A Marriage Deal With The Outlaw

“I don’t,” she agreed. “But I know people, Mr. Jameson. And I know you find me pleasing.” Even in the dim lamplight he could see the blush that rose to her cheeks again. “I know that...that you’ve thought about compromising me, and yet you don’t. Why?”

He shifted again, finding her candor unsettling. “You don’t mince your words, do you?”

She chewed her bottom lip and her eyes shifted across the room toward the cold fireplace. “I’m told it’s a flaw.”

Something twisted deep in his gut. “You’re not flawed from what I can see.”

She smiled, but it seemed sad and hollow, and it slipped away before he was ready for it to go. She met his eyes again with her startlingly direct gaze. “Thank you. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to get to sleep. As you can imagine, I have a few things to think over.” She started to rise, but he leaned forward, holding out a hand, though he stopped just short of touching her.

“Wait. I’m afraid I can’t leave until I have your promise to keep silent.”

“And I’m afraid I can’t give it to you. I need to go to medical school, and it appears I can’t do that until I’m either wed or so ruined that no man will want to marry me.”

“You can’t mean that. Even if I were to do as you ask, you’ve said yourself that you want to be married one day. Don’t you think the scandal will follow you for years? Don’t you think that it could ruin your ability to marry in the future?”

She smiled at him then, like he was a simpleton who clearly didn’t understand her argument. “No, I’m not worried in the least. You see, the man I’ll eventually marry won’t care. I don’t plan to marry one of those gentlemen who trots out to our fund-raisers, gives a pretty speech, pledges a donation and then returns to his parties and the theater. I plan to marry a physician or perhaps a professor. Someone scholarly who won’t care for gossip and who’ll listen to me when I explain the circumstances of my being compromised.”

Castillo leaned back in his chair and raked a hand through his hair. Not that he’d ever put himself in the running as a contender for her hand, but had he, she had just shot down all hope. He wasn’t the least bit scholarly. She deserved someone exactly like the man she described. Someone who would listen to her and honor her. “I hope you find such a man, but I imagine that he would prefer it had you chosen not to compromise yourself.”

She shrugged. “Is that your position? Would you prefer your future wife—I’m assuming you’re not married?” At his nod, she continued, “Would you prefer your future wife chaste and pure and all of that?”

“I haven’t thought much on marriage.” But that was another lie to add to the growing list he’d already told her. He thought of marriage more than he wanted to admit.

In his youth, growing up on his grandfather’s hacienda, there’d been a small village nearby. At the ranch’s peak they’d employed so many of the villagers to help with the cattle that they’d built quarters to house them all. His grandfather had even built a chapel, and a priest had lived there year round.

Castillo couldn’t say that he was very religious now. He still prayed sometimes, but he hadn’t attended Mass in years and couldn’t recall when he’d made his last confession. He’d seen his mother married in that chapel to her second husband—with some not-so-subtle persuasion from his grandfather, since her first husband hadn’t been dead—and Castillo had taken it for granted that he’d be married there, as well.

In that life that seemed so far removed from who he was now, he’d been taught that women should be obedient and keep themselves chaste for their future husbands. But he’d also been taught that to take a life was a sin. He couldn’t very well expect a wife who was virtuous when he only had a tarnished soul to offer in return. “I suppose you’re right. It wouldn’t matter so much. I’d assume she had her reasons.”

She adjusted the prim little spectacles perched on her nose before crossing her arms over her chest and narrowing her gaze at him. “And yet you still won’t compromise me, even though you know it’s for my own good? That it’s what I want?”

He shook his head, as much from the need to deny her as the need to deny himself. Something about her—he couldn’t quite put his finger on why he was so drawn to her—made him want to say yes. “I wouldn’t steal from your husband.”

That infuriated her. Anger burned from her eyes as she sat up straighter, gripping the arms of the chair. He had to fight not to smile at how it transformed her beauty from prim and elegant to fiery and almost wild. Dios mio, he wanted to see her wild, to see her lose control of that fire she kept carefully subdued. And he wanted her beneath him when it happened. She was beautiful. She was strength. She was all the things he wanted and admired.

“My virtue doesn’t belong to my husband. It belongs to me. I can do with it what I like.”

He inclined his head in a minor concession. “As you wish. My answer is still the same.”

“Have you considered that it’s possible to compromise me without actually taking my virtue? We could simply arrange to have someone see us in an embrace. It needn’t be very dramatic.”

He hadn’t thought of that at all. Probably because he’d been too busy imagining the act of compromising her. “No, but I wouldn’t insult your honor in any way.”

She wanted to scream at him. He could tell from the way she jerked her head to the side, her jaw clenched tight, and he was tempted to push her until she lost her grip on her restraint. What would she look like raging at him? And, just as quickly, he was back to imagining his tongue on her body, his hands wrapped in that gorgeous hair as she bucked beneath him.

Mierda, he needed to stop. His blood was already starting to rush south, tightening his trousers.

“Fine, then we have nothing more to discuss. Get out.”

Castillo felt the first stirring of panic and his shoulders tensed. He’d been too soft with her, letting her think this was her choice instead of his demand. He kept his voice calm, and didn’t move at all. He’d played enough hands of poker to know not to show his hand. “I could play the role of suitor. Would that help?” He had no right offering to associate his name with hers in any way, but he felt compelled to offer some compromise. It wasn’t right that she wouldn’t be able to continue her education.

Her widened gaze jerked back to his. She was clearly as surprised by the offer as he was. She began to shake her head, but then stopped and a smile spread across her face. It nearly stole his breath away. “Yes! Yes, that’s perfect. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that before. It’s even better than compromise.”

She rose to her feet to pace the length of her room as if she was working out all the details in her head. She practically glowed with excitement, and Castillo shifted in his chair, uneasy with the direction of her thoughts. He’d meant to only discourage other suitors with his attention while she was at the wedding. It had been a paltry compromise, but the only one he could think up. He was actually worried about what wild scheme she’d come up with.

Finally she turned to face him, her eyes bright with enthusiasm. “I have the most wonderful idea. This is what we’ll do.” The smile on her face was so enchanting that he didn’t bother to interrupt her. “You become my suitor for the week. We’ll convince my father that we’ve fallen madly in love. He may disapprove at first, because you’re not from Boston, but I know he’ll come around. Then, after Hunter and Emmy’s wedding, you’ll propose.”

Castillo shook his head emphatically at that, but she kept on talking.

“I’ll accept and we’ll put on the charade of a gloriously happy couple. You’ll voice your support that I be allowed to go to school. We won’t be able to wed until the autumn in Boston—it’ll take weeks and weeks to plan such an affair. By that point, my parents will have to let me attend classes or I’ll risk losing my place. Then, once the semester is under way, we break off the engagement. We’ll have to come up with a compelling reason for that. Something that doesn’t reflect too unfavorably on either of us.”

She adjusted her glasses and resumed her pacing. “I’m sure by that time I can convince them that I must continue my studies. I may have to concede to searching for a suitable husband while I attend, but that’s preferable to not going at all.”

She’d walked all the way to the corner of the room, but she turned then, beaming at him. “Thank you so much for suggesting this, Mr. Jameson. It’s absolutely the perfect solution.”

She looked so hopeful that he hated to disappoint her, but there was no way he was agreeing to this farce. “That is not what I suggested. I’d be willing to agree for the week, up until the wedding, but after that I’m afraid I have to go.”

Depending on the leads Zane found in Helena, Castillo might even need to leave before the wedding to follow up on Derringer’s location. He’d make sure to be back for the wedding, but the possibility that the man was nearby was something that couldn’t be ignored. He didn’t have time for what she wanted.