“I want a baby.”

Ty stepped back a pace, stunned. “What does that have to do with me?”

“I want you to give me a child.”

Ty blinked, took in Jade’s very serious expression.

“That’s a pretty good tactic, beautiful. You nearly gave me heart failure. But I’m not falling for it, so move your sweet little buns away from that door. My brothers need me.”

She shook her head. “I want a baby, and you’re the man who can help me.”

He smiled, staggered by her charming ploy to keep him in the bunkhouse. “Well, of course I can help you. But as we both know, I’m leaving. I don’t have time for romance and nonsense, and I’m not getting married so—”

“I didn’t say I wanted to marry you,” Jade said. “You’re never coming back to Bridesmaids Creek, so you’re the perfect man for what I need.”

The SEAL’s Holiday Babies
Tina Leonard

www.millsandboon.co.uk

TINA LEONARD is a USA TODAY bestselling and award-winning author of more than fifty projects, including several popular miniseries for the Mills & Boon® Cherish™ line. Known for bad-boy heroes and smart, adventurous heroines, her books have made the USA TODAY, Waldenbooks, Ingram and Nielsen BookScan bestseller lists. Born on a military base, Tina lived in many states before eventually marrying the boy who did her crayon printing for her in the first grade. You can visit her at www.tinaleonard.com, and follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

Many thanks to the wonderful readers who embrace my work so loyally—I can never thank you enough.

Contents

Cover

Introduction

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

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

Chapter Seventeen

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

“Hang on a sec,” Ty Spurlock said to Sheriff Dennis McAdams, stunned as he watched a tall redhead wearing seriously tight blue jeans that complemented her seriously sexy figure walk into The Wedding Diner on the arm of Sam Barr, a bachelor recruit whom Ty had brought to town for the express purpose of matchmaking.

It appeared that a match might indeed be in the making. The problem was, the redhead wasn’t one of Ty’s intended bachelorettes.

Because he secretly had his eye on her for himself.

“What was that?” Ty demanded.

“What was what?”

“Jade Harper going into The Wedding Diner with Sam.”

Dennis grinned at him. “Free country, isn’t it?”

“Sure it is.” Ty sank onto the hood of the sheriff’s cruiser and pondered why the idea of Jade and Sam together bothered him, like a real bad toss from a bull. He’d had those, many of those. They were never any fun.

Neither was this. “Is there something going on there I don’t know about?”

Dennis’s eyes twinkled. “Do you think there’s something you should you know about? Are you taking over from Madame Matchmaker, our resident maker of matches? That’ll put Cosette’s pink-frosted hair in a twist for sure, if she thinks you’re butting in on her area of expertise.”

Ty felt strongly that Sheriff Dennis might be keeping something from him, which only made Ty resolve to get to the bottom of the matter. Jade had no business going out with Sam Barr, as prime for matchmaking as Sam might be. “Is there something going on between Sam and Jade?”

Dennis shook his head. “You’ll have to ask Jade. Or Sam.”

The sheriff was being deliberately obtuse, prickling him because he could. Nobody understood him the way Dennis did. The man had been elected sheriff after Ty’s adoptive father, Terence, had given up the sheriff’s job—fifteen years of being a great sheriff undone by one rumor. A rumor that had never gone away. But Sheriff Dennis had always supported Terence Spurlock, and Ty appreciated that more than he could say. Maybe only another sheriff could understand how loose lips and bad information could strike down a career and a man. “Or I could just ask you, since nothing goes on in Bridesmaids Creek that gets past you.”

Dennis chuckled. “True enough.”

“So? Is there?” Ty asked impatiently.

Dennis crossed his arms and smiled. “Didn’t you bring those four cowboys here to find them brides? Sam Barr, Squint Mathison, Justin Morant and Francisco Rodriguez Olivier Grant, otherwise known as Frog?”

“What does that have to do with Jade?”

Dennis laughed. “Ty, you can’t blame her for dating someone. Jade thinks you don’t know she’s alive, except for her occasionally scooping you some ice cream in her mother’s shop. You haven’t exactly pursued her.”

Ty grunted, glancing around the main square of the town he called home, even as an adopted son, and the town to which he owed so much. Owed them everything because they’d helped raise him, and because he’d had a great childhood because of them.

He owed them everything but his bachelorhood.

“Is there a problem?” Dennis asked.

“No.” There was, but he knew Dennis wouldn’t needle him about it further. Except he did.

“You could always try talking to her,” he said, surprising Ty. Dennis prodded him in a gentle, fatherly way that made him miss his own dad.

“I’m good at talking,” Ty said, “but I’m a couple weeks away from trying to make it into the SEALs. I have nothing to offer Jade.” He’d be gone for six long months of training, and then a little longer, if he made it.

No. When I make it.

Mentally, he reviewed The Plan, which was so far working like a charm.

Bring home eligible, trustworthy, elementally studly bachelors with the intent of pressing some of the ladies—not Jade—into marriage. This would start a rollerball of reactions: namely, babies and families, new blood in Bridesmaids Creek.

Which was very important in a town that was one step away from dying off completely.

He wasn’t about to let that happen. No, everything was working smoothly, with Mackenzie Hawthorne and her four darling little girls now married to rodeo rider Justin Morant. That was the beauty of goals and plans—they worked like charms because they were road signs pointing the way to the future. One needed merely to stick to a plan and not deviate; that was the key.

Victims number two, three and four—those being Sam, Frog and Squint—were certainly catnip to the many ladies in town. So there was no reason under the clear blue sky of Bridesmaids Creek, Texas, that Sam should settle on Jade Harper.

“Eat your heart out much?” Sheriff Dennis asked, jarring him back to the present.

“I’m fine.”

“I think Jade would understand the whole BUD/S training thing, Ty. She’s an independent girl. She works hard. Don’t you think it might be better to speak than to hold your tongue to the point that you lose her forever?”

Lose her forever? Ty chewed on that a moment. He wasn’t going to lose Jade, because he’d never had Jade. What he had was The Plan. Nothing could disrupt it, because you didn’t get into the SEALs by being an indecisive doorknob. You accomplished that by having determination and focus, and by serving one master. And the only way to clear his father’s name, to rebuild the Spurlock brand, was to return home a man of his word. The people of BC—Bridesmaids Creek—had ceased believing that Terence Spurlock was a man of his word when a stranger to BC had been allegedly murdered at the local haunted house, the Hanging H, Mackenzie Hawthorne’s place. Folks said Terence had been bought off by the town’s evil shyster in big boots, Robert Donovan, who owned significant chunks of town and was determined to own more, carving it up into retail parcels that enriched his considerable wealth. If he could get the Hawthornes to sell, along with the owners of the ranches surrounding Jade’s place, Donovan would have the kingdom he desired. But because the people had mostly grouped together against him, refusing to sell, Donovan currently held smaller, disconnected and farther-flung chunks of land not suitable for his grand visions.

Ty’s father would never have been bought off by anyone. It burned Ty’s gut that some folks—not everyone, but enough—had put such a rumor out there. More than anything, he hated that Bridesmaids Creek was held hostage by Robert Donovan and his coterie of greedy swindlers.

“I understand the mission,” Dennis said softly. “I’m just saying you don’t have to pay for what happened to your father by losing something you love dearly.”

Ty moved away from the voice of temptation, which was intended to be the voice of reason. Sheriff Dennis was a good man. He wanted to help. When Ty’s father had died of a broken heart from losing the town’s trust—and Ty was sure as the setting sun that that’s what had driven his father to his grave—Dennis had been there to remind him of what a very good man his father had been.

Ty clapped Dennis on the back and walked in the opposite direction from The Wedding Diner—and Jade.

* * *

“IT’S A DUMB IDEA,” Ty said a half hour later, relenting on entering The Wedding Diner, because his curiosity was killing him. He inserted himself at the table in The Wedding Diner with his buddies Squint and Frog so he had an excellent visual on Jade and Sam, but whether he was torturing himself on purpose he couldn’t say. “In fact, that idea is so dumb it makes me wonder if you’ve poured something strong in your coffee.”

Squint shrugged. “You don’t want a family. We do.”

Frog nodded. “You brought us to BC to find women. We want what Justin got when he married Mackenzie. He got a family.”

Ty swallowed, not about to admit that the idea was very appealing. “You wouldn’t know what to do with Justin’s four babies.”

“I don’t care how many babies are involved,” Squint said, sipping his coffee thoughtfully. “I just care that babies are eventually involved.”

“So let me get this straight. You’re going to propose pregnancy to a couple of ladies. Not marriage, just pregnancy.”

