Chapter Four
TILLY FELT ANYTHING but confident.
But all those years of following her older brother around while he pretended to be a lawman and she had to play the outlaw had given her some degree of acting talent, she supposed. And so, she held her chin high, smiled, and looked as if marriage was the only outcome she would accept in this situation.
A slight hint of red crept up Mr. Hannan’s neck as he quickly glanced around. Then he reached out and placed a hand at the back of her arm.
“Please,” he said. “Why don’t we step outside and speak further?”
The eyes of every single other person in the room were on them. Tilly nodded and let him guide her out the door. People hurried past on the board sidewalk, moving quickly to escape the cold, but somehow there was more privacy out here than there had been inside the land office.
Mr. Hannan dropped his hand from her arm, leaving Tilly feeling like an unanchored boat in the middle of this mountain valley. She straightened and waited for him to speak.
“I . . .” He rubbed a hand over his clean-shaven jaw, as if that would somehow help him find the right words. He fixed his eyes on her, and she tried not to stare. He was far more handsome than she’d hoped for, tall with dark blue eyes and a serious set to his face when he wasn’t smiling. “I don’t know you,” he finally said.
Relief flooded through her. He wasn’t rejecting her; he only wished to know more. “Oh. Oh, yes! Of course you don’t.” Tilly let her hands relax at her sides. This was her opportunity. “I apologize for not writing in advance. I know that’s usually how these things are done, but I imagine you’ll be receiving so many letters from all sorts of ladies soon, and I figured that if I came in person that . . . Well, it might be a better way.” Tilly paused. She was on the verge of sounding desperate for his affirmation, and that wouldn’t do. She could almost hear the words she’d read in more than one ladies’ advice column, reminding her that the fellow should do the chasing.
She busied herself with smoothing out a wrinkle in her skirt and added, “Besides, I won’t marry just any man. I needed to assure myself that you were worthy of my attention.”
She could feel his eyes on her, but she didn’t look up. Not just yet, even though she was yearning to see his reaction.
“I understand,” he said slowly. “What would you like to know?”
Tilly bit her lip to keep from smiling, even as a chill breeze made goose pimples rise on the skin under her clothing. “Well,” she said, finally looking up. “You indicated that you were planning to open a hotel. You could tell me about that.”
It must have been just the right question, because his face lit up. “I have the plans all ready. I’m about to purchase a piece of land once I line up my last few investors, and—” He stopped, frowning slightly. “I’m some time away from building it, much less opening. I don’t have . . .” He shifted, rubbing a hand across the back of his neck. “I didn’t mean to place that advertisement.”
His words hung in the frozen air between them.
Tilly stiffened. “What do you mean?”
“I had no intention of publishing it.”
Indignation drove away the cold that had snuck in around the edges of her coat and hat. “I don’t understand. You wrote it, didn’t you?”
“Yes. Of course I did.” He seemed appalled that she’d think he hired someone to write it for him.
“Well, why would you write such a thing and not mean it?” She wanted to throw her hands on her hips as if she were ten again and telling Jamie that she was more than capable of making her own decisions.
“I did mean it— I mean—” He stopped. “I’m sorry. It just isn’t the right time. I’ll see you back to the depot and buy your fare home.”
Tilly pressed her lips together. After all she’d done to plan her trip here, after she’d spent nearly everything she’d saved over the years, after she’d dreamed of a life far away from the farm. She crossed her arms. “No.”
Mr. Hannan simply looked confused, as if no one had ever told him no. “What do you mean? You can’t stay here.”
“I can, and I will. If you aren’t interested in marrying me, I’ll find some other fellow.” She glanced down the road, her gaze landing on no less than ten men. “Surely some other man will find me marriageable.” Never mind that nine of the ten men she spotted were either leering at her or looked as if they hadn’t changed their shirts in weeks. Somewhere in this town had to be a decent gentleman who was in need of a wife.
Mr. Hannan made a strangled sound in his throat as he followed her gaze.
“I believe I see my future husband right now. If you’ll excuse me, Mr. Hannan.” Not bothering to return inside to retrieve her carpetbag, Tilly stepped away. She had absolutely no intention of speaking to any of the men nearby, but he didn’t need to know that.
She’d made it three steps before a hand wrapped around her arm.
“What are you doing?” he asked, quickly dropping his hand.
She turned and lifted her chin. “Exactly what I said was going to do.”
Mr. Hannan’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean? You can’t simply walk up to a stranger and ask if he’ll marry you.”
Tilly let her gaze stray back down the sidewalk. One fellow had stepped away from the half-finished building he’d been leaning against and was staring at her intently now. A chill ran down Tilly’s arms, but this time it wasn’t from the winter air. She set her jaw and looked back up at Mr. Hannan. “I don’t see why not. After all, I came here to find a husband, and if you’re not interested, I’ll need to find someone else.”
“That’s utterly foolish.” He waved a hand at the men down the road. “Not a single one of those fellows is someone I’d let near my worst enemy, much less a young lady like you.”
“I’m not your responsibility,” Tilly reminded him. “After all, you don’t know me. And you aren’t interested in marriage. Remember?”
He pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger, as if she were giving him a headache.
“I’m not returning home, Mr. Hannan,” she said softly. “There’s no future for me there. Not one I’d be satisfied with, anyway.” She glanced across the road to where the mountains reached into the gray sky. Despite the dreary clouds, Tilly had never seen anything more beautiful. “This is where I want to be.”
When she turned to look back at him, she found him staring off at the mountains too. The corners of his mouth had lifted, and she wondered if he felt the same way.
“May I help you, then?” he finally said, turning those blue eyes toward her. Tilly imagined that their color might match the sky here on a summer’s day.
“You’re going to help me find a husband?” She tried not to sound skeptical, but it was impossible.
His neck went pink. “I don’t know about that. But I can get you a room at a reputable boarding house. It’s the least I can do, since I’m the reason you’re here.”
It was a start.
Tilly nodded. “I would appreciate that very much. Thank you, Mr. Hannan.”
He shifted his weight again and held out a hand toward the land office, not meeting her gaze. “Shall we get your bag?”
Tilly moved past him, and she was certain she could feel his eyes on her as she walked.
Liam Hannan didn’t know it yet, but he would marry her. She just had to let him figure that out on his own.