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His brother had as much charisma as an overripe tomato, yet Grady was the one sitting pretty on a prosperous ranch, living high, while Richard had to worry about where his next meal was coming from. Some things in life just weren’t fair, and if he wanted to even them out a little, he could see no harm in it. Besides, he subscribed to the idea that, regardless of the star he was born under, a man made his own luck. Or, at least, enhanced it.
“You don’t know how good you’ve got it, big brother,” Richard said. It shouldn’t be hard to lure Caroline away from Grady—and it didn’t hurt any that her kid was crazy about him. Kids had always liked him, and Richard had encouraged them. For some reason a lot of people put stock in their kids’ opinions and preferences. As far as he was concerned, it didn’t matter a damn what some kid thought, although he didn’t mind using a child to manipulate the parent.
Maggie was a great example. She preferred him over Grady, which made him the leading man when it came to winning her mother’s affections. He found Caroline kind of irritating, though; he didn’t care for the way she looked at him.
What he enjoyed most of all was playing himself off against his brother. He loved it when he could frustrate Grady, but his older brother made it much too easy; he took all the fun out of it. Well, not all the fun. Poor old Grady—would he never learn? Richard smirked. When he was around, Grady didn’t stand a chance with the ladies.
* * *
GRADY FELT LIKE A KID waiting for prom night—a kid who had a date with the prom queen. The chance to see Caroline again was worth cutting short his sleep. It meant getting up earlier than usual to deal with morning chores. But he’d managed, surprising Wade as much as he did Savannah and Laredo when he slipped into the pew two minutes before services were due to start.
He hadn’t come to hear the sermon, but he figured God would forgive that. He’d come for Caroline. She sang with the choir, and the possibility of seeing her again so soon after the church dinner was irresistible.
Grady still walked on air after last night’s kisses. Even Maggie’s interruption hadn’t ruined the evening. He’d been at a loss for words when she’d stumbled upon Caroline and him with their arms locked around each other. Rather than try to explain, he’d left the matter in Caroline’s capable hands and departed soon afterward.
The last thing she’d said before he walked out the door was that she’d stop by the ranch Sunday afternoon.
Mere hours away.
The service was upbeat, and Wade’s message caused him to nod his head in agreement a number of times. The minister used humor and lots of anecdotes, which made for an interesting sermon. Before he realized it, the hour was over and the congregation dismissed with a benediction.
Pastor Wade McMillen stood in the doorway as people left. “Good to see you, Grady,” he said, giving Grady’s hand a hearty shake. “But somehow I don’t think it was my sermon that interested you.”
Grady grumbled some noncommittal reply. Damned little escaped Wade’s attention. As if to prove him right, Wade caught Jeremy Bishop by the shoulder, stopping him on his way out the door.
“That must have been an interesting book you were reading in church,” he said with an encouraging smile.
Jeremy squirmed uncomfortably before he reached inside his shirt. With obvious reluctance he withdrew a slim paperback novel.
“T. R. Grant?” Wade said and cocked one eyebrow at the title.
Jeremy’s eyes grew round. “You’ve never heard of T. R. Grant?”
“Can’t say I have,” Wade admitted.
“He’s great!”
Wade chuckled. “I’m sure he is. Maybe I should read him, too.”
“I’ve read everything he’s ever written. I can lend you one of his books if you want.”
“I’ll take you up on that offer.” Wade ruffled the boy’s hair and returned his attention to Grady. “I see that things are developing nicely between you and Caroline Daniels.”
Grady tensed. He had no desire to discuss his private life.
As if he knew that, too, Wade slapped him lightly on the back. “It took you long enough,” he said with a laugh. Before Grady could respond, Wade had begun talking to someone else.
Grady met Caroline on the front lawn. He saw her speak to Wade, then glance at him, smiling shyly. The yard was crowded with people visiting and chatting, but everyone appeared to fade from sight as Caroline approached.
“Hello again,” he said, which was probably the stupidest thing he’d ever uttered. Not that he cared.
“Hello.” Her voice had a deep breathless quality.
“Were you able to reassure Maggie?” He’d felt bad about leaving her to make the explanations, but feared any effort on his part wouldn’t have come out right.
“She understands.”
“But does she approve?”
Caroline’s eyes avoided his, which was answer enough in itself. “It isn’t up to Maggie to approve or disapprove of whom I kiss.”
He exhaled slowly and would have said more except that he couldn’t stop looking at Caroline. She was so damn pretty, any coherent thought didn’t stand a chance of lasting more than a second or two. It was her eyes, he concluded, a deep rich shade of chocolate. No, he decided after a moment, it was her soft brown hair. He remembered the silky feel of it bunched in his hands when he’d kissed her. He remembered a whole lot more than the feel of her hair….
“So you’re coming to see Savannah this afternoon?” he asked, trying to redirect his thoughts. If he continued in this vein much longer, he’d end up kissing her right then and there just to prove how real last night had been.
“No.”
Grady’s disappointment was sharp. “You’re not? But I thought—”
“I’m coming to see you.”
His heart, which had gone sluggish with discouragement, sped up, and he could feel his pulse hammering in his neck.
“Hi, Grady,” Maggie said, joining her mother. She clung to her mother’s arm and looked up at him with a slight frown.
“Hi, Maggie. I hear you’re coming out to the ranch this afternoon.”
The child continued to stare at him, and although she made no comment, Grady saw the way she moved protectively close to her mother.
“Did Savannah tell you about the new colt we have?”
She nodded.
“He’s only a few days old, but he’s already handsome. I bet you’d like to see him.”
Again she nodded.
Grady glanced at Caroline. “Do you think Maggie’s old enough to visit the colt?”
