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First of all, she didn’t like frigid water. She didn’t fancy swimming in January, though the guys—Squint and Sam, both SEALs—had kitted her out with proper gear so toasty they swore she wouldn’t notice the cold.
All she had to do, they claimed, was hop in Bridesmaids Creek and swim like a water moccasin. And Frog—Cisco—would be rescued.
She hadn’t wanted to admit that swimming wasn’t her forte. Less than her forte. She actually couldn’t swim at all.
“You can do it,” Jane Chatham, the owner of the diner said. “You can stay afloat, right?”
“I’m pretty proud of my ability to bob like an apple.” Suz put her teacup down, glancing at the door. She wondered when Cisco was finally going to come charging in. You’d think the temptation of four-layer cake would have brought him running, but no. The man was a very, very difficult card to play.
“You shouldn’t need much to beat Daisy,” Cosette Lafleur said. Cosette owned the shop a few doors down, called Madame Matchmaker’s Premiere Matchmaking Services. Cosette was BC’s resident lucky charm when it came to pairing people up. Only one match so far had backfired on Madame: Suz’s sister Mackenzie’s first marriage.
Suz was hopeful—determined—that Cosette’s wand wouldn’t clog up now that Suz actually had a cowboy she wanted in her sights. Cisco, Sam and Squint had drifted to the rodeo circuit after they’d departed the navy, staying together in a tight-knit brotherhood, none of them anxious to return to their own hometowns. Handsome, bad-boy drifters, Ty Spurlock claimed when he brought them to Bridesmaids Creek. Drifters who just needed an anchor—and there were plenty of cute-as-a-button anchors in BC.
Trust Ty to see it that way, drop the load of testosterone on BC and take off for the navy himself after he married spirited redhead Jade Harper.
“I can beat Daisy on any field of battle but water.”
“When you were in the Peace Corps all those years,” Jane asked, “you didn’t have to swim?”
Suz shook her head. “I taught English, I taught math, I helped in the infirmary. I didn’t swim. I did, however, assist when there were bites from slithery things.” She shivered. “I’m actually not too fond of waterways, if I have to be immersed in them.”
“Why didn’t you mention this when straws were being drawn?” Cosette demanded. “There were other women who would have gladly gotten the short straw.”
“You know very well why.” Suz wondered if maybe she should order the cake now. It seemed Cisco wasn’t going to show up to join her, which was too bad, because he’d stunned her with that bit about wanting to kiss her. Of course she wasn’t going to kiss him!
When he saw her swimming like a demented turtle, he was going to know she wasn’t the woman who was destined to be his.
“Why?” Jane demanded, and Suz took a deep breath.
“Both you and Madame Matchmaker know that the Bridesmaids Creek swim has never failed. Neither has the Best Man’s Fork run. Except for Mackenzie,” she said hurriedly, “and really, I blame that more on my sister’s hammerheaded ex than the charms of BC.” Or Cosette’s matchmaking. Although according to Ty, the whole bad match was his fault.
There were always a few twists and turns in their small town that prided itself on its haunted house, good food and friendly, busybody ways.
“Oh, you’re worried about the charm.” Cosette nodded wisely, her pink-tinted gray hair shining under the lights of the diner. “You took the straw because you don’t want anyone else to have Cisco.”
“Maybe it’s just a superstition,” Suz said. “Maybe we bring this legend on ourselves because we want it so much. When there’s a ratio of, what, ten women to every man here? Someone made up a cute gag that claimed that whoever won those swims and races got the man of their dreams at the end. The thing is,” Suz said, worried, “we’ve never had a woman doing the actual competing. It’s all wrong. Maybe the legend doesn’t work in reverse.”
The two women stared at her.
“We don’t know,” Jane said. “It’s never been done.”
“Well,” Cosette said brightly, “never mind. That’s why we have a matchmaker in town.”
Suz wished she felt better with Cosette on the case, but there was that teeny matter of the misfire on Mackenzie’s first marriage. “Thank you. The thing is, with Daisy determined to win Cisco’s heart, I would have done better in a bake-off. Daisy can’t cook. And I can’t swim.”
“Yes, perhaps this didn’t get set up properly. But Cisco won Daisy fair and square last month,” Cosette reminded them. “He swam the race, he came in first place. The competition was fierce that day, and Squid—”
“Squint,” Jane and Suz said, trying to be helpful because on occasion Cosette’s native French hit a bump or two.
