Letter to Reader Title Page Dedication Acknowledgments About the Author “What’s Happening in Royal?” Prologue Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Epilogue Teaser chapter Copyright

This month, in

BILLIONAIRE BRIDEGROOM

by Peggy Moreland,

meet Forrest Cunningham—

cattle baron of The Golden Steer.

When deciding to settle down,

Forrest gets more than he bargained for with

Becky Sullivan—

a tomboy all grown up who wants more than a

duty-bound marriage pact!

SILHOUETTE DESIRE

IS PROUD TO PRESENT THE

Five wealthy Texas bachelors—all members

of the state’s most exclusive club—set out on a

mission to rescue a princess...and find true love.

And don’t miss SECRET AGENT DAD by

Metsy Hingie, next month’s installment of the

Texas Cattleman’s Club, available in

Silhouette Desire!

Dear Reader,

Welcome to Silhouette Desire—where you’re guaranteed powerful, passionate and provocative love stones that feature rugged heroes and spirited heroines who expenence the full emotional intensity of falling in love!

This October you’ll love our new MAN OF THE MONTH title by Barbara Boswell, Forever Flint. Opposites attract when a city girl becomes the pregnant bride of a millionaire outdoorsman.

Be sure to “rope in” the next installment of the exciting Desire minisenes TEXAS CATTLEMAN’S CLUB with Billionaire Bridegroom by Peggy Moreland. When cattle baron Forrest Cunningham wants to wed childhood friend Becky Sullivan, she puts his love to an unexpected test.

The always-wonderful Jennifer Greene returns to Desire with her magical series HAPPILY EVER AFTER. Kiss Your Prince Charying is a modern fairy tale starring an unforgettable “frog prince.” In a sexy battle-of-the-sexes tale, Lass Small offers you The Catch of Texas. Anne Eames continues her popular minisenes MONTANA MALONES with The Unknown Malone. And Sheri WhiteFeather makes her explosive Desire debut with Warrior’s Baby, a story of surrogate motherhood with a twist.

Next month, you’ll really feel the power of the passion when you see our new provocative cover design. Underneath our new covers, you will still find six exhilarating journeys into the seductive world of romance, with a guaranteed happy ending‘

Enjoy!

Joan Marlow Golan

Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire

Please address questions and book requests to:

Silhouette Reader Service

U.S. 3010 Walden Ave, PO Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269

Canadian: P.O Box 609, Fort Ene, Ont. L2A 5X3

Billionaire Bridegroom

Peggy Moreland

www.millsandboon.co.uk

a

To Dixie, Jen, Metsy and Cindy, who share with me the distinction of being

the only females to gam entrance to the exclusive Texas Cattleman’s Club—

other than Miss Manie, of course It’s been fun, ladies Let’s do this again‘

Special thanks to Mr and Mrs Larry Hunt of the H & B Cattle Company

in Monahans, Texas, for giving me a tour of their ranch and for so

generously sharing their knowledge of ranch life with me And thanks,

too, to Jackie Youngblood, for her assistance in researching West Texas

and Wade County

Special thanks and acknowledgment are given to

Peggy Moreland for her contribution to the

Texas Cattleman’s Club miniseries

PEGGY MORELAND

published her first romance with Silhouette in 1989. She’s a natural storyteller with a sense of humor that will tickle your fancy, and Peggy’s goal is to write a story that readers will remember long after the last page is turned. Winner of the 1992 National Readers’ Choice Award and a 1994 RITA finalist, Peggy frequently appears on bestseller lists around the country. A native Texan, she and her family live in Round Rock, Texas.

“What’s Happening in Royal?”

NEWS FLASH, October 1999—

Forrest Cunningham, owner of the prestigious cattle ranch. The Golden Steer, is apparently trying to fulfill the marriage pact he made with next-door neighbor Becky Sullivan twelve years ago. Problem is, Ms. Sullivan seems to already have a fiancé, and a mystery one at that....

And a strange, rather aristocratic gentleman has been sighted walking about the town of Royal. Who could he be, and what does he want?

Our Texas Cattleman’s Club members seem more secretive than ever.... What could be brewing?

Prologue

Royal, Texas, 1987

Sweat poured down Forrest Cunningham’s face, plastered his shirt to his chest and back, and ran in rivulets down his spine, soaking the waist of his faded jeans a darker blue. After chasing steers through the scrub brush all afternoon under a hot West Texas sun, his boots—and his butt—were dragging as he led his horse to the rails of the corral.

Feeling as parched as the land he walked on, he dragged the back of his hand across his mouth and winced when grit scraped across his lips like coarse sandpaper. Thank goodness his partner on the roundup was an experienced wrangler, otherwise he was sure he’d have spewed cotton—and no words—if he’d been required to offer up any instruction. He was that dry.

With his thoughts focused on the beer iced down and waiting for him in a cooler propped on the tailgate, he tied his horse to the corral’s top rail, then cut a quick path to the rear of the truck. He fished a cold brew from the cooler, popped the top, then, with a sigh of purest pleasure, lifted the beer.

“Hey, Woody! Wait! I get first sip!”

His mouth open and ready, his tongue and throat primed for that first thirst-quenching swig, Forrest considered pretending he hadn’t heard Becky’s request...but then he sighed and dutifully lowered the can. It was a ritual. Becky always got the first sip. And Forrest allowed it. Just as he allowed her to call him “Woody” and live to tell it. Five years his junior, and a neighbor for as long as he could remember, Becky Sullivan was like a kid sister to him and, as such, enjoyed full rights.

He angled his head, a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth, as he watched her charging toward him, her long legs churning, her hand flattened on the top of her battered cowboy hat to keep the wind from ripping it off her head. “You’re too young to drink, kid,” he called out to her. “You’re only eighteen.”

She skidded to a stop in front of him, snatched the can from his hand and shot him a scowl. “Yeah? So arrest me.” She bumped the can against the brim of her hat, knocking it off, and thick red hair fell to pool around her shoulders. Lifting the beer in a silent toast, she shot Forrest a wink, then tipped back her head and drank deeply.

Forrest focused on the long, smooth column of her throat—and knew damn good and well he could kiss that beer goodbye. Becky Sullivan might be only eighteen, but she drank like a man, and held her liquor like one, too. He knew this for a fact because she’d drunk him under the table a time or two.

Truth be told, Becky could do most things as well as a man. She could outride, outrope and outshoot just about any male in Ward county. He supposed she’d learned these skills out of necessity, being as she’d pretty much raised herself and was responsible for whatever work was accomplished on her family’s ranch, the Rusty Corral. The fact that he’d had a hand in teaching her a few of those skills brought a swell of pride. And the fact that she was a good student was why he’d sought her help today in rounding up some of his cattle rather than that of one of his own cowboys from the Golden Steer.

“Okay, brat,” he muttered, wrestling the can from her grip. “Save some for me.”

She backhanded the moisture from her mouth and grinned up at him. “You thirsty?”

“Damn straight.” He tipped back his head and lifted the can, prepared to finish off the beer.

“Course you know,” she added, “all that’s left is backwash, but if you really want it—”

Beer spewed from Forrest’s mouth. “Gawldangit, Becky,” he complained, dragging a hand across his mouth. “Why’d you have to go and say that for?”

“Sorry,” she said, though he could tell by the impish gleam in her eyes she wasn’t one damn bit sorry. “Just thought I’d better warn you.”

