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Montana’s eyes brightened with amusement. “Charlie isn’t exactly the wedding planner type.”
“Not girly?” Annabelle asked with a giggle. Charlie was a wonderful friend, but more the type you’d take car shopping than ask to help you pick out linens for a wedding.
“Not exactly.”
“She’s trying because she’s a good friend. And it’s kind of fun to watch her get out of her comfort zone.”
“Tell Heidi I appreciate her holding the wedding nearly a month after my due date. It gives me time to squeeze back into a regular kind of dress, rather than one of the attractive tents I’ve been wearing.”
“You look wonderful. And you do have the glow, no matter what you say.”
Montana grinned. “Don’t tell anyone, but it’s not a glow. It’s panic.”
“You’ll be a great mother.”
“I hope so. Anyway, my mom is thrilled. She went from having only one grandson for eleven years to discovering Ethan had a son he hadn’t known about to Dakota adopting Hannah last year to Dakota having Jordan Taylor and me having a girl this year.” She drew in a breath. “That’s a really long sentence.”
Annabelle laughed. “No baby name for you yet?”
“We’re still negotiating.” Montana’s gaze turned speculative. “I heard Rafe’s hunky brother has moved to Fool’s Gold permanently. Have you met him? Is he all they claim?”
“Shane? He’s attractive.” Annabelle hesitated, not sure what else to say. She wasn’t ready to admit the tingles to anyone.
“I do love a cowboy,” Montana said with a sigh. “Not for anything serious, of course. Simon is about the best man on the planet. I’m so lucky to have him.” She grinned. “But a girl can always enjoy a floor show, right? Have you seen the third Stryker brother? Clay?”
“I’ve seen his butt.” Clay was a professional model and butt double in the movies. His, um, assets had been featured in more than one film.
“Impressive,” Montana said with a grin. “He’s one confident guy.”
Too pretty for her tastes, Annabelle thought. Shane was handsome in a rugged way. Clay would always be the best-looking guy in the room. That was more pressure than she would be comfortable with.
“So what about your love life?” Montana asked. “Just to give you fair warning, weddings tend to come in threes lately. You’re friends with Heidi, so that means you’re at risk. Or lucky, depending on how you look at it.”
“No, thanks,” Annabelle said easily. “I’m not interested.”
“Not a big believer in the big L?”
“I do believe in love. It’s just…” She shrugged. “I thought I had bad luck with men, but maybe I’m as much to blame. When I finally found who I thought was the one, I ended up with a controlling, egotistical husband who expected me to play the part of the fawning wife.”
“Ouch.”
“It wasn’t pleasant. But lately I’ve been wondering if it was all him, as I would like to say, or if some of it was me? I think I shelved a big part of myself in order to please him and it was only when things got really bad that I realized he had no idea who I really was. I haven’t been strong enough. You know, like the Máa-zib women. I want the real thing, but only if the guy in question also wants the real me. I want love that’s honest and messy. I’m done with safe and polite.”
With her past, she’d been so determined to make the right choice. To be part of one of those couples who stayed together for sixty or seventy years, then died holding hands. Lewis had made her believe he was exactly who she’d been looking for and she had done the same for him. But the truth was, they had never been right for one another.
“Sorry,” Montana said, touching her arm. “I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories.”
“It’s fine. I wish things had been different. Honestly, I’ve practically given up on finding the one.”
“How about dating?”
“Not successful so far.”
“Don’t forget to have a little faith,” Montana told her. “Love shows up when you least expect it. Look at me. The first time I met Simon, I thought he was some stick-up-the-butt jerk with the sense of humor of a rock.” She laughed. “He thought I was a twit, but a very sexy twit. Now we’re together and having our first baby. Sometimes I wake up and wonder what I did to get so lucky.”
Her friend made falling in love sound wonderful. Annabelle wanted to believe, but she’d been wrong before. It was time for a new strategy—one that involved staying true to herself.
* * *
FOOL’S GOLD KNEW HOW to put on a party, Shane thought as he made his way through town on the Fourth of July. There were carnival rides, food vendors, kid-friendly games in the park and plenty of people. Although it was still early in the afternoon, the sidewalks were crowded and he found himself getting separated from his brother and Heidi.
