My Baby, My Bride

It appeared that there was a party going on inside, one to which he had not been invited. Gathering up his bravado, which had been shamelessly stamped on lately, he strode across the street. He eased open the doors and the smile slipped from his face, his gaze suddenly riveted to the beautiful cake Liberty was about to cut.

The cake was festooned with a tier of pastel pink and blue ribbons, and a silver baby rattle lay beneath it like a shiny announcement of a beautiful, miracle future.

His eyes met Liberty’s with horror and heartbreak and in them Duke read the truth: Liberty Wentworth was welcoming a baby into her life. That was the real reason she’d returned to Tulips.

What a faithless would-be-bride she’d turned out to be!

Dear Reader,

Many of you enjoyed the COWBOYS BY THE DOZEN books, and I had fun writing them for you. There are so many more stories in that series that I want to tell, and fortunately, my editor liked my idea of setting some books in a town neighboring Union Junction—Tulips, Texas, a town run by women. The move is truly one from leather to lace, and I loved writing the reverse of the strong-headed, strong-hearted men in COWBOYS BY THE DOZEN. Mainly, I loved being able to revisit old friends and make some new ones. I hope you will enjoy this three-book series—welcome to a town peopled with citizens who really love each other and understand that friendships are one of the most important parts of life.

Much love to you all,

Tina Leonard

My Baby, My Bride

Tina Leonard

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tina Leonard loves to laugh, which is one of the many reasons she loves writing Harlequin American Romance books. In another lifetime Tina thought she would be single and an East Coast fashion buyer forever. The unexpected happened when Tina met Tim again after many years—she hadn’t seen him since they’d attended school together from first through eighth grade. They married, and now Tina keeps a close eye on her school-age children’s friends! Lisa and Dean keep their mother busy with soccer, gymnastics and horseback riding. They are proud of their mom’s “kissy books” and eagerly help her any way they can. Tina hopes that readers will enjoy the love of family she writes about in her books. Recently a reviewer wrote, “Leonard had a wonderful sense of the ridiculous,” which Tina loved so much she wants it for her epitaph. Right now, however, she’s focusing on her wonderful life and writing a lot more romance! You can visit her at www.tinaleonard.com.

This book is dedicated to Kathleen Scheibling and Paula Eykelhof. Many thanks for the wonders of my career.

To Lisa and DeanO, my best little friends. I love you.

And to my Gal Pals, and the Scandalous Ladies and wonderful friend Georgia Haynes—what marvelous friends and teachers you have been to me.

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Epilogue

Chapter One

“Most of the memorable women, fiction or nonfiction, have been willing to raise a little hell.”

—Liberty Wentworth, throwing caution to the wind

It was Ladies Only Day in the Tulips Saloon in Tulips, Texas, but Sheriff Duke Forrester pitched the heavy glass-and-wood doors open anyway, drawing a gasp from the crowd of women clustered around something in the center of the room.

The ladies were, as usual, hiding something from him. In this town, named by women, and mostly run by women—it was true that behind every good woman there was a woman who’d taught her everything she knew—he had learned to outmaneuver both the younger and the older population of ladies bent on intrigues of the social, sexual and conspiratorial varieties.

“I heard,” he said, his voice a no-nonsense drawl, “that Liberty Wentworth was back in town. You ladies wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”

Every one of them shook her head as the women tightened their circle. It was, he decided, almost an engraved invitation for him to storm their protective clutch and find out what they were up to. By now, they should know he was on to them. Oh, he’d let them have their way when they’d wanted to name the town cafeteria a saloon—they said a saloon sounded so much more dramatic to tourists who wanted that “old west experience.” But he wouldn’t let them have their way this time.

Liberty Wentworth, his ex-fiancée, was trying to keep her return to Tulips a secret, he was sure, with a backing of blue-haired friends. Some silver-haired friends, too, depending on what Holt, the resident hairdresser, was mixing up for his clients. Duke was pretty certain Holt’s colorful creations were a reflection of the man’s current mood, but the ladies loved him, calling him “sympathetic” to their cause.

