A Bride By Summer

* * *

KELLIE CHECKED HER watch as her father drove them to the front of her condo in her parents’ Volvo sedan. Six thirty p.m. She still couldn’t believe what she’d agreed to. She and the striking Texas Ranger had to pretend to be married starting tonight!

What have I done? She closed her eyes. You’ve done what’s necessary to survive.

“Come on, honey. Let’s go in and have dinner. You haven’t eaten all day.”

“I couldn’t.” But her parents had insisted on picking up some barbecue for all of them.

She hadn’t had an appetite since this first started. As for sleep... Nothing seemed real. That monster could have been following them from the ranch. She almost expected him to suddenly appear at the mailbox.

The normal number of bills had stacked up. She put the mail into her purse before getting back in the car. Her mom had been over to her condo several times this past month to water her plants and make sure everything was all right. Thank goodness the Ranger would find her house clean and in good shape. There were times when it looked a mess.

She eyed the condo. No one would know the secret it was holding. If everything had gone as planned, then the Ranger was inside. A vision of the way he’d looked when she’d bumped into him in Bandera was indelibly impressed in her mind. He was a man whose aura gave the impression he could deal with anything or one. Her pulse raced at the realization they would be spending time together.

Kellie got out of the car and hurried up the front steps ahead of her parents. He must have heard them because he opened the door to let them in.

“Hi.” His deep voice filtered through to her insides.

Kellie looked up at him. “Hi.” He’d changed into a dark blue sport shirt and jeans. His eyes matched his shirt. Outside the radio station, he’d been wearing his white Stetson. But in his office as well as now, the light in the living room illuminated the sun-bleached tips of his wavy light brown hair.

Her mother was carrying the food. “I’ve brought dinner for all of us.”

The Ranger smiled and took the bag from her. “Thank you, Mrs. Parrish. How did you know I’m starving?”

The way the corners of his eyes crinkled sent a surprising curl of warmth through Kellie, who put her purse on a chair. While he and her mother went to the kitchen, she turned to help her father carry her bags upstairs to the bedroom. That was when she saw that another couch had been added to the living room. Everything had been rearranged so it would fit.

As they passed the guest bedroom upstairs, she saw some of the Ranger’s things on the bed. She avoided her father’s eyes and continued to her room.

“Are you okay, Kellie?”

“I don’t know what I am yet, but knowing this Ranger is here to protect me is all that’s helping keep my sanity right now.”

Her dad gave her a big hug. “I’m relieved, too. The captain told me Ranger Vance was one of the men who brought down the drug cartel earlier in the year. He says there’s no one better, and I believe him. Come on. Let’s go back down and hear what this Ranger has to say.”

Kellie nodded. “I’ll be there in a minute.” She needed to pull herself together.

He kissed her forehead and left. She took time to freshen up in the bathroom before joining everyone at the dining room table. When the Ranger saw her, he stood. “I’m sure it’s strange for you to feel like a guest in your own home.”

“I’m too thankful you’re here to think about it.”

He sat back down. “These ribs are delicious. Thank you. I work better on a full stomach. Tonight I’m going to help your daughter draft her marriage announcement message for her blog. By ten it will be out on the internet. As her parents, you’ll be bombarded with questions from everyone who knows you. I want you to tell them that Kellie and I met on the circuit. It was love at first sight and we couldn’t stand to wait, so we were privately married before her rodeo performance in Montana.

“Tell people there will be a wedding reception for us at the ranch in December, after Finals. Don’t say any more or any less. We’ll worry about explanations after this stalker is caught.”

This is really happening. She eyed her parents, who agreed to do exactly as he said. He had a way of instilling confidence and trust.

He looked at them. “From here on out, Kellie is going to do what she would do if there were no threat. The three of you will carry on with your lives while I work behind the scenes. No one is to know about this case except the four of us and my team.”

“Sally and Cody know a man was bothering me.”

“I talked with both of them earlier in the day. They won’t be telling anyone about this.”

Kellie’s father thanked him again. “I think it’s time we left the two of you alone so you can get on with your plans. Come on, Nadine.”