“That about sums it up.” Frog eyed with pleasure the plate of steaming eggs, toast and bacon a waitress set down in front of him. “Women aren’t looking for a ring anymore, Ty. They want to know that the man they choose can give them a family. And personally, I want to know that I have children in my future. So it’s a win-win.”

“We’re not saying we couldn’t love a woman who didn’t want children,” Squint said. “But we think Justin’s got a pretty good setup, and it inspires us. Plus we’re pretty good father candidates.”

Ty grunted. “Have you chosen your victims?” This ought to be rich. He couldn’t wait to hear more details from men whom he’d specifically brought here for the very purpose of finding brides and making families to grow BC.

Just not in the manner in which they were planning to go about it.

“Well, Sam’s picked Jade,” Squint said, nodding his head in the redhead’s direction. “That’s as far as we’ve gotten.”

Ty winced. If Sam thought he could just propose pregnancy to an independent woman like Jade Harper, it might be worth hanging around to see him get handed his head. Ty almost laughed at Sam’s plan.

Then again, maybe it wasn’t that funny. What if Jade said yes? She was twenty-seven, and a beauty like her shouldn’t still be on the market, except she claimed she wasn’t ready to settle down.

That might be changing now that her best friend, Mackenzie, was happily married.

Ty shrugged off the vague sense of uneasiness the thought gave him. “Picking a lady and having her fall for you are two different things.” He glanced Jade’s way, commanded himself to quit staring.

“We thought you’d support our plan,” Squint said, his tone surprised. “When you lured us to BC, you said there were plenty of ladies looking to settle down. When you’ve been in the military as long as we were, the thought of ladies looking to settle down is pretty inviting.”

“Yeah, why are you beefing about this?” Frog glared at him. “Dude, if you have a better idea, speak up. If not, say nothing. You’re leaving soon enough, and you won’t be doing much communicating once you’re trying to get through BUD/S. So our story won’t be of much interest to you.”

In other words, butt out. “Your plan is fine. Foolhardy, but fine. I wish you all the best.” A horrible thought occurred to Ty. “What if Jade were to say yes to Sam’s stupid pregnancy idea?”

His two friends/hires/tricksters stared at him.

“Well, they’d get married,” Frog said. “As sure as my name is Francisco Rodriguez Olivier Grant, I’d probably be best man.”

“That would be me,” Squint said, “as sure as my name’s John Squint Mathison.”

It could be serious if his lunkheaded buddies were already scrabbling over who was going to get high honor at this imaginary wedding. What possible difference does it make to me? Free country, like Dennis said.

He sneaked another glance at Jade, all long and lean and capable and sexy, with a mop of burgundy-red hair that was a siren’s call to Ty. She had a bright smile that teased, always laughing at him, and somehow with him. Captivating him. A laugh that never failed to bring a smile of response to his face, no matter what his mood was. No, when he’d thought up The Plan, the plan of bringing life back to BC, he’d put Jade on a pedestal out of sight, in a mental closet marked Private. Do Not Touch.

Mine.

Sam put his big, beefy hand over Jade’s delicate one, and Ty could hear that musical laugh across the aisle, reaching his ears with a pang that lodged in his heart. Something blew in his brain, like a transformer struck by lightning, and the next thing he knew, he was sliding into the white booth occupied by Jade and Sam, tucking himself up against Jade in the most friendly, brotherly fashion, because she expected friendly and brotherly from him.

Only he knew it was more of an ambush.

* * *

JADE GRINNED AT Ty when he bumped in next to her, jostling her arm away from Sam’s. “Look at you,” she said to Ty. “All buzz cut and ready to report for duty.”

Ty palmed his newly shorn head. She’d loved his hair long and wild, but he looked just as hot with it short, too. That was the problem with a rascal like Ty—he looked irresistible shaved or wild and woolly.

Spiritually, he was way too woolly for her.

“I let one of the ladies buzz me down,” Ty said, and Sam grinned.

“Your mother took the sheep shears to him,” Sam said.

“Betty didn’t have sheep shears,” Ty said, “but believe me, she was determined the brass wouldn’t be disappointed with me when I showed up for training.”

“It’s short.” Jade smiled. “I can just imagine Mom giving you the treatment. In another world, she could have been a hairstylist. The ice-cream shop just happened to get to her first.”

“A remarkable woman,” Sam agreed, and Ty elbowed Jade so that she looked at him again.

“Did you just elbow me? In a brotherly, somewhat obnoxious way?”

He looked pained. “I’m not really your brother. As much as it felt like that growing up, I’m not exactly brotherly material, as has been well noted by just about everyone.”

Including her, which was why she kept Ty very much on the outskirts of her radar. “Mom practically raised you, along with everyone else in this town. You even had a bunk at our place.” Her gaze softened as she took in Ty’s square, determined jaw and wide brown eyes. “You broke a lot of noses for my sake when we were growing up.”

Sam laughed. “He tried to break everything when we were on the circuit. Now go away, brother. This is a private lunch.”

“Private?” Ty glared at Sam. “Nothing’s private in BC.”

“This is,” Jade said. “You have to take your overprotective, buttinsky self elsewhere.”

She hated to send him off. But the thing about Ty was that the more he hung around her, the more her hopes rose. It was something she had almost no control over. He treated her like a little sister—and her heart mooned for him. Stupidly.

And this year, her resolution was to get on with her life and accept that Ty was simply too much bad boy for her. Her practical nature knew this, accepted that she wanted something completely different when she envisioned a husband.

But her heart—and her female side—wanted Ty. In fact, her mind and her body were practically enemies at this point, warring with each other, each convinced the other was right.

She’d done a darn good job of moving on, seeking new opportunities. And a new man. Okay, Sam Barr wasn’t “the one,” but he was the first man she’d gone out with in a long time, and he was nice, and she was looking for nice on her man list, wasn’t she?

“Go,” she told Ty, her voice a little urgent as she gave him a pointed push, practically edging him out of the booth.

He stood, put on his brown Stetson, looked at her a bit sadly with those big brown puppy-dog eyes and tipped his hat to her and Sam before returning to his own booth.

“Poor fellow,” Sam said. “Doesn’t know what he wants in life.”

“Poor fellow?” Jade refused to glance Ty’s way. “The man brought you here on a mission. He’s not a poor fellow at all. Don’t fall for the injured look he wears so well.” She sipped water, glad for the coolness, but couldn’t meet Sam’s eyes.

“He’s going to make it,” Sam said, his tone admiring. “He’s trained for a year to make it through BUD/S. Trained like a maniac. I predict he not only makes it, but he terrorizes all the other recruits.”

“Of course he’s going to make it!” Jade said, astonished. “All Ty’s ever wanted to do was be a SEAL. A lean, mean, fighting machine, as I heard one of the men call him once. He’s dedicated to his goal.” She swallowed hard. “Ty will make it, and once he does, we’ll hardly ever see him around here again.” The thought was so painful it physically hurt her stomach.

“Yeah, that’s what he told us.”

Jade’s gaze flew to Sam. “Told you what?”

He shrugged, a handsome lug of good intentions and impeccable character that she felt absolutely no zip, no zing for—not the way Ty kept her emotions all riled up.

“Ty’s working on his Plan.”

“Plan?”

Sam shrugged. “His life goal. Short list. One, settle some good friends of his—bosom buddies—in BC to tempt the local population of females.”

Jade felt her back stiffen. “Go on.”

“Two, see his dear friends happily married, with babies, to stifle Robert Donovan’s evil plan to turn BC into a concrete wasteland—a project already under way with Donovan in the process of bidding out parcels he owns to various government contractors.”

“Let me guess. You and Frog and Squint are the bait for Ty’s grand vision.”

“And Justin.” Sam grinned. “Justin was first, but he took so long to get down to business that Ty began to worry. So he brought the three of us along.”

Alarm bells rang inside Jade. “Well, wasn’t that thoughtful of Ty. And three?” she asked sweetly.

“Three is to clear his father’s name. The murder that was never solved was pinned on his father’s incompetence, and that’s something Ty also lays at Donovan’s door. He’s convinced Donovan had a plan to oust his father as sheriff and bankroll the election of his handpicked pawn of Satan, as Ty puts it.” Sam reached for her hand again, going back to the place where they’d been before Ty had butted into their booth.

But they couldn’t go back, because once Ty had leaned up against her side, invading her space and her every sense, she’d felt herself slipping. And now that she was hearing of the perfidy of his Plan—who did he think he was, anyway, bringing in men to charm the ladies, as if the BC women were simply a herd of goats—she was really annoyed.

“Fourth, and finally,” Sam continued, “the last part of The Plan is for Ty to make it into BUD/S, get his Trident and spend the rest of his days, as long as he can, in every far-flung locale of the world, chasing bad guys. Setting his brothers free.” Sam looked thoughtful. “In another life, I do believe Ty would make the perfect assassin. He likes the loner lifestyle. Says he’s most at peace when he’s alone. Probably because he’s adopted, is his theory.”