He chunked the empty can into the bed of his truck, then buried his hand in the cooler, searching for another beer. “Like I said. You’re a brat.” He fished out a new can from the cooler, turned—and immediately bumped against Becky’s outstretched hand. With a resigned sigh, he tossed her the beer, then retrieved another for himself. After popping the top, he hooked an arm around her slim shoulders and headed her toward the shade provided by the trailer. “So where’s your daddy gone this time?”

Her shoulder moved under his arm in a shrug. “Didn’t say. Probably Riodoso, though. They’re racing there this weekend.”

Forrest plopped down beside the trailer, resting his back against its side and looked up at her. He’d figured it was horse racing, though Shorty Sullivan was never short on excuses for leaving the care of his ranch up to his young daughter...and her alone. “So you’re batching?”

“Yep,” Becky replied, dropping down next to him.

Shoulder to shoulder they stared out across the pasture, sippmg their beers, while the cattle bawled pitifully in the corral, the silence between them a comfortable one.

“The Texas Cattleman’s Ball is coming up in a couple of weeks,” Becky offered after a bit.

Forrest pulled the brim of his hat over his eyes and settled in for a nap. “Yeah, it is.”

“Who’re you takin‘?”

“Lyndean Sawyer from over in Midland.”

“Haven’t heard you mention her name before. She somebody new you’re courtin‘?”

Something in her voice made him nudge his hat from his eyes to peer at her. She was squinting hard at the sun, the corners of her mouth pulled down into a frown. “No. Just a date,” he said slowly. When her frown deepened, he said, “Why do you ask?”

She lifted her beer, her movements tense and jerky, and took a sip. “Just curious.”

“Are you going to the Ball this year?”

She pulled her spine away from the trailer, drawing her legs up, and draped an elbow over her knee as she squinted harder at something in the distance. “Nope”

“How come?”

“Nobody asked me.”

Surprised by the splotch of red that suddenly appeared on her cheeks, he gave her back a poke with his beer can. “Oh, come on. Quit your foolin‘. Surely someone has asked you.”

She angled her head far enough around to frown at him. “No one has, and no one will, either.”

“How can you be so sure?”

She turned away, setting her jaw. “Because I know. That’s how.”

“A pretty girl like you? Boys’ll be tripping all over themselves for the chance to ask you to the Ball. Just you wait and see.”

As he stared at her, he was sure that he saw her chin quiver. And were those tears making her eyes sparkle? Naw, he told himself. Becky wasn’t the crying type. Yet, as he watched, a fat tear slipped over her lid and down her cheek.

He tossed aside his beer and slung an arm around her shoulder, drawing her against his side. “Aw, Becky. Don’t cry. The dance is still a couple of weeks away. Somebody’ll ask you.”

She sniffed, dragging her sleeve beneath her nose, as she pulled away from him. “Who? Billy Ray? Johnny? They’ve already got dates.” She gave her head a quick shake, then pressed her cheek on her knee and began tracing a path in the dirt with the tip of her finger. “No. No one will ask me to the Ball. Maybe to head or heel for them at the next roping competition, but never on a date.”

Because he suspected what she said was probably true, Forrest remained silent.

After a while, she lifted her head and turned to look at him. “Woody, do you think I’ll ever get married?”

The hopelessness in her voice touched his heart—and made him a little uneasy. The word “marriage” always had that effect on Forrest. He lifted a shoulder. “I don’t know, Becky. I suppose you will, if you want to.”

She turned her gaze to the pasture, squinting hard, as if in doing so she might be able to see into the future. “I don’t think I will,” she murmured after a long moment. “All the guys just think of me as one of them, never as a female.” She choked back a laugh that sounded dangerously close to a sob. “I can see it now. Thirty years old, a dried-up old maid and still working the Rusty Corral all by myself.”

Forrest dug his boot heels in the heat-dried grass, bringing himself alongside her. He looped an arm around her shoulders, and hugged her to his side. “Aw, now, Becky. It’s not as bad as all that.”

“No,” she said miserably, “it’s worse.”

Forrest heard the defeat in her voice, as well as the loneliness. “Tell you what, Becky,” he offered. “If you’re not married by your thirtieth birthday, hell, I’ll marry you.”

She turned to look at him, her eyes wide. “Do you mean it?”

“Damn straight.” He pecked a kiss on her cheek, then scooted back against the trailer, dipping the bnm of his hat low over his eyes again. “Of course, by the time you turn thirty, you’ll probably be married and have a litter of snot-nosed kids hanging onto your belt loops.”

Or at least he hoped she did. Forrest Cunningham was a man whose word was as good as law...but he sure as hell wasn’t planning on getting married. Even the thought of marriage and spending the rest of his life saddled with one woman made him shudder in revulsion.

One

Royal, Texas 1999

West Texas.

Damn if it wasn’t the prettiest sight in the whole universe. And Forrest Cunningham should know. Over the years, his travels in the military and those as head of his family’s cattle empire had provided him with the opportunity to see a good portion of the world.

But considering how, at the moment, his view of West Texas was limited to the interior of the Royal Diner with its smoke-stained walls, cracked vinyl-topped bar stools, chipped Formica-topped tables and a beat-up jukebox that had been sitting in the same spot since the Fifties...well, even thinking West Texas was the prettiest sight in the world was probably grounds enough to commit a man.

But, then, Forrest was already questioning his sanity.

It had all started a little over two weeks ago while he and several other members of the exclusive Texas Cattleman’s Club had been on a secret mission in Europe to rescue a princess and her young son.

He snorted at the reminder of the woman whose rescue seemed to be at the core of his current level of discontent. A princess for God’s sake. He glanced in the direction of the counter where the woman in question worked.

Beautiful. That was the only word to describe Anna von Oberland. A mane of thick blond hair. Dark green eyes. A figure that would make any man stand up at attention. Hell, even with an apron tied around her waist she managed to look regal.

A princess.

He snorted again and gave his head a shake as he turned his gaze to the smudged window and the view of the Royal Diner’s parking lot where the wind was thickening the air with sand. A princess in Royal, Texas. Who’d have ever thought? But she was there. And she was a princess. Forrest could attest to both because he’d played a part in snatching her away from the squirrely prince who had wanted to force her into a marriage after her sister’s tragic death so that he could gain control of her estate and merge their kingdoms.

The rescue mission—code-named Alpha—had been the brainchild of Gregory Hunt. Gregory’s brother Blake and Sterling Churchill had made up the rest of the team. Hank Langley had footed the bill for the mission, though Forrest knew damn good and well Hank would have preferred to have been in on the action, rather than staying home and overseeing the operation from the comfort and safety of his office above the Texas Cattleman’s Club.

The thought of his old friend and owner of the private men’s club plowed a deeper row of discontent on Forrest’s brow. Hank Langley was one of his oldest friends and the most eligible bachelor in Royal...or at least he had been. Now Hank was a married man.

And Sterling, too. Who would have ever thought Sterling would walk down that long aisle again? Not after his first marriage had gone sour on him. But he had. And now he had a wife, same as Hank, and seemed as happy as a dog with a new bone. And he was going to be a daddy before long.

Sterling a daddy...