Not a bad thing, he reminded himself, pausing to let more distance come between them. When Rafe had suggested Shane come along to see how the town celebrated, he’d agreed without thinking the details through. Like the fact that Rafe and Heidi were crazy in love and watching them make goo-goo eyes at each other reminded a guy how alone he was. And how that was unlikely to change.
He was glad his work-only, work-always brother had loosened up enough to find someone as great as Heidi and hoped they would be happy together. But Shane didn’t need the 3-D illustration of what he would never have. Not while he was obsessed with Annabelle.
If he could forget about her, maybe he would have a shot with someone more…regular. A sensible kind of woman who had a great smile. A woman he could grow to love in a rational way. That’s what he wanted. A safe relationship. Not heat and fire and desperate longing. In that kind of situation, he was going to end up little more than a pile of ash on the sidewalk.
Up ahead, Heidi started looking around. When she spotted him, she walked back and linked arms with him.
“What do you think?” she asked. “Is this a great town or what?”
“I remember the Fourth being a big deal when I was a kid, but this celebration is more impressive than I remember.”
“I’m glad.” She leaned against him. “You never had Rafe’s issues with the town?”
“No. I liked it here.”
Rafe, the oldest of the Stryker children, had been the one to try to step into the role of caretaker after their father died. He’d still been a kid himself, but he’d worried about his siblings and their mother, had worked too hard and often gone hungry so everyone else had enough to eat.
It had taken Shane years to figure out what his brother had given up. By the time he had, Rafe had already been in college—Harvard, on a scholarship—and on the road to success. For Shane, Clay and Evangeline, Fool’s Gold had been the best place in the world. For Rafe, it was where he’d been poor and scared and hungry.
“I’m sorry I haven’t been more help with your house,” Heidi said. “Between the goats and the wedding, I’m swamped. But I’ll make time.”
He was having a house built, or he would as soon as he approved the plans. He knew exactly what he wanted with the stables, but the decisions for the house baffled him. There were hundreds of different kinds of door handles. He couldn’t understand why his contractor was uncomfortable making those decisions.
“It’s not your problem,” he told her. “I’ll figure it out.”
“You could ask your mom when she gets back.”
“No, thanks.” Not only was she traveling with Glen, Shane didn’t want to live in a house his mother had built. He was sure she had great taste, but that was too strange for him. “It’s a few fixtures. I’ll be fine.”
“I hope so.” Heidi patted his arm. “Want to ride a pony?” she asked with a grin, pointing to the line of small children waiting their turn. “My treat.”
He shuddered. “No.”
“Not a pony fan?”
“They’re mean.”
“Not every single one on the planet.”
He groaned. “Now you sound like my mother.”
He was going to say more, but before he could speak, he felt a heat flare in his body. Were he out in the wild, he would assume he was being stalked by an animal. Here, in this crowd, there was only one danger. And it, or she, was getting closer.
He turned and spotted Annabelle talking to a firefighter. It took him a second to tear his gaze away from the stunning redhead long enough to recognize Charlie Dixon, the woman who owned Mason and boarded him at the ranch.
Annabelle looked up and saw him and Heidi. She waved, said something to Charlie and the two women approached. He braced himself for impact.
Today Annabelle had dressed to cause mayhem wherever she went. The swingy little sundress was pale green, with skinny straps. Her hair was a mass of wavy curls and tumbled down her back. Shane had to hang on to every fiber of self-control to keep from pulling her under the nearest bush and taking advantage of her in every way possible.
“Hi,” Annabelle said as she approached. “Shane, do you know Charlie?”
The firefighter, tall and muscular with big blue eyes and an appealingly sarcastic eye roll, sighed. “I keep my horse on his family’s ranch. Of course I know Shane.”
“Right.” Annabelle grinned. “She’s crabby. Charlie hates the Fourth of July.”
“I don’t hate the holiday,” Charlie muttered. “I hate people being stupid and today is one day they’re experts at it. Do you know how many calls we’re going to get because idiots who can’t read simple instructions will catch somebody’s roof on fire with fireworks? It’s pyrotechnics, people. Know what you’re doing or leave it to the professionals.”
Annabelle patted her arm. “Deep cleansing breaths.”
