Chapter 4
“Well, you’re not going to find a wife if you don’t leave the ranch,” Silas rolls his eyes as he cuts the engine on his truck.
“I don’t want a wife, I want a contract,” I huff at him, “And there isn’t a single woman in this town who will agree to that.”
He winces, “There’s someone.” He says confidently a moment later, “There has to be.”
I scoff at his optimism and follow his lead, climbing from the truck.
It’s nine p.m., and for a sleepy Montana town, it’s surprisingly busy, or rather, the Sunstone Saloon is, but that’s probably because it’s the only bar that opens late in this place.
All the other cafes and diners close up at eight.
There are people queuing out the door or standing to the side as they smoke their cigarettes and drink their beers, speaking loudly, but it doesn’t take them long to notice us.
I don’t come into town all that often. I have everything I need at Knight Falls, and if I don’t have it, I have people who can get it.
Their attention turns our way, and half of them start talking to us like we’re long-lost friends who haven’t seen each other for a while.
I put on a show but move on quickly, slipping in through the door to find it even busier inside.
“Grab a table.” I tug my hat lower, “I’ll get the drinks.”
Silas nods and moves through the crowd toward an empty booth beneath a large photograph of one of the mines just north of here, and I go to the bar, watching the servers work quickly to fulfill orders.
Food is constantly coming out of the side door, the smell making my stomach growl in response.
I snatch a menu from the holder and start reading it.
“What can I get you?” I lift my eyes to the voice, my head snapping back when I see who is standing in front of me.
Wide blue eyes stare back, and pretty red lips part in shock. “What are you doing here?” Her voice rushes from her, and she glances at the door before her skin goes as white as the napkins on the bar. “Oh god. I’m sorry! It won’t happen again.”
My brows lower in confusion. “What?”
She swallows, “I won’t swim again. Please, I’m sorry, I just — I like to swim and it’s so quiet there and it just gives me a minute, you know!?”
“Slow down.” I ease her, “I just want to order a drink.”
She blinks slowly, her long lashes fluttering. She searches my face for a moment, a knot forming between her brows. “You’re not having me arrested?”
A loud laugh bursts from me, the sound so foreign to my own ears that I wonder if it even came from me. “Arrested? No, I’m not having you arrested.”
“Are you sure?”
I cock my head as I study her. She looks different here, not as light.
There’s tension in her shoulders and a little crease between her brows.
Her dark hair is braided and pulled over one shoulder, and she’s wearing a Sunstone Saloon branded tee that’s tied up around the waist, showing a sliver of skin between the hem and the waistband of her jeans.
It’s difficult to forget how that skin looked in the morning light, with water beads rolling over it, tracing all her curves and valleys.
Clearing my throat, I push that vision away and answer, “Why would I?”
Confusion tugs her brows lower, that crease deepening, making my fingers itch with the need to smooth it out for her, release that tension. “For swimming.”
I shrug like it isn’t a big deal she’s using my ranch as her own personal pool. “I just want a drink and maybe some food.”
Damn, she really is pretty, the kind of pretty you can’t look away from. She's captivating; everywhere you look, you notice something different, like the small scar on her chin, or the way the low light of the bar turns her eyes from that turquoise blue to a deep stormy sea.
“Oh, well,” She shakes her head as if clearing it, taking her eyes away from me, and taps on the monitor in front of her. “What can I get you?”
“Two Jamesons,” I order and hand over my card.
She swipes my card and hands it back before she turns and makes the drinks. Laying two napkins down, she places the glasses on top. “Food’s served ‘til ten. You need to order at the bar.”
“Got it,” I nod and watch her walk away quickly, disappearing behind a door and out of view. I roll my lips inwards to stifle the chuckle that wants to slip out and head back to Silas with the drinks.
“What the fuck are you grinning at?” He grunts, taking the drink from my hand. “It’s weird.”
“You know who she is?”
“Who?”
“The girl who served me.”
“Niamh?” Silas glances back to the bar, but the woman hasn’t returned from wherever she went to hide.
“Niamh.” I repeat her name, letting the sound roll over my tongue. Should have figured she’d have a pretty name to match.
“Mm,” He nods. “Niamh Calloway, this is her place.”
There’s an unfamiliar heat unfurling in my gut as I stare at my brother.
How does he know who she is? It doesn’t matter that my brother practically knows everything that happens in this town, that’s his thing after all, it only matters that he knows who she is and I don’t understand why that bothers me.
“Why?” He pries, sensing the switch.
Fucker.
Rolling my shoulders, I lift my drink to my lips to take a sip. “I caught her at the falls.” I leave out the part where I then sought her out and watched her take her clothes off.
“For fuck’s sake,” Silas huffs. “I’ll have someone out there to check the fences.”
“Don’t bother,” I push away that uncomfortable feeling, keeping my eye on the door she disappeared through. “She’s harmless.”
“It’s trespassing.”
“She’s swimming, not stealing.”
She finally returns, plates of food in her hands, which she delivers to a table at the other end of the bar.
One of her customers says something to her, and her face breaks out into one of the most breathtaking smiles I’ve ever seen, dimples sinking into her cheeks as the corners of her eyes crease.
“Is there something you’re not telling me?” Silas presses.
