“If you expect me to pack up and leave without a fight, then you have another think coming” About the Author Title Page Dedication CHAPTER ONE CHAPTER TWO CHAPTER THREE CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE CHAPTER SIX CHAPTER SEVEN CHAPTER EIGHT CHAPTER NINE CHAPTER TEN CHAPTER ELEVEN EPILOGUE Copyright

“If you expect me to pack up and leave without a fight, then you have another think coming”

“On the contrary, darlin’,” he said, his smooth drawl at odds with the resentment she detected in his voice. “I fully expect you to stay.”

Wariness pulsed through Josie with every heartbeat. Was he tricking her somehow? Letting her believe. that he wasn’t going to take away the only home she and Kellie had? “I...I don’t understand.”

“There’s a stipulation to the deed,” he said very carefully, as if he wanted her to understand what he was about to say. “A provision your father set and I agreed to before I won that last poker hand.”

“What kind of stipulation?”

Seth O’Connor’s smile was grim. “That we get married.”

Janelle Denison has read romances ever since she was in high school. She never intended to become a writer, but her love of books and romance led to writing the kind of emotionally satisfying stories she’s enjoyed from Harlequin over the years. While perfecting her craft, she worked as a construction secretary, but recently decided to quit her “day job” to write full-time.

Janelle lives in Southern California with her engineer husband, whose support and encouragement have enabled her to follow her dream of writing, and two young daughters, who keep life interesting and give her plenty of ideas for the young characters she includes in her books.

Janelle’s greatest hope is that her romances leave her readers smiling and feeling as if they’ve made a couple of new friends. After all, nothing is more enjoyable and heartwarming than watching two opposites struggle against all odds, then fall in love despite those odds.

Bride Included
Janelle Denison

www.millsandboon.co.uk

To all the wonderful friends I’ve made who have helped me along this incredible journey, from the struggles in the beginning, to sharing the joy of each sale. There are too many of you to name, but each one of you played a part in making this dream a reality.

And, as always, to Don, who makes every story special, just by believing in me.

CHAPTER ONE

“MOM!” Josie McAllister’s ten-year-old daughter, Kellie, burst into the kitchen, her wide green eyes filled with panic. “There’s a big man on a horse riding across the pasture. He’s headed toward the house and he looks mean!”

Josie frowned and washed her hands, sticky from the biscuits she’d just cut out for dinner. “Are you sure it’s not one of the ranch hands?”

“I’m sure!” Kellie’s chest heaved with panting breaths and her face was flushed, as if she’d bolted across the hundred yards separating the stables from the main ranch house. “I’ve never seen him before!”

Josie wiped her hands on a terry towel, a twinge of uncertainty rippling through her. It was Sunday, and even though her foreman, Mac, usually stopped by to check on the stock, the rest of the hands spent the day with their families. She’d heard Mac pull his old beat-up Ford out of the driveway over an hour ago, which meant she and Kellie were alone.

Normally, that wouldn’t be cause for concern. She’d lived in this house her entire life, and not once had a stranger or drifter threatened her or her father. She trusted the men they’d hired and had been lucky in that respect.

Tears filled Kellie’s eyes, and she tugged urgently on her mother’s arm, gaining her attention again. Josie wanted to believe her daughter was just being overly dramatic, but Kellie had never been the theatrical type. She was shy and mild-mannered, and had certainly never been prone to hysterics before.

Tossing the hand towel onto the counter, she gave her daughter a reassuring smile. “Come on, let’s go see who it is.”

Instead of opening the front door as she’d normally do to greet a visitor, she gave in to caution and pushed back the cream sheers covering the window in the entryway. She glanced out just as a man dismounted from a beautiful chestnut down by the stables and draped the horse’s reins on the hitching post.

The man was big—at least six foot two, with wide shoulders that tapered into a trim waist, lean hips and a horseman’s thighs. Even from this distance, she could see he was physically fit, and even though he hadn’t turned around so she could see his face, she instinctively knew he wasn’t one of her men. None of her ranch hands had a presence like this cowboy, a natural air about him that commanded respect and authority.

He turned and strode purposefully toward the main house. Still, she didn’t recognize him, but then the brim of his black Stetson cast shadows over his features. He wore a blue-striped Western shirt and a dark pair of jeans cinched at the waist with a heavy belt buckle.

“Mom, who is he?” Kellie whispered from beside her, as if the man had the ability to hear them.

“I don’t know...” The rest of her sentence caught in her throat as the man pushed his hat back on his head, finally offering her a glimpse of his face. Everything inside her went cold, like the biting chill that swept through the Montana mountains in the winter.

Seth O’Connor, the boy who’d tormented her throughout grade school, and in high school had scorched her with kisses she’d never forgotten, stolen her virginity and her heart, then had spurned her, nearly destroying her in the process. That had been eleven years ago, and even though they hadn’t spoken to each other since that day that had irrevocably changed her life, she’d seen him around town. He never looked her way, never gave any indication that she existed for him or that she’d ever meant anything more to him than the revenge he’d extracted.

She closed her eyes to block the painful memories. They’d been neighbors all their lives, her father’s property adjoining Seth’s father’s land. Nearly a thousand acres separated their homesteads, and given the feud that had kept both families in contention for over seven decades, the chasm could have been the width of two continents.

“Mom, are you okay?”

Kellie’s worried voice reached her, pulling her back from the past. She blinked her eyes open and her stomach lurched when she saw that Seth was more than halfway across the yard. His face looked grim, his stride quickly eating up the distance.

He didn’t look like he was here on the Golden M for a social call. Feeling threatened as never before, she darted into the living room, grabbed the key above the glass-enclosed cabinet displaying her grandfather’s rifles and inserted it into the lock. One sure twist and the panel swung open. She grabbed the rifle on the rack in front of her, yanked out the drawer beneath for ammunition. In less than fifteen seconds, the rifle was loaded and she was heading back toward the front door.

“Mom!” Kellie cried fearfully.

“Go up to your room and stay there!” Josie ordered, and waited while her daughter obeyed and was safely on the second landing before she walked out onto the porch and lifted the rifle, bracing the butt firmly against her shoulder and taking aim at the man’s heart. “Stop right there, O’Connor.”

To his credit, he immediately halted, putting him ten feet away from the porch steps and too close for Josie’s comfort. His jaw clenched. He didn’t like her having the upper hand—she could see it in the narrowing of his eyes, the subtle tensing of his cowboy-honed body.

She never believed she would stand this close to him again, never believed she’d threaten him with a rifle, either But she wasn’t taking any chances where Seth O’Connor was concerned.

Their gazes met, his diamond hard and just as blue as she remembered, like the rippling, crystalline water in the north end pasture’s creek. Eyes she’d once thought of as kind. Eyes that had seduced her with the sweet promise or being desired and cherished.

It had all been a ruse.

Her finger tightened on the trigger. “Get off my property,” she said succinctly.

He lifted his hands to his hips, his stance deceptively loose. “Why, Josie darlin’, I think you’re making a mistake there.” He was all drawl and cowboy charm, but his smile held a hint of danger. “It’s my property.”

What in the world was he talking about? She looked closer, searching for signs that he’d become a drunk like his father had been. He looked totally lucid. “Your property ended miles ago. I suggest you haul your butt back to your horse and leave before I shoot you for trespassing.”

“Tsk, tsk,” he said with a cocky, challenging air tha caused a flicker of apprehension to crawl up her spine “That red hair of yours sure does match your temper.”

Hating his mockery and furious at his gall, she lifted the barrel of her rifle a foot and a half and pulled the trigger clearing the hat right off his head. He instinctively ducked but seconds after the fact, then slowly straightened, his mouth gaping in shock. She experienced a moment of satisfaction to see that he’d paled beneath that nice tan of his

His shock gave way to pure fury. It ignited in his gaze and seemed to coil within his body. With the hot July sunglinting off his dark brown hair, he looked like a dangerous outlaw. “Goddammit, woman,” he exploded. “You could have killed me!”

