Short Straw Bride by Dallas Schulze

completely to the winds?
    “Mr. McLain, I’m afraid I don’t know exactly what it is I’m to make a decision about,” she said finally.
    Luke stared at her in surprise. What did she mean, she didn’t know? Hadn’t he just asked her to marry him? He went over the conversation in his mind and felt color creep over his cheekbones as he realized that he’d talked around the question without ever once actually saying the words. He cleared his throat, annoyed to find himself nervous.
    “I’m asking you to be my wife, Miss Williams.”
    The words fell like stones into a pool, spreading ripples of silence in their wake. Eleanor stared at him, her dark eyes round with shock, that soft mouth of hers ever so slightly open. The sound of Anabel sobbing could be heard from another room.
    “Your wife?” Eleanor’s voice rose in a squeak. She lifted one shaking hand and pressed it to her bosom, wondering if it was possible that a heart could beat so hard it actually jumped right out of a body. “You want to marry me?”
    “That’s the idea.”
    She was going to turn him down. He could see it in her face, in the stunned look in her eyes. She was going to say no, which was no more than he deserved, rushing into this like a thirsty bull heading for water.
    Luke gave in to the urge to tug at his collar. This had been a damn fool idea from the start. When he got back to the ranch he was going to find Danieland punch him right in the nose. It had been his damn fool notion that one of them had to get married in the first place. If it wasn’t just like his little brother to get him into a situation like this. He’d knock him into next Sunday. He’d—
    “Yes.” Luke was so absorbed in his plans for revenging himself on Daniel that it took a moment for Eleanor’s breathless response to penetrate.
    “What?”
    “I said yes. I’d be most honored to be your wife, Mr. McLain.”
    “You would?”
    “Yes.” She flushed and lowered her eyes to stare at the fingers she’d twisted together in her lap. “Of course, if you regret your proposal, I’d not—”
    “No. No, of course not.” There was more conviction in his voice than in his heart. Now that it had come right down to it and he’d found himself an engaged man, Luke was less sure than ever that this was a good idea. But he’d proposed and she’d accepted and that’s all there was to it.
    He stared at her downbent head, wondering what he was supposed to do or say now. Should he kiss her? The thought held considerable appeal, but from the way she was all but tying her fingers in a knot, he thought she might jump like a scalded cat if he touched her.
    Now what? Eleanor wondered, staring at her fingers. Was he going to kiss her? The thought made her tremble with an emotion somewhere between terror and delight. It was one thing to imagine what it might be like to have Luke McLain kiss her. It was something else altogether to actually contemplate it happening.
    “I’m honored, Miss Williams,” Luke said as the silence threatened to stretch awkwardly.
    “The honor is mine, Mr. McLain.” She couldn’t bring herself to look at him.
    There was another period of silence.
    “Maybe we should talk to your aunt and uncle,” he said finally. “Make arrangements about dates and such.”
    Torn between disappointment that he wasn’t going to kiss her and relief about the same, Eleanor could only nod, her eyes still on her hands. It was only when he rose and went to the door that she dared to steal a quick look at him. She felt dizzy, her thoughts tumbling wildly. The only one that came clear was that Luke McLain had just asked her to marry him. Incredible, unbelievable as it seemed, she was actually going to marry him.
    The idea didn’t become much more real, even when Uncle Zeb and Aunt Dorinda joined them in the study. Dorinda’s eyes, a faded version of herdaughter’s, reflected such dazed disbelief that Eleanor wanted to giggle. There was no sign of Anabel. She was