Shot Gun Grooms: Lucas's Convenient Bride / Jackson's Mail Order Bride. Maureen Child

just as tall, big and stubborn as his brother, shook his head. “I ain’t gonna take a wife. If some lawyer wants to think the mine don’t belong to me, let him come and try to take it.” Jackson grinned. “Or better yet, let him try to move me off the land.”

      With his too-long hair and untrimmed beard, Jackson looked as wild as a bear. Lucas knew his brother was also as strong as the ornery critter. Damn. Lucas was willing to take on just about any man in a fight, but with Jackson, he knew the match was nearly dead even. Which meant neither one was going to win and both of them would end up sore in the morning. He didn’t mind the pain as long as it accomplished something.

      “There’s more at stake than the mine,” Lucas reminded him. “What about the saloon and the ranch?”

      Jackson looked uncomfortable. “They belong to us. It’s wrong to say otherwise.”

      “It might be wrong, but the terms of Uncle Simon’s will state things real clear.” Lucas tried to swallow his frustration. He leaned across the table and stared at his brother. “I’m not asking you to marry for real, just take a temporary bride for a few weeks.”

      Jackson grunted. “Is that what you did? I heard you married that schoolteacher. What happened to your fancy mail-order bride?”

      “She wasn’t fancy and she changed her mind.”

      Jackson chuckled with amusement. “She get a look at you and turn tail?”

      “She never got on the train.”

      “Someone must have told her you were an ugly cuss.” He flicked his fingers toward Lucas’s bright purple vest and grinned. “She was probably worried about her husband dressing better than her. What does your bride think about you, Lucas?”

      “I have no idea,” Lucas said honestly. Not that he spent much time thinking about Emily’s opinion of him. “We get along.”

      Which was a surprise. He hadn’t thought about her one way or the other until he’d realized she was the answer to his problem. He still considered their marriage one of convenience. However, he found himself enjoying her company more than he would have thought possible.

      “She’s a bit on the skinny side,” Jackson said, pouring himself another drink. Then he leaned back in his chair. Unlike Lucas, who always dressed in a clean white shirt, dark trousers and a colorful vest, Jackson preferred denim jeans and wool shirts. “Not real pretty and she walks like she’s got some kind of stick—”

      Lucas moved with the swiftness of a rattler. One second he was sitting in his chair, the next he’d reached across the table and grabbed his brother’s shirt in his hand.

      “Apologize,” he growled. “Apologize or we’ll take it outside.”

      Jackson glanced around at the bar. “You always did hate a fight in your place.”

      “I don’t like paying for the damage.” Lucas didn’t allow himself to be distracted. “Which is it to be?”

      Jackson raised both beefy hands. “I apologize. I didn’t mean to disrespect your wife. I also didn’t know that you had a soft spot for her.”

      Lucas released him and slowly settled back into his chair. Anger still raced through him and he had to take deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself down.

      “I don’t have a soft spot, but I won’t tolerate you speaking about her that way.”

      Jackson frowned. “Tolerate? Why’re you talking like that, Lucas?” Then his smile returned. “I suppose it comes from spending so much time in the company of a schoolteacher.”

      Lucas ignored his brother and took a drink of the whiskey.

      “Maybe when all this is over, you’ll find yourself wanting to stay hitched,” Jackson teased.

      “Not likely.”

      Not ever was the real answer, he thought grimly. His marriage to Emily was strictly about the will. He would admit that he liked her a whole lot more than he’d thought he would. She was kind, taking in both Alice and Mary, and giving Hep a job. She was smart as a whip and as fervent as a preacher when it came to her plans. And she kissed finer than a skinny, spinster schoolteacher had the right to kiss. Lucas would have bet a hundred dollars in gold that he’d been the first man to taste her lips and yet she’d left him shaken and aroused. Which was why, despite how much he wanted to, he hadn’t done it again.

      But, even ignoring his attraction and the fact that she was someone very special, their marriage couldn’t last.

      He looked at his brother. “She doesn’t know,” he said quietly. “About what happened.”

      Jackson didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to. They’d never kept secrets from each other and their war experiences were no exception.

      Jackson raised his glass. “To my little brother. And his bride.”

      Before Lucas could respond, Jackson was scrambling to his feet and running his free hand through his messy hair. Lucas turned around and saw that Emily had entered the saloon. She rarely came into his place of business, preferring to wave to him from the open door of the office or send in one of the boys always lurking about.

      But it was relatively early in the day and there weren’t very many customers.

      Lucas motioned her forward, then put his arm around her. “Emily, this is my brother, Jackson MacIntyre. Jackson, my wife.”

      Jackson shifted uncomfortably. He reached for his hat, then realized he wasn’t wearing one. “Ma’am. It’s a real pleasure, I’m sure.”