“Squint had his shot. But he came in dead last.” Cosette shook her head. “There’ll be no wedding for him in Bridesmaids Creek.”
And Squint was the only bachelor who saw Daisy as something she wasn’t. The handsome SEAL thought Daisy was a misunderstood bad girl, with a hidden heart of gold.
Although there was as much of a chance that Squint just had the hots for Daisy. Either way, he’d pulled up with a leg cramp, beaten even by Daisy’s gang of five bad boys. “Someone needs to save Squint from the legend.”
“Could be,” Madame Cosette said cheerfully. “But magic isn’t really tweakable. What we have here in BC is magic.”
“Ty says we’re just a town of carneys selling our small-town shtick.”
“Is that the word he uses?” Jane wondered.
“When he’s being polite. Other times, he goes for a little more flavor in his comments. However, since his marriage to Jade—after the legend worked on his behalf—he’s more inclined to lay off the flavoring.” Suz breathed a sigh of relief when Cisco appeared in the doorway, backed up by the sheriff, Squint and Sam. She perked up so he’d see her.
It was like he had radar—Suz was sure of it. He came right to their table, doffing his tan Stetson respectfully.
“Ladies,” Cisco said.
Cosette squished over next to Jane, both their ample forms filling the booth, so that Cisco would have no choice but to slide in with Suz. Which he did, not appearing to notice their friends’ obvious ploy to get them together.
His mind seemed elsewhere, which wasn’t good, as far as Suz was concerned.
“What about us?” Sheriff McAdams asked, clearly hoping for an invite to scoot himself and his buddies into the booth, too.
The booth would have accommodated them, but Cosette absently flopped a hand toward an empty one. “That spot’s open.”
The three men went off, looking comically disappointed. Suz slid a glance at Cisco, checking out his big, handsome, very sexy self.
“Have you had your chocolate cake?” Cisco asked.
She shook her head. Cosette and Jane pushed out of the booth. “I’ll get it,” Jane said.
“I’ll help. Tea or water?” Cosette asked Cisco.
“Milk and coffee, please.” He turned to Suz, and Suz’s heart seemed to melt inside her.
“Can we talk about the race next weekend?”
She nodded. “Talk away.”
“You don’t seem all that enthusiastic.”
“I’m not.” Suz concentrated on the scent of man and woodsy cologne, and the realization that he seemed to have no intention of taking up the space across the tabletop where Cosette and Jane had left a vacant seat. “I told you, I don’t really swim.”
He grinned at her, slow and easy, lighting a fire in her body where it hadn’t been lit before. “I’ve taken that into consideration, and I have a plan.”
“You do?” Suz stared at his mouth, completely oblivious to Jane plunking down their cake and Cosette spilling a little coffee. You couldn’t expect the matchmaker not to be a little nervous, Suz decided when she looked up and realized Cosette was mopping up coffee faster than you could say, “Cleanup in booth one.”
She went back to considering Cisco’s rugged face.
He smiled at her again, completely ruining her ability to remember that Daisy, the mean, mean girl of Bridesmaids Creek, who’d written the book on mean after her father had scribed the first chapter, had won Cisco just a few short weeks ago. No, all she could think of was why she’d never before realized that Francisco Rodriguez Olivier Grant had such a sexy, steamy set of lips.
She’d been so reaching when she’d told him she didn’t want to kiss him. Keeping distance was her specialty; she’d done it all her life. The truth was, she was pretty certain and would bet the farm—that being the Hanging H where she and her sister had grown up and currently lived—that this man knew exactly what to do with his mouth in very special, woman-pleasing ways.
He smiled at her. “I’m going to teach you. And when I get done with you, Suz Hawthorne, you’re going to be able to swim like a mermaid.”
Chapter Three
Holding Suz Hawthorne, even in the cold, cold water of Bridesmaids Creek, was every bit as mind-bending as Cisco had imagined in his dreams, and then some. She was soft and cute and dainty, and there was a part of his body that stayed warm no matter what, just from the contact. He held her plank-style so she could rotate her arms, which she did in paddleboat-wheel fashion.
Staring at her butt in the wet suit wasn’t going to make the definitely warm area—a lesser gentleman might even term that area of his body as hard, but thanks to the wet suit it was a concealed difficulty—any less warm. She was like a slippery seal with curves, wriggling in his hands, but she was making a good-faith effort to learn what he was trying to teach. And she hadn’t complained about the water temperature once.
Which was the thing he’d always admired about Suz—she was tough. In a delicate sort of way. If she were a man, she would have been a great SEAL candidate.