“Could have, but I didn’t want to kill you, just give you a final warning.” She chambered in another round and slowly lowered the barrel of the rifle to the zipper of his jeans. She smiled oh so sweetly. “Next time I won’t be so gracious.”

His blistering curses filled the air. With a low, enraged growl, he charged up the stairs, calling her bluff. Her heart leaped in her throat, and the first frisson of alarm ripped through her. She might have held the gun, but she’d never truly harm him, despite her threats. She only wanted him to leave.

He gained the porch and stopped, a feral smile curving his mouth. Then he started toward her, slow and predator-like. For every step he took forward, she went back, until her spine slammed against the side of the house and there was nowhere left to go.

He jerked the rifle from her grasp and tossed it aside. It hit the wooden floor with a loud crash and skittered to the opposite side of the porch. Refusing to cower like some helpless female, she abruptly came at him, fists flailing. Surprise registered in his eyes just as she clipped his jaw with a punch. He grunted in pain and in the next instant caught the left hook sailing his way. His fingers circled her wrist, brought her hand down and turned her around, tucking her body securely in front of his. He let go of her hand and wrapped both of his strong arms around her middle, holding her immobile.

They were both breathing hard from the fight. Josie struggled, but his muscular body and firm hold were no match for her. She felt trapped, weak and defenseless. And she hated that it was Seth O’Connor who provoked those vulnerable emotions.

He shifted his weight behind her, and she became all too aware of their intimate position...his broad chest pressing against her back and the way his pelvis tucked against her bottom.

She swallowed hard. She’d worn an old pair of cutoffs today, along with an equally old blouse she’d haphazardly knotted just beneath her unbound breasts to keep cool. Where his corded forearms were braced around her midsection, her bare skin burned. The rough material of his jeans scratched the back of her thighs and the bend of her knee.

His face moved beside hers, and she could feel his warm breath brush across her cheek and flutter the wispy auburn strands that had escaped the hair she’d pinned up earlier, could feel a light stubble graze her jaw. And for a fleeting moment, his hold seemed to loosen as if he was cradling her in his arms.

A warm, masculine scent surrounded her, like earth, leather and sun all combined into one. Her stomach fluttered and her breasts swelled and tightened. She gritted her teeth, hating herself for responding to him in any way but anger. He deserved nothing less than her contempt after the way he’d used her and deliberately broken her heart.

“Let me go,” she muttered furiously.

His mouth moved to her ear. “Not so brave without your rifle, now are you, darlin’?” he taunted.

She closed her eyes against the sudden rush of tears surging forward. “I hate you,” she whispered, voicing the words that had been locked inside her for eleven painful years.

“Yeah, well, Josie darlin’,” he said on a long, drawn-out sigh, “the feeling’s completely mutual.”

“Mom?”

The softly spoken word in a child’s quivering voice served to do what Josie’s demands could not. Seth immediately released her and straightened. Josie went to her daughter who had stopped in the doorway, her only thought to soothe her fears.

Josie smoothed Kellie’s curly auburn hair, so much like her own, away from her stricken face. “It’s okay, sweetie,” she said gently, knowing the lie was necessary.

Peeking around her mother, Kellie eyed the large man standing on the porch. “Who is he?”

Josie pulled in a deep breath. “His name is Seth O’Connor.”

Kellie frowned. “Is he one of those no-good O’Connor boys I’ve heard Grandpa talking about? Did you shoot him?”

Josie grimaced at her child’s guileless questions. Although the McAllisters and O’Connors weren’t on friendly terms by any stretch of the imagination, she’d raised her daughter to be nonjudgmental—and that included the McAllisters’ nemesis.

“He’s our neighbor, remember?” She’d explained as much when Kellie had first asked her who the O‘Connors were—and that’s all she’d told her daughter because that had been the only pleasant way to explain who Jay and Seth were. At the tender age of ten, Kellie didn’t need to be privy to just how bitter their relationship was or how far back the O’Connors had hated the McAllisters. “And no, I didn’t shoot him.”

Josie looked back at Seth, giving him a direct, pointed stare as if to suggest she was beginning to regret that decision. “Mr. O’Connor was just leaving.”

He crossed his arms over his chest, looking as formidable as a Brahman bull. “I’m not going anywhere until we talk.

She didn’t understand him, his insistence, or his crazy talk about the Golden M being his property. But whatever he had to say, she didn’t want it said in front of her daughter. Once again, she requested that Kellie go inside while she settled a few issues with Mr. O’Connor. Reluctantly, and with a few more assurances, the young girl obeyed.

Josie closed the door after her daughter as a precaution, then in a tone filled with feigned politeness, she said to Seth, “You may think you’re here to talk, but we have nothing to say to one another.”

His gaze flickered down the length of her, taking in her summertime attire with too obvious an interest. As if he was taking stock of her—tike a cowboy sizing up a potential breeding mare. When his eyes reached hers again, they were filled with heated resentment.

“Polite talk, no,” he agreed, his voice harsh. “But this is in regard to a business-related matter.”

“Business?” She shook her head at the absurdity of the notion. “I wouldn’t do business with an O’Connor if you were the last man on earth who could offer me sanctuary.”

A faint smile curved his mouth. “I might just very well be.”

Fed up with whatever game he was playing, she stared him down. “Get off my property.” She directed her finger toward his horse to emphasize her point. “Now!”

He didn’t budge, and there was enough smugness touching his features to make her uneasy. “Don’t be so hasty, darlin’.”

Her temper flared at his sweet talk. “Do I need to call the sheriff out to arrest you for trespassing, not to mention assault?”

“Assault?” His dark brows rose incredulously, right along with his voice. “You’re the one who damn near blew my head off!”

She lifted her chin a defiant notch and gave him a cool smile. “I was feeling...threatened.”

“Like hell you were!” He clamped his lips shut and glared. “If anybody is calling the sheriff, I am. I’ve got a deed that states the Golden M belongs to me.”

“You’re crazy!”

“I’m perfectly sane.” He rocked back on his booted heels, looking altogether too pleased with himself. “Has your father been around lately?”

The casual way he asked the question, and the insinuation behind his words, put her on the alert. Her father had been gone for two days, since that past Friday, though this wasn’t the first time Jake McAllister had taken off without warning. She’d grown used to her father’s drifting and the fact that he’d lost interest in the ranch years ago. She’d been handling the business end of the Golden M for almost eight years now, and with Mac as their longtime foreman running the day-to-day cattle operation, the ranch was still thriving. Nothing grand, but she was paying their bills and keeping a roof over their heads and food on the table.

So why was Seth so interested in her father...and why was he spouting this nonsense about a deed to the Golden M? It had to be nonsense, or a ploy of some sort.

She tried to keep calm and not let the panic within her claw its way to the surface. That would never do, because someone as unscrupulous as Seth would take advantage of her weakness.

“My father’s whereabouts are none of your business,” she snapped.

He walked toward where she was standing and circled her, so close his arm brushed her bottom. Deliberately? she wondered. She suppressed the urge to give him a sharp jab in the ribs with her elbow. She refused to give him the satisfaction of knowing he’d rattled her.

He stopped in front of her. “Did you know your father has a penchant for gambling?” His tone was casual, but there was nothing nonchalant about what he was suggesting.

Josie’s heart dropped to her stomach, and a peculiar sense of dread filled her. While Seth’s father had been notorious for drinking and being loud and obnoxious, her own father had gained a reputation for being an easy gambler. He loved poker, could sniff a game five miles away. There were many times he’d start the game of cards himself in some back room in a seedy bar. Sometimes he was lucky; most times he was not. Bottom line, he was addicted to the game, to the point where she feared he’d sink the ranch into bankruptcy. So far, she’d been successful in thwarting every attempt he’d made to take out a second loan on the ranch, knowing he’d use that money to finance his gambling habit.

