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

  "You're not doing anything wrong." When they got to the door, he cupped her face in both hands and kissed her. "I'm sorry we didn't have time to watch the show tonight."

  She shrugged. "I don't have to watch it every day!" She would, though. After he left, she'd find one of her favorite episodes, but she would only watch the scenes where Jo and Dylan appeared together. What else about the show was even worth watching?

  He pulled her to him, kissing her passionately. "I'm ready to call you wife."

  She nodded, blushing a little. She wanted to be his wife and spend forever with him, but she didn't want to make love. It sounded awfully messy to her.

  "Are you having second thoughts?" he asked.

  She shook her head emphatically. "No, I want to marry you."

  "Then what do I see in your eyes?"

  "Nothing. I'm good."

  He frowned, but didn't want to keep her there any longer. "We'll talk about it tomorrow night."

  She just smiled at him. "Thanks for coming over."

  "No problem."

  He was the first customer the following morning. "Got any muffins?" he asked her cousin, Patience, who was working the counter.

  Grace heard him from her workstation. "I'll take care of this one, Patience." She grinned at Marcus. "But first, meet my fiancé, Marcus."

  Patience smiled at Marcus. Patience and Felicity had been raised very similarly to the Quinlan sisters, but the main difference was, they'd been homeschooled in an isolated atmosphere. Patience was a bit of a mouse when it came to men. She didn't know how to talk to them, and really had no desire to. Grace firmly believed that someone could be homeschooled and not turn out socially awkward, but her aunt had not been able to accomplish that.

  After Patience walked away, Grace took Marcus's hand, squeezing it. "I feel like I should kiss you good morning, but there's this big counter between us. And I don't know how I feel about kissing in public."

  "If you're only kissing me because you feel like you should, then you need to keep your kisses to yourself."

  Grace frowned. "I didn't mean it that way."

  "What time do you want me to come by later?" he asked, looking at the three different kinds of muffins in the display case.

  The baked goods that weren't a specialty of any of the three bakers were made by rotation. It had been Felicity's day with the muffins.

  "We're closing at four every day. If you come around five, that'll give me time to change and shower."

  He frowned at that. "Do you shower before I pick you up every evening?"

  She nodded. "Of course I do. Otherwise I'm going to be covered in flour or sugar or frosting. I'm going to always look my best for you."

  "You are?"

  "Yes. Not obsessively." Probably not obsessively. When she'd been a teenager, she'd always imagined she would sneak out of bed and fix her hair and do her make-up before her husband could wake up and catch her with a clean face. She'd outgrown those ideas at least.

  "I hope not obsessively. It won't matter to me if you're in make-up with your hair all fixed or wearing your hair in a ponytail."

  "Maybe you should be marrying Honor..."

  "No way. That's not the Quinlan twin I'm attracted to."

  She grinned, putting one of each flavor muffin in a bag for him. "These are on me. I gave you an orange, a blueberry, and a mixed berry."

  "Oh, yum. They sound good."

  She hurried to the side counter and poured some coffee into a to-go cup for him. "I hope you enjoy."

  "Oh, I will." He winked at her. "See you at five."

  "I'll text if it'll be any later than that."

  She texted at four. I didn't think about clean up time. I can't leave that for my cousins. Can we make it six?

  As always, he responded immediately. Six is fine. Dinner at my place?

  Yes, please.

  When he got there at six, she was still blow drying her hair. Patience brought him to her door. "She's getting ready."

  Marcus opened the door and sat on her bed while Grace finished up. Patience had called to her that he was there, but she obviously didn't hear, because she came out of her bathroom in jeans and a lacy bra. "Nice."

  Grace blushed, grabbing the blouse she'd planned to wear and holding it in front of her. "Where did you come from?"

  "Patience told you I was here, but I guess you didn't hear her." He was amused by how mortified she looked.

  "Obviously." She hurried into the bathroom and shut the door behind her, shrugging the shirt on and buttoning it before going back into her bedroom. "I'm sorry you had to see me that way."

