Rugged and Relentless (42 page)

“Don’t you dare let any one of those men step foot in here, Lacey.” Evie craned her neck around another pile. “Then we won’t be rid of them until the sky clears. You may bemoan all the goods loaded into this mercantile, but I celebrate each and every reason for the four of us to enjoy some peace and quiet!”

“It’s true. I don’t care how many hog pens, chicken coops, and cribbage boards we have to set those men to making. An afternoon in their company is more than enough. The morning belongs to us!” Naomi sat back with an exhausted sigh.

“I never thought to see such a thing as arm wrestling.” Cora shook her head. “Much less imagine they thought we’d find it impressive or appealing to see them twist and crush each other’s hands to slam their opponents’ arms atop Evie’s tables.”

“They do all have such lovely strong muscles.” Lacey couldn’t
help but notice. “Strange the way I never noticed how the men in Charleston seem so … Well, scrawny sounds unkind.”

“Big arms, big appetites, big, stinking cigars.” Evie wrinkled her nose. “I can’t believe they dared try to smoke those inside my diner. Did you ever consider whether you’d marry a man who smoked cigars or chewed tobacco? I doubt I could.”

“So long as he limits it to his study or outdoors, it wouldn’t matter to me.” Naomi shrugged. “Not regularly, of course. Habitual smoking leaves an odor and stains clothes.”

“And I’d imagine it makes a man less pleasant to kiss.” Lacey sidled through a narrow space toward a long case lining the back wall. Shocked gasps followed her progress, making her stop and turn around. Well, try to turn around, give up, and back her way through to eye her disbelieving friends once more.

“Oh, do stop gaping at me! I know it’s not precisely proper to think of such things, but we’re not conventional anymore. Let’s not pretend otherwise.” She gave a righteous sniff … and promptly sneezed. When she recovered, the other three wore small smiles. “Now admit it. Whether or not you can stomach the thought of kissing a man should be an indicator of whether or not you might be willing to marry him. Don’t you agree?”

“I agree.” Evie and Cora eyed each other as though unsure how to handle their own accord. Both blushed the same shade.

“What do you mean, you agree?” Evie planted her hands on her hips. “We’ve never discussed any such thing, young lady.”

“Oh, stop looking so appalled.” Cora rolled her eyes. “I’m engaged and have been for quite a while. Did you never think—”

“Ugh!” Lacey broke in. “Of course we didn’t think about that. Braden’s my brother; you’re Evie’s sister.”

“I thought about it.” Naomi’s quiet declaration took them all by surprise. “You may not have given it much thought, but I endeavored never to leave the two of you alone behind closed doors for more than five minutes, Cora. Not because I doubted either of you, but for the sake of your reputation. A woman can
never be too careful. And now, more than ever, I’m glad I did.”

“Oh.” Cora’s blush returned, deeper than before. “Now that you mention it, I do recall Braden being rather short with you in the month or so before he left Charleston for Hope Falls.”

“He didn’t appreciate my efforts.” Satisfaction laced Naomi’s tone. “Kept insisting I was a companion, not chaperone.”

“We’re all each other’s chaperones now.” Lacey gave her cousin a hug. “But putting that aside for just a moment …” She fixed a smile on Naomi, then Evie, before asking what she’d been dying to know for days. “Now that we’re discussing the men, which amongst our contenders do each of you find acceptable?”

“For marriage or kissing?” Cora’s teasing widened Lacey’s smile. If her friend could joke, Braden hadn’t crushed her.

Which means my brother might survive the coming weeks
. “Both!” Lacey thought a moment. “Though if you’re only willing to admit to a kissing curiosity, so to speak, rather than proclaim men marriage material, that is your prerogative.”

“Kissing curiosity?” Evie’s squeak sounded less like outrage and more like guilt. “Are you trying to say we’re supposed to evaluate whether or not we’d like to kiss each man and then discard him as a potential husband accordingly?”

“Not at all.” Lacey frowned. “Hopefully you won’t be discarding every man, or even the majority, based on that.”

“I take it to mean you haven’t excluded them all.” Evie’s eyes sparkled. “And since you’ve given this the most thought, you should go first!”

