Table of Contents

Cover Page

Excerpt

Dear Reader

Title Page

Dedication

About the Author

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Copyright

“Luke, if I go out with you, people will get the wrong idea about us.”

“And what idea is that?”

“They’ll think we’re a couple,” Jillian replied. “I know this seems odd, but I didn’t come here to find a husband.”

He appeared to be holding on to his frustration by a thread. “Let me get this straight. You saw the ad for Bachelor Gulch, so you moved here. But you aren’t looking for a husband.”

Glancing at all of the townsfolk who were watching their little interaction, Jillian considered walking away without saying another word. But how would it look to have the new girl in town stomp on his huge ego in front of more than a dozen residents?

In a voice meant for his ears alone, she said, “I’m really not in the market, Luke. But believe me, if I were, you’d be my first choice.” And with quiet assurance, she stood on tiptoe to whisper a kiss against his cheek, then turned and left him in the middle of the street, staring after her.

Dear Reader,

The month of June makes me think of June brides, Father’s Day and the first bloom of summer love. And Silhouette Romance is celebrating the start of summer with six wonderful books about love and romance.

Our BUNDLE OF JOY this month is delivered by Stella Bagwell’s The Tycoon’s Tots—her thirtieth Silhouette book. As her TWINS ON THE DOORSTEP miniseries continues, we finally discover who gets to keep those adorable babies…and find romance in the bargain.

Elizabeth August is back with her much-loved SMYTHESHIRE, MASSACHUSETTS series. In The Determined Virgin you’ll meet a woman whose marriage of convenience is proving to be very inconvenient, thanks to her intense attraction to her “in-name-only” husband

BACHELOR GULCH is a little town that needs women, and the name of Sandra Steffen’s brand-new miniseries. The fun begins in Luke’s Would-Be Bride as a local bachelor falls for his feisty receptionist—the one woman in town not looking for a husband!

And there are plenty more compelling romances for you this month: A lovely lady rancher can’t wait to hightail it out of Texas—till she meets her handsome new foreman in Leanna Wilson’s Lone Star Rancher. A new husband can’t bear to tell his amnesiac bride that the baby she’s carrying isn’t his, in Her Forgotten Husband by Anne Ha. And one lucky cowboy discovers a night of passion has just made him a daddy in Teresa Southwick’s The Bachelor’s Baby.

I hope you enjoy all of June’s books!

Melissa Senate, Senior Editor

Silhouette Romance

Please address questions and book requests to:

Silhouette Reader Service

U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269

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

Luke’s Would-Be Bride
Sandra Steffen

www.millsandboon.co.uk

For my brother, Ron Rademacher—Sometimes

the greatest heroes are the quietest ones.

I thought you’d always be here, buddy.

Save me a place in heaven, okay?

SANDRA STEFFEN

Creating memorable characters is one of Sandra’s favorite aspects of writing. She’s always been a romantic, and is thrilled to be able to spend her days doing what she loves—bringing her characters to life on her computer screen.

Sandra grew up. in Michigan, the fourth of ten children, all of whom have taken the old adage “Go forth and multiply” quite literally. Add to this her husband, who is her real-life hero, their four school-age sons who keep their lives in constant motion, their gigantic cat, Percy, and her wonderful friends, in-laws and neighbors, and what to do you get? Chaos, of course, but also a wonderful sense of belonging she wouldn’t trade for the world.

Chapter One

Luke Carson reached for his black bag with one hand and his black Stetson with the other, then hurried toward the door. The telephone started to ring before he’d taken his second step. Shoving his hat on his head and his bag under one arm, he grabbed the receiver and bit back a curse.

“Jasper Gulch Animal Clinic.”

He was vaguely aware of the bead of perspiration trailing down the side of his neck, but most of his attention was trained on Butch Brunner’s voice on the other end of the line. “You gotta get here as soon as possible, Luke. This is the second steer to take sick this week.”

While Butch talked on, Luke glanced at his watch and rummaged through the clutter on his desk. He never thought he’d see the day when he actually missed the gumsmacking girl who used to work for him, but in the three months since Brenda left Jasper Gulch for the lure of the big city and better job prospects, his filing system had gone from bad to worse.

It had been a long, hot day, and it was only 9:00 a.m. The drought wasn’t helping anyone’s temper, least of all his. One of the area ranchers had called around four that morning because a cow was in labor and the calf was coming breech. Luke had gone straight out there, bleary-eyed and unshaven, and hadn’t stopped since.

“Okay, Butch,” he said. “I’m due out at the Anderson ranch in a few minutes. I’ll stop at your place on my way by.”

As he hung up the phone, his elbow hooked a stack of folders, sending an avalanche of papers to the floor. He grabbed for them, missed, dropped his bag to the desk and muttered one short, succinct word befitting his mood.

A sound near the door drew his gaze.

“Excuse me. I was wondering…” A woman he’d never seen before stood in the doorway.

Even in her loose-fitting shorts and tank top, she looked tired and warm, but these days who didn’t? She had blue eyes, a mid-Western accent and, as far as he was concerned, universal appeal. Her hair might have been a little too red to be considered classically beautiful. It just so happened that red was his favorite color.

“Are you here about the ad?” he asked.

She turned her head toward him and studied him before answering. “Yes, I suppose I am.”

If Luke Carson had been a man prone to smiles, a grin the size of South Dakota would have spread across his face right then. Glancing at her fingers, which were long and tapered and bore no wedding ring, he asked, “Can you do bookkeeping?”

Her eyes narrowed slightly. “Well, yes.”

“What about filing?”

“Filing?”

“Can you do it?”

“Alphabetically? Numerically? Or by subject?”

It was all he could do to keep from raising his face and letting loose a yowling yee-ha. He didn’t even bother to scowl when the phone started to ring again.

“How soon can you start?”

She opened her mouth to speak then closed it.

“Look,” he said, glancing at his cluttered office. “I know how this must look, but there really is a method to this madness. We’re in the middle of a drought out here, and the only other vet is more than a hundred miles away. The cattle are getting rangy, the horses are jumpy, and the area ranchers and cowboys are wound up tighter than a whirlwind in May. But I pay well, and I’ll take whatever hours you can give me.”

He turned up his famous Carson charm, pulling at the brim of hat and looking intently at her. “What do you say?”

He felt her eyes on him, liking the way her gaze trailed over his face, down the column of his throat all the way to the toes of his scuffed cowboy boots. He liked it even more when she finally walked into the room.

She took her time turning around, her shirt and hair settling into place with a quiet swish. Making a show of reading his name on his vet certificate on the wall, she said, “I think I could work mornings for a while, at least. When would you want me to start?”

His heart thudded, and his breath caught in his throat. “How does yesterday sound?”

The smile she gave him went straight to his head, but when she laughed out loud, every male hormone in his body came to life.

“I guess I’ll see you tomorrow morning,” she said. “About eight o’clock?”

“Eight o’clock sounds good.”

“By the way, my name’s Jillian Daniels. Oh, there’s one more thing. Is that silver pickup truck outside yours?”

Luke nodded.

“Your lights are on.”

A split second later, she was gone. And Luke was left staring at the empty doorway of his cluttered veterinarian’s office on the end of Main Street.

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d reacted so strongly and so immediately to a woman he’d just met He couldn’t remember the last time it had felt so good.

Luke came out of his musings with a start. Striding outside, he turned off his lights then released a long breath. It was hotter than blazes out here. He’d grown up here in South Dakota and was accustomed to the high summer temperatures. But this summer was different. The sun shining overhead was merciless. It was going to be another scorcher; as usual, there wasn’t a cloud in sight.