Jade was stunned. She pulled her hand from Sam’s, took another sip of her water to calm her racing thoughts. “That doesn’t make sense. Ty was never alone. He was part of our family.”

“But that’s not how my brother feels. In his mind,” Sam said, pointing to his own head. “Ty says he’s alone. Got no family, got no one. Says it suits him fine. He was born alone, plans to die alone.”

“Is that so.” Jade hopped to her feet. “Well, I have something to say to Mr. Loner Spurlock about that. If you’ll excuse me, Sam.”

Ty Spurlock had another think coming if he thought his Plan was going to work on her. It wasn’t—and he wasn’t going to zip out of BC under cover of night and leave without her telling his majesty what a nonsensical dumb-ass he was.

This is one lady Ty’s going to find it’s impossible to bait.

Chapter Two

“Hello, Ty,” Jade said, astonishing him because she’d arrived at his booth with something on her mind, judging by the compelling grip she had on his sleeve. “Could I speak to you privately for a moment? Outside?”

Ty glanced at Squint and Frog. “Fellows, I’m being called to duty.”

They raised mugs of root beer to Jade. “When duty calls, a gentleman always answers,” Frog said.

“If there was a gentleman around,” Jade replied, and Ty thought he heard a bit of an edge in the darling little lady’s voice. He followed her outside into the bright sunlight, having no choice, really, because she’d let go of him only once he’d left his booth.

Following her was no hardship, since he got to surreptitiously watch that sweet, heart-shaped fanny of hers move ahead of him in a determined locomotion of female-on-a-mission.

Sam must have dropped the ball somehow and upset his conquest. Ty couldn’t remember seeing Jade so steamed before, the results of her temper obvious by the lack of a smile on her face and the light frown pulling her brows together. Poor Sam. Nice guy, but a bit too beta male—gentle, sweet, bearlike—for a heart-stopper like Jade.

It was known that women went for the alpha male, the bad boy in boots, which was something Justin Morant, Squint Mathison and sometimes Frog had in abundance. Okay, maybe not Frog; he was pretty beta as beta males went, somehow mellowing after life in the navy. Ty had worried about bringing Sam Barr along for The Plan, fearing he was too easygoing and nice and free-spirited—almost hippielike in his approach to life—then figured maybe BC had a librarian or a kindergarten teacher who might be looking for a plainspoken, existential bear of a man who wouldn’t raise her blood pressure.

“Ty Spurlock,” Jade said, stopping so fast in the middle of the pavement that he had to reach out and grab her to keep from knocking her down, “who do you think you are?”

He registered soft female and sweet perfume in his arms before he reluctantly released Jade. “What do you mean?”

“I know all about your stupid Plan. And it really is stupid!”

He grinned. “Sam has a big mouth.”

“And you have a big head!”

Ty laughed. “Aw, Red. Don’t worry.” He tugged her back into his arms for a hug disguised as brotherly, but which was just an excuse for him to hold her again. “I didn’t leave you out. There are plenty of men to go around.” He hesitated, lost for a moment in the scent of peachy shampoo, and the feel of soft curves wriggling against him, before he started to give her a good, brotherly knuckle-rubbing on her scalp. Then his hand suddenly arrested as he realized the knuckle-rub wasn’t as satisfying as he’d thought it would be.

Holy crap, she felt good. And sexy as hell.

Jade kicked his ankle, a smart blow he felt even through his jeans and boots. He released her, surprised. “What was that for?”

“You think you’re so smart.”

“Look, Jade. There aren’t enough men in this town, you know that. The ladies outnumber us four to one or something. Or ten to one. I’m just trying to do the right thing.”

She gazed at him, and he could see disgust heavy in her eyes. “I don’t want you doing the right thing for me. Your right thing. Leave me out of The Plan.”

He shrugged. “Sweetcake, if you don’t like the goods, don’t buy them. But it looked like you might like Sam a little bit, from where I was sitting. Pretty cozy lunch the two of you were having.”

“So I should fall in with your plan and marry Sam? Is that how this is supposed to work?”

A streak of pain lanced Ty’s heart, but just for a moment, and he ignored it for the greater good. “If you fall in love with one of the fine gentlemen I’ve brought to BC, I would call that a happy ending.”

“You’re an ass, Ty Spurlock.”

He was honestly mystified. “It’s no different than a blind date, if you think about it. You’ve been on a blind date before, haven’t you?”

“Yes, but—”

“You’d participate in a bachelorette auction for charity, right? We do those events here every year. The Best Man’s Fork run, the Bridesmaids Creek swim—”

“Am I going to the highest bidder?” she asked, and Ty recognized a warning tone in her voice, which he actually didn’t want to hear. He moved quickly to soothe her and ameliorate any damage.

“Now, Jade, as one of Bridesmaids Creek’s most generous supporters, you deserve nothing but the best. And I’ve brought my very best to BC. That being said, if you don’t like the fellows, don’t go out with them. Sam, Squint and Frog will find other ladies to chat with.” Ty tipped his hat, hoped he’d moved off the hot seat, and headed toward his truck with a sigh of relief.

Jade got in the passenger side before he’d even situated himself in the driver’s seat. “And what about you? I noticed you left your name off the bachelor offerings.”

“I’m not eligible.” He started his truck, backing up. “If you’re riding with me, buckle up. If not, advise me where I may drop you off. You wouldn’t want to keep Sam waiting, I would presume.”

She gave him a decidedly annoyed eyeing. “You really are a jackass, aren’t you?”

“So they say. You coming?”

Jade leaned back, buckled her seat belt. “I’m not done telling you off.”

“Fine by me. We ride together, but you may not like the destination.” He glanced at her, ridiculously happy to have Jade in his truck—and happy as hell that she wasn’t back at The Wedding Diner being romanced by Sam.

Which was kind of bad, because Sam had only been doing what he’d come to BC to do: find a wife. Or at least that’s what Ty had told Sam and the guys they wanted: a wife, and a chance to have a family, become dads. Ty had promised them that BC was ripe, full-to-bursting ripe, with ladies who would leap at the chance to run to the altar.

He sighed. “So what’s the topic?”

“Topic?”

He looked at her long, slim legs in Wranglers, the dangerous look in her eyes. Curves in all the right places. Was pretty certain his libido was starting to smoke. “The topic you’re in my truck to discuss.”

“Let’s start with your Plan.”

“Everybody has to have one, little lady. Otherwise nothing ever gets done.” He rolled down his window, happy to smell fresh country air, be driving a truck in the greatest little town on earth, and have the most dynamite sexy redhead he knew glaring at him from the safety of her seat belt. “You have a problem with plans?”

“The Plan. The Plan that seems to start with you bringing bachelors to town, getting them married, and then you skittering off like a cockroach.”

“I see no problem with that plan. Sounds like all the holes are filled.” He frowned. “Maybe a slight quibble with the cockroach part. Don’t think I ever saw myself in that role.” Ty brightened. “You could rephrase it as Ty rides off into the sunset, leaving behind a grateful town. A veritable hero, and the townspeople cheered their thanks.”

“Ass,” she murmured under her breath.

“Hero.”

“Okay, but say someone decides you’re the catch of the day before you go—”

“Riding off like a hero.”

“Skittering off like—”

“It is understood by all,” he interrupted quickly, before she could bring up the roach bit again, because in the mood she apparently was in, she was going to get around to saying something about how roaches got squished under female boots, “that I’ve never been a marrying man. This has never even been questioned.”

“Ah, the happy, footloose, untamed cowboy.”

“Exactly,” he said, pleased now that they understood each other perfectly.

“Which is why you interrupted my lunch with Sam.”

“Why?”

“Because you don’t think Sam’s the man for me. Obviously.”

“Well,” Ty said, uncomfortably acknowledging that what she’d said held the ring of truth, “there are better options.”

“And who would those better options be? Because quite frankly, Sam suits me.”

“How?”

“He’s nice. He’s gentle. He says what he means. Unlike some people, who are full of baloney.”

Ty supposed she meant him. She certainly had that you’re-the-guy-full-of-baloney tone in her voice. “I take it you’re not happy I interrupted your lunch.”

“Face it, Ty, you’ve always been something of a showboat.”

“You mean I live life large.” He sneaked another glance at her shapely body, red-hot from the flaming topknot of hair to her boots. “I remember when you and I used to play with our friends all day in the fields. Ball, chase, Red Rover—if it was a game, we knew it.” He sighed. “I miss those days sometimes.” He didn’t understand how his best friend had grown up to be such a siren. Jade had him tied in knots he wasn’t sure could be undone, except maybe by some kind of spell. Or his absence. “I’ll be leaving soon,” he said, reaching for the easiest knot to untie.