Kissing was the last thing on Evie Thompson’s mind. Until Lacey brought it up. Then the conversation pulled her thoughts into previously untraveled territory. The sort of thinking that got a woman in trouble, when the first man who sprang to mind needed clouting—not kissing.
When did I take such a violent turn?

Now that question had an easy answer. Evie could trace her
dismaying urges to raise her voice to unladylike levels and shake sense into dense skulls back to her arrival in town.
No. That’s not true. It’s not fair to blame an entire town for my sudden surge of temper. Hope Falls isn’t at fault
. Evie’s eyes narrowed as she mentally caught the culprit.
It’s the men!

Oddly enough, she found the explanation soothing. What woman wouldn’t be driven to the brink of brandishing cast-iron cookware after an arduous journey rewarded with nothing but oblivious, ogling, or—even worse—order-spewing men just like—

“Mr. Creed?” Lacey’s sly inquiry, or the very end of it, dovetailed with Evie’s ruminations. Except Lacey was supposed to be listing the men Lacey wouldn’t mind kissing. Could it be that her friend developed a tendre for the man who increasingly preoccupied Evie’s own thoughts? And why wouldn’t Lacey notice Creed, whose innate authority and commanding presence kept even the most unruly loggers in line … or walloped them into submission on the one night four of them tried to cross over that line.

“What?” Evie tried to dislodge the lump blocking her throat at the idea of Creed and Lacey.
It shouldn’t bother me. In fact, it’s almost laughable I didn’t see it before. He always sits beside her, and Lacey would have the good sense to notice him before any of the other men around here
. But she hoped for another reason why Lacey mentioned his name in conjunction with kissing, all the same. If only because … Well, she didn’t have any good reason at the moment, but it didn’t feel right.

“I said that none of us could fail to notice the four men who stepped forward that first night.” Mischief sparkled in Lacey’s eyes. “Gent, Mr. Riordan, Mr. Klumpf, and Mr. Creed.”

A bizarre wave of relief washed over Evie at the explanation, receding slightly at the implication these men had won her friends’ favor. “So you’re saying you’ve considered kissing all four of them and remained there?”

“No. Gent’s age makes him a poor match for me.” At eighteen, Lacey’s decision made good sense. “And Mr. Klumpf doesn’t seem
a good match for my interests, though I think he’s very good-hearted and fulfills all the requests on our list.”

“I agree, although Gent’s age doesn’t bother me.” Naomi seemed hesitant to add her opinion. “I would preclude Mr. Creed as overly forceful for my tastes. And I wouldn’t take Mr. Riordan for myself. I find his strength somewhat intimidating.”

“Truly?” Evie blinked in astonishment. “He’s a sort of gentle giant, Naomi. The only time I’ve seen him utilize any of that force was when he came to Creed’s assistance that night.”

“You’ll each find different traits appealing,” Cora pointed out. “It’s a good thing you won’t have all the same men on each of your lists, though I expect some crossover, of course.”

“Do any others catch your eye, offhand?” Evie wondered.

“I’ll admit that Mr. Fillmore’s answer pleased me best.” Naomi blushed. “Though his taste in friends, considering Mr. Kane led that troupe of men determined to accost us, gives me pause as to his ability to read character. So I don’t know.”

“Consider him with caution, Naomi,” Evie urged, recalling the man who’d withdrawn even more since Kane’s departure. “Does another man stand out, Lacey, or merely Riordan and Creed?”
Please let there be another, or I’ll be left with only the kindhearted but somewhat overeager Mr. Klumpf
.

“Not one of our suitors, so that’s all,” Lacey hedged.

“Lawson!” Cora crowed. “Oh, I thought so. He’s smart and mannered and keeps to himself enough to make Lacey curious. Besides, he’s the best dressed out of every man in town.”

“Stop teasing. What I want to know is why have both Lacey and I revealed the names of three men while Evie’s managed not to say anything beyond a defense of Mr. Riordan? Which is not the same as choosing him.” Naomi turned the conversation around.