He spotted Jillian Daniels on the other side of the street, and suddenly the heat and dry weather didn’t seem so bleak. There was a new woman in town, a woman with red hair and long legs and the softest blue eyes he’d ever seen.

Luke Carson’s day had just gotten a whole lot better.

“It’s been a month, a whole month!” Boomer Brown yelled from the back of the room. “And the only women who’ve moved to Jasper Gulch have brought their husbands and kids with them.”

“Yeah!” another local shouted. “I thought you boys said that advertisement would bring single women to our corner of South Dakota.”

Luke eyed the crowd that had gathered for tonight’s town meeting, vowing to set these men straight as soon as he could get a word in edgewise, which, from the looks and sound of things, was going to be a while.

The sparsely furnished back room of Mel’s Diner was practically bursting at the seams with about thirty ranchers and cowboys and rodeo riders who’d grown weary of the long, lonely nights they faced due to the shortage of women in the area. He’d never seen so many people turn out for one of these meetings, but then, none of them had ever had so much at stake before.

It had been a month since the Jasper Review reported the comments Luke’s brother, Clayt, had made at the last meeting. It had been his idea to advertise for women to come to their town. Before anyone knew how it had happened, several big newspapers had picked up the story, coyly referring to Jasper Gulch as Bachelor Gulch. In the ensuing weeks, scores of women had come to check out the Jasper Gents. Unfortunately most of them had taken one look at the meager stores, the limited job prospects and dusty roads, and kept right on going.

It looked as if one, at least, had decided to stay. Jillian Daniels. Her name conjured up hazy images, while the memory of the smile she’d given him in his office that morning turned those images into an energy he had a hard time hiding.

It took incredible concentration to bring his attention back to the meeting. Isabell Pruitt, the self-appointed leader of the Ladies Aid Society declared, “I told you nothing good would come of this. If that advertisement draws anybody, it’ll be harlots, women of ill repute, I tell you.”

Every man in the room groaned out loud, which only made Isabell rise to her feet self-righteously and say, “Is that what you want? Is it? If it is, let the record state that I want no part of it. None whatsoever. And another thing…”

“Oh, put a sock in it, Isabell,” one of the men groused.

Isabell pursed her thin lips and gave an affronted huff. “Well, I never!”

“Yeah? Maybe you should.”

The argument that broke out between the members of the Ladies Aid Society and everyone else in the room was loud enough to bring down the roof. Luke swore under his breath and stood. Glancing to his right, he found that the other members of the town council—Clayt, Wyatt McCully, and old Doc Masey—had all risen, too.

During a momentary lull, Luke said, “Now, Isabell, we went over this last month when I looked in on Sylvester. How is that old mouser, anyway?”

Thankfully, nobody sputtered that the only thing wrong with that cat was old age, and Isabell nodded stiffly before sitting back down. Luke took advantage of the opportunity to continue.

“Twenty years ago there were more than seven hundred people living in the village of Jasper Gulch and outlying areas. Today the number barely reaches five hundred.”

“We lose more of our women every year,” Doc Masey added. “Not one girl in this year’s graduating class is planning to stay in Jasper Gulch come fall. There are already sixty-two bachelors, and it’s only going to get worse. We need more women in this town if we want it to survive for future generations.”

Wyatt’s grandfather, Cletus McCully, snapped his suspenders and said, “We need more women if there are going to be future generations.”

A couple of his old cronies snickered into their hands, and Isabell’s face turned red all the way to the roots of her springy gray hair. The few people who were opposed to the idea of bringing strangers into their quiet town continued to bicker with everyone else. Luke exchanged a look with Clayt and Wyatt, then slowly sank back into his folding chair.

He called for order. Then called again. The third try was the charm, or at least as close to it as he’d likely see that night, because with it, the men and women of Jasper Gulch lowered their grumbling to a dull roar.

Very little air was moving through the open windows at his back, and the native bachelors were getting restless. Not that it wasn’t perfectly understandable. The drought was the worst they’d seen in twenty-two years. Jasper Gulch needed a nice long rain and several dozen single women.

Luke only needed one.

He doubted that anybody had noticed anything different about him lately. His hair was still brown, his eyes were still gray, his frame the same lanky six foot two it had been since his seventeenth birthday. Aside from a few squint lines around his eyes, he didn’t look much different from the way he had ten years ago when he was twenty-five. But it wasn’t his appearance that was changing. It was as if a need had been sparked in the very center of him. It was the need for a woman, a special woman. He’d almost given up any hope of finding her. Now the possibilities seemed limitless.

The meeting progressed in a haphazard fashion. He, Wyatt, Clayt and old Doc Masey did their best to keep things under control, but it wasn’t easy. The room grew hotter by the minute, and so did everyone’s tempers.

“Do you have any idea how long it’s been since somebody put a quarter in the jukebox in my bar?” DoraLee Sullivan complained.

“We might play poker at the Crazy Horse every chance we get,” one of DoraLee’s regulars grumbled, “but we draw the line at dancin’ with each other. No sirree, Bob.”

“See?” DoraLee insisted. “You boys have gotta do something to bring other women to Jasper Gulch.”

“We’re trying, but we all have to be patient,” Clayt declared.

Jason Tucker, who worked for Clayt on the Carson family ranch just outside of town, sprang to his feet. “Patient? You expect us to be patient? Do you know how long it’s been since one of us has had a date?”

Wyatt, the county sheriff, rubbed his chin and said, “Let’s see. What year is this?”

Everyone chuckled, and Luke breathed his first easy breath since opening the meeting half an hour ago. “Clayt’s right,” he declared. “We all have to be patient. That advertisement’s working. New people are arriving every week. We all know we need new blood in our town. We also need plumbers and electricians and builders and bankers and just about everything else there is.”

“The only things we don’t need are more bachelors,” Boomer Brown grumbled.

Luke opened his mouth to speak. “The single women will come. In fact…”

Cletus McCully cut in before he could finish. “I heard that one of those married couples you mentioned is planning to open a plumbing shop, and one of the other families has a daughter who wants to be a doctor someday, which brings me to the point I wanna make—”

“Nobody takes longer to make a point than you,” Karl Hanson complained.

“You can say that again,” someone else agreed.

“Do you boys wanna deface my character or do you wanna hear my idea?”

“Oh, all right,” Karl said. “Let’s hear what you have to say. But get on with it. It’s hotter than blazes in here.”

Grinning like the proverbial Cheshire cat, wrinkled though he might be, Cletus said, “I make a motion that we throw out the welcome mat to the newcomers of Jasper Gulch.”

“The welcome mat?” Luke asked.

“That’s right. The welcome mat. I’m thinking a town picnic would be in order here. We could even set up a dance floor and hire a country-western band.”

“A dance floor!” one of the many bachelors groused.

“Cletus, are you crazy?”

“Who in the world are we gonna dance with? Married women?”

“See what I mean?” Isabell sputtered. “Only ill will come of this, I tell you.”

Just when Luke was sure he’d never gain control of the meeting again, the door leading to the diner opened. A low murmur went through the crowd as Wyatt’s younger sister, Mel McCully walked in. As if on cue, everyone went perfectly still.

Mel wasn’t alone.

Two women, one with dark hair, the other with red, slowly made their way to the center of the room.

“Well, looky here,” Jason declared, looking for all the world like a yearling who’d seen his first female. “Women.”

“Pretty ones, too.”

“I’ll be gol-darned.”

Luke had never seen so many cowboy hats pushed higher off so many foreheads in so short a time. Mel stayed where she was near the back of the room, but the other two women slowly zigzagged toward the front.