Mostly, their cause was outwitting the sheriff, and this was plot number ninety-nine, give or take a few. Duke grinned, edging a foot closer to the ladies. Their faces grew worried with round-eyed concern.

“Now, this is Ladies Only Day,” Helen Granger said sternly. “Sheriff, you know that means no gentlemen in here.”

“Considering there are, what, maybe ten men in this town of fifty residents, I have to take exception to the rule. I think you ladies just like one day when you know I personally won’t be allowed in.”

“Is one day of sisterhood too much to ask?” Helen demanded. “One day of female bonding in our saloon? Hentalk can’t interest you that much, Sheriff.”

The hentalk comment gave them away, Duke decided, craning his neck to see what they were hiding. Women never called their chatter “hentalk,” and if a man called it that, he’d lose his hat from the gale-force wind of them yelling it off his head. “I notice Holt is excluded from The Rule,” he said silkily.

“Well, Holt’s different,” Pansy Trifle explained. “You know he is. Not like yourself at all. Not so manly,” she said, sucking up and trying to flatter his ego.

Ha. He had no ego. Liberty Wentworth had taken care of his ego six months ago when she’d left him at the altar, her little feet in high-heeled white shoes running as fast as they could away from him, her veil flying behind her like a banner ribbon of surrender to freedom.

“All right, ladies,” he said, gently moving Pansy to one side. “Let’s see what you’re up to this time.”

Immediately after he’d parted the women, he wished he hadn’t felt such an urge to play his manly role of plot-buster. Because there in the center of the sheltering circle of her friends was Liberty Wentworth, the blond bombshell who had detonated his heart, still possessing the face of an angel and wearing the white wedding gown of his never-ending fantasies. Nightmares, really. His heart began an uncomfortable pounding as she stared up into his eyes. If life were fair, he’d whip out his handcuffs right now and snap them on her fragile wrists so she’d be completely at his mercy.

Unfortunately, as much as the thought of Liberty in sexual bondage was a highly desirable situation, the ladies would beat him to death with parasols, tea trays and opinions. He had only one course of action left to him, one source of honor for his masculine pride.

He turned on his boot heel and walked out the door, surrendering to the sanctity of Ladies Only Day and hiding the sudden pain in his chest. Liberty was clearly planning on marrying another man, in the dress she’d worn to their non-wedding, no less. The woman was a serial marital tornado, he decided, putting himself in a better mood by pitying the next poor sap who was going to get his heart squashed by her now.

He despised Ladies Only Day with a passion.

Five minutes later, Duke was safely corralled inside his office at the jailhouse. It was dark and quiet, and that was good. He needed a moment or two to regroup, and to curse privately.

“Howdy, Sheriff.”

Duke put his hand up, warding off the greeting from the jail cell’s erstwhile occupant. “Not now, Mr. Parsons.” Duke sat heavily in the worn leather chair he’d inherited from the previous occupant of the sheriff’s position, Mrs. Gaines. Mr. Parsons’s silky-haired golden retriever, Jimbo, came to lay his head on the corner of Duke’s desk, giving him a soulful, sympathetic gaze. Actually, the damn dog was Duke’s, and actually, her name was Molly. But about the time Liberty decided to jilt him, Molly had also jilted him, leaving him for the warm, frequent, measured stroking Mr. Parsons offered her. Since Mr. Parsons had once owned a dog named Jimbo, whom he’d adored, Molly had undergone a psychic personality transformation—or a theoretical sex change—and become Jimbo. The rest was history. Duke stared at his meekly sympathetic dog, who was really a traitor in gorgeous fur come back to taunt him. Much like Liberty. Traitor. “All females are traitors,” he stated flatly to Mr. Parsons.

“Not necessarily,” Mr. Parsons replied. He’d finished making his bed and was picking up a broom to sweep out his cell. The cell door was open because Mr. Parsons was a volunteer occupant. He kept his cell cleaner than most folks kept their homes, so Duke had quit arguing with him about the fact that eventually he’d have to give up the cell for some vagrant or deserving troublemaker. Mr. Parsons had also deemed himself Duke’s secretary, so the man was of some use, even if his messages were indecipherable more often than not. “Mrs. Parsons was no traitor, though I often suspected she spied on me for the KGB.”

