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“Too far, Charity. Too far.”
She looked at him, her blue eyes extremely sincere. “You also need to stop...” She hesitated for a moment, which was very unlike her. “You need to stop engaging in casual intercourse.”
“I’m sorry,” he said, staring her down. “I what?”
“You heard me,” she said, and if it had been anyone else, he might’ve thought that she was embarrassed. Charity was, down to her toes, practical. A veterinarian. He had never heard her be florid or fantastical about much of anything. She tended to be matter-of-fact. Especially about things like the facts of life. Hell, she assisted with countless animal births and lots of other nitty-gritty things.
Of course, it was different between people. Except he had a feeling that she would look at him with very wide, serious eyes and tell him it really wasn’t that different at all.
“I’m just trying to be sure that I’m clear,” he said.
“You’re talking about finding a wife. And the way that you behave...”
“Do you judge my behavior?”
She shook her head. “I can’t say that I understand it, but I’ve never judged it.”
“I don’t believe you. I think you judge me.”
“No. I don’t. But you asked me to reform you, and I think that it would benefit you to change your behavior completely. Maybe even put it off, for six months or so. So you can...court the lady in question. It will help keep your mind clear while you’re looking for the one.”
“I’m not looking forthe one, Charity. I’m looking for a wife.”
“Maybe that’s part of where you need to start. I ask again, what are you looking for in a wife?”
It was a good question. One that he hadn’t given all that much thought to. But he thought of the women his brothers had married. They were all... They were all pretty different. Nelly had a sweetness to her, while Elsie was tough, a farm girl down to her bones. Elizabeth was sophisticated, and Alaina would cut you as soon as look at you. They were all engaged with ranch life. All invested in Four Corners Ranch, and specifically with McCloud’s Landing.
So that seemed like a pretty good place to start.
“I need a ranching woman. No nonsense. Perfectly fine if she comes with kids, maybe even preferable.” He was thirty-one, after all. He was definitely old enough to have kids of his own. A ready-made family wasn’t a bad idea, and it had worked out well for Brody, who seemed well suited to being a stepfather.
He’d never thought about being a dad. In fact, in the past he’d had a strong aversion to the word. To theconcept.
But...his brother seemed happy with it. Settled. Seemed like it was the greatest thing that had ever happened to him.
“All right. Well, I guarantee you that a practical ranching woman, maybe with children, is going to need some evidence that you have...changed your ways. I think you need to stay away from Smokey’s Tavern for at least six months.”
That was stupid. Charity might know a few things about being good, but she didn’t know how to meet potential partners. She’d been lucky stumbling over a guy in college. But he wasn’t in college. “How the hell am I going to meet a woman if I can’t go to the tavern?”
“Well, if you want a woman who’s marriage material, I think you should avoid it.”
“Ididask you to reform me.”
“You did. Then you scoffed at every piece of advice I’ve given you.”
“So basically, you want me to do the kinds of things that you do.”
“Yes,” she said. “It might actually benefit you to learn cross-stitch.”
“Cross-stitch?”
“It’s soothing.”
“I don’t want to be soothed.”
“I think that you do,” she said, her tone maddeningly sage. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t be looking for a domestic life, and you certainly wouldn’t be looking for a wife.”
The truth was he was more soothed by being here than much of anything else he could imagine. It had always been that way.