She moved away from Seth to the white banister enclosing the porch. Unable to meet his disconcerting stare, she looked out at the fertile land stretching for miles in front of her. Land that had been in her family for three generations. Land that had once belonged to an O’Connor. “What does my father’s gambling have to do with any thing?”

She heard one of the pair of wicker chairs behind her creak as he settled his weight into it. “Your father gambled away the Golden M, and I won it.”

Josie’s world tilted, and she grabbed one of the columns for balance. She glanced over her shoulder at him, denial pumping up her adrenaline. He sat there in the white wicker chair, his long body stretched out, his legs crossed at his boots, looking entirely too arrogant.

She pressed a hand to her churning stomach. God, this had to be an awful dream, a nightmare she’d wake up from and laugh about. But Seth was flesh-and-blood real, his persistence too intense to be anything but genuine.

“Prove it,” she blurted, despising the desperation in her voice. But that’s exactly how she was feeling, grasping at straws in hopes of finding a discrepancy in his outrageous claim.

Withdrawing a square piece of paper from his shirt pocket, he unfolded it, then handed it toward her. “Here’s all the proof you’re gonna need.”

She stared at the proffered document for what seemed like an eternity, the words “Quitclaim Deed” swirling in front of her. With a trembling hand, she reached for the paper and forced herself to read the contents. She got as far as the statement transferring ownership of the property to Seth O’Connor before a wave of disbelief crashed through her.

“How can this be?” she asked, more to herself than him.

“It’s all very simple,” he said, his eyes dark and unfathomable. “Your father and I were at Joe’s pub Friday night and he challenged me to a game of poker in the back room.”

“And you took advantage of him?” she demanded to know.

Seth laughed, the sound deep and rich despite the tension between them. “I know you’d like to believe I did, but I wasn’t the only one in the game. There were five of us present, but I seemed to be the one with all the luck. Your father lost all the cash he had on him and resorted to writing IOUs. At one point, he owed me over ten grand, and Gary Rial four grand.”

Josie groaned, staggered at the debt her father had incurred. “What happened?” she asked, not sure she really wanted to know.

“It came down to my hand against his, and since he had another three grand of IOUs in the pot and was about to write another just to stay in the game, I struck a deal with him.”

Her loathing gaze narrowed on him. “What kind of deal did my father make with the devil himself?”

He lifted a dark brow at her derogatory comment. “I told him if he put in the deed to the Golden M and he won the pot, I’d forgive his IOU to me and I’d pay off Gary’s. The same would apply if he lost. Either way, he’d have no outstanding debts.”

“My, wasn’t that generous of you!” Her fingers curled tightly around the deed in her hand. A deed that made the very porch she stood on, the house and ranch she grew up on, his. The thought made her nauseous.

He sat up in the chair, his gaze holding hers steadily. “He didn’t have to put in the deed, Josie.”

“Doesn’t sound like he had much of a choice.”

Anger flashed in his eyes, hot and dangerous. “He made every choice on his own. I offered a deal, and he accepted it with a stipulation of his own that I agreed to. If he wasn’t prepared to lose, then he never should have challenged me to join the game in the first place.”

He was right, she knew. Her father’s weakness was no one’s fault but his own. Still, she wasn’t going to lose everything that mattered to her without a battle. “I’m going to do everything in my power to get this ranch back.”

Slowly, he stood, looking entirely too sexy for someone she despised. “You can certainly try, but that document is legal and binding. Considering the ranch wasn’t in your name, you won’t have much of a leg to stand on.”

Her chest grew so tight it hurt to breathe. Oh, Lord! She’d never thought to change the deed to include her name, never believed her father could be so desperate as to risk their home in a poker game. She was the last McAllister, and the ranch would have been hers one day, passed on from father to daughter.

She found it ironic that Jake McAllister had lost the property to an O’Connor the same way her great-grandfather McAllister had won it from Seth’s great-grandfather so long ago—in a poker game.

That had been the beginning of the McAllister and O’Connor feud. Judging by the animosity vibrating between the two of them, that dissension was still burning bright and strong. But there had been a brief time when she believed she and Seth would be the ones to end the conflicts that had trickled down through three generations. She’d been so hopeful that the strife between their families would finally be over.

She’d been young and naive, and so wrong about Seth O’Connor’s intentions...so easily duped by a heart-stopping grin and so effortlessly seduced by the taste of her first real kiss and the promise of true love.

She was older now and certainly wiser about how the O’Connors operated. She’d learned the hard way their motives were always self-serving. With that thought, she hardened her resolve. “You won’t get away with this, Seth,” she vowed, and thrust the offending document back at him.

“I already have.” Expression uncompromising, he took the deed from her. When his fingers brushed hers, she felt as though she’d been zapped by a bolt of lightning. The sizzle coursed up her arm, spread through her breasts and settled in the pit of her stomach like a warm pool of molasses.

She shook off the unwanted sensation and jutted her chin up a notch, refusing to be intimidated by his superior height or the intense heat blazing in the depths of his blue eyes. “If you expect me to pack up and leave without a fight, then you better think again.”

“On the contrary, darlin’,” he said, his smooth drawl at odds with the resentment she detected in his voice, “I fully expect you to stay.”

Wariness pulsed through her with every heartbeat, making her feel like a cornered deer staring down the barrel of a rifle—with no means of escape. Was he tricking her somehow? Letting her believe that he wasn’t going to take away the only home she and Kellie had ever had? “I...I don’t understand.”

“There’s a stipulation to the deed,” he said very carefully, as if he wanted her to understand what he was about to say. “A provision your father set and I agreed to before I won that last poker hand.”

So, he’d made his own sacrifice to gain what he wanted—the property that once belonged to his family. She was certain whatever price he paid wasn’t as great as her father’s loss or her own dismal future. “What kind of stipulation?”

His smile was grim. “That we get married.”

CHAPTER TWO

JOSIE stared at Seth incredulously. Losing the ranch to him was one thing, but to marry him? She knew her father could be irresponsible, but she couldn’t imagine him making such a ridiculous demand, and an O’Connor, no less so.

“You’re joking!” He had to be.

“I wish I was.” He crossed his arms over his wide chest, his mouth twisting into a sardonic smile. “The stipulation states that I’ll marry you within one week in order to gain the Golden M.”

The way she saw it, if she refused her father’s terms, there was no way Seth could claim the property. Her father had outsmarted an O’Connor!

It was her turn to be smug. “What makes you believe I’d want to marry you to fulfill the terms of that stipulation?”

“Because it would be in both our interests to do so.”

He didn’t look the least bit concerned by her unwillingness to help him carry out the terms of her father’s stipulation, and that realization caused a niggling of unease to curl within her. “How do you figure it would be in my best interest to marry someone I despise just so he could claim my property?”

A hint of challenge flickered in his gaze. “Because if you don’t become my wife, you forfeit the Golden M.”

She frowned at him. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

From his shirt pocket where he’d tucked away the quitclaim deed, he now withdrew another folded piece of paper. Opening it, he held it toward her.

“Read the terms of the stipulation for yourself,” he prompted when she merely stared at the signed and notarized document. “It states that I’ll marry you within a week in order to procure the Golden M, at which time it will become joint property since we’ll be man and wife.” He gave her a moment to absorb that before continuing. “However, if you refuse to marry me within the specified week, then you lose the Golden M and I’ll have every right as the owner to toss you off the ranch. And if we do get married and one of us insists upon a divorce, that person forfeits their half of the land to the other.”

Unable to believe her father would enforce such binding conditions, she grabbed the document from him and read the contents. By the time she verified her father’s signature on the bottom line, panic and dread had balled in her stomach.

She stared up at Seth, tasting the bitterness of defeat. “You agreed to this...to this farce?”