“Good,” she said pleasantly.

His lips twisted of their own accord. “Guess that means no going-away party.” Or kiss, for that matter.

“I wish you the best of luck. I hope you make it through BUD/S. You’ve worked hard enough to get there.”

He turned his head at the soft, earnest note to her voice, surprised. “I believe you mean that.”

“With all my heart.” She opened the door when he stopped at the last crosshatch of road at the town’s edge. “See you around, Ty.”

“You can’t get out here.” They were a good two miles from the main drag. He didn’t want her to leave, anyway. He’d been enjoying having her in his truck, even though he sensed she had something urgent on her mind.

“I’ll be fine. Sam followed us.”

She waved, closed the door, and as she headed to the truck behind his, which was indeed Sam Barr’s vehicle, Ty’s last glimpse of Jade was her sweet fanny as she got on the running board and scooted up into the passenger seat. He blinked, stunned by how fast he’d lost her. Damn Sam for being such a resourceful fellow, Ty thought, recognizing at the same time that Sam had many fine qualities, resourcefulness notwithstanding, or Ty would never have brought him here as an outstanding, trustworthy candidate to be won by the ladies of BC.

But he didn’t have to be so darn resourceful.

* * *

“IT WAS LIKE taking candy from a baby,” Sam observed to his two friends as they perched in the bunkhouse at the Hanging H ranch. Their friend—and project—Justin Morant had married Mackenzie Hawthorne here not so many months ago, making himself the proud father of four little girls. Justin had kept the three amigos—as he called Squint, Sam and Frog—on at the Hanging H, saying he had big plans to expand the spread and operations. They would also need a lot of help when they put the Haunted H into full swing, the renaissance of Bridesmaids Creek’s beloved “haunted” house and amusement place for kiddies and families. This October, they’d be putting the haunted back in the Hanging H, and BC was buzzing with the return of one of their most profitable and renowned projects.

“Candy from a baby?” Squint said. “Even a baby has better sense than Ty.”

Frog grinned. “I figure putting you up to following Ty around was a stroke of genius. There you were, the proverbial white knight, when Jade decided she needed a ride away from temptation.”

Sam sank into the leather sectional sofa in the comfortable bunkhouse, sighing with pleasure. “They say a man doesn’t know what he’s lost until it’s gone. And the only way to capture Ty in his own snare is to make him think the bait is about to be stolen.”

They all crowed about that, lifting beer bottles to each other in victory.

“What we need is a real challenge,” Frog said.

The room went silent.

“I don’t believe there’s anything more challenging than getting Ty Spurlock to pull his head out of his butt,” Sam offered. “What do you have in mind?”

“Well, let’s see.” Frog gazed at the ceiling. “The haunted house will start by the end of this month, for nine glorious months of family fun. Then BC kicks off Christmas Wonderland all over town, and Santa Claus takes over right after Thanksgiving. What do you say,” Frog said, warming to his idea, “if we give ourselves a two-week deadline to get Ty and Jade engaged?”

Squint looked at him doubtfully. “What you’re really aiming for is to get Ty off the dime before he leaves for BUD/S. That’s just not going to happen. You know as well as anyone, since you were by my side in Afghanistan, that a BUD/S candidate is encouraged to take care of any detail that might be a distraction before he gets to training. Along that topic, a candidate is also discouraged from taking on new decisions, such as a wife. I say hold your horses, there, son. BUD/S is serious stuff.”

“Then why are we doing this? Why are we trying to pull the rug out from under Ty?” Sam shook his head. “It’d be unfair to Jade if we’re all going to wave goodbye to Ty in a couple of weeks, and her heart is broken.”

“That’s why an engagement is even more important.” Frog nodded wisely. “No questions left unanswered.”

“There are too many questions,” Squint said direly. “You forget there was a murder here years ago that was never solved. Ty hasn’t forgotten that the lack of an arrest was put down to his father’s bungling of the investigation. He’s not going to pop any questions until his dad’s name is cleared. And the only way to clear it is to reopen the Haunted H, and let everyone see that the past is the past. Whatever happened then no longer matters.”

They considered that.

“I guess so,” Sam said. “We’re not being fair to Jade, then. She doesn’t want a man who’s all hung up in his head.”

“No,” Frog agreed. “She’d be better off with you.”

“Yeah, but I don’t want to settle down,” Sam declared. “I want to see Ty caught in his own trap!”

“Then we’ll have to work around the murder angle,” Squint said, “Frog and I’ll focus on Daisy Donovan, since it was her old man who was determined to destroy the Haunted Hanging H and brought this whole house of cards down on Ty. And you try to wrangle Ty to the altar, preferably before he ships out.”

“Great,” Sam said. “You took the easy assignment, and left me to corral the man who brought us here to find brides for ourselves.”

“Thought you just said you don’t want a bride,” Squint pointed out.

“It’s true,” Sam said, downcast. “I just came along for the ride, and to see the two of you suffer. Then you decided to make Ty suffer, and that seemed like even more fun. But it’s not so much fun anymore,” he groused.

“It’ll be worth it when we see Ty heading up the altar path,” Frog said, exhorting his friends to action. “Shake on it, fellows. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

* * *

TY WAS SO annoyed with his friends and a certain sexy redhead that when Daisy Donovan slid up under his arm in the parking lot of the sheriff’s office, all he could do was muster up an unenthusiastic, “Hi, Daze.”

She gave him a friendly enough squeeze, but where Donovans were concerned, it was like being in a boa constrictor’s grip—you knew it wasn’t going to end well unless you could get away fast.

The tempestuous brunette bombshell had no inclination to remove herself from his side. “So much man, Ty Spurlock, and somehow, all I ever feel for you is sisterly emotions.”

“That’s what they tell me. What’s on your mind?”

She laughed, hot allure practically snapping sparks his way—which meant Daisy wanted something.

“You.”

“I’m not available.” His gaze lit on Jade heading into Madame Matchmaker’s comfortable, cheery, pink-fronted shop, and his stomach bottomed out. What could Jade possibly want with Madame Lafleur?

No doubt it was just a simple visit. Madame Matchmaker and Mssr. Unmatchmaker—Cosette and Phillipe Lafleur—had offices right next to each other, connected internally by an arched door that could be locked for privacy when they had clients. Phillipe and Cosette had been married for fifty years, bickered constantly, loved each other like mad and had recently decided they were going to unmake their own marriage. This decision had BC residents in a twist, not certain whether the matchmaking/unmatchmaking services still had good karma. Cosette kept a book of all the matches she’d put together—and of the “mismatches,” only one was recorded in her book: that of Mackenzie Hawthorne’s marriage to Tommy Fields. Tommy had left Mackenzie for a twenty-year-old, and since Ty had been responsible for bringing Tommy to Cosette’s attention to make the match, he’d felt compelled to bring a replacement to BC for Mackenzie: Justin Morant.

It was a match made in heaven. But since Ty knew that Cosette’s matches didn’t always go off as planned, he worried about Jade slipping into the pink shop with the scrolled lettering on the window that read Madame Matchmaker Premiere Matchmaking Service. Where Love Comes True.

He didn’t want love coming true for Jade, at least not with anyone but himself.

“I really am a rat bastard,” he murmured, and Daisy said, “What?”

“Nothing.” He looked down at the brunette attached to his arm. “Did you say you needed something, Daisy? I have to be somewhere.”

“I want you. Remember?” She smiled at him, a veritable temptress with something on her mind.

Stepped right into that, and now he was almost afraid to ask. “You just said you have sisterly emotions for me. Can you be more specific about this ‘want’?”

She glanced at the jail, which was buried deep inside the courthouse, just the way Sheriff Dennis liked it. “Going to see the sheriff about something?”

He’d forgotten all about seeing Sheriff Dennis once he’d spotted Jade. It almost didn’t bear thinking about what pink-haired Cosette and his sassy redheaded darling might be dreaming up between them.

It certainly didn’t bear thinking that Jade might be chatting with Cosette concerning Sam. Sam, my friend, who I brought here, Ty reminded himself. “Nothing set in stone.”

“Good. Because I have a problem. And I need your big, strong muscles and wise mind to help me.”

She beamed up at him, daddy’s little girl, who’d never heard the word no in her life. Ty cleared his throat.

“What, Daisy?” He couldn’t wait to get away and make an unscheduled visit to Phillipe, see if he could figure out what was going on behind the arched doorway of the two shops. Maybe the door would be open, and he could listen to what Cosette and Jade had up their dainty sleeves.