“I’ll be calm tomorrow.” Charlie drew her eyebrows together. “What about the animals at the Castle Ranch? Can they hear the fireworks?”
Heidi shook her head. “We’re too far out of town. Don’t worry, though. Shane’s heading back early and will be taking care of them.”
“Thanks. I’m concerned about Mason,” Charlie admitted.
“You’re a good horse mom,” Annabelle told her. “And Mason is really nice. He was very calm with me. Although I think he’s mocking me when I flop around on him.”
“He is,” Charlie told her cheerfully. “But he’s a good guy. Imagine what a horse with attitude would be thinking.”
“Like Khatar,” Heidi murmured. “He scares me.”
“Khatar?” Annabelle shook her head. “Why would he scare you? He’s so sweet.”
Shane had used the distraction of the women’s conversation to talk himself off the sexual ledge. Now he managed to clear his throat and actually speak.
“Khatar got out while Annabelle was over a couple of days ago. He seems to like her.”
“For lunch?” Charlie asked.
Annabelle grinned. “Even I know horses are vegetarians.”
“If one was going to make an exception, it would be him. You be careful.”
“I’m fine. He was practically snuggling. He’s not what you think.”
Heidi looked as doubtful as Charlie. “Keep your distance, Annabelle. He’s nothing like Mason or Shane’s other horses.”
“I’ll keep her safe,” Shane said.
One of Charlie’s eyebrows rose, but she didn’t say anything.
“At least Khatar won’t be in the way much longer,” Heidi said.
“Where’s he going?” Annabelle asked Shane. “You didn’t sell him, did you?”
“No. I bought about two hundred acres next to the Castle Ranch. I’m having stables built, along with a house.”
Annabelle grinned. “What? You don’t want to live with your mother and her boyfriend forever?”
He groaned. “Not to mention my brother and his fiancée? No.”
“Speaking of your brother, I’d better go find him,” Heidi said.
“I’ll walk you,” Charlie told her. “I have to get back to the station.”
Shane expected Annabelle to go with them, but she stayed with him and seconds later, despite the hundreds of people milling around them, he found himself alone with her.
“Come on,” she said. “I’ll show you the town. You can tell me how it’s different from when you were a kid here.”
There was no polite way to tell her no and, in truth, he liked the idea of spending time with her. Assuming he could figure out a way to keep his hands to himself and think about something other than the way her mouth would feel against his.
His grand plan fizzled to dust when she linked arms with him and leaned close. “As you know,” she began. “Fool’s Gold is the festival capital of the country. Maybe the world.” She glanced up at him and smiled.
Her mouth was moving, so he knew she was still talking, but he couldn’t hear anything but a buzzing sound. Heat hit him with the subtlety of a bull rider slamming into the group. There was something about her face—the perfect shape, the dark green of her eyes, the thick lashes, the flash of white teeth when she smiled up at him.
Even in the middle of the crowd, with food stands all around, he could breathe in the soft scent of her perfume. Or maybe it was just her. A combination of vanilla and invitation.
“Shane?”
He promised himself when he got back to the ranch he would bang his head against the closest wall until he knocked some sense into himself.
“Sorry,” he murmured.
“It’s okay. Now, what do you remember about being a kid here?”
He focused on the question. It was a whole lot safer than focusing on her. “That I loved the ranch. There was always so much to do. I had my brothers, my friends. When Mom told us we had to move, I threatened to run away. We were all sad to leave—except for Rafe.”
“Heidi mentioned he didn’t want to come back.” She laughed. “He’s stuck now. Falling in love will do that to a guy.” She turned her head and her long hair brushed against his forearm. “Was it always your plan to move back here?”
“No. I knew I wanted my own ranch, and I’ve been planning for that, but I hadn’t settled on a location until Rafe and my mom told me that they’d bought the Castle Ranch. I came out to visit, saw the land next door and bought it.”
“Impressive. And here I am excited that I just paid off my car.” She frowned. “There’s no house, right? You’re having that built.”
He drew in a breath. “Yes, but it’s slow going. The stables are easy. I know what I want and don’t want. But the house is a pain in the ass. Every time I turn around, the contractor has more questions. Lights, sinks, countertops, appliances.”
“Not a big shopper?” she asked, her green eyes bright with amusement.