“I’ve got nothing to lose.” He casually moved closer, and her heart rate accelerated. “And a whole lot to gain.”

She was the one who’d have to relinquish everything if she balked at the terms outlined in the agreement. It just didn’t make sense. Why would her father force her to marry someone who hated her as equally as she detested him, then set forth terms that made a future divorce nearly impossible unless she walked away from the only home she’d ever known?

“So, what’ll it be, Josie darlin’?” he asked, his voice dropping to a low, husky pitch. Reaching out, he stroked his knuckles over her cheek, the tender gesture at odds with the fierce light in his eyes. “Shall I make an appointment with Reverend Wilcox for this week?”

She opened her mouth to make a scathing response but found her throat suddenly dry. His thumb brazenly skimmed over her bottom lip as softly as a butterfly’s caress. Her stomach dipped and tumbled. Bolder still, he held her gaze and strummed his warm fingers down her throat and along the open collar of her blouse.

Her breathing deepened and she shivered, unable to stop the memories of how gentle those big hands of his could be as they slid over her body. How delightfully sweet and seductive.

It had been so long since she’d experienced such consuming passion, such awesome need...but it all came crashing back to her in that moment. She couldn’t help the tiny moan that escaped her.

Seth watched her with great interest, a faint, satisfied smile touching his mouth. “Seems to me there could be other advantages to our getting married,” he murmured as one long finger slowly followed the V of her blouse to where the last button ended between her breasts.

Her nipples automatically tightened, and she knew he could see the dusky rose tips through the thin cotton material. Horrified that he could manipulate her emotions so easily and still have so much control over her body’s response to him, she reached for her temper, embraced the flood of anger and let it explode.

She slapped his hand away from the button she knew he could so easily flick open with his fingers—he’d proved that particular skill eleven years ago. “I’ll see you in hell before I agree to marry you!”

She tried to move around him, but he was fast and agile, bracing both his hands on the porch railing on either side of her, trapping her against him. Before she could raise her knee and use it as a means of self-defense, he pushed a hard thigh between hers, immobilizing her lower body.

The heat that flared within her matched the flames in his eyes. She shoved at his shoulders, but he was a solid mass of muscle and strength, and the only thing her struggling accomplished was to make Seth press closer. Their position became as intimate as two lovers entwined in a sensual embrace.

Except they were enemies and hated one another. She doubted Seth found anything arousing about their situation. She certainly didn’t!

She attempted to lean back, but the railing bit into her spine. That discomfort was nothing compared to the scratch of denim between her thighs and the metallic bite of Seth’s heavy belt buckle pressing against the strip of bare skin exposed between her breasts and the waistband of her shorts. She did her best to ignore the liquid warmth rushing through her veins.

He blew out a harsh breath that tickled the loose strands of hair around her face. His body shifted subtly to accommodate her wriggling, and she felt the muscles flex beneath the hands she’d flattened on his chest. She was appalled to discover that he wasn’t as immune to their position as she’d originally thought. The evidence of his desire nudged the front zipper of her shorts, an unmistakable masculine hardness that caused a deep, clenching thrill to spiral straight to where his knee pressed so insistently.

She didn’t understand how two people who despised each other so much could respond to one another on such a primitive, sensual level. Couldn’t comprehend how eleven years of anger and hurt could melt away with just a look, a touch from Seth. He seemed to be her greatest weakness despite his past betrayal.

His warm gaze focused on her mouth, and the vital hunger she saw there swept through her like the heat of wildfire. And then he gradually lowered his head, his parted lips homing in on hers.

She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t move. She was fully aware of the quiver of anticipation thrumming beneath the surface of her skin, the need to give herself to this man she’d never been able to forget...or forgive.

Summoning every ounce of willpower she possessed, she turned her head away just as his lips descended. His mouth landed on her cheek, warm and damp and soft as down. Her lack of cooperation didn’t succeed in hindering the rogue’s exploration. His lips slid along her jaw to her ear, and she thought he murmured, “You still want me as much as I want you,” but couldn’t be sure. His rich, dark voice rumbled along her nerve endings, making it impossible for her to think coherently...making her dizzy with a wanting that was not only stupid, but dangerous.

She gritted her teeth against the onslaught of his blatant sexuality and her body’s shocking response to his seduction tactics. “I hate you,” she whispered hoarsely, reminding him, and herself, of that fact. “And I refuse to marry you.”

Finally, he lifted his head and gave her the breathing room she so desperately needed, but he didn’t let her loose. Triumph shone in his dark, sexy eyes. “You’d give me the ranch so easily? Just because you can’t stand the thought of me being your husband and having the right to touch you and kiss you? Or is it because you can’t stand the fact that you want me to touch you and kiss you that has you so fired up?”

His words were mocking, too accurate, and they enraged her. His hold slackened, along with his body, giving her enough room to pull her arm back and wallop him in the belly. He grunted at the impact, but she knew the punch had startled him more than hurt him. Reflexively, he moved his arms from the railing to defend himself, enabling her to take advantage of his surprise and escape. Sidestepping him, she headed down the porch stairs and headed across the lawn toward the stables in her bare feet. She came upon the Stetson she’d shot off his head earlier. Smirking at the gaping hole in the crown, she gave it a good swift kick that sent it tumbling in the opposite direction.

She heard him swear colorfully from behind her and ignored him when he demanded she come back so they could finish their discussion. His boots echoed off the wooden steps as he followed her. She picked up her pace, putting as much distance as she could between them, even though she knew it was inevitable they talk and settle issues.

His taunting words, You’d give me the ranch so easily?, played through her mind, making her realize the seriousness of her quandary. No, she wouldn’t just hand over the only home she’d ever known. But the thought of becoming Seth O’Connor’s wife and living with him on a daily basis with all the resentment and bitterness between them was enough to make her want to rail at the injustice.

There was Kellie to consider in this mess of things, too. How would her daughter react to her mother’s marrying a virtual stranger? And most importantly, how would Seth treat Kellie, considering the awful rumors of the past?

Dad, how could you do this to me? Tears of frustration and uncertainty burned the back of her eyes. She needed to find her father—not that his presence would change the future if those documents Seth had in his possession were legal. But surely they could work out some other compromise or monetary compensation.

He caught her before she could slip into the stables and lose him in the maze of stalls. His hand closed around her arm, bringing her to an abrupt halt, and he turned her around to face him. She glared at his intrusion, despite the hot tears of anger threatening to spill over her lashes.

One look into her eyes and the dark, irritable scowl etching his features slowly faded, replaced by something more charitable. Compassion? she briefly wondered. Surely not. An O’Connor wouldn’t know that emotion if it slapped him in the face.

“Look,” he said, his tone gruff with impatience, “I know this is a shock and you’re upset—”

“I’m not upset. I’m furious!” She shook off his hand, her lips pursing into a tight line. “This is my home, and I’ll be damned if I’ll just hand it over to you without a fight!”

“If you fight, you’ll lose everything, Josie,” he stated relentlessly. “Thanks to your father, there’s one way you can win and keep the ranch and land, and that’s to marry me.”

She laughed, but the sound was dry and humorless. “Yes, it was quite thoughtful of my father to add that stipulation, but it’s hard to be grateful when I can’t stand the thought of being married to you.”

His jaw tightened at her barb. “You’re not my first choice of a bride, either.”

Resurrected anger and hurt shimmered between them. She saw the animosity of the past in his eyes, felt the misery in her heart. Once, she’d wanted to marry him, but that had been before she realized that his interest had nothing to do with love and everything to do with simple revenge on a McAllister.

“Then why did you agree to my father’s terms?” she asked, keeping their conversation, and her thoughts, firmly entrenched in the present. “Why didn’t you just let him lose the money and let the IOUs stand? I would have found a way to pay you and Gary back.”

The corner of his mouth tipped in an easy smile, reminding her how charming he could be. “You always were the responsible one of the family, weren’t you?”

