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Nora’s mouth dropped open, and Mr. Brady did a double-take look at her and shrugged. “I’m not wrong.”
She didn’t know whether to laugh or head straight to church and pray for his soul.
“And I can’t believe I even have to point this one out,” the sheriff said, “but there will be no killin’ of anybody under any circumstances.”
“Now that’s a rule I can get behind,” Mr. Brady said, and Nora’s lips twitched. With his history with the sheriff, hewouldlike that one.
“Killin’ another town member is automatic expulsion from the town, and that’s if you ever see the light of day again. For those of you too distracted or just plain stupid to pay attention, let me sum it up for you. No talkin’. No fightin’. No killin’.”
“Good rules,” Mr. Brady said.
“You break those three, you answer to me. As for the new ones…Mrs. DuVere?” The sheriff stepped back, apparently done with what he had to say.
Mrs. DuVere stepped forward, the beads on her extravagant—just a shade under gaudy—gown flashing.
“Who’s that?” Mr. Brady whispered.
“The mayor.”
“She’sthe mayor?” he asked, but Nora just shushed him.
“Now, I know some of you are mighty disappointed. Many of our new arrivals weren’t taking to retirement all that well to begin with, and this surely won’t help those who didn’t get matched. But we still expect you to behave yourselves,” she said, pinning a few men in the group with a gaze that made them squirm. “As I’ve said before, men without a purpose tend to get into mischief.”
Nora thought about her father in the wagon. If that wasn’t the god’s honest truth…
“So,” she continued. “As was discussed, if you want to stay in this town, you’re going to find yourselves some purpose. Those lucky enough to have gotten hitched today, congratulations. The rest of you have thirty days to find yourselves some employment.”
The sheriff stepped up again before the grumbling could get too loud.
“This isn’t up for discussion. We’ve discussed it to death as it is, and it wasn’t a conversation I wanted to have the first time. There’ve been too many men who are used to livin’ life on the edge comin’ into this town thinkin’ they want the quiet life and findin’ out it doesn’t suit them after all. I’ve had men in and out of my jail like it’s got a revolvin’ door because none of you have anythin’ better to do than stir up trouble. That’s not what we’re offerin’ here. If you got matched up, congratulations. If not, find yourselves something better with which to occupy your time! You want peace, quiet, relative safety? Follow the damn rules! You don’t want to do that…you know the way out of town.”
There were a few more grumbles, but no one argued too loudly, and the sheriff nodded.
“Now, I realize no one likes someone imposin’ rules on them, least of all me. But we all agreed that somethin’ had to be done because things were gettin’ out of hand, and I didn’t take this job so I could spend my days breakin’ up petty arguments and managin’ mischief makers. I was promised boredom, dammit, and my days lately have been chock-full of diverting occupation, and I won’t stand for it!”
The crowd around him muttered again, though this time with more than a few amused laughs quickly disguised. The sheriff waited a few more moments, his eyes roving over the crowd before he gave a sharp nod.
Mr. Brady leaned a bit closer to her. “I actually don’t disagree with the Town Council, you know,” he said. “Bored men are absolutely apt to get into trouble. And I’m sure most of these men are like me, in that we want to stay in this town to escape that kind of life. Stay out of trouble.However. I must state this again. I want no part of matrimony. I’ve been avoiding it my whole life and have no desire or intention of changing that now. I’d make a horrible husband.”
She couldn’t help but smile. “Don’t worry so much, Mr. Brady. I’ll make a terrible wife.”
Adam turned to her with an exasperated huff. “Then why do you want to stay married?”
“Didn’t we already cover this bit?”
He stared at her like a newborn lamb who had no idea what sort of world it had just been pushed into. She sighed again. “Look, Mister…” She frowned.
“Brady. B-r-a-d-y,” he said, spelling it out, then said it again, drawing it out real slowly. “Braaaaady.”
She tried not to smile. So easy to get under his skin. “Mr. Brady. Desolation isn’t the easiest town to find, and it’s certainly not one most people want to stay in. Most who come have secrets that keep them here. I doubt you’re much different. You want to stay? You stay hitched.”
He blew out a long, frustrated breath and stared at the ground. She almost pitied him. Almost. But now that she’d had a few moments to let it sink in, she realized he was her ticket to a better life for herself, and she wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity. She didn’t want a husband. But she needed one. At least temporarily. So why go about the trouble of trying to find someone else when she already had one hitched and ready to go?
“So you have no qualms whatsoever about marrying a total stranger?” he asked.
“Nope,” she said. Not the total truth, but she didn’t know him well enough to trust him with her qualms yet.
“If you don’t mind my saying, it seems rather…imprudent to commit such a permanent act when you have no desire to do so, so why are you doing this?”
