The Marriage Agreement

Proposing a marriage of convenience to a rugged logger is the boldest move of Nora Underhill’s sheltered life. In return for Simon Wallin’s protection from her overbearing family, the unassuming seamstress offers prime frontier farmland. But their paper marriage changes when Nora’s greedy brother tries to draw her back into a life of drudgery. Her only option: move to Simon’s farm, and into the center of his loving, unruly family.

Years of shouldering responsibility have left Simon cynical and reserved. But little by little, Nora’s warmth opens his shuttered heart to joy. With their marriage claim under threat, can this practical arrangement blossom over the holidays...and become a love for all seasons?

“Please, Mr. Wallin? I don’t think I could be so bold as to ask a stranger. I know I can trust you.”

Nora trusted in him on the thinnest of connections. And how was he to know she wouldn’t abuse his trust? She wouldn’t be the first to disappoint him.

But she may be the first to truly understand you.

Where had that thought come from? He’d yet to find anyone who shared his views on life. His was the lone voice of reason some days at Wallin Landing. Therefore, he should evaluate this proposal on logic, not emotion.

She was offering one hundred and sixty acres he badly needed and could get no other way. He was offering protection from an overbearing brother. They didn’t have to live together.

It was all strictly platonic. They both achieved their goals with relatively little effort. What was wrong with that?

“Very well, Miss Underhill,” he said. “I’ll make the arrangements for us to wed.”

She offered him her hand. “To our bargain.”

Simon took it, felt the tremor in her fingers. She wasn’t any more sure of this marriage of convenience than he was.

Had he just agreed to something they’d both live to regret?

REGINA SCOTT has always wanted to be a writer. Since her first book was published in 1998, her stories have traveled the globe, with translations in many languages. Fascinated by history, she learned to fence and sail a tall ship. She and her husband reside in Washington state with their overactive Irish terrier. You can find her online blogging at nineteenteen.com. Learn more about her at reginascott.com or connect with her on Facebook at Facebook.com/authorreginascott.

A Convenient Christmas Wedding

Regina Scott

www.millsandboon.co.uk

The light shines in the darkness,

but the darkness has not understood it.

—John 1:5

To the Wighamans, Chris, Megan, Reece and Molly, for their encouragement and the inspiration of Christmas Adam, and to the Lord, who offers inspiration at Christmas and throughout the year.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

About the Author

Title Page

Bible Verse

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Dear Reader

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

Seattle, Washington Territory

December 1866

What better time than a wedding to ask a man to marry you?

Nora Underhill stood in the corner of the Occidental Hotel’s fine restaurant, watching as toasts were raised. Behind the head table draped in white, her friend Maddie O’Rourke looked beautiful in the embroidered spruce-colored wool gown Nora had sewn for her. The other ladies wore their church clothes, soft wools and a few velvets in rich colors that glowed like jewels in the golden lamplight.

Everyone seemed so happy, particularly Michael Haggerty as he gazed down at his bride, whose blush was nearly as red as her hair. Nora liked seeing people happy. She liked making people happy. A shame she’d never managed that with her parents or her brother and sister-in-law. If her brother’s socially astute wife were here, Nora could imagine what Meredith would say.

You are quite right to hide in the shadows, Nora. These people will only judge you and find you lacking. I can’t imagine what your friend was thinking to name you maid of honor. No doubt she was only being kind.

And Maddie was kind. Nora knew that. The outspoken Irishwoman had befriended her, trusted Nora to teach her little sister, Ciara, how to sew. Maddie had even complimented Nora on her dress today—lavender crepe with a scalloped overskirt, fitted bodice and embroidered amethyst-colored hearts along every edge. Quite fitting for a wedding, she’d thought when she’d finished it. And she’d managed to tame her unruly black hair back behind her head in a bun that was at least a trifle fashionable. Even Meredith would find her satisfactory today. But then, it wasn’t Meredith she was trying to please.

Let him look with favor on my proposal, Father.

Immediately, guilt gnawed at her. She tried never to ask for things for herself. When her parents had sickened, she’d prayed for them as she’d nursed them. The Lord had seen fit to bring them home to heaven.

When her brother, Charles, and his wife, Meredith, had taken her in, she’d prayed at first for their strength. They’d always seemed terribly burdened by her presence.

When she’d decided to leave home and venture to Seattle with the Mercer Expedition, she’d prayed for its success, for the health and safety of the ladies sailing all the way around the continent to make a new life. God had delivered them to Seattle, where nearly all her traveling companions, including Maddie, had found employment and husbands.

Surely, just this once, He’d consider it appropriate for her to pray for herself.

And she certainly needed His help. She wasn’t brave or bold like Maddie, but today she would ask the bravest, boldest question a lady might utter. Her entire future depended on how Simon Wallin answered. She couldn’t return to the life she’d led back in Lowell, Massachusetts. She’d thought she’d escaped by coming to Seattle with Asa Mercer last May. She’d fallen in love with the wide sweeps of fir, the massive mountains in the distance, the gentle call of the waves on Puget Sound. Even the cool, damp air smelled like freedom here!

And then her brother, Charles, had written that he and Meredith were also coming to Seattle. It seemed they’d suffered a financial setback and thought to reestablish themselves here. Charles had instructed her to secure a home for them and furnish it, the costs to be paid with his remaining funds. Of course, he didn’t ask her to find a cook or a maid. She knew who would be cooking and cleaning and helping his wife dress.

Her.

She shuddered and had to paste a smile back on her face as more of Maddie’s friends rose to cheer her good fortune. Maddie and Michael made a fine couple, and the way Maddie’s little brother and sister beamed, the four were already on the way to becoming a loving family.

That was not her experience of family. Family clutched at you, pecked at you, bared each of your faults and made you feel small, stupid and vulnerable. Neither her parents nor her brother had ever loved her. Perhaps the only love she’d have was that of her Heavenly Father. There was a certain contentment in that. No one could steal it from her.

But Charles and Meredith could certainly try to steal her happiness, her prosperity. She could attempt to stand up to them, but they were like a stream running down a mountain. The mountain could stand as tall and proud as it liked. The water was still going to cut a canyon.

Like her parents, her brother felt it his duty to protect her from a world that was unkind, condemning a lady who lacked fortune, figure and face. What he saw as protection, she felt as a swaddling blanket, tight, smothering. Meredith had, surprisingly, been the one to encourage her to leave Lowell. Why couldn’t Charles understand that Nora had done well for herself here, with no help from him? There wasn’t a man or woman in the room who hadn’t come to her to either repair or create clothing.

Except one.

She could see him now, standing against the opposite wall as if he too had other matters on his mind. Though his strong arms were crossed over his chest, tightening the wool of his plain brown suit, there was nothing hesitant or shy about Simon Wallin. He burned with the intensity of an oil lamp’s flame, barely contained by the glass. He alone was as tall as his older brother Drew, who had married Catherine Stanway of the Mercer Expedition, and Simon held himself with his head high, his gaze firm as he watched his family nearby.

They too seemed terribly happy together, enough so that a sigh came out of her. Mrs. Wallin, the matriarch of the family, her graying red hair curling, had linked arms with her blond-haired daughter, Beth, who smiled up at her. Towering over them, Drew exchanged glances with his pretty wife, Catherine, as if remembering their own wedding day, as did the regal Alexandrina and her dapper husband, James Wallin. Younger brothers John and Levi jostled each other good-naturedly as if they couldn’t wait to get out of the suits and into the more comfortable clothes they likely wore when logging.

She supposed she might have approached John. He was by all accounts studious and kind, even if he was a few years her junior. But Simon, she thought, held greater possibilities when it came to strengths. Surely that high forehead was testimony to intelligence. The long, lanky body certainly spoke of hard labor, and the firm fingers told of days wielding an ax and nights cradling his father’s violin. She’d heard him play at Catherine’s and Rina’s weddings. A man capable of bringing such joy must have the capacity to understand her hopes.

But there was another reason she’d chosen Simon. Maddie had confided that he was a man who could be utterly fixed on a course of action, and he was focused now on a goal to help his family. With two new brides and babies on the horizon, the Wallins needed more farmland.

And that was something Nora could offer.

She raised her head, determination stiffening her spine and forcing her feet across the room to his side as the other guests came forward to accept pieces of the wedding cake Maddie had created in her bakery. Nora felt Simon’s gaze shift to her and nearly wilted under the considering look. She reminded herself that whatever he thought of her, whatever he said, it could be no worse than what she would endure once Charles and Meredith arrived.

“Mr. Wallin,” she said, the sound of her thundering heart nearly eclipsing her voice in her ears. “I’m Nora Underhill, and I have a proposal for you.”

He frowned. His brows were a shade darker than his short, light brown hair. They made a firm slash across his tanned skin. Those green eyes were like chips of jade as he gazed down at her. “A proposal?”

“Yes,” she said, amazed at her own audacity. “An actual proposal. Simon Wallin, I want you to marry me.”

* * *

Simon blinked. Even in primitive Seattle, even at a reception where weddings were on everyone’s mind, a lady didn’t ask a gentleman to marry. She had no reason, for Seattle boasted ten men for every lady of marriageable age. Instead of offering, a lady generally had to fend off too many offers.

And it wasn’t as if he was well acquainted with the woman. He had met her only once or twice. He might not have remembered her name if she hadn’t reminded him now.

Besides, she certainly didn’t seem the forward type. He’d noticed her, standing against the far wall, one hand hugging her waist, her face first brightening in a smile, then darkening. Now her gray eyes were growing misty in her expressive face, and her generous lips were trembling.

He could not imagine what would have driven her to make such a bold request, but he wasn’t about to grant it.

“I think,” he said, keeping his voice kind and respectful, “that you are talking to the wrong man. Any number of fellows would no doubt be delighted to pay you court, Miss Underhill.”

She shook her head so strongly her hair flew out of the bun in which she’d attempted to bind it, thick black tendrils curling like smoke around her broad cheeks. “No. It must be you. You see, I don’t want a husband, and from what I gather, you don’t want a wife. We’d be perfect for each other.”

He could not follow her logic, but that was nothing new. He struggled to understand even his brothers’ choices.

Drew was myopic, so focused on raising their brothers and sister after their father’s logging accident that his oldest brother sometimes forgot most of them were grown now and able to make their own way. His younger brother James was too spontaneous, leaping into action without considering the consequences. John had his head in the clouds, always dreaming, and Levi was young enough that he tended to think only of himself. They all saw the world as they wanted it to be. He saw what it could be. Was it any wonder none of them realized the problems looming over the farm?