She stiffened, recalling how she’d confided in him when she was sixteen, how she’d foolishly opened her heart and revealed things she’d never told anyone before. She’d told Seth about how her mother died when she was just a little girl of five, and how something in her father died, too, casting him adrift. As a young girl, she’d struggled to keep the household together and, with Mac’s help, learned everything she needed to know about running the ranch until she was finally old enough to take over for her wandering father.

But Seth already knew most of that, and she was beyond needing a shoulder to cry on. “Answer my question,” she said. “If you didn’t like my father’s terms, which include marrying me, why didn’t you just let my father lose the money and let the IOUs stand?”

“It’s not the money I’m after, Josie.” Sighing, he trans ferred his gaze to the green pasture next to the stables Something in his expression softened as he looked out ove the land that went on for miles. “I want this spread, partly because it was originally O’Connor land.”

“Partly?” she questioned, guessing there was more and wanting to hear it all. “What’s the other reason?”

Meeting her gaze again, he pushed his fingers through his thick hair, disheveling the strands more than they al ready were. “I want a place of my own—”

“You have a place of your own,” she interrupted heat edly. “You have the Paradise Wild!”

“Jay inherited Paradise Wild when my father died fou years ago.”

She couldn’t contain her shock. “Your father didn’t leave the place to the both of you?”

“Nope,” he said, his tone filled with a bitterness she didn’t understand. “I just work the ranch and live in a cabin on Jay’s property. He shares the house with his wife and two kids.”

She couldn’t help but wonder what had happened for David O’Connor to disinherit his younger son.

Seth must have sensed the questions forming in her mind since he quickly diverted them. “I agreed to Jake’s term because as much as I want this ranch and property, I have no desire to leave you and your daughter homeless Marrying you is a small price for me to pay to gain this land.”

She refused to give up so easily. “Let me give you the money my father and Gary owed you, and a little more for your trouble, and leave us alone. I’ll give you enough to put a down payment on another spread.”

He shook his head. “I can’t do that.”

“Can’t, or won’t?” Desperation made her voice rise a few decibels.

“Both,” he said in a tone that brooked no compromise. “This was O’Connor land before it ever belonged to a McAllister, and now it’s back in the family. And even then, we don’t know the legitimacy of a McAllister winning it in a poker game all those years ago.”

“My great-grandfather won this land fair and square,” she said, unable to believe any McAllister would cheat so ruthlessly. “And now you’re getting everything we McAllisters worked so hard to build from nothing more than dirt and barren land.”

Her arguments didn’t sway him in the least. “I’m not giving up the deed, Josie, so resign yourself to the fact that there is only one way for you to keep this ranch.”

Her hopes began to dwindle. “And that’s to marry you?”

“Yes.” His expression held no apology or remorse. “I’m willing to put our differences aside and make the marriage work. I’m even willing to take full responsibility for your daughter, even though she’s someone else’s child.”

“How gracious,” she said, nearly choking on the words. “But that’s not necessary. Kellie is nobody’s responsibility but my own. She’s lived ten years without a father and managed just fine.” Josie could see curious questions in Seth’s eyes regarding her daughter and knew she wasn’t prepared to answer any of them. “You’ve conducted your business, and now I’d appreciate it if you’d leave.”

“In a minute,” he said, and from the back pocket of his jeans brought out a folded envelope and handed it to her. “When I picked up the deed from your father’s attorney, he asked me to give you this letter that Jake left for you.”

Not about to refuse the only link she might have to her father, she took the envelope from him.

“Think about your options carefully, Josie, and I’ll be back in a few days for your answer.” He turned and headed for the stables where he’d left his horse. She watched him mount the chestnut in a fluid motion, then direct the mare around to face her.

His horse pranced anxiously, champing at the bit to go. Seth effortlessly held the powerful horse in check with a slight pressure of his thighs. From atop his steed, Seth perused the length of her one last time, from her spring) auburn curls, past the blouse tied beneath her breasts, over her faded cutoffs to the tips of her bare toes. By the time he finished his blatant male survey, her pulse was racing out of control and she felt more restlessly inflamed than she cared to admit

I hate him, she mentally chanted, and shook off the disturbing sensations unfurling within her.

He smiled as if reading her thoughts and accepting her challenge. “Keep in mind, Josie darlin’,” he said, reverting back to that sexy, lazy drawl of his, “we’ll need to be married by next Friday, or everything is mine.”

On that last parting shot, he took off, spurring his horse across McAllister land that eventually gave way to O’Connor property, leaving Josie behind to make a decision that would either bind her to a man who’d cruelly deceived her or force her to give up the only home she and Kellie had ever known.

Either way, she saw heartache in her future.

Seth rode his horse hard and fast toward Paradise Wild, but no matter how ruthlessly he pushed Lexi for speed, he found he couldn’t outrun his conflicting feelings for the woman he’d just left behind.

He slowed Lexi as they neared a wide creek that trickled down from the mountain butting against the side of McAllister and O’Connor property. He waited until his mare had settled, then slid out of the saddle and dropped the reins so she could graze.

Bending down by the creek, he scooped the cool, clear liquid into his palm, brought it to his mouth and quenched his thirst. Then he dipped both hands into the water and ran them through his hair, slicking the thick strands away from his face.

Damn Josie and her trigger-happy finger anyway, he thought irritably. That had been his favorite Stetson, shaped perfectly to his head after years of use, and now he was going to have to break in a new one.

Sighing heavily, he stared at his scowling expression reflecting off the crystalline water. He wanted to hate her just as she claimed to despise him. And for eleven years he’d been able to believe that Josie McAllister meant nothing to him, that their brief time together in high school had been a grave mistake and taught him a valuable lesson he’d never forgotten. Like not to trust a McAllister’s motives.

But try as he might, he never could forget Josie. No matter how many women he’d dated over the years, he couldn’t wipe out the memories of how silky and warm her skin had felt beneath his hands, the sweet taste of her lips, her light, lilting laughter, and especially the soft sounds of pleasure she made when he’d slid deep inside her body. Those images had haunted him every night since the last time they’d made love.

The connection between them had seemed magical, considering they’d been taught all their lives to hate the other. During grade school he’d ridiculed her mercilessly, taking his cue from his older brother, Jay. As a young boy, he remembered that he hadn’t liked hurting Josie with those nasty taunts, but Jay had wanted to keep the rift fueled any way he could, and whenever he suggested they leave her alone, Jay would make his life miserable until he proved that he could dole out his share of jeers and mean insults.

Seth shook his head at the immaturity of his youth, more than a little disgusted that his own father had encouraged the dissension between the McAllister girl and his own boys.

That familial pressure ebbed when Jay finally graduated high school, leaving Seth as a senior and Josie as a sophomore. By that time, she was taking great pains to avoid him, not that he could blame her after the way he and his brother had treated her. When by chance they passed in the halls or on the campus, she never looked him in the eye. He didn’t know why, but he didn’t like the thought of her believing he was as rotten as his brother.

One day as she walked out of a classroom, he’d literally slammed into her, so hard that the impact knocked her back on her bottom and the books in her arms flew in five different directions. She’d sat there frozen, with her skirt up around her thighs, staring at him with a panic-stricken look on her face. Just like an animal cornered by a hunter, waiting for him to either shoot or let her go free.

He remembered thinking how pretty she was, with wild curly hair the hue of fire and cinnamon, wide green eyes emphasized by dark brows, and the smattering of freckles over the bridge of her nose. And he couldn’t help but notice those shapely legs of hers and the small, firm breasts beneath her clingy T-shirt—her blossoming curves were what boys his age fantasized about.

And in that moment, he felt as though he’d been struck by lightning. His heart thudded erratically in his chest and his palms grew damp. It was a crazy feeling, one he’d never experienced before.

Clearing his dry throat, he squatted to her level and handed her the biology book that had landed by his sneakered foot. “Are you all right?” he’d asked.

