“Greta and me ain’t having a babe,” he blurted out. “And that’s ’cause we haven’t been living as man and wife. I’ve been staying in the barn.”
Next to him Greta stiffened. From the murmurs rippling around the crowded room, he guessed he’d surprised everyone. The empathy on Steele’s face faded as confusion rolled in.
Wyatt reckoned he should have shared the good news about Astrid first, but what was done was done. And he may as well finish saying his piece. “I know I broke our part of the bargain, Steele. But that’s okay. I’m putting an end to it today. I’ll figure out another way to get my cattle without using Greta as part of the deal.”
Steele’s expression didn’t transform into anger or indignation. Instead, the gentleman glanced to his companion at the table. In a stovepipe hat and dark suit, the other fella sat with his back toward Wyatt. Something about the newcomer seemed familiar, but Wyatt couldn’t focus on anything else but making sure Steele understood the truth.
Steele’s attention returned to Wyatt, his eyes narrowing. “So if you haven’t been living as man and wife, does that mean you didn’t consummate your marriage?”
Greta sucked in a mortified breath.
“Blast it all, Steele,” Wyatt hissed, cocking his head at Greta. “Now ain’t the time to get vulgar, not with a lady present.”
“But if she’s been living with you more like a boarder and not a wife, then there’s still hope for me to rectify my mistake.”
A lasso wound around Wyatt’s middle and cinched tight. “What mistake?”
“The mistake of giving away Mr. Hallock’s bride.”
The gentleman in the chair finally stood and turned. Wyatt took a rapid step back. The balding man with his vest stretched taut over his well-rounded midsection was none other than Phineas Hallock.
Greta swayed and would have collapsed if Wyatt hadn’t grabbed her arm and held her steady.
“Hallock?” Wyatt took in his friend’s kind face—a face he hadn’t seen since late last autumn when he’d ridden away to California to make purchases for his bride. His mail-order bride, Greta.
“Hello, Wyatt.” Hallock fumbled for a handkerchief from his vest pocket, pulled it out, and then blew his nose with the loud honking Wyatt remembered.
Greta’s arm started to shake beneath his hand, and her face was pale, making her eyes wider and more beautiful. She could only stare at Hallock as though seeing a ghost.
“Mr. Hallock arrived on the stage,” Steele said. “And I was just explaining to him that since we’d believed he was dead, we had no choice but to find an alternative for Miss Nilsson.”
Wyatt opened his mouth and tried to tell Steele that Greta wasn’t Miss Nilsson anymore. She was Mrs. McQuaid. But he couldn’t get the words out.
Hallock made thorough work of wiping his nose before he stuffed his handkerchief back into his vest pocket.
Steele clamped Hallock on the shoulder, making him flinch. “I was just apologizing profusely to Mr. Hallock and attempting to figure out how I could rectify the situation. Now it looks like I can do so by annulling your marriage to Miss Nilsson so Mr. Hallock can have his bride back.”
“Now, hold on, Steele,” Wyatt managed. “Who said anything about annulling the marriage?”
Steele pulled himself up taller. “You just came in here, canceled our deal, and admitted that you’ve been living in the barn. Since you don’t want her—”
“I never said I didn’t want her.”
“Looks that way to me.” Steele’s tone hardened and his eyes flashed with the anger Wyatt had been expecting. “And since she’s never really been yours to begin with, you need to do the right thing by Mr. Hallock and give her back.”
Next to him Greta was openly trembling.
Steele gentled his expression and finally spoke to Greta. “Is everything McQuaid said about your arrangement true?”
“Yes.” The word was a constricted whisper.
“You’ve been living as his housekeeper and not his wife?”
“Now, come on, Steele—”
“Let her answer.”
Wyatt rubbed the back of his neck, frustration and fury rising to tighten his muscles. This wasn’t working out at all the way he’d intended. In fact, it was going by the way of the boneyard fast.
“Have you been living as his housekeeper or his wife?” Steele said again.
She stared at the floor, her expression still mortified. “I guess it’s been more like a housekeeper.”
“There.” Steele smiled at Hallock. “See? It’ll all work out for the best after all.”
“Maybe so.” Hallock peeked shyly at Greta before he focused on his hands folded in front of him.
Wyatt had the sudden need to drag Greta out the door and home to the ranch as fast as he could. Greta was his. He loved her. They belonged together.
But what about Hallock?
Wyatt’s mind jumped back to the previous summer when the sluice box had been as empty as his belly. He’d been down in the mouth, sitting outside his tent taking off his wet socks and airing out his sore feet when he noticed several miners laughing and pushing someone around. Of course he hadn’t been able to sit idly by. He jumped up and elbowed his way into the fray, rescuing Hallock and in the process gaining an unlikely friend.
After that, Hallock had taken to inviting him to dinner at his newly constructed house several times a week. While they were complete opposites in nearly every possible way, Wyatt had come to see the good in the gentle-spirited man. He made sure the fellas gave Hallock the respect he was due. And Hallock made sure Wyatt had enough grub to fill him.
While Wyatt didn’t want to give up Greta, how could he keep from hurting this kind and trusting man?
“Don’t forget.” Steele narrowed his gaze upon Wyatt again. “Mr. Hallock’s the one who paid for Greta and Astrid to come to Fairplay. They’re indebted to him, not you. And if anyone deserves to have her as a bride, Hallock’s first in line.”
Steele was right. Wyatt wouldn’t have been able to afford their passage, not in a hundred years. But Hallock would be able to give Greta everything she needed and more. He’d find the best care for Astrid this side of the Mississippi. He could take her to Denver, pay for her treatment, and even hire a physician to come to Fairplay.
Sure as a gun, Greta and Astrid would be better off with Hallock.
Wyatt’s shoulders slumped. He couldn’t promise them anything, especially not after losing his herd as well as the cattle deal with Steele. As much as he loved Greta—in fact, because he loved her—he had to let her go.
How could he do anything less than release her from their vows and give her the better life she deserved?
Chapter 26
Greta was frozen in place. She wanted to run from the dining room and escape to some place far away, but she couldn’t make her feet or voice work.
Phineas Hallock wasn’t dead. He was very much alive and standing less than a dozen paces away.
He shifted, rubbed a hand across his nose, and then pulled out his handkerchief again.
Beneath her hand, she could feel the tension radiating from Wyatt’s arm. Although she’d expected him to speak with Mr. Steele at some point, she certainly hadn’t been ready for him to be so candid about the true nature of their relationship the moment they walked into the hotel.