Page 55 of Short-Straw Bride

“You are always welcome in my home, Cass. You know that. But you really must cease all this beating around the bush and tell me what is going on.”

Her cousin lowered her lashes as if too ashamed to meet Meredith’s gaze. “Instead of signing over Uncle Teddy’s land to you upon your marriage, as he and Uncle Teddy arranged, Papa plans to use it as a dowry. For me.”

“He’s stealing my land?” Meredith could barely get the words out, so deflated was she by the revelation. “The home I grew up in?”

A warm hand settled on her shoulder and stroked the skin at her neck. Travis. His quiet support kept her from shattering. But she couldn’t look at him. What would he think? That land was the only thing of value she’d brought to their marriage. She’d hoped to pass it down to their children one day, just as his father had passed down the Archer ranch to him and his brothers. Her dowry had just been stolen from him to be given to another.

To Cassie.

Meredith stiffened. The only reason Uncle Everett would use the land as a dowry for Cassandra would be to entice a prosperous suitor into making an offer. A man who would value the land.

Meredith’s stomach lurched. She prayed her intuition was wrong. “Who do they expect you to marry?”

Cassie finally looked up, her eyes twin pools of sorrow. “Roy Mitchell.”

Tension speared through Meredith’s shoulders beneath Travis’s fingers. He tried to massage some of it away, but his own muscles had bunched so tight, he doubted it was very effective.

How could Everett Hayes be such a weak-livered dunce? What little respect Travis held for the man due to his relationship with Meri evaporated. Even if Hayes was fool enough to believe Mitchell innocent of the attack on Travis’s barn, he should have enough qualms to prevent him from handing over the daughter he claimed to love simply to boost his deteriorating business.

He glanced at each of his brothers, all of them wearing the same stony-eyed expression, and made his intention clear by moving to stand directly between the backs of the two women sitting on the settee. Travis slid his hands along the wooden trim of the sofa until his spread arms encompassed them both. Meredith loved Cassandra like a sister. That made her family. Archers protected family.

Crockett, Neill, and Jim all met his stare and gave their nod of assent. Jim held Travis’s gaze the longest and took a deliberate step closer to their visitor as he clenched his jaw in determination. His meaning was clear. Jim had just staked a claim. And made himself responsible for Cassandra’s welfare.

“You can’t go along with it, Cass.” Meredith shoved up out of her seat and started pacing, her uneven gait agitated and unsteady as she crossed the rug. Travis moved farther into the room, wishing he could spare her this latest betrayal.

Cassandra shifted to the edge of the settee. “I know. That’s why I came here. You were obviously right about Mr. Mitchell. He must have only been after your land if the bride accompanying it makes so little difference to him. I can’t marry someone who cares nothing for me.”

“It’s worse than that.” Meredith spun to face her cousin. “He’s dangerous. Or did you forget about him sending men to set fire to the Archers’ barn?”

The younger woman tilted her chin at a quizzical angle as she slowly rose to her feet. “Papa assured me that was a misunderstanding. That it was one of Roy’s competitors who set the fire.”

“I heard him give the order, Cassie. There was no misunderstanding.” Meredith crossed her arms over her chest. Instead of lending her a look of determination, however, the movement gave her an air of vulnerability, as if she strove to protect herself from another family member’s disbelief.

“Papa wouldn’t lie to me. I’m sure of it.”

Travis strode to Meredith’s side, the instinct to protect her driving him forward. His jaw tensed as he glowered at the young woman before him. “Your papa wants to believe in Mitchell’s innocence because he needs the man’s partnership.” His words came out clipped and impatient even to his own ears. Little Cassie would just have to deal with it, though. He couldn’t stomach another Hayes gainsaying Meri in order to make excuses for the man who destroyed his property and plotted to steal his land. “Money clouded his judgment, and he accepted the word of a stranger over family.”

“Isn’t there the slightest chance you misheard, Meri?” Doubt clouded the girl’s features as she scrambled to keep her doting father from sliding farther off his pedestal.

“No,” Meredith answered, her voice rich with compassion. “I’m sure of what I heard. But even if there was a chance, would you be willing to risk your future happiness on such short odds?”

Cassandra bit her lower lip and shook her head. Meredith rushed to her side and wrapped her arms around her.

“What am I going to do?”

Meredith smiled that brave smile of hers that always made Travis’s chest puff with pride. “We’ll think of something. For now, though, you’re going to come to the kitchen and help me make supper.”

“You know I can’t cook.”

Meredith tucked her cousin under her arm like a mother hen with a chick and led her toward the door. “Well, it’s about time you learned, don’t you think?”

Meredith twisted her neck to meet Travis’s gaze before she swept out of the room. He felt her thanks without her having to say a word, and the fact that he could read her looks as well as those of his brothers made him pause. She was becoming part of him.

Once the women’s voices receded, Travis turned back to face his brothers. They all gravitated toward the center of the room.

“What’s the plan, Trav?” Neill asked.

“She ain’t marrying Mitchell.” Jim glared at Travis, daring him to argue.