“I appreciate your faith in me,” Simon told the woman in front of him as the rest of his family headed to accept a piece of Maddie’s no-doubt delicious spice cake. “But I must decline.”

He pushed off the wall to follow them, and she darted in front of him once more. She was short; the top of her head came below his collarbone. But her figure in the lavender gown was sturdy, solid.

“Please,” she said, her gaze turned up to his and her face pinched. “Hear me out. You need land. As your wife, I can bring you one hundred and sixty acres.”

About to brush past her again, Simon paused. She was right, of course. He’d already tried to convince Drew and James to file for their wives, to no avail. With Catherine four months pregnant, Drew didn’t want to chance making her travel to Olympia to claim the land the law allowed her as his wife. And James, the only other one of them besides Drew and Simon to have earned his patent, was determined to claim the bluff overlooking the lake for the town site they had planned to honor their father’s memory. That land was no good for farming.

So it was all up to Simon to find a way to gain the much-needed farmland, even if the family budget would not extend that far. He had even identified the property—a good stretch of flat acreage running above his claim, his mother’s and Drew’s. He’d prayed for guidance, but as usual, he’d heard no answer.

But to marry a stranger? He’d never planned to marry, despite the fact that he’d threatened Drew with courting Catherine when his brother had proven reticent to add the pretty nurse to the family. Simon tended to bump heads with anyone close to him, no matter how hard he tried. Perhaps that was why God so often remained silent. It seemed Simon’s role in life to spot the flaw in any plan, to point out the error in misconceived ideas. Love, and faith, did not grow in that environment.

Yet here stood Nora Underhill, biting her lower lip, gazing up at him as if he alone had the capacity to make her dreams come true. If it had been one of his brothers or Beth suggesting that he marry for the land, he would have told them they were being idiotic. But she had obviously taken a risk by approaching him, and he could only respect her for that.

“I’m not the most patient and tolerant of fellows,” he admitted instead. “You might call me a cynic. I doubt I’d make a good husband. I like things just so, and I can’t abide senseless frivolity.”

“I am not the least bit frivolous,” she assured him, waving both hands so that he caught a glimpse of the entirely frivolous hearts embroidered along her equally frivolous scalloped cuffs. “This would be a simple bargain. You would continue to live as you always have. I intend to stay in my room at the boardinghouse in Seattle. I’m a seamstress, and I should like to keep working.”

A practical consideration, he’d give her that. But any number of things troubled him about this bride bargain, the largest being her motivation. Why would a woman surrounded by bachelors need to approach him?

“And what do you gain from this marriage?” he challenged.

She drew in a breath as if for fortification. “Protection.”

Simon stiffened. “Protection? If someone is threatening you, Miss Underhill, tell me his name, and I’ll put a stop to it. And if you don’t wish to confide in me, I know a dozen men in Seattle who would be happy to oblige. You have no need to sell yourself in marriage to escape unwanted attentions.”

Color sprang to her cheeks, making them as red and round as the apples on the tree Ma had planted their first spring at Wallin Landing. He had to fist his hands to keep from reaching out to touch the no-doubt warm skin.

“That is very kind of you, Mr. Wallin,” she said. “But it isn’t a would-be suitor, I fear. It’s my brother.”

The concept of a brother harming a sister was so far from his reality that he could only stare at her.

“He doesn’t strike me, if that’s what you’re thinking,” she hurried to assure him. “He merely feels strongly that I should be sheltered from the world. And he has the law on his side. You see, my father’s will names my brother, Charles, my guardian until I turn five and twenty, which is nearly a year away. I believe Washington territorial law will allow me to wed without his permission.”

“So you’re running away,” he said, not sure why the thought disappointed him.

“I prefer to think of it as a strategic retreat,” she told him. Her little chin jutted out as if to prove she had some spirit. “Please believe me when I say that only a man of character and conviction can fend off my brother.” She glanced up at him. “You might say I’m buying courage for those one hundred and sixty acres.”

“And at the price of your future,” Simon pointed out, his mind still trying to grapple with the concept. “Even here, divorces aren’t easy to come by. They have to be approved by the territorial legislature. If you marry me, Miss Underhill, you’ll most likely be stuck with me. What if you find another fellow you truly love?”

She rubbed at the fancy embroidery on her cuff. “That’s not likely to happen,” she murmured. “I don’t seem the sort men fall in love with.”

And why not? She had a certain intelligence—she’d certainly thought through her surprising plan. She was industrious—look at her work as a seamstress. She might not be the prettiest member of the Mercer Expedition, but there was something sweet about that round face, those wide gray eyes. Surely any number of loggers and miners would cherish such a wife.

Of course, they didn’t need one hundred and sixty acres.

And soon. By his calculation, if his family was careful, they would just scrape through this winter with enough food for themselves and the animals. By next winter, Catherine and likely Rina would each have a baby. The members of their extended family would only increase from there. He needed time to clear the land and prepare it for spring planting. Winter was coming, and with it the Christmas celebrations. Every day counted. He’d been racking his brain trying to find a way to secure the claim.

Here was Nora, offering it to him. All he had to do was fend off her brother. If the man was half as controlling as she claimed, Simon looked forward to the confrontation. Any brother who denied his sister love deserved to be put in his place.

Still, marriage? Out here, a man took a wife to continue his line and raise children to help in taming the wilderness. It certainly seemed to him that’s what his father had done. But it didn’t fall to Simon to continue the Wallin name. He had four brothers to take care of that.

And it wasn’t exactly convenient to marry in Seattle. Even with Asa Mercer bringing his brides, there were still too many lonesome bachelors for every lady. He’d watched Drew fret over courting Catherine, seen James turn himself inside out to please his bride. But Simon wasn’t a man who changed easily. Just ask his family. They’d called him proud, stubborn and downright fussy on occasion.

She must have sensed his vacillation, for she laid a hand on his arm. “Please, Mr. Wallin? I don’t think I could be so bold as to ask a stranger. I know I can trust you. Maddie speaks so highly of all your family.”

Did she? Certainly he admired the feisty redhead who had achieved her dream of opening a bakery. But surely even she would not condone this marriage of convenience.

“Did you ask her about this?” he replied.

She shook her head, eyes solemn. “No. Never. She’d try to talk me out of it.”

He should do the same. Nora trusted in him on the thinnest of connections. And how was he to know she wouldn’t abuse his trust? She wouldn’t be the first to disappoint him.

But she may be the first to truly understand you.

Where had that thought come from? He’d yet to find anyone who shared his views on life. His was the lone voice of reason some days at Wallin Landing. Therefore, he should evaluate this proposal on logic, not emotion.

She was offering one hundred and sixty acres he badly needed and could get no other way. He was offering protection from an overbearing brother. They didn’t have to live together, make a family. He had enough problems with the family he had.

It was all strictly platonic. They both achieved their goals with relatively little effort. What was wrong with that?

Glancing up, he saw that nearly everyone else was busy eating. Not a one realized that two more lives were about to change forever, if Simon could bring himself to agree.

His oldest brother laughed then, his deep voice like the toll of a bell. It had been a long time since Drew had laughed so freely. He’d sacrificed years of his life to raise his brothers and sister. Could Simon do less for his family?

“Very well, Miss Underhill,” he said. “I’ll make the arrangements for us to wed. A lumber schooner is scheduled to arrive in Seattle on Tuesday. Meet me at the Brown Church that morning at ten, and we can travel to Olympia after the ceremony to file the claim.”

She offered him her hand. “To our bargain.”

Simon took it, felt the tremor in her fingers. She wasn’t any more sure of this marriage of convenience than he was.

Had he just agreed to something they’d both live to regret?

Chapter Two

“Are you sure about this?” Levi demanded Tuesday morning. “From where I sit, girls are nothing but trouble.”

Simon glanced at his youngest brother, whom he’d brought to stand as one of the witnesses to his wedding and then the land claim. Levi’s curly blond hair framed a face that could look remarkably innocent when Simon was sure his brother was plotting mischief. Now his dark blue eyes were narrowed, his hands shoved deep in the pockets of his gray wool trousers.

“I’m sure,” Simon said, shifting on his feet as they stood in the vestibule of the church. John, his closest brother, had gone to fetch the minister while they waited for Nora to arrive. “We need the land. She needs a protector.”

“If she won’t stand up to her own brother, she can’t have much spunk,” Levi declared. “Maybe that’s good. We had enough trouble with Ma and Beth, even before we added Catherine and Rina to the family.”

Until the last year, his mother and younger sister had been the only females at the northern end of Lake Union, where his family had staked their claims. If Simon brought Nora home, the number of women and men would at last be even. That is, until Catherine gave birth.

Still, Simon couldn’t deny that Nora’s confidence seemed to lag where her brother was concerned. Once again he looked forward to putting the fellow in his place. That was his side of their bargain, after all. He knew from experience that his height and angular features could serve to intimidate.

A door to one side of the altar opened to admit John. His red hair flashed in the dim light as he loped down the dark box pews under the arches soaring overhead.

“Mr. Bagley will be here shortly,” he reported as he came to a stop beside Simon and Levi and paused to adjust the starched collar of his dress shirt. “He seemed a little surprised you were in such a hurry. I told him why you needed to get to Olympia.”

“If we don’t make the sailing of the Merry Maid,” Simon replied, “there may not be another ship for a week or more. I don’t want to wait. That’s why I didn’t tell Ma or the others.”

Levi wrinkled his nose. “You’ll have to pay for that.”

“I’ll survive,” Simon predicted.

John, always the peacemaker, held up his hands. “We’ll help you explain the situation to her. She’ll have to admit your intentions were good.”

Simon had confided his and Nora’s unusual bargain to his two youngest brothers. John in particular had put up a fight at first, but Simon had convinced him of the necessity. He wasn’t sure his mother and sister would be so easily swayed. He was only glad Nora would remain in Seattle and not have to face them.

The main door to the church opened then, and sunlight pierced the shaded vestibule. A vision of loveliness floated in on the light, bountiful curves outlined in a green as bright as spring. Simon blinked, bemused.

The door closed, shutting off the light. Standing beside him was the woman who’d asked him to marry her. Nora’s thick hair was carefully bound in a coil at the nape of her neck, and a cloth hat of lavender silk sat on her head, a white feather pinned on it with a green glass broach. Gone was the embroidered dress from yesterday. Today’s creation boasted a sleeveless green overcoat embroidered with darker green leaves and scalloped along all the edges over a white wool bodice fitted to her form. It was as impractical as it was beautiful. Simon found himself staring.

“Everything ready?” she asked, setting a carpetbag on the floor by the door and draping a gray wool cloak over it.