Forrest felt the sense of desolation digging its way deeper inside of him and tried to rope it in before he sunk into a blue funk so deep he couldn’t crawl out. Hell, he told himself, he had just turned thirty-five, was in the prime of his life, had more money than he could shake a stick at, and was the owner of the biggest ranch in West Texas. What did he have to feel blue about?

His shoulders slumped in despair. He didn’t need a psychologist to figure out the answer to that question. He’d already spent hours cogitating on the problem himself and he’d finally come up with the answer.

He needed a wife.

And children.

What was the use of having an empire if a man didn’t have somebody to pass it on to? Someone to carry on the Cunningham name?

The problem was there wasn’t a woman in the entire county whom he wanted to marry. He’d already made a list of all the eligible females he knew, and one-by-one had crossed through their names, ruling them out as possible candidates for the position of the future Mrs. Forrest Cunningham.

“Would you like more coffee?”

Forrest whipped his head around to find Anna standing beside his booth. She held up the coffeepot in silent invitation, its chipped and scarred handle a startling contrast to the graceful and delicate fingers curled around it. He wondered, not for the first time, if the Royal Diner was the best place to try to hide a royal princess. Anna von Oberland—dubbed Annie Grace by the members of the Alpha team in an effort to hide her true identity—stuck out like a rose in a patch of grease wood. He reared back, giving her room, and gestured toward his cup. “Yeah, you can warm it up for me.”

She leaned over to pour and Forrest noticed that her hand shook a bit. Before he could dodge the hot steaming brew that sloshed over the cup’s rim, it splattered across his lap, soaking quickly through his jeans and scalding his flesh.

Seeing what she’d done, Anna cried, “Oh, no!” and whipped a dish towel from the waistband of her apron and began dabbing frantically at the stain. Forrest sucked in a raw breath as her fingers moved dangerously close to his privates. He quickly closed his hand over hers.

“Keep that up and you’re liable to warm up more than just my coffee.”

She snapped her gaze to his. Her eyes grew wide and her mouth formed a perfect O as his meaning slowly registered. Quickly she snatched her hand from his and fisted it behind her back. “I’m sorry,” she murmured, dropping her gaze in embarrassment.

Damn, but she was pretty, Forrest thought as he watched her cheeks turn an engaging shade of pink. Maybe... He quickly squelched the idea. Though nothing had been said, he was sure that there was still something between Anna and his buddy Greg Hunt. After all, it was Greg who Anna had contacted for help, and it was Greg who had headed up the mission to rescue her. And Forrest Cunningham wasn’t the kind of man to trespass on another man’s territory.

He shot her a grin, hoping to put her at ease as he reached for a napkin to finish the job she’d started. “No damage done.”

She gave a cautious look around, then eased closer. “Forrest? I was wondering...have you heard anything from Blake?”

The worry in her voice was obvious and explained the trembling in her hands. He supposed he’d be worried, too, if he was in her shoes. Blake was the last leg of the Alpha mission, and the one assigned to deliver Anna’s niece and nephew to her in Royal.

A bachelor traveling halfway around the world with two babies in tow.

Forrest bit back a grin. He’d give anything to be a fly on the wall right now, so he could see Blake Hunt in the role of a nanny. Changing diapers, singing lullabies. Somehow the picture just didn’t fit. But if anybody could do it, Blake could, he reminded himself. Blake was nothing if he wasn’t resourceful.

Forrest gave Anna an encouraging smile. “Don’t you worry that pretty little head of yours about Blake. He’ll get ‘em here safely. You’ll see.”

“It isn’t that I don’t trust him,” she said uneasily. She caught her lower lip between her teeth again. “It’s just that...well, being a single man, I doubt he knows very much about caring for infants.”

Forrest shot her a wink. “That’s what you think. Before he left on the mission, Blake spent days at the library reading every book they had on the subject. He even interviewed ladies around town on how to properly care for an infant. Created quite a stir with his questions, too,” he added, chuckling.

Anna inhaled deeply, then managed a smile. “I’m sure you’re right.” She leaned to give his hand a grateful pat. “Thank you, Forrest. For everything,” she added in a whisper, before turning away.

Forrest watched her cross back to the bar, his eyes going unerringly to the seductive sway of her hips. He gave his head a shake and forced his gaze back to the window. Don’t even think it, he warned himself. Even if he didn’t suspect that Greg had a prior claim on the princess, he knew that Anna wasn’t the woman for him.

So who is? he asked himself, his frustration returning with a force stronger than the wind outside that was currently sandblasting his truck in the diner’s parking lot. He’d already ruled out every eligible woman within a three hundred mile radius of Royal. There wasn’t a single woman left with whom he’d want to share his name, much less his life.

Frowning, he glanced at his wristwatch and saw that it was almost two. He had promised to meet Becky at twothirty and inspect a mare that he was having delivered to her ranch.

He started to rise, then slowly sank back down in the booth, his eyes going wide. “Rebecca Lee Sullivan,” he whispered under his breath. Why hadn’t he thought of Becky before now?

Becky as his wife. He toyed with the idea for a moment, weighing the possibilities. She’d lived next door to him for as long as he could remember and was as good a friend as a man could ask for. She liked ranching and horses and wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty, unlike most of the women he knew. She wasn’t hard to look at, was self-reliant, and could rope and ride as well as any man, himself included.

Hell! Becky was the perfect woman for a rancher like him!

He quickly fished money from his pocket, tossed it on the table and grabbed his hat. As he strode for the door of the diner, he recalled a conversation that he and Becky had had years before, and a promise he’d made to her at the time.

If you’re not married by your thirtieth birthday, hell, I’ll marry you.

The good news was that Becky hadn’t married and, if memory served him right, her thirtieth birthday was in November, less than six weeks away.

It was all he could do to keep from kicking up his heels as he headed for his truck. If he had his way—and Forrest usually did—he and Miss Rebecca Lee Sullivan would be married by the time her birthday rolled around.

It was all just a matter of him popping the question.

Forrest parked his truck about fifty feet from the round pen where Becky was working a colt and settled back to watch. The colt was one of Forrest’s, bred and raised on the Cunningham ranch, the Golden Steer. He’d hauled the horse over to the Rusty Corral, Becky’s family’s place, just before leaving on the mission to Europe so that Becky could begin training him while he was gone. By the look of things, she’d made good use of the time. The colt was trotting smoothly along the wall of the pen, moving in and out of the obstacle course Becky had set up, while Becky turned a tight circle in the middle, her attention fixed on the young horse. Her arms were outstretched, forming a widemouthed V, one hand gripping a longe line clipped to the colt’s halter and the other dragging a whip along the ground aimed at the colt’s rear hooves.

Forrest pursed his lips thoughtfully and watched, his gaze focused not on the colt, but on the woman. He assessed her as he would a brood mare he was thinking of buying, or a registered cow he was thinking of adding to his herd—one eye narrowed, his brow furrowed in concentration, while he studied her conformation.

Though she was skinny as a rail, she was built tough; Forrest knew that for a fact. And tough was important when a man was thinking of taking on a wife who would be required to live on a ranch as big and isolated as the Golden Steer. He moved his gaze on a slow journey from her battered, sweat-stained hat, down her spine and settled it on the seat of her faded jeans. A frayed tear just below one cheek of her butt exposed a strip of olive-toned skin.