“What?” I scoff, “No.”
But an idea is forming, one that may save me and the ranch.
“You want food?” I ask.
“Sure,” Silas answers and selects something from the menu, but he stops me before I can go up and order. “What are you thinking?”
“Not sure yet,” I admit and head up to the bar, catching her attention. She looks around, but no one is available to serve me, so she has to do it. There are blotches of color on her cheeks and trepidation in every step she takes to close the gap between us. “What can I get you?”
“How long have you been doing it?”
Her throat bobs, “A while.”
“Define a while,” I press.
“Is that important?” There’s a slight snap to her tone now, her defenses coming up quick and sharp. I like it.
I shrug, “It could be.”
“What does it matter anyway?” She frowns across the bar at me. “You have all that land! I’m not hurting anyone.”
“Well, it is trespassing.” I remind her, “And last I checked, that is illegal.”
A muscle in her jaw ticks, “You know what, this is my bar, and I can choose who I serve. You can leave.”
“Um, Niamh?” Another server catches her attention, a small woman with black curly hair and round glasses that she pushes up her nose. “Can I talk to you?”
“The door’s there,” She tells me, flicking her eyes to the exit before she turns to the woman. “See yourself out.”
I don’t of course, instead I watch them, the black-haired woman frantically saying something to Niamh under her breath, eyes comically wide.
Niamh looks over her shoulder back at me, and I can see that fire brewing, her anger at me turning her eyes a few shades darker.
I lean my hip on the bar and give her a smile, but all that does is serve to piss her off even further.
I wonder how I can get a dimpled smile thrown my way, but it would probably help if I didn’t try to piss her off.
That fire though…it’s refreshing. There are no forced or fake encounters with her, and I like that.
It will also work for me.
With a heavy sigh that lifts her shoulders, she returns to me, “What do you want?” She speaks through gritted teeth and taps on the screen to place my order.
“How about a smile?” I try my luck.
“How about fuck you?” She glares at me.
“Niamh,” Her friend hisses, and she huffs, throwing her head back in frustration. But still, there is no smile.
She stares at me blankly while I reel off my order and doesn’t stick around to chat any further, though I can see her watching, flicking her eyes to me as I reach into my pocket and pull out a hundred to slip it into the tip jar left on the bar.
She rolls her eyes hard, and all I can do is chuckle while I head back to my brother.
“What did you do to her?” Silas winces.
“I don’t even know,” I lean back in the booth and take a sip of my whiskey. “How easy would it be to get some information about her?”
“Niamh?” He frowns, “What kind of information?”
I think about it, what I’m going to need, and answer, “Not the legal kind.”
While we try not to use unethical practices, I can’t in good faith, confirm that we are entirely clean. You can’t remain on top doing that, but I do limit how bad it gets. A little digging into someone isn’t the worst thing that’s happened.
“Why?”
“She’s perfect.” I tell him.
“To marry you?” He laughs out loud.
“Yes, because she doesn’t like me.”
“And you don’t want your wife to like you?”
“No, it’ll be easier if she doesn’t. Give us a clean break when the twelve months are up and no hard feelings.”
“I’m not sure she’s going to agree to marry you, Roman.”
“That’s why I want the information.” I hold my tongue as one of the servers drops off our food and wait until they’re way out of earshot to continue. “There might be something there I could use to convince her.”
“Ah,” Silas shakes his head, stabbing his food with his fork. “What a perfect way to start a healthy marriage. With bribery.”
“Not a real marriage,” I shrug, glancing back at her.
“And if she has nothing we can use?”
“Everyone has something.”
Five hundred thousand dollars’ worth of debt, give or take. Final notices supplied and a very real risk of her losing her bar. Niamh Calloway is in trouble with no way out, which is perfect for me.
“It looks like a lot of medical debt,” Silas informs me.
“Her?”
“Her father,” He scrolls on his laptop, “He passed away twelve months ago. But she’s got loans against the bar, credit cards, the whole lot.”
“Why would she be so reckless?” I wonder out loud.
“She was trying to save her father. She was his guarantor, looks like he’d been ill for quite some time before he passed.”
“And no other relatives?” I pry.
“Not based on this family history, she’s an only child. Her mom took off when she was young, and her father became her primary carer until she turned eighteen. No college education and has been here her whole life. She opened Sunstone Saloon five years ago with him.”
I run my finger along my bottom lip as I process the information.
Money. She needs money. Money that I have.
“Call our lawyer,” I meet his eyes, “Have him draw up a contract for her to sign.”
“What are you thinking?”
“I’m going to give her a way out.”
“Pay her debts.” Silas nods. “It might work.”
“She’d be stupid not to take the offer.”
“Or she just dislikes you that much.”
“Call the damn lawyer.”
“It’s two a.m.”
“If he wants to keep getting his fee every month, he’ll answer the phone. I want a contract by ten tomorrow. We can work on the details on a call first thing.”
“I can see why she doesn’t like you.”
I glare at him, but he just shrugs and pulls his cell out of his pocket before he heads out, likely back to his house. It’s on the property, but it gives him the privacy he craves, and it leaves the ranch house to me. Remy has a cabin here too, out in the woods, but he’s rarely home to use it.
If this works out, there might just be one more person here to call this place home.