They both got up from the table. Kellie jumped up to hug them. “I’ll call you all the time so you’re not worried.”

“We love you, honey.”

“We do,” her father said in a gruff voice and gave her a bear hug. “Do everything the Ranger says.”

“I promise.” She walked them to the front door. “I love you. Thank you for being the best parents on earth.”

“I won’t let anything happen to her,” the Ranger assured them before they left the condo. The conviction in his voice prevented Kellie from breaking down.

Kellie shut the door and hurried past him to clear the table. He helped put everything in the waste bin while she wiped down the top. “If you want to get started on the blog piece, we can do it here.”

“Sounds good, but let’s sit down for a minute and lay the groundwork.”

She nodded and followed his suggestion. He sat across from her. “First of all, I’d like you to call me Cy and I’ll call you Kellie. Next, we need to make this real.” He reached in his shirt pocket and set three rings on the table. After putting the larger gold band on the ring finger of his left hand, he said, “Go ahead and see if they fit.”

With trembling fingers, she picked up the engagement ring with a beautiful one-carat diamond. She slid it on and it was a surprisingly good fit. So was the gold wedding band. The moment was surreal.

“How do they feel, Mrs. Vance?”

Her head flew back. Their gazes fused for a moment. It feels too natural. “Fine.”

“Will they bother you when you ride?”

She blinked. “No. My right hand does most of the work.”

“Good. Let’s discuss the living arrangements. I plan to sleep downstairs and had the team bring over a hide-a-bed couch. If you don’t mind, I’ll use the half bath on this floor, but I’ll shower upstairs when you’re not here. For the time being I’ll use the guest room to store my clothes and equipment.”

In the next breath he pulled a pair of latex gloves from his back pocket and put them on.

“Why don’t you bring me the mail? I’ll go through it in case this stalker has sent you a message to frighten you further.”

At the thought, her body broke out in a cold sweat. Kellie went into the living room to get her purse and brought it to the table. After she opened it, he reached inside and took out the bills.

He went through the pile one piece at a time. “Let me know if you see something odd.”

She shook her head. “It’s the usual bills and ads.”

He kept going. When he came to a Cowboy Times magazine, he held it up by the spine. Two cards fell out along with a three-by-five white envelope. He picked up the letter. There was no return name or address. Her name and address had been typed on the front. “This was postmarked from Austin on the same day he approached you in Eagle Mountain.”

Kellie felt her stomach drop while she watched him open it. He spread out the eight-by-ten piece of folded paper. The word liar jumped out at them in big letters. She gasped. The stalker had cut them out of some magazine and had glued them on.

“This is going to the forensics lab. It’s my opinion that over the years this man has had a string of broken relationships, maybe a failed marriage, and feels betrayed. He has no friends or anyone he’s emotionally connected to. Every time he finds a new target, he convinces himself it’s love. When nothing works out, he goes into a rage because every woman turns out to be a liar.”

“I wonder how many other women he’s done this to.”

“Who knows, but it stops with you. I noticed you have a laptop upstairs. Why don’t you bring it down and we’ll get started on your announcement?”

“I’ll be right back.” When she brought it down a minute later, she noticed he’d put the letter in a plastic bag and had discarded the gloves. He’d also produced a laptop she’d seen lying on the hide-a-bed.

“I’d like to access more of your archives while you work on what you want to say.”

“I’ll send them to your computer.” He gave her his address.

They worked side by side. She wrote something, then deleted it and started again. After several attempts she got into the blog-writing mode and allowed herself to go with the flow.

“How’s it coming?” His deep voice broke the silence, but it continued to resonate inside her.

“It’s almost there. I’ll send you a copy in a minute to see what you think. After I’ve denied any involvement with a man, it’s going to have to be convincing.” She read over what she’d written so far.

Hi, all my faithful rodeo fans out there! I’m back from my last rodeo in Bandera, Texas, and won’t be competing until two weeks from now in Rapid City, South Dakota, where I’ll start out my Midwest circuit. My times have been up and down lately. But that’s because something thrilling has happened to me in my personal life.