When he realized that he was staring and what he was staring at, he forced his gaze back up to her hips. They were a little narrow, he acknowledged with a frown, trying not to think about that strip of bare skin, but seemed wide enough to handle a birth without much trouble. And though her breasts were small, he didn’t figure size counted much when it came to nursing a babe...and Cunningham women always nursed their young. The natural way, Forrest’s dad had always insisted, whether discussing animals or humans, was the only way. Like his father, Forrest believed that nature knew best and lived by her rules.

She’ll do, he told himself confidently and shouldered open the door of his truck. Standing, he paused a moment to stretch out the kinks in his legs, then slammed the door and headed for the round pen. Becky glanced up at the sound.

A smile bloomed on her face when she saw him. “Hey, Woody!” she called, shoving her hat farther back on her head.

“Hey, yourself,” he returned, not even wincing at the nickname she’d assigned to him years before. He propped a custom-made boot on the corral’s lowest rail, his forearms along the rail at shoulder level, and gave her a nod of approval. “He’s lookin‘ good.”

“Better than good,” she corrected. “Watch this.” Taking a firmer grip on the longe line, she gave the whip a snap in the air and ordered, “Lope.” The colt stepped easily into the faster gait, his head high, his tail streaming behind him. Becky turned slowly in the center of the ring, her gaze fixed on the animal as he circled the pen, weaving a path around the barriers she’d set up, and pushing his way through a tarp she’d strung between two poles. “Whoa!” she called suddenly and followed the command with a slight tug on the line. The colt sank bank on his haunches, churning dust as he slid to a stop.

Pleased with the demonstration, Becky moved to the colt’s head and rubbed the white star that ran from his forehead to his nose. “Good, boy,” she murmured, pressing her cheek against his. “Good, boy.” He turned his head slightly and gave her a playful nudge. She laughed as she coiled the longe line in her gloved hand, then led the colt to where Forrest stood. “Better than good, right?”

Though he knew she was looking for praise, Forrest couldn’t resist teasing her a little. “Depends on a person’s definition of good.”

Becky shot him a sour look, then turned to tie the colt at the rail. “How many green horses have you seen that wouldn’t have spooked at that flapping tarp?”

“A few.”

Her scowl deepened and she gave her slip knot a yank, testing it, before she headed for the gate. Forrest opened it for her and waited while she stepped through.

“Ingrate,” she muttered darkly as she passed by him.

“Show-off,” he returned, grinning, then locked the gate behind her.

“Where’ve you’ve been keeping yourself?” she said irritably. “I haven’t laid eyes on you since before you took off on that vacation in Europe you were so hushhush about.”

Though he knew exactly where he’d been—wining and dining the female population of Ward County while ruling out all the possibilities as candidates for the position as his future wife—Forrest thought it best not to tell Becky that. She was a woman, after all, and might not like the idea that she wasn’t his first choice. “Oh, around,” he said vaguely.

She snorted and pulled off her hat. “When are they delivering the mare?”

“Anytime now,” he replied, watching as her red hair settled around her shoulders. He’d never noticed how thick her long hair was, or the golden highlights hidden in it, until that moment when the sun hit the red mane, panning the gold from its depths. But then he’d never really thought much about the feminine side of Becky. To him, she was a buddy, same as Sterling and Hank.

While he watched, fascinated by this new side of her he was discovering, she bent at the waist and scrubbed her fingers through her hair, separating the damp locks, then straightened, flipping her hair back over her head and behind her shoulders. The sun caught the red and gold highlights and turned them to fire.

Redheaded kids. Forrest pondered the idea for a moment, wondering if Becky’s red gene would dominate his black one... then decided a redhead might be a welcome change among the traditionally black-headed Cunninghams.

Yep, Rebecca Lee Sullivan would do just fine as the future Mrs. Forrest Cunningham. Trying to think of a way to pop the question to her, he draped an arm along her shoulders and guided her toward the barn and the only strip of shade in sight. “Did you miss me while I was gone?”

“‘Bout as much as I’d miss a toothache.”

He bumped his hip against hers. “Aww, come on now, Becky. You know you missed me.”

She stopped once they reached the shade and folded her arms over her breasts as she turned to look up at him. “Did you miss me?” she returned pointedly.

“As a matter of fact, I did.”

Her brows shot up at his unexpected response, then down into a frown. “Yeah, right,” she muttered and slapped her hat against her thigh to shake the dust from it. She turned her back to the barn and propped a worn boot heel against its side as she settled her shoulders against the weathered wood.

“No, I really did,” he insisted. “In fact, I was thinking about you just this afternoon while I was eating lunch at the Royal Diner.”

She glanced up at him. “Why?” she asked dryly. “Did you have indigestion, or something?”

Forrest laughed and reached over to tousle her hair. “Naw. I was just thinking about you—us. You know,” he said, suddenly feeling awkward, “how long we’ve known each other, and all.”

She peered at him closely. “You didn’t get hit in the head, or anything, while you were in Europe, did you?”

Forrest snorted and pulled off his hat, slowly turning it by its brim as he studied it. “No. There’s nothing wrong with my head.”

Becky gave her chin a quick jerk of approval. “Good. You had me worried there for a minute.”

Forrest moved to stand beside her, mirroring her posture—boot heel and shoulders braced against the barn wall. He stared out across Sullivan land to the fence that marked the border of the Golden Steer. “How long have you and your dad lived here?” he asked. He was close enough to feel her shoulder move when she lifted it in a shrug.

“I don’t know. ‘Bout twenty years or so, I’d guess.”

“Twenty years,” he repeated, then shook his head. “That’s a long time. A mighty long time.”

Becky gave him a curious look. “Yeah, I suppose.”

“You have a birthday coming up, don’t you?”

“Yeah,” she replied slowly, then scrunched up her nose and leaned to look more closely at him. “Are you sure you didn’t get hit in the head?”

Frustrated, Forrest pushed himself away from the wall, and whirled to face her. He’d forgotten how aggravating Becky could be at times. “Why do you keep asking me if there’s something wrong with my head?”

She lifted a shoulder again, then slid down the wall until she was sitting on the ground. Dropping her hat over her upraised knees, she brushed dust from its crown. “I don’t know,” she mumbled. “I guess it’s because you’re not usually this sentimental.”

He hauled in a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. He couldn’t very well propose marriage while they were arguing. “No, I’m not. But that doesn’t mean I don’t think about things now and again.” He hunkered down in front of her. “Do you remember the time we were out rounding up steers? You would’ve been eighteen or so at the time, and you were crying because no one had invited you to the Cattleman’s Ball.”

Her lips thinned at the reminder and she looked up at him, her green eyes sparking fire. “I don’t cry,” she informed him coldly. “And I don’t give a hoot about going to any old ball. Never have.”

Forrest had to count backward from ten to keep from debating the issue with her. He knew damn good and well she’d cried. He remembered the day well, because he’d never seen her cry before...and not once, since. “Yeah, well, anyway, you said something that day—or rather asked me something—that I’ve never forgotten. You said to me, ‘Woody, do you think I’ll ever get married?’” He gave his head a rueful shake as he turned his gaze to his hat. “Damn near broke my heart.” He cocked his head to look at her. “I promised you right then and there that if you weren’t married by your thirtieth birthday, that I’d marry you myself.”

He watched her eyes grow as big as half-dollars and her throat convulse as if she was having trouble swallowing. Her lips moved a couple of times, but no sound emerged. Finally she managed to get out, “W-whγ are you telling me all this?”

