The Rancher's Surprise Marriage

“I met Tony Young for the first time last year when we were scouting locations,” Mac said. “I wanted realism, not a studio set. At the time he was living in the old homestead we’re shooting in, but his new house was almost ready. He agreed to hold off on remodeling the old place for his foreman until after we filmed, appreciating what I promised to bring to the movie—an honest portrayal of a cattleman’s life, not the romanticized version of most fiction. He’s a decent, hardworking, self-made man. He shouldn’t have to deal with the kind of media attention he’s bound to get now.”

Maggie felt like a child being chewed out by her favorite teacher, except…shouldn’t Tony take some of blame? She hadn’t acted alone. “I know.”

“Have you and Scott broken your engagement?”

“Yes.”

He closed his eyes for a moment. “Okay. Good. That’s good. And is Mr. Young in the picture now?”

Maggie realized right then what she needed to do, how she needed to resolve the situation. She had to talk to Tony first, however. “Can I just say that I’ll issue a statement later today and leave it at that for the moment?”

“Is this going to interfere with my production?”

“I’m trying not to let it, Mac. I’m sorry that it’s considered newsworthy.”

“Yeah, well, if you weren’t such a Goody Two-shoes…” He smiled then and pushed himself from the counter. “Wonder what the clever headline writers will do with America’s Sweetheart now.”

“If it makes them stop using that awful nickname, it might all be worth it. It’s been pretty hard to live up to, you know.”

“Not while your grandparents were alive.”

She finally smiled. “True. They did keep me on the straight and narrow, whether I wanted to be or not.”

Mac patted her shoulder then left. When she was finished in hair and makeup she headed to her trailer to get into costume. Leesa popped up off the sofa, her cell phone to her ear.

“She’s here,” she said into the phone. “Hang on.” Leesa held out the phone to her. “It’s Garnet.”

Garnet Halvorsen had been Maggie’s publicist for ten years, ever since Maggie lured her away from a big studio. She should’ve been the first call Maggie had made once she’d seen the photograph.

“I’ll call her later,” Maggie said. She kept walking, her dresser coming into the trailer behind her with the outfit for the morning’s shoot.

“But—”

“La-ter.”

Maggie heard Leesa try to soothe Garnet, who seemed to be yelling. Maggie signaled to her assistant to end the call, which she did. “Let it go to voice mail for now, please, Leesa.”

A few minutes later someone knocked, saying they were ready for her. Maggie put an arm around Leesa’s shoulders. “Everything’s going to be fine.”

Maggie wanted to believe her own words, but it really depended on Tony. “I need you to get in touch with Tony Young and ask him to meet me at seven o’clock tonight at the hotel. And apologize to him in advance for all the stalkers he’ll have today.”

“I don’t mind making that call, Mags, but don’t you think it should come from you? That any apology should come from you?”

Without a doubt. But since he would have questions that she’d rather answer in person, she hoped he would agree to come. Needed him to come. Her reputation depended on it, although he owed her nothing.

“Please just make the call.” Maggie opened the trailer door, her stomach full of hot lead, especially about Tony’s life being turned upside down, but she put on her game face and headed out to the set.

The tone now was completely different from previous days. She always got along with everyone, but she’d never been involved in a scandal before, and no one seemed to know what to say or how to act, except that cameraman Pete came up, allegedly to give her some change from the fifty dollars she’d given the bartender, then whispered to her that he could call Scott and tell him that it had all been innocent between Maggie and the cowboy.

Innocent? Not by a long shot, but Maggie was touched by Pete’s loyalty. She politely declined, more guilt pressing on her.

Once action was called, everyone got down to business, and the morning flew by. They were filming inside the old homestead. She tried to picture Tony there, wondered how much had been changed for the movie. Necessary people and equipment filled the space, not as small as it looked from the outside. Which bedroom had Tony slept in? Where was his new house? He must own a lot of acres not to have another house visible on the horizon, although other ranch structures were in sight.

And where were the cattle? It was a cattle ranch, after all, and she hadn’t spotted one, not even on the long, beautiful drive in and out each day.

Between takes she looked to Leesa for a signal that she’d reached Tony, but she shook her head each time. At the end of the day, Maggie was tempted to get directions to his new house and go there personally, except that she’d probably have to battle paparazzi, unless Tony had figured out a way to get rid of them.

At least the set was closed, and the passenger windows on her car were tinted, so Dino should be able to get her back to the hotel without being followed. Maybe. Mac had already upped the number of security people. Dino was talking about bringing in extra security of his own. She left the decision to him.