“Snickelfritz, Naomi!” Evie leveled a scowl at her friend. “You weren’t supposed to notice, much less draw attention to that. But since you have, I’ll say I think Riordan one of the finest of the lot,
and Mr. Klumpf would make a very good husband.”
For someone else
. She didn’t speak the last part aloud, but that didn’t change the truth of her statement.

“Oh no, Evie Thompson. We each named three men. Pick your third.” Lacey wouldn’t let her squirm away. “So long as it isn’t that awful, brazen Mr. Williams, we won’t mock your choice.”

“There’s something to be said for a man who truly wants you and is willing to proclaim it to anyone within hearing.” Evie pretended to consider the notion. “Flattering, you could say. He also fulfills the requirements on the list, so …”

“Stop joking, sis.” Cora shuddered. “It’s not amusing.”

“She doesn’t need to name her third, in any case. We all know it without Evie bothering to admit it.” Naomi laughed. “Mr. Creed caught her attention that first night and never lost it.”

“If something catches on fire in the kitchen, it takes my concentration, too. Creed’s much the same way—untended, he can wreak havoc.” Evie shifted uneasily, realized she was shifting, realized her friends noticed her shifting, and wondered why this entire topic made her so uncomfortable in the first place.

Creed. He walked in, took on the role of our protector, and set about exasperating me so thoroughly I stopped thinking of him as one of the others
. The thought of marrying him made her uneasy. This sudden curiosity about kissing made her neck and arms feel prickly.
Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

“Fire fascinates, warms, provides a means for you to do what you love, Evie.” Cora tilted her head to the side. “Any man you marry should be able to do the same, and you can’t deny Creed manages to strike sparks with you. I like him, sis.”

“We strike sparks because we argue. He’s constantly telling me what to do or what poor decisions I make. The only thing he likes about me is my cooking.” A dull ache settled in Evie’s chest.
Just like most of the men
. “Creed won’t choose me.”

“What?” Lacey shook with laughter. “Did you never wonder why we asked every man but Creed which two women he’d be
most interested in, Evie?” She gulped in air as though to speak more.

“To be honest, I stopped thinking of him as a suitor and more as a partner in the mill.” Evie shrugged. “But I’d assume if, after all he’s done to earn a stake, he still wants to marry one of us, he’d choose you, Lacey. Why else didn’t you ask?” The ache grew into a throbbing pain, sliding down to tumble in her stomach as she spoke the words aloud.
Creed would choose Lacey
. It was worse than riding the train days on end.

“Because he already chose you, Evie.” Cora tossed a bundle of material at her head. “Don’t pretend you’re a half-wit. Our family intellect runs far too strong for you to insult it.”

“All of us noticed it, Evie.” Naomi peered at her. “We took it for granted you did the same. The only reason I’ve held Lacey back from interrogating you about whether or not you returned Creed’s interest was I thought you hadn’t decided.”

“What interest?” It took an effort to keep from shrieking the words. “Mr. Klumpf follows me about. Mr. Williams all but tried to stake his claim.
They
have shown interest—not Creed.”
I would far rather it be Creed than Williams, for one thing
.

“He always sits beside or across from you, Evie.” Cora made the first point. “But even before that, he swept his hat from his head and pointed to your sign the moment he walked into the diner and recognized you. Mr. Creed remembered and paid you a compliment before he spoke a single word to anyone in town.”

“He complimented the cooking,” Evie muttered. “That’s all.”

“Did you see the look on his face when Mr. Klumpf tried to call dibs on you?” Lacey giggled. “Pure outrage. He disallowed that in an awful hurry, Evie. Then he chose to talk with you about making decisions, so you’d be protected. Not any of us.”

“But all of that pales in comparison to the moment when all three of us knew Mr. Creed watched you more closely than the rest.” Naomi’s smile grew wide as though savoring it before uttering the single, unforgivable word: “Gingersnaps.”

“When he mentioned my
heft?”
Evie could be forgiven for one tiny, disbelieving shriek. Or even a not-so-tiny one.

“When he said you were
losing
your heft,” Cora corrected. “And he didn’t like it! So he wanted you to eat more. The man did everything but force-feed you those gingersnaps to stop you from losing more weight, because he
didn’t want you to change
.”