Duke rubbed his forehead under his hatband. “Liberty is a spy,” he said, jumping on the conspiracy theory because he was tired and annoyed. And heartbroken. “She’s a spy for the TSG.”

“Tulips Saloon girls?”

“Tulips Saloon Gang. Believe me, they are a gang.”

“Women tend to run as a pack,” Mr. Parsons observed. “And that’s where the fun is usually to be found. I’d run with their gang if they’d let me.”

Duke leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. Molly-Jimbo’s head moved from his desk to his leg, and she gave an empathetic tweet of shared misery, which he appreciated so much that he put his hand down to enjoy the feeling of her silky ear between his fingers. “Just like Liberty’s hair,” he murmured.

“Pardon?” Mr. Parsons said.

Duke ignored him. Truth was, the old man was mostly quiet, and he had Duke’s dog, and Duke figured that was as practical a reason as any to let good company hang around. Mainly, he didn’t want to be completely alone with his thoughts, which always returned in ragged fashion to Liberty Wentworth.

LIBERTY ADJUSTED the flowing folds of her wedding gown and told her racing heart to quiet itself after Duke’s departure. “Duke only got half the surprise.”

Helen and Pansy fluttered around her. “A man doesn’t need to be overwhelmed with information,” Pansy said. “I think the sheriff took in all he could handle for the moment.”

“He asked for it,” Helen said crossly. “If a man walks through those doors on our special day, then he’s asking to get an education in women’s ways.”

The other ten or so women in the room nodded. One handed Liberty a tissue; another went and loaded up a plate of cookies that had been brought over from the neighboring town of Union Junction by Valentine Jefferson. She was the owner of the bakery there, and had given them the idea to start a Ladies Only Day. Her Men’s Only Day in Union Junction—a celebration of males, masculinity and fatherhood—had been a big success and had done much to boost the morale of the town.

It had seemed like such a good idea at the time, Liberty thought to herself. A day just for women, where they could bond with each other and share their most personal triumphs and disappointments.

She had come here today just for this brand of womanly comfort. “I’m sorry,” Liberty said. “I’ve put all of you in a bad spot now.”

“Nonsense,” Pansy said, her posture stout and determined. “As far as Sheriff Duke is concerned, we are always in a bad spot. We like it that way!”

Liberty smiled at her friend’s pluck.

“That’s right,” Helen agreed. “We’re determined to go out of this world raising hell, and Duke makes such an excellent foil for our objectives.”

That announcement seemed to center the group because the ladies stopped hovering and fluttering. They sat and reached for teacups and sweets. Liberty felt like neither eating nor drinking.

Of course, that had something to do with being pregnant with Duke’s child, the other half of the shock he would eventually endure. Dread filled her.

“Do you need a toddy, dear?” Pansy asked. “A good, sweet lemonade?”

Since it was a hot September in Texas, lemonade would normally be a refreshing treat. But not today—not since Duke had discovered she’d returned. Since seeing his handsome face, Liberty felt her stomach wouldn’t accept a thing.

“Maybe I should talk to him,” she said.

Valentine looked at her. “There is a time for talking, especially with someone as stubborn as Duke. I married a stubborn man and truthfully, catching Crockett was the hard part. After that, it’s been a lot of fun.” She smiled with encouragement.

Even with the support of all these wonderful ladies, Liberty felt her courage begin to drain out of her. “I really didn’t have catching Duke on my mind, since I technically returned him to the wild on our wedding day.”

“There is that,” Helen said. She sat down, shifting her black glasses on her nose and peering at Liberty. “It’s amazing how that wedding dress still fits you, as far along as you are.” Frowning, she touched the delicate lace. “I’m not certain the waist can be let out, dear, once you start gaining…once baby starts growing more. We’re pushing it at seven months, and I do believe it’s now or never for your lovely gown.”

An awkward silence fell over the room. Liberty stood. “This is my problem, and I’ve made everyone feel that it’s theirs. I’m going to walk down to the jail and talk to Duke.”

“You should change first, dear,” Pansy observed mildly. “Duke would probably be more receptive to you when you aren’t wearing white.”

