Bushedwhacked Groom by Eugenia Riley

at him plaintively, swishing her tail and beseeching him with large green eyes.
    “You, too, eh?” he drawled. “Can’t a man take a bath in peace around here?”
    The cat mewed again; then Molly dashed back onto the porch, scooping her up. “This is Jezebel the fifth,” she told him pertly. “She’s about to have . . . babies, if you know what I mean.”
    With a saucy grin and a wink, she was gone.

 
    Chapter Five
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    “So, Pa, are you going to go fetch the preacher now so Handsome and me can get hitched?” Molly demanded.
    Sitting in the parlor an hour later, amid a family powwow, Lucky could scarcely believe his ears. Did this crazy woman still actually believe he would marry her—after all the hell she’d put him through?
    And as if her wacko assumptions weren’t enough to deal with, he was still reeling from trying to take in his bizarre, antiquated surroundings—like the ancient horsehair sofa where he sat with the madwoman’s brothers, the old rocking chairs where the women were settled, the primitive stone fireplace where Molly’s father stood brooding, with several old Win chester rifles hanging above the mantel in blatant menace. Lucky felt as if he’d stepped right into a rerun of Lone some Dove. Nowhere had he spotted a telephone, a television, a computer or any other signs of modern civilization. On top of all this, the four brothers—whom he’d learned were named Zach, Vance, Matt and Cory— kept shooting surly glances his way, although Cory, the auburn-haired one, didn’t seem quite as antagonistic as his siblings. Why were they all so pissed off at him? He was the one who’d been hurled into a ravine, then kidnapped by their loco bird of a sister. They clearly weren’t motivated by brotherly protectiveness, given the fierce rivalry he’d already observed between Molly and her brothers.
    Even as Lucky glowered at the maddening female, her pa glanced grimly from her to Lucky. “Look, young lady, you can’t just drag home any old saddle tramp and assume your ma and I will let you marry him.”
    As Lucky bristled at being called a saddle tramp, Molly wheedled, “But Pa, he’s the one I’ve waited for—my destiny from the future.”
    “Not that future hokum again,” scoffed Vance.
    “Yeah, not that,” seconded Matt.
    “Yeah,” Lucky rejoined. “And does anyone care to ask me whether I want to be here, much less marry her?”
    His tone was not missed by Molly’s father, who shook a finger at him. “Young man, you watch your lip around my daughter and stay out of this discussion. It’s family business.”
    “But your haywire daughter wants to make me part of your crazy family!” Lucky retorted.
    As Cole took an aggressive step forward, Jessica stood and touched his arm. “Cole, Lucky has a point. He’s a part of this, too, now.”
    “Yeah,” put in Zach from next to Lucky. “And if he don’t want to marry her, you shouldn’t force him, Pa. ”
    “Yeah,” seconded Vance and Cory.
    “But he has to marry me,” protested Molly.
    “Why?” sneered Matt. “So you can win the land?”
    “Sure, why not?” she shot back.
    “What land?” demanded Lucky.
    For a moment no one spoke; then Grandma took the reins. “You see, sonny boy, my Cole here set up a con test to help his rambunctious brood grow up. The first one of ‘em to wed—and produce a grandchild—will win a prime parcel of ranch land, the lower five hun dred.”
    Lucky was stunned. “You’ve got to be kidding me. You mean after being shanghaied by this wildcat, I’ve become some kind of prize in a g’damned contest?”
    At his profanity, the boys guffawed, Jessica gasped and Ma frowned massively. “You watch your mouth, sonny, or I’m fetching my broom to teach you some manners,” she scolded. “I’ll have you know this is a genu-wine contest, just like the one Cole and his brothers fought over Jessie here, twenty-odd years ago.”
    With a horrified glance at Jessica’s smiling