A Convenient Christmas Wedding. Regina Scott

All he had to do was fend off her brother. If the man was half as controlling as she claimed, Simon looked forward to the confrontation. Any brother who denied his sister love deserved to be put in his place.

      Still, marriage? Out here, a man took a wife to continue his line and raise children to help in taming the wilderness. It certainly seemed to him that’s what his father had done. But it didn’t fall to Simon to continue the Wallin name. He had four brothers to take care of that.

      And it wasn’t exactly convenient to marry in Seattle. Even with Asa Mercer bringing his brides, there were still too many lonesome bachelors for every lady. He’d watched Drew fret over courting Catherine, seen James turn himself inside out to please his bride. But Simon wasn’t a man who changed easily. Just ask his family. They’d called him proud, stubborn and downright fussy on occasion.

      She must have sensed his vacillation, for she laid a hand on his arm. “Please, Mr. Wallin? I don’t think I could be so bold as to ask a stranger. I know I can trust you. Maddie speaks so highly of all your family.”

      Did she? Certainly he admired the feisty redhead who had achieved her dream of opening a bakery. But surely even she would not condone this marriage of convenience.

      “Did you ask her about this?” he replied.

      She shook her head, eyes solemn. “No. Never. She’d try to talk me out of it.”

      He should do the same. Nora trusted in him on the thinnest of connections. And how was he to know she wouldn’t abuse his trust? She wouldn’t be the first to disappoint him.

      But she may be the first to truly understand you.

      Where had that thought come from? He’d yet to find anyone who shared his views on life. His was the lone voice of reason some days at Wallin Landing. Therefore, he should evaluate this proposal on logic, not emotion.

      She was offering one hundred and sixty acres he badly needed and could get no other way. He was offering protection from an overbearing brother. They didn’t have to live together, make a family. He had enough problems with the family he had.

      It was all strictly platonic. They both achieved their goals with relatively little effort. What was wrong with that?

      Glancing up, he saw that nearly everyone else was busy eating. Not a one realized that two more lives were about to change forever, if Simon could bring himself to agree.

      His oldest brother laughed then, his deep voice like the toll of a bell. It had been a long time since Drew had laughed so freely. He’d sacrificed years of his life to raise his brothers and sister. Could Simon do less for his family?

      “Very well, Miss Underhill,” he said. “I’ll make the arrangements for us to wed. A lumber schooner is scheduled to arrive in Seattle on Tuesday. Meet me at the Brown Church that morning at ten, and we can travel to Olympia after the ceremony to file the claim.”

      She offered him her hand. “To our bargain.”

      Simon took it, felt the tremor in her fingers. She wasn’t any more sure of this marriage of convenience than he was.

      Had he just agreed to something they’d both live to regret?

       Chapter Two

      “Are you sure about this?” Levi demanded Tuesday morning. “From where I sit, girls are nothing but trouble.”

      Simon glanced at his youngest brother, whom he’d brought to stand as one of the witnesses to his wedding and then the land claim. Levi’s curly blond hair framed a face that could look remarkably innocent when Simon was sure his brother was plotting mischief. Now his dark blue eyes were narrowed, his hands shoved deep in the pockets of his gray wool trousers.

      “I’m sure,” Simon said, shifting on his feet as they stood in the vestibule of the church. John, his closest brother, had gone to fetch the minister while they waited for Nora to arrive. “We need the land. She needs a protector.”

      “If she won’t stand up to her own brother, she can’t have much spunk,” Levi declared. “Maybe that’s good. We had enough trouble with Ma and Beth, even before we added Catherine and Rina to the family.”

      Until the last year, his mother and younger sister had been the only females at the northern end of Lake Union, where his family had staked their claims. If Simon brought Nora home, the number of women and men would at last be even. That is, until Catherine gave birth.

      Still, Simon couldn’t deny that Nora’s confidence seemed to lag where her brother was concerned. Once again he looked forward to putting the fellow in his place. That was his side of their bargain, after all. He knew from experience that his height and angular features could serve to intimidate.

      A door to one side of the altar opened to admit John. His red hair flashed in the dim light as he loped down the dark box pews under the arches soaring overhead.

      “Mr. Bagley will be here shortly,” he reported as he came to a stop beside Simon and Levi and paused to adjust the starched collar of his dress shirt. “He seemed a little surprised you were in such a hurry. I told him why you needed to get to Olympia.”

      “If we don’t make the sailing of the Merry Maid,” Simon replied, “there may not be another ship for a week or more. I don’t want to wait. That’s why I didn’t tell Ma or the others.”

      Levi wrinkled his nose. “You’ll have to pay for that.”

      “I’ll survive,” Simon predicted.

      John, always the peacemaker, held up his hands. “We’ll help you explain the situation to her. She’ll have to admit your intentions were good.”

      Simon had confided his and Nora’s unusual bargain to his two youngest brothers. John in particular had put up a fight at first, but Simon had convinced him of the necessity. He wasn’t sure his mother and sister would be so easily swayed. He was only glad Nora would remain in Seattle and not have to face them.

      The main door to the church opened then, and sunlight pierced the shaded vestibule. A vision of loveliness floated in on the light, bountiful curves outlined in a green as bright as spring. Simon blinked, bemused.

      The door closed, shutting off the light. Standing beside him was the woman who’d asked him to marry her. Nora’s thick hair was carefully bound in a coil at the nape of her neck, and a cloth hat of lavender silk sat on her head, a white feather pinned on it with a green glass broach. Gone was the embroidered dress from yesterday. Today’s creation boasted a sleeveless green overcoat embroidered with darker green leaves and scalloped along all the edges over a white wool bodice fitted to her form. It was as impractical as it was beautiful. Simon found himself staring.

      “Everything ready?” she asked, setting a carpetbag on the floor by the door and draping a gray wool cloak over it.

      He managed a nod. “Yes. The minister will be here shortly, and the ship arrived right on schedule.”

      Beside him, John cleared his throat, then nudged Levi aside to take Nora’s hand. “Let me be the first to wish you happy. I’ll soon be your brother John.”

      “Nora Underhill,” she said with a curtsy that made her skirts poof out around her. “We’ve met before. I attended the weddings when Miss Stanway married your oldest brother, when Miss Fosgrave married your brother James and when my friend Maddie married Michael Haggerty. You were all there.”

      “Funny,” John said with a charming smile. “I thought I’d danced with every pretty girl at the receptions.”

      “You did,” Levi said, earning him an elbow to the gut from John.

      Nora’s cheeks brightened in a blush, and Simon fought the urge to scold his brother. The youngest boy in the family, at eighteen, Levi had been spoiled by their doting mother and was only starting to realize he needed to take responsibility for his words and actions.