Baker's Bargain (Culpepper Cowboys Book 5) Read online

  She nodded. “Just thinking.”

  “Want to talk about it?” Whatever it was, he wanted things out in the open with her.

  “You know how I was raised. We’ve talked about it.” At his nod, she continued. “Linda made an innocent comment a few minutes ago about how when my sisters and I get away from our parents, we go nuts. I—it’s got me thinking maybe us spending so much time together isn’t a good idea.”

  Marcus frowned. “Is that how you really feel? Or is that how your parents would feel?”

  “Well, it’s definitely how my parents would feel. I guess I’ve always kind of believed it too. More than any of my sisters did anyway. I didn’t drink all the Kool-Aid. Only half a jug! I like spending time with you, and I don’t think kissing before marriage is wrong, but we sure are putting ourselves into a situation where temptation could be very easy.”

  He pulled into his driveway, before turning to her. “Ethel is out for the evening. It’s just going to be us. If you don’t want to be totally alone, I can take you into town for dinner. There’s not much there, but I’d be happy to go.”

  “I know you think I’m being silly, and I probably am, but—old habits die hard.”

  “I know they do.” He took her hand, enfolded it in his big one. “I wasn’t raised like you are. My grandfather is a minister, and he sure preaches sex before marriage is wrong, but he sees nothing wrong with kissing before marriage. I honestly didn’t know anyone thought that was wrong until a few years ago.”

  “That’s because you’ve never met my parents.” She sighed. “I don’t want to disappoint you, but I don’t want to disappoint them either.”

  “So if we decided to get married on Saturday, would you feel right about spending this evening alone with me?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I’d be a little less worried. Not as much time for things to explode in our faces.”

  “I bought you a ring today,” he said. He hadn’t planned on blurting it out, but he wanted to get it out in the open. “I was planning to ask you while we were eating dinner.”

  “I’m not even sure how to react to that.” She stared at him, her eyes wide. “You really went out and bought me a ring today?”

  He nodded. “I did. I was planning to ask you, but I was going to wait for a few hours. I can still ask you at dinner if you want. I can make it nice and pretty for you.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t need a big formal proposal. I guess I’d prefer you not get down on one knee and say, ‘Let’s get hitched,’ but just a simple proposal is fine.”

  “But you want me to propose?” he asked.

  She nodded. “Yeah, that’d be really nice.”

  He grinned. “Then I’ll do it over dinner as I planned. Pretend to be surprised, would you? I thought about this a lot.”

  “I’ll do my best.”

  They got out of the truck and went inside. Ethel had left chicken spaghetti and garlic bread warming in the oven. There was a salad waiting on the counter. Grace shooed Marcus from the kitchen while she served it. When she walked into the dining room to join him, he had the lights dimmed and two candles lit the small room.

  She smiled at him. He really had planned to make it a romantic meal. She set both plates on the table before taking her seat. “This looks delicious.”

  He nodded. “You’re going to be all right with Ethel staying on after we marry, right? You won’t feel the need to take over all the cooking?” He worried about the old woman who was so close to his grandmother. He didn’t know where she’d go if she didn’t get to stay there.

  “Of course! It’s not my purpose in life to completely change yours.” She took a bite of the spaghetti. “And she’s a very good cook!”

  He grinned. “I think so too.”

  She had just pushed her plate away, when he took her hand. “Grace.”

  She looked back at him, knowing this was probably the moment he’d been working at building toward. “Yes?”

  “Will you do me the honor of sharing your life with me?”

  She smiled at the way he’d worded his question. He wasn’t just asking her to marry him, he wanted her to share his life. “Yes, I would be thrilled.”

  He pressed a kiss to her hand before sliding a ring onto her finger. “I hope I got the right size. I had Joy ask Honor.”

  She nodded, staring down at the ring with the tiny diamond. Her eyes lit up. “It’s beautiful.”

  “You really like it? I just thought that one suited you best.”

  “I love it. You did good.”

  “I considered asking Joy to go with me, but I didn’t want a Culpepper fist through my face.”

  Grace grinned. “You and Kolby don’t get along?”

  He shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t have a problem with any of them. Chris was something of a rival in high school, but that’s water under the bridge at this point.”

  She leaned toward him, brushing her lips lightly across his. “Do you really want to marry on Saturday?” she asked.

  “Oh, if it were up to me, we’d get married tonight. I guess I can wait until Saturday.”

  She laughed. “I’d like to have time to bake us a wedding cake at least.”

  “I never thought of that. It makes sense that would be important to you.” He stood from the table and led her to the living room by her hand. “Want to sit on the couch and smooch while we watch your show?”

  “Sounds divine. I need to get the dishes in the sink first, though. They’ll drive me crazy otherwise.”

  “Oh, you’re one of those! Maybe I should have known that about you before I asked you to marry me.”

  She glared at him. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I’m sure I don’t care. I’m me.”

  He laughed. “I’ll set the show up, while you get the dishes in the sink.”

  Ten minutes later, she joined him on the couch, curling up close to his side. “I like spending time with you.”

  “Because I watch your show with you?” he asked, his thumb hovering over the play button.

