An Inconvenient Match

Oscar held aloft a box she recognized as hers by the blue-and-white checked cloth and red bow. She’d packed a hearty lunch for two of crispy fried chicken, golden biscuits, bread-and-butter pickles, potato salad, deviled eggs and slabs of blackberry cobbler, all Leon’s favorites.

And not a single bite of strawberry pie.

Oscar inhaled. “Just take a whiff of this, gents. I’d say whoever wins the bid is in for a feast of fried chicken. Who’ll give me five?”

“Is that yours?” Leon whispered. “It’s red, white and blue like you said.”

At her nod, Leon raised his hand, fingers spread wide.

Oscar pointed at Leon, taking his bid.

Abigail shot him a smile. Not the highest bid today but generous. Especially for a man who kept a firm grip on every dollar.

A smug expression on his face, Leon leaned back on his heels. “I know the contents will be worth the cost.”

“It’s for a good cause.”

With a grin, he patted his flat abdomen. “That too, but at the moment, my stomach wins hands down.”

“Who’ll give six?” Oscar called.

“Ten dollars!”

Abigail spun to the speaker, her heart slamming into her throat then plunging to the pit of her stomach with the weight of a boulder.

Wade leaned against a gaslight lamppost, loose limbed, his expression unreadable on his Stetson-shadowed face.

A face she’d like to slap.

How dare he ridicule her in front of the entire town? Why did he bid? What did he want?

Oscar whirled to Leon, seeking a raise in the bid.

Beside her, Leon huffed. “Eleven dollars,” he said in a voice that croaked, as if he might do the same.

Wade straightened, his gaze pinning Leon as if he were a frog in a science experiment. “Twenty-five.”

“Well, praise be!” Oscar hooted. “If that ain’t a bid that’d curl a pig’s tail.”

Around her folks murmured, a few chuckled nervously, aware no Cummings and Wilson shared a conversation, much less a meal.

Ever. Well, almost ever.

Abigail folded her arms across her torso and glared at Wade. Surely he had no intention of actually eating the food she’d prepared.

With her.

Not when their families had been at loggerheads for eons. Not when they’d never communicated more than a look in years. Until today.

“Leon, this here’s your chance to be one of them knights in shining armor. Are you going to twenty-six?”

Abigail met Leon’s baffled gaze. Why didn’t he raise the bid? Surely he could see the entreaty in her eyes. Would he turn her over to Wade?

Leon shoved his hat down and kept his mouth nailed shut. Obviously she wasn’t worth such an exorbitant sum. Her heart skipped a beat. Not to him.

Or perhaps Leon feared losing his job. The Cummingses owned much of the town, including the bank where Leon worked. Heat filled her veins. She wouldn’t put such malice past a Cummings.

“I’ve got twenty-five. Do I hear twenty-six? Twenty-six?” Oscar chanted, scanning the throng. As if anyone else in town had the wherewithal to match the bid. “Going, going, gone. Sold!” Oscar beamed. “Wade Cummings paid twenty-five dollars for the privilege of sharing lunch with the young lady who prepared it. Reckon with Leon bidding we all know that’s Abigail Wilson.”

Around her a few people clapped but far more spoke behind their hands. Everyone was aware of the feud and did what they could to keep the Wilsons and Cummingses apart. Agnes sat them in opposite corners of her café like prize fighters in a ring. Tellers at the bank opened a new window rather than let Wade and Abigail wait in the same line. At church the families occupied pews on far sides of the sanctuary.

Before Abigail had left the one-room schoolhouse for a position in the high school and Wade’s sister Regina and her husband had moved away, rumor had it George Cummings would refuse to let his future grandchildren sit in Abigail’s class.

As if she’d take out the bad blood between their families on innocent children, real or imaginary.

She gulped. Wade was no child, far from innocent and nowhere close to imaginary.

He took out his billfold and handed the money over to Elizabeth Logan, the pastor’s wife and president of New Harmony’s Ladies’ Club, the woman responsible for organizing the fundraiser and pretty much everything else in town. Whatever Elizabeth got involved in flourished. The feisty blonde had made a huge difference since she’d arrived at the depot two years ago to marry Ted Logan, a total stranger.