So many times you’ve asked me if I have a boyfriend or if I plan to get married one day. I’ve always said that my love life was private. But I can’t keep quiet about this any longer. I did find the man of my dreams while I’ve been on the rodeo circuit. It was love at first sight for this gorgeous hunk of a cowboy. He’s bigger than life to me and my hero in more ways than one.

We decided we couldn’t stand to wait to get married until Finals in December. So we tied the knot in a private ceremony before my competition in Pendleton, Oregon. I’m so happy to be his wife, I go around in a daze. It’s little wonder I’ve been unable to concentrate. Trixie thinks I’m a little crazy, bless her heart. It’s a miracle she puts up with me and knows how to kill the cans in spite of me.

All of you know I always had a rule that I wouldn’t allow a man to throw me off my game while I was riding the circuit. No distractions for me. No siree. But I hadn’t met my husband when I said that. The second I looked into his eyes, my world changed in an instant. He’s the prince I dreamed about when I was a little girl. He’s the great man I’d hoped to meet while traveling the circuit around this great country of the USA.

We’ll have a wedding reception after Finals. I’ll post some pictures. You’ll all swoon when you see him!

PS: Of course I want to win the championship, but winning the love of my husband surpasses all else. I’m the luckiest cowgirl on the planet and grateful for all of you who constantly send me your support. Long live the rodeo!

Kellie saved the file and pushed the send button. In order to make her blog convincing, she’d had to put her heart into it. But while she waited for his opinion, heat crept into her cheeks. “I just sent you the announcement. While you check it for changes, I’ll get a cola. Would you like one?”

“Sure. Thanks.”

“Let me know what you think,” she said and left the room.

* * *

CY OPENED THE file and started to read. His heart thudded when he came to the lines “The second I looked into his eyes, my world changed in an instant. He’s bigger than life to me and my hero in more ways than one.” The more he read, the harder his heart pounded.

“What do you think?” She put a cold can of cola in front of him. “I know it’s probably too much, but I realize this has to convince my readers.”

He opened his drink and swallowed half of it in one go. “I agree it’s over-the-top, but it sounds like it came from the heart. When that creep reads this, it will push his buttons to the limit. The only correction is to delete Pendleton and put in Glasgow, Montana. That was your event before you left for Oregon. We don’t want him to think his appearance in Pendleton had anything to do with the timing of your marriage.”

She pulled the laptop in front of her and made the change. “I should have thought of that.” Kellie smiled at him. “That’s why you’re one of the Sons of the Forty! Okay. It’s done.”

“Go ahead and post it. Now we wait. I wouldn’t be surprised if your fans respond in droves and overload your website.”

Cy finished off his drink and got up from the table to toss it in the wastebasket. He’d left her phone on the counter and brought it to her. “I checked your phone. The only call you received in the middle of the night came from a throwaway phone and couldn’t be traced. I want you to continue to answer your phone.

“I’ve set it up with an app so you can record an incoming call. I’ll walk you through this. It’s easy.” He pulled his own cell phone from his shirt pocket. “I’ll call you. After you’ve answered, press Four and it will start recording. Ready?”

“Yes.”

He pressed the digit that had programmed her number. She let it ring three times, then clicked on. “Hello?”

Cy nodded, letting her know to press the number four digit.

“Hi, Kellie. Did you just get back from Bandera?”

“I drove in this morning.”

“How’s Trixie?”

“She’s at the ranch getting some TLC.”

“I bet you wish you were with her.”

“Tomorrow I’ll drive out there and we’ll go for a ride.”

“Sounds fun. Talk to you later.”

He held the phone away from his ear. “Now click End Call. The recording is downloaded to your iPhone and displayed on the screen. Tap the recording icon to listen. You can also trim the recording as needed by dragging the edge of the file on the screen.”

She followed his directions and suddenly they heard their conversation while seeing it at the same time. A natural smile broke out on her lips. Good grief, she was beautiful. “Technology is amazing.”

“In your case it’s crucial. I want every word recorded when he phones you again.”

“Do you think he’ll try soon?”

Cy nodded. “If I don’t miss my guess, he won’t be able to hold back, not after what you’ve put on your blog.”

