Page 10 of Montana Groom of Convenience (Montana Cowboys #5)

“I can do it. But got something to attend to first.” She hurried to her room and closed the door firmly after her.

The pesky buttons on the bodice of her dress took forever to undo but she’d learned the folly of hurrying.

It took even more time to sew buttons back on.

She slipped the dress and petticoats off and donned her baggy shirt and fitted trousers, stuck her feet into her pair of well-worn cowboy boots, and returned to the main room.

Jill sat on a chair opposite Father, giving him solemn study. She turned as Carly left her room. Carly knew she tried to hide any expression—having learned it from an expert—but her eyes rounded. Her mouth gaped, and then she blinked and turned deadpan.

Carly didn’t care what Sawyer thought of her attire and yet she looked in his direction. Would he see the warning in her eyes to keep his opinion to himself?

“Lassie.” Father sighed heavily. “Is it too much to hope ye’d be content to be the woman of the house?”

Carly snorted, her attention still directed toward Sawyer. Would he be as disapproving as Father? He might as well learn right now that she didn’t intend to be the sort of woman Father meant.

Sawyer’s gaze ran down the length of the woman he’d married.

Brown trousers with worn creases informed him she made a habit of dressing like this.

He tried to decide what he thought about it and realized he didn’t have an opinion.

Why should he? Who she was and what she did had little importance to him.

He’d agreed to do the ranch work in return for a home for Jill.

He expected nothing more, nothing less, from either of them.

Jill looked at him. Something about her expression sent tension up his spine. What was his little sister scheming now?

“I’m going to make shelves.” Carly marched past him, the challenge in her voice unmistakable.

He saw no point in telling her she had no need to feel threatened and followed her to the barn.

She grabbed a board, a handful of nails, and a hammer. The long board teetered in her grasp, and he caught it.

“I’ll take this.”

She hesitated, then nodded. “Fine.”

He had long ago learned to hide his feelings, to deny them; until now, he hardly even had any feelings he could identify, but Carly did not have the same skill. Her annoyance was as evident as the golden sun in the blue sky. He couldn’t imagine why she was upset.

“Did I do something to offend you?”

Halfway out the door, she stopped and slowly came about to face him. Her brown eyes narrowed as she studied him. He got the feeling she wanted something from him, but he had no idea what it might be, so he stood motionless and waited.

“I hope I’ve made myself clear that I don’t need a man.”

“Seems your father has a differing opinion.”

“My father is a stubborn Scotsman.”

“I believe you’ve said that before. No need to remind me.”

Her shoulders sank, and her expression cleared. “Guess I should apologize for getting upset. It’s just that—” She didn’t finish. “I need to get this shelf made.”

He followed her across the yard. Just what? he wanted to ask. But if she wanted to tell him, she would. Until then, he was content to simply follow her back to the shed.

Jill stepped from the woodshed as they approached. She wore too-big trousers, rolled up at the ankles, and a baggy shirt. A length of rope held her pants in place. She crossed her arms and scowled at Sawyer.

“Where’d you get the clothes?”

“Found ’em.”

“Were they lost?”

“She said they were rags.” Jill tipped her head toward Carly but did not look at her.

Nor did Sawyer as he tried to think if she’d be offended that Jill had helped herself to some items.

Carly chuckled, and he jerked his head round to look at her.

“You’re welcome to the clothes. They’re too small for me. Of course, you might need your brother’s permission to dress like that.” The challenge in Carly’s eyes sent a twitch down Sawyer’s spine. He had hopes of Jill learning to be a lady like her mother had been.

Jill crossed her arms and scowled at them. “I don’t need nobody’s permission.” She gave Sawyer a hard look. “She wears pants.”

“They’re a lot more comfortable and safer even when I’m working around the ranch.”

“I like ’em.” Jill’s tone dared Sawyer to try to stop her.

He considered his options. How Carly dressed was none of his business.