Abigail admired Elizabeth and wanted to help her sister’s family and the others who’d lost everything in the fire. But nothing could make her eat one bite of food with that man.

With long strides Wade sauntered to the gazebo, took the box Oscar handed down, his bicep bulging beneath the white shirt he wore, then strode toward her, his eyes locking with hers. Her insides quaked like the leaves on an aspen tree, but she lifted her chin, refusing to look away.

Leon slinked off, leaving her to fend for herself. Not that she needed him—or anyone—to fight her battles.

But as Wade moved closer, she recalled from history that retreat was sometimes the best strategy in battle.

Determined to escape, she held up her skirts and dashed toward the park’s entrance. The sound of footsteps propelled her on, raising the hair on her neck and drawing laughter from the onlookers.

She’d never outrun him.

Chapter Two

One glance over Abigail’s shoulder confirmed Wade’s long legs had swallowed the distance between them. Apparently this skirmish required hand-to-hand combat. She whipped around and faced him.

Wade swept the Stetson off his head, his brown sun-streaked hair gleaming. “I paid a princely sum for the privilege of sharing your lunch. Surely you don’t mean to refuse my bid.”

Her hands knotted at her sides. The urge to throw a punch slid through her. Gracious, she was conducting herself like Seth and Paul. Lord, help me hold the reins on my temper.

Composed, she met Wade’s gaze, a gaze sparkling with humor. She shot up her chin. If he found this standoff amusing, she’d use the tone reserved for disorderly students. That is, if she consented to speak at all.

“A sum that will benefit your family, I might add.” His indigo eyes issued a challenge. “Mrs. Logan won’t take kindly to reneging on your word.”

“Elizabeth will understand I couldn’t possibly share my lunch with a Cummings.”

“Is the prospect of joining me for one meal in the comfort of a shade tree that terrible? When your sister’s family and five others in town will benefit?”

Her gaze darted to the six empty lots. Wade knew exactly how to manipulate her, had from the beginning, roping her in with his phony interest then discarding her with the malice of a cold-blooded rattler.

Cecil Moore, his knobby hands looped around his red suspenders, edged between them. “You ain’t looking none too happy about these here proceedings, Miss Abigail. Reckon you know putting your box up for auction is same as promising to eat with the highest bidder.” He jerked a thumb, strap and all, toward her nemesis. “That means Wade here. Don’t you worry none. I’ll keep an eye peeled. See he treats you proper.”

Abigail sighed. What choice did she have? Cecil was right. Hadn’t she said much the same to Seth and Paul? That the highest bidder deserved to share Betty Jo’s lunch. She’d go through the motions, but wouldn’t surrender, wouldn’t eat a bite with the enemy.

She thanked Cecil, assuring him she didn’t need his protection. Then cheeks burning, she marched past smiling onlookers toward a cluster of trees, Wade bringing up the rear.

Once she reached a shady spot, she removed her hat and gloves, an attempt to cool herself and her temper. While he tossed his hat aside and sat leaning against the tree, one booted foot stretching within inches of her skirts. She un-wrapped the lunch, laying out the contents on the checkered cloth, ignoring, or trying to, his long-legged presence. With trembling fingers she loaded his plate then shoved it into his hand.

“Thanks. Looks delicious.” He had the audacity to pat the spot beside him. “Join me.” He scooted over, as if she’d consent.

“You’ll enjoy your own company far better than mine.”

“You underestimate yourself.” He laid his plate aside, rose and filled the other, then handed it to her. “I insist.” That stubborn look in his eye said he wouldn’t tolerate refusal.

Glaring at him, she accepted the food and then sat on the far side of the checkered cloth, as if that scrap of material could provide a barrier between them.

“I hope you get indigestion,” she said, ramming a fork into the mound of potato salad on her plate.

He chuckled. “You’ve changed.”

The accusation scorched her cheeks. If she had changed, the fault could be laid at Cummings’s feet. “Why would you bid on my lunch when half a dozen young ladies would’ve swooned over the privilege of dining with New Harmony’s most eligible bachelor?” She’d laced her tone with sarcasm though her meaning probably had bounced off his inflated ego.

The corners of his mouth slanted up. “Maybe I wanted to save you from that timid beau of yours.”