  "Had to?" he asked. "I assure you, it was my pleasure."

  She frowned at that. "My mom says that men should never see women partially clothed before they’re married because it will send them into a frenzy of lust, and it would be the girl's fault."

  Marcus grinned. "Well, I don't know about a frenzy of lust, but I think you looked beautiful."

  She couldn’t meet his eyes. “I really am sorry.”

  He could see she was mortified. He’d been treating the whole thing as a joke, but it meant a great deal to her. “Hey. It’s all right. I’m not upset at all.”

  “I really didn’t mean to tempt you that way before we ever got married. I know it’s not right.”

  He shook his head. “I know it was an accident. But even if it hadn’t been, there are girls a lot more scantily clad on every beach in America. If I can’t control my hormones, that’s my problem, not yours.”

  “I—I know better, and I never should have done that.”

  He grabbed her hand and pulled her to stand between his spread legs as he sat on the bed. “Grace, look at me. You didn’t know I was here. You’d never have come out with no shirt on if you had. We’re going to be married in two days. The world isn’t going to end because I saw you without a shirt on.”

  She took a deep breath, her eyes meeting his. “Thank you for not being angry with me.”

  “I’ll never be angry over an accident.”

  “You’re a good man,” she said softly, thinking about the many times her father had yelled at her mother for things that were out of her mom’s control.

  “I hope you knew that before you agreed to marry me,” he said with a wink.

  “I had my suspicions.”

  He pulled her down onto his lap, holding her close. When she sat stiffly in his arms, he frowned at her. “What’s wrong, Grace?”

  She sighed. “I’m just a little nervous about everything. We’re getting married so quickly, and I want to be your wife, I do. I just don’t know if—well, if I’m ready for the sexual part of marriage.”

  “Why wouldn’t you be?” he asked softly. “You like it when I kiss you, don’t you?”

  She nodded. “To be really frank, I don’t know a lot about it. Only what my mom told me.”

  He was almost afraid to ask. “What exactly did your mom tell you?”

  “She said I had to let my husband touch me however he wants, but that I wouldn’t like it much, so I should just close my eyes and plan out my meals for the week. She said if a woman is lucky, her husband will be satisfied with once per week.” She shrugged. “But I won’t be able to plan out meals, because Ethel takes care of all that, so I’m not sure what to do!”

  Marcus closed his eyes for a moment, trying to contain his anger at the woman he’d never met. “Well, what do you think about that? When I kiss you, does it feel good to you?” He watched her closely as he asked the question, needing to understand how she really felt.

  She blushed, nodding. “Yeah, you know it does.”

  “Does it only feel good where our lips are touching? Or in other places too?”

  Grace refused to look at him, but shook her head. “Other places.”

  “I think we’re going to be fine, Grace. But, just to be clear. I’m going to want it more than once per week.”

  Her eyes widened as she peeked at his face, trying to determine if he was joking wi
th her again. “Really?”

  Marcus nodded emphatically. “Really.”

  She took a breath. “Maybe I should talk to one of my older sisters about it.”

  “I’m fine with that. It’s your decision. If it’s not too embarrassing to talk to one of them, then do that. If it is, we’ll handle it on our own.”

  “I’ll try. Joy and I have always been really close. I’m sure she’ll talk to me if I need her to.”

  He nodded, pulling her head down for a quick kiss. “If you can’t get the answers you need from her, please talk to me about it instead of just worrying. Was that what was bugging you last night too?”

  “Yeah. It just sounds so messy.”

  He grinned. “A little bit. But it’s so worth it!”

  “What about kids. Do you want kids right off?”

  He carefully pushed her to her feet before standing. “Let’s talk about this while we drive. You still okay with going to my house tonight?”

  She nodded. “Yeah.” She grabbed her phone. “Oh, coffee at two at the café with Valerie and Jesse. I’m really excited to meet them. I’ve been tweeting with them for four years now. Thank you for agreeing to do that.”