He managed a nod. “Yes. The minister will be here shortly, and the ship arrived right on schedule.”

Beside him, John cleared his throat, then nudged Levi aside to take Nora’s hand. “Let me be the first to wish you happy. I’ll soon be your brother John.”

“Nora Underhill,” she said with a curtsy that made her skirts poof out around her. “We’ve met before. I attended the weddings when Miss Stanway married your oldest brother, when Miss Fosgrave married your brother James and when my friend Maddie married Michael Haggerty. You were all there.”

“Funny,” John said with a charming smile. “I thought I’d danced with every pretty girl at the receptions.”

“You did,” Levi said, earning him an elbow to the gut from John.

Nora’s cheeks brightened in a blush, and Simon fought the urge to scold his brother. The youngest boy in the family, at eighteen, Levi had been spoiled by their doting mother and was only starting to realize he needed to take responsibility for his words and actions.

“I didn’t mean anything by that,” he muttered now, rubbing his ribs. He nodded to Nora. “I’m Levi. Thank you for marrying Simon. Somebody should.”

Simon shook his head, but her blush deepened. “Your brother is doing me a favor,” she murmured.

Simon was just glad to see Mr. Bagley hurrying through the door at the back of the church. A slight man with a head of bushy hair and an equally bushy beard over his chin, he nonetheless managed to exude a certain sense of propriety as he stopped before the altar and motioned them forward.

“Mr. Wallin, Miss Underhill,” he greeted with a look over his spectacles. “I know you are both of age. Are there any legal impediments to this marriage?”

“None,” Simon said with a look to Nora, who shook her head.

Mr. Bagley nodded. “And are you both in agreement to wed?” His look shot to Nora too.

Simon held himself still. If she had any reservations, now would be the time to state them. “Yes, Mr. Bagley,” she murmured, her face paling.

The minister nodded again. “And are you certain you must marry now? I believe I heard your brother and his wife will be arriving soon. Surely you’d prefer that he give you away.”

He made it sound as if Simon was dragging her to the altar. She positively squirmed; Simon could see her finery quivering. He was going to lose her, and while that might not have seemed such a bad thing when she had first made her bold proposal, now he was determined to win his family those acres.

He took her cold hand in his. “Nora has agreed to be my wife, Mr. Bagley. I don’t care who gives her away or who attends this wedding.”

The minister positively glowered over the top of his spectacles. “This is highly irregular, Mr. Wallin. I see your own mother and sister declined to attend. Is there some reason this wedding must be so rushed?”

Nora flamed, pulling her hand from Simon’s. “No, no reason. Really. I...” She glanced at Simon, her eyes pools of misery.

Simon had too much experience with people arguing with him to quail before the minister’s annoyance. He drew himself up to his full height, dwarfing everyone else in the room. “You have the information for our marriage certificate, Mr. Bagley. We are both of age and willing to wed. If that’s not enough for you, I’ll go to the justice of the peace. Assuming Doc Maynard is still in the law’s good graces, he can marry us.”

Nora gasped, John took a step back and Levi grinned as if applauding Simon’s boldness at challenging the renowned minister.

Mr. Bagley tugged on the bottom of his plain blue waistcoat. “See here, sir. I will not have the members of my congregation married by that charlatan. Besides, you should know that it will do you no good to claim land in Olympia for your wife if the state does not consider you legally wed.”

“So,” Simon returned, “marry us.”

For a moment, the minister met his gaze, his eyes narrowed as if he would see inside Simon. He could look all he liked. Ma always said Simon had been born with an iron rod for a spine. He did not bow, and he did not bend. If the minister thought he could cow him, he had better think again.

Mr. Bagley shook his head as he lowered his gaze to his book of prayer. “Very well. But this is highly irregular.” He shook out his arms and began reading the ceremony. Her hands still visibly trembling, Nora bowed her head and clasped her fingers together.

Simon only half listened. He was too relieved to have won. His mind immediately began working out crop yields, considering directions to draw the furrows, determining which crops to plant depending on when he cleared the acreage. Once he dealt with Nora’s brother, there would be no impediments to his work, except the cold winter weather and Christmas.

“Simon Wallin.” His name as well as the tone of Mr. Bagley’s voice made Simon meet the clergyman’s gaze. The minister’s eyes could have been arrows over the silver of his spectacles.

“Wilt thou have this woman to be thy wedded wife,” he demanded, “to live together under God’s ordinance in the Holy Estate of Matrimony? Wilt thou love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others, keep thee only unto her as long as you both shall live?”

Love and comfort her? Live together, forever? That wasn’t what Simon had intended. He wasn’t offering Nora a home or a place in his life.

“Mr. Wallin?” Mr. Bagley prompted sternly.

Nora dropped her gaze, shrinking in on herself as if she’d been struck. She must be wondering why he didn’t speak. She’d just heard him declare he’d be married or else. She’d laid out the terms of their bargain. She wasn’t expecting undying devotion. He wasn’t offering anything more than to protect her from her brother. And he gained the land his family needed.

“I will,” he said. But the twist in his gut belied the confident words.

* * *

Nora nearly collapsed in relief. For a moment there, she’d feared it was all a horrid joke. He’d turn and shout, April Fools’! even though it was early December. Her life had been like that.

But this marriage would put an end to that life. No more must she please her brother and Meredith. She drew in a deep breath as the minister asked her the same question, then she firmly said, “I will.”

Mr. Bagley took both their hands and held them together. She could feel Simon’s calluses rubbing against her skin. Could he feel the nicks and scratches from her sewing? Did he care?

The minister gave them more vows to say, all about plighting and giving troth. She wasn’t entirely sure what troth was. Then Mr. Bagley released them to hold out his hand, gaze on Simon.

Simon frowned at him.

“The ring?” he prompted.

Nora glanced at Simon. Her groom shook his head. “No ring. That isn’t required for a legal marriage.”

Mr. Bagley’s mouth thinned a moment before he drew back his hand and continued with the ceremony. She supposed if she had been terribly in love she might have minded that she would carry no ring on her finger. But as it was, she just wanted to get this over with.

Finally Mr. Bagley came to the end.

“I now pronounce you husband and wife,” he declared, his voice ringing in the nearly empty church. Nora sucked in a breath. It was done. She was married. Charles had lost his hold on her. Forever. She was her own person at last.

Then she noticed Simon’s brothers waiting, watching.

Had she forgotten something?

“Is there more?” she asked the minister.

Mr. Bagley glanced between them. “I believe it is customary for the husband to offer his wife a kiss.”

Nora swallowed, her stomach fluttering. She’d never been kissed, but all the girls in the boardinghouse floated in with bemused smiles after saying good-night to their chosen beaus. Still, Simon wasn’t a suitor. She hardly knew him. Did she want him to kiss her?

Those firm lips looked rather unforgiving at the moment. He gazed down at her, unmoving, as if he were studying her face. It was the same face she’d worn when she’d asked him to marry her. She wasn’t sure why it was so important to him now. He wasn’t in love with her. And physical intimacy, of any kind, was not part of their bargain.

But then he bent closer, and she found herself closing her eyes, pursing her lips, her heart thundering once more as she drew in the cool, clean scent of him.

She felt a gentle pressure on her cheek, the faintest brush of skin. Then she opened her eyes to find him pulling back, his face still solemn. That was it? Somehow she’d thought a kiss would be more momentous.

“Congratulations, Mrs. Wallin,” Mr. Bagley said.

“Welcome to the family, Nora,” said Simon’s brother John.

Simon put a hand to her back, the touch so proprietary, a shiver ran through her. “We should be going.”

“Yes, of course,” she agreed, chiding herself for her reaction. He wasn’t Charles. He wasn’t ordering her about. He was merely being practical. They had a ship to catch, after all.

She preceded him down the aisle, paused only long enough to pick up the carpetbag of her overnight things and slip on her cloak, then started with him and his brothers down the hill for the pier, where Puget Sound glistened gray.

Simon reached out his hand. Nora frowned at it a moment, then realized he was offering to carry her bag. Blinking in surprise, she gave it to him.

How nice to have someone else do some of the carrying.

He had stamina too. His long legs ate up the muddy ground. He moved with such purpose, such determination. Charles would like him. He always said there was nothing worse than an aimless fellow.

Nora shuddered, scurrying to keep up. No, no. She didn’t want Charles to like Simon. She wanted Charles to respect him, fear him and leave her alone. She was looking forward to the day when Simon and Charles locked horns. She was fairly certain who would win.

She wasn’t sure what ship Simon had found to take them on the journey, but she couldn’t help smiling at the long, lean lumber schooner that lay at anchor near Yesler’s pier. It wasn’t nearly as large as the Continental, which had carried her away from New York, but she would always have a special place in her heart for this ship. The Merry Maid had rescued her and some of the others in San Francisco and brought them the rest of the way to Seattle.

“You’re just in time,” the burly mate told Simon as they reached the ship. “Get aboard and stow your things.” He glanced toward Nora. Eyes widening, he tugged off his cap in respect. “Miss Underhill, an honor to be traveling with you again.”

“Good to see you, Mr. Chorizon,” she said. “I noticed the jib sail is holding up.”

He grinned at her. “Those stitches you took were just the thing, ma’am. The sailmaker in San Francisco claimed he couldn’t have done better. Captain Collings says you’re welcome to travel with us anytime.” He nodded to Simon. “No charge for you, seeing as you’re friends with Miss Underhill.”

“Mrs. Wallin,” John corrected him with a look to his brother.

Mr. Chorizon grabbed Simon’s hand and shook it. “Good for you, Mr. Wallin. She’s a fine lady. I wish you both happy.”

Simon inclined his head, but he retrieved his hand and reached for Nora’s to help her up the gangplank and onto the ship.

“What did he mean?” Levi asked as they settled themselves along the bulwark, where they’d be out of the crew’s way.

“The Merry Maid brought us up from San Francisco,” Nora explained. “They had a little trouble with that front sail there.” She nodded toward the triangular canvas at the front of the schooner. “I was able to patch it up.”

“She’s a sailmaker?” Levi demanded with an accusatory look to Simon as if annoyed he hadn’t been told his new sister-in-law had skills few men boasted.

“I’m a seamstress,” she told him.

“And she’s obviously a good one, if she could fix a sail,” Simon added with a look that made his brother move down the rail a little ways. With an apologetic nod, John went to join him.

“Thank you,” Nora murmured, leaning against the polished rail.

Simon frowned. “For what? It was only the truth. My mother sews quilts and made most of our clothes when we were younger. I know how hard she worked. She would never have attempted something as detailed as what you’re wearing, and I doubt it would have dawned on her to use her skills to fix a sail.”