“Leon is not my beau.” She shot him a blistering look, surely hot enough to ignite green, water-soaked timber. He didn’t flinch.

“I see him squiring you around town. What do you call him then?”

Why did timid ring true?

“It’s none of your business.”

He munched on the chicken leg then licked his fingers like a mannerless child. Yet the sheer power of those broad shoulders, the length of his legs, the sinewy forearms made it abundantly clear, Wade was no child.

“Delicious,” he said then cocked his head, studying her. “I suspect I’m lucky you didn’t know you were cooking for me, instead of Mr. Timid.”

“You know perfectly well that his name is Leon Fitch. He works for the Cummings State Bank.” She arched a brow. “But you’re right about one thing. If I had known you would share my lunch, I’d have been tempted to season the food with a laxative.”

Eyes alight with amusement, even approval, he chuckled. The absurdity of her claim even had her giggling. “That spunky attitude of yours is exactly why I want to talk to you,” he said.

Abigail had no idea what he meant, but whatever Wade Cummings wanted she was having no part of it.

The chuckle died in Wade’s throat. Too much hinged on Abby’s answer. The resentment he read in her eyes and knew he’d caused socked him in the gut. “To answer your question—I had to bid on your lunch to get you to talk to me.”

As he watched, the truth of his words flitted across her face, a most attractive face even dappled with patterns of sunlight and shade. His fingers itched to free her hair, to see her fair tresses cascade over those slender shoulders as they had the day of the school picnic.

Expression wary, she fiddled with a delicate chain she wore. “What on earth would you want to talk to me about?”

This feminine female possessed a forceful attitude—exactly why he required her assistance. “I’m in a bind.”

She gave a snort. A flush climbed her neck, no doubt reacting to what she’d see as unladylike behavior. “As if a Cummings doesn’t have everything he could possibly desire.”

Her erroneous claim gnawed at him. Wade could think of many things in his life he’d like to change, but he merely shrugged. “I’m not the only one in a predicament. To be blunt, your family’s mired in trouble.”

“Yes, along with five other families. The reason for this fundraiser.”

“The fire isn’t your only problem. Everyone in town knows Joe’s up to his neck in gambling debts.”

The sudden flash in her eyes promised she’d support her brother-in-law with her last breath.

“Joe found the Lord and turned his life around. I couldn’t be prouder of anyone.”

Family loyalty, they were both drowning in it.

“So I heard. But his faith in God hasn’t solved his financial mess, has it?”

Her gaze dropped to her hands. “If he had an education, Joe could pay off his debts faster, but all he knows is farming.”

“Joe’s a hard worker. If he were able-bodied, he’d climb out from under that mountain of debt eventually. But he’s banged up and unable to work for what…weeks, maybe months? Add the loss of everything in the fire and money’s got to be a problem.”

Eyes sparking with fresh indignation, she scrambled to her feet. “Do you get some perverse pleasure out of enumerating my family’s troubles?”

In an attempt to point out the gravity of her situation, he’d gone too far and ruffled her feathers. Not an approach that would gain her cooperation. “I couldn’t be happier that Joe’s turned his life around.” He laid his plate aside, his appetite gone. “I’m not the villain you make me out to be.”

Those crystal-blue eyes hardened until they glittered like multifaceted diamonds. “You and your family have—”

“Does everything have to come back to that?”

Her hands fisted on her hips as she bent toward him. “Pretend you’re faultless if you want. Pretend nothing stands between us if you want. Pretend the feud between our families is juvenile if you want. But that doesn’t change the truth.” She took a deep breath. “I don’t care about our relationship. But I do care what your father’s done to my family. Thanks to George Cummings calling our loan we lost our farm, land that had been in my mother’s family for two generations.” Her voice broke. “Losing the farm destroyed my father.”

Abby’s allegations gnawed at Wade. His father maintained he’d done nothing illegal, nothing any good banker wouldn’t have done. Wade had been at the bank long enough to believe his father spoke the truth, but Abigail saw smart business decisions as treachery. To make things worse, she hadn’t forgiven him for breaking off their brief courtship years before.

Whether Abby realized it or not, he’d done her a favor. Not that he could ever explain.

“I’m sorry you lost your farm,” he said, “but I can’t undo the past. None of us can.” Wade plowed a hand through his hair, seeking some way to get past the feud. “Will you sit down and hear me out? Please?”