“I need a man,” Daisy said. “And you’ll do just fine.”

Chapter Three

“What are they doing?” Jade asked, peering through the white slats at the window of Cosette’s private sanctum. She couldn’t see Daisy and Ty; Cosette had a much better vantage point. “If I know Daisy, she’ll be kissing Ty before he even knows it’s happening.”

“I don’t have a great view.” Cosette strained her femininely plump body a little harder to peer out. “But it looks like Daisy’s plastered all over him. She wants something.”

Jade backed away from the window, telling herself it didn’t matter. She shouldn’t care. She plopped into a pink velvet antique chair and waited for Cosette to give her a further bulletin.

“Ah, there goes the kiss,” Cosette said. “I knew Daisy would hit her mark.”

Jade shot out of her chair, mashing the slats flat in her hurry to see what she really didn’t want to see. But all she saw was Ty striding away from Daisy, who watched him from in front of the small courthouse as he crossed the street. Jade snapped the blinds shut before he could catch her spying.

“Gotcha!” Cosette laughed delightedly, taking the pink chair opposite as Jade returned to hers.

Jade stared at her friend. “You mean Ty and Daisy weren’t kissing?”

Cosette looked coy. “Of course not. That would never happen. But what do you care?”

“I don’t.” She did. Terribly.

“My girl, it’s no use protesting. That’s no way to catch a man. It’s very American to be hard to get, and with some men that works. However, Ty’s leaving soon. You don’t have time to set traps.”

Jade wrinkled her nose. “Let’s talk about why I’ve come to see you.” It would be best to get Cosette off the topic of trapping Ty. She had no idea how badly the man annoyed Jade.

It annoyed her even more that Cosette could tell that she did care if Ty kissed Daisy, or anyone.

“You can talk about whatever you like,” Cosette said pleasantly. “In your mind, you’ll still be thinking about Ty.”

Jade drew a deep breath, telling herself to be patient with her older friend. “I assure you, I’m not thinking of Ty.”

“Did I hear my name?” Ty appeared in the arched doorway, broad-shouldered and fine, and Jade’s breath caught in spite of her wishing it wouldn’t.

“Why would we be talking about you?” she asked, giving Cosette the don’t-say-a-word eyeball.

“Why wouldn’t you be?” He walked in and lounged on the prim white sofa across from their pink tufted chairs, eyed the delicate teacups on the table, ready for tea, and the pink-and-white petits fours invitingly arranged on a silver tray. “I saw you two spies. You’re leading Jade down a bad path, Madame.” He laughed, pleased with himself, a big moose with way too much confidence.

Jade scowled. “Everybody spies on Daisy.”

“Of course we were spying on you!” Cosette said. “Jade had just told me how very handsome you looked today.” She smiled hugely. “You don’t mind if we ladies checked you out, do you, Ty?” Cosette rose with a distinctly coquettish air. “If you will both excuse me for a moment, I think I hear Phillipe calling my name. No doubt he’s sniffed the aroma of petits fours and tea all the way from his dusty office. The man adores my petits fours.” She swept out of the room, a vision in pink, white and silver, a lady on a mission.

Jade turned back to find Ty’s gaze on her, his eyes squinting with internal smirk-itude. “Oh, don’t go getting a big head over Cosette’s comments.”

“Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Do please pour.” He nodded toward the teacups.

“There was no smoke, no fire. We weren’t looking at you.” Jade leaned over to pour out the tea, then handed him a cup. “You can get your own petit four if you want it.”

He laughed. “I do, in fact, want to try Phillipe’s favorite treat. What is it about these tiny things you ladies find so irresistible?”

She hoped to get him off the topic of his handsomeness—which she had said nothing about to Cosette, though she had, in fact, been thinking that he was extraordinarily hunky—and the topic of tiny frosted cakes was as safe as any. “It’s the art involved in a petit four.”

“So in other words, you really don’t want me to bring up that Cosette gave you away?” He winked, bit into a cake. “Whatever you want, doll.”

Jade sent him a sour look. “What did Daisy want?”

“This is good,” Ty said, his tone surprised. “Sugary, sweet, delicate. Couldn’t eat a lot, far too rich for that, but tasty all the same. If you eat too many of these, you’ll have to watch that sexy figure of yours.”

“Back to Daisy. Quit avoiding the fact that you were conversing with the enemy.”

“Oh, that.” He put his plate down, picked up his tea and sipped. It looked quite ridiculous, she thought, a big man holding a fragile cup and saucer—and yet, somehow, she wanted so badly to kiss him she didn’t know what to do.

Which was such a bad thought to have she wished it right out of her brain. “Yes, that. I’m going to bug you until you tell, so get on with it.”

“Nothing important. And on that note, I should depart—”

“I’ll ask Daisy myself, and whatever she wanted, she’ll embellish,” Jade warned.

“She wants me to escort her to the grand opening of the Haunted H,” Ty said, his tone reluctant, his expression even more so.

Jade blinked. “But why? She and her father got up a petition to keep the Haunted H from starting again. They were violently opposed, and part of the reason we waited was to make sure folks in Bridesmaids Creek supported it.”

“Daisy says it’ll show everyone that bygones are bygones. She doesn’t want to go by herself, and being escorted by—”

“By the man who brought the bachelors to Bridesmaids Creek will make her look like the belle of the ball,” Jade interrupted.

Ty seemed confused. “I don’t think that was what she’s after. Granted, Daisy’s no innocent flower, but she really sounded sincere.”

Jade raised a brow. “Really, really sincere. Daisy, sincere.” Surely that wasn’t jealousy in her tone. But then she realized by the reappearance of his smirk that he was thinking the same thing.

“You know you’re a special girl, Jade,” he began.

She hopped to her feet. “Ty, you bigheaded oaf, don’t you take that tone with me. I don’t care if you go with Daisy. I just think you’re a traitor. It’s not fair to Mackenzie and Justin, because Daisy’s done everything she can to destroy the Hanging H getting its haunting back. You know that.”

“Yeah.” Ty sounded momentarily confused again. “You have a point.”

“And you know what Daisy’s father said about your own father,” Jade stated, warming to her subject, wanting badly for Ty to see for himself that he’d fallen prey to Daisy’s charms, as every man in BC seemed to do eventually. “Robert Donovan said your father bungled the investigation of the murder out at the Hanging H—”

“Daisy said us going to the opening together would let everyone know that those days were past,” Ty said. “I really thought it was in the Haunted H’s—and Bridesmaids Creek’s—best interests that I escort her. I’m leaving in less than two weeks. What I want more than anything is to leave behind a town with a secure future, with everyone on the same page.”

He looked distressed. Jade felt sorry for him, so sorry her heart hurt. Maybe she was beating him up because she was jealous. I am jealous, she admitted to herself. But nothing good ever came of associating with Daisy Donovan and her land-grabbing father. “I’ve got to go.”

“Hang on a sec—” Ty said, but Jade couldn’t stay any longer. She hated all of it—hated that Ty was leaving most of all. What if she never saw him again?

She hurried out the door and jumped into her truck, vaguely aware that Daisy stood on the pavement outside Madame Matchmaker’s shop, smiling her infamous bad-girl smile.

* * *

TY WAS THUNDERSTRUCK, and could not have been more shell-shocked, when Jade left in a hurry. He’d been this close to her—in the same room, and kindly left alone by Madame Matchmaker—and he’d blown it. Big mouth, big feet into big mouth, bad combo.

“Crap,” he said, when Cosette hurried back into the room, her eyes distressed and her pink-tinted hair slightly mussed from her rush. “I think I just blew that.”

“Oh, dear.” She handed him a small plate of homemade lasagna, steam rising from the cheesy top. “Eat for strength. Eat for intuition.”

He looked at the lasagna, a four-by-four piece he would have devoured under any other circumstances, say, had Jade not ditched him, leaving him with a guilty conscience and a terrible case of buyer’s remorse where Daisy was concerned. “Will it help?”

“Oh, lasagna always helps,” Cosette assured him. “A big man like yourself doesn’t do well on an empty stomach.”

He thought that sounded like the first sane advice he’d had all day, and dug in with the silver fork she’d put on his plate.

He actually felt a little stronger, and perhaps a bit of clarity come over him—it was too soon for intuition—as the warm food hit his stomach. “I’m in the doghouse with Jade.”

“Yes.” Cosette nodded. “Probably so.”

“Trying to do the right thing isn’t always easy.”

“Indeed it’s not. But doing a dumb thing is very easy.”

He gazed at her. “Were you just subtly trying to prod me into self-discovery mode?”

“Not so wordy, dear. Just trying to help you pull your head out of your keister, as you young folks put it.”

“Ah.” He ate some more lasagna. “Does Jade like me?”