Her cheeks were warming again, despite the chill winter breeze that blew across Puget Sound, tugging at the canvas above them. “Thank you nonetheless. I’m not used to people defending me.”

He put a hand over hers on the rail. “I’m your husband. It’s my duty to defend you. That was the bargain.”

The bargain. Of course. He was only doing his part. She should not read more into the matter.

The crew cast off a short time later, maneuvering the schooner out of Elliott Bay and sending her south along the shores of Puget Sound. She skimmed the choppy gray waters as gracefully as a gull, spray rising to dampen Nora’s cheeks. One hand holding her hat to her head, she breathed deep of the cool salty air, eyeing the clouds that crowded out any view of the mountains on either side of the water.

“The captain said we could wait in his cabin,” Simon offered, turning up his collar.

Nora waved to the vistas. “And miss all this? No, thank you. But if you want to go inside, please don’t mind me.”

He didn’t move.

Nora drew in another breath. She wasn’t sure why he stayed. Was he too marveling that his life had changed?

“Do you feel different?” she asked.

He frowned as if considering the idea. “No,” he said with a shake of his head that sent the breeze fingering through his light brown hair. “You?”

She wiggled a little, trying to sense any change in her bones, her muscles. “No. But I never thought to marry. Well, there was a young man from church who showed interest, a Mr. Winnower. He used to talk to me after services, and once he even walked me home. My brother, Charles, took him aside to discuss his intentions. He only ever looked at me from across the room after that. If I approached him, he’d dash out the door. I always wondered whether Charles might have told him I had some dread disease that would infect him.”

“I’m going to enjoy talking with your brother,” Simon said with such a dark tone that Nora could only smile.

“And perhaps my sister-in-law?” she suggested. “Meredith always claimed I was destined to die an old maid. If she could have picked a husband for me, I’m certain it would have been some elderly widower who needed comfort in his final hours and wasn’t overly particular in his bride. I’m having the most delightful time imagining the look on her face when I walk in on your arm.” She couldn’t help the giggle that bubbled up.

“Her as well,” Simon agreed.

Nora smiled. “Oh, and perhaps a few of the ladies in town? There has been a distressing rumor that I’m destined to be the last Mercer Belle to wed.”

He shifted away from her. “I’ll win your freedom from your family, Nora, as I promised. But don’t expect to parade me all over Seattle like one of your fancy gowns. I have work to do, and the sooner I get to it, the better.”

She almost acquiesced. It was on the tip of her tongue to say, “Yes, of course.” To bow her head contritely for impinging on his precious time. To crawl back into her corner and lick her wounds.

Not again. Not with him. Not ever.

She raised her head and met his gaze. “I understand you have work ahead of you, Mr. Wallin. But know one thing—I may owe my brother a debt for taking me in after my parents died, but you and I have a bargain. You are getting one hundred and sixty acres from our marriage. I am getting a husband who helps and supports me. If you cannot abide by that agreement, then I will take the first ship back to Seattle, and you can argue with the registrar over whether you have earned those acres.”

Chapter Three

Who was this woman he’d married?

Nora had quaked at stern words from Mr. Bagley. She claimed she could not stand up against her brother. Now her face was set, her fists planted on her ample hips. He felt as if a tabby had turned into a mountain lion right before his eyes.

But he’d never run from a mountain lion, and he didn’t intend to now.

“I’ll honor our bargain,” he told her. “You’ll be free to live as you like. All I ask is the right to do the same.”

She relaxed with a brisk nod. “Very well. You can go and wait in the captain’s quarters. I’ll be fine. I’m used to being alone.” She turned her gaze once more to the water.

He could not find his equilibrium with her. Feeling as if he’d been dismissed, he went to join John and Levi farther down the rail.

“I like her,” Levi said. “She seems nice.”

Simon was no longer so sure. Where had that surge of confidence come from? Had she overstated her fears about her brother? Did something more lay behind her proposal to wed?

He kept his distance the rest of the trip.

They arrived in Olympia late in the afternoon. Unlike Seattle, the territorial capital afforded several docks, and more than one ship crowded the harbor at the base of Budd Inlet, the terminus of Puget Sound. The entire town was built on a spit of land, with water on three sides and mountains on two. Simon much preferred the more solid footing of Wallin Landing, with the hill at his back and the lake in front.

But as he walked down the pier toward the town proper, Nora’s case in his hand, he couldn’t help noticing that they were causing a stir. Sailors glanced at Nora as she passed; longshoremen paused in their work to watch. Even here, where the territorial legislature met, women were rare. Though Nora seemed unaware of the interest, Simon put his other hand to her back and stayed close. She favored him with a frown but did not resist him.

“Busy place,” John commented behind them as they made their way south along the boardwalk past all manner of businesses.

“I like it here,” Levi declared, glancing at a hall where banners proclaimed the upcoming performance of a dance troupe. “A fellow could find a lot more to do than farm and log.”

“There’s the land office,” Simon said, nodding to a whitewashed building ahead. He strode to it, shifted Nora’s case under one arm and held the door open for her, then followed her inside with his brothers in his wake.

The long, narrow office was bisected by a counter. Chairs against the white-paneled walls told of lengthy waits, but today the only person in the room was a slender man behind the counter. He was shrugging into a coat as if getting ready to close up for the day.

Handing Nora’s case to John, Simon hurried forward. “I need to file a claim.”

The fellow paused, eyed him and then glanced at Nora, who came to stand beside Simon. The clerk smoothed down his lank brown hair and stepped up to the counter. “Do you have the necessary application and fee?”

Simon drew out the ten-dollar fee, then pulled the papers from his coat and laid them on the counter. The clerk took his time reading them, glancing now and then at Nora, who bowed her head as if looking at the shoes peeping out from under her scalloped hem.

“And this is your wife?” he asked at last.

Simon nodded. “I brought witnesses to the fact, as required.”

John and Levi stepped closer. The clerk’s gaze returned to Nora. “Are you Mrs. Wallin?”

She glanced at Simon as if wondering the same thing, and for a moment he thought they were all doomed. Had she decided he wasn’t the man she’d thought him? Had he married for nothing?

Nora turned and held out her hand to the clerk. “Yes, I’m Mrs. Simon Wallin. No need to wish me happy, for I find I have happiness to spare.”

The clerk’s smile appeared, brightening his lean face. “Mr. Wallin is one fortunate fellow.” He turned to pull a heavy, leather-bound book from his desk, thumped it down on the counter and opened it to a page to begin recording the claim.

Simon knew he ought to feel blessed indeed as he accepted the receipt from the clerk. He had just earned his family the farmland they so badly needed. The acreage would serve the Wallins for years to come and support the town that had been his father’s dream. Yet something nagged at him, warned him that he had miscalculated.

He never miscalculated.

“What now?” Nora asked him as they left the land office.

“The tide’s against us,” Simon told her, pushing away his troublesome emotions. “We won’t be able to return north until early tomorrow morning.”

“I expected as much,” she replied, taking her case from John. “Where should we wait?”

John cleared his throat. “I’m sure you and your bride would like some privacy. Levi and I can make our own way.”

Nora glanced between him and Simon. “There’s no need.”

“None at all,” Simon agreed.

John and Levi exchanged glances. “But you just married,” John pointed out.

“I know this is you, Simon,” Levi added, “but Drew and Catherine and James and Rina were pretty lovey-dovey when they married.”

Nora flamed. “I never intended— That is I never supposed— I mean, really, I—” She appeared to run out of steam like a poorly tended engine.

Simon pulled a coin from his pocket and tossed it to John. “McClendon’s, on Main. Request three rooms. We’ll join you shortly.”

With a nod toward Nora, his brothers took off up the street.

Nora had her feet planted so firmly on the boardwalk she might have been part of its construction. “I can see we should have discussed the details of our convenient wedding more fully.”

He might on occasion have a difficult time following other people’s logic, but he thought he knew what was troubling Nora. “Then let’s discuss them now.” He started up the boardwalk, careful to slow his stride to allow her to keep up. She paced him, head down and case close. The feather in her hat bobbed with her movements.

“We’re not really married, you know,” she said.

Simon raised a brow. “I distinctly remember a ceremony just a few hours ago.”

She nodded. “Yes, yes. But that’s the extent of it. Nothing need change. We are agreed on that.”

She didn’t sound convinced of the fact. “I’ll do my duty,” Simon told her.

She stopped on the boardwalk. “Please don’t use that word with me. I am not a duty, Mr. Wallin. I am your partner in this bargain.” She glanced at him under her lashes. “And partners do not share sleeping accommodations.”

He couldn’t help chuckling. “I thought that might be your concern. I have no intentions of claiming my husbandly rights.”

She clutched her case closer. “You requested three rooms. There are four of us.”

“One room is for me, one is for you,” Simon replied. “The last is for John and Levi. I saw no reason they couldn’t share.”

She took a deep breath, setting her green overskirt to fluttering under the edge of her cloak. “I see. Forgive me. I suppose that’s settled, then.”

She had a way of overlooking things. Was it inexperience or blind trust? Neither boded well for the future.

“That’s not the only detail we should discuss,” Simon told her, starting forward again and allowing her to fall into step beside him. “There will be no mingling of finances. What you earn from your sewing is yours. What I earn from my logging is mine.”

“Agreed,” she said. “And very wise of you.”

For some reason, that made his head come up a little higher. Silly reaction. He didn’t need her praise. “You will call me Simon, and I will call you Nora,” he continued. “People will expect that.”

“My father always called my mother Mrs. Underhill,” she said. “But very well. What else?”

This was the toughest part. “We will tell our families that we entered into this arrangement for stability. I will not lie and claim it a love match.”

He thought she might take umbrage. Beth was forever prosing on about romance, for all she claimed she would never want a husband hanging about.

Instead, Nora shrugged. “My family will never believe it’s a love match. I intend to tell them we decided we’d suit well enough, and you are too busy with the farm to come into town on a regular basis but were willing to allow me to continue to ply my trade. I don’t intend to inflict them on you any more than absolutely necessary.”

He still struggled to imagine any family that cruel. “Are they truly so bad?” he asked.

“That,” Nora replied, “you’ll soon see for yourself.”

* * *

Charles and Meredith arrived on a rainy day exactly a week after Nora and Simon returned from Olympia. The harbormaster had sent word to Nora at the Kellogg brothers’ store, where her sewing customers met her, so she was standing on the pier, umbrella over her head, when the longboat bumped the pilings. She smiled as the sailors helped Charles and Meredith to the wide wood planks of the pier and hoped they would attribute her shiver to the cool weather. She was only glad she’d had an opportunity to send a note to Simon through a miner headed north. Her husband should be able to reach her by dinnertime. She only had to survive until then.