“She didn’t mean that the way it sounded, Libby,” Helen hurried to say, but Liberty shook her head.

“It’s all right.” Hugging Pansy to melt the expression of dismay on her elderly friend’s face, she said, “I’ll wear black. That ought to suit his mood since he clearly thinks I’m the evil witch of Tulips.”

“Black is sexy,” Valentine noted.

“Yes, but I don’t think he’s in the mood to see me as sexy. To him, I’m the villainess of this play,” Liberty said, “and I can’t blame him. Unzip me, if you don’t mind, Helen.”

“Such a pretty gown,” Helen murmured.

Liberty could feel the woman’s fingers tremble at the delicate shell buttons and zipper at the back. “It’s just that Duke’s so strong,” she said to the room at large, as all the women watched the fantasy wedding gown coming undone with sad, wistful eyes. “He’s very opinionated. I got scared,” she said, trying to apologize, or at least explain her actions to the women who cared so much about her. She could feel their heartbreak and their concern. Of course, she’d had no idea she was pregnant at the time. Would she still have jilted Duke?

“Strong is good,” one of the younger women murmured. “I like a strong man.”

“Mmm. John Wayne,” someone else said.

“But a man can be too opinionated,” Valentine said, and Liberty felt better.

“Depends on where and how he decides to express his opinions,” someone commented, drawing a few giggles, though not from Liberty, Pansy, Helen or Valentine.

The heavy doors of the Tulips Saloon crashed open. All the ladies gasped, not the least because of the fabulous stained-glass design of hot pink and red tulips that adorned the door, but mainly from the shock of being startled from their conversation—again.

“Liberty!” Duke’s voice could have drowned out a cannon’s boom. She whirled to look at him, holding her hands to the sweetheart neckline of the dress so it wouldn’t fall from her shoulders.

She raised her chin, not about to answer him meekly. “You snarled?”

“We need to talk,” he said, his arms crossed.

“Need has never been one of my favorite words,” she said. “I prefer would like to, or even should.”

“Phrased nicely,” Pansy said, bobbing her head so that her spectacles danced. “‘We should talk’ would sound ever so much more chivalrous.”

“I’ll wait for you outside.” He tipped his hat to the room and left.

Liberty looked at her friends. “That is the definition of strong.”

“Well,” Valentine said, “he is upset.”

“He does need some sugar on that temper of his,” someone suggested.

“Of course, he was devastated when she left,” another matron sympathized.

“Well,” Helen said with a sigh, “go change, honey. Let him cool his heels a minute. I’ll tell him you’ll be right out, and maybe that will settle him.” She picked up a delicate teacup, poured some fresh tea in it and bravely headed outside to offer it to the sheriff.

Liberty went into a back room and slipped out of the beautiful gown with Valentine’s help. Valentine hung the dress for her, covering it in plastic. Even beneath the cover, the dress shimmered with hope and dreams of happiness. Liberty had sewn every single one of those sequins and crystal beads herself, and had cut the satiny fabric with trembling fingers while Pansy and Helen helped her keep it from snagging or getting dirty. That dress had been a labor of love on all their parts.

“The ladies say he really is a teddy bear,” Valentine said.

“He is,” Liberty agreed, “when he’s not being a horse’s ass. You don’t get one without the other with Duke.”

Valentine giggled. “I heard his brother, Zach, is the same way.”

“Zach may be worse. Although Pepper takes the cake,” Liberty said. “Little sister knows exactly how to tame those brothers of hers.”

“Where is Pepper, anyway?” Valentine asked, carefully smoothing the plastic covering the dream dress.

“I don’t know. Off somewhere, being a wild woman.” She smiled as she pulled on jeans and a loose white sweater. “I think the fact that Pepper and I were best friends growing up gives me insight into the family. Zach and I were close, almost as much as Pepper and I were. But not Duke. I think I fell in love with him when I was five years old. I was watching him catch tadpoles, and I remember thinking he could do anything.” He had been her hero.

A part of her still thought he was.

She shook her head as she stepped back into her high-heeled wedding shoes. There wasn’t going to be a wedding but she might as well wear them, even if they might be the color of sin in Duke’s eyes. The heels would make her a little taller when talking to him—and a little sexier, despite her pregnancy.