“I do believe our prayers are being answered,” Karl Hanson said.

Luke wondered how long Karl could hold his breath and suck in his belly at the same time. The dark-haired woman in front cast a covert glance all around and favored them all with a smile. The second woman turned her head, the overhead bulbs creating golden-red highlights in her hair. Luke’s own stomach muscles tightened, but for an entirely different reason. His eyes narrowed, and a slow heat that had nothing to do with the sweltering temperatures shimmered through him.

He leaned back in his chair. And waited. For what, he wasn’t sure. Maybe for the beating rhythm of his heart to return to normal. Or maybe to see if Jillian Daniels felt the same spark of attraction he did.

With a wink that turned young Jason Tucker’s face three shades of red, the dark-haired woman said, “I’m Lisa Markman, and this is my friend, Jillian Daniels. We just moved into town this morning, and we were hoping you wouldn’t mind answering a few questions.”

“You can ask us anything, anything at all,” Karl declared.

All the men chuckled, all except Luke. Lisa was talking about the family clothing store she planned to open, but Luke hardly heard. He was too busy watching Jillian. She’d changed her clothes since this morning. Now the skirt she wore was one of those trendy wraparound numbers he’d seen on TV—hip-hugging, calf-skimming, a fantasy in the making. He wasn’t sure what it was made of, but the color was a deep, deep green. Her blouse was simple in design, sleeveless, scoop-necked and a rich shade of gold.

The other woman held up a stack of flyers and said, “I’ve done a lot of research since I saw your advertisement in the Madison papers, and I’ve listed some of the clothing I thought you might want me to stock. I’m going to start with the basics for now and expand as time goes on. I’ve rented the vacant store next door, and I’ve already talked to suppliers and wholesalers. If I pick up the merchandise myself, I should be in business in a week. That’s where all of you come in. If you’d fill out one of these questionnaires and spread the word to your friends and neighbors, I’d really appreciate it.”

Luke thought about the way Jillian had hesitated that morning when he’d asked if she had come about the ad. He’d been referring to his help wanted ad, but she’d obviously thought he’d meant the advertisement luring women to their corner of South Dakota.

She’d really only come in to tell him his lights were on. And yet she’d taken the job. Under the circumstances he wouldn’t have blamed her if she’d taken one look at his ramshackle office and hightailed it out of there. But damn, he was glad she hadn’t.

“What do you want us to do with the questionnaires when we’re through?” Boomer asked.

Lisa answered, “You can either hand them to me tonight or bring them to the store. Or, if you’d rather, you can drop them in the mail. Our post office box is number 113. I always thought thirteen was unlucky, but Jillian has assured me that the way the moon and planets are aligned right now, it’s very lucky, indeed.”

Luke watched as the women separated and began passing out flyers. He didn’t know much about the alignment of the moon and planets, but there must have been something to this luck thing, because today felt like his lucky day.

Jillian worked her way around the crooked rows of chairs, handing a flyer to each man she passed. Within minutes she reached the front of the room where she held out a sheet of paper to Doc Masey and smiled at his friendly greeting. Clayt was next. And then Wyatt.

The only man left was Luke.

He took a deep breath. And waited. With her next step he could hear the soft rustle of her skirt. A rousing dose of anticipation played along his spine. She glanced at the stack of flyers in her hand and then straight into his eyes.

There was an instant parting of her lips and a slight lift of her eyebrows. She hesitated for a moment, then smiled at him the way she had earlier. Now he understood the knowing glint in her eyes. Holding up an old newspaper containing the town’s advertisement for women, he asked, “Why didn’t you tell me you were here about this ad?”

Her lips curved upward the tiniest bit. In a voice barely loud enough to hear, she said, “I knew you’d figure it out. Do you still need me?”

“You have no idea how much.”

Jillian Daniels couldn’t feel her feet. That’s how far her head was in the clouds. For a moment she was afraid that the delicate thread that seemed to have formed between her gaze and Luke Carson’s was the only thing keeping her from floating completely away.

The man was more sure of himself and his masculine appeal than she would have liked, but she could see why. He was tall, even sitting down. He looked more like a cowboy than the town vet. His jeans and shirt were faded, his shoulders broad, his skin tan. His hair was dark brown and in need of a trim. She wasn’t sure if that was what gave him that roguish quality, or if it was the way he grasped the black hat resting on his knee.

There was something about him that seemed familiar. She’d noticed it that morning. Studying his face feature by feature, she couldn’t recall having ever met him. And yet the sense of familiarity remained.

She swallowed with difficulty, then somehow managed to turn around again, finally breaking eye contact. It took her to the count of ten to get her breathing under control. It took even longer to reel in her thoughts. Fanning herself with the leftover flyers, she tried to put her thoughts in order, but that wasn’t easy. Luke Carson was not an easy man to put out of her mind.

Lisa was talking on the other side of the room, and Jillian did her best to follow along. After all, helping Lisa get settled was what she was here to do.

“Does everyone have a questionnaire?” Lisa asked.

Several men held up their light blue sheets of paper. The rest all made agreeable sounds of one sort or another.

“Do you have any questions?” Lisa asked.

“I have one,” a man nearly hidden in the very back of the room called. “Why isn’t there any place on this form for my phone number?”

“Forget about your phone number, Karl,” the stocky man sitting next to him said. “I’d rather know their telephone numbers. You gals are single, aren’t you?”

Lisa’s laugh was deep and throaty. Jillian had a feeling that more than one of these men would hear it in his dreams tonight. Waggling one finger, Lisa said, “I was sure your ad said you Jasper Gents were shy.”

“Shy but willing,” someone called.

“Now, are you gonna answer our question?”

Jillian met Lisa’s gaze over the tops of more than a dozen cowboy hats. They shared a shrug and a mild shake of their heads before Lisa said, “Yes, it just so happens that Jillian and I are both as single as a long-stemmed rose. Now, we don’t want to keep you from your meeting, so we’ll be going. It was nice meeting all of you. Stop in at the store and see us real soon, ya hear?”

“Oh, we’ll be there.”

“You can count on it.”

“You got that right.”

“Yes sirree, Bob.”

Watching Jillian and Lisa leave, Luke couldn’t help noticing how well the two women communicated with just a look or a gesture. He wondered how long they’d been friends and had to fight the almost overwhelming desire to follow them out the door. Holding on to his composure, he tipped his chair back and hitched one boot over the opposite knee, calculating his next move.

“Cletus McCully, you old dog,” Karl declared. “You were right, absolutely right.”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.”

“Lisa and Jillian,” someone said reverently. “Those are fine names, don’tcha think?”

“I wouldn’t care if their names were Myrnella and Peerpont. They’re fine looking,” someone else declared.

“My mother’s new furniture is fine looking. Lisa and Jillian are gorgeous,” Jason insisted.

“And single.”

“Yeah, single.”

The front legs of Luke’s chair met the floor with a definite click.

“How old would you say they are?” Jason asked.

“Who cares?”

“Yeah, who cares.”

“Now about this welcome mat Cletus mentioned,” Doc Masey began.

“A town picnic is a great idea,” Karl said.

“With dancing?” Jason asked.

“Yep.”

“With real live women and everything?”

“Yep.”

“I second Cletus’s motion!” Jason exclaimed.

“I third it.”

“I fourth it.”

“Everyone in favor, say aye!” Jason shouted.

The room echoed with a chorus of ayes. Before Luke, who was supposed to be running the meeting, could ask for any nays, Cletus said, “It looks like we’re going to have us a town picnic.”

