Secondhand Bride by Linda Lael Miller Read Free Book Online Page B

done it himself if he’d lived. What I meant was, I’m sorry for all you went through, Chloe. I truly am.”
    “I lost my father without even knowing I had one,” Chloe mourned.
    Becky rose, put her arms around her, and Chloe let herself be held while she sobbed, just as she’d done the day before, with Jeb.
    She’d best be careful, she thought, or this tendency toward weakness might get to be a habit.
    “There’s another thing John would do, if he were here,” Becky said gently. “He’d ask about you and Jeb. What went wrong between you, Chloe?”
    Chloe sniffled. “I was married before,” she admitted. “To a man named Jack Barrett. It—it was a terrible mistake—I ran away from home to marry him, and my mother and Mr. Wakefield were furious with me. I sent them a wire, told them Jack had lied to me, that he was a gunslinger, an outlaw. They’d left on one of their trips by then, and their lawyer wired back that I’d made my bed and ought to sleep in it.”
    Becky made a clucking sound, motherly disapproval of a cruel fate, or, at least, that was the way Chloe chose to interpret it. She held Chloe at arm’s length, searched her face. “Where does Jeb figure into all this?”
    Chloe sighed, shook her head. “One day, I was minding my own business, coming out of a store, and I ran into him, dropped all my packages. He was so—I don’t know—the way he smiled—”
    Becky nodded encouragingly.
    “I think I fell in love with him, right there on the sidewalk. We started seeing each other, and everything happened so fast—” She paused, blushed. She lamented Jeb’s reckless nature, but she was impetuous herself. Hadn’t she flouted propriety by leaving home to travel to one of the wildest towns in the West, and marry a highly unsuitable man? Hadn’t she undone two years of hard work and common sense only to make the same grave error all over again, and all because Jeb McKettrick set her heart to racing whenever he looked at her?
    She didn’t want a man like Jeb. She wanted someone like Rafe or Kade. Someone settled and responsible.
    Didn’t she?
    “Obviously, something went very wrong,” Becky prompted.
    Chloe bit her lower lip. “I should have told Jeb about Jack, and I didn’t. I was—I was afraid he wouldn’t want me. When he found out, there was no reasoning with him.” She felt heat surge into her face. “I lied by omission, but Jeb lied outright. He said—he said he loved me. If he had, he would have been willing to listen. Instead, he spent our wedding night swilling whiskey, playing poker, and consorting with low women!”
    Becky touched Chloe’s hair, and it was a comforting gesture, the kind her mother had never made. “His pride was hurt,” she said. “Men are silly that way. Give him some time, Chloe.”
    But Chloe was already shaking her head. “I’ve made a fool of myself twice already,” she said, with vehemence. “I won’t do it again!”
    “Only twice?” Becky asked, smiling. “That’s a pretty good record.”
    Chloe pulled away, pacing. “From now on,” she vowed, to herself as well as Becky, “I mean to make my own way in the world. If I ever marry again, it won’t be for love.”
    Becky raised an eyebrow, considering Chloe’s words. Then she sighed, went to the door, and laid a graceful hand on the knob. “Let’s hope you come to your senses before you get the opportunity,” she said, and left Chloe alone to stew in furious regret.

7
     
     
    J eb worked shirtless in the afternoon sun, sweating and cursing occasionally, under his breath, while he dug post holes for the new fence line between Holt’s place— the Circle C—and the Triple M. Rafe had made a big production of dragging him out of the Arizona Hotel, claiming he needed help with the cattle, but then he’d changed his mind. Next thing he knew, Jeb was breaking hard ground with a dull shovel. Being low man on the McKettrick totem pole, and having no desire to hit the trail again, he’d