“Wretched trip,” Charles greeted her as if it were somehow her fault. No one who did not know them well would ever have taken Charles for her brother. Though he wasn’t a tall man, he was certainly taller and thinner than she was. His hair was lighter than hers, a fine chestnut, and it was pomaded back from his square-jawed face. His well-tailored coats were always crisp and clean, and his trousers always held a crease.

“Do tell me you brought the carriage,” Meredith said, her feathered hat taking a beating from the rain. She plucked the umbrella from Nora’s grip and huddled under it. Meredith was the very epitome of a grand lady, her gown with its top cape festooned with lace and ribbons and tucks that had fairly worn out Nora’s fingers and patience to arrange to her sister-in-law’s liking. Everyone in Lowell had talked about how the fair-haired, blue-eyed beauty had married above herself when she’d snagged noted accountant Charles Underhill, but Meredith always acted as if she were the one born to privilege.

“There isn’t a single carriage in the city and precious few horses,” Nora told her sister-in-law. “Most people either travel by wagon or walk.”

Meredith gasped. “Walk! I cannot be expected to walk all the way into town from the harbor.”

“It isn’t so far,” Nora assured her. She waved toward the hillside rising above them. “That’s all there is.”

Charles and Meredith exchanged looks of dismay. Perhaps they would be concerned enough to turn tail and leave on the first ship out. Hiding the hope that thought engendered, Nora motioned to the waiting teamster to come take her family’s belongings.

“Mr. Mercer will carry your things up to the house,” she explained as the fellow pushed past them with a nod. “He’s the older brother of the Mr. Mercer who escorted us here. You remember him.”

“Indeed,” Charles assured her, giving Asa’s brother a sharp look. “He was quite persuasive about the opportunities to be found in Seattle.” He returned his gaze to the hillside, clearly dubious.

Nora managed to lead them up the hill to Third Avenue, where most of the finer houses had been built. She’d found one owner ready to leave the area and willing to lease his framed home to her family. Now she climbed up to the wide front porch and let Charles and Meredith into the house. She thought it might suit them. The walls were papered and hung with pictures, the heavy wood furniture covered in floral. She fancied she could already smell the perfumed powder, essence of roses, that Meredith favored.

But of course, nothing was good enough. Charles did not appreciate the view down to Puget Sound. “If I wanted to look at water, I would have moved to Boston.”

Meredith was certain the house was too small for her purposes. “How am I to entertain with a single parlor? And I don’t know where you think you will sleep, Nora, with only one bedchamber.”

“I suppose we could put a pallet on the floor of the attic,” Charles mused.

“No need,” Nora said. “I have my own room at the ladies’ boardinghouse.”

“And do you expect us to wait for you to arrive each morning?” Meredith exclaimed. “Honestly, you are so impractical.”

By the time a knock sounded on the door that afternoon, Nora was worn-out from placating them. She couldn’t help beaming at the sight of Simon on the porch. He was dressed for work, bulky brown coat open at the throat to reveal a red-and-blue-plaid wool shirt over red flannels. His thick wool pants were tucked into heavy boots. At least he took the trouble to knock the worst of the mud off his feet before following her into the house.

“You are a sight for sore eyes,” she told him. “Please, come meet my brother and sister-in-law.”

Meredith and Charles were seated on the overstuffed chairs at opposite ends of the parlor, her brother by the multipaned window, his wife nearest the stone hearth. Charles had the Puget Sound Weekly Nora had left him open before him, his brows drawn down as he studied the news. Meredith had already instructed Nora in the unpacking of her things and was taking dainty stitches in the pillow cover she had been embroidering for as long as Nora could remember. Like everything else she did, Meredith put on a good show while managing to accomplish very little.

“May I have your attention?” Nora asked.

Neither looked up. “Not now, Nora,” Charles said. “Shouldn’t you be seeing to dinner?”

“She has no concept of time,” Meredith complained. “I suppose it is too much that you would consider our needs after we took the trouble of traveling thousands of miles to care for you in this wretched wilderness, with no friends and a thorough lack of opportunity for your talented brother.”

Each word felt like a nail pounding into her heart, but Nora held her ground. “I’m sorry to inconvenience you, Meredith. But you see, I got married.”

She knew she should not take such delight in the way Meredith’s head snapped up and her pretty pink lips gaped.

Charles lowered his paper at last, blinking at Nora and Simon as if bewildered that they’d appeared in his parlor. “Married, you say? What nonsense is this?”

“It’s hardly nonsense. You can’t miss him standing here beside me.” Nora looked pointedly to Simon, who seemed a bit bewildered himself. She supposed Charles and Meredith might have that effect on people. Still, he stepped forward and nodded to her brother and sister-in-law.

“Mr. Underhill, ma’am. I’m Simon Wallin, and I had the honor of marrying your sister last week.”

Now Charles stared, his face washing white and his hands shaking so hard the paper rattled. Whatever reaction Nora had been expecting, it was hardly that.

Meredith recovered first, rising from her chair. “I know you are given to odd fancies, Nora, but this is too much. How could you leave your brother out of what must surely be the most important day of your life?”

Her guilt rose like the tide on Puget Sound. She would not allow it to swamp her this time. “It was expedient.”

“Expedient?” Meredith clutched her beribboned chest. “To ignore your family, run off with some stranger? Expedient?”

This was not going as she’d hoped. Again she glanced at Simon for help.

“We are properly wed,” he assured them both. “You can ask Mr. Bagley at the Brown Church. He performed the ceremony.”

Charles climbed to his feet, shoving the paper away. “You can be sure I shall, sir. No clergyman has the right to perform a marriage ceremony for an impressionable young woman without consulting her family. And I hold you responsible as well, turning her head with your promises, your flowery phrases.”

The picture of the practical, stern-faced Simon Wallin swaying her with flowery words brought a giggle to her lips. She hastily clamped them together to keep it from coming out.

“Your sister is a grown woman, of age under Washington territorial law,” Simon informed Charles. “She can marry whom she likes.”

“Of age?” Meredith sputtered. She pointed a finger at Simon. “Oh, I see your game, sir. You think because she comes from a good family she must have a considerable dowry. Well, let me tell you—”

“Meredith.” Charles’s tone cut off the rest of her bile. “Please, allow me to handle this.”

Meredith shut her mouth and threw herself back into her seat, sending her embroidery tumbling to the carpet. She looked daggers at Nora, as if this was all her fault.

For once, she was right.

Her brother came forward to meet Simon, raising his head in the process, which only brought him to the tip of Simon’s firm chin. “You can see the trouble you’ve caused, sir. I demand that you annul this sham of a marriage immediately.”

Fear leaped up. Could they do that? Simon had claimed that only the territorial legislature could issue a divorce. She hadn’t considered what would happen if her brother pushed for an annulment. Would Simon be able to keep his claim if she was no longer his wife?

Simon, however, did not back down. He took Nora’s hand, his grip sure, strong. “I will do no such thing,” he told Charles. “Nora knows her mind, and so do I. I called on you as a courtesy. Whether she wishes to continue to associate with you is up to her.”

Oh, but he was masterful! She’d chosen well when she’d asked him to marry her. She glanced at her brother, to find his brows once more furrowed, as if he hadn’t expected an argument and wasn’t sure how to deal with it.

Meredith brought both hands to her face and bowed her head. “Oh,” she moaned, her voice coming out muffled. “That you would take our dear Nora away. I do not know whether I can bear it.” Her shoulders shook with her sobs.

How could she be so distressed? She scarcely abided Nora. She’d been positively eager to send her off to Seattle. This had to be an act. But why?

Charles evidently thought it sincere. “See what you’ve done?” he said with an audible sigh. “Calm yourself, Meredith, dear. I will have words with Mr. Wallin. Kindly take Nora to the door and make your farewells.”

Her farewells? He was going to let her go! Nora wanted to grab both of Simon’s hands and dance around the room in pure joy, but she knew that would only give away the game. Instead, she squeezed his hand for encouragement, trusting him to withstand any of her brother’s blandishments, and turned for the entryway.

The sound of a sniff behind her told her Meredith was following.

“Oh, take heart, Meredith,” she said as they entered the shadowy space at the front of the house. “Think how much happier you’ll be without the burden of caring for me.”

Meredith sniffed again as she took down Nora’s cloak from the brass hook at the side of the door. “It was a burden I gladly bore, I assure you. Right now, I can only pity you, Nora.”

Nora frowned, accepting her gray cloak from Meredith’s elegant fingers. “Why would you pity me? I married a good man.”

“I can certainly see that you believe so,” Meredith said, her hands fluttering. “I can imagine how exciting it must have been to have such a commanding fellow propose, but you must have known that it wasn’t love motivating him.”

Of course it wasn’t love, but she wasn’t about to hammer the point home. “I am satisfied with Mr. Wallin’s intentions,” she replied.

“How nice that you are now a better judge of character,” Meredith said, her voice verging on a sneer. “I remember another young man you thought was serious, but alas he never came up to scratch.”

She would bring up Mr. Winnower. Nora shook out her cloak and slipped it over her dress even as she pushed away the memory. “I will always be grateful you and Charles took me in, Meredith. But I’ve made my own way here, and I no longer need your help.”

Meredith reached out a hand to smooth back a tendril of Nora’s hair. The touch would have been tender if not for the hard look in Meredith’s eyes. “You have no understanding of the world, Nora. A man says he’ll marry you, take care of you, and off you go, with no thought of the consequences, no idea of the damage he could do.”

Damage? Despite her hopes, a shiver went through her. She’d thought Simon Wallin a good man, had believed in him because Catherine and Rina had married his brothers and Maddie had spoken highly of him. But what did she actually know about Simon? Would he hurt her? Treat her unkindly?

“I cannot sit idly by when your very life is in danger,” Meredith continued as if determined to press her case. “Did you not see the squint in his cold eyes, those brutish hands?” She lowered her voice as if suspecting Simon might be hiding just around the corner even now, waiting to pounce. “Nora, I fear for you if you go with him.”

Nora squared her shoulders. “I’m not going with him. I shall live in town. He will live on his claim.”

“Indeed.” The sweetness of Meredith’s tone warned Nora she had made a mistake, but she wasn’t sure how. “What a quaint arrangement. However did you convince him to agree?”

By giving him one hundred and sixty acres.

Now she just needed to know that he would keep his part of the bargain and stop her brother from ruining her life.

* * *

“What do you want from me?” Charles asked Simon the moment the ladies left the room. “I warn you, I do not take well to blackmail.”