  “That’ll be fun for you then.”

  “And for you?”

  “Watching how happy it makes you will be reward enough for me.” He took her hand and pulled her toward the front door.

  In the truck, he glanced at her. “How do you feel about kids right off? ‘Cuz I could really go either way. I want kids eventually, but you’re young. If you want to wait a year or five to start having children, I’m all for it.”

  She bit her lip. “So we’d just abstain?”

  He shook his head adamantly, glad he hadn’t started driving yet when she asked that. Why, he may have driven right off the road. “No, we use birth control.”

  “Birth control? But that’s against God!”

  He took her hand in his. “Your mom told you that?”

  She nodded. “You should only have sexual relations within marriage, and then only with the intentions of procreation.”

  He blinked. “You know you don’t have a baby every time you have sex, right?”

  She shrugged. “Well, I know you sometimes have to try more than once for a baby. But then you stop once you’re pregnant, right?”

  “No, you don’t. Women make love all through their pregnancy.”

  “So how do we prevent it if we don’t want children?”

  “Did you not have sex ed in school?” He had a hard time believing that a woman her age could be so sexually naïve in this day and time. “We’ll either use condoms or you can get on the birth control pill. There are also shots, I think.”

  “Our doctor back home said that only women who wanted to ruin themselves forever used birth control.”

  “Don’t tell me. He was a friend of your parents?”

  She nodded. “He played golf with Daddy every Wednesday. How’d you know?”

  “Just a lucky guess, I suppose.” He sighed heavily. “You know that he lied to you, right? Birth control is perfectly safe. If you’re afraid of it, we can use condoms, though.” He’d never had sex without a condom, so it didn’t really matter that much to him.

  “Do you know of a doctor who would prescribe birth control?”

  He nodded. “There’s actually a doctor in town who is a female. Her name is Dr. Ross. She’s really sweet. Her younger sister is a midwife, and they share a house.”

  “So she’s single?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Why didn’t you date her?”

  “Do you really wanna know?” He pulled into his driveway and unbuckled his seat belt.

  She nodded. “Yeah.”

  “Well, she was a couple years ahead of me in school, and she was so smart, she made me uncomfortable. So I never asked her out.”

  “What about her sister?” It seemed strange a lawyer would be intimidated by an intelligent woman.

  “I don’t know. I think because her sister intimidated me.” He hadn’t really ever thought about either of them as potential girlfriend material.

  “I see.” She scooted closer to him, touching his arm. “I don’t intimidate you, do I?”

  He shook his head, leaning down to give her a playful kiss. “No, you make me hot! Big difference.”

  She blushed at his words. “You’re really not supposed to say that to me!”

  Marcus frowned. “Well, you don’t want me saying it to other women do you? If not you, then who?”

  She refused to answer that, moving across the seat to open her door. “You’re out of control sometimes, you know.”

  “Do you want me to make you an appointment with Dr. Ross?” he asked, before she could get out of the truck. He liked the idea of her being on birth control. Waiting a year or two for children, with as young as she was, seemed like the best idea all around.

  She nodded. It made her nervous, but she’d do it. She wasn’t ready for babies right away anyway.

  7

  By Saturday morning, Grace was certain the bakery would be a success. She was glad she’d started making the bread and cinnamon rolls every morning, because they disappeared quickly along with the muffins. She stood at her workstation, carefully putting the finishing touches on the baby shower cake that would be picked up in less than an hour.

  She still had a bit to do with the wedding cake she was making for her and Marcus, but that wouldn’t be a problem.

  “I’m surprised how many people come here to buy their breakfast,” Grace told Felicity, who was working at her own station, decorating some specialty cookies for a birthday party.

  “I know. I thought people went to the café for everything.” Felicity squirted some white icing in an arc, creating Elsa’s hair for the Frozen themed party.

