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She let out a short bark of laughter. “So you just wandered into town and thought it would be a good idea to mingle in with the crowd without knowing why they were congregating in the first place?”
He frowned. “When you put it like that…”
She chuckled again and then turned and continued on her way.
“Wait,” he said, chasing after her.
“Don’t got time to wait,” she said.
“Yes, but…” He pulled her to a stop again. “At least explain to me what just happened.”
She blew out an exasperated breath and turned around. “It’s real simple. We’ve had several newcomers find their way to town over the last couple years. Nearly a dozen so far. That’s a lot for this kind of town, especially when they are all…your kind of people.”
Adam frowned. “Mykind of people?”
There really wasn’t a polite way to expound upon that. “You know, the kind who come with wanted posters.”
Adam rolled his eyes. “Rude. But fair, I suppose. Go on.”
“Anyway, they don’t seem to know how to do much except cause mischief. So the Town Council instituted some new rules. You want to stay, you get married. The ones who were interested were supposed to meet up this morning in front of the tavern. You get chosen, you get hitched. And since we were both standing in the wrong place at the wrong time and apparently said the right words at the right time…well…congratulations. We’re married.”
“But…”
“If it makes you feel any better, it’s a shock to me, too. Yes, I’d gone to town and thought maybe I’d look over the options. But I didn’t have a solid plan of choosing anyone. I got a little tied up with my father—who is still out cold in the back of my wagon, by the way, which is why I really need to go—and I didn’t realize they’d started the ceremony, or I would have grabbed someone else. Maybe. I still hadn’t really made up my mind. Though…” She looked him up and down. “I really didn’t want to marry any of the others who were there, so maybe it’s a good thing you wandered into town.”
“No it isn’t. And I don’t get—”
She sighed again. “It’s really not that complicated.”
“It’s hugely complicated!”
She turned and started walking again with him close on her heels. “Look, Mister…Mister…”
“Brady. Adam,” he said, looking nonplussed that she didn’t remember. Hey, it had been a busy morning. “Really, you want me to believe you are fine with this marriage thing when you can’t even remember my name? If we’re married, which we’re not, it would make it your name, too. What kind of woman can’t remember her own name?”
“Fine. I’ll work on it. If it makes you feel any better, I don’t rightly care what you do with yourself. If you don’t want to stick around, I won’t complain. In fact, I’d prefer it.”
He frowned harder. “I thought you wanted to get married.”
“I do, sort of. That doesn’t mean I want a husband.”
He took his hat off and scratched at his head, his face twisted in confusion so comical, she’d laugh if she had the time or patience for it.
“That doesn’t make a lick of sense,” he said, clapping his hat back on his head.
She just shrugged and kept picking her way through the crowd but got pulled up short again when the sheriff barked out another order.
“I don’t want to hear another word of complaint about it,” the sheriff said. “Everyone knew the rules. Everyone agreed.”
“Not everyone,” Adam grumbled. She rolled her eyes and folded her arms, giving up on pushing through the crowd until the sheriff had said his piece.
“No matter the outcome of today’s little matchmakin’ contest, the rules have not changed. Especially the first three,” the sheriff said. “In case any of you knuckleheads has forgotten how things run in this town, let me remind you. It’s one thing to pick up a stray here and there,” he said, glancing at Deputy Sunshine, who just gave him a cheerful smile. “But we’ve had far too many newcomers trickling in. Almost a dozen in the last year or so. At this rate, we’re going to be less of a town and more of a retirement community for the infamous and notorious. I don’t think any of us wants that.”
There were nods of agreement through the crowd. The sheriff looked them over with a stern eye. “So you best not forget, the first rule of Desolation is keep your yaps shut. The last thing we want is for people to go around advertisin’ this place. Second, there will be no fightin’ in the town limits. You got a disagreement, take it elsewhere. I don’t want any part of it, and if the town’s peace or, more importantly,mypeace gets disturbed by havin’ to break up more fights, both parties will be fined five hundred dollars and will be spending a week in my jail cells.”
“Now, Sheriff,” someone started, but the sheriff gave him such a withering look, even Nora shuddered.
Mr. Brady snorted out a laugh. “That’s a look that’ll shrink a man’s balls to the size of raisins.”