“You’re doing fine. But that’s enough for today.” Cisco helped Suz from the water to the bank, ostensibly guiding her so she wouldn’t slip and fall back in, but really so he could keep his hands on her a little longer under the respectable guise of swim coach.
“So what do you think?” Suz faced him as she toweled off. It looked like she might want to shiver a little, but wasn’t going to give in to it.
Secretly, he was dismayed by the fact that Suz really couldn’t swim. “At this short-straw party that was held in my honor, did you happen to mention to anyone that you couldn’t swim very well?”
Suz shook out her hair. “No. I didn’t think I’d be short straw. I’ve always been pretty lucky.”
So she didn’t think swimming for him was necessarily a good thing. Cisco was about to move on to his next salient question, namely: Was there anything else she could think of to be done to avoid the Curse, as he now thought of Bridesmaids Creek’s very potent charms, when the nightmare of his nightmares roared up on her shiny motorcycle.
Daisy hopped off, shed her helmet and glared. “What’s going on?”
“Cisco’s giving me a swimming lesson.” Suz fluffed her hair, spraying a few final water droplets. “What’s going on with you?”
Daisy’s glare could have cut fog. “You’re cheating.”
This didn’t sound good. Cisco decided he’d best intervene, but before he could say anything, Daisy got back on her bike. “I’m filing a formal complaint with the Bridesmaids Creek committee. You know very well that you’re not supposed to be doing anything to influence the prize, Suz Hawthorne.”
Suz stiffened up like a fierce chicken. “How am I influencing the prize? Cisco’s giving me a lesson. There’s nothing else going on.”
Daisy’s gaze slid to him. “You’re not being impartial.”
“Guilty as charged.” There was no point in denying it. “Look, Daisy, I know there’s this enchantment, or airy-fairy nonsense, that appears to be pretty baked here in this town, but I don’t care how many curses you put on me, I’m just not going to be into you.” He swallowed, hating to hurt her feelings but realizing that bluntness was needed before the threat of committees got thrown around some more. He didn’t know what strength a BC committee had, but there was already enough bad blood in the town as it was. “I don’t care how many times you win me, I’m not the guy for you. I’m sorry.”
Daisy shook her head. “That’s the beauty of the charms here. Sometimes we don’t know what’s right under our noses.”
He looked over Suz’s seal-slick figure, eyeing her curves and her streaked hair. “I know what’s under my nose. I don’t need any race or contest or matchmaker to tell me.”
Daisy frowned. “I’m going to file a complaint. Once again, the Hawthornes have conspired to work things to their advantage. Suz, you’ve tampered with the race, and that’s just not done in BC. Our legends are sacrosanct.”
Suz shrugged. “File away. I don’t care. It was just a swimming lesson.”
“Just because you’ve always been the hometown princess doesn’t mean you can break the rules.” Daisy zoomed off.
“Hell, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize we were bending any contest rules.” Cisco shook his head. “I don’t want to be the damn prize. I only swam the first race because her dad was putting up a huge purse, and my buddies and I decided to win it and give it to charity. And we looked forward to putting a major thumping on Daisy’s gang.” He shook his head. “Didn’t foresee Squint, of all people, cramping up and crab-crawling into last place.”
Suz walked to his truck. “So don’t be the prize, if it bugs you so much. It’s just a moneymaker for our town. People like to come out and see the event, the same folks who frequent our haunted house at the Hanging H. Families who like family events they can go to with their kids.”
“It’s a big deal, huh?” A little guilt seeped into him.
She shrugged and got into his truck. “I told you, it’s a fund-raiser, a community-building event, and we enjoy tooting our own horn here. With Robert Donovan trying to tear this town down, we encourage family-friendly events, hoping to tempt people to settle here.”
He started the truck, noting that the guilt was rising inside him. “But it’s so silly.”
She smiled, brushed her wet hair straight back from her forehead in a slick tail. He had an even better look at her face sans jewelry and hair, and realized Suz wasn’t just pretty, she had a fine-boned beauty to her that was stunning. “It seems silly to you. You’re not from here. I might think things in your town are silly, too. Or at least unusual.”
“Yeah. Probably.” He drove down the road toward the Hanging H to drop her back home. Then he’d trudge over to the bunkhouse, where his buddies would be waiting to rib him. “What would happen if I fell for someone else?” he asked, his voice deliberately casual, his heart banging like mad. “Even though Daisy won me—which is kind of a bogus win, because I was really swimming lights-out to win her dad’s dough to donate to charity, and to beat her gang, which was awesome—” he took a deep breath “—but I wasn’t trying to win her.”
