The Lawman (The Willow Creek Series #1) by Lily Graison

ladies around her and went numb. Last night, and most of the morning, had been perfect. Her plan to seduce Morgan in hopes he wouldn’t toss her out of his house had resulted in one of the most sensual nights of her life. She’d been pleasured to this side of pain and would have begged for more if hunger hadn’t forced them from the bed. The whole teasing marriage thing hadn’t even crossed her mind. What would she do now? Did Morgan know any of this was planned?
    Swallowing to moisten her throat, she asked. “Um, does Morgan know what you’re planning today?”
    “He’ll know soon enough. I sent my Bert out to his family’s ranch to let them know about his nuptials so don’t you worry none. He’ll be here.”
    Something in Edna’s face led Abigail to believe the woman didn’t care if Morgan wanted to be married today or not. He’d do it because she thought he should. There was bad blood there but she wasn’t about to ask. She didn’t care, if the truth were known.
    The other questions she had were waved away as Mrs. Jenkins showed her several dresses, making her choose one from the stack she’d brought. The cake preference was given and Miranda had her in a chair, her hair pulled up off her neck and tiny pink and white flowers woven in with the strands before she could think of a way to stall the whole process. When she was dressed, they’d left her alone… which led to chewing her nails and pacing the room. “Damn it, this can’t be happening. Not like this.”
    Looking toward the window, she wondered if she could just jump out and run. Run where, she didn’t know. She was sure Edna would track her down. There wasn’t anywhere to go other than back to Morgan’s and that would be the first place they looked for her.
    She was stuck, like it or not. She was getting married today. Edna had gone to too much trouble to back out now. Besides, she’d come to Willow Creek to marry and although her plans hadn’t gone exactly as she’d thought they would, all wasn’t lost. If Morgan didn’t want to marry her, then someone would. She was almost positive. Question was, could she go through with it if the man who asked wasn’t even remotely as exciting as Morgan Avery was?
     
    * * * *
     
    Morgan had just propped his feet up on the desk, pulled his hat down over his eyes and leaned back in his chair when the door opened. He pretended he was asleep, hoping whoever was there would just go away and come back later.
    His entire morning had been one confusing occurrence after another and he was exhausted trying to sort it all out. The unknown person shut the door but their booted feet on the floor let him know they hadn’t pulled it shut from the outside. Just his luck.
    Long moments ticked by and when no one spoke, Morgan sighed and lifted the hat off his face. Seeing Holden standing there grinning at him confused him even more. “Please tell me you’re here to explain why the whole town has gone soft in the head.”
    Holden raised an eyebrow and sat in the vacant chair across from the desk. “What? You don’t know?”
    Morgan shook his head. “Nope, but every person I’ve seen today has wished me luck, congratulated me for something, or they just stood there grinning before they started gossiping.”
    “Have you asked anyone about it?”
    “Hell no. I was too confused at first then got this funny feeling I wasn’t going to like the answer so I was trying to ignore it until you came in. Now, what are you doing in town? Better yet, why are you still grinning at me like that?”
    Holden laughed before standing up. “You better come on. You can’t go dressed like that.”
    “Dressed like this for what?”
    “Your wedding.”
    Morgan imagined a lot of things today when every one started acting funny but a wedding, his apparently, hadn’t been one of them. It all made sense now, though. The congratulations, the smiles, and the gossip. The whoring, drinking, single town marshal getting married was