“I’m afraid to talk to him.” He noticed her shiver. “I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep tonight.”

“Tell you what. Why don’t you go upstairs and get ready for bed? Then come down here to sleep on the couch for tonight. I’ll be nearby on the other couch. If he calls, I’ll be right here. Try to get him to talk about why he thought you were lying to him. Anything he says could give us a clue about him.”

“You wouldn’t mind? I’m behaving like a baby.”

“You’re behaving like a woman who’s being stalked. But I admire you for not giving in to your fear. That’s what he wants. He’s been watching you for a month if not longer and still doesn’t believe you’re married. But the blog entry will force him to reveal himself. The phone allows him a voice connection to you. Keep him on long enough for our voice experts to analyze it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Vocal oscillations convey so much about the speaker. But more important, our experts will be able to tell if he’s a Texan. A Texas accent stands apart from the rest of the South in that it has a twist that is a blending of the major features of the Deep South and Upper South.”

“I didn’t know that.”

He nodded. “The drawl of the Lower South has more influence in East Texas, while the ‘twang’ of the Upper South has left a greater imprint on West Texas. In South Texas, particularly, the Spanish and Mexican characteristics are heavily combined with that of the others. Once we get a recording of his voice to the experts, they can tell us if he’s from here or another state or region entirely. If we can pinpoint where he’s from, it could be a great help.”

“Then I’ll try to keep him on the phone. Excuse me while I run upstairs to get ready.”

“Take your time. We’ve got all night.”

Cy planned to stay in the clothes he was wearing. Tomorrow he’d shower and change while she was out at her parents’ ranch.

While she was upstairs, he sat down to see if there were any responses to her blog yet. A low whistle escaped when he counted seventy responses already. He scrolled through each one. When he came to the end, he was satisfied none of them was her stalker. It was touching to read how much her fans cared about her and appreciated her help through her online rodeo tips. But they were all excited about her marriage.

He opened up the archives. There were literally hundreds of entries on her blog site. It amazed him. She was definitely a star in her own right and an obvious favorite. He knew she had dozens of awards, but she didn’t keep them here. Probably at the ranch. One thing he knew about her already. There wasn’t a narcissistic bone in her lovely body.

While he read through a few more entries, she padded into the kitchen in bare feet wearing a blue robe. Beneath it she wore pajamas with Texas Longhorns on them. She’d brought down a blanket and pillow.

Cy had to be careful not to stare. “I take it you’re a football fan.”

“These are from my parents last Christmas.”

“My dad gave me a pair of the same pajamas two years ago.” They both laughed.

As she came closer, her smile faded. “Has that lunatic sent a response yet?”

“No. But you now have four hundred hits. Your eager fans want pictures and don’t want to wait until December.”

Without saying anything, Kellie walked into the living room and lay down on the couch, propping up her pillow and covering herself with the blanket. Cy checked his watch. It was ten to eleven. He picked up her cell phone and put it on the coffee table in front of her.

Once he’d made up the hide-a-bed, he went back to the dining room for her laptop. After turning off the overhead lights, he turned on a lamp in the living room and sat down next to it so he could continue to read the responses as they came in.

“When are you going to sleep?”

He liked it that she was concerned enough to ask and flicked her a glance. “Don’t worry about me.”

She sat up. Her disheveled hair gleamed in the soft light. “I don’t know how to begin to thank you for what you’re doing for me.”

“It’s my job.”

“A horrible one,” she said in a shaky voice. “Every day on the news you hear about some stalking victim found in a landfill—”

“Don’t go there.” Cy stopped her cold. “Nothing’s going to happen to you.”

“But who protects you?”

He smiled to himself. “I have a team that backs me up. My buddy Vic, one of the men you saw coming out of the radio station with me, is helping on your case.”

She lay back down. “You’re all remarkable.”

“Save your thanks until after we’ve caught him.”

Chapter Three

Kellie had no doubt he’d get the job done, but Cy Vance was too modest for words. That was part of the charm of the man who was growing on her with every passing second. His rugged profile stood out in the lamplight. He’d stretched out in the chair with his hard-muscled legs crossed at the ankles.