  “Well, I do like that, I have to say. None of my sisters would ever watch it with me.” She shook her head. “No, I enjoy spending time with you because I like you. A lot. Are we crazy to get married when there’s only a lot of like going on?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t think so. So many marriages fail when people think they’re madly in love. It burns out.”

  “Do you know a lot of people who have divorced?” Grace didn’t know anyone who had ever divorced. People she knew stuck it out no matter what.

  He nodded. “Unfortunately. I do a lot of family law. I hate watching couples fall apart and then fight over their children. No one ever wins.”

  “I’m sorry you have to do that. I wish everyone just stayed together forever.”

  “Me too.” He pushed the play button, snuggling her close to his side. He didn’t mind her show, because he rarely actually looked at the people on it. No, he spent his time looking at her instead. He loved watching her face change with the scenes.

  They made it through two episodes that night before she had to go. “Tomorrow is going to be interesting. We’re all going to bake like crazy to get an inventory, before we actually open our doors to the public on Thursday.”

  “So you can’t sit on my couch and kiss me all night long?”

  She shook her head. “Only in my dreams.”

  “Well, if you promise to dream about kissing me…”

  She pulled his head down for a quick kiss. “There. Will that sustain you for an hour or two?”

  He shrugged. “I wouldn’t object to another six or seven kisses…”

  “You’re getting greedy!”

  “Wait ‘til we’re married. You don’t know greedy yet!”

  She blushed, trying not to let his words bother her. “Well, it’ll all be right then.”

  “I understand.” Dropping one more kiss onto her lips, he got to his feet and led her to the door.
/>   “I almost forgot…”

  “What?”

  “What do you get when you cross a blonde and a lawyer?”

  “Careful now. You’re a blonde.”

  “I don’t know. There are some things even a blonde won’t do.”

  He grabbed her in a bear hug, kissing her neck. “No more lawyer jokes!”

  “No more tonight. I agree.”

  “Is ever too much to ask for?”

  “Oh, most definitely!” She winked at him. “You know how much I love lawyer jokes. I don’t know what you’d do without them.”

  “I think I could make it through. In fact, I’m sure of it.”

  Once they were in the truck, she looked down at her hand. “I love my ring.”

  “Good. I can’t wait ‘til Saturday.”

  “Any idea what time?” she asked.

  “What time does the bakery close?”

  “I think we decided four.”

  “How about seven then? Do you mind if my grandfather marries us?”

  “Not if it’s legal. I’d rather be able to tell my parents we were married by a minister anyway.”

  Marcus drove the short distance to the Culpepper ranch. “Do you have a car?” he asked. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of that. He could take her back and forth, of course, but it would be easier if she had her own.

  She shook her head. “I need to leave the car Honor and I share for her. And I can’t afford to buy one until the Culpeppers have paid off Travis.”

  He knew she’d come to help out, so he asked nothing beyond that. “We’ll make it work.” His mind was racing. He wasn’t rich, but he certainly had enough money saved up to buy her a truck. He would rather she had a four-wheel drive in Wyoming in the winter anyway. They had several months before they needed to worry about that, though. For now, something to drive her back and forth was all she needed.

  He stopped in front of Linda’s house, cutting the engine. “A kiss good night?” he asked.

  “How did you ever survive without my kisses?”

  “I have no idea…”

  After a moment, he sighed. “I’m going to have to let you out. Tomorrow night?” He stroked her arm, not wanting their time together to end so soon.

  She thought about it for a moment. She had so much to do, but she really didn’t want to avoid seeing him. “That would be good. Do you have a minute now?”

  He nodded. “Why?”

  “You haven’t met my twin yet. I want you to.” She hoped Honor was home. She really felt like she was doing something wrong by getting engaged to a man her twin hadn’t met yet.

  “Are you two close?”

  “As close as identical twins who are nothing alike can be.”

  Marcus thought about that as he got out of the truck and walked around, taking her hand in his. “Why are you nothing alike?”

  She shrugged. “More than anything I think it stemmed from the fact that our mother loved the whole identical thing. She always dressed us alike. She put the same bows in our hair.” Grace shook her head. “So Honor went one way, and I went the other.”

  “Meaning?” He imagined Honor running around in a clown’s suit, hoping that wasn’t the case.

  “Well, I’m super self-conscious about how I dress. I’m always in neat, tidy clothes. Honor dresses like a man. She refuses to wear dresses, no matter how mad it makes our parents. She likes everything outdoorsy. She’s really getting dressed up if she puts her hair into a ponytail. For me, a ponytail is sloppy. You’ll never have trouble telling us apart.”

  “It doesn’t sound like I will.” He shook his head. “So I need to expect you but not you.”

  She grinned. “Kind of, but not really.” She opened the front door, her eyes searching for a sign of life.

  To her delight, Honor was in the living room with Linda. When her sister looked up at her, she grinned. “So this must be Marcus, the great white shark…I mean, lawyer.”

  “Same thing!” Grace said quickly, giggling.

  Honor winked at her sister, getting to her feet and going over to meet Marcus. “Sorry. I couldn’t resist channeling Grace for just one second.”