“I can, can’t I, Mommy?” Maggie twisted around and gazed up at her mother with imploring eyes.
“I think it should be all right, as long as you stay with Grady.”
“I will, I will,” she promised.
“That new colt needs a name,” Grady added. “Maybe you could help us decide what to call him.”
Her eyes got huge. “Could I really?”
“If you can think of a decent name for such a handsome boy. We’ll let you take a gander at him first, pet him a few times and then give you the opportunity to think up a name.”
“That’s kind of you, Grady,” Caroline said.
They walked toward the parking lot, in no particular hurry. “What time will you be by, do you think?” he asked, restraining himself from saying she should come right that minute.
“Maggie needs something to eat and a nap first.”
“She can have Sunday dinner with us—you both could—and then Maggie could nap. Savannah’ll be more than happy to watch her.” After she finished wringing his neck for inviting company without consulting her first. “While Maggie’s resting, perhaps you and I could…” For the life of him, he couldn’t think of a single respectable thing for the two of them to do.
“Go riding,” Caroline inserted. “I’ll borrow some jeans from Savannah.”
She could have suggested mud wrestling and he would’ve agreed.
“Well…I suppose we can alter our plans just a little,” Caroline said, smiling softly.
It took a moment for the words to sink into his consciousness. “You could? Great.”
“Are we going to Savannah’s?” Maggie asked, tugging at the sleeve of her mother’s dress. “Are we leaving now?”
“It looks that way,” Caroline answered.
Maggie clapped her hands, celebrating the good news.
“I’ll see you there, then,” she said to Grady, opening the passenger door for Maggie. Her daughter leaped inside, eager to be on their way.
Grady opened the driver’s side for Caroline. “Drive carefully.”
She got in and assured him she would.
Grady stepped away from the car when she started the engine; he watched her back out of the parking space and turn out of the driveway before he realized that he’d attracted a number of curious stares. In particular, he noticed Edwina and Lily Moorhouse studying him.
The two sisters were retired teachers, as prim and proper as the spinster schoolmarms of nineteenth-century Promise. They smiled approvingly in his direction before they leaned toward one another, heads close enough to touch, talking up a storm. He’d been in their classes as a boy and could well recall the speed with which those two could chatter. Two hundred words a minute, he guessed, with gusts up to four fifty.
Their tongues were wagging now, but frankly, Grady didn’t care. He was about to spend the afternoon with the woman who’d dominated his thoughts for months. The woman who dominated his dreams.
Grady arrived back at the Yellow Rose less than five minutes behind Caroline. He found her in the kitchen with Savannah, preparing Sunday dinner. She paused when he entered, then glanced around her.
“Did you see Maggie?”
“Maggie?” He shook his head.
“She wasn’t on the porch?”
“Not that I noticed.” He stuck his head out the door and couldn’t see her.
“I told her not to leave the porch.” Caroline sighed with impatience. She set aside the tomato she was slicing and reached for a towel.
“She came to me for a carrot not more than a minute ago,” Savannah said.
“She probably went into the barn to see the new colt.” Grady blamed himself for that.
“She knows better,” Caroline murmured. “It’s not safe there.”
“Don’t worry, she’s only been gone a minute,” Savannah said reassuringly.
“I’ll get her,” Grady offered, eager to prove to Maggie that he could be as charming and wonderful as Richard.
“Are you sure you don’t mind?” Caroline asked.
“Not in the least.” Grady headed toward the barn, whistling as he went. The interior was dark after the bright sunlight, and he squinted until his eyes adjusted to the change in lighting.
“Maggie,” he called out.
No answer.
“Maggie,” he called again.
A soft almost mewing sound followed. Grady whirled around. The noise came from Widowmaker’s stall. When he looked inside, Grady’s heart froze. Maggie was huddled against the wall, her face white with terror.
Just then, the ill-tempered stallion thrashed out with his hooves, narrowly missing the child.
5
GRADY KNEW THAT HE HAD TO MAKE HIS move fast or Maggie could be seriously hurt. Widowmaker snorted and began to paw the floor. Unwilling to give the stallion an opportunity to get any closer to the child, Grady threw open the stall door, grabbed Maggie and literally swung her out of harm’s way.
Maggie let out a scream. With his heart pounding, Grady firmly held the squirming child against him, trying to comfort her and at the same time calm his own fears. Unfortunately he failed on both counts.
The barn door flew open and Savannah and Caroline rushed breathlessly inside.
“Mommy! Mommy!”
Grady released Maggie, who raced toward her mother, nearly stumbling in her eagerness to escape his clutches. Caroline held her arms open and the child sobbed hysterically as she fell into her mother’s embrace.
“What happened?” Savannah asked.
“Somehow Maggie got into Widowmaker’s stall,” Grady explained. His knees shook so badly he sank onto a bale of hay.
“Dear God,” Savannah whispered and lowered herself onto the bale beside him. “Is she hurt?”
Grady didn’t think so.
Caroline’s eyes were filled with questions, but it was impossible to talk over the sound of Maggie’s crying.
“What about you?” Savannah asked. “You didn’t get kicked, did you?”
“I’m fine.” Which wasn’t entirely true. Grady figured just seeing Maggie in that stall cost him five years of his life. God only knew what would have happened if he hadn’t gotten there when he had. The thought wasn’t one he wished to entertain.
Gathering the child in her arms, Caroline made her way out of the barn. Savannah and Grady followed. His sister returned to the house, but Grady lingered outside, not knowing how to help although he wanted to do something. He waited for a clue from Caroline, who sat on one of the porch steps as she cradled her daughter. Maggie continued to sob almost uncontrollably, hiding her face in her mother’s shoulder. Caroline stopped whispering to the child and started to sing in a low soothing voice gently swaying back and forth.