Not sparing him the slightest glance, she scrambled to collect her other books. “I’m f-f-fine,” she’d said in a soft, quivering voice.

She stood, and just as she attempted to dart around him, he caught her arm. Immediately, she stopped and stiffened, as if she feared he’d rip off her limb if she didn’t. Her body began to tremble as she waited.

“I’m sorry,” he said gently, not for bumping into her, but for all the years of torment he and his brother had put her through.

“I, uh, should have, um—” she swallowed back the tears he heard in her voice, the same ones he saw pooling in her eyes “—watched where I was g-g-going.”

Before he could explain what he’d meant, she wrenched her arm away and fled down the corridor and out the doors leading to the front of the school. He should have let things end there but found he couldn’t He followed her home from school, and when he was positive they were alone, he approached her as she entered the woods that lined both of their properties.

This time, she didn’t cower. Fire flashed in her eyes and she dropped her schoolbooks on the ground. She told him she was tired of being bullied, then came at him full force in an attempt to defend herself. Her attack knocked them both to the moss-covered ground, him on his back, with her sprawled on top of him.

Eyes closed, he didn’t move a muscle, not wanting to threaten her in any way, though the press of her lithe body along his conjured up some interesting fantasies. He began mentally reciting his times tables to detach himself from the situation until his randier thoughts settled.

She squirmed on top of him, her breasts brushing across his chest as she propped herself up on her elbows to look down at him. “Oh, my gosh!” she exclaimed, worry in her voice.

Six times seven is forty-two.

She sat up, straddling his lower body so her thighs bracketed his hips, and gently cupped his face in her cool hands. “Seth?” He decided he liked the way his name sounded on her lips. “Seth, are you okay?”

He wanted to groan at the exquisite feel of her bottom tucked so intimately against him but found he couldn’t utter a sound. Six times eight is forty-eight.

Her fingers quickly unbuttoned his shirt and her palm slid inside, right over his heart. “You’re not breathing!”

He wasn’t? Then why was he so aware of that intense heat pooling low in his belly and his body’s embarrassing reaction to Josie’s position? He concentrated on his arithmetic. Six times nine is fifty-four.

“I didn’t really mean to kill you.” She moved off him, her tone frantic. “I swear I didn’t!” Tilting his head back, she pinched his nose closed and pressed her mouth to his.

He felt her soft lips on his and believed he’d died and gone to heaven. Air whooshed into his lungs, her very breath, and he began to cough and gulp more air. Finally, wheezing in a breath, his eyes opened.

“Oh, Seth,” she cried in obvious relief, “you’re okay!”

It took him a moment to realize what had happened and reorient himself. “I think you just knocked the breath out of me.”

And there, in the woods, it happened...a spark of awareness Seth decided to nurture, with her cooperation, of course. He’d gently cupped the back of her head and brought her mouth back to his and kissed her like he’d been wanting to ever since he’d bumped into her in the hall. Her lips parted beneath the subtle pressure of his, and she moaned deep in her throat, but the sound wasn’t one of alarm. No, she didn’t fear him. She sank against his chest, closed her eyes and let his tongue explore her mouth and tempt her to join in the slow, drugging kiss.

At nearly eighteen, he was two years older than her, had been on plenty of dates and kissed a lot of girls. But none of them tasted as sweet as Josie. He couldn’t get enough of her, and it seemed she was just as needy.

From that day on, he met her after school, anxious to be with her. Because neither of them wanted their families to know they were seeing one another for fear of repercussions, he met her at the edge of the woods and spent as much time with her as possible until they had to head home. Eventually, kisses weren’t enough, and he’d coaxed her to make love. They’d been good together, her uninhibited response to his touch driving him wild with desire for her. He’d been careful about protecting her, but three months later she tearfully informed him she was pregnant.

He’d been scared, certain his father would flay him alive—that’s how much David O’Connor loathed the McAllisters. So, instead, he’d confided in his brother.

“How do you know it’s your baby?” Jay had asked him.

His brother’s question made him wary. “What the hell are you talking about?” he demanded to know.

Jay smirked. “Considering she’s slept with half the senior class, there’s no telling whose brat it is.”

He’d been so furious with his brother’s claim he’d given Jay a black eye. A few days later, the rumors started circulating around school, and he heard bragging in the locker room about Josie and other boys. Considering he’d used protection every time they’d slept together, he found the claims difficult to ignore.

Josie, it seemed, had manipulated him for her own purposes. If she meant to dupe an O’Connor, she’d nearly succeeded. She’d put on a flawless act, making him believe he was the first and only one to know her intimately. The thought had filled him with a white-hot fury and made him plan a fitting retribution.

He saw her one last time. She’d expected him to marry her, to give her bastard child the O’Connor name. Instead of the proposal she anticipated, he’d coldly informed her that he’d deliberately seduced her to gain revenge on the McAllisters, and she’d fallen for the ruse. And since at least a dozen other guys could be the baby’s father, she was on her own.

She’d appeared so convincingly devastated, he’d had to steel himself against the hurt glittering in her tear-filled - eyes. Her pain and despair had seemed so terribly real. But not once did she deny the awful rumors. Not once did she try to explain. She’d walked away from him, head held high.

He hadn’t talked to her since, hadn’t been close enough to touch her...until today. And damned if he still didn’t want her with the same fierceness of his youth, and that irked him more than he cared to admit.

Seth scrubbed a hand over his jaw and let out a low growl of frustration. He hadn’t anticipated her seductive allure, the way her body had filled out with lush, womanly curves that tempted and teased a man’s interest. She was an exciting blend of fire and spirit, and that fiery disposition of hers made him burn hotter than any of the demure, accommodating women he’d dated over the years.

Gruff laughter escaped him. After eleven years of trying to pretend Josie McAllister didn’t exist for him, he found it ironic that he was going to marry her. He didn’t doubt that once her temper cooled she’d agree to become his wife. Despite her fury over her father’s gambling loss, he was certain marrying him was the lesser of two evils when it came to giving up the Golden M. And marrying Josie was a small sacrifice on his part for gaining a prosperous piece of land to call his own.

Seth stood and headed toward his mare. He needed to tell Jay about this recent turn of events and let him know he’d be short a hand and would need to hire someone to replace him. He dreaded the discussion to come, suspecting that Jay was going to explode when he learned that a McAllister was about to become a part of their family. Jay blamed the McAllisters for every misfortune they’d ever encountered. In Seth’s opinion, which he’d always been smart enough to keep to himself, their family’s misfortune was a direct result of mismanagement and too much resentment. He supposed it was easier to blame the family’s old adversary than face the truth that their father hadn’t cared enough to nurture the fertile land they’d lived on, choosing instead to spend his time at the local bar, which had left him drunk and in a surly disposition more often than not.

Refusing to dwell on the bitterness of the past, and the fact that his own father had disinherited him for reasons that proved how spiteful and unforgiving David O’Connor could be, Seth mounted his horse, determined to keep a clear focus on his future-which included Josie as his wife and the Golden M as his new home.

Turning Lexi north, he headed toward Paradise Wild and the unpleasant task ahead.

CHAPTER THREE

SETH found his brother in the spacious office located in the back of the main stable. The door was open, but since Jay seemed engrossed in the open journal on his desk and hadn’t heard him enter the building, he knocked on the wooden. frame so he didn’t startle him.

Jay glanced up, wire-rimmed reading glasses framing his hazel eyes. “Where have you been?” he asked, his tone tinged with a hint of annoyance. “You missed Sunday dinner.”

“Sorry ’bout that.” Usually he was courteous enough to let Jay’s wife, Erin, know when he wasn’t going to be around for breakfast, dinner or supper so she didn’t prepare extra and they didn’t wait on him. Though Seth lived in one of the two cabins located on the ranch, eating with Jay’s family was part of his wages as a hand. It worked for him, considering what a lousy cook he was. “I didn’t think I’d be as long as I was.”

