Bear's Fake Bride (Shifter Marriage Service 2)

In the morning, the people would once again arrive for work and the ranch would burst back to life. Several weeks passed where each day was pretty much the same. Rise early, get her work in the stables done and return to the house to implement the changes she had slowly been making there. She smiled forlornly at the lovely curtains being hung by some members of the clan, up on ladders to place the heavy blue and antique gold jacquard panels.

“Where did the light go?” one of the guys joked from a sofa in the large front room.

The room was rarely completely empty in the afternoons. Men came in here to grab a rest from their work on the ranch. They had a cup of coffee or a glass of something cold to drink in their spare time. It was open to all to do so. By late afternoon, it would clear.

“I don’t know, but I’m glad it’s gone,” someone else laughed. “It’s about time someone covered those windows to keep it from roasting us while we’re trying to cool off.”

“Yeah, but now I can’t read,” the first one said, standing up and moving to the opposite side of the room, where light still filtered in.

Kay noted this with a frown. The curtains gave the room a cozier look and could be opened back up with the attached pulley system when wanted, but it did make it considerably darker and when she got the ones up on the opposite windows, it would be nearly black in here, unless the lights were turned on.

“Automatic lighting,” Bradley said, walking into the room and looking around.

“Huh?” she puzzled.

“Lights with a sensor, so that they adjust to a certain level of light dependent on the current amount getting into the room. They would come on when you close the curtains rather than having to turn the overhead lights on and having it look like a surgeon is working in here. Sort of takes away from what you’re trying to do if it’s lit up like an operating room.”

“Sounds expensive,” she replied.

“Not if you know the right people. I’ll call my buddy when you get the other curtains up and he can work it out with you.”

“Thanks,” she replied.

“Anything for my lovely wife,” he said with a smile that oozed charm...and deceit.

She smiled briefly back in his direction before redirecting her attention to the curtain installation. It was nearly pitch black with them all hung. Kay walked over and flipped on the light switch, flooding the room with a shocking amount of luminance. Groaning, she turned them back off and opened each of the drapes to allow just the right amount of light inside.

“It looks very nice,” a woman’s voice commented from nearby.

“Thank you. I’m sorry. I don’t remember having met you before.”

“No. I don’t come in here very much. I just wanted to introduce myself and say hello. My name is Maggie.”

“Very nice to meet you, Maggie.”

“Likewise. I like that you are fixing up this place. It was always a bit too austere for my taste.”

“Do you come here a good bit?”

“No. Not in the past few years. My sister and I used to be here all the time together, but after she died, I hardly stepped into the place.”

“I’m sorry. Has it been long?”

“Long enough for Bradley to finally move on, I guess.”

Kay’s smile faded. The woman had not come here for a break or business, this was a personal mission. She had come to see Bradley’s new wife, the one who had replaced her sister, from the sound of it. She studied her face. There was no malice in her gaze, only a sadness that seemed to envelope her.

“I’m Kay,” she said, extending a hand to the young woman.

“Nice to meet you, Kay. Take good care of him. He deserves it,” Maggie replied before turning to go.

“Maggie?” Kay called out, without knowing why.

The girl turned to look at her, long dark hair falling over her shoulders. She was stunning, dark and exotic looking. Kay found herself wondering what her sister had looked like. Was she as beautiful? Then, unexpectedly, she felt just a pang of jealousy.

“Thank you for stopping by. Please come back any time you’d like.”

“I appreciate the invitation, but I won’t be back. It’s too hard.”

Kay stood watching her leave and then turned to find herself looking at a member of the clan named Trevor. He looked just as stricken as she felt.

“I never thought she’d step foot through these doors again,” he said.

“Bad memories?”

“The worst.”

“How so?” Kay asked, finding herself more than a bit curious.

“No. That’s a tale your husband will have to tell you when he’s ready,” Trevor replied, grabbing his cap from the table beside him. “I’ve got to get going.”

Kay looked around to find that the handful of people who had been lingering had all disappeared. It was a ghost town, in more than one sense of the word, it would seem. She walked toward the staircase and made her way upstairs to her room, feeling out of sorts for reasons she couldn’t quite put her finger on. It was hours later before she ventured out again, making her way downstairs for dinner.