Forrest pushed himself to his feet and looked down at her as he settled his hat back on his head. “Well, Becky,” he said, swelling his chest a bit and giving the waist of his jeans a confident hitch, “it’s because you’re gonna be thirty soon and destined to spinsterhood. I think it’s high time I made good on my promise.”

She was up and off the ground so fast that Forrest wasn’t sure she’d ever been sitting. Then her finger was stabbing into his chest and he was backing up and she was pressing forward, her eyes narrowed to slits and her mouth thinned to one white line of fury. “Marry you!” she all but screamed at him. “You egotistical, thickheaded mule I wouldn’t marry you if you were the last man on earth!” She gave him a shove that sent him stumbling backward. Another shove and his boot heel hooked on a rock and he went sprawling, arms flailing. He landed flat on his back, knocking the breath from him and making him see stars. When his vision cleared, Becky was leaning over him, her face as red as her hair. “A spinster, huh? Well, let me tell you something, buster. I’d rather—”

Forrest had heard enough. He caught her ankle and gave it a tug, jerking her off her feet. She landed in the middle of his chest with a thud and a muffled whoomph. Before she could catch her breath, he locked both arms around her back, holding her against him. They were chest to chest, their noses inches apart. “Now, you listen to me, Rebecca Lee Sullivan,” he warned. “I’m offering you marriage, the opportunity to be my wife. There are women all over Wade County who would give their eyeteeth for a chance to become Mrs. Forrest Cunningham.”

“Who?” she demanded angrily. “Name one.”

The question caught Forrest off guard, and it took him a minute to come up with a name. “Fanny Lou Farmer,” he blurted out.

Becky snorted her opinion of Forrest’s choice. “That pie-faced bimbo?”

“And there’s Marylee Porter.” Warming to the challenge, he added, “And Pansy Estrich.” He knew how much Becky hated the phony, silicone-inflated blonde.

Becky squirmed, trying to break free of his hold. “If you’re even considering marrying a one of them, it just proves that your brains are located somewhere south of your belt buckle.”

Though he was sure she’d meant to insult him, the accusation drew a smile. “What’s wrong, Becky? Jealous?”

She immediately stilled, then shot him a look that would melt creosote off a fence post. “As if a one of those women has anything that I’d be jealous of.” She humphed, then gave his chest a frustrated shove. “Let me up.”

“Not until you say you’ll marry me.”

She stilled again, her gaze going to his. Something he saw there—was it fear? Hope? Whatever it was, it scared the hell out of him...but not nearly as much as her next words.

“Why, Woody?” she asked, her voice a raw whisper. “Why do you want to marry me?”

It was Forrest’s turn to squirm. The truth was that he was in desperate need of a wife, but he wasn’t a man who liked to expose his vulnerabilities. A shrewd negotiator from the top of his Stetson to the tips of his custom-made boots, when working a deal, whether in oil leases or cattle futures, he made it a rule to never reveal his weaknesses. “Because I promised I would,” he said instead. “Besides,” he added irritably, “it’s not as if men are knocking down your door with offers.”

Angrily Becky twisted free of him and jumped to her feet. She planted her fists on her hips as she glared down at him. “Well, I won’t marry you.”

Slowly Forrest sat up, locking his arms around his knees as he returned her angry look. “Give me one good reason.”

“I...I—I’ve already got a fiancé.” She immediately stooped to scoop her hat from the ground and, in doing so, managed to hide her face from him.

“You’re lying.”

She popped up faster than a jack-in-the-box. “Are you calling me a liar?”

“Damn straight. If you had a boyfriend, I’d know it.”

She made a production of dusting off her hat... and avoiding his gaze. “You don’t know everything about me,” she mumbled.

“Well, you sure as hell didn’t have a boyfriend when I left town!”

“This was—well, it was rather sudden.”

Forrest braced a hand on the ground and levered himself to his feet, then stooped to retrieve his own hat. “Sudden, hell. I’d call it a damn miracle.”

She shot him a dark look, which he ignored.

“So who is this mysterious fiancé of yours? Anybody I know?”

She headed for the barn, her chin tipped high enough to catch water. “I doubt it.”

Forrest followed close on her heels. “Well, who is he, then?”

“He’s just a guy I met.”

“Where?”

Her steps slowed for a moment, then sped right back up as if she was trying to outrun him and his questions. “At a...at a cattle auction.”

“Is he from around here?”

She stopped in front of a stall and unlatched the gate. “No. He’s from—Wichita.”

“Kansas?”

“Yeah,” she agreed a little too quickly, and ducked inside the stall, “Kansas.”

His eyes narrowed in suspicion, Forrest watched her as she checked the level of water in the bucket. “So how long have y‘all been engaged?”

“A week.”

“When’s the wedding?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” she replied vaguely. “We haven’t set a date.”

“What’s his name?”

She whirled to look at him, her eyes wide and unblinking. “His name?” she repeated dully.

The look on her face was the same one she’d worn the time Forrest’s mother had cornered the two of them, furious because someone had eaten the pecan pie she’d baked for the church social that evening. She’d been sure that he and Becky had eaten it. Though Forrest had spun a convincing tale in an attempt to escape a sure whipping, when his mother had turned to Becky to verify his story, her guilty look had given them both away.

“Yeah,” he muttered, watching her carefully, “his name. You know, how he signs his checks.”

“Oh. His name’s...John. John Smith.”

Forrest pursed his lips as she stepped from the stall. Yep, she was lying. He was sure of it. Becky never had been any good at maintaining a poker face. And John Smith. Even the name sounded made-up. “Sure it isn’t Doe?” he goaded. “As in John Doe?”

She glanced at him, frowning, then scooped feed from the bin into a bucket. “No. It’s Smith. Withayinstead of an i.” Then, as if as an afterthought, she added, “And with an e at the end.”

“John Smythe.” Forrest tossed back his head and laughed. Smythe with a y instead of an i and an e tacked on at the end. That’s prime, Becky. Really prime.“

She stormed past him and back into the stall, refusing to look at him. “You got a problem with my fiancé’s name?” she snapped.

“No.” He stepped back as she dumped the oats into the stall’s bin, dodging the dust that shot into the air. “But I think you’re making all this up.”

She caught the bucket’s handle in one hand, and smiled sweetly at him. “What’s the matter, Woody? You jealous?”

He reared back, amazed that she would suggest such a thing.

“Hell, no!”

Her smile turned smug. “Yes, you are.” She swung the empty bucket at her side as she retraced her steps to the feed bin. “Your male ego is showing. You don’t want to believe that I might actually prefer marrying someone other than you.”

Before Forrest could form a response, a horn honked outside.

Becky glanced up, then quickly dropped the bucket back into the feed bin when a truck pulled past the door. “There’s your mare,” she said, heading for the opening.

Frustrated by the interruption, Forrest trailed her. “We aren’t through with this discussion, yet,” he warned.

“You may not be, but I am,” she returned, then yelled, “Hey, Slick! Whatcha got in there?”

Slick Richards slid from behind the wheel of his dually, grinning. “The prettiest little mare this side of heaven.”

Becky clapped a hand on Slick’s back as she walked with him to the rear of the trailer. “Heck, Slick, that’s what you say every time you deliver a horse over here.”

Slick gave his chin a jerk in Forrest’s direction by way .of greeting as he swung open the rear doors. “Have I ever lied?”

