Page 31 of Short-Straw Bride

Silence smothered the room.

Travis swallowed the excuses he’d been feeding himself—the fact that she’d been asleep, that she was under his protection, that she’d seemed to welcome his assistance when he’d promised to see to things for her.

He knew what it felt like to have fate decide your future. If he had stayed home and watched over his brothers like his father had told him to that day fourteen years ago, he never would have been caught in a thunderstorm. And if his father hadn’t gone searching for him, he never would have been thrown from his horse when the lightning stuck. And if his father hadn’t been thrown, he never would have incurred the wounds that led to his death.

Travis fidgeted as old guilt erupted to mingle with new.

Joseph Archer had extracted an oath from his son that day. An oath borne of desperation and a desire to protect the sons he was leaving behind. An oath that placed a heavy burden on the thin shoulders of a fifteen-year-old boy. But that boy took it on without complaint. Travis’s dreams and plans no longer mattered. He had to atone for the damage his disobedience had caused. Guarding Archer land and the Archer family became his sole duty—his road to redemption.

Meredith’s situation, however, had no root in disobedience. It was kindness alone that set her on this path. Unlike him, she didn’t deserve to have her future wrested from her hands.

“You’re right, Meredith.” Travis shifted his weight and forced himself to meet her gaze. “We should have waited and discussed the matter with you.”

“Yes. You should have.”

“Would you like to discuss things now?” He held out his palms and took a cautious step forward.

“I’m not a spooked horse that needs to be placated.” Her dry tone halted him in his tracks. He lowered his hands, a reluctant grin curving his lips.

He had been approaching her that way, hadn’t he? Funny that he’d failed to recognize it until she called him on it. The gal was perceptive. And intelligent. Perhaps it was time to take the kid gloves off and treat her as he would one of his brothers.

Travis leaned his hip against the corner of the table. “All right, Meredith. No placating. No sugarcoating. Here’s where we stand.”

She crossed her arms and braced her legs apart like a warrior willing to talk peace while still prepared to battle should talk prove ineffectual. With an arched brow, she nodded for him to continue.

Travis ticked off his arguments on his fingers. “Your reputation is tattered. You have no home except for a house on a piece of land that Mitchell will do anything to get his hands on. You can marry Mitchell and live the rest of your life with a man you despise, or you can refuse his suit and see what vile scheme he concocts to steal your land from you. He could burn you out like he tried to do with us, or he could compromise you in order to force you to the altar. No matter how capable or careful you are, a woman alone has little chance against a man like him.”

Meredith kept her head high and her face schooled, but the fabric around her knees wavered. Travis grabbed two chairs. Whether it was trepidation or her injury that was causing her to tremble, he didn’t know. But he wasn’t about to let her fall to the ground. He set one chair beside her and turned the other around and straddled it. Then he continued his assessment as if it didn’t matter to him if she sat or not.

“Your only other option is to marry one of us.” He paused. “Me.” Travis suddenly felt the need to clear his throat. “This alternative would repair your reputation, give you a place to live, and provide the protection of four able-bodied men. Unless you have something else to suggest . . . ?”

“Actually, there is something else.” Her quiet statement startled him.

“There is?” He glanced over at Crockett. His brother shrugged.

Meredith slowly lowered herself into the straight-back chair, the fight draining from her. “I could leave Anderson County. I could go farther west to where the railroad is opening new towns, or head to a larger city where no one knows me.” Her chin jutted upward. “I could find work. Make a clean start.”

Leave Anderson County? Travis frowned. He hadn’t considered that option. Didn’t really want to, either. It was reckless. Dangerous. And for some odd reason . . . disappointing. Besides, he’d already settled his mind on this marrying business. No sense muddying the waters.

“You’re a good man, Travis. An honorable man.” Meredith plucked at her sleeve. “You drew the short straw, and you’re willing to stand before a preacher because you feel responsible for me. But you’re not. I made the decision to come here, and I’ll deal with the consequences. You deserve to have a wife of your own choosing, not one forced on you through circumstances outside your control.”

“It’s not like that, Meredith. It’s . . .” Travis sighed and rubbed his jaw. Why did she say nothing about what she deserved? He didn’t know much about the workings of the female mind, but he knew one thing—she deserved a choice.

“I’m not going to force you, Meredith. If you believe leaving is the best option, I’ll not stop you. But if you think you might be able to make a home for yourself here, with a bunch of unrefined men, we’d like you to stay. I’d like you to stay.”

Stretching his hand across the space that separated them, he caressed her cheek with his knuckles, then let his arm fall away. “You’re a fine woman, Meredith Hayes. You’re strong and brave and kind. And should you decide to take a chance on me, I’d be honored to make you my bride.”

14

Meredith gripped the edge of the chair seat with her left hand as a new light-headedness assaulted her. Travis Archer had just proposed. Really proposed. Sure, he’d made no mention of love, but he had only been in her company for three days—four if she counted the day she stepped in that trap twelve years ago. The man needed time to catch up. After all, she’d been in love with him since she was ten. She had a bit of a head start.

But did he really want her? What if his pretty words were just flattery? Travis didn’t strike her as the manipulative type, yet if she agreed to marry him, she’d be risking her entire future on an idealized impression. What if she was wrong?

“Meredith?”

She blinked and refocused on the man in front of her. The man who could be her husband if she gave the word. The man she wanted more than any other. The man who could hurt her more than any other.

She bit her lip and glanced at the other Archers spaced about the room. All eyes lingered on her. Waiting. Leaving the decision in her hands.