A cheer went around the room. Cletus stood up and said, “Wyatt? You, Clayt and Luke can work out the details, can’t you?”

“The details?” Wyatt croaked.

“Sure. I’ll bet the kind women of the Ladies Aid Society would help you with the food. Isn’t that right, Isabell? Meanwhile, we’ll all spread the word. Seems to me there won’t be much left for you three boys to do. Don’t dilly-dally with your plans. The sooner we have the picnic the better.”

“Now just a cotton-picking minute,” Clayt grumbled.

Before Luke and Wyatt could add to Clayt’s rebuke, someone who had no authority whatsoever moved to adjourn. Within seconds, men whose scowls had been miraculously replaced with wide grins nearly tripped over each other in their haste to be the first ones out the door. The next thing Luke knew, he, Wyatt and Clayt were alone in the sweltering room.

“It looks like we have a town picnic to plan,” Wyatt said.

“What’s worse, we have to ask Isabell Pruitt to help,” Clayt grumbled.

“I could strangle my grandfather,” Wyatt declared.

“I’d be glad to help,” Clayt sputtered. “But I don’t know how in the hell I’d fit it in.”

Luke didn’t think there was much he could add to that. After all, Clayt did have his hands full these days. It had only been a few weeks since his ex-wife had breezed into town just long enough to dump their nine-year-old daughter on his doorstep, saying that she’d had it with parenting. Haley might not have seemed like such a handful if Luke and Clayt’s mother hadn’t been called away to Oregon to care for her ailing mother, leaving her men to fend for themselves. The fact that the grass was burning up on the family spread only compounded Clayt’s worries.

It took Luke a while to notice that nobody was talking. He looked from Clayt to Wyatt with ‘What?’ written all over his face.

Wyatt was studying Luke through narrowed eyes. “I was just wondering why you’re not complaining louder than anybody about the fact that there are only two new women in town and sixty-two bachelors vying for their attention.”

“That’s right,” Clayt cut in. “Why aren’t you swearing up one side and down the other?”

Luke didn’t think there was much use in trying to deny anything. After all, Clayt and Wyatt both knew him like the backs of their own hands. When he was good and ready, he hitched his fingers through his belt loops and rocked back on his heels.

“I don’t particularly like the idea of competing with at least half the county for a woman’s affections, but it just so happens that I have a little advantage.”

“What advantage?” Clayt asked.

“It’s not a big deal, really.”

“Don’t make me drag it out of you,” Clayt threatened.

“Don’t make me help him,” Wyatt added.

Luke almost smiled.

“Well?” Clayt demanded.

Lowering his voice as if guarding a secret, Luke finally answered. “It just so happens that I know something the other bachelors don’t.”

“About the two new women?” Wyatt asked.

“About Jillian.”

“I’ll give you to the count of three,” Clayt declared.

This time Luke didn’t even try to keep the grin off his face. Glancing from Clayt to Wyatt, he said, “I know where she works.”

“Where?” Two voices rose in unison.

“In my office. With me.”

Clayt and Wyatt tipped their hats up at the same time, but Clayt was the first to find his voice. “How in Sam Hill did you manage that?”

With an unmistakable heat still vibrating through his body, Luke said, “Just my lucky day, I guess.”

He turned around and, without another word, slowly sauntered out the door. Yes sirree. Today was definitely his lucky day. And from the looks of things, tomorrow was going to be even better.

Chapter Two

“Did you ever see so many cowboy hats in one room?” Jillian asked, looking up from the box of pots and pans she was unpacking.

“Forget the cowboy hats,” Lisa said coyly. “Did you ever see so many cowboys in one room?”

“This is ranching country, so it only stands to reason that there would be cowboys here.”

Lisa pushed an empty box out of her way. With her hands on her hips she asked, “But doesn’t it seem more than a little amazing how things are working out? I mean, what were the chances that we’d see that advertisement luring women to Jasper Gulch? Could it be possible that there really are men in the world who are looking for more than a one-night stand?”

“You heard what they said at the meeting tonight,” Jillian answered. “The Jasper Gents are shy but willing.”

“I think they might have been stretching the truth a bit with that shy part.” Lifting her hair off her neck, Lisa asked, “Does it feel awfully warm in this kitchen to you?”

Jillian shook her head and said, “Do you think the fact that you decided to stir up a loaf of cinnamon swirl coffee cake, which you baked in a kitchen that was already sweltering hot, has anything to do with that?”

Lisa shrugged. “I couldn’t help it. After passing out those flyers to the people at the town meeting tonight, I had an incredible amount of restless energy. And you know I always cook when that happens.”

Straightening, Jillian strode to the refrigerator. Of course she knew that Lisa cooked when she got excited, just as Lisa knew that she couldn’t boil water. Their knowledge of each other went back through a series of years, through a series of heartaches, of whispered secrets and treasured smiles, to a time when they’d both needed a friend more than they’d needed anything else in the world. In the face of such a friendship, the fact that they were complete opposites only made things more interesting.

“I’ve never felt like this before.”

The deep, raspy note in Lisa’s voice drew Jillian around. “What do you mean?”

“I’ve never felt on the verge of so many possibilities. I mean, just look at this kitchen. Look at this house.”

Jillian glanced at the old-fashioned stove, the worn floor and painted cupboards. She’d seen a lot of kitchens that were more modern, but she knew what Lisa meant. This rented house marked a new beginning for Lisa, a chance at happiness, maybe even a chance at love.

Since the only items in the refrigerator were leftover burgers from a fast-food place in Western Minnesota and two half-empty cans of soda, she closed the door and stood leaning against it. A breeze wafted through the nearby screen, fluttering the flyaway wisps of hair around her face.

“You were lucky to find this house in so short a time.”

Lisa muffled a yawn with one hand. “We can thank that sweet old Cletus McCully for that. I liked him the moment I met him when he showed us this house two weeks ago. He said he trusts me. Can you believe that? He didn’t even ask for a security deposit. Did I tell you that he said people don’t lock their doors at night in Jasper Gulch? I’ve never lived in a town like this, and I certainly never thought I ever would. But just look at us. We’re here. You’ve already found a job, although I was hoping you’d take a little time off for a change, and I’m going to open a clothing store. Maybe you’re right, Jillian. Maybe dreams really can come true.”

Jillian followed the course of Lisa’s gaze out the window to the east. “Of course dreams really can come true. Travis and Cori are living proof.”

“Yeah. What do you suppose everyone’s doing back in Wisconsin?” Lisa asked.

“They’re probably doing what they always do at eleventhirty on a week night. Sleeping.”

“I’ll bet Travis and Cori aren’t sleeping.”

Jillian shook her head at Lisa’s reference to their friends who were planning to be married next month. “You, Lisa Markman, have a dirty mind.”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you for years.” After a slight pause Lisa added, “Do you think they miss us?”

For at least the thousandth time since she’d met Lisa, Jillian wondered what it would take to make her friend see herself for what she really was. At five foot five, Lisa was a little shorter than Jillian. Her hair was thick and straight, the ends reaching to her shoulders, heavy tendrils brushing her eyebrows. On the outside was a woman who wore bright clothes, had a sultry laugh and a figure to die for, but inside she was one of the most caring and loyal people Jillian had ever known.

“Are you homesick, Lisa?”

“Who me?” She straightened, visibly pulling herself together. “This is my home now. The Jasper Gulch Clothing Store is set to open in less than a week, and I’ve already met a good share of the bachelors here in town.”