  Marcus looked at the girl in front of him. Her face was very like Grace’s, but she wore no make-up at all. She wore jeans and a button-up shirt, which was the same as what Grace was wearing, but she wore it so differently. Her shirt was untucked, and there was mud on her jeans. She smelled like she’d just come in from the stable. “Hi, Honor. I’m glad to meet you.”

  Honor nodded. “It’s nice to meet you, too.”

  Grace held her hand out for Honor to see the ring. “We’re getting married Saturday.”

  Honor smiled, hugging Grace. “Congratulations.”

  “You’ll be my maid of honor, right?”

  Honor laughed at the pun. “Only if I get to wear pants.”

  “As far as I’m concerned, you can show up in what you’re wearing. It won’t hurt me any.”

  “I might just do that. You never can tell.”

  6

  The first day of actual baking in the new facility told Grace and her cousins that they needed to rearrange again. They spent more than an hour on it before they were all satisfied. They had put all of the pre-made treats into a bakery display case they’d rented.

  “It looks good,” Grace said, admiring their handiwork.

  “I just hope people buy stuff!” Patience said with a frown. She was in charge of running the cash register, at least at first. She’d made a huge variety of pies, and they were waiting to be purchased.

  “I’m going to make some fresh bread in the morning as well,” Grace said. “Nothing smells as good as fresh bread baking.” She looked at her phone. It was later than she’d expected to finish.

  She quickly texted Marcus. It’s after seven. I don’t think I have time to come over and still be at work in the morning. Can you come here for a quick visit? Or we might have to skip tonight.

  The response was immediate. I’ll come over there. I want to at least see you.

  Give me an hour.

  She didn’t want him to see her with frosting on her pants. She’d worn an apron, but sometimes messes still happened.

  She hurried back, showered, and was ready for him when he arrived. She led him to the living room, which was empty except for the two of them. “I’m glad you decided to come.”

  “I couldn’t stay away. You only kiss me enough to fuel me for one day.”

  “So if I give you double kisses tonight?”

  “I’ll need quadruple tomorrow night. You probably shouldn’t feed the beast.”

  “And you’re the beast? Does that make me Belle?”

  “You’re the belle of my ball!” Marcus laughed and shook his head. “You’re making me corny.”

  She grinned. “I think you were already there!” She looked at him. “I got a really strange and exciting tweet today.”

  “Oh? What was that?”

  “The stars from Lazy Love are going to be in Culpepper this weekend. They invited me to have coffee with them on Sunday.” She had been tweeting with them for so long, she felt like they were close friends.

  He blinked a couple of times. “What did you say?”

  “I didn’t know what to say, so I thought I’d talk to you about it first. I could invite them to dinner, but would that be weird?”

  “It wouldn’t be weird if it wasn’t the day after we got married and the only day we’ll be able to take totally alone.”

  “I’ll tell them I can’t meet them.” She was a bit disappointed, because she’d wanted to meet Valerie and Jesse for years, but the man beside her was more important than a couple of celebrities.

  “No, don’t do that. Tell them you’re getting married Saturday, but you and your husband will meet them at the café in town for coffee on Sunday afternoon.”

  “You really don’t mind?”

  He shook his head. “I know how important this is for you. I don’t mind at all.” He woul
d have preferred spending the day alone with her, of course, but how could he refuse to let her do something that would mean so much to her?

  “Thank you!” She reached over and pulled his head down to hers for a kiss. “I’ll tweet her tomorrow.”

  “What are they doing in Culpepper?”

  She shrugged. “I have no idea. She asked about the sunset picture I posted. Maybe they want to be able to see it for themselves. That’s the only thing I can think of.”

  “Maybe. I guess we’ll find out on Sunday.”

  She changed the subject then, talking about the changes they’d had to make in the bakery after working there for a day. “We thought we had it just right, but we moved everything around after we stopped baking for the day. That’s why we didn’t finish until late.”

  “I remember what it’s like to set up a new office.”

  “How was your day?” she asked. Her mother had always drilled into them that no matter what a man did, it was more important than what his wife did, so he should get to talk about his day first.

  “Oh, it was fine. Busy. I’m dealing with a messy divorce and custody battle. One of the underwear models is leaving his wife.”

  “That’s sad. And they have a kid?”

  He nodded. “A little two-year-old girl named Anna. Sweet as can be.”

  “Where do you think she’ll end up?”

  He shrugged. “I have no idea. I’m representing the mother, and I do hope it’s her. The father travels too much.”

  "I really hope we don't end that way," she said.

  He shrugged. "How could we? We're not going to give up and get a divorce. I don't think that option is in either of our minds. I think the majority of people who divorce are people who went into marriage thinking that they could easily end it if things didn't work out. If you're not going in with forever on your mind, then what's the point of even marrying?"

  "I have no idea." She yawned widely. "Can I get you a snack? Something to drink?"

  He shook his head and got to his feet. "No. You can walk me to the door, though. I know tomorrow is a really big day for you, and I don't want to make it hard on you."

  She smiled, taking the hand he offered. "I'm sorry I'm so sleepy. I feel like you should come first, but I came here to do a job, and I need to do it."