“Your shoes and sweater match,” Valentine said. “You look so pretty, Liberty. No one would ever guess you’re seven months pregnant. I hope you don’t mind me saying so.”

Liberty smiled. “Thanks.”

“I’m going to head back to Union Junction. I’ll give your dress to Helen and Pansy.” She hugged Liberty. “In the meantime, good luck with Duke.”

Pansy poked her head around the door. “Duke says he’s gotten a call and he’s got to leave, so you’d best hurry, dear.”

Liberty hugged Valentine again and followed Pansy out, waving to her friends who watched her depart with some concern. Outside the saloon, Duke stood on the sidewalk, sexy as all get out and clearly disgruntled.

“I have to go,” he said. “I have a call. But we should talk.”

Noting he’d used the ladies’ more courteous phrasing, she gave him points for trying and nodded. “All right.”

“You can ride with me if you like.” He eyed her wedding shoes. “Although we’ll be going into the country on a family crisis call.”

“Who is it?” She followed Duke with quick steps as he strode away.

“The Carmines. Mrs. Carmine says her husband left last night and she wants someone to talk to. She thinks he may have gotten lost.”

“Again,” Liberty murmured. Bug Carmine frequently departed to his fields with a bottle of whiskey and a shotgun. The shotgun was in case he saw a deer or duck he wanted, though in his ten years of disappearing, he’d never brought home food nor trophy. People suspected he couldn’t see more than five feet in front of him. His disappearance upset Mrs. Carmine after a few days. She would call someone to fetch him from the five hundred acres he could hide himself in, and he’d come home sheepishly, bottle empty but shotgun still loaded.

They got in Duke’s truck. He glanced over at her, and Liberty’s nerves tightened.

“So,” he said, “who’s the lucky guy?”

Chapter Two

“There is no lucky guy,” Liberty said. “You should know that better than anyone.”

He scowled. Why had he asked? No matter the answer, it was bound to hurt. But she wouldn’t have been wearing the wedding gown if she wasn’t intending to marry another man.

It was killing him.

“No second chances from me,” he said. “I’m not asking twice.”

He felt her astonishment. “I’m not asking you to ask me, if you’re referring to marriage.” Her posture stiffened. “Duke, my leaving had more to do with me than you. I got scared. I wasn’t ready. Even I didn’t know I was a predestined runaway bride. It just happened, silly as that seems.”

“If it was any woman other than you who’d done that, I’d think they were a little loose in the skull,” he said. “But being loosey-goosey is sort of your way. I think it’s what attracts me to you.”

Of course, there were a lot of other things that attracted him to her. Right now he could smell her perfume. It smelled wonderful, reminding him of the scent of her skin. The memory worked him over. “I think you weren’t convinced.”

“Of what?”

“You weren’t convinced that you couldn’t live without me. Since we never really dated but made love twice—in one afternoon—you probably were unconvinced that I was husband material.”

“I don’t think that was it. But let’s not examine it too much. If we try to overanalyze it, we might figure something out, and I don’t want to. It’s in the past.”

He didn’t like that. “Completely?”

“Not exactly,” she said.

“Aha! You did like sleeping with me!”

“I never said I didn’t,” she said tartly. “That was the one really good thing about you.”

“What the hell does that mean?” He couldn’t decide if he was gratified or insulted. “Liberty, when I asked you to marry me, you said yes. I assumed there was something about me you liked beyond the bedroom.”

“The field,” Liberty murmured, “and then a closet.”

“It was awesome. I never knew a woman could be so flexible.”

“Duke!” She sighed. “Good sex doesn’t a marriage make.”

“It makes something,” he said, “and in my book, it makes something good.”

“Yes, well—” Her voice drifted away. “I want something more solid than sexual desire. That fades away over time.”

He turned into the Carmines’ drive. “Like what? A written promise that I’ll always want you enough to make love to you in a closet?”

“Yes.” Liberty nodded. “And that you’ll never try to rule me, or boss me, or overwhelm me with your personality. You’re very chauvinistic in some ways, Duke.”