Her mouth narrowed into an uncompromising line, but then she gave an almost imperceptible nod.

Once she’d plopped down as far from him as she could get, he said, “The night of the fire my father entered a burning house trying to save someone trapped inside.”

By the startled look on Abby’s face, she was as surprised as he’d been that George Cummings would risk his life trying to save another’s. How well did he know his father?

“I assumed he’d been injured fighting the fire.”

“Turned out he was mistaken. The house was empty. But during the search, he burned his hands and inhaled smoke that damaged his lungs. He’s getting his strength back and dealing with the pain. But he can’t feed himself, can’t hold a book, can’t do anything but stare out the window. The lack of activity is driving him crazy.” He let out a sigh. “Along with what little staff we had. Our housekeeper comes once a week but refuses to enter his sickroom. Cora got so upset with his behavior that she left and won’t return.”

Everyone in town loved the Cummingses’ cook, Cora. If she couldn’t abide the man after years in his employ, who could?

“So hire a nurse.”

“We did. She quit.”

“Take care of him yourself.”

“I’m overseeing operations at the bank and other holdings in town. He needs more attention than I can give.”

“If he wasn’t such a—” She sighed. “I’m sorry. The fire and Joe’s injuries have me as jittery as a new teacher on the first day of school. What your father did was heroic.” She worried her lower lip with her teeth. “Why not ask the Moore brothers? They’re footloose.”

“My father would prefer a beating over their homilies.”

“Pastor Ted might know someone.”

“Actually, I have someone in mind.”

“Who?”

In her eyes he saw no sign of awareness. She had no idea, even yet, what he wanted.

“I’m looking at her.”

Abigail’s jaw dropped. Wade wanted her to nurse the man who’d destroyed her father? “That’s ridiculous.”

“Think about it. School’s out until September. You need money to help your sister’s family. I’ve got money to pay you.” He leaned toward her. “What do you have to lose?”

Everything. Her family’s approval, her sense of loyalty to those she loved, her certainty that working for the Cummings would fuel town gossip—

Shouldn’t Wade share the same concern? Why did he want her of all people? She couldn’t stomach the idea of being in George Cummings’s presence and knew he’d feel the same. “I’m the last person your father would want in his sickroom.”

“Perhaps, but I know you can handle him. I saw you walk between those hotheads about to throw a fist. From what I’ve heard, you managed the one-room schoolhouse with students of every age and temperament and tolerated no sass. And you’re equally proficient in your classroom at the high school.”

Apparently Wade had kept tabs on her. Why not be honest, her ears perked up whenever his name was mentioned. Not that she cared. He wasn’t a man she could trust.

“That makes you the perfect companion for my father.”

At the prospect of overseeing George Cummings’s needs, she gave a derisive laugh. “You can’t be serious.”

Frustration rode his face. Closing his eyes, he battled for control until his features softened, as if he’d corralled them to do his bidding. Had he counted to ten or higher, as she’d trained herself to do in the classroom?

He met her gaze. “This isn’t a joking matter.”

Abigail couldn’t agree more. Perhaps George Cummings had another side if he’d risked his life looking for a victim of the fire, but he hadn’t shown mercy in his business dealings with her father. Losing the farm had destroyed Frank Wilson and impacted all their lives. A day didn’t go by without thinking about the penalty the Wilsons paid for George Cummings’s greed. Nothing could make her spend time with that heartless man. “I wouldn’t look after your father,” she said, forcing the words between clenched teeth, “if it was the last job on earth.”

Unable to abide Wade’s presence a moment longer, she struggled to rise but caught a heel in her hem. He leaped to his feet and strode to her, reaching a hand of assistance, his eyes pleading, as if…

As if he needed her.

She backed away, avoiding his gaze. She wouldn’t be needed by a Cummings. Not by the father. Not by the son who’d tossed her aside as if she were unworthy of him. The only explanation for the abrupt, cruel way he’d broken off the relationship.

“Are you sure about that, Abby?”

At the use of such a personal nickname, she jerked up her head, about to take off his. But something in his gaze stopped her. Something dejected, even desperate, as if he believed she held the key to his future.

