Texas Tiger

chapter 23





"I think it was perfectly kind of the widow to feed us so handsomely before bringing us to town." Evie gazed up at the substantial brick building with the slightly ostentatious label of Hampton Inn hanging over the door.

"She just wanted to know all the gossip and talk about fashion," Tyler replied, slightly disgruntled at the sight of a town without a single saloon. Temperance had apparently taken strong roots out here in farm country. "If she'd taken us to town right off, we could have made the train."

"Well, we can catch the one in the morning. Besides"—Evie's voice dropped to a whisper as they watched Daniel shove his hands in his pockets and walk stiffly beside Georgina to the mercantile store window—"I think the newlyweds need some time to themselves. You really do need to talk to Daniel. There's something wrong here, or I miss my guess."

"There's nothing wrong here that I can see. Georgina's just bigger than you are in the bosom department, and Daniel can't keep his eyes off the way she's about to spill out of that gown. Give the poor girl a shawl and the world will right itself again." Tyler grinned as he watched the pair.

"Men!" Evie huffed, lifting her skirt to enter the hotel. "You can only think of one thing at a time and that one thing unfortunately seldom changes. Daniel was never like that. That's what's wrong."

Smiling, Tyler followed the sway of her bustle into the hotel. "Daniel just never met a woman like that before. You know what I think?"

Evie turned with a questioning look. He linked his arm with hers and led her toward the desk, leaning over to whisper in her ear, "I think he hasn't gotten under her skirts yet."

Evie looked shocked, then threw a thoughtful glance over her shoulder to where the young couple could just barely be seen through the plate glass window. "Do you think I ought to talk to her?"

Tyler looked properly horrified. "Hell, no. Even Daniel doesn't deserve that fate. He'll straighten her out when the time is right."

He turned to the clerk who was listening with great interest. "My wife and I would like a room, and the pair out there"—he nodded toward the street—"want the honeymoon suite."

* * *

Georgina gazed in trepidation around the room the clerk had led them to. A huge vase of flowers filled the dresser. She was rather certain most hotel rooms didn't come provided with flowers. She had some experience with hotel rooms, and the only time flowers appeared were when some suitor sent them. But she'd been with Daniel all this time. He couldn't have sent them.

Her gaze lingered on the bucket of ice with a bottle that suspiciously looked like wine of some sort sticking out. She knew perfectly well that ice in summer and wine in Ohio didn't appear without a great degree of monetary persuasion.

That led her to the bed. It was a massive bed. It looked like something out of one of the castles she had toured in England. Damask draperies were tied back from the mahogany canopy, and the bed linen was already turned back invitingly. Something very odd was happening here.

She turned her gaze to Daniel, who was leaning against the window frame with his arms crossed, surveying this splendor with the same interest as she. Feeling her gaze, he looked up with a slight grin.

"I didn't mention that my adopted family comes from a race of genies, did I?"

She shook her head slowly. "There's a whole lot of things you didn't mention, if you want to talk about it."

Daniel's gaze swept from the crown of her head to the tip of her tapping toe, lingering at the full curve of her bosom. "Talk isn't exactly what I had in mind," he mentioned nonchalantly—a little too nonchalantly.

Georgina shivered at the tone of his voice. He'd been acting oddly ever since he had rescued her last night. She caught her elbows in her hands and tried to steady herself. "We need to talk, Daniel."

He nodded and pulled out a chair, then held out a hand to help her into it. "I'm not much good at it, but I'll give it a try."

His hand was dry and warm and reassuringly strong as he took hers. Georgina's felt small and damp and disappointingly weak to herself, but Daniel didn't withdraw in disgust. He merely stepped back, pulled out a chair for himself, and straddled it, settling his arms over the back as he waited for her to open the conversation.

Georgina gulped at all this masculine proximity and attention suddenly focused on her. She lifted her chin defiantly. "My father owes Mr. Mulloney—your father—a great deal of money."

Daniel nodded. "I knew that. My father makes it a point to get a firm grip on every business that he deals with."

She dipped her head and looked at her fingers. "Did you know that the debt can be called at any time, and that there isn't any money to cover it?"

"That's rather stupid of your father. He should have known what kind of man my father is." Daniel frowned. "I suppose that's the bait Artemis used to force your father to agree to the marriage with Peter."

Georgina nodded, but didn't look up. "With my shares and what my father gave as dowry, Peter would have controlling interest in the factory."

"No, he wouldn't, Artemis would. I've studied his methods rather thoroughly these last weeks. He doesn't let anything out of his hands, not even Peter. I don't know what your beau thought he was going to get, but I bet there were more strings tied to that agreement than a team of lawyers could tear apart."

Georgina shrugged. "It doesn't matter now. Whether Peter knew or not, my marrying you destroyed the agreement. My father will have to sell the factory and our house and everything we own to repay Mr. Mulloney."

Daniel whistled. "That was some debt."

"I don't exactly understand the details. It was something about my father expanding when prices were high and now prices are low and things aren't worth as much and it would turn around in a few years, but not right now."

Daniel nodded. "He gambled. It would have made a lot of money for you and Peter one day, but the cash isn't there right now." He reached across the chair and rubbed his knuckle against her cheek. "You're telling me your forty percent is worthless."

Georgina stared at her hands again. "If I can get my camera back, I'm sure I can sell my photographs. There are photographers in New York who make huge fortunes. I won't starve."

"Not after the first few years while you learn your trade, I suppose." Daniel pushed her chin up so she had to look him in the eyes. "I won't let you starve, Miss Merry."