A dozen men’s smiling faces flashed through Jillian’s mind, but only one unsmiling face remained. A strange kind of warmth started in her throat and slowly settled lower. Trying to think of something—anything—else, she said, “Did any of those men make a lasting impression on you?”

“I met so many of them in so short a time it’s not easy to remember their names. Let’s see. There was one man named Karl, and I think one of them said his name was Boomer. There was an Archie and a Ben and I remember a boy named Jason, and of course that sweet old Cletus McCully. And there was that woman named Mel who owns the diner and Isabell Pruitt, who, if you ask me, looks as if she makes a habit of sucking lemons, and I remember someone named Clayt.”

“And Luke.”

“Who?”

Jillian gave herself a mental shake. “Shouldn’t the loaf of coffee cake be cool enough to eat by now?”

Lisa reached for a towel then hurried away toward the front door. Jillian stood perfectly still at the kitchen counter in Lisa’s newly rented house. She could hear the sound her friend’s bare feet made on the worn linoleum. Otherwise the night was silent.

She’d always heard that the plains were supposed to be windy places. Tonight only the barest of breezes wafted through the open window. She wondered what the weather was like in Wisconsin. Although her life in Madison hadn’t been easy, it was still the one place in the whole world that she considered home. It was where she’d grown up, where her parents and grandparents were buried and where she’d met the three best friends she’d ever had. It had felt strange to leave Ivy Pennington and Cori Cassidy yesterday morning. But Cori was getting married soon, and Ivy, an older woman, who’d been the surrogate mother of them all, had encouraged Lisa and Jillian to check out the Jasper Gents here in South Dakota. Lisa had been so excited about coming to Jasper Gulch, Jillian hadn’t been able to turn down her request to come with her.

In all honesty she had been feeling at loose ends lately. And she was enjoying the change of pace. Her rent was paid on her apartment in Madison, and it was going to be fun to watch Lisa systematically search for the man of her dreams. But the one thing Jillian hadn’t figured into her summer holiday agenda was her reaction to Luke Carson.

“Jillian,” Lisa said, interrupting her train of thought, “where did you say you put that coffee cake?”

“Right there on the railing,” she said, hurrying through the quiet house and out onto the porch. “Right there next to the…”

Her voice trailed away the moment she realized she was looking in the exact spot the loaf should have been. Walking to the edge of the porch, she checked the bushes then peered at the dark houses all around them.

“Someone must have taken it,” she said incredulously.

“Someone stole our coffee cake?” Lisa whispered.

“It looks that way.”

“Who in the world would steal such a thing at a quarter to midnight in the little town of Jasper Gulch?”

“Does it make you nervous?” Jillian asked, looking sideways at her friend.

Lisa’s brown eyes lit up with excitement. “Are you kidding? We’ve only been in town for fifteen hours, and I’ve already had more fun than I had in an entire month in Madison. I wonder what other surprises are waiting for us in Jasper Gulch.”

Luke Carson’s image filtered through Jillian’s mind all over again. She tried to blink it away.

Yawning again, Lisa said, “I’m about ready to fall asleep on my feet. If you want to go on up to bed, I’ll turn out the lights.”

Jillian looked at the dark houses all around, then at the leaves that were stirring in the slight evening breeze. Keeping her voice as low as the murmur of insects hiding in the dry grass, she said, “You go ahead. I’ll be in, in a little while.”

“You aren’t afraid to be out here by yourself after what happened to my cake?”

Jillian shook her head. She’d been on her own for a long time and knew how to take care of herself. Giving the dark windows of the neighboring houses a cursory glance, she said, “There’s probably a perfectly logical explanation for that. Cletus McCully said that other than the ugly color of orange paint Bonnie Trumble used on the front of the Clip and Curl, the only crimes committed in Jasper Gulch are gossiping and jaywalking. So I doubt a hardened criminal stole our late-night snack. A stray dog probably took it, or maybe a raccoon. You go on ahead. I think I’ll sit out here for a while and unwind.”

Jillian sank to the top step and wrapped her arms around her knees, listening to the sounds Lisa made as she walked up the stairs. A short time later a pipe rumbled somewhere in the old house. And then the only sounds she heard were the squeaks of crickets and the wind in the eaves.

She sat there for a long time, the air slowly cooling her skin, the quiet slowly lulling her thoughts. When she’d agreed to accompany Lisa all these miles to Jasper Gulch, she’d wondered what she would do with herself. Just like that, she’d found a job. It had been completely unexpected, but not as unexpected as the longing she’d felt deep inside when she’d first looked into Luke Carson’s eyes.

She tried to tell herself that the reason her longing was so unsettling was because it had come out of the blue. Surely it had nothing to do with the husky undertones in his voice or the intensity in his gray eyes. It wasn’t as if she’d never experienced those feelings before. It was just that they had a way of leading straight to heartache. And Jillian didn’t think she could survive any more of that.

She rose slowly and went inside, where she closed the doors and turned out the lights. She tiptoed up the stairs, washed her face and donned a clean nightgown. Crawling between the sheets, she stared at the moonlit shadows dancing on the dark ceiling, thinking about everything she’d done that day. She couldn’t help wondering what tomorrow would bring.

She was certain of only two things. She was going to put an end to whatever it was she’d glimpsed in Luke Carson’s eyes today and to whatever it was that had answered deep in her chest. And she was going to make sure he didn’t get the wrong idea about her presence here in Jasper Gulch.

Yes, first thing tomorrow morning, that was what she was going to do.

“It looks as if you’re making a dent in that stack of folders.”

Jillian glanced over her shoulder and found her new employer leaning in the doorway. His arms were folded at his chest, his hat shading the upper part of his face. In the four hours she’d been there, he’d come and gone twice. She hadn’t heard him return either time.

He’d met her at the door a few minutes before eight that morning and quickly filled her in on the operation of his small clinic, explaining that since this was cattle country he did most of his work out of his truck. He kept this small office here on Main Street to examine dogs and cats and an occasional hamster, but unless it was an emergency, he only scheduled appointments for every other Thursday. He’d pointed to the file cabinets, poked his head into his one-and-only examining room and had pretty much given her free rein of everything in between. Other than taking a few telephone calls, she’d spent the morning familiarizing herself with the workings of his practice.

“Are you getting a handle on Brenda’s filing system?” he asked from the doorway.

Since she couldn’t very well say something bad about someone she’d never met, she gave him a small nod and turned back to her filing.

“Liar.”

Her double take didn’t quite make him smile, but it raised his lips enough to crease one lean cheek. Pushing away from the doorjamb, he said, “Come on, Jillian. This is Jasper Gulch. If we didn’t gossip, we’d have nothing to do. Everybody knows that the only way Brenda Townsend could figure out what letter came after T was to recite the entire alphabet from the beginning. So you don’t have to try to protect her reputation.”

She smiled to herself and reached for another stack of files. “Then it wouldn’t be wrong of me to surmise that the gum stuck on the bottom of the chair belonged to your former office assistant?”

“You catch on fast.”

She glanced at the name on the next file, wishing his simple compliment didn’t make her feel so…complimented. Last night she’d vowed to set Luke straight about her presence in Jasper Gulch. It hadn’t taken her long to realize that that was easier said than done. It wasn’t that she hadn’t tried. It was just that Luke Carson wasn’t an easy man to deter. He had a restless energy that didn’t permit him to stand in one place very long. She didn’t know how a man his size did it, but he moved like lightning…without the thunder.

Reining in her thoughts, she asked, “Where did this Brenda go? When she left Jasper Gulch, I mean.”

“To Sioux Falls. The girl hated to type, but she sure seemed to enjoy chasing me around the desk.”