The man was insufferable. Did he really think that Simon and Nora’s marriage had anything to do with harming him?

“I want nothing from you,” Simon told him. “Your sister is of age, as am I. We married. She is mine now to protect.” He met Charles’s gaze head-on. The man had gray eyes, like Nora, but they were not nearly as warm and welcoming as his sister’s. In fact, right now, they swam with tears.

Tears?

“Do you have a sister, Mr. Wallin?” he asked. “Would you want to learn of her marriage in this cold manner?”

Not at all. He couldn’t imagine how he’d feel if Beth had walked into Wallin Landing with a stranger on her arm claiming him as her husband. But Nora wasn’t Beth.

“Perhaps you should ask yourself why your sister chose to marry without informing you,” he countered.

“I don’t have to ask,” Charles said, his voice as heavy as his look. “I know. She is simple, unaware of life’s dangers. She trusts too easily. I have done all I can to shelter her.”

Simon frowned. From what he could see, Nora might be a bit whimsical, with unexpected giggles and hearts embroidered on her sleeves, but she did not appear to have a diminished mental capacity. Was that how her family saw her? Was that how they treated her? Small wonder she longed to escape.

“Nora will want for nothing,” Simon promised him. “I earned the patent on my original claim, and I registered another for my wife. I can provide for her, should she need it.”

“Well, certainly she will need it,” Charles insisted. “You didn’t expect me to hand you a dowry, did you?”

Why did they both pluck on that string? Perhaps dowries were important where they came from, but not in frontier Seattle.

“I don’t want your money, or hers,” Simon told him. “All I demand is that you treat her with respect and consideration. Do that, and you will have no trouble with me.”

“Yes, well...” Charles smoothed back his hair with one hand. “I have some demands myself, sir. You will bring her to see us at least once a week, and you will see to it that she accepts our invitations to dinner.”

“Nora can see you if she likes,” Simon returned. “But I won’t have time to come in weekly.”

Charles’s face fell. “Live that far out, do you?” He sighed. “Oh, but I cannot like it. She’s never dealt with farms and animals and that sort of thing. She’ll be completely out of her element, and that is never good, let me tell you. No, you must move into town, for her sake.”

Simon stared at him. Was he truly so selfish he would give no thought to Simon’s plans, his family’s needs or Nora’s hopes? He wasn’t sure how to respond.

Meredith spoke for him as she sailed back into the room with Nora right behind her. He noticed she hadn’t fastened her cloak. Was she uncertain as to whether she was leaving?

“No need for concern, Charles,” Nora’s sister-in-law announced. “Nora tells me she and Mr. Wallin do not intend to live as man and wife. She will be staying in town while he returns to his claim. We can go on as we always have.” She came to her husband’s side and gave his arm a squeeze. “Isn’t that good news?”

Charles seemed to grow a little taller. “Excellent. Nora can stay with us, then. You can visit when you like, Mr. Wallin, but do provide a few days’ notice first. Only practical considering our busy schedules.”

Simon felt as if he’d turned the page in the book he’d been reading only to find his adventure novel had become a farce. “Nora?” he couldn’t help asking. “Is this what you want?”

She opened her mouth, but once again Meredith spoke first. “Of course it’s what she wants. We are her family. We know what she needs. We understand her.”

Nora raised her head, her gray eyes solemn, then crossed to Simon’s side. “No, you have never understood me. I don’t need you to take care of me. I took care of myself all the way to Seattle.”

“Now, now,” Charles said. “I know it must have seemed that way to you, but I paid Mr. Mercer to take care of you while Meredith and I settled our affairs in Massachusetts.”

Nora blanched. “What? He said nothing.”

“As it should be,” Meredith said with a nod. “We wanted you to have a taste of the freedom that has been denied you because of your tragic constraints.”

Nora was curling in on herself again. Simon wasn’t sure whether to intervene or merely pick her up and carry her away from them.

“I, for one, worried about you every moment we were parted,” her brother confessed. “Now that we have been reunited, nothing will stand in the way of me doing my duty.” He clapped his hands together. “There! It’s all settled. Thank you for stopping by, Mr. Wallin. Safe trip home.”

It was like trying to stop a falling fir. The tree was coming down, breaking everything around it as it crashed. He refused to allow Nora to be crushed under the weight of their assumptions. He owed her that at least.

“Nora?” he pressed. “Do you want to stay with them?”

She gazed up at him, her eyes stormy, then glanced at her brother and sister-in-law, standing there with delight stamped on their faces.

“No,” she said. “I want to get as far away from them as I can. I’m coming to live with you, out at Wallin Landing.”

Chapter Four

Nora knew she was changing their bargain. She had made it very clear to Simon that marrying her would not affect his day-to-day life. But what else was she to do but beg to come to Wallin Landing with him? Charles and Meredith were even more determined to control her than she’d feared. Her only hope was putting distance between her and them, just as she’d done when she’d left with Asa Mercer.

But first she had to convince Simon that moving out to Wallin Landing was a good idea.

As Charles and Meredith protested her decision, she focused on her husband. Simon’s eyes narrowed until she could barely see their color. His lean body was tensed, as if she had dealt him a blow and he expected another. She didn’t know the words to say, the facts to offer that would ease his mind.

She simply laid her hand on his arm and said, “Please, Simon?”

After how hard she’d worked to convince him to agree to their Christmas wedding in the first place, she hardly expected instant capitulation now. But she saw the moment he reached his decision, for the green deepened as his eyes widened, and he snapped a nod.

“Fetch your things,” he said. “We’ll leave now.”

She didn’t know whether to hug him in thanks or run to do as he bid. Of course, besides her cloak, she really didn’t have any of her things at the house.

“See here,” Charles started, his chest puffing out.

Simon ignored him, pushing past him for the door.

“Nora, you cannot do this,” Meredith cried. “You need us.”

Had her sister-in-law claimed to have needed her, guilt might have halted Nora. As it was, she fled after Simon.

“You will regret this!” Charles flung after them from the doorway as they descended the front steps. “He will not treat you as we do.”

“That’s the truth,” Simon muttered.

Nora felt it too. Whatever lay ahead for her and Simon, he would not make her feel tiny and useless. She would merely have to be careful what more she asked of him. She wanted to keep their sides of the bargain equal.

As Charles continued his threats from the safety of the porch, Simon led Nora to the wagon waiting on the street and went to untie the horses. Nora was gathering her skirts to climb up onto the bench when she felt hands on her waist. Simon lifted her effortlessly onto the seat. It was a kind gesture, convenient even. But somehow it made breathing difficult.

“I take it your clothes and other belongings are at the boardinghouse,” he said after he’d climbed up and called to the horses. They were a pair of dark-coated beauties, and she was fairly sure they belonged to his brother James.

“Yes,” she said. “If you wouldn’t mind stopping there on the way out of town, I would appreciate it. I’ll just pack a few things, and we can send for the rest later.”

“You really want to move out to Wallin Landing?” he asked, directing the horses down the hill for the boardinghouse. She could hear the wariness in his voice. “I thought you preferred to stay in Seattle because of your sewing.”

She made a face. “Being so far out of town will make that more difficult.”

“So stay at the boardinghouse,” Simon said. “Refuse to have anything more to do with your brother.”

Nora shuddered. “They’ll find me. They did when I left for Seattle.”

He cast her a glance as he eased the horses down the hill. “You stood up to me. Stand up to them.”

A sigh worked its way out of her. “You don’t understand. I stood up to you, Simon, because we have a bargain. We each contributed something to it. That’s not the case with my brother. I owe him for taking me in, for feeding and clothing me. And he knows it.”

“I would think it a brother’s duty to care for his younger siblings,” Simon said, his voice sharp with condemnation for anyone who failed to live up to such an obligation. “That’s what Drew did when our father died.”

Nora nodded. “That’s what you’re doing now by working those one hundred and sixty acres. And I’m sure your family will be grateful for your efforts. I’m grateful to Charles, but oh, how I tire of having to repay him. Have I no right or expectation of a life of my own?”

She wasn’t sure how Simon would answer. She wasn’t even sure how she would answer. She had been raised to be a dutiful daughter. Anything less felt selfish, lazy. Yet if she had stayed with Charles and Meredith one more day, her heart would have shriveled away inside her.

“Of course you have that right,” Simon said as he turned onto Second Avenue and headed for the boardinghouse. “You have won your freedom. What do you intend to do with it?”

And there lay the more important question at the moment. She could not stay in Seattle proper, yet she hated to leave the area entirely and lose the friends she’d made on the journey and the customers she’d acquired in the last six months of working. The most logical thing to do was to go out to Wallin Landing.

“I’ll have to let Mr. Kellogg and his brother know where I’ll be staying,” she said. “I work out of their store. Perhaps people could leave commissions with them, and I could come into town when you pick up the mail to see what’s needed.”

“You seem to have thought this out,” he said, slowing the horses as they approached the boardinghouse.

And she would have thought he would approve of that planning. Instead, he sounded rather miffed.

“I didn’t realize Charles and Meredith would be this difficult,” she assured him. “That is, I knew they’d be difficult. They always are. But I never thought even marriage would fail to deter them.”

He shook his head as he reined in. “I never met anyone as oblivious to logic as your brother.”

She ought to take umbrage on her brother’s behalf. Charles was a talented accountant, after all, someone to whom business leaders turned for advice. Certainly he had managed their father’s estate well, with the help of the bankers. The elderly Mr. Pomantier from the bank had come out on a regular basis to dine with them. He’d always spoken kindly to Nora but spent the bulk of his time in consultation with Charles.

Yet despite all Charles’s qualities, Simon was right.

“Charles is ever focused on his own needs,” she told him. “Meredith is worse. I simply couldn’t bear to slave for them one more moment.”

“You should be no one’s slave,” Simon said. “You are an independent woman of intellect and skill. You should be treated as such.”

Once again, the fact that he was agreeing with her left her speechless. Back in Lowell, people had been more likely to congratulate her on having such a kind, generous brother, someone willing to take her in when their parents had passed on. After all, not every family could accommodate a spinster without prospects.

Simon climbed down from the wagon, and Nora scrambled to the ground before he could come around to help her. She felt as if she were still tingling from his touch when he’d helped her up at the house. She didn’t need any distractions before she faced the boardinghouse owner. A dark-haired older woman with a narrow face and narrower opinions, Mrs. Elliott was another person who seemed to think it her duty to tell Nora what to do.

“I’ll just be a minute,” Nora promised as Simon stopped in front of the horses. Then she hurried inside.

