“I seem to recall that you just agreed to be my friend,” Letter to 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 Copyright

“I seem to recall that you just agreed to be my friend,”

Tony said.

Mariah pressed her back against the door. “I don’t know why I did that. I prefer that we remain strangers.”

“It’s too late. We’re way beyond the stranger stage. Or don’t you know the evolutionary steps of the man-woman relationship?”

Mariah, who didn’t have a clue what he meant, shook her head.

“I’ll be glad to teach them to you. At stage one, we’re strangers. Stage two is the acquaintance phase.... After friends, of course, comes lovers,” Tony continued, taking one last step forward. “Lovers is my favorite stage.” He grinned.

“There’s just so much to do in this phase. So...very...much...”

A panicky sidelong glance revealed that his arms and body pinned her to the spot. She should have punched him.

Instead, she melted into his kiss....

Dear Reader,

You’ll find the heartwarming themes of love and family in our November Romance novels. First up, longtime reader favorite Arlene James portrays A Bride To Honor. In this VIRGIN BRIDES title, a pretty party planner falls for a charming tycoon...whom another woman seeks to rope into a loveless marriage! But can honorable love prevail?

A little tyke takes a tumble, then awakes to ask a rough-hewn rancher, Are You My Daddy? So starts Leanna Wilson’s poignant, emotional romance between a mom and a FABULOUS FATHER who “pretends” he’s family. Karen Rose Smith finishes her enticing series DO YOU TAKE THIS STRANGER? with Promises. Pumpkins and Prince Charming. A wealthy bachelor lets a gun-shy single mom believe he’s just a regular guy. Will their fairy-tale romance survive the truth?

FOLLOW THAT BABY, Silhouette’s exciting cross-line continuity series, comes to Romance this month with The Daddy and the Baby Doctor by star author Kristin Morgan. An ex-soldier single dad butts heads with a beautiful pediatrician over a missing patient Temperatures rise, pulses race—could marriage be the cure? It’s said that opposites attract, and when The Cowboy and the Debutante cozy up on a rustic ranch...well, you’ll just have to read this TWINS ON THE DOORSTEP title by Stella Bagwell to find out! A hairdresser dreams of becoming a Lone Star Bride when a handsome stranger passes through town. Don’t miss the finale of Linda Vamer’s THREE WEDDINGS AND A FAMILY miniseries!

Belovod authors Lindsay Longford, Sandra Steffen, Susan Meier and Carolyn Zane return to our lineup next month, and in the new year we launch our brand-new promotion, FAMILY MATTERS. So keep coming back to Romance!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Mary-Theresa Hussey

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

Lone Star Bride
Linda Varner

www.millsandboon.co.uk

This book is dedicated to a special long-distance friend,

Dora E. Pendetgraft

LINDA VARNER

confesses she is a hopeless romantic. Nothing is more thrilling, she believes, than the battle of wits between a man and a woman who are meant for each other but just don’t know it yet! Linda enjoys writing romance and considers herself very lucky to have been both a RITA finalist and a third-place winner in the National Readers’ Choice Awards in 1993.

A full-time federal employee, Linda lives in Arkansas with her husband and their two children. She loves to hear from readers. Write to her at 813 Oak St., Suite 10A-277, Conway, AR 72032.

SAMPSON FAMILY TREE

Chapter One

A trained chimp could drive this car, thought Mariah Ashe with a soft sigh of boredom. Nonetheless, she kept her eyes glued to the two-lane highway, arrow straight at this point and without hill or valley, vehicle or pedestrian to break the monotony.

Most days, that was.

Today Mariah actually spotted a suspicious dot miles ahead, marring the flat Southern Texas horizon. Instantly her curiosity was piqued. And as the car Mariah was driving zipped past the white lines dividing Hwy 385, she watched with interest how the dot grew in size until it materialized into a pickup truck with concessionaire’s trailer, parked on the shoulder up ahead.

“I’ve seen that rig before!” exclaimed Opal Crawford, one of Mariah’s passengers and half owner of the car.

“I have, too!” chimed in the other half owner, Opal’s twin sister Ruby Smythe. “Slow down, Mariah! We want a better look.”

