“We’ll need it more at the ranch.” Reese chuckled.
“Don’t you have a bed at the ranch?” The idea was appalling.
And after seeing the town of Cheyenne, it made her wonder what sort of primitive conditions she might find at the ranch.
“Not at the moment. It’s on the wagon.”
“That’s your bed? The one you sleep in at home?”
“Uh huh,” he grunted.
“You had it dismantled and put in the railroad car to use on your trip?” She couldn’t comprehend the extravagance.
“Uh huh.”
“Couldn’t you have simply purchased a bed for the train?”
“It has one. I had it taken off and my bed put on,” Reese told her.
“Why, for heaven’s sake?”
Charlie began to laugh. Reese’s eyes narrowed. He
shook his head in warning.
His uncle paid the warning no heed. “That bed belonged to Reese’s father and mother,” Charlie explained to Faith. “It was their marriage bed. Reese was born in that bed. He wanted to be able to share it with you on your wedding night.”
Faith blushed.
Reese stared moodily at the reins laced between his gloved fingers.
“Is that true?” Faith asked him.
He refused to answer.
She tried again. “How did you know I would agree to…marry you?” She stumbled over the words.
“Ma’am,” Sam chuckled, “we all knew Reese was going to Washington to find a bride. Once he decided he wanted you, you didn’t stand a chance. Reese always gets what he wants. If he makes up his mind to get something, nothing is gonna stop him. Right, Reese?”
“Shut up, Sam,” Reese ordered.
“Then it’s true. You planned everything, from the beginning?Christmas, the railroad car, the bed, everything!” Faith’s words were low, sharp with pain and a deep sense of betrayal. “You planned everything.”
“Blast it, of course, I planned! I don’t do anything without a plan of attack.”
“Really?” Her tone was enough to give him frostbite. “Did you plan the attack on my purse? Did you hire that thief so I’d have no alternative but to accept your terms?”
“Hell, no!” Reese was hurt by her accusation. “I did not hire a thief to steal your purse. I wasn’t that desperate.”
“But you took advantage of the situation.” She focused her serious, gray gaze on him.
“Yes.” Reese admitted. “I used every means at my disposal to get you to agree to”?he quickly glanced at his cousin Sam and his uncle Charlie, who were avidly eavesdropping?“marry me.”
“You used bribes?dinners, Christmas gifts, money.”
“Yes.”
“Well, you succeeded,” Faith announced. “You should be very proud of yourself.”