The boardinghouse with its pink-papered walls and flowered carpet was much quieter these days. The piano in the dining room was silent, and no one loitered in the perfumed parlor. Most of the women who had journeyed with Asa Mercer had either found jobs elsewhere in Washington Territory or married and moved out. Only a few still lived in the boardinghouse, and they had either work or serious suitors that kept them in Seattle. Mrs. Elliott had been advertising for more tenants to no avail. King County still boasted few unmarried women.

The boardinghouse owner caught sight of Nora as she came in the door and hurried to meet her.

“I understand your family has arrived from the East,” she said, blocking Nora’s route to the stairs. “I certainly hope you are not planning to leave us to live with them.”

A wave of thankfulness swept over her that Simon had agreed to her request. “No,” Nora said, and she darted around the woman and started up the carpeted stairs.

Mrs. Elliott followed her, her voice almost a purr. “I’m very pleased to hear that, Miss Underhill. A young lady such as yourself can never be too careful in the company she keeps. Why, I have heard of families who foisted the worst of gentlemen upon a spinster, simply to ensure she married.”

That had not been her problem. Charles and Meredith seemed to prefer that she never speak to anyone but them. She nearly giggled remembering the look on Meredith’s face when Nora had announced she’d married Simon.

“I can promise you my family will not be marrying me off, but I fear I will be leaving you,” Nora told the woman as she opened the door to her room. Once, she’d shared the space with another Mercer Belle, but the second bed had stood empty for weeks.

Mrs. Elliott tsked as Nora went to kneel beside her iron bedstead and reach underneath. No time to fill her trunk. It would have to be the carpetbag she’d used in Olympia.

“There is no other residence for young ladies in the city,” the boardinghouse owner reminded her, crossing her thin arms over her flat chest.

“I won’t be moving to another boardinghouse,” Nora said, swiftly folding in a nightgown, several sets of undergarments and an extra dress. “But I can no longer stay here either.” The bag bulged, and she strained to clasp it shut. “You see, I got married.”

As Nora rose, Mrs. Elliott’s fingers flew to her lips. “Oh, my child! I wish you’d spoken to me first. Some of the men here are so wild and unkempt. You shouldn’t have settled.”

Nora thought of Simon, waiting for her outside—tall, strong, handsome, willing to sacrifice for family. She did not feel as if she had settled in the least.

“Oh, I didn’t marry one of those fellows,” she assured Mrs. Elliott, lugging her bag toward the door. “I’m Mrs. Simon Wallin.”

Mrs. Elliott’s astonished look was almost as gratifying as Meredith’s gasp.

“I’m paid up through the month,” Nora told her as the woman’s mouth opened and closed wordlessly. “I would appreciate you leaving everything in the room until then. Someone will come for it shortly. Not,” she hastened to add, “my brother or his wife. You are only to provide access to someone named Wallin.”

Nora hurried out into the hallway, and Mrs. Elliott fluttered after her. She seemed to have recovered her voice. “Certainly,” she warbled. “I will be delighted to do as you ask. Give my regards to all the gentlemen in your new family. Such fine, upstanding fellows, the Wallin men, for all you’re the third of my girls they’ve snatched away. And if there is anything else I can do for you, Mrs. Wallin, please let me know.”

Mrs. Wallin. A real bride might have felt a jolt of delight at hearing herself addressed by her new name. Yet now it sent a tremor through Nora. She’d entered into this bargain thinking nothing about her life would change save that she would rid herself of Charles’s interference.

Now everything was about to change. She was heading out into the wilderness. For all that Mrs. Elliott called them fine gentlemen, Simon and his brothers were rough loggers, the sort of fellows Charles would not have allowed in his home back in Lowell. Though she knew Catherine and Rina, the rest of the group were strangers.

She had an odd feeling that she was about to learn exactly what it meant to be Mrs. Simon Wallin.

* * *

Simon drove the wagon north along the primitive road that led toward Lake Union. The rain had stopped earlier, but the firs they passed still shed a drop or two from their heavy boughs. He caught the briny scent of Puget Sound on the cool air before the trees closed around them.

He couldn’t understand the woman at his side. She’d just upended her life, and his, yet she sat calm and proper beside him, her hands folded in her lap, her cloak draped about her. More, she gazed around at the forest as if it were the most amazing thing to appear in a long while. Perhaps she hadn’t ventured much outside the town proper, but she wouldn’t have had to go far to notice the trees, the inland sea, the mountains.

And after all that she’d been through at her brother’s house, shouldn’t she be a bit more upset?

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“Fine,” she said with a smile.

“No regrets, concerns?” he pressed, feeling a frown forming.

“None,” she said happily.

Once again, the lion had changed before him, becoming a tabby, docile and complacent.

“And you’re absolutely certain you want to move out here with me?”

“Oh, yes,” she said. “Thank you for agreeing. I’m sure we’ll get on famously.”

He felt no such assurance. “We should discuss our bargain, as you seem to have changed it.”

She sighed. “I suppose so. I’m terribly sorry to inconvenience you, Simon, but I didn’t know what else to do.”

“It was the obvious choice,” he allowed. “But it will cause a few complications.” He paused, feeling suddenly guilty for not having confided the truth to his family. Right now, only John and Levi knew he had married Nora. The weather had kept him from doing more than laying out permanent stakes on the new claim, so the rest of his family was also unaware of the land. He’d been trying to find the right moment to tell them.

He knew he was not the most eloquent of men. Their father had left them a small library of adventure novels and epic poems, including Robinson Crusoe, The Last of the Mohicans and The Courtship of Miles Standish. Though he’d enjoyed reading them over the years, he couldn’t convince himself the flowery language was necessary. If a man had an opinion on a matter, why not just say so?

Yet when he stated his opinion, he as like as not started an argument. Apparently his words were too brash, his opinions too strong. And he had never figured out a way to soften them. So, if he couldn’t bring his family around to his way of thinking on something as mundane as which field to clear next, how did he expect to explain something as unorthodox as his and Nora’s bargain?

At least with her he could speak his piece. Nora didn’t seem to mind when he argued his point, and she was willing to listen and offer a counterpoint without claiming he was bullying her. Of course, now that he’d met her brother, he had to own that she was used to far worse than him.

“Let’s start with the sleeping arrangements,” he told her, drawing on the reins to guide the horses around a curve in the road.

“Sleeping arrangements,” she repeated in a strained voice.

He refused to let her worry. “My cabin is small—main room on the ground floor, loft half the depth across overhead. And there’s only one bed.”

“Oh,” she said, and he thought she hunched tighter with concern, but it might have been a reaction to the chill breeze that blew in from the water.

“You will take the bed, which is upstairs,” he said. “I have a spare pallet my brothers use when they stay. I’ll use it to bunk by the fire downstairs.”

“I couldn’t put you out that way,” she protested.

Simon shook his head. “It’s only logical. I rise early to work. If I’m already downstairs, it will be easier for me to slip out without disturbing you.”

“Thank you.” She beamed at him, and all at once the day seemed brighter, warmer.

“Then there’s the eating arrangements,” he said, determined to press forward. “I keep dried venison and fruit in the cabin, but everyone generally eats at the main house.”

She turned to him, her face puckered. “I can’t take your food without paying for it. That wouldn’t be right.”

Having another mouth to feed would put a strain on their supplies. But he could not accept Nora’s money. They had made a bargain. It wasn’t her fault her brother’s behavior had forced her to change it.

“You are welcome to anything you need, Nora,” he told her.

“So long as I contribute in some way,” she agreed.

He smiled. There. That hadn’t been so hard. Maybe he was getting better at discussing things civilly. Or maybe Nora was just easier to talk to than the rest of his family. Either way, he thought she was right—they just might make this bargain work, after all.

He reckoned without his family.

They reached Wallin Landing as the day was darkening. James was leaning against one of the supports on the back porch as if waiting for them. He strode out to meet the wagon as Simon pulled up in front of the main cabin.

“If you were going to go to the trouble of picking up my new waistcoat, Simon, you didn’t have to bring the seamstress with you,” he teased with a grin to Nora.

That was James. He was only two years younger than Simon, but decades apart when it came to outlook. James didn’t speak—he teased, he joked. No deed was so dire, no day so dark he could not make light of it.

“How nice to see you again,” Nora said as James came around to take charge of the horses, who nickered a greeting. “I haven’t quite finished your commission, but I’ll get to it as soon as possible.”

It shouldn’t surprise Simon that James knew Nora. James was the brother most likely to care about his wardrobe. Even now, his wool coat gaped to reveal a patterned waistcoat over his flannel shirt and a red silk scarf at his neck. He cut a dapper look, his short hair a shade darker than Simon’s, his blue eyes deeper.

The back door opened, and Levi stepped out onto the porch as Simon climbed down from the bench.

“Hello, Nora,” he said before reaching for the rifle that hung beside the door. In the act of removing it from its cradle, he froze, then turned to stare at the wagon. “Nora?”

“Good evening to you, Brother Levi,” Nora said.

James chuckled. “Brother Levi? Have you joined a monastery without telling us, my lad?”

Levi colored, then turned to pull down the gun. “Maybe I should have. Things are going to get terribly interesting around here, I’m thinking.”

Simon reached up to lift Nora down, feeling the warmth of her as she settled beside him. “Brace yourself,” he warned her.

“Why?” she asked.

Levi fired the gun.

Nora flung herself against Simon. His arms came around her, holding her close, knowing how people generally reacted to the noise the first time. But what surprised him was that she wasn’t trying to escape the danger.

She was trying to put herself between it and him.

Levi fired again, and Simon bent his head to speak in Nora’s ear. “It’s all right. That’s just how we call everyone to dinner.”

“Oh.” She glanced up at him, the red rising in her cheeks. Those gray eyes held his, wise, warm, gentle. It was like looking into the early-morning mist, knowing the sun would not be far behind.

Maybe he’d learned something from the poets, after all.

“Dinner!” Levi shouted as if anyone could have missed his signal. As Simon glanced his way, the youth shrugged.

“You can’t bring her out here and keep it a secret,” he said, reaching for the door latch. “You’ll have to tell them now.”

As Nora looked up at him quizzically, Simon couldn’t help his sigh. “And you sound completely delighted by that,” he told his youngest brother.

“I’m truly sorry you’ll get a scolding, Simon,” Levi assured him. “But I’m going to enjoy eating dinner when my misdeeds aren’t the main topic of conversation for once.”

