Marianne's Marriage of Convenience by Lynna Banning

Author:Lynna Banning
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2018-04-13T18:09:50+00:00

Chapter Eighteen

The Wednesday edition of the Lake County Lark carried not only the advertisement for Collingwood Boots Marianne and Lance had devised but an extra-long feature-length story about the upcoming Fourth of July horse race, written by editor Cole Sanders. Lance spread the front page out on the cutting table in the shop, and he and Marianne pored over every word.

“Marianne, just listen to this,” he said as they bent over the paper. “‘The horse-racing competition sponsored by Collingwood Boots promises to be the highlight of the July Fourth celebration. A junior boys competition and a women’s race will be included in the festivities, with prizes donated by Collingwood Boots. So far, seventy-five riders have signed up to compete.’”

Seventy-five riders, Marianne thought, calculating anew the entry fees that would accrue to the business. “Why, that’s almost four hundred dollars! That should buy enough cowhide to keep Abe busy for some time.”

And, she thought with a spurt of enthusiasm, it would also pay for at least one advertisement in a Brooks and Cassidy dime novel.

* * *

The very next morning Eugenia Ridley was back. For a moment Marianne wondered if the woman had changed her mind about riding in the horse race, but that thought evaporated within the first three minutes of her visit. Mrs. Ridley twitched her skirt and leaned toward her in a conspiratorial manner.

“Yesterday when I visited your establishment I noticed something disturbing,” Eugenia intoned direfully.

“Oh? What was that?”

“You should be more careful, dearie. Perhaps you hadn’t noticed, but there was an Indian boy skulking around your shop.”

“Skulking! Excuse me, Mrs. Ridley, but Sammy Greywolf is certainly not ‘skulking.’ Sammy is employed here at Collingwood Boots.”

The woman’s thin eyebrows went up. “Really?”

“Yes, really,” Marianne replied sharply.

“Well, I never! I never would have thought—You do know he is an...? Oh, dear, there is simply no way to sugarcoat this. The boy is a savage!”

Marianne stared at her, feeling her hands close into hard fists.

“And—” Mrs. Ridley took a step closer “—that old man in the back? My gracious sakes, he is a black man.”

“Yes,” Marianne said, her voice tight, “he is.”

“Dearie, you know as well as I do that until a few years ago his people were slaves, shiftless and uneducated. You shouldn’t trust him.”

Marianne had to work to keep her voice calm. “On the contrary, Mrs. Ridley. Abraham Garland has been the foreman here at Collingwood Boots for twenty years. As for being shiftless, if it were not for Mr. Garland’s hard work, Collingwood Boots would have gone bankrupt years ago. And,” she added with a bite in her tone, “Abe is not uneducated. Mr. Garland owns more books than my husband and I do between us.”

Eugenia Ridley worked her rather prominent jaw back and forth but said nothing.

“Did you wish to withdraw from the July Fourth competition?” Marianne asked in her sweetest tone.

The woman drew herself up to her full height, which Marianne judged could be no more than five feet. “Certainly not,” she exclaimed. “Why would I do that?”

“Mrs.

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