"You didn't want a wife," she reminded him.

His lips twisted into a wry grin. "I wanted a wife, all right, or I would never have married you in the first place. You're the one who isn't ready for marriage."

"But you don't love me," she protested.

It was Daniel's turn to shrug. "Maybe not, but I sure like you a whole lot. That ought to count for something. And I really do want a wife. I like waking up in the morning with you in my bed."

Georgina blushed beneath Daniel's uncompromising gaze. She had dreamed of love and romance, but she had known she couldn't have it. She had been willing to settle for less with Peter. Why shouldn't she settle for less with this man who at least listened to her?

There wasn't any reply she could make. Before she could try, Daniel leaned over and grabbed the bottle of wine from the bucket. "We'll settle this in Western fashion." He picked up the glasses on the table and filled them, handing her one. "We'll play for it. I win, you agree to be my wife. You win, and you can choose what you want to do."

Georgina sipped the wine, then choked. She stared at it a little incredulously. "I think your genies mean to get us drunk."

Daniel tasted the wine and laughed. "I think you are quite probably right. Since we're stranded here with nothing better to do until tomorrow morning, it's probably a fine idea. We'll drink and gamble until dawn. How about it?"

Something wilder than the strong wine swirled inside her as Georgina looked up and met Daniel's gaze. She felt as if a trapped bird in her middle frantically flapped its wings to break free. The sensation made her giddy. Or perhaps it was the intensity of Daniel's stare and the wine. She took another sip and smiled determinedly.

"What kind of game did you have in mind?"

Daniel grinned. "Poker."

Georgina frowned. "I don't know how to play."

"I'll teach you. Wait right here. I'll ask our resident genies for some cards. That will set their smug expectations back a little."

Georgina laughed at the thought of Tyler's and Evie's faces as Daniel asked for cards to while away the hours. The laughter held her until he was gone, but then she had to face herself and what she was about to do. She was about to deliberately lose a game of cards and become a wife.

She didn't have any doubt that was what she meant to do. Winning might mean she could choose what she wanted to do, but what she wanted to do and what Daniel could offer her were two different things. He couldn't give her back her father's factory. He couldn't support her until she could support herself without calling her wife. He couldn't give her a man who would love her and want her for herself.

So she would give Daniel a wife. She was going to make a lousy wife, but surely he knew that. She couldn't cook. She would never be obedient or docile. She wasn't an intellectual. She wasn't as pretty as Evie. She really didn't have any idea how to go about being a wife, but she would learn. It had to be better than learning to work in a factory or to be a maid. Those were about the only other alternatives open to an unmarried woman, and they wouldn't be open to her, not in Cutlerville anyway. Too many people knew her. She really didn't have any choice, but she wouldn't tell Daniel that. If he wanted a wife, he had one. She just wouldn't let him know that quite yet.

He came back a few minutes later; whistling. He really was the nicest man Georgina had ever known, even if he was occasionally a little peculiar. Perhaps Daniel wasn't as handsome as Tyler, but he wasn't hard to look upon. The laugh lines around his mouth and eyes made her happy. The admiration beaming from his face when he looked on her as he was doing now made her feel strange inside. She wouldn't think about those times when his face got hard and his hands turned into fists. She knew he would never turn that side of him against her.

"All right, Miss Merry." Daniel pulled the table and chairs into order and threw the deck of cards on it, then refilled their wine glasses. He lifted one in salute. "To winning."

Georgina sipped hers, then searched his face anxiously. "You're insane, you know that, don't you?"

Daniel pulled out a chair and gestured for her to sit. "Most writers are. Have you thought about what it will be like married to me? Does playing this game make you a sane woman?"

Georgina relaxed slightly. "No, it makes me as crazy as you. If you win, what will you do with a crazy wife who can't cook?"

Daniel beamed happily. "Make love to her, of course." He broke the cards, shuffled, and dealt her five. "The object of this game is to build a higher hand than the other person. Would you like to make any side bets to make it interesting?"

Georgina decided it would take a lot more than winning to make this easy. Daniel's calm pronouncement of his intention of making love to her made her insides tremble, and she took a good gulp of her drink. Before the night was over, they were going to.... Her glance lingered nervously on the majestic bed. It wouldn't do to think about it.

"I don't have any money to wager." She looked at her cards with interest. What constituted a high hand?

Daniel flicked his cards into a fan like a professional then gazed over the top of them. His scrutiny fell on the curve of her bodice. "We could start by wagering buttons," he offered.

Startled, she stared up at him. "Buttons?"

Daniel pulled a pad of paper and a pencil from his coat pocket, then neatly buttoned his coat and vest. "You have a heck of a lot more than I do, but then, I have more experience at the game. That should make it fair. We wager buttons. At the end of the hand, the loser unbuttons however many the other won."

As his intent became clear, a deep blush colored Georgina's cheeks. The wager wasn't fair, and he knew it. She could tell by the wicked gleam in his eye. She would be sitting here in her undergarments in a few hands, and he would still be wearing his shirt. She had meant for him to win, but she hadn't meant for it to be easy.

She held her chin up. "Tapes and hooks count as buttons," she proposed.

Daniel groaned, but nodded agreement. "All right, but the clothes have to come off so I know you're not cheating. The last one with clothes on, wins."

She didn't think she could blush any deeper, but she felt warm clear down through her middle. Not daring to meet his eyes, Georgina stared at her cards. "Tell me what a high hand is."