She’d been around cowboys all her life. Some of them were more attractive than others. Some had great builds. Others were loaded with talent in the arena. Still others had engaging personalities. But this Texas Ranger had all of those qualities and more. He’d been put together in such a way no one could compare to him.

Impatient with herself for concentrating on the attractive Ranger, she turned over so she faced the back of the sofa. She needed sleep. Desperately. Knowing he was right across the room from her gave her a sense of comfort she hadn’t felt since her first encounter with the stalker. How unbelievable was it that the Ranger she’d bumped into in Bandera had come into her life at the most precarious moment of her existence?

When her cell phone suddenly rang, she jerked upright. Kellie flung herself around, staring at her phone in terror.

“It’s all right.” Cy’s deep voice was reassuring. “What does the caller ID say?”

She took a shaky breath. “It’s my best friend, Kathie.”

“Go ahead and talk to her. Put it on speaker.”

Kellie reached for it and clicked on. “Kathie?”

“Hi! I know it’s late, but I had to call you. Good grief, Kellie. Is it really true that you’re married?”

Her gaze locked with Cy’s. “Yes. How did you hear?”

“Patty told me she read it on your blog tonight. How come you didn’t tell me?”

Oh dear. Kellie heard the hurt in her voice. Now for the lie... But this lie was going to save her life and it took away her guilt. “It happened while I was on the circuit and there was no time.” That part was true. “Look, Kathie. It’s a long story and—”

“And your husband wants your attention. Is he right there?”

At that remark Cy’s eyes smiled. Kellie felt a fever coming on. “Yes. We just got in from Bandera. I’ll tell you all about it later.”

“He must really be something for you to get married so fast you didn’t even have your parents there.”

“W-we couldn’t bear to wait any longer.”

“Whoa. I’ll hang up now, but I expect a detailed report later. You know what I mean.”

Embarrassment brought the heat in waves. “Thanks for calling. We’ll talk soon. I promise.” She clicked off and put the phone back on the coffee table.

Cy closed the laptop and put it on the floor. He leaned forward with his hands clasped between his knees. “Kathie is one of the names on the list you gave me. Who is she?”

“My best friend in our group. Sally, my other friend, is a part of it, too.”

“What group is that?”

“There are about thirty of us who ride for pleasure, but serve as volunteers in case of any kind of local emergency.”

His brows lifted. “Do you have a name?”

“We’re the Blue Bonnet Posse.”

“That’s right. You mentioned one of your friends from the group who moved to Colorado Springs. Come to think of it, I have heard of the posse. Weren’t you the ones who found that autistic child who’d wandered away from home last year?”

“That one, and a lost Boy Scout. The police department calls our leader when they need volunteers to do a search in the outskirts of Austin.”

“No doubt you’re kept busy. Those lucky parents must be indebted to you. I’m impressed.”

“It’s our job.” She echoed his earlier words to her.

“Touché.” He reached down and pulled off his cowboy boots. She watched him turn out the lamp and stretch out on the hide-a-bed. It couldn’t be that comfortable, and he hadn’t even changed. He lay on his back with his hands behind his head.

She forced herself to look away. But no sooner had she curled on her side hoping to fall asleep than the phone rang again. Still petrified, but less startled this time, she reached for the phone.

“Put the speaker on,” Cy reminded her.

She nodded. It was her father and she clicked on. “Hi, Dad. I’ve got the phone on speaker.”

“Forgive me for calling this late, but your mom and I want to make certain you’re all right.”

Her gaze drifted to Cy. “I’m fine. Really. The news is out. Kathie just called me.”

“We got a call from your cousin Heidi. She read your blog and couldn’t believe it.”

“I know this is going to come as a shock to everyone who knows me.”

“They care about you. It’s a tribute to the wonderful woman you are.”

“Spoken like a biased parent.”

“We love you, Kellie.” His voice sounded gruff with emotion. “Tell that Ranger we can’t thank him enough.”

She looked at Cy’s silhouette in the semidarkness. “He knows how you feel. All I do is thank him.”

“We’re expecting you for lunch. Good night, honey.”