Why hadn’t Tony returned Leesa’s call? How furious was he? Or maybe embarrassed was a better word. If he wouldn’t come to her, how could she get to him? She didn’t think she could handle this…situation over the phone, but a personal plea via telephone to come see her might be the only way to get him. She didn’t want to make assumptions about why he hadn’t called. He may not even be at home, and she didn’t have his cell phone number—and didn’t want to ask Mac for it. His residence number, amazingly, was listed in the directory.

On top of that, she and Scott had played phone tag all day, but with both of them actively filming, they hadn’t caught each other during downtimes. She preferred to wait to talk to him until she’d met with Tony, anyway, so that’d been okay.

Maggie managed to keep working all day, presenting a happy face until she stepped into her hotel shower at the end of the day. In the privacy of that space she broke down, giving in to the overwhelming emotions of the past twenty-four hours, first Scott breaking up with her, then sleeping with a man she barely knew, then her reputation taking a major hit of her own making, along with the reputation of a man innocent of such treatment, when all he’d done was rescue her.

No one’s reputation had ever suffered because of her actions. Until now.

“Maggie?” Leesa called through the bathroom door. “Mr. Young is here.”

So. He’d shown up at seven o’clock, just as she’d asked. He just hadn’t bothered to let her know he was coming. “Okay. I’ll be out in a few minutes. Offer him something to drink, please.”

Maggie turned off the shower, made quick work of drying off then slipped into cropped pants and a sleeveless top. She towel-dried her hair, put on a little lip gloss, screwed up her courage, and went to greet him.

Well, damn, she’d wanted him here at seven, he got here at seven, and she was in the shower? Some consideration. Movie stars. Who needs ’em?

Tony stood at the living-room window, his hands shoved into his pockets, and looked out at the view. The sunset colors were brilliant but fading fast.

He’d had a helluva day, had been badgered by his sister, both brothers and just about everyone else who knew his phone number. He’d stopped answering around 10:00 a.m. There were eighteen messages he hadn’t returned, didn’t plan on returning. Of his family, only his father hadn’t weighed in, but Tony figured he’d hear something before too long. Hoyt Young always had an opinion on how his youngest son was living his life, and the fact it looked like Tony had been entertaining someone else’s fiancée wouldn’t sit well with his highly moral father.

Hell, it didn’t sit well with Tony, either, high morals or otherwise.

“I’m so sorry to keep you waiting,” came Maggie’s voice from behind him. “I didn’t know you were coming or I would’ve been ready.”

He angled toward her, was surprised to see her dressed so casually. Her hair was wet, leaving damp spots where it touched her blouse. She was barefoot. She looked ready to bolt, too—nervous and fidgety.

“I was ordered to be here at seven,” he said.

“I hope that’s not true. I hope Leesa extended an invitation for you to come, not ordered you.”

“It may have been politely stated, but it wasn’t a question.”

“Then I apologize. Leesa was pretty frazzled this morning, fielding the frenzy to our photograph, which I assume you saw?”

“My mother let me know this morning around four-thirty.”

“Your—I’m so sorry. Please, would you have a seat? Did Leesa get you something to drink?”

“I’m fine, thanks.” He sat in a leather chair. She perched on the edge of the sofa, as if incapable of settling back or relaxing. Her fingers were interlocked. He remembered how she’d cried last night….

“Were the paparazzi hounding you?” she asked.

“They tried. I made sure they didn’t follow me here.” It had actually been fun ducking them, but he wouldn’t want it on a regular basis.

“I owe you an explanation,” she said.

“I’m all ears.”

“Please understand that I’m going to tell you things I haven’t told anyone else. Even though I’ve turned your world upside down, I’m asking for your discretion. I know I have no right to ask but—”

“I know how to keep my mouth shut.”

She closed her eyes a moment. Her vulnerability hit him hard. Like last night, he wanted to protect her, even though he didn’t know from what. He could easily be a fool for this woman.

“I assume by now you know I was engaged to Scott Gibson,” she said.

“Hard to miss that bit of information.”

“What no one else knows is that he broke it off yesterday. He was here waiting for me after shooting. He said he’d fallen in love with someone else.”

Which answered a lot of Tony’s questions about why she’d slept with him last night—and why she’d been crying. “I’m sorry.”

“Thanks.” She looked at her lap. “Okay. Biggest confidence now. I’m not sorry. Scott even said as he was leaving that someday I would be happy about it. That someday came a lot faster than I would’ve thought. It came today.”

“How can you get over it that fast?”

“I know it sounds heartless, and the rest of what I’m going to tell you won’t put me in a good light, either, but you deserve the truth, after all the trouble I’ve caused you.” She pushed herself up, moved to stand at the window.

He found he couldn’t sit still, either, so he joined her.

“It’s an incredible landscape, isn’t it?” she asked, apparently stalling. “Not lush but starkly beautiful, especially here, surrounded by the enormous red rocks.”

