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Awkward Marriage 23
When they got off the horse, she said, “You handle yourself better on a horse than you let on. If you keep it up, you could master riding her.” Jeremiah burst out laughing. She peered around the horse’s nose. “I didn’t see you there.” “Apparently not.” He walked over to them. “So, city boy, you got the caviar?” “I sure do.” Jake widely smiled. “Do you think you’re brave enough to eat some?” “If you can eat Rocky Mountain oysters, I can eat your fancy food.” “We’ll see about that.” “That sounds like a challenge.” “It is. Are you up to it?” He scoffed. “I’m always up for a good challenge.” “Then let’s go.” As soon as Jake got Jeremiah, Trevor and Luke at the dinner table, he handed them the crackers and took out the caviar. “You smear it on the cracker with a spoon or knife. Then you eat it.” He ate his and looked at them. “Now, it’s your turn.” Sue and Gloria sat at the table, interested to see
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He set up several chairs. “Now pretend this is a train.” Jake chuckled at his enthusiasm. Trevor really got into his work. “They like to do this a couple times a year,” Sue’s father said. “They get better each time they do it.” Trevor went back to the kitchen to get ready for his part. Larry shoved Jeremy onto the train. He pointed a fake gun at Jeremy. “Don’t do anything to arouse suspicion.” Jeremy nodded his consent and sat down. Larry sat next to him. “This is real simple. As long as you do what you’re told, I’ll let you live. Your father will be worried about you by now. Surely, he’ll bring the ransom money to the designated spot.” Jeremy sat quietly and stared out the window. Jake tried to hide his shock as Sue appeared. They did a good job of disguising her as a middle-aged fat man with graying hair and thick mustache who wore tattered old green and black clothes and a faded black hat. He hardly recognized her. How can a woman look so beautif
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Sue had never been so humiliated in her entire life. It was one thing for Jeremiah to make all those subtle jokes while she and Jake were on the horse but it was another thing for him to keep making her feel like she wasn’t attractive as a woman. She was glad when he couldn’t eat the caviar. She enjoyed watching him squirm under Jake’s intense stare. Jake had a perfect poker face. No one could tell for sure what he was thinking if he didn’t want them to. It probably helped him succeed in business since he had to deal with some crummy people. She sighed as she got out of her costume for the play that Trevor wrote. She was glad to be out of those clothes. She bit her lower lip as she looked at the clothes she had packed. She brought a couple of dresses but had been so busy riding horses and helping with fixing parts of the barn her family hadn’t had time to get to yet, that she hadn’t bothered to wear a dress. Dresses weren’t practical on the farm, though Gloria managed to wear them. Glo
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After the three men took baths, they joined everyone else for dinner. “I heard you taught your brothers a lesson in the pig pen today,” her father chuckled. “You were always good on a horse, whether riding one with a saddle or not.” “They had it coming,” she said. “I couldn’t let them get by with naming a pig after me.” That wasn’t why she really did it, but she didn’t want to embarrass Jake by reminding him of his earlier dirty condition. He had looked mortified to be covered in filth. “I don’t know,” Jeremiah said. “You and that pig are a lot alike. You like to run poor unsuspecting people over.” “That’s true. I’ll give you that. We don’t tolerate anyone misbehaving.” “We hope you can keep her in check, Jake.” Trevor grinned. “You’re our last hope.” “I kind of like her the way she is,” Jake began as he smiled at her, “full of passion and intensity.” She felt her cheeks go red. Jeremiah gave her a knowing look. She glared at him. Stop it! How long we
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The next morning, she woke up and saw that Jake had put his blankets on her. She rolled her eyes. She was covered under a mountain of blankets. She shook her head and closed the window and placed some of the blankets on him. How could he sleep when he was so cold? Is he really having that hard of a time keeping his hands off of me? The thought pleased her. She never thought she could be appealing to a man before. Sighing, she collected her clothes for the day and went to the bathroom to change. As soon as she came out of the bathroom, her brothers stood around her. She rolled her eyes. “No.” They grumbled. “When are you going to stop this nonsense?” she asked. “Poor Jake spent the night freezing because he had to give me all the blankets, and I got hot so I had to open the window.” “Oh, really?” Jeremiah grinned. “So it’s working.” She realized her mistake. “He knows what you’re doing, so you might as well quit while you’re ahead.” “Quit? What we’re
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ake was relieved to be back home after spending a week at Sue’s family’s farm. Though he enjoyed most of it, he felt incredibly filthy after riding the horse, being in the pig pen, and falling in the mud. He took two baths when he got home but he still felt disgusting. He was glad he wore Jeremiah’s clothes instead of his own because if it had been his clothes, he would have burned them afterwards. After he bathed, he went to bed, exhausted. If he had to spend another night in the same room with Sue, he would go insane. She was too appealing. He didn’t sleep at all, especially after seeing her reach for milk and holding her in the kitchen. He was happy to be in his own bed. After he got a good night’s sleep, he was ready to go to work and hand in his resignation letter to Conrad. On his way out the door to meet Henry at the buggy, he saw Mr. Blacksmith walking up the steps to his house. He frowned. One good thing about being at the farm was that he didn’t have to worry a
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By the time Wednesday evening arrived, he knew he would have to tell Sue about his invitation to Tim Blacksmith for dinner the next evening. Sue was reading another book in the chair by the fireplace. Fortunately, she didn’t notice the way the bachelors looked at her. She spent so much time as a spinster that it was as if she forgot she was a woman. He had to admit that the house seemed less empty with her in it. He put aside his remaining paperwork for the new bank on his desk and turned his attention to Tim Blacksmith. Now how was he going to talk her into making dinner? He stood up and walked over to the other chair in front of the fireplace and sat down. Startled, she looked up. He hadn’t joined her before. “What are you reading tonight?” he asked. “The Scarlet Letter. I couldn’t put it out of my mind after the comment I made to Miss Gordon at the wedding reception.” “Did she really think it was a stationary shop?” “Yes. Mrs. Walker and I
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Jake hid his laughter as Tim blanched. “So, what are your intentions with Sue?” He took another bite and waited for Tim to answer. Tim still hadn’t swallowed the food. He picked up the cup of hot chocolate to wash down the food in his mouth but couldn’t seem to swallow that either. “Don’t you like it? If you marry her, you’ll have to eat this stuff all the time. She prides herself on her ability to cook a good meal.” He finally swallowed it, his eyes tearing up in the process. He took a deep breath and pushed the plate away. “I must be frank with you. This would condemn a restaurant.” Jake pretended to look offended. “She put a lot of hard work into this.” Sadly, that was probably true. She tried to make a tasty meal but couldn’t seem to pull it off. “I do have a personal chef, and my job involves a lot of eating out. I suppose one flaw in a woman is manageable.” “Oh, she insists on cooking all the time. She prides herself on her work.” “Certainly, s
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