Laughing, Becky hopped up inside the trailer while the two men waited outside. When she got her first look at the mare, she whistled low under her breath. “Ho-le-e-ey smoke.” She took a cautious step deeper into the trailer’s shadowed interior. “How far along is she?”

“She’ll be dropping her foal within the next two or three weeks.”

Becky laid a hand on the mare’s swollen side, then smoothed it over her shoulder and up along her neck. “She’s a beaut, Slick. A real beaut.” She untied the lead rope and gently backed the mare from the trailer, clucking softly. The horse balked a bit when she reached the rear door and her hoof hit nothing but air. “Easy, mama,” Becky soothed. “You’re doing just fine.”

Forrest stepped back, giving them room, then moved to Becky’s side once she and the mare had safely reached the ground. “She give you any trouble?” he asked Slick as he took the lead rope from Becky’s hand.

“Sweetest little lady I’ve ever had the privilege to haul,” he replied.

Forrest smiled when the mare snuffled his hand, looking for a treat. He rubbed a palm up her face to scratch her between the ears, his smile growing. “She’s a sweetheart, all right.” He angled his head toward Becky and his smile slipped down into a scowl. “Unlike some females I know.”

Becky wasn’t crying. She never cried. She just had something in her eye was all. She sniffed and dragged her wrist across her cheek, swiping at the telltale moisture, before reaching to remove the mare’s halter. Once free, the horse turned immediately to the trough and the waiting feed. Becky watched her for a moment, her thoughts on the marriage proposal Woody had offered.

...because you’re gonna be thirty soon and destined to spinsterhood. I think it’s high time I made good on my promise.

She slapped the halter against the side of her leg. “Darn your sorry hide, Forrest Cunningham,” she swore and stomped from the stall. When she turned to lock the gate behind her, her efforts were handicapped by the hot angry tears that blinded her.

She’d waited for years to hear a marriage proposal from Woody...but not one like that. A spinster! She dashed a hand at the tears again, then hooked the halter over a nail on the barn wall. “Like I’m some kind of charity case, or something,” she muttered disagreeably. She sniffed, fighting the sting of the insult, the hurt...but finally sank onto a bale of hay, wrapped her arms around her waist, bent double and gave in to the tears. She sobbed until her head ached and her eyes swelled almost shut. She cried until there were no more tears left to cry.

When she was sure the well had run dry, she gave her face a brisk scrub, sucked in a deep, shuddering breath and told herself to buck up. There were worse things in life than being called a spinster and having a marriage proposal offered out of pity. She wasn’t sure what those things were, but, given the time, she was sure she could come up with one or two.

After all, she reminded herself, it wasn’t as if she’d ever really believed that Woody would propose to her. If nothing else, she was a realist. She knew she was no raving beauty, that she didn’t have the social graces required to mingle with the folks Woody ran with.

But the heck of it was, he had asked her...and had hurt her feelings in the process. Granted, she was no debutante, but didn’t she deserve romance as much as any other woman? Was it too much to ask to have an “I love you” thrown in there somewhere?

...say you’ll marry me.

A sigh shuddered through her.

She’d dreamed of hearing Woody say those words to her for more years than she could remember. From the time she was thirteen and had first become aware of him as more than just the boy next door, she’d wished on the first star she’d seen every night that he would fall in love with her. Starlight, star bright, first star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might have the wish I wish tonight. She’d even hoped to double her chances by wishing on every load of hay she’d ever seen. Load of hay, load of hay, make a wish and look away. And she’d never once looked back at the load of hay, after making her wish, for fear her wish wouldn’t come true if she did.

And now she’d blown it. Just because Woody hadn’t proposed to her with the pretty words that she’d imagined he’d use, she’d turned him down flat.

No, she corrected miserably, dropping her elbows onto her knees and her face onto her palms. She hadn’t just turned him down. She’d lied to him.

She groaned, raking her fingers through her hair. What on earth had possessed her to concoct that wild tale about having a fiancé? She didn’t have a fiance. Heck! She’d never even had a regular boyfriend!

Pride, she told herself. That was her problem and always had been. Woody often teased her, saying that when God was passing out pride, she must have thought He’d said pie and asked for a double helping.

She chuckled at the memory, then felt another swell of tears bubble up in her throat. Oh, Lord, what was she going to do? she cried silently. If only she could roll back the clock, she’d bury her pride so deep it couldn’t find her, and say yes to Woody’s proposal, even if he had offered it out of pity.

But she couldn’t roll back the clock, she reminded herself. And even if she could, she knew she’d react the same darn way, because she really didn’t want to marry Woody if he didn’t love her. She wanted his love as much as she wanted him.

A horse nickered and with a sigh, Becky pushed herself to her feet, reminded of the chores that waited. While she fed the stock, she told herself that spinsterhood really wasn’t all that bad. After all, she didn’t have a man underfoot all the time, expecting her to cook his dinner or wash his dirty clothes, as other women did. And there was nobody to demand her attention or her time. She could do what she wanted and when she wanted to do it.

The truth was, Rebecca Lee Sullivan was alone.

But, then, she always had been.

Two

“Hank, I need a wife.”

“Sorry, I’m already taken.”

“Funny,” Forrest mumbled, scowling.

Hank reared back in his chair, hooking the heels of his custom-made boots on the chair’s lowest rung, then took a quick look around to make sure Henry, the maître d‘ of the Texas Cattleman’s Club, wasn’t around. Owner, or not, even Hank Langley wasn’t allowed to abuse the club’s furniture. “Wasn’t trying to be funny. Just stating a fact.”

Sterling Churchill laughed, but quickly swallowed his amusement when Forrest directed the scowl his way. Sterling leaned to peer closely at his friend. “You’re serious about this wife business, aren’t you?”

Forrest picked up his beer. “Yeah, I am.” He took a long swallow, then set the frosted mug down with a frustrated sigh. “The hell of it is, there aren’t any single women left in the whole dad-blamed county.”

“Pansy’s still available,” Hank offered and won another frown from Forrest. “Just trying to be helpful,” he said, and gave Sterling a conspiratorial wink.

Catching Hank’s drift and ready to help him give their friend a hard time, Sterling suggested, “There’s always Martha Jo. I believe she’s between husbands right now.”

Forrest rolled his eyes. “I want a wife, not a damn bottle blond looking for another alimony check.”

Sterling pursed his lips thoughtfully. “Well, I suppose if you’re that picky you could put an ad in the Midland paper. Folks are doing that more and more these days.” He drew a line in the air with his finger. “It could read something like this... ‘Wife wanted. No bottle blonds need apply.”’

“Yeah,” Hank tossed in, “and you could add ‘no prior experience required’ which might cut down on the number of divorcees who respond.”

Forrest fell back against his chair in disgust. “You boys ought to take this show on the road.”

“Now, Forrest,” Hank soothed, trying to hide a grin. “We were only funnin‘ with you.”

“Well, I’m not laughing. I need a wife, dammit.” He leaned forward, bracing his arms on the table and curling his hands around his mug. He stared at his beer a moment, then cocked his head and narrowed an eye at Sterling. “Has Becky said anything to you about getting married?”

“Becky? Becky Sullivan?”

“How many Becky’s do you know?”

Sterling shrugged. “Just the one.”

“Well, has she?”