“Most beautiful in the whole country.”

“You’ve traveled a lot?”

“I did the rodeo circuit for about twelve years. It’s a nomadic kind of life. When it was time to settle down, there was no place for me but here.”

She nodded. “I’m looking to settle down myself.”

He waited, knowing she was working up to what she needed to say.

“It’s why I was marrying Scott. I wanted a home. Some stability.”

“You didn’t love him?”

“It’s…complicated.”

“I’ve got nothin’ but time, Margaret.”

“So, you’ve decided to call me Margaret? Trying to be different?”

“I’m thinking Margaret suits you.” Maggie was who the world saw—strong and feisty. Margaret was vulnerable…and passionate.

She met his gaze and smiled a little. He ignored the tug inside his chest.

“Scott and I met when we were set up to attend a premiere together by our mutual agent and our publicists. It wasn’t the first time I’d done such a thing. It’s part of the job, good publicity for both parties, yada, yada. But things clicked between Scott and me. We liked each other right away and started dating, as much as our situations allowed. We discovered one of the biggest things we had in common was that we’d both lost our parents at a young age. My grandparents had taken me in, raised me with a very strict upbringing, one I didn’t rebel from. He’d grown up in the foster system. We were both searching for a fantasy life, I think.”

“I think we all do that,” he said, glad to see she’d calmed some.

“You, too?”

“Of course. I was even married once. One big fantasy, that’s for sure. Ended with a hard dose of reality.” He hardly ever thought about her anymore, it had been so long. A man who didn’t put the past behind him couldn’t move forward. He’d been bitter for a while, but time had cured that, too.

“Well, Scott understood the pressures of the business, as well as the media, of course. One night he asked me to marry him and I said yes, figuring we had a better-than-average chance for success, since we had similar backgrounds.”

“You didn’t love him? He didn’t love you?”

“We each said so, but looking back, I don’t know. I think we got caught up in the romance of it all. And then before we had time to sit back and reconsider, our publicity machines went into overdrive and the whole world was involved.”

“You could’ve backed out. Better that than make a bigger mistake.”

She turned around, leaned against the window frame and finally looked at him. “Of course you’re right. But by then an old friend of mine, Jenny Warren, had called and asked a big favor. Her family is about to open two luxury hotels, The Taka San Francisco and The Taka Kyoto. The San Francisco opening is scheduled for around the end of September. Jenny asked if I’d hold the wedding there, have a huge, lavish event. They’d assumed all costs. I could just tell them what I want, and it would be done. Publicity for everyone. Win-win, right? Scott wanted the big splash, too, so I said yes. And regretted it right away. ‘Big’ isn’t my style.”

“So you felt stuck?”

“I never put that word to it. I felt…rushed. But then I had this movie to film, and Scott had his, so there wasn’t time to hash it out.”

“In all the headlines I read today, I didn’t see anything about your engagement being over, only that you were caught kissing a cowboy. In fact, nothing from your…Scott at all.”

“That’s because I told him I needed a couple of days to figure out how to handle it. Then instead of staying home and working it out alone, I handled it by taking myself to a cowboy bar and dancing with a tall, dark and handsome cattleman. And then kissing him so that a photographer could film it.” She put a hand on his chest, lightly, briefly, and smiled.

“At least no one knows about us sharing a motel room,” he said. “I’m sure my foreman, who came to get me, put two and two together, but he won’t say a word.” He finally gave in to the need to touch her and brushed her hair back from her face with his fingertips. He wouldn’t mind hauling her off to her bedroom. Wouldn’t mind it at all.

“I’m so sorry for all the trouble this has caused you, Tony.”

Hell, his family’s admiration of him had gone up a notch or two. It was a shame that’s what it took for them to see how successful he was. He’d built his ranch from almost nothing, making it what it was today. He was damn proud of it. He still had a ways to go, but he’d done it himself—mostly, anyway. He had something to prove, especially to his father, but sleeping with a movie star wasn’t how he’d envisioned proving himself.

“Well, now, Margaret,” Tony said, putting on the cowboy act thick for her, “seems to me I got somethin’ special to keep in my memory out of it. I can live with people teasin’ me.” He leaned in to kiss her.

“Could you live with it for a few more months?” she asked before their lips touched.

He pulled back, met her gaze, saw that her jitters were back. “Meaning?”

“Last night when I said I knew who you were, that you owned the ranch, you said your ranch owns you. Am I remembering that right?”

“You are.”

She drew a deep breath. “Okay. So, then, I have a proposition for you.”

The last one had resulted in their being naked together. If this one involved that again, he’d be saying yes faster than a bronc bursts out of a chute.

“I’m listenin’, darlin’.”

“Marry me.”

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