“A little,” Cosette said. “You did spend a lot of time being raised by her mother, if you recall. She got used to you.”

“Yeah. Jade was an awesome little sister.” Only he hadn’t felt sisterly toward her in a long, long time.

“Things change,” Cosette observed.

“Daisy might have changed.”

“And some things don’t ever change.”

Ty nodded. “You think there’s no way to leave the past behind and move on with our lives? The Donovans can’t mean it when they say they want to be part of BC?”

“Some things are just habit.” Cosette shrugged. “No, I don’t think the Donovans are being any more forthright than they’ve ever been.”

Why was he training to be a SEAL if he didn’t believe in the greater good? “Eventually this town has to move on.”

“I’m impressed that you want to forgive the Donovans, given how your father was treated by them when he was sheriff.”

Ty’s blood hit low boil, began to simmer at the old, painful memories. He put his plate on the marble-topped coffee table. “I’m just trying to leave town on a good note. I want there to be healing, Cosette. No divisions in the town on my behalf.”

“Are you not planning on coming back, then? Because this town wrote the book on divisions. We feel pretty safe with black and white, good and evil. We’re not trying to be a storybook town, Ty. We sell our charms and our legends, always with a hefty dose of fairy tale evil villains.”

He looked at her. “You and Phillipe aren’t really getting a divorce, are you?”

She stared at him. “Young man, how is that any of your business? I suspect you have plenty of your own love life to attend to.”

He got up from the chair. “You never did say whether you believe Jade feels more than sisterly to me.”

“But we’ve already established your head is firmly lodged in your hindquarters, dear, so what good would it do for me to try to help you with the answer?” Cosette walked him to the door. “I have no words of wisdom for you.”

“No words of guidance from the local matchmaker?” He was teasing, but only slightly. He really wanted to know how Jade felt, because he was definitely getting some kind of strange vibe from her.

“A little bit of guidance, just a smidge, if you’re in the mood to hear it,” the matchmaker said. “Jade needs to be able to trust a man. Completely.”

Cosette closed the door behind him.

Great. Jade didn’t seem to trust him much.

Right now, Ty really didn’t trust himself.

* * *

SUZ HAWTHORNE, MACKENZIE’S little sister and part-owner of the Hanging H ranch, launched herself at Ty the moment he returned to the bunkhouse. “Are you an idiot?” she demanded. “A certifiable idiot?”

Ty slumped into the leather recliner, noting that Sam, Squint and Frog were all there to witness his takedown. “Probably. On which topic are we speaking?”

The thing about Suz was that she instantly commanded respect—if a fellow wanted to keep his hat attached to his head. Twenty-three and spunky, recently retired from the Peace Corps, she had come home to help her sister save the Hanging H, preserving it for herself and Mackenzie, but mostly for Mackenzie’s four newborns. You only had to look at Suz to realize she probably could make your life miserable if she cared to, Ty realized. He eyed her short spiky hair, streaked blue over blond, and the cheek stud that complemented her dark eyes—eyes that glared at him even as he stared back at her.

“Kissing Daisy?” Suz demanded. “You’re not a certifiable idiot. You’re a certifiable dumb-ass!”

“I did not kiss Daisy.”

Suz’s glare went DEFCON on him. “The grapevine says differently. You of all people know Daisy Donovan is poison to us!”

His brothers-in-mischief looked at him with great sympathy.

“She has a point, bro,” Frog said.

“Poison or not, Daisy’s hot,” Squint said, earning himself astonished stares from everyone.

Sam grinned. “Doesn’t mean she’d be good for you.”

“You can talk, Sam,” Ty said. “You’re just going to ride away one day. This is my town. I have to stay on everyone’s good side because eventually I’ll be pushing up daisies here with the rest of my fellow residents, and I don’t expect to get any more peace in the afterlife than I’ve gotten in BC in the present life. Staying on everybody’s good side is an art form.” And right now, he wasn’t on Suz’s good side. “Look, little sister—”

“Don’t ‘little sister’ me.” Even with the wild hair, the piercings and the discreet tats, Suz was beautiful in her own way—and her expressive eyes right now stabbed him with guilt. “Daisy and her father tried to kill off the haunted house before it ever got started. If you’re so interested in saving Bridesmaids Creek, you’ll know that you can’t show up with the enemy. Or be sucking face with her, either.”

Suz shot the men a last look of disgust and departed. Ty’s friends checked him for his reaction.

“She has a point,” Squint said. “I’ll save you. I’ll suck face with Daisy.”

“She’s a fireball. Won’t ever glance your way unless there’s something she wants from you.” Ty looked at his boots, which he’d propped on the coffee table, in direct violation of the house rules he had engraved on his mind from years of living under Jade and Betty’s roof. “In fact, I think I got snookered.”

“What were you thinking?” Frog peered out the window after Suz. “That is some fine little lady, by the way.”

“And that’s not going to happen, either.” Ty got to his feet. “Not at the pace you three are moving.” He felt distinctly glum about his dilemma. “Do you knuckleheads understand I’m leaving town soon? I won’t be here to guide the reins of romance for you.”

Sam laughed. “There’s no such thing, bro. Romance isn’t guided. It’s a whirlwind of passion, joy, misunderstanding and longing.”

They all gazed at Sam, who shrugged.

“I’m just saying,” he told them. “If you really want romance, you have to let the whirlwind suck you into its vortex.”

“I’ve had enough of sucking faces and whirlwind vortexes. One of you is going to have to escort Daisy to the opening. You must go in my stead, as my representative. It’ll be a poor substitute,” Ty said grandly, “but a man doesn’t go back on his promise.” He pulled a quarter from his pocket. “Here’s how we’ll decide which of you will—”

“Lash himself to the mast of misfortune,” Frog butted in. “None of us wants to be saddled with the mistress of mayhem.”

“You’re all so poetic today. This is how this works.” Ty put the quarter on the top of his fist. “Each of you will call heads or tails. The one who calls wrong wins the prize.”

“Some prize,” Sam said. “I don’t see why we should have to clean up your mess, dude.”

“Because I brought you here.”

“In other words, no gain without pain. I call heads,” Sam said.

“Is it a two-headed coin?” Squint asked. “It’d be like you to have a two-headed coin.”

Ty gawked at his friend’s lack of trust in him. “Would a SEAL candidate scam his best buddies?”

“I’ll call heads, too,” Frog sighed.

“I’ll take tails,” Squint said, “just to liven things up.”

Ty tossed the coin, let it land on the Southwestern-style loomed rug. The quarter stared at them.

“That’s it, then,” Squint said, “I’m your fall guy.”

Frog and Sam leaned back on the leather sofas, oozing relief. Ty picked up his quarter.

“I thought you said you wanted to kiss Daisy,” Ty said to Squint.

“I thought I did. I think I just got really cold feet.” He looked suddenly apprehensive. “It was one thing to have the fantasy. It’s another to have the fantasy sprung on you in all its—”

“Soft, delicate flesh.” Sam hopped up, clapped Ty on the shoulder. “Thanks for the good flip. I’m off to hunt up trouble at the big house.”

“Big house?” Ty watched Frog shoot to his feet, following Sam to the door. “You mean the Hanging H? Are you going to see Suz?”

“I am,” Sam said. “Frog’s not.” He glared at his buddy. “You stay here with them. I don’t need any deadweight.”

Frog hurried out the door in front of Sam, in a rush to get to Suz first. Sam glanced back at Squint and Ty with a grin. “He’s so easy to work. A little spark of jealousy and watch those boots fly.”

He closed the door. Ty sighed. “Thanks for taking Daisy on for me. I just can’t afford any drama right now. Not when I’m leaving.” He sank into the sofa. Of course, his relief had nothing to do with his departure; it was all about Jade. Once he’d realized he had stepped in a huge pile of cosmic poo, he knew he had to back out on Daisy no matter what it took. There was no way he wanted Jade upset with him.

“You’re crazy about that little lady, aren’t you?”

Of course he wasn’t crazy about Jade. What a dumb thing to say. “Don’t try to make romance bloom in a desert, Squint.”

Jade blew in on a flurry of cold wind and a gust of snow that slithered from the bunkhouse roof. Ty straightened, stunned that she was here, glad as heck to see her.

“I think I’ll join the fellows and see what trouble we can conjure up,” Squint said, disappearing.

Some friend, taking off when it was clear there was going to be a sonic boom leveled at him. Ty looked at Jade, appreciating the tall redhead’s sass as she put her hands on her slender hips and gazed at him with disgust.

“Daisy Donovan,” she said.

“I felt sorry for her.”