“No.” Sterling grinned sheepishly. “But then I didn’t say anything to her before I got married, either.” He shook his head slowly as he absorbed what Forrest had just revealed. “Becky getting married. I’ll just be damned.”

“I didn’t say she was getting married. I simply asked you if she’d said anything to you about it.”

“Well, hell, Forrest,” Sterling complained. “Is she getting married, or not?”

Forrest frowned. “I don’t know, but earlier this afternoon, she told me she had a fiancé. Personally I think she was lying.”

“Why would she he about a thing like that?”

His gaze on his beer mug, Forrest turned the glass slowly between his hands. “Probably because she was mad at me.”

A longtime friend of Becky’s, Sterling leaned forward in his chair, ready to defend her if necessary. “What did you do to her?”

“I asked her to marry me.”

Sterling’s eyebrows shot up. “The hell you say!”

“Damn sure did, but she refused me. Said she was already engaged. Of course, she told me that after she knocked me down.”

Hank held up a hand. “Whoa, hold on a minute. Let me get this straight. You asked Becky to marry you, and she knocked you down?”

“Well, she didn’t exactly knock me down. She shoved me and my boot heel hooked on a rock and I fell down.”

“Why’d she shove you?”

“How the hell would I know? She’s a woman, isn’t she? Women do crazy things all the time.”

Sterling and Hank shared a knowing look, both men aware of their friend’s lack of finesse with women. Though never short on female companionship, Forrest had never learned the finer points in courting a woman. Probably because he’d never had to. Women just naturally flocked to him, without him having to put forth much effort.

“Maybe you better tell us how you worded this proposal,” Sterling suggested.

“All I did was remind her of a promise that I made to her years ago about marrying her myself if she hadn’t hooked up with somebody by the time she turned thirty. Since her thirtieth birthday is less than six weeks away, I told her that I was ready to make good on my promise.”

Having already heard about this pact from Becky just a few weeks before, Sterling asked, “Is that all?”

Forrest furrowed his brow, trying to remember the exact conversation. “No, I believe I mentioned something about saving her from spinsterhood.”

Hank let his head fall back. “Oh, Lord,” he groaned.

“And what was wrong with my proposal?” Forrest wanted to know.

“Hell, Forrest, you insulted her,” Hank told him. “No woman likes to be referred to as a spinster.” He sighed heavily. “Sterling, looks like you and me are gonna have to give Forrest here some lessons on how to properly court a woman.”

Forrest’s chest swelled in indignation. “Just because the two of you have each walked the aisle twice, doesn’t make y‘all experts on the subject.”

“We have wives, don’t we? And you don’t,” Sterling reminded him.

Forrest waved a hand in dismissal. “Forget it. Becky’s already engaged—or at least she says she is.”

“Maybe she is getting married,” Sterling said in his friend’s defense. “Becky’s not one to lie.”

“She is this time,” Forrest argued stubbornly, “and I intend to prove it.”

Forrest didn’t waste any time in trying to prove Becky was lying. As soon as he finished his beer, he left the Texas Cattleman’s Club and headed straight for the Rusty Corral. As he drove over the cattle guard at the ranch’s entrance, he noted the barbed-wire fence was sagging in a couple of places and made a mental note to send one of his men over to repair it.

He knew Becky would pitch a fit when she discovered what he’d done. He’d fought similar battles with her before when he’d meddled in her business. But he couldn’t very well sit by and let her ranch fall down around her. God knew the poor woman was doing all she could to keep the place going.

He frowned as his thoughts shifted to Becky’s daddy, Shorty Sullivan. The man ought to be horse-whipped and dragged across Ozark Salt Lake naked, letting the salt burn his raw wounds, he thought angrily. Leaving a woman alone to do a man’s work. And the old goat had been doing it for years.

Forrest remembered the first time he’d discovered that Shorty had taken off and left his daughter alone on the ranch. Becky couldn’t have been more than twelve or thirteen at the tune. Forrest had called late one evening to ask her if she’d help out with a roundup, and, when no one had answered the phone, he’d decided to just drive over. He’d found her in the barn wrapped up in a blanket and huddled in a corner of her horse’s stall. The poor kid had been scared to death...but wouldn’t admit it. She was that stubborn.

And she hadn’t changed much over the years. He couldn’t count the times that he and his family had tried to help her out when times were hard. But she wouldn’t accept their assistance, considered it charity. Forrest himself was the one who had finally come up with the idea of offering her the job of checking daily on the windmills that dotted the Golden Steer to make sure they were still pumping the water that was so vital for their herds.

A job Becky could accept. Charity she wouldn’t.

The job had grown over the years to include Becky riding Golden Steer horses while she made the windmill circuit. When he’d offered her the first string of horses, he’d used the excuse that he needed her to keep the horses in shape for roundups and was willing to pay her for nding them. It wasn’t long before he’d added the job of Becky training the horses, too. Thus, Becky had ended up on the Golden Steer payroll, and the Cunninghams had all slept easier, knowing that the girl wasn’t going to starve to death right beneath their noses.

Forrest gave his head a rueful shake as he parked his truck in front of the barn on the Rusty Corral. Stubborn. That’s what Becky Lee Sullivan was. And her saying that she couldn’t marry him because she was already engaged was just another example of that stubbornness.

Anxious to pump her for information on this fantasy fiance of hers, he climbed from his truck and headed for the barn, suspecting he’d find Becky inside with the new mare. Sure enough, he found her in the stall, talking softly to the horse while she brushed her down.

“How’s she doing?”

Startled, Becky jumped at the sound of his voice, then, with a huff, went back to her grooming. “Fine. Doesn’t seem to have suffered any ill effects from the trip.”

Forrest opened the stall door and stepped inside. “Good.” He ran a hand along the horse’s neck, letting the mare know he was there, then rested his arm along the animal’s spine as he watched Becky brush tangles from the horse’s tail. “Spoiling her already,” he teased.

“She likes the attention.”

By the defensive tone in her voice, he knew she was still angry with him and was spoiling for a fight. But Forrest didn’t want to argue with her. He wanted the truth and was determined to get it.

“I’m sure she does,” he replied placidly. He gave the horse’s rump a pat then moved to the side of the stall and leaned his back against it to watch Becky work.

“Saw Sterling earlier,” he offered conversationally.

She grunted an acknowledgment, but didn’t respond.

“He seemed surprised to hear that you were engaged.”

Her hand froze for a split second, then she tossed down the brush, trading it for a metal comb. “And they say women gossip,” she muttered.

Forrest bit back a grin. “I wasn’t gossiping. Just shootin‘ the breeze with friends over a beer at the Cattleman’s Club.”

“Gossiping,” she repeated firmly.

Forrest lifted a shoulder. “I figured you’d have told him about this fiancé of yours, being as y‘all are such good friends, and all.”

She gave the comb a hard tug, yanking at a stubborn tangle. “Didn’t see that it was all that important,” she mumbled.

Forrest widened his eyes, feigning shock. “Why, Becky Lee, I’m surprised at you. Marriage is one of the most important steps a person takes in life.”

She grunted again and tossed aside the comb. Turning her back to him, she bent over and lifted the mare’s rear leg to inspect her hoof. “Make yourself useful and hand me that pick.”