She clearly didn’t heed her father’s opinion, so why would she heed his?

Not that he cared if she wore trousers. A grin bubbled below the surface.

Truth was, she looked fine in them. But Jill was a different matter.

Her parents would not approve. Shouldn’t he teach her the same things they would have if they lived?

“What’d you do with your dress?”

“Threw it out.”

“Jill, we can’t afford to replace clothes.”

Carly edged past the girl into the woodshed.

“The dress is right here.” She held up a bundle with fabric that he recognized.

“It needs a good scrubbing.” After a second of letting him stare at it, she tossed it into the pile on the bench.

“I’ll get that shelf made.” She reached for the board, but he shook his head and carried it in, passing Jill, who continued to give him loads of defiance.

We’ll settle this later, he promised himself. In private.

He lifted the board to where he thought she would want it. “Is here okay?”

“It’s fine.” She grabbed shorter pieces and made shelf brackets, nailing them into place.

He could have driven in the spikes in half the time but wasn’t about to offer to trade places with her.

Even he—blind as he was to emotions—understood she didn’t care for offers of help.

Perhaps she’d had to fight her father so long to gain her independence that resisting help had become part and parcel of her.

Neither of them talked as they worked. He was used to working in silence and preferred it to useless chatter. But something bothered him, and he had to get it off his chest. “Jill’s mother was a lady.”

She let the hammer hang from her hand and jerked back to give him a hard look. “So was my mother. What are you trying to say? ”

One thing about Carly was that he didn’t have to try to guess at her feelings. “Don’t get all offended.”

“Offended? Me?” She swung the hammer in a circle. “Why would you think that?”

Not liking the narrow confines of the shed and the swinging hammer, he eased toward the door. “Do you need more things brought out for the shelf?”

She tossed the hammer to the corner. The one nearest where he stood, though perhaps that had been unintentional. He couldn’t say.

“I don’t know.” She didn’t move and something warned him he shouldn’t either. Not until she finished with her anger. “Are you, by any means, referring to her wearing trousers?”

He was getting good at understanding her thinly veiled warnings and answered cautiously. “There’s people who would consider it inappropriate.”

She closed the distance between them until they were toe to toe. “Sawyer Gallagher, let’s get a few things straight.”

He gave her his best steely-eyed look.

“I long ago decided my comfort and safety were far more important than what people thought.”

He continued his expressionless stare.

“I suppose you’re entitled to your opinion, but it’s best you keep it to yourself.” She half turned away. “How you deal with Jill is your problem.”

He allowed one eyebrow to flick. “Dealing with Jill has been a problem.”

Carly nodded. “I gathered that. So why bother her about something that truly doesn’t matter?” She swiped a hand at her trousers. “Does anyone really think wearing these makes me less of a woman, less moral? ”

He let his gaze go up and down her length as if looking for clues and then shook his head. “I don’t suppose it does.”

Carly’s cheeks stained pink. “Well, then. That’s settled.” She pushed past him and went to the house. “Best I get a bed made up for you.”

He followed at a safe distance, not knowing if she was given to words or actions when she was upset, and she was clearly upset.

Jill trailed along after them, her eyes wide and, if he wasn’t mistaken, full of interest. Having her care about something should please him, but it didn’t. Not if her only interest was in seeing others in conflict.

They single-filed into the room where he was to sleep. A cot with a bare mattress stood on one side of the room. Piles of old newspapers nested against one wall.

“What’s a person to do with old papers?” she asked. “Father?” She raised her voice. “Can we burn the papers?”

“Ack. No. I haven’t finished reading them.”

“Nor will you ever.” She stared at the piles.

“Shove them under the bed.” He waited for her response.

“Good idea.” Seems her good humor had returned, and she grabbed an armload and stuffed it under the cot.

He did the same.

She hurried to get another load. So did he. He stuffed from one end, she from the other until their piles jammed against each other with a thud that made her laugh. “There won’t even be room for dust bunnies in there.”