  Patience took care of three customers, before sitting down for a moment. “My pies don’t sell as well as the cookies, cakes, and muffins. Maybe I should learn to make something else.”

  “I think your pies will be a lot more popular around Thanksgiving and Christmas,” Grace told her cousin. “Maybe you could learn to make scones?”

  “Oh, that sounds like a fun challenge.” Patience pulled out her phone to search for a recipe. “These look good!” The excitement that went through her at the idea of learning something new was palpable.

  “Remember, I’m taking off at three today. I need to get ready to get married.”

  “We know. I can’t believe Honor is going to be your maid of honor in a pair of pants. You’d think she could dress appropriately for her own twin’s wedding,” Felicity said, while wrinkling her nose.

  “She’s wearing dress pants. Dressing in pants is just what Honor does. You guys never had to deal with losing who you were by being part of a set of multiples. With Honor and I looking the same, we had to do something to distinguish ourselves.”

  “I still think she should dress correctly.”

  Grace took a deep breath. “And I think you should mind your own business. Honor can wear anything she wants to my wedding. She’s my twin, and I love her.”

  Felicity looked shocked at Grace’s words. “I’d think you would care.”

  “Well, I don’t. I’m just glad she’s willing to stand up with me.” Grace looked up at the bell on the door. It was Marcus, and she grinned when she saw him. “Hi you!”

  He walked around the counter and grabbed her, kissing her. “Sorry, I just had to do that.” He winked at Patience, who refused to look at him. “Do you have any muffins left?’

  “We made a double batch this morning, because we expected extra people on Saturday. Turns out it was a smart move. Only three left!” Grace said, grinning at him. “Is your grandpa ready to marry us?”

  “As ready as he ever is,” Marcus said with a grin. “Hopefully he’ll remember your name.”

  Grace shrugged. “I don’t know. I loved the way he addressed Hope during her wedding. At least what I’ve heard of it.” She was still sad she�
�d missed out on her four older sisters’ weddings.

  “He didn’t call her ‘insert bride’s name here’ did he? I’ve seen him do that before, and it’s so embarrassing.”

  Grace laughed, the sound of it filling the bakery. “He did! I didn’t know he’d done that with anyone else.”

  “Oh, he does it all the time. He never remembers the names of any of the brides. I keep telling him to just write them on his hand, but he says he’d forget which hand. I suggest both, and he complains he can only write on his left, because he’s right handed. Well, then why wouldn’t he remember he’d written it on his left hand?” Marcus shook his head with a sigh. “It’s going to be an interesting wedding.”

  “At least when we’re done we’ll be officially married.” She smiled at him tentatively.

  He grinned. “We will. I’m counting down the hours.”

  The ceremony was beautiful, even though Brother Anthony did forget Grace’s name. Instead, he called her “pretty blond girl.” She accepted it with a smile.

  At the end of the ceremony, he pronounced them licensed to kiss. Marcus took her into his arms and kissed her passionately. “I like being licensed to kiss.”

  “Yes, but as your wife, you still have to get my permission to kiss me.” She said, smiling up at him teasingly.

  “Oh, sure. I’ll ask permission every time. I won’t just grab you and start kissing you whenever I feel like it. Never.” He lowered his head to kiss her right then, proving himself a liar.

  Linda came over to hug Grace. “Are you coming back to the house tonight? I didn’t get a chance to really plan a wedding reception.”

  Grace smiled. “We’re using the church’s fellowship hall, and the cake I made is in there already. All we’re serving is cake and punch. Miss Lovie made the punch.”

  Linda nodded. “I’d have been happy to help.”

  “You’re busy enough with the daycare and all the extra guests you keep ending up with. Don’t you think?”

  “Do you want me to agree with you? Or do you want me to tell you the truth?” Linda asked.

  “Oh, agree with me this time, would you? You can tell me the truth next time.” Grace turned to Honor, hugging her tightly. “I love that outfit,” she said with a smile. “You look beautiful.”