“So you’re saying that the legend might not work because you had ulterior motives?” Suz looked at him.
“I’m just asking.” He went back to his original question. “So, theoretically speaking, what would happen if I fell for, say, you? Wouldn’t that negate the charm?”
“It’s never happened. We’ve always operated within the bounds of what’s worked all these years. Never tried to circumvent the system.” She studied him. “You really don’t like Daisy, do you?”
“No,” he said, pretty desperately. “I’m not a superstitious guy, but you folks are giving me the heebie-jeebies with all this charm stuff. I don’t believe it, but there may be something in the water, because I never dreamed I’d see Ty Spurlock settle down. Ever.”
“Yeah, that was a shocker.” Suz shrugged, put on some shiny, clear lip gloss. “So don’t be part of the swim.”
“It’s that easy?”
She turned to him, surprised. “Of course! No one’s forcing you to participate in our town functions.”
Town dysfunctions. He wondered if he was being a dud over what was arguably probably just a fun day in January, something to break up the monotony of an otherwise cold, dreary month.
How he wished Suz was the prize. For her, he was pretty certain he could set new swimming records. “I know you can beat her. I’m not worried.”
Suz’s delicate heart-shaped lips separated. “You’re not?”
Cisco took a deep breath. “Nope.”
“Because you sounded like you were a second ago.”
“I feel pretty good with my champion,” he said, smiling at Suz. “And we’ve got a few more days to teach you. You’ve got this.”
Suz smiled. “Thanks.”
“No problem.” He pulled into the Hanging H’s long drive. “It’s going to be fun. And I saw on the weather report it’s going to be an unseasonably warm day Saturday. Everything’s in your corner.”
She brightened. “Thanks for believing in me.”
“Never doubted you.”
He got out of the truck, and she hopped out, too. She waved goodbye, and went into her house. Cisco took a deep, fortifying breath, and slunk into the bunkhouse to face the teasing he knew he would receive.
Squint and Sam lounged on the leather sofas, drinking what looked like hot cocoa and eating bonbons, Cisco thought with disgust. “Are those chocolate drops you fellows are dropping into your maws?”
“Mmm.” Squint grinned. “They’re called cake balls, but they’re really more chocolate or vanilla frosting than a piece of cake. Here.” Squint tossed him one, which Cisco caught, popping it into his mouth after studying it.
It was sweet, but he’d rather go to Suz for his sugar intake. “Don’t you fellows have anything to do? Besides sit around in the lap of luxury?”
“Actually, we’re waiting on you for the swim report.” Sam grinned. “We’ve already heard from Daisy.”
“Great.” Cisco pondered the beer in the fridge, decided to hit the whiskey instead.
“Self-medicating?” Sam asked, and his buddies guffawed.
“Do I need to?” Cisco came out with three glasses and a full bottle. “Anybody joining me this cold evening?”
“Sure. We’ll toast your doom,” Sam said.
“Hey! That’s my girl you’re talking about,” Squint said. “Daisy is not doom. She’s a radioactively hot baby.” He smacked his lips after taking a shot. “I wish I was the prize so she could win me.”
“Take my place.” Cisco shrugged. “Everybody wins.”
“Oh, ye of little faith.” Sam looked pleased. “Don’t you think Suz can steal Daisy’s crown? Daisy was in here, madder than a hornet. She seems to think you’re giving Suz tips—SEAL tips—on how to win.”
“Suz can’t steal Daisy’s crown yet.” Cisco raised his glass to his buddies, took another shot. “But I have faith.”
His friends grinned at him. “You’re being dishonest,” Sam said. “Your eyelid always jumps when you’re deviating from the truth.”
“Otherwise known as lying like a rug.” Squint held out his glass for a refill. “It’s okay. We get it. But just know my girl was awfully PO’d. She’s going to make some noise about your gaming the holy BC system. And I don’t know what happens then.”
“All hell breaks loose. Who cares?” Cisco shrugged. “There were no tips given. Since Suz can’t swim, it’s not like I can give her a SEAL tip, although I appreciate Daisy’s faith in our navy.”
Sam and Squint looked startled. “Can’t swim?” Squint repeated, sounding dumbfounded.