Mariah willingly did as requested, braking the car until it barely rolled past the beautiful rig. Long and jet-black, the trailer sported a Texas license plate and side window flaps that could be raised to reveal whatever merchandise was inside. The words Tony Mason, Freelance Artist were painted on the doors of both the trailer and the antique truck, which gleamed even though the sun barely peeked through the storm clouds that had hovered for days.

“Tony Mason. Tony Mason. Goodness that name rings a bell,” Opal murmured as Mariah drove slowly by the fancy rig. “I’m sure we’ve met him somewhere, sister.”

“So am I,” answered Ruby. “But where?”

Opal offered choices. “San Francisco? Santa Fe?”

“You two really have seen this trailer before?” Mariah asked as she gradually began to accelerate again. She didn’t know why she was surprised. The twins had relatives all over the country and loved to visit them all.

“Oh, yes, indeed,” Opal said. “It was at...at...” She frowned, clearly struggling to remember.

“I know!” exclaimed Ruby. “The Royal Gorge in Colorado Springs.”

“That’s it,” Opal agreed as she tossed her short, silvery-white hair and gave the armrest a slap. “Four years ago. We were there for third cousin Elsie’s stepdaughter’s niece’s wedding.”

“Yes,” said Ruby. “John Andrew—that’s cousin Elsie’s stepson—bought a cap, and his wife, Misty, bought a T-shirt.”

Not for the first time, Mariah, who had no relatives of her own, silently marveled at the number of people in the twins’ family.

“Where do you suppose Tony Mason is right now?” asked Opal.

“Probably on foot somewhere ahead, though I don’t know how he could leave that beautiful truck behind.” Ruby craned her neck and looked ahead, as did both her companions. “Speed up a little, Mariah. Maybe we can catch up and offer him a ride into town.”

“Are you kidding?” Mariah answered, aghast. “I’m not about to let some stranger in this car.”

“But Tony’s not a stranger at all,” protested Ruby. “Why, he chatted with us the whole time he airbrushed Misty’s T-shirt. Told us all about his travels and his work.”

“And that makes him safe?” Mariah shook her head in disbelief. “I don’t think I have to remind you what happened to Sarah Louise Riley.” She referred to a friend of the seventy-eight-year-old twins, equally youthful and impetuous and recently robbed of her money by a hitchhiker she should never have picked up in the first place.

“Poor Sarah.” Opal shook her head in sympathy.

“Poor, poor Sarah,” echoed Ruby.

Pleased to have made her point, Mariah turned her full attention to her driving and put the truck and trailer out of her mind. She thought instead about her home, where they were heading—a pretty, upstairs apartment in the oversize house owned and shared by the vivacious twins, both widows with grown children.

Ruby and Opal were good, generous landladies, and she loved them—the reason she’d agreed to this morning’s impulsive shopping trip to Mexico. Thoroughly exhausted, she could only wonder where her landladies got their energy. Why, those dear women could easily have browsed for Christmas presents another hour or two in the festive shops of old Mexico while she had wilted in temperatures that felt more like the Fourth of July than mid-December.

“It’s him! It’s him!” Ruby suddenly exclaimed, grabbing Mariah by the shoulder.

“It is indeed!” Opal eagerly agreed.

A glance ahead revealed a man walking on the shoulder of the road. Dressed in form-fitting jeans, a snow-white T-shirt and boots, he turned and walked backward so he could scope them out. A heartbeat later he flung out his right arm and raised his thumb—universal signal that he needed a ride.

Mariah was not surprised to feel the twins’ gazes shift to her. “I am not picking him up,” she announced, pressing her foot firmly on the gas pedal. Immediately the car gained speed. The man sprang to life at once, taking a giant step directly into their path. Mariah screamed and stomped on the brake. The car fishtailed, then skidded to a stop...mere inches from the hitchhiker, who’d now dropped to his knees in the middle of the highway and raised his clasped hands to the sky, literally begging to be rescued.