Jay’s gaze flickered over his tousled hair, noted the absence of his Stetson, then narrowed speculatively. “I noticed Lexi was gone. You out checking fences or something? If so, you know you don’t get paid for working Sundays.”

“I wasn’t working,” Seth assured his brother, tamping down the spurt of bitterness surging to the surface. He hated being treated like an employee on the very land that should have been half his. He wanted to believe he’d gotten over his father’s slight, but there were times, like now, when he felt the lash of David O’Connor’s punishment straight to the core. “I was over at the McAllister place.”

That snagged his brother’s attention. He closed the journal in front of him and pushed it aside. “Doing what?” he asked tentatively.

Drawing out the moment of victory, Seth folded his frame into the dark brown Naugahyde chair in front of Jay’s desk, making himself comfortable. “I was claiming the Golden M, which I won in a poker game against Jake McAllister.”

It took a few extra seconds for the importance of his statement to sink in. Seth knew the exact moment it registered—when selfish retribution glittered in Jay’s eyes. “No kidding? You won the Golden M?”

“Lock, stock and barrel,” Seth confirmed. Prime cattle, fertile land, and a feisty woman who hated him enough to threaten his life with a rifle. All his in the span of one night, he thought wryly.

“Whooee!” Jay slapped a hand on the surface of his desk, a wide, gleeful grin splitting his face. “If that isn’t poetic justice, I don’t know what is.”

“Yeah, it’s ironic all right,” he agreed mildly, “considering how we lost the land so long ago.”

Leaning back in his squeaky chair, Jay began spouting plans for Seth’s windfall. “We can join the property again, combine the livestock—”

“No.” Every muscle in Seth’s body had coiled tight. Jay looked taken aback by Seth’s refusal. His brows snapped together, emphasizing his displeasure. “What do you mean, ‘no’?”

“The Golden M is mine, Jay.” His tone was low, undeniably firm, and a trifle dangerous. “And it’ll remain separate property.”

“Why?” Jay challenged. Standing abruptly, he braced his hands flat on his desk and leaned toward Seth, glaring. “That’s O’Connor property! It always has been. It should remain in the family as a whole.”

Under normal circumstances, Seth would have agreed. But considering he’d been stripped of his rightful inheritance, he wasn’t about to share what now belonged to him. “It hasn’t been in our family for over seventy-five years. There’s no reason why it needs to be part of Paradise Wild again.”

Jay’s mouth thinned in anger. “So, you’ll be competing directly against me, then?”

“I’ll be competing with no one but myself. You’ve got a fine breed of cattle, and there are plenty of buyers to accommodate both you and me.”

“I can’t believe this!” Jay’s temper exploded and his face turned a bright shade of red. “Dad is probably rolling over in his grave right about now!”

“Probably, considering he left me with nothing, and I’ve acquired what he always wanted.”

A sneer curled the corner of his brother’s mouth. “If you wanted half of Paradise Wild, then you never should have messed around with Josie McAllister.”

“You’re right, of course,” Seth graciously conceded to what had been the single most stupid mistake of his life. His brief affair with Josie had cost him so much...a chunk of his youthful pride, his half of Paradise Wild and the inability to give any other woman what he’d given her. His heart.

Refusing to dwell on past mistakes, he casually added, “Just so you know, I’ll be marrying Josie by the end of the week.”

Jay’s eyes nearly bugged right out of their sockets. “What?” he wheezed.

A satisfied smile quirked Seth’s mouth, and he decided that he enjoyed having the upper hand for a change. Very concisely, he explained the stipulation Jake McAllister had added to the deed to the Golden M, which included offering his daughter the benefit of marriage in order for her and his granddaughter to remain on the ranch.

Jay’s blistering curses filled the office, and he paced the length of space behind his desk. “And you actually agreed to those outrageous terms?”

Refusing to be baited, Seth shrugged nonchalantly. “I’d be a fool not to. I want the Golden M.”

Jay stopped his agitated pacing and whirled to face Seth His stare turned hard and bitter. “Yeah, you’re a fool all right. An idiotic fool for marrying that little tra—”

“Don’t say it,” Seth interrupted, the chilling tone of his voice menacing enough to make Jay reconsider his derogatory remark. He stood and faced his brother squarely. He was taller than Jay by at least three inches and more muscular from the physical labor of working the ranch and herding cattle.

Now he used that superior strength to send a silent but unmistakable warning. “In fact, I’d appreciate it from hen on that you keep any insulting comments about Josie to yourself.” As much as Seth had his own personal grudges with Josie, he wouldn’t tolerate his brother, or anyone else for that matter, slandering the woman who would be his wife.

“Good God, Seth,” Jay breathed incredulously, “you’re not still hot for her, are you?”

Oh, Josie made him plenty hot all right—in ways than her becoming his wife would certainly appease. “She’s a means to an end,” he said, stating a fact. “However, since she’ll be my wife, I’ll expect you to give her the same respect you would any other woman I would have married.”

Jay shook his head, his eyes wide and wild, as if he was searching for a way to make Seth see reason. “Are you totally and completely out of your mind? You can’t marry a McAllister!” He spit the word out like an expletive.

If Seth wasn’t on the verge of letting his own anger get the best of him, he would have found his brother’s in amusing. But he didn’t care for the ominous slant of their conversation or the hostility burning in Jay’s gaze. For crying out loud, it wasn’t as though Jay had to marry Josie.

He let out a deep breath that did nothing to ease the tense muscles in his body. “I can marry a McAllister, and I will.” His brusque tone left no room for debate. “I suggest you get used to the idea.”

Jay raked him with a scathing look. “You’re going to marry her even after what she did to you?”

Seth didn’t want to think about Josie’s deceit, knowing if he dwelled on that aspect of their time together it would eat him alive. “What happened in the past has nothing to do with the present.” Josie was a business deal, part of the package for the Golden M, which he wanted so badly he could taste the sweetness of freedom owning his own place would provide.

“She used you, Seth!” Jay pointed an angry finger his way for emphasis but didn’t dare actually jab Seth with the offending digit. “And she tried to pawn off that brat of hers as yours after sleeping with God-only-knows how many guys!”

Seth’s jaw clenched. Unbidden, visions of Josie’s daughter filled his mind, momentarily taking the edge off his rising temper. The timid young girl looked just like Josie, with curly auburn hair and big green eyes. Nothing about her physical appearance gave any indication as to who her father could have been. Seth wondered if Josie even knew who’d fathered Kellie.

Shoving the disturbing thought out of his mind, he decided then and there that he wouldn’t punish the girl for her mother’s past indiscretions. It just wasn’t fair.

He headed toward the door, ready to end their discussion, but paused in the threshold to glance back at Jay. He leveled his steady gaze on his brother, who looked absolutely livid at the turn of events. “That ‘brat’ is going to be my stepdaughter and your niece. I’ll expect you to treat her with the same kindness I give your own two children, or you’ll answer to me.” With that, Seth left the office and headed down the long corridor to the entrance of the stable

“Don’t expect me to be at the wedding!” Jay yelled furiously after him.

Seth shook his head. He hadn’t realized until that moment how his brother’s spiteful attitude was so much like their father’s. David O’Connor hadn’t cut anyone any slack especially not a McAllister, and he’d allowed old resentments to fester until it had totally consumed his life. Jay was on that same collision course, straight to emotional destruction.

And there wasn’t a damn thing Seth could do about it.

As he walked out of the stables and felt the warmth of the sun on his face, Seth had the invigorating thought tha he was no longer under his brother’s thumb, no longer an employee of the Paradise Wild.

He grinned. He was a free man with a spread of his own

And it felt pretty damn good.

The heartache was already beginning, starting with the letter Josie’s father had left for her.

