“Fair.”
Evelyn blinked.
“That’s it?”
“What else?”
“Most men argue.”
“I've got fence enough to argue with.”
He picked up the hammer again.
Evelyn watched him.
“You really can cook?”
“Yes.”
“Well?”
“No.”
That startled a laugh out of her.
It escaped before she could stop it.
Jonah looked over.
The corner of his mouth moved.
Not quite a smile.
Evelyn immediately became serious again.
He returned to the fence.
“If you're determined to work today, there's laundry behind the house.”
“I can do that.”
“And eggs.”
“I can collect eggs.”
“Don't trust the red hen.”
“What?”
“She hates everybody.”
“That seems unreasonable.”
“She was raised badly.”
Evelyn almost smiled again.
For the first half of the morning, she worked.
Not because Jonah demanded it.
Because work restored shape to the day.
She washed shirts.
Swept the porch.
Collected eggs.
Burned one finger on the stove while attempting biscuits because Jonah had been truthful about his cooking.
He could feed himself.
He could not make bread fit for human beings.
At noon, they ate together at the kitchen table.
Jonah did not sit at the head.
He sat opposite her.
That was another detail Evelyn noticed.
She had begun collecting details.
The way he announced himself before entering the stable loft even during daylight.
The way he never stood between her and a door.
The way he asked before touching her valise.
The way he placed money for supplies on the kitchen counter and told her exactly how much was there.
Men who wanted control tended to hide information.
Jonah seemed almost aggressively transparent.
That made Evelyn nervous.
She finally put down her fork.
“Tell me.”
Jonah looked up.
“What?”
“Why you need a wife.”
He chewed.
Swallowed.
Then leaned back.
“You want the practical answer or the true one?”
“Those should be the same.”
“They aren't always.”
“Start practical.”
Jonah looked toward the window.
“My father left the ranch jointly to me and my younger brother, Samuel.”
“Where is Samuel?”
“Dead.”
The word came without ornament.
Evelyn waited.
“Three winters ago.”
“I’m sorry.”
Jonah nodded once.
“Samuel's share goes to his son when the boy turns eighteen.”
“You have a nephew?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Cheyenne with his mother's family.”
“How old?”
“Ten.”
Evelyn frowned.
“That explains inheritance.”
“Not marriage.”
“No.”
Jonah folded his hands.
“My father didn't trust me.”
“Why?”
“I didn't marry young enough.”
She stared.
“That was his concern?”
“He had many.”
Jonah’s mouth tightened.
“He believed unmarried men eventually drank themselves useless or gambled away land.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Did that change his opinion?”
“No.”
She almost smiled.
Jonah continued.
“The deed has a condition.”
“Of course it does.”
“If I die unmarried and without legal household succession, management passes to my cousin Silas until Samuel's boy comes of age.”
“And you dislike Silas.”
“I would rather hand the ranch to the coyotes.”
“That sounds personal.”
“It is.”
“Why?”
“Because Silas sells anything that can't run faster than his creditors.”
Evelyn stared at Jonah.
“So you're offering marriage to keep your cousin from controlling the ranch?”
“Partly.”
“Partly?”
Jonah was quiet.
“There is another reason.”
Her stomach tightened.
There it was.
The secret.
Jonah stood.
He walked toward the doorway.
Then stopped as if changing his mind.
“When my first wife came here, she was running too.”
Evelyn's hand froze beside her cup.
Jonah did not face her.
“Her name was Clara.”
“You loved her?”
“Yes.”
The answer came quickly.
That surprised Evelyn.
Jonah continued.
“Not the way people assumed.”
He turned.
“Clara arrived here at nineteen.”
“Her stepfather had been trying to sell her into a marriage that would settle his debts.”
Evelyn's throat tightened.
“She escaped.”
“Yes.”
“She came here?”
“She came to town.”
“The preacher's wife knew me.”
“She asked whether I could give Clara work.”
Evelyn stared.
Jonah continued.
“Silas found out.”
“He spread stories.”
“Said Clara was immoral.”
“Said I was keeping her.”
“At the time, a single woman living on a ranch with an unmarried man didn't get much mercy from respectable people.”
“So you married her.”
“Yes.”
Evelyn's eyes narrowed.
“And?”
Jonah understood what she was asking.
“No.”
She said nothing.
“We never shared a bed.”
Her breath stopped.
“Never?”
“No.”
“Five years?”
“Four.”
“She died five years ago.”
“What happened?”
“Pneumonia.”
Evelyn looked toward the closed bedroom door across the hall.
Jonah followed her gaze.
“That room was hers.”
“You haven't used it?”
“No.”
“Why?”
He considered.
“Because I don't need another bedroom.”
“That isn't the real reason.”
“No.”
Evelyn waited.
Jonah looked down at his hands.
“When Clara first arrived, men had already taught her that every kindness had a price.”
Evelyn's chest tightened.
“She expected mine would too.”
“It didn't.”
“No.”
Jonah’s voice became quieter.
“For the first year, she slept with a chair under the door handle.”
“Even after we married.”
“I knew because I heard it scrape every night.”
Evelyn said nothing.
“I never told her I knew.”
Jonah continued.
“She started leaving it away from the door around the second winter.”
“That was the closest thing we had to a wedding night.”
Evelyn looked away.
Something behind her ribs hurt.
Not pity.
Recognition.
Jonah leaned both hands against the table.
“You asked yesterday if wife was a polite word for what I expected in bed.”
“Yes.”
“I told you no.”
He looked directly at her now.
“I meant it.”
Evelyn swallowed.
“So why marry again?”
“Because you need protection.”
Her expression hardened instantly.
Jonah saw.
“And because I need legal stability for the ranch.”
“Better.”
He nodded.
“You hate being rescued.”
“Yes.”
“So don't call it rescue.”
“What should I call it?”
“A bargain.”
Evelyn studied him.
“What do you get?”
“A legal household.”
“Someone I trust on the property.”
“Someone who can keep accounts better than I can, if what you said about clerical work is true.”
“And maybe, someday, a family.”
There it was.
Her shoulders stiffened.
Jonah raised a hand.
“Someday is not part of the bargain.”
“Then why say it?”
“Because you asked what I want.”
Evelyn stood.
Her chair scraped.
“I'm not Clara.”
“I know.”
“You don't get to marry another frightened woman and pretend you're saving her.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
Jonah did not move.
Evelyn’s voice rose.
“I won't spend the rest of my life owing a man because he found me bleeding at his gate.”
“You won't.”
“You cannot promise that.”