“Please. It’s only for a couple of months, three at the most. You’ll get the money you need. And I’ll be able to handle the obligations my father’s injuries have roped me into.” He met her gaze, his eyes soft with understanding. “You and I are in the same boat. We do what we must for the sake of our families.”

Was Wade’s life as weighted down as hers?

The idea seemed ludicrous. Still…

She glanced toward the table where her sister sat, wrapped in a shawl, barely recovered from delivering her baby, yet selling baked goods, doing what she could to help. Most women would still be confined to bed.

Tears stung the back of Abigail’s eyes. Lois had endured years of Joe’s gambling, yet lived each day with courage and faith. While steadfastly praying for her husband, she’d headed her family, determined to care for her sons. Now she had to endure the loss of her home, her possessions, along with an injured husband who couldn’t work.

With everything they owned destroyed, how would the Lessmans furnish the new house? This job offered a way to equip their home, exactly what Abigail had prayed for.

No matter how badly she wanted to refuse Wade’s offer, what choice did she have? She’d do whatever it took to bring a new beginning to her sister’s family.

The collar encircling her neck felt like a noose. And Wade Cummings had just tightened the rope.

Wade watched the wheels turn in Abby’s pretty head, now bowed as if burdened by the load of responsibility she carried. She’d take the job, no doubt about it, yet the air practically crackled with her resistance. Resistance evolving to assent as she recognized he spoke the truth.

She had no choice.

Not that she liked the decision.

Well, he didn’t either. After all the troubles between their families, one of which she laid at his feet, to ask Abby for help hadn’t been easy.

Though Wade felt certain she could handle his father, he had another reason why he wanted her to take the job. A reason he’d never explain to her, to anyone.

Nothing George said or did could make Abby’s bad opinion of his father sink lower. While someone else in the community, someone who held George Cummings in esteem, or at the very least respected his success, might resent his father’s bad temper and add fuel to the storm swirling around his family.

Weary from the scandal that started with his mother’s desertion, intensified with his father calling the Wilson loan, and pinnacled at Frank Wilson’s death, Wade craved peace.

He wanted a new beginning. To be a part of the community, not as a Cummings, but in his own right, to have the satisfaction of crafting beautiful furniture, a dream of his for years. To tell Abigail all that would make him vulnerable, an easy target for the Wilson archery.

She looked up at him, her eyes as chilly as blue-shadowed snow. “I’ll do it.”

Her expression, her tone, the stiff way she held her body told him she despised the decision. Yet he knew from the determined slant of her chin that she’d keep her word.

“Thank you,” he said, hoping she heard his gratitude.

“My father bad-mouthed George Cummings at every turn. You do know that hiring me will make your father angry.”

Frank Wilson had taken pleasure in launching barbed arrows at the Cummingses, hitting their bull’s-eye dead center. Anger was the armor Wade’s father wore. “Sometimes anger’s good for a man.”

Her eyes widened, as if surprised by his statement, but then she nodded. “Sometimes anger is good for a woman.” She met his gaze boldly, daring him to disagree.

Had it been? Or had the cost of that anger imposed a steep price Abby still paid?

Whatever suffering that anger had brought, the brief time he’d spent with her today proved she wouldn’t back away from a fight. No doubt sparks would fly between her and his father.

“With you two in the same ring, I have to wonder who’ll be left standing when the bell sounds.”

“Comparing us to opponents in a boxing match isn’t farfetched.” She released a soft sigh. “I suspect we’ll go several rounds before we determine the winner.”

He smiled at her gumption—and at his victory. He’d achieved what he’d set out to do.

Before he’d gotten the first taste of satisfaction, disquiet took root in his mind. A quick glance at the woman in front of him affirmed the disturbing feeling.

If he wasn’t careful, Abigail might ignite something within him. As Cecil had said, a Wilson and Cummings were oil and water. A combination that could go up in flames, creating a blaze he couldn’t quench.

She took a step back. Had she sensed that attraction he felt? Alarming her as much as it did him?

“Just what are you paying me?” she said. “Whatever it is, it’s not enough. Not nearly enough.”

She didn’t say why, but it didn’t take a genius to guess. Being around him—and his father—demanded a price too high to pay. For the hundredth time, he wondered if his plan made perfect sense or if the venture would blow up in his face.