Being careful to keep her voice neutral, she said, “I would have thought it was the other way around.”

He made a sound only men could manage and said, “Give me some credit. The girl was nineteen and thought the olden days referred to the years before microwaves were invented. Believe me, I never chased Brenda Townsend around the desk, and I give you my word I won’t chase you. But don’t worry, I won’t hold you to the same rule.”

Jillian hadn’t intended to turn around, but once she had, she couldn’t look away. There was a maddening hint of arrogance about this man that was impossible to ignore. He might have been a country vet, but he was no country bumpkin. He had his masculine swagger down to an art form, and his smiles, well, they were just rare enough and just unexpected enough to chase nearly every coherent thought right out of her head.

Jillian stared wordlessly at him from her side of the cluttered old desk. He was watching her, his gaze steady, his expression thoughtful. His skin appeared even darker beneath his dusty black cowboy hat, his jaw square, his chin strong. As far as she was concerned, she’d noticed entirely too much about him. In fact, the first thing she’d done when she’d stepped foot inside the office that morning was notice he’d shaved. The second thing she’d done was give herself a mental kick for noticing in the first place. She gave herself another one, this time keeping her expression under stern restraint.

“Trust me, Luke. You have nothing to fear.”

“Do I look afraid, Jillian?”

She fought against the urge to smile and lost. Tipping her head ever so slightly, she said, “I think you know exactly how you look.”

“And how is that?”

She thought about all the words she could have used to describe him, but ended up shaking her head and saying nothing.

“Spoilsport.”

A strange sensation of déjà vu washed over her. The same thing had happened yesterday. Studying him intently, she said, “Have you ever been to a little town in Wisconsin called Maple Bluff?”

“No, I can’t honestly say that I have.”

“How about the University of Wisconsin? Have you ever been there?”

He took a step closer and shook his head. “I studied veterinary medicine at Michigan State, why?”

“It’s nothing, really. I just can’t shake the feeling that I’ve seen you someplace before.”

Stopping on the other side of his desk, he said, “We’ve never met.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because if we had, I’d remember. And so would you.”

He didn’t move, not even when the telephone started to ring. For a long moment neither did she. She thought she’d been prepared for the advances of the bachelors in Jasper Gulch. After all, it stood to reason that men who’d advertised for women would be interested in pursuing the new women in town. But she hadn’t been prepared for Luke Carson’s straightforwardness or his persistence. Actually she hadn’t been prepared for anything concerning this man, least of all her instinctive response to him. Truth be told, she was strangely flattered by his interest. But Jillian couldn’t afford to be distracted by romantic notions. Since she had no intention of leading him on, she knew she had to put an end to these feelings arcing between them once and for all.

By the time the telephone had jangled four times, she’d managed to gather her thoughts enough to ask, “Do you want me to answer that?”

He shook his head and reached for the receiver. With his voice a low drone in the background, she took another deep breath and turned back to her task. By the time he hung up the phone, she was well on her way to getting back on an even keel. “Another emergency?” she asked conversationally.

She felt his eyes on her back, but she didn’t turn around.

“I guess you could say that, but not the way you mean. That was my brother, Clayt. I’m still not sure how it happened, but he, Wyatt McCully and I somehow managed to get ourselves roped into planning the town picnic. We put our heads together at the Crazy Horse last night, but I’m afraid we didn’t get very far. DoraLee Sullivan, the owner of the Crazy Horse, said it was like watching three nuns plan a stag party.”

Smiling at the mental picture his words evoked, she took her first casual breath since she’d found him lounging in the doorway several minutes ago. “Is the Crazy Horse the local saloon?”

“The one and only.”

Keeping her eyes focused on the filing cabinet, she said, “Is that where the people of Jasper Gulch go for fun?”

“Aside from rolling up the sidewalks at eight every night, there isn’t much to do in Jasper Gulch. Every now and then I mosey on down to the Crazy Horse to watch the old-timers play poker or listen to the local bachelors complain about the weather and the long, lonely nights out here.”

Jillian couldn’t imagine Luke Carson moseying anywhere, but she didn’t think it would be wise to mention that particular observation or to ask about those long, lonely nights he’d mentioned, so she remained quiet. Unfortunately her stack of files had run out and so had her diversions. As if he knew it, Luke said, “There’s been a noted lack of women in these parts lately, you know.”

She turned around, smiling in spite of herself. “So I’ve heard.”

“Have you also heard that things are starting to look up around here?”

Jillian wanted to believe he wasn’t referring to her arrival in town, but the tone of his voice left little room for such possibilities. He was a decent man, and probably a lonely one. She wanted to warn him not to get his hopes up where she was concerned. More than anything she wanted to let him down easy, but how?

“I’d be happy to show you around the Crazy Horse sometime, Jillian. What are you doing tonight?”

He tipped his hat up, and for the first time since he’d stepped foot back inside the office, she saw the expression in his gray eyes. A zing went through her, and although she tried, she couldn’t look away.

Luke didn’t know what was going through Jillian’s mind, but he knew what was going through his body. Damn, it felt good. He had half a mind to stride to the other side of the desk and reach for her hand, slowly drawing her closer, to tip her face up a little and gently cover her lips with his.

He took a step closer and then another. Before his eyes the expression in hers changed. Slowly, deliberately, she pulled her gaze away and turned her back on him.

Luke’s footsteps froze in mid-stride.

He settled his hands on his hips, disappointed. What was going on here?

It didn’t take long for his disappointment to make way for his anger. For crying out loud, this was the third time he’d brought up the subject of spending time with Jillian. And the third time she’d ignored him completely. He’d given her a few hours to feel comfortable, then had started hinting for a date. He hadn’t thought too much of it when she’d given him a noncommittal hum when he’d suggested they catch a bite to eat in Pierre or take in a movie. At the time he’d assumed she hadn’t heard. After all, she was up to her elbows in a new job. Now that he thought about it, she hadn’t had any trouble answering his questions concerning her trip out here from Madison. And she hadn’t given him that little hum when he’d told her how his great-great-great grandfather, Jasper Carson, had come to found this town. Only his requests to spend time with her outside the office had been met with complete silence.

She’d heard his invitations. All three times. But she was ignoring them. Luke wanted to know why.

Keeping his voice purposefully low, he asked, “Ever been to the rodeo, Jillian?”

She shook her head cautiously. And Luke moved in to set the hook.

“That’s too bad. The rodeo is South Dakota’s numberone spectator sport. I don’t think there’s a living soul out here who doesn’t look forward to rodeo days. Since I’d really hate to see you miss it, I’d be happy to take you.”

Jillian didn’t know where to look. She’d gone through the stack of files on the corner of the desk, so she couldn’t look there. She half wished the phone would ring. But it didn’t, and she couldn’t look there, either. In the end she squared off opposite Luke and raised her gaze to his. The moment of truth wasn’t far away.

“When do rodeo days begin?” she asked.

“In August.”

“That’s next month.”

Although Luke raised his eyebrows, he didn’t say anything. She felt like an idiot, anyway. He’d as good as told her he thought his former secretary didn’t have both oars in the water, and here she was sounding even worse. It required all her willpower to hold his gaze, all her courage to say, “I appreciate your invitation, Luke, but I really can’t make that kind of commitment.”

“You can’t.”

Those two little words were issued in a clipped tone of voice men everywhere used moments before their patience went right through the roof. Giving her head a firm shake, she said, “No, I can’t.”

“Why the hell not?”

“Because,” she said, keeping her voice as steady as possible. “I can’t guarantee I’ll still be here by then.”

