrite tone. “We…” Think before you speak, he reminded himself. “There’s gossip going around about our time together during the storm. And I’m afraid the things being said are not…nice.”
    “So you’ve spoken with Mrs. Johnson,” she said, her tone resigned and more than a little cautious.
    “Yes, I spoke with her just now.”
    Guilt spread across her face, followed closely by shame. “I had no idea she’d take your effort to save my life and turn it into something depraved.”
    Pete heard the apology in her tone, as though the situation was her fault. Knowing how Matilda Johnson worked, how she liked to twist the facts to suit her nasty mind, Pete wanted to reach out and soothe away Rebecca’s distress. He clasped his hands behind his back. “This isn’t your fault.”
    “But it is.” She braided her fingers together and sighed. “I let it slip that we were alone in your storm cellar during the tornado.”
    “It doesn’t matter how she found out. What matters is—” he banged his fist against his thigh “—that I made things worse.”
    A confused look crossed her face. “You did?”
    “We must marry at once.” He spoke more forcefully than he’d planned. Powerful feelings were cracking through his usually calm exterior, making him want to give this woman a stack of assurances.
    There were none to give.
    “You want us to marry?” She said the last word as if she had yet to learn its full meaning. She’d spoken calmly enough, but her eyes were wide with shock. And something else. Sorrow, perhaps? Disappointment?
    “To stop the gossip from spreading any further,” he clarified. He started to explain the role he’d played in fueling the gossip, but she spoke over him.
    “Oh, Pete.” She let out a slow, careful breath, but then squared her shoulders. “You don’t have to marry me.” Her eyes took on the color of quenched steel. She would not be swayed to his way of thinking easily.
    He should have been better prepared for her response.Instead, he felt his jaw tighten in an unexpected mixture of anger and frustration. All directed at himself, of course. He didn’t need Will Logan by his side to tell him he was handling the situation poorly.
    Think before you speak.
    “Yes, I do.” He forced his teeth to unclench. Let out an irritated hiss. Cleared his throat. Breathed out again. “Matilda Johnson should never have begun talking about you, no matter the circumstances. You— we —did nothing wrong that day. And now her poisonous tongue must be stopped.”
    The force of his words could have melted iron.
    Rebecca blinked at him. Her mouth started working, but no words came out.
    “You don’t deserve to be treated with disrespect by anyone, especially not by Mrs. Johnson,” he added.
    At that, everything about her softened. Her shoulders, her eyes, her lips. She looked as though she might smile at him, but then she folded her hands in front of her and took a bracing breath. “You truly believe that?”
    “I do.”
    “Thank you,” she whispered, then lowered her head and sighed. Her hair cascaded forward in a waterfall of golden waves, curtaining her face from his inspection. “But I fear it’s too late. The damage is already done.”
    Pete frowned. Something in him threatened to snap at her quiet acceptance of the situation. He might not have presented the issue of marriage with any sort of style, but she was being ridiculously stubborn.
    “The destruction is not irrevocable,” he said through a tight jaw. “Our marriage will stop the gossip before it goes any further.”
    He would see to it.
    Shaking her head, she walked calmly to the oven. A pleasant scent of baked apples wafted through the room as she cracked open the door to peer inside.
    “Don’t you understand?” Her words were enunciated perfectly as she closed the