“Not a stroke.” Cisco eyed his glass, appreciating the amber liquid. It was smooth, as smooth as the slick wet suit that looked as if it had been spray-painted on Suz, much to his appreciative gaze. “It’s okay. She’s got the race in the bag. I’ll be saved, and then you can press your case on the unsuspecting Daisy.” He stared down Squint. “If Daisy’s ‘your girl,’ as you call her, why hasn’t she figured that out?”
Squint shrugged. “It seems her gaze is caught on your ugly mug.”
Cisco laughed. “You are a rather homely dog.”
“Thank you.” Squint leaned back in the sofa. “You want me to help you teach Suz how to swim? I really need her to win this race, for the obvious reason.”
“You?” Sam laughed along with Cisco. “Leg Cramp Man? Mr. Last Place?”
Squint looked devastated. “Never happened before.”
“You’ll redeem yourself one day.” A bright, shiny idea illuminated Cisco’s brain. “Have you told Daisy how you feel?”
“No, dude, that’s not smooth.” Squint didn’t look optimistic.
“It’s because he came in last place in the swim last month,” Sam said, filling in the missing pieces Squint didn’t want to admit. “We overheard Daisy telling someone that she would never date a man who came in last place, behind her gang. That man, of course, was our buddy.”
Squint’s face mapped misery like a human Etch A Sketch. “It was a muscle spasm! People get them!”
Cisco looked at the ceiling, wondering how to salvage the dilemma they found themselves in. “We’ll figure it out. All for one, and one for all, the way it’s always been.” He looked at his friend speculatively. “You believe in all this hocus-pocus around here?”
“Ty swears by it. He’s the one who would know,” Squint said. “He’s born and bred BC.”
“You?” Cisco asked Sam.
“Hell, I don’t care.” Sam grinned. “I’m always going to do whatever I want, and no charm’s going to change that.”
“The selfish bachelor.” Cisco nodded. “But not as selfish as you,” he said, looking at Squint. “If you have such a hot thing going for Daisy, why don’t you just tell her? It could change everything for all of us. Take me out of the boiling pot.”
“But frogs belong in boiling pots,” said Squint, clearly unbothered by his best friend’s dilemma. “I can’t tip my hand. I’ll just wait, as I’ve said, until she’s done chasing after what she doesn’t want. Women do that, you know. It’s all part of the dance.” He relaxed into the sofa cushions, a look of contentment on his face. “I do wish you wouldn’t get my girl all stirred up, though. Makes me sad to see her unhappy.”
Cisco scoffed. “Let’s get on with the planning of this escapade. It’s time for teamwork.”
“What escapade?” Sam asked.
“Like last time, when we all swam the race together to achieve a unified goal. Teamwork. That’s what we’re good at.”
His good buddies looked blank as new sheets of paper.
“No plan here,” Sam said. “I’ve even changed my mind about participating in the race. No reason to since Daisy’s going to win. So, just call me No Plan Sam.”
“I’ve got nothing,” Squint agreed.
Suz blew in on a gust of cold air, warming Cisco. She looked fresh and invigorated from their lesson: hair dry and spiky, foxy smile on her face, roses in her cheeks to match the pink scarf around her neck. He was definitely warm for this woman, in all the right places.
“I brought pumpkin chocolate chip muffins,” Suz said, and the men cheered.
“Just the thing to go with whiskey.” Ever the dog, Sam hopped up to help himself first to what Cisco considered his spoils.
“My work, my prize,” Cisco said, snatching the cute basket with the blue-and-white patterned napkin away from Sam. “Sit down and stay a second,” he said to Suz, guiding her to a seat far away from Sam and Squint.
“Yes, do.” Sam gazed at Suz, waiting his turn at the basket, which Cisco now passed around grudgingly. “We’ve been hearing about your lesson this morning.”
Suz glanced with some annoyance at Cisco, which he felt was ill-deserved. “That should be a private topic.”
“Yeah, well,” Squint said, pawing the basket with his big hand. “Daisy came by to throw a hissy about Cisco cheating. She’s filing a complaint, or squawking to someone.”
Suz frowned. “Let her complain. We did nothing wrong.”
Cisco perked at the sound of “we” on Suz’s sweet lips, very much liking the “we’re in this together” medley. “Besides which, I have a plan to completely neutralize our town tattletale.”
“Watch it,” Squint reminded him, “again, that’s my girl we’re talking about.”
“Precisely. And I have a thunderbolt of inspiration about your girl,” Cisco said. “Squint, Mr. Leg Cramp Extraordinaire, is going to take my place on Saturday.”
The room went dead silent as everyone stared at him.