She closed her eyes, waiting for the explosion. When it didn’t come, she chanced a glance his way. His lips were set in a firm line, his chest puffed out like a porcupine’s quills. She quickly diverted her gaze to her watch. “Would you look at the time! It’s twelve o’clock already, and I told Lisa I’d help her in the store right after lunch.”

Without another word, she hurried to the back room where she’d stashed her purse first thing that morning. When she came out again, she couldn’t help noticing that Luke hadn’t moved an inch. It was the longest she’d seen him stay in one place all morning.

“Well,” she called over her shoulder. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Eight o’clock sharp. ’Bye.”

The blast of hot air from the street brought Luke out of his stupor. He didn’t know what was happening to his concentration, but he didn’t like what had just happened to his ego. He’d asked Jillian out four times, which was exactly how often he’d been shot down.

He scooped his hat off his head with one hand and rubbed his face with the other. The Carson brothers may not have had much in the patience department, but they’d never had any trouble with women. Luke himself had turned a fair number of heads in his day, even with the lack of females in the area these past few years. Until about a minute ago he’d been confident that he could turn Jillian’s.

What the hell did she mean she couldn’t guarantee she’d be here next month? Where was she planning to go? He supposed he could wait until she came to work in the morning to find out. Wait, hell.

He crammed his hat back on his head and strode straight out to the sidewalk. He didn’t even bother to close the door.

It was high noon, and some of the people of Jasper Gulch were out and about. Cletus McCully was sitting in his usual spot on the bench in front of the post office, and Opal Graham and her spinster daughter Louetta were heading for the diner for their usual Tuesday lunch.

Luke spotted Jillian trying to cross the street in front of Josie’s Five and Dime. Shading her eyes with her hand, she glanced to the right and then to the left, waiting for Karl Hanson to move his old truck on down the street. Luke headed toward her, his long strides eating up the sidewalk in record time. By the time she stepped off the curb, he was only five yards away.

“Jillian, wait!”

She looked over her shoulder and came to an abrupt stop.

He slowed his steps and called, “You need a key.”

“A what?”

He took another step, feeling the heat rise off the pavement in waves. “A key. I never know when I’ll have to make an emergency run to one of the ranches. If it happens in the middle of the night or early in the morning, I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to open the office at eight.”

“Oh, in that case…”

Jillian’s lips continued to move, but an approaching car in dire need of a new muffler drowned out whatever else she was saying. From the corner of his eye, he saw a rusty splotch of brown and fleetingly wondered why Roy Everts didn’t break down and get that car of his fixed. The old man drove like a maniac, taking out fence posts and mailboxes every other day. Luke turned his head just in time to see Roy take the corner wide, barreling through the town’s only stop sign. In a flash Luke realized the old geezer was about to take out Jillian today.

“Jillian. Look out!” Luke reached her on the run, his feet moving before his brain had decided what to do. A horn blared just as his arm snaked around her waist. He pulled her to his chest so hard it knocked the wind out of her.

Roy missed her by two feet.

Craning her neck to look at the car, which had come to a stop in front of the Crazy Horse, she gasped, “Who was that?”

Another time Luke would have called Roy every name in the book. But right that minute all his concentration was fixed on the woman in his arms. He’d noticed she was slender the first time he’d seen her, but he’d had no way of knowing how soft and pliant she would feel in his arms. Her hair smelled of warm flowers, her white blouse a thin barrier between his callused hand and the soft skin at her waist. This close, her eyes were an even lighter shade of blue and were wide open, staring into his.

“His name is Roy. Don’t worry, Cletus is already giving him the tongue lashing he deserves. Not that it’ll do any good.”

She moved, her thigh brushing his, her breathing expanding her chest, which in turn expanded his. Her lips were parted slightly and so full he was tempted to kiss her, here and now.

“Luke, what are you doing?”

Her voice was a husky rasp, but it brought him to his senses. He wouldn’t have minded kissing her in the middle of Main Street. But first kisses were meant to be private, especially if they were going to lead to second kisses.

Loosening his hold on her, he said, “I’m saving your life, of course.”

She glanced around. And stiffly stepped back. “Oh. I suppose you’re right. Um. Well. I don’t know what to say.”

She sounded breathless. Luke didn’t blame her. His breathing was still ragged, too. But his mind was functioning normally, and as far as he was concerned, there were several things she could say. She could tell him she’d be happy to go out with him, for starters. And maybe she could follow that up with an invitation of her own.

Unfortunately she didn’t appear to be getting ready to say either of those things. She was looking decidedly ill at ease. Since he didn’t want to scare her away, he tugged on her hand, drawing her with him to the curb.

Without releasing her fingers, he said, “Why don’t you say you’ll have lunch with me.”

“Lunch?”

“Yes, lunch. Come on, Jillian. I just saved your life. In some cultures that would make you mine.”

Her chin came up, and her hand stiffened in his. If Luke lived to be a hundred, he doubted he would ever see a more serious expression on another person’s face. He felt his own eyes narrow and his adrenaline kick into overdrive, because he recognized the look of a woman gearing up to speak her mind.

Chapter Three

Jillian tried not to bristle as she shot a quick glance at the people who were out and about on the narrow main street. She could hear Cletus McCully’s rusty old voice a half block away and an occasional grumble from the man who’d nearly run her down. Two women were standing beneath the diner’s faded awning across the street, and a handful of men were watching from the shade next door.

She remembered Luke telling her how the people of Jasper Gulch liked to gossip and realized that he was still holding her hand. This wasn’t the place she would have chosen to have this conversation, but she supposed saying what she had to say in front of the town’s watchful eyes had its merit.

After a long pause she firmly, deliberately, pulled her hand from his. “You may have saved me from serious injury, Luke. But my life is very much my own.”

He looked as if he would have liked to argue, but shrugged instead. “All right, Red. I can respect that. Now, how about that lunch?”

“My hair is not red.” Jillian’s mouth dropped open, his slow grin sending the air whooshing out of her lungs. What did she care what color he called her hair? And why did it feel as if her heart was doing a pirouette inside her chest?

“Red, gold, brown and amber. It’s beautiful. Now, do you want to stand here and argue or do you want to go inside Mel’s Diner—where it’s air-conditioned—and have lunch?”

For a full five seconds Jillian couldn’t speak. Feeling inordinately warmed in ways she preferred not to examine, she crossed her arms, doing everything in her power to conquer her involuntary reaction to this man.

“I’m not having lunch with you, Luke.”

“Aren’t you hungry?”

She released a huff of air at the poor impression he did of looking innocent. “Yes. No. I mean, my hunger has nothing to do with it.”

That got his attention. His eyes narrowed and he lowered his chin. “Would you care to explain what this does have to do with?”

Actually, she’d rather not, but didn’t see any way around it. “Look, if I have lunch with you, people will get the wrong idea about us.”

“And what idea is that?”

“They’ll think we’re a couple.”

He no longer looked as if he was trying to appear innocent. The mixture of surprise and curiosity on his face was definitely the real thing.

Jillian took a deep breath. She was doing this badly. She couldn’t blame Luke for jumping to conclusions. She had, after all, come to a town that had advertised for women, so it was no wonder he’d assumed she would be interested in dating the local bachelors.

Trying for a conciliatory tone of voice, she said, “I know this seems odd, but I didn’t come to Jasper Gulch to find a man.”

He made that sound again, the one a man makes when he’s holding on to his temper by a thread. His gray eyes darkened to the color of thunderclouds, and his voice dropped an entire octave as he said, “Let me get this straight. You saw the ad for Bachelor Gulch, so you moved here. But you aren’t looking for a man.”