“You did not.” Jade glared at him. “Daisy tried to ruin my business. She’s trying to ruin the Hawthornes’ haunted house, which, may I remind you, is something that could bring Bridesmaids Creek back to life. As I recall, that was your stated purpose in returning with three bachelors, wasn’t it? New blood to breathe new life into the moribund shell that is Bridesmaids Creek?”

He loved looking at this woman. He loved hearing her talk, even when she was railing at him. When she said words like moribund, her lips pursed so cutely it was all he could do not to jump up and take those lips with his mouth, hungrily diving into the sweet sex appeal that was Jade.

Hell, he wasn’t 100 percent certain what moribund meant—although it sounded distinctly dire—but maybe if he let her talk long enough, she’d say something else that started with m-o-r. He decided not to confess that he’d already dumped Daisy off on Squint, and to let the little lady fuss at him.

“Don’t you have anything to say for yourself?” Jade demanded.

“I’m content to let you do all the talking.” He settled himself comfortably, watching her face. “You have something on your mind, and I’m happy to let you clear the deck.”

She sat next to him, so she could look closely at him to press her case, he supposed. But the shock of having her so near to him—almost in his space—was enough to brain-wipe what little sense he had. Damn, she smelled good, like spring flowers breaking through a long, cold winter. He shook his head to clear the sudden madness diluting his gray matter. “You’re beautiful,” he said, the words popping out before he could put on the Dumb-ass Brake.

The Dumb-ass Brake had saved him many a time, but today, it seemed to have gotten stuck.

“What?” Jade said. Her mesmerizing green eyes stared at him, stunned.

He was half drowning, might as well go for full immersion. “You’re beautiful,” he repeated.

She looked at him for a long moment, then scoffed. “Ty Spurlock, don’t you dare try to sweet-talk me. If there’s one thing I know about you, it’s that sugar flows out of your mouth like a river of honey when you’re making a mess. The bigger the jam, the sweeter and deeper the talk.” She got up, putting several feet of safety between them, and Ty cursed the disappearance of the brake that had deserted him just when he’d needed it most.

“Okay, so if sweet talk won’t save me,” he said, reverting to cavalier, since that’s what she seemed to be expecting, “all I can say is that Daisy asked me to take her to the grand opening, and you didn’t.”

“I didn’t want to ask you!”

“Then why are we having this conversation? Good old-fashioned green-eyed monster, maybe?” He got up, took her in his arms. “I’ll talk sweet to you if you want me to, beautiful.”

She stomped on his toe and moved out of his arms. He bent over, his toe impressed by the sudden squelching it had cruelly received.

“What I want you to do is tell Daisy Donovan you wouldn’t be caught dead escorting her to the haunted house. No smart remarks about puns.” Jade glared at him. “And from now on, I suggest you remember who your real friends are.”

He fell onto the sofa, wondering if she’d broken his toe. Definitely he was going to donate a toenail to the cause. Not a good thing to have happen right before he left for BUD/S. “I know who my friends are. They’re the ones who don’t try to damage me right before I leave for SEAL training.”

“I don’t care about that,” Jade said sweetly. “I care that you don’t fall into one of Daisy’s many traps, and leave drama back here in BC for me to clean up. You’re just lucky I got to you before Suz did.”

“She’s already been here. Only she didn’t wound me.” Ty glanced at his secret sweetie’s boots with respect. Square-toed and sturdy, they could have been registered weapons.

“She didn’t? Maybe she’s going soft. But I’m not. I know who my friends are.” Jade walked over, tugged his boot off. “I also know how commerce works in this town, and I understand Daisy’s tricky little mind. Oh, you big baby,” she said, staring at the toe she’d rescued from his boot and sock. “It’s just going to be a little black-and-blue. You’d better toughen up if you’re going to make it through training.”

He smelled that sweet perfume again, was riveted by the soft red sweater covering her delicate breasts. Wondered if playing the pitiful card would get him attached to her lips—and decided he probably didn’t want to do anything to upset the grudging sympathy he finally saw in her eyes. “My toe is fine. My life is fine. Everything is fine.”

“It’s not fine yet.” She smiled, leaned over and gave him a long, sweet, not-sisterly-at-all smooch on the lips. Shocked, he sat as still as a concrete gargoyle, frozen and immobilized, too scared to move and frighten her off.

She pulled away far too soon. “Now it’s fine.”

Indeed it was. He couldn’t stop staring at her mouth, which had worked such magic on him, stolen his breath, stolen his heart. He gazed into her eyes, completely lost in the script.

“What was that for?”

Jade got up, went to the door, opening it. Cold air rushed in and a supersized sheet of snow fell from the overhang, but he couldn’t take his eyes off her.

“Because I felt like it,” Jade said, then left.

Damn. His toe still throbbed, but his lips were practically sizzling from her kiss, far outweighing the complaining from his phalange bone. Ty had no idea what the hell had just happened here—but it dawned on him through his shell-shocked, sex-driven, Jade-desiring brain that if he were a smart man, he’d better decline Daisy’s invitation on the double, let her know he was sending a stand-in.

If he ever wanted to be kissed like that again.

Chapter Four

The night of the grand opening of the refurbished, reborn Haunted H was glorious, by anyone’s standards. Ty felt a real sense of satisfaction as he looked at the new lights his buddies had put up in an elegant arch over the long drive-up to the ranch. Lights were everywhere, twinkling and beautiful, highlighting the butt-freezing weather and somehow making it romantic.

Maybe his three bachelor candidates weren’t totally useless, after all. They could at least decorate, apparently, if not appropriately seduce the women he’d brought them here to romance.

Ty hurried after Jade when he saw her moving with long strides toward the jump house, which was teeming with kiddies. Parents with strollers watched, smiling, as their kids bounced inside the huge, inflatable pink-and-purple castle.

“Hi, Raggedy Ann,” he said, and Jade turned to look at him. He thought she was amazing with her red curls springing out everywhere, completely negating the need for a Raggedy Ann wig. The red-and-white stockings were killer, clinging to dynamite legs Raggedy Ann never dreamed of having in her cloth-stuffed world. He nearly had a coronary over the cute painted freckles speckled across Jade’s nose and cheeks, never mind the white apron over the blue dress, which for some reason made him very horny. He supposed the truth was that everything about Jade caught him between a coronary and an erection, a delicious in-between hell of longing and teeth-grinding lust.

She gave him a once-over. “What are you dressed up as?”

He was pretty proud of his efforts, and drew himself up to showcase the black cape, boots and swashbuckling ebony hat he thought he wore so stylishly. “Zorro. You couldn’t tell?”

“You look silly.” She offered him the tray she held. “Cupcake?”

“What do you mean, I look silly?” Ty demanded. “Ladies love Zorro. They think he’s a dashing hero. And sexy.”

“Guy Williams was sexy. Antonio Banderas was a sexy Zorro.” She gave Ty another once-over. “Please take a cupcake so I’ll feel better about deflating your monstrous ego.”

Ty ignored the cupcake, wishing he could have a kiss instead. “Where did I go wrong?”

“I don’t have time to tell you all the ways that costume is wrong.” She laughed and started to move away. “Where’s your date?”

Ah. The little lady was prickly because she was expecting Daisy to land on his arm any moment. He felt better now that he knew her lack of charmed respect for his costume was thanks to jealousy. “Squint’s escorting her.”

Jade moved away. “By now you have to wonder where you’re going wrong, Ty. When Daisy Donovan throws you over, and you only put on half your mustache, something’s not working for you.”

She disappeared into the crowd. He felt his upper lip. Frog and Sam banged him on the back. Ty coughed, thinking he could easily survive BUD/S, since he could survive the camaraderie of his so-called friends in BC. “Easy on the lungs and rib cage, fellows.”

“Where’s your ’stache?” Frog demanded.

Ty looked at Frog, dressed as a fairly convincing Robin Hood, and Sam, who was masquerading as a pirate. Both of them had their mustaches firmly in place. Ty felt around in his pocket for the left side of his. “Thought I had it on.”

They smirked. “Smart-asses,” he said, realizing his friends had let him walk out of the bunkhouse missing half his facial prop. “Friends don’t let friends go out missing the most important part of their costume. The mustache is the sex-magnet angle for Zorro.”

They seemed to think that was hilarious. “Look,” Frog said, “Sam snapped a photo when you weren’t looking. It’s pretty much gone viral on the internet.”

The photo showed Ty trying to get his hat just right in the mirror, really working hard for Zorro-mysterious, completely missing the fact that one side of his upper lip was traumatically bare. “You guys are such a riot.”

“Yeah.” Frog wiped tears of laughter from his eyes and put his phone away. “That we are.”

“So, was Jade bowled over by your sex appeal?” Sam asked, loudly enough that half the county could hear the question, even over the whirring of air keeping the bounce house inflated, and the squeals from delighted kids.

