The Scoundrel. Lisa Plumley

nodded, encouraging her. Perhaps foolishly.

      “You need someone with fortitude,” she opined.

      Another nod.

      “Someone who’s organized,” she offered. “Someone who’s efficient and orderly.”

      He made a face. “I’m not opening a mercantile. I’m getting hitched.”

      Noncommittally, she shelved another book. Daniel was taking this far too seriously. Ordinarily, the two of them teased each other often. But this time…a prickle of unease nagged at her. Could Daniel really mean to find himself a wife?

      Before Sarah could contemplate the matter further, a rustle at the schoolhouse doorway alerted her to another presence in the room. She didn’t need to turn around to know who it was.

      “Hello, Emily.”

      The nine-year-old girl murmured a quiet greeting.

      “Your slate is there at your desk, right where you left it. I thought you might be back for it.”

      “Thank you, Miss Crabtree.”

      Emily snatched up her slate and ran out, pigtails flying. Satisfied, Sarah blew a dust mote from her shelf and resumed working.

      Below her, Daniel glanced out the window. Emily—one hand protectively on her hair—was making her way cautiously around Eli. After she’d passed, the boy went back to hopping.

      “How did you know who that was?” Daniel asked. “You didn’t even turn around.”

      She shrugged. “This is my job. Just like your new mercantile will be your job. Yours and your organized new bride’s.”

      He did not take the bait. He only went on discussing his impending marriage…as though it might actually take place.

      “All I need is a woman who’s amenable,” Daniel said, his usual certainty firmly in place. “And knowledgeable about children. That should be easy enough to find.”

      Sarah rammed in another volume. She’d had just about enough. A jest was a jest, but this… Daniel was beginning to sound downright resolute about finding a wife. Even worse, he’d already rejected her as a candidate! No matter that he didn’t know it yet. Those wifely qualities she’d suggested to him—bravery, fortitude and keen skills in the areas of organization, efficiency and order? They happened to be some of her personal best. He’d dismissed them out of hand.

      A woman who’s amenable. And knowledgeable about children.

      Hmmph. She possessed plenty of amenability. And who could be more knowledgeable about children than a schoolmarm?

      It wasn’t that she wanted to make herself a potential candidate. Not exactly. Not for an arrangement like this. Sarah wanted a love match. She wanted Daniel. She’d already made up her mind to wait until she could have both. This new scheme of his was trying her patience in the extreme, though.

      Experimentally, she plastered an amenable simper on her face. She glanced down to gauge its effect.

      Daniel looked oblivious. He’d crossed his arms over his broad chest and was studying the pine plank floorboards.

      “She should be passing fair to look at, too,” he said decisively, adding another item to the list of his potential wife’s qualifications. “That wouldn’t hurt.”

      His anticipatory chuckle got her dander up. Sarah shoved in the next book. There were any number of women who were “passing fair to look at” in Morrow Creek. Not one of them was good enough for Daniel. Or Eli, for that matter.

      She’d obviously have to do something about this. Scuttling her plans to give Daniel time to realize the obvious—that they were meant for each other—Sarah set her expression in a dubious frown. The amenable simper hadn’t felt a natural fit, anyway.

      “Having a wife might help,” she agreed as she put away a book of poetry. “But on the other hand…”

      At her hesitation, Daniel squinted upward impatiently. Just as she’d known he would.

      “Out with it, Sarah. ‘On the other hand,’ what?”

      “On the other hand, planning a wedding can require an awful lot of time. Time you don’t have, as you pointed out yourself.”

      “Fine. I’ll let my bride plan the wedding.”

      Oh, that would be lovely! Seduced by the very thought, Sarah let her imagination run unchecked. Visions of a fairy-tale wedding swirled in her head—a wedding between her and Daniel. Her imagination dressed her in her finest gown and Daniel in a fancy suit. Eli carried flowers. The whole of Morrow Creek gathered for a celebration fit to rival even her sister Molly’s grandiose marriage to Marcus Copeland last month.

      She would serve spice cake from her sister’s bakery, Sarah determined, and memorize all her vows….

      “Because I don’t have time to waste,” Daniel said, interrupting her reverie. “Eli needs a woman’s influence. Now.”

      Her daydream popped like so many soapsuds. But perhaps there was still a way to salvage this situation.

      “Are you sure there’s not more to it than that?” Sarah glanced downward. Her heart squeezed painfully at the sight of him. “Maybe there’s another reason you want a wife.”

      Like love. Longing. An overly delayed realization that your ideal partner has been here all along, alphabetizing dusty tomes about literature and history.

      He scoffed. She wanted to kick herself for voicing the question at all. Aggravated, Sarah shelved the next book. She often forgot herself around Daniel. They’d been friends for so long.

      Her family always said that her tendency to ignore the obvious—usually in favor of some dreamy notions of her own—would get her in trouble someday. Dangling her lovelorn hopes in front of a confirmed bachelor like Daniel McCabe most definitely counted as trouble.

      Well. She’d simply stop doing that, then. Easy as that.

      “Steady my ladder, would you, please?” Sarah asked briskly, needing very much to move on. “I want to grab that next pile.”

      Instead of doing as she’d asked, Daniel slid the stack of books from her desk himself. Effortlessly, he offered up the heavy volumes one by one. Then he absently steadied her ladder with both big hands on a lower rung. She felt its wooden frame wobble with the impact, then turn as solid as the earth beneath Eli’s kicking feet.

      That was Daniel, Sarah reflected. He set her off balance without even knowing it…yet always remained nearby for her to rely upon.

      Although she’d never have revealed as much to him, his presence was the aspect of her day she looked forward to most. Between planning lessons, grading schoolwork and traversing the path between her schoolhouse and the Crabtrees’ lively household, Daniel was always in her thoughts. Without him, her days would feel half as sunny…and twice as lonely.

      An unwelcome thought occurred to her. What if he found a disagreeable wife? One who disapproved of their friendship?

      Obviously, she could not leave such an important decision up to Daniel. Sarah decided to return to the reason for his newfound interest in matrimony—the wayward boy he’d found unexpectedly in his charge.

      “About Eli,” she began. “I know you’ve had your share of troubles with him, but I’m not so certain he needs a woman’s influence. After all, you’re a capable man who—”

      “Does my smithing fire need its pit to contain it?”

      Oh, dear.

      “I’ve decided,” Daniel said. “That’s that.”

      No. That most definitely wasn’t “that.” It couldn’t be. If Daniel got himself a wife, he’d be lost to her forever. Desperately, Sarah cast about for another tactic.