Her position offered Forrest a perfect view of her backside. In all the years he’d known Becky, he’d never once given her figure a second thought...but he did now. Heart-shaped, the cheeks of her butt filled out the denim jeans nicely. Without meaning to, he found himself lowering his gaze and looking for the tear he’d noticed earlier and that strip of exposed flesh.

Unfortunately she’d showered and changed since he’d last seen her and had put on a clean pair of jeans. This pair sported no tears or frays, no peeks at what lay beneath.

Disappointed, he plucked the hoof pick from the tack box and moved to hand it to her. “Getting married is serious business,” he said, watching her closely. “I certainly hope that you aren’t rushing into anything.”

Setting her jaw, she strained as she worked a clump of caked mud and stones from the horse’s hoof. “I’m not rushing into anything. Like I said, we haven’t set a date yet. ”

“A long engagement, huh?” He nodded his approval. “That’s probably wise. Too many people rush into marriage without giving themselves a chance to really get to know each other first.”

She lowered the horse’s leg and straightened, then slowly turned to face him. “And I suppose you consider yourself an expert on the subject of marriage?”

“I never claimed to be an expert.”

“Then why are you offering me advice?”

Forrest took a steadying breath. He wouldn’t argue with her, he told himself. Once they got started, they’d wind up in a spitting contest for sure. They usually did. Instead he took the hoof pick from her and dropped it back in the tack box. Draping an arm around her shoulders, he guided her from the stall. “Because I’m your friend, and friends worry about each other.”

“I don’t need you worrying about me. I can take care of myself.”

In the alleyway, he placed both hands on her shoulders and turned her around to face him. Bending his knees a little, he looked directly into her eyes. “I know that, Becky. Your independence is one of the things that I admire most about you.” He gave her shoulders a reassuring squeeze. “But I’d feel a whole lot better if I knew something about this fiancé of yours. In fact,” he said, and tucked her beneath his arm, aiming her for the barn doors and the outside, “I’d like to run a trace on him. You know, find out a little about his past. Hank’s got a few contacts that I can take advantage of.”

She stopped so fast, dust churned beneath her boots. “Run a trace on him!”

“Well, yeah,” he said, trying his best to look innocent. “Just to make sure that he’s on the up-and-up. All I need is his full name, his address. If you have his social security number or his driver’s license number, though, it would help.”

He watched her face redden, her lips tremble, and was sure that she was near breaking point. Any second now she would admit that she didn’t really have a fiancé, that she’d made the whole thing up. Then Forrest could pop the question again, offering to marry her himself. By November he’d have himself a wife.

A second ticked by, then two, and Becky’s face turned redder and redder until it was as bright red as her hair. Too late Forrest realized that it wasn’t guilt that was turning her face colors. It was anger.

“Now, Becky,” he said, backing up a cautious step.

“Don’t you ‘now, Becky’ me,” she warned, closing the distance right back up. “I don’t need you or anybody else running my life for me. I’ve been taking care of myself for years, and doing a darn good job of it, I might add. So you can take your friendly offer to run a trace on my fiancé and get the heck off of my land, and stay off!”

Realizing that she had him retreating again, Forrest stopped and braced his hands on his hips. “Dang it, Becky! I’m not trying to run your life. I’m just trying to protect you.”

“I don’t need protecting.”

“Maybe, maybe not,” he shot back, then huffed a frustrated breath when her chin went up. “Aww, Beck,” he said softening his tone, “I don’t want to fight with you.”

“Then what do you want?” she cried. “You come over here and insult me by suggesting that my fiancé is some sort of con man.”

“I didn’t say any such thing.”

“You wanted to run a trace on him, didn’t you?”

“Well, yeah, but that was just so I could... well, so I could find out a little more about him.”

“You don’t need to know anything about him. I’m the one who’s marrying him, not you.”

Hearing her claim she was getting married so emphatically did something to Forrest’s ability to breathe. He was so sure that this engagement business had all been a lie. For the first time, he wondered if this fiance of hers might really exist. “You’re serious about marrying this guy, aren’t you?”

She wheeled around, turning her back to him, and folded her arms across her breasts. “Yes, I am.”

He stared at her back while his heart sunk lower and lower in his chest. He thought he’d been blue earlier, but that particular shade of blue didn’t hold a candle to his current state of mind. Becky had always been in his life. His buddy. His friend. Hell, she’d been like a kid sister to him.

And now she was getting married.

Without a word of farewell, he turned and headed for his truck.

As soon as Forrest left, Becky hopped in her own rattletrap truck and headed straight for Miss Mame’s, the one woman in town to whom she ran when she was troubled about something. It wasn’t until she’d turned onto the woman’s street, that she remembered that Miss Manie had married and was living in Midland now, which was an indication of just how distraught Becky was.

But as she passed by the house, she saw a light on in the kitchen. Hoping the light wasn’t just a security measure, she whipped her truck onto the driveway, hopped out and jogged to the porch. She rapped twice on the screen door, then rammed her hands deep into her pockets and rocked back on her boot heels, waiting.

The sound of voices drifted from the back of the house and Becky realized that Miss Manie wasn’t alone, a prospect she hadn’t considered before. Not wanting to discuss her troubles in front of Miss Manie’s new husband, she was ready to turn tail and run when the porch light blinked on and the door opened. A young woman stepped into the opening.

“Well, hi...Becky, isn’t it?” the woman asked uncertainly.

Becky yanked off her cowboy hat, and nodded. “Yes, ma‘am. Becky Sullivan.”

The woman smiled. “I thought so. I’ve heard quite a bit about you.” She extended her hand. “I’m Callie Langley, Hank’s wife, and Miss Manie’s niece.”

Becky had heard about Hank’s marriage, and had heard, too, that his wife was a good deal younger than he was. But nobody had mentioned how pretty she was, or how fragile-looking. Feeling clumsy and boyish in comparison, Becky shook the offered hand. “Pleased to meet you.” She glanced behind Callie. “I saw the light and was hoping to catch Miss Manie at home.”

Callie opened the door wider, gesturing for Becky to come inside. “She’s here. We were just about to have a cup of tea. Why don’t you join us?”

The idea of a tea party with the two women had Becky backing up. “Oh, I wouldn’t want to disturb y‘all or anything.”

Callie caught Becky’s hand before she could escape. “You aren’t disturbing a thing, and I know that Aunt Manie will be glad to see you.”

“Who’s that at the door, Callie?”

Callie called over her shoulder, “Becky Sullivan, Aunt Manie.”

Miss Manie appeared in the kitchen doorway. “Rebecca Lee Sullivan,” she warned sternly, “you better hope your boots are clean.”

Becky glanced down at her feet, then back up at Miss Manie and grinned. “Yes, ma‘am. They’re clean.”

Manie turned back to her kitchen. “Better be. Last time you were here, you tracked manure on my freshly waxed floor.”

Becky winced as she headed for the kitchen, dodging packing boxes stacked in the short hall. “Sorry ‘bout that, Miss Manie.”

“Sorry doesn’t wax floors,” Miss Manie replied sharply, but when she turned to look at Becky, the twinkle in her eyes took the sting out of her words. She waved her toward a chair. “Have a seat. Callie and I were just having us a cup of herbal tea.”

Becky hooked her hat on the back of the chair, then sat down. She wrinkled her nose as Callie placed a fragile cup and saucer in front of her, then poured steaming tea into it. “What is it?” she asked suspiciously as she dipped her head to peer at the lightly colored brew.

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