Jill watched every move as Sawyer swept the room, and Carly made the bed and spread a crazy quilt on top. “My mother and I made this one winter. Mother had been expecting another baby and hoped if she took it easy, this baby would live, so she’d spent much of her day sitting with her feet up.”

Carly patted the quilt once, then stood back to look around. “You need a cupboard of some sort.”

“Surprised there wasn’t one or several in this room.”

She studied him a moment, decided he was joshing, and laughed. It sent a jolt of pleasure through his heart to know she’d appreciated his little attempt at humor.

“Father keeps all the cupboards in his room so he can guard his stuff.”

Sawyer nodded. He’d noticed how jam-packed the man’s room was. “He likes to keep things.”

She grinned at him, her eyes sparkling with humor. “I guess that’s pretty evident.”

Deep inside Sawyer, something responded. He couldn’t say what it was. Couldn’t name it. Could only think it was frightening and alluring at the same time.

She turned to study the room again. “There are some apple crates in the loft you can use for a cupboard. And you can pretty the room up any way you like.”

“Pretty it up?” He could hardly choke the words out.

“Yeah. You know, with pictures and things.”

“Oh. That.” He hadn’t stayed in one place long enough in the past few years to even have a wall to put things on. Last real room he’d had was with Pa and Judith, and it had never felt quite right.

Now, he was here with a promise to stay until death parted them.

Seemed like that might be a very long time.

He expected that would be a good thing for Jill, though he hadn’t expected she’d be wearing trousers.

He’d planned to deal with the matter later, but Carly’s words caused him to reconsider.

Seems there were enough things in life to deal with.

This one didn’t seem all that important. “I might hang a calendar.”

In a few minutes, the floor was clean, the bed made. His room was ready, and he looked around. A small room. Maybe eight by eight but plenty big enough for him.

Jill perched on the edge of the cot. “Where’m I gonna sleep?”

“In my room,” Carly answered. “There a small bed out in the barn. Used to be mine, but when I outgrew it, we didn’t give it away.” She sighed. “We don’t give away, throw away or burn old stuff.”

Jill pursed her lips. “What if I don’t want to sleep with you?”

Carly stopped at the door. “Then where will you sleep? With your brother?”

“No. I don’t want to sleep with him, either. Don’t want to be with anyone. I want to be by myself.”

Carly sent Sawyer a look that he thought meant she wanted him to deal with this, but he had nothing to offer. He’d learned a rebellious Jill was difficult to reason with. Perhaps Carly would have better success.

She turned her attention back to Jill. “There’s no other place. As you can see, it’s a small house.” After an expectant beat, she continued. “You have to sleep someplace.”

“Who says?”

Carly laughed. Stopped at the rebellion in Jill’s face. “Everyone sleeps. ”

“Who says?” Jill wouldn’t look at either of them, trying to look disinterested.

Sawyer recognized the way she pulled her expression blank and tried to look as if nothing mattered to her. He did the same. This was why she needed a permanent home.

Carly grinned widely. “You’ll change your mind soon enough.”

“No, I won’t.”

“I’ll get the bed ready just in case.” She left.

“Stop being ridiculous,” Sawyer murmured to Jill as he followed Carly. He didn’t wait to see what his little sister would say. Or do.

Carly headed for the barn and went to the far corner where the pieces of a bed leaned against the wall. She reached for them.

“I’ll get it.” And before she could voice disagreement, he picked up the headboard, footboard, and springs, leaving the side rails for her. He glanced about for a mattress. Didn’t see one.

“I’ll stuff a tick,” Carly said.

They returned to the house and went to Carly’s room. He let her enter first, feeling somewhat awkward at being in her bedroom.

She stopped so suddenly he almost collided with her. She dropped the rails to the floor and rushed forward with a little cry.

He didn’t need to look to guess that Jill had done something wrong. But it did cross his mind to wonder if Carly might be having regrets about their agreement.