The Reluctant Bride by Leigh Greenwood Read Free Book Online Page A

hadn’t realized no one had spoken to her. At first she took that to mean everybody was minding his own business or was too busy to be curious about a stranger. It didn’t take long for her to realize people were avoiding her. If she’d had any doubts, they vanished when a woman passing by brushed against the storefront to prevent her skirts from touching Tanzy. It was as though she’d suddenly contracted the plague.
    The expressions she encountered were different from those the day before, too. The women looked at her in an openly speculative manner. She couldn’t categorize the men because their expressions were too varied. One thing she knew for certain: Stocker Pullet was a very powerful man. In under an hour he’d turned the town of Boulder Gap against her.
    That infuriated her. No one had the right to judge her merely on the say-so of another person, particularly when nobody in the town knew anything about her. And if she ever got a chance to speak to Stocker Pullet again, she’d tell him that she had no respect for a man who spread gossip or impugned the reputation of others.
    Especially her reputation.
    It came as something of a surprise when Tanzy realized she’d been walking up and down the boardwalk for nearly an hour without paying any attention to the storefronts she passed. Russ’s money rested uncomfortably in her pocket. She stopped in front of Davis & Greaves Dry Goods to look at a made-up dress in the window. It was a solferino pink-and-white-striped lawn with looped overskirt. It must have taken over a dozen yards of material to make the overskirt and ruffles used for trim. It was probably much too expensive, but Tanzy thought it was the most elegant dress she’d ever seen.
    “No point in looking at that,” a voice said. “You won’t have any use for it.”
    Tanzy turned to find herself facing a woman she’d never seen before. The woman was shorter than Tanzy, broader, and definitely older. She had blond hair that she wore atop her head under a clever little hat. She was dressed stylishly but in what Tanzy privately considered bad taste. It was clear she’d chosen her wardrobe to draw attention to her physical attributes.
    “I was looking at it because it’s pretty,” Tanzy said.
    “You can’t afford it, either.”
    Tanzy was aware that her appearance would lead people to believe she was some poor farmer’s wife, but the money in her purse bolstered her spirits. “I’m trying to decide whether to purchase the dress or buy some material and have a dressmaker run it up for me. Do you have a really good dressmaker in town?”
    The woman looked her up and down with scorn. “Plenty good enough for you.”
    Tanzy ignored the remark and the curled lip. “I’m about to be married. Do you think my husband would like me in that dress?”
    “Honey, if you don’t know the dress a man likes best is the one he just got you out of, you’ll never be enough woman for Russ. That fool Welt has talked him into thinking he wants a proper little mealy-mouthed bride from back East, but he’ll soon realize you’re nothing more than plain bread, white and pasty-looking. Russ belongs to me! You can’t have him.”
    “I don’t know who you are or what claim you think you have on Mr. Tibbolt, but I’ve yet to meet a man who feels he belongs to any woman.”
    “I’m warning you: Russ is my man. Leave him alone.”
    “What have you been saying to this young woman, Betty?”
    A plain-featured woman past the first blush of youth had approached them. “Good morning. My name is Ethel Peters.”
    “I’m Tanzy Gallant,” Tanzy said, accepting the hand that was extended. “I’m—”
    “You’re the young woman who’s come to town to marry Russ Tibbolt. I must urge you most earnestly to reconsider.”

Chapter Four
     
    “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell her,” Betty said.
    “I expect you’ve been trying to convince her Russ will never marry her because he loves you,” Ethel said.