Sitting on the wooden bench just outside the barn, she read the brief correspondence Jake had scrawled on a scratch piece of paper. She read his words over and over trying to understand why he’d risk the Golden M in a poker game, add an outrageous stipulation that would ruin her lift and bind her to Seth O’Connor, when he knew there was every chance of losing to the last man in Montana she would have chosen for a husband.

But there were no answers in his letter. Just verification that the deed and stipulation were indeed real and blinding and an apology for what he’d done, for failing her and letting his gambling addiction force him to resort to desperate measures, though he’d done his best to secure her future. He knew she’d be disappointed in him, angry even and he couldn’t bear to face her condemnation, so he’d decided it was best if he left. The note ended by saying that he hoped she’d finally find happiness and not hate him too much for what he’d done, and that he loved her and Kellie.

There was nothing about his returning, and that tore her up more than anything because she couldn’t stand the thought of never seeing her father again.

The hot tears welling in her eyes finally spilled over her lashes. Tears because she would miss her father. Tears because she was so afraid of what her future would hold.

“Oh, Dad,” she whispered around the ache in her heart. She was upset, yes. But she could never, ever spurn him despite the fact that he’d sold her soul to the devil himself. Together, they could have figured a way out of this mess. Alone, she had no way of defending herself from someone as formidable as Seth. He wanted the Golden M, and he wanted it badly enough to marry her for it.

Oh, what a doozy fate had delivered! If she wasn’t so devastated, she would have been laughing hysterically at the twist.

She heard the screen door to the house slam shut and glanced up to see Kellie heading across the yard. She stopped and picked up Seth’s hat, paused briefly to consider the hole in the crown, then continued toward the barn, carrying Josie’s trophy with her.

Quickly, Josie wiped away the wetness on her cheeks and reached deep inside for some much needed fortitude to explain what changes lay ahead. She had to be strong for Kellie’s sake because she was all her daughter had.

The little girl stopped in front of Josie, a frown creasing her delicately shaped brows. “He made you cry,” she accused.

Her daughter looked so fiercely protective, Josie couldn’t help but smile. “No, Mr. O’Connor didn’t make me cry.” She’d come close a few times, out of frustration and fury, but these tears had been for the man who’d raised her so lovingly. A man she feared they would never see again.

Kellie didn’t look convinced. “What did that O’Connor man want?”

Our land. Our house. Everything I’ve worked so hard to nurture over the years.

She patted the space beside her on the bench. “Sit down, sweetie. We need to talk.”

“I don’t want to sit.” The stubborn thrust of her chin didn’t do much to mask the more uncertain emotions Josie saw hovering in her daughter’s eyes.

Not wanting to upset Kellie any more than she had to, she stood and forced a bright smile that felt as phony as it probably looked. “Okay,” she said easily. “Then how about we go for a walk?”

Taking Seth’s ruined hat from her, Josie set it on the empty bench. Without waiting for another refusal, she draped a comforting arm around Kellie’s shoulders and started walking along the white fence bordering the west pasture.

There was no easy way to broach the subject, so she just jumped right into the middle of it. “How do you feel about having a dad?”

“What do you mean?” Kellie asked skeptically.

Josie threaded her fingers through her daughter’s sun-warmed hair. She loved this child so much, wanted so much more for her than she was about to give her—like a dad who would love her unconditionally. She didn’t know if Seth was capable of accepting her daughter without past resentments and rumors getting in the way.

“Well, you’ve asked me before why I don’t get married so you can have a dad,” Josie said, trying to sound optimistic and cheerful. “And I was just wondering if you still felt the same way.”

Kellie’s slim shoulders lifted in a reserved shrug. “Yeah, I guess I do.”

She closed her eyes for a few extra seconds, ignored the dread churning within her and just let it out. “Well, Mr. O’Connor and I are going to get married.”

Kellie jerked away from her, her expression horrified. “But I don’t want him as a dad! He’s mean!”

Josie realized she had the choice of agreeing wholeheartedly with Kellie and tainting her daughter’s perception of Seth right from the get-go, or she could make this transition for Kellie as smooth as possible. She might not like Seth, but there was no reason for Kellie to fear or hate him so vehemently.

The dirt drive had given way to a grassy knoll with patches of wildflowers. Josie stopped before they strolled too far away from the house and reached for her daughter’s small hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

“Mr. O’Connor really isn’t so bad.” In fact, at one time he’d been charming and sweet, but that had all been a ploy. “When he came over today, he was upset, and so was I. The Golden M is his now, and in order for us to stay here, I have to marry him.”

“Oh.” Josie’s explanation seemed to pacify her daughter and chase away the worry in her gaze. Kellie tilted her head, regarding Josie speculatively. “Do you love him?” she asked quietly.

The unexpected question knocked Josie for a loop, considering she’d once given Seth her heart and a piece of her soul. Thank goodness the fence was right behind her because she found she needed it for support. Once she’d regained her composure and calmed the erratic beating of her heart, she said very firmly, “No, I don’t love him.”

“But maybe someday you will?” Kellie asked expectantly.

Not likely, but she found she couldn’t crush her daughter’s simple hope for a bright future. “Maybe.” It was a stretch, but “maybe” was as close to a promise as she was willing to offer.

“Okay.” Kellie seemed satisfied with that. And relieved. “If you have to many him, and he’s going to be my new dad, I’ll try my best to like him.” She chewed on her bottom lip, and Josie could see the wheels in her mind clicking. And then the tentative query came. “Do you think he’ll like me? Maybe just a little?”

Josie’s chest tightened, and she found it hurt to breathe. How quick her daughter was to accept Seth! “What’s not to like? You’re beautiful, smart and sweeter than sugar.” She lovingly ran her finger down the pert slope of Kellie’s nose and made a silent vow that if Seth ever hurt her daughter by rejecting her, she’d make every day of his life a living hell.

Kellie laughed and spun around happily, arms spread wide. Her cascade of auburn spiral curls shimmered in the sunshine, and then she turned her lovely smile Josie’s way. “So, when are you guys getting married?”

Josie wished she could drum up even half the enthusiasm her daughter possessed. “Probably Friday.”

“Wow!” Bending down, she plucked a wildflower from a patch, then another, gathering a pretty yellow bouquet. “Can I be one of those girls who stands beside you and holds flowers?”

Josie managed a smile. “I’d love for you to be my maid of honor.”

Kellie’s eyes glowed with anticipation. “And will there be a big cake and a fancy dinner and dance afterward?”

Josie knew Kellie was remembering the wedding they’d attended last year for a friend of the family. It had been a lavish, traditional affair, with all the pomp and circumstance every young girl dreamed of. A beautiful white dress, a handsome groom who adored his bride, and vows that included loving and cherishing till death them did part.

Loving and cherishing wasn’t part of the agreement. Just a quickie marriage that would ensure she kept the ranch in the family. “It’s going to be a small, quiet ceremony,” she said in answer to her daughter’s question. “And there won’t be a reception afterward.”

Disappointment put a damper on Kellie’s excitement. And then an idea revitalized the sparkle in her eyes. “Maybe I could bake you and Mr. O’Connor a wedding cake!”

Josie suppressed a groan at the thought of explaining a young girl’s whimsy to Seth. “We’ll see.”

Crossing her arms over her chest and propping her backside on one of the fence’s rungs, Josie watched her daughter frolic in the meadow, picking flowers and pretending to be a bride. It was obvious that Kellie didn’t understand that she was marrying Seth because she had to and not because she wanted to. But Josie was okay with that because it eased her daughter’s fears to believe her mother was willingly marrying Mr. O’Connor.

Seth, her husband. The idea was difficult to get used to, considering she’d long ago given up trying to find a man worthy of that title. She’d dated a few times over the years, but the men she’d gone out with had heard about her “reputation” and expected more from her than a dinner companion and friendly conversation. Fending off groping hands had become a frustrating and depressing process—so much so that she’d decided it was easier to forgo the rituals of dating.

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