The Schoolmarm's Convenient Marriage by Regina Scott

Author:Regina Scott [Scott, Regina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: frontier romance, historical romance, humor, marriage of convenience, romance clean and wholesome
Publisher: Edwards and Williams
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

***

That look. Part independence and part pride, and for him alone. A man could get used to that.

It was a little hard to get used to this much help, though. He was generally the one folks called on for help, so to find his friends gathered on his behalf was a little unnerving. And they all seemed to have questions.

“What color do you want the door?” the blacksmith asked, rattling the iron latch he’d brought with him. “We might as well paint it before we put on the other pieces.”

“Blue,” Alice said, passing with a bucket of water and cups for the workers.

“Blue,” Jesse said with a smile. “That sounds nice.”

“Where do you want us to put the window for the bedroom?” Harry asked, wiping sweat from his brow with the back of one hand. The sun had stayed out all day, as if offering a blessing to their work.

“Front?” Jesse mused.

“East,” Alice said, bringing John and Levi another cask of nails for the floor. “So we’ll get the morning sun.”

“And know when to wake up,” Jesse said. “Smart.”

“East it is,” Harry said. “Though I’m not sure I’d want to get out of bed so early.” He winked at Jesse.

They took a break at midday for the food Ciara had brought, then went right back at it. He was used to working all day, yet even his muscles were starting to protest. He wasn’t sure how, except that Alice kept them all on task, but as the sun started slanting through the trees, they finished the cabin. They’d had to lever the last few upper logs into place on the second room, and it had taken five of them to put the shake roof over it. But it stood level and true, with curtains at the window, the glass for which James Wallin had had Zeke bring up from the mercantile.

“But don’t lean against it for a few days,” he’d advised Jesse as Drew and Harry had put it into place. “It will take a while for that mortar to set up.”

Now Drew stood in front of the house, one arm about Catherine. “I’d be proud to bring my wife home to that.”

Jesse slipped his arm around Alice’s waist. “Me too.”

He thought she might pull away, but she beamed at him. “Our home.”

Something swelled in his heart. He decided to think of it as pride, for now.

The only things that hadn’t been finished were the furnishings. Ciara had donated one of the smaller tables from the restaurant, and Simon had provided two chairs for it. Rina had told Alice to take her bed and things from the schoolhouse, but Jesse knew he’d have to build a second bed, long enough for him to stretch out. Enough smaller logs were left that he should be able to put together a frame. But, for at least another night or two, they would have to make do with Alice’s room.

He’d seen no bathing tub or even space to store it, but he knew he needed to rinse off before he climbed into his bedding.

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