“That’s right.”

“Then would you mind telling me why you’re here?”

“I came to help Lisa get settled, and to help her find the man of her dreams.”

“Lisa’s looking for a man. But you aren’t.”

“Yes. No. I mean that’s right. Lisa is, I’m not.”

He didn’t move a muscle, not even to blink. He was still looking at her incredulously, but all in all he’d taken that better than she’d expected.

Glancing at all the people who were watching this little interaction, she considered walking away without saying another word. She hated to do that to him. He’d given her a job and was a member of this town, had in fact been one of the people responsible for bringing new women to Jasper Gulch. How would it look to have one of those women stomp on his ego in front of more than a dozen residents?

She hadn’t wanted the people of Jasper Gulch to get the wrong impression about her and Luke, but now she realized that as long as Luke understood, she didn’t care what anyone else thought. His reputation and social standing were on the line here. It just so happened that she knew exactly what to do to save them.

With quiet assurance, she laid her hand on his forearm, reached up on tiptoe and whispered a kiss along his jaw. In a voice meant for his ears alone, she said, “This is for the people watching. I’m really not in the market, Luke, but believe me, if I was, you’d be a fine choice.”

Without waiting for him to reply, she stepped back, turned on her heel and hurried across the street.

* * *

Luke came out of his befuddled state just as Jillian disappeared inside the new clothing store on the other side of the street. His arm felt warm where she’d touched him, and he swore he could still feel the gentle brush of her lips on his jaw.

She’d kissed him right here on Main Street in front of God and everyone. Not on the mouth. And not out of passion. She’d kissed him so he could save face.

It had worked. Cletus McCully and Roy Everts were both grinning from ear to ear while Opal and Louetta Graham whispered behind their hands. Even Ed, the town’s only barber, was giving him a thumb’s-up signal from beneath his red-and-white barber pole next door.

A slow heat that had nothing to do with the noon temperature washed over Luke, and his blood began to do a slow boil. He didn’t want charity, and he damned well didn’t need it.

He’d always prided himself on being somewhat of a lady’s man. Somewhat, hell. He felt downright smug about his ability to ignite a woman’s desire and expertly take her to great heights of pleasure. Sure there had been a noted lack of women out here these past few years, but he’d never had any trouble impressing the members of the opposite sex. He’d known his share of women in college and a few since. And not one of them had ever kissed him one second and told him she wasn’t in the market the next.

The market?

He wasn’t real estate, dammit.

He swallowed, hard, the set of his chin and the fury in his expression draining the grin from Cletus McCully’s wrinkled face. Luke knew his sudden trek across the street was met with more than one pair of raised eyebrows, but frankly, he didn’t care. He strode to the opposite curb and over the cracked sidewalk in front of the new clothing store. Without breaking stride, he gave the door a swift yank.

Several of the area bachelors looked up when he entered, but he didn’t stop to chat. He didn’t even bother saying hello. In fact, he didn’t slow his pace until he came within a few feet of the red-haired woman who was poking through a carton near the back of the store.

He knew the instant Jillian noticed him. She turned to face him, folded her arms and settled her weight on one foot. Luke scowled all over again. If she thought her protective stance was going to hold him off, she could think again. He’d faced bigger, meaner, ornerier opponents than her—snorting bulls who didn’t want an inoculation and stallions who didn’t want to be corralled. Oh, no, he’d never let a little thing like a defiant glare stop him before, and he wasn’t about to start now. He and Jillian were going to get something straight between them once and for all.

Jillian didn’t know what was going through Luke’s mind, but it couldn’t have been pleasant. He’d planted himself in front of her, his feet spread apart, his hips thrust forward, his eyes never leaving her face. His lips were set in a straight line, his stare drilling her to the floor.

It wasn’t easy to think when he turned all that roaring intensity on her, so she let her instincts guide her. And her instincts were telling her she’d sorely misjudged him.

“Luke, I…”

He held up one hand, and she stopped. He reached for her wrist, pulling her fingers from the crook of her right arm. Turning her palm toward the ceiling, he pressed a key into its center and curled her fist around it.

“I don’t take charity, Jillian. And I don’t give a rip what the people of this town think.”

With a tug on the brim of his hat, he turned on his heel. He didn’t utter another word. He didn’t have to. The slamming of the door spoke volumes.

She stared into space, her mind blank, her heart racing. When the room finally came back into focus, she glanced around. The local bachelors who were helping Lisa in the store quickly averted their eyes and went back to work hanging shelves and unloading boxes. Lisa’s attention wasn’t so easy to divert. She tucked her hair behind her ears and quickly made her way to the back of the store.

In a voice barely above a whisper, she said, “What in the world was that all about?”

Jillian became aware of an ache in her hand and slowly opened her fingers. Tracing the indentation the key had made in her soft skin, she said, “That was my new boss, Luke Carson. He dropped off this key to the office.”

“That was the local vet?”

Jillian nodded.

“You didn’t tell me he was so good-looking. Or so tall.”

Jillian glanced around the room. She didn’t catch any of the bachelors in the act of looking at her, but several of them were paying a lot of attention to the toes of their scuffed cowboy boots.

She’d spent the first eleven years of her life in a small town, and knew how quickly gossip could spread. This little scene would no doubt be all over Jasper Gulch within the hour, which was exactly why she’d given Luke that kiss in the first place. She’d meant it to be a balm to his ego, but her plan had backfired. She’d tried to protect his reputation, to prevent the other men from knowing she’d turned him down. With very few words he’d let her know exactly how he felt about that.

Jillian wondered why his reaction to her little performance brought out airy hopes she’d forgotten she even had. Unfortunately, with that hope came a dark sense of gloom she understood all too well.

“So, do you have a thing for the local vet?”

Jillian almost choked on her next breath. “Lisa, for heaven’s sake. You know I’m not going to stay in Jasper Gulch.”

Lisa sighed, her smile a little sad. “I know, Jillian. I was just hoping you’d change your mind.”

Biting down on her lip, Jillian felt herself going soft inside. “You’ve been one of my closest friends for fifteen years, and it sure isn’t going to be easy to go back to Madison without you. But you know my stay here is only temporary. We both do.”

Lisa took a deep breath and heaved a great sigh. Within moments a wry grin stole across her face. Inclining her head to the left, she said, “That might be true, but we’re both here now, and on the other side of this very room are men who’ve been deprived of feminine companionship for far too long.”

“Lisa, you’re incorrigible.”

“I know. You’ve gotta love me for it, don’t you?”

Jillian shook her head, wondering how she’d ever gotten lucky enough to have met Lisa Markman all those years ago. Cori Cassidy and Ivy Pennington, too, for that matter. Life hadn’t been easy for any of them back in Wisconsin, but one thing Jillian had learned from living these past thirty years was that she could face just about anything as long as she had friends at her side.

“Now come on,” the most brazen and brassy of those friends said with a wink and a gentle nudge. “We have a captive audience, and I don’t intend to waste it.”

“Lisa, for heaven’s sake. They’ll hear you.”

Lisa brushed the hair from her eyes and brought her chin up at a proud angle. She was wearing faded cutoffs and a T-shirt, but Jillian doubted she’d ever seen a more regal pose. Keeping her voice low and steady, Lisa said, “If one of these bachelors turns out to be the man for me, he’s going to have to love me for who I am, what I am, the way I am.”

Jillian nodded, wondering what there was about the air in this room that brought out so much pride and vigor in a person. It had been apparent in Luke’s expression a few minutes ago and in Lisa’s right now.

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