Chapter Five

Since coming to Seattle, Nora had rarely set foot outside the town. The way to Wallin Landing fascinated her. The thick forests looked cozy, and she could imagine deer and rabbits taking shelter in the thickets of fern and wild berries. Wallin Landing itself seemed nearly as welcoming, with its big two-story log cabin looking out through the trees toward Lake Union, the sturdy log barn and the schoolhouse at the back of the long clearing.

Then Levi had fired that gun, and she’d nearly jumped out of her skin. All she could think about was protecting the ones she loved from danger.

Which was silly. No one was in any danger. And Simon Wallin hardly needed her protection. Besides, she most certainly was not in love with him.

Yet she had to admit that standing in the circle of his arms felt rather nice.

“Why are you in trouble?” she asked him as he released her and started toward the house, leaving James to deal with the horses. “Are we late for dinner?”

“No,” Simon said, his jaw tight. “I have to explain things to my family.”

Very likely he did. They would not have been expecting Simon’s convenient wife to move out to Wallin Landing. She could only hope they were better at listening than Charles and Meredith had been.

He led her up the porch and through the door. She was met with the smell of something spicy, and she spotted stew bubbling in a large kettle on a clever step stove that backed up to a stone hearth. Simon’s sister, Beth, a young lady with sunny-blond hair, was taking down a jar of what looked like apple preserves from the wide shelves lining one wall. Nora could only admire the girl’s simple wool gown. The blue was a good color for her clear complexion, and the scalloped neckline was a concession to style over practicality.

Beth paused when she saw Nora, then her round face broke into a smile. “Oh, Simon, how nice of you to bring us company! Are you traveling through the area, miss? Going out to meet your family?”

Nora looked to Simon, who appeared to be scowling though she could not identify the reason. “This is Nora,” Simon said to his sister.

Beth bobbed a curtsy, her dark blue eyes clearly showing her curiosity. “Very pleased to meet you, Nora. I think I saw you talking to Simon at Maddie O’Rourke’s wedding. I hope you brought lots of news from town. Things get a little quiet out here at times.”

Unlike Simon’s sister, it seemed.

“Go on in,” Beth continued, reaching for Nora’s cloak, which she hung by the back door next to several other brown coats like Simon’s. “I’ll fetch another place setting. I can’t wait to become better acquainted.”

What a lovely way to be welcomed to the family. Nora was smiling as Simon doffed his coat and led her through an arch beside the stove. On the other side lay the cabin’s main room, a wide, warm space, with ladder-back chairs scattered here and there along the log walls and a bentwood rocker next to the rounded stone fireplace. Nora’s gaze immediately lit on the small quilts, most likely the work of Simon’s mother, draping the chairs.

But a noise to her left alerted her to the long table there, flanked by benches on either side. Those benches were crowded with people all gazing at her with looks ranging from eagerness to surprise.

“Simon.” His mother looked up from her seat at the foot of the table. “Have you brought us a guest?”

Even as his mother’s green eyes crinkled in welcome, Nora was struck by the lack of resemblance to Simon. Where he was lean, his features razor-edged, his mother was round and soft, her face more closely resembling her daughter’s. Her green wool gown was clean and well-tailored, for all it favored an earlier style.

“Not precisely a guest, Ma,” Simon answered, and Nora was surprised to hear his voice come out stiff.

John, who had just come in the front door, stopped at the sight of Nora and raised his head heavenward as if petitioning the Lord for help.

Simon took Nora’s hand in his, his grip sure, firm. “Allow me to introduce my wife, Nora.”

Nora smiled at them all. Only Levi and John smiled back. The rest of them looked to be in a state of shock if the paling skin and widening eyes were any indication.

“Wife?” his mother gasped out. “Oh, Simon, what have you done?”

* * *

Simon’s stomach knotted. Beside him, Nora’s whole body tightened. She glanced up at him, her eyes wide, no doubt realizing for the first time that he had never told them the truth. She didn’t deserve to hear their protests. He’d been the one who’d been unable to find a way to explain the situation.

Knowing he would have as difficult a time now, he slipped his arm about her shoulders and gave her a nod he hoped was encouraging, then turned to face his family.

“Nora and I introduced ourselves at Maddie O’Rourke’s wedding,” he said. “We discovered we share a similar philosophy.”

“Family,” John put in helpfully as he slipped into his seat at the table. “Sacrifice for those we love.”

Nora offered his brother a tremulous smile.

“You knew about this?” Ma demanded.

John visibly swallowed. “Levi and I stood as witnesses.”

Levi held up his hands as his mother’s glare pinned him. “Don’t look at me. It was Simon’s idea. And I say he made a good choice. She can fix a sailing ship.”

His mother frowned at that, but Drew rose from the head of the table. It was a point of pride that Simon was the only one who could look Drew in the eyes, for all his brother was more muscular.

“Forgive our manners, Nora,” Drew said in his deep voice. “We were just surprised by Simon’s news.” The look in his dark blue eyes told Simon his oldest brother was merely saving his questions for later, in private. “I’m Drew, and this is my wife, Catherine.”

Catherine rose as well. Dressed in a light blue wool gown, the pale-haired beauty rested a hand on her swelling middle and smiled. “Nora and I are acquainted from our time aboard the Continental. Welcome to the family, Nora.”

Simon could feel Nora’s body thawing a little.

James’s wife, Rina, nodded a greeting as well. Simon had never understood what the lovely schoolteacher had seen in his brother. Even now, her golden-brown hair was elegantly confined behind her head, and her purple wool dress might have graced royalty.

“I remember Nora from our journey, and her kindness since,” she said. “She is a good friend and a talented seamstress.”

“A seamstress!” Beth’s cry turned all gazes her way as she rushed in from the kitchen. Simon had seldom seen his sister so excited, and that was saying something, for Beth seemed to live in a giddy sense of delight.

“Oh, I knew I’d seen that dress before,” she said, turning her head to gaze with obvious rapture at the back of Nora’s skirts. Simon wasn’t sure what was so special about the gown. Of the dresses he’d seen on Nora, this was the most severe with its gray wool and black braid trim.

“It’s from the October Godey’s, isn’t it?” Beth demanded. “Only, you’ve changed the trim—braid instead of fringe. I thought the fringe was entirely too fussy. How would you keep it clean?”

“Beth.” Ma’s gentle admonition stopped her daughter in midgush. His mother stood and came to Simon’s and Nora’s sides.

“God blessed me with one daughter,” she said with a smile to Beth, who was turning pink. “And now He’s blessed me with more through my sons’ wives. Please know that you are welcome here, Nora.”

She opened her arms. Simon released his hold on Nora, and his mother hugged her close. Over Nora’s shoulder, however, Ma’s gaze was narrowed at him. If that was the worst he had to deal with, he would survive. His family had certainly had more reasons to complain about him in the past.

Beth set a place for Nora, and everyone shifted around so Nora could sit next to Simon at his customary place on the bench facing the window. She was smiling again, her cheeks rosy with pleasure at their attentions. Whatever trouble he’d had with his family over the years, he knew they would be kinder to Nora than her brother and sister-in-law had been.

It was him they had the most trouble with.

Everyone had just settled down, with Beth and their mother bringing in the food from the kitchen, when James returned from the barn.

“What did I miss?” he asked, taking a seat beside Rina.

“Simon and Nora are married,” his wife told him.

James tilted his head to one side as if shaking something out of his ear. “I must have spent too much time logging today. The crack of the ax has addled my hearing. I thought you said Simon got married.”

“I did,” Simon gritted out, readying himself for an endless barrage of his brother’s teases. “Nora is my wife.”

James rose and extended his hand across the table to her. “Welcome to the family, Nora. It’s refreshing to find one of us who knows his mind when it comes to brides.”

“Yes,” Catherine said with a look around him to Rina. “We did have to do a bit of convincing to help you see the value of marriage.”

James sat back down. “At least Levi didn’t have to kidnap me a bride.”

Drew flushed.

James leaned back. “Indeed, Simon always knows what he’s doing. You must be someone special, Nora, for him to ask you to marry him.”

“Actually,” Nora said, “I asked him.”

James blinked.

“Simon,” Drew put in, his voice catching on a laugh, “say the blessing so we can eat.”

Normally, his brother’s habit of ordering them around grated on Simon’s nerves. But the honor of saying grace usually fell to Ma or Drew. That his brother had given it to him meant something.

He just wasn’t sure what.

Everyone around the table bowed their heads and clasped their hands before them expectantly. He’d heard ministers recite a common prayer before a meal, but his family generally simply prayed about whatever was on their minds. They most likely wouldn’t want to hear what was on his mind at that moment—relief that his confession was over, concern for the future—and he wasn’t so sure his thoughts were fit for the Almighty’s ears either. Then again, it wasn’t as if He listened overmuch to Simon’s petitions. Still, he bowed his head.

“Thank You for this food, Lord, for the seed it grew from and the land that nurtured it. Thank You for the strength to harvest it and cook it. May it be a blessing to our bodies. Amen.”

Amens echoed around the table, and his family began passing the porcelain tureen of venison stew, the platter of biscuits, the pat of butter and jar of apple preserves. He could feel Nora relaxing beside him, her shoulders coming down, her head easing up.

“So,” James said, digging his fork into the stew, “you asked Simon to marry you. I like a woman with gumption.”

Rina smiled as she cut a piece of venison in two, knife and fork held properly.

Nora wrinkled her nose. “I don’t have a lot of gumption, I fear. I’m just glad he agreed.” She favored Simon with a smile that made everything taste better.

“You came with the Mercer Expedition,” Drew put in. “What made you join the ladies in venturing West?”

“I wanted to live my own life,” Nora replied. “Perhaps find a little adventure.”

“And so you married Simon,” James said triumphantly. “Excellent choice. Always the adventurer, that’s our Simon.”

Simon glared at him. “I’ll leave the adventure to those who act first and regret it later.”

Catherine passed Nora the platter. “More biscuits, Nora? You’ll find that Levi has the lightest hand.”

Down the table, Levi cocked a smile. “Ma taught me well.”

Ma smiled too. “I taught all my children to cook.” She nodded to Nora. “But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t welcome new recipes or another hand in the kitchen.”

“I’d be happy to help,” Nora said.

Given what she’d faced with her brother, Simon wasn’t about to see her forced into labor again. Not that his family was demanding in that way. They all shared the chores, and help was received gladly. But Nora found it hard to say no, and he feared she’d soon find herself overwhelmed with their requests.

“Nora plans to continue working,” Simon advised them all. “She has commissions she must meet.”

“Like my new waistcoat,” James agreed, reaching for another biscuit.

“I’m sure I’ll have time for other things,” Nora said with a look to Simon.

He’d have to advise her about his family later. For now, he let the conversation veer off to other things and finished eating.

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