“Not really,” Ty admitted. “She seemed to be under the impression that I was here with Daisy. Every piece of gossip transmits itself at warp speed in BC, but for some reason not the one bit of info that really mattered reached her ears.” He glared at his buddies. “You two are useless.”

“You gotta talk your own book, brother,” Frog said. “We can’t do all your heavy lifting for you.”

“Yeah, don’t expect us to sell the steak if it ain’t sizzling on its own,” Sam said, and they drifted off, vastly amused with themselves.

Ty sighed and went to man the dunk booth as he’d promised Jade’s mother, Betty, that he would.

“Don’t you look hot,” Daisy said at his elbow. She was dressed like a princess, of course. What else would anyone have expected? “Hot as a pistol!”

Ty perked up at the rather corny appreciation of his efforts. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” She traced his upper lip where there should have been a sweet Zorro-inspired clump of faux bristles. “I have my face paints with me, since I’m in charge of face painting. I can fix that in a jiff.”

He was pretty relieved to hear it, even though he was surprised Daisy had been given any assignment at all, up until the point she began slowly, sensually painting on his upper lip with a brush. A crowd gathered around the princess and Zorro, and he wondered desperately where Squint was.

Ty could have predicted with the accuracy of seven oracles that Jade would catch him with his chin firmly clutched in Daisy’s, well, clutches, her face inches from his.

“Well, at least it’s a mustache now,” Jade said, “instead of half a confused black caterpillar.”

“I think he looks sexy as hell,” Daisy said, and planted one right on his cheek. Ty’s eyes went wide. His body recognized hot sex appeal and his inner guide reacted urgently, screaming Fire! Fire! Danger!

He leaped away from Daisy, just in time to see Jade heading off toward the ice cream booth her mother ran, a very popular spot surrounded by anxious kids wanting sprinkles on their ice cream and parents wanting hot chocolate.

“I heard a rumor,” Daisy said, “that Jade Harper made you dump me tonight.”

“Ah...” Ty tried to glimpse Raggedy Ann’s hot red curls in the crowd near the ice-cream stand. “She didn’t approve,” he said, his brain belatedly registering that he probably should have censored that remark.

“I see,” Daisy said. She leaned up against his chest. “You don’t know what you’re missing.”

He stared down at the determined, dynamite bundle of feminine firepower his buddy Squint seemed to think he could handle. Hell, no, Squint can’t handle this. I can’t handle this. It would take the real Zorro to tame this tiger.

“You tell Jade Harper that nobody dumps Daisy Donovan. Nobody that doesn’t end up regretting it. And it goes double for her. She and Suz and Mackenzie Hawthorne aren’t the queen bees of BC, even if they think they are. And for some odd reason, I get distinctly brotherly vibes whenever I’m near you. It’s really tragic. All kinds of man, and something about you makes me want to pat your head like a puppy. I just don’t get it.”

She sauntered off, sexy in a white Cinderella ball gown that bordered on safe-for-kiddies-and-somehow-unsafe-for-bachelors. Ty wiped his brow under the gallant black Zorro hat.

“You’re smearing the ’stache,” Squint told him, suddenly appearing through the crowd.

“Crap!” Ty quit trying to wipe off Daisy’s kiss and the sweat on his brow. “Where the hell have you been? And why haven’t you got a hold on the princess of peril?” He stared at his pal. “And what is that you’re wearing?”

Squint laughed. “Where the hell I’ve been is helping Justin Morant put up another six tables and accompanying chairs. The Haunted H has a much bigger turnout than expected. They also needed about another six dozen wienies for the wienie roast.”

“That’s nice. Glad you’re making yourself useful,” Ty growled.

“Why I’m not holding my hot princess is the simplest part of your question. I believe in keeping the lasso loose, brother. But not too loose. I’ll be catching up with the Cinderella in question momentarily. Believe me, I’ll teach her all about magic pumpkins and wands that do a different kind of magic.”

“That’s nice,” Ty said, still staring at Squint’s outrageous getup. “Anyway, what the hell are you?”

“Can’t you tell? I’m you.” He pointed to the camo bandanna, boots, camo pants, black Kevlar vest and helmet equipped with night-vision goggles. “I’m you going into BUD/S.”

“That’s so funny I forgot to laugh,” Ty said sourly. “It’s all fine for you to mock my efforts, since you and Frog are already SEALs. I sense a little rivalry, or perhaps the essence floating through that you don’t think I can make it, so mock away. But you’re scaring the kiddies and, I might add, their parents. People are looking at you like sharpshooters, assassins and military-grade security were hired for this shindig,” he said, keeping his voice low. “At least take off the goggles and hide the artillery, okay?”

“It’s a toy,” Squint said, shifting the long gun on his back, letting the strap hang over his shoulder. “It’s a water cannon, doofus.”

“It doesn’t matter. Don’t you remember what happened? We don’t want anyone recalling that someone died here at the last haunted house.”

“He wasn’t shot,” Squint said.

“We don’t want any dangerous vibes. Go put it in your truck! And find Daisy before she starts any more trouble!”

“All right, dude. Cálmate. Keep your ’stache on. Damn.” Squint went off, obviously a bit insulted.

“Hey, mister,” a little boy said. “Are you running the dunking booth?”

“Yes. No.” Ty grabbed Sam as he meandered by, and shoved him into his place. “The pirate is tending to the water exhibit. Have fun.”

Ty trotted off to locate Raggedy Ann, finding her spinning cotton candy onto paper cones. “Can we talk?”

“Talk away. Want some?”

“Uh, no. Thanks.” He handed the fluffy stick of puffed pink sugar she gave him to the first kid in line. “From Zorro to you, kid.”

“Thanks, mister!”

The boy hurried off.

“That’s not how we make profits here. Weren’t you the one who believed that the haunted house and bachelors were all BC needed to get back in the black?” Jade said.

He slapped a hundred dollar bill on the wooden ledge of the ice-cream-and-sweets stand. “Can we talk?”

“We’re talking now,” Jade said, oozing darling and too-sweet-for-tea.

“I want to talk to you alone.”

She gazed at him, her green eyes wide. “Will Daisy allow you to? She just came by here with a—”

“That’s it.” Ty went into the crowd, grabbed Frog, propelled him to the stand. “Robin Hood’s robbing the gremlins and warlocks and giving to the kiddies right here. I mean, the ninjas and pint-size ghosts. Make yourself useful and give these tiny customers a good show,” he told Frog, tugging Jade out from the booth. He pulled her into the bunkhouse a little unceremoniously, but he was running out of days to break through the ice with this little gal. “There are way too many urchins around here. It’s enough to make a single guy nervous as hell.”

He dropped onto a sofa, pulled off the Zorro hat and the mask and the one side of the mustache that wasn’t painted on. There was just no help for it; he had to do something before he went mad. So he swept Jade into his lap. “Now you listen to me and you listen good. I want nothing to do with Daisy Donovan, and you know it. You’re just having a helluva good time teeing me up about it.”

“Yes, I am. You deserve every moment of it.”

He stared into Jade’s dangerously green eyes, which reminded him of a hidden forest, and wished he knew of a forest somewhere to drag her off to. The closest one was near Bridesmaids Creek’s creek, and it was far too cold to drag her there. She didn’t fight—or even move—to get out of his lap, so he decided she liked being with him more than she was saying.

“You smell good. Like cotton candy.”

“And peach ice cream and sprinkles and hot cocoa and popcorn. Sexy stuff.” Jade looked at him. “I wasn’t being honest. You’re a really hunky Zorro.”

He looked at her, suspicious. “Now you tell me.”

“Couldn’t tell you with Daisy hanging on to your face.”

That sounded like an opening he couldn’t pass up. “Okay, you hang on to my lips, and I’ll probably get the message.”

To his astonishment, Jade kissed him, long and slow and sweet, taking a tantalizingly hot tour of his mouth. Ty’s brain blew a short circuit that fried The Plan and all his good sense and intentions in one fiery explosion.

“Get the message?” she asked, pulling back to study him.

He certainly had gotten something. “I’m not quite sure. If you do that again, I can probably—”

She put a finger against his lips. “You’re leaving in, what, eight days? Nine?”

“Yeah. Wanna give me a private going-away party?” He wrapped his arms around her, mashing her closer to him, sighing against her neck. Wondered if he dared unzip the Raggedy Ann dress. “God, you taste better than cotton candy. Do it again.”

“My point was, you’re leaving. And according to The Plan I’ve heard so much about, the last thing you need are entanglements and issues back home when you go. That’s straight from the BUD/S training bible, or the code you live by, or something, isn’t it?”

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