Nauseous at the near miss, furious at his blatant stupidity, Mariah could only cling to the steering wheel for long moments and stare across the hood of the car at him. What a sight met her gaze—damp, golden hair in need of a trim, eyes the color of bitter chocolate, chiseled chin and jawline.... Mariah’s heartbeat changed from the thudding tempo of fear to a cadence of sheer sexual appreciation. Then righteous indignation took over. Throwing open the door, she sprang out of the car.

“Are you crazy?” Mariah yelled as she rounded the front of the vehicle.

“No, ma’am, but I am desperate,” the good-looking stranger answered. Getting to his feet, he flashed a smile so dazzling it put Mel Gibson’s to shame. Mariah promptly tripped over her own feet and had to grab the bumper to keep from sprawling on the hot asphalt.

“My rig broke down a few miles back. You probably passed it. Could you give me a lift to the next town?”

Mariah quickly reined in her scattered wits. “I never pick up hitchhikers,” she stated with a toss of her long brown hair. Keeping her gaze just above his left shoulder, Mariah deliberately avoided those piercing dark eyes as well as the deliciously masculine anatomy below them. “I will send you a wrecker, however.” Spinning around, she walked back to the car to quickly slip behind the steering wheel again and catch her breath.

A glance through the windshield revealed that the man hadn’t moved a muscle, but stared after her as if he were as stunned as she that she’d actually rejected him.

“We’re not picking him up?” Opal asked, incredulous.

“We are not!” snapped Mariah, whose experiences with good-looking men had left her intolerant of the species. This specimen particularly bothered her, perhaps because he’d so easily exhumed hormones she’d long since buried.

Ruby promptly scooted over to the back left window and rolled it down. “Can we give you a ride?” she called out, obviously taking matters into her own hands.

Mariah gasped; the stranger grinned and strode to that side of the car.

“You’ve got room for one more?” He ducked down to peer through the open window at Ruby.

“If his name is Tony Mason,” Ruby coyly answered.

“That’s my name,” he said. “Have we met before?”

“We sure have.” Ruby reached over to open the car door.

Mariah’s quick glance in the rearview mirror revealed that Ruby, who’d divorced three husbands before burying her fourth, positively simpered at the man now getting into the back seat with her.

“You do look familiar now that I think about it.” His gaze shifted to Opal. “You, too,” he said to her with a rumbly laugh at his own cleverness.

The women—identical twins—giggled like teenagers at his joke.

Mariah nearly choked. Opal, a survivor of a fifty-fiveyear marriage to the same man, was usually much more levelheaded. Today she seemed no less impressed by the handsome stranger’s flattery than her twin.

“Let’s get going, dear,” Ruby said, leaning up to tap Mariah’s shoulder. “I’m sure Tony is past ready to get to town.”

He’s not the only one, Mariah thought, by now thoroughly appalled by Ruby’s ridiculous flirting. Aloud, she said nothing, of course. Unlike her naive landladies, Mariah knew the dangers of stalking to a stranger...even one as gorgeous as Tony Mason and especially one she’d just picked up on the side of the road.

At that moment his gaze locked with Mariah’s in the mirror. She noted how sweat beaded his sunkissed brow, how his honey blond hair curled damply at the temples and looked darker than the rest. His firm jawline, in need of a shave, hinted at strength of will just as his neck hinted at surprising strength of muscle. His straight nose, full lips and high cheekbones completed the picture of rugged good looks.

No wonder Opal and Ruby now panted after him. He represented temptation with a capital T...and not just because of physical beauty. No, the mystery of him undoubtedly beguiled the twins as much. That, and his lostboy demeanor. He appealed to both the woman and mother in each of them.

But not to Mariah, who knew all about good-looking wanderers who kept a woman in every town.

“Thanks for changing your mind about letting me ride,” Tony said to her via the mirror. “And for stopping in the first place.”

As if I had a choice, Mariah silently fumed, though she still said nothing aloud.

“I was beginning to think I’d landed in the Twilight Zone or something—” he chuckled, seemingly oblivious to her displeasure “—and was the only human alive.”

Opal giggled again, a sound that further grated on Mariah’s nerves. Still uttering no response, she shifted her attention to the road and tried to ignore the conversation around her, but with little luck. Her driving continued to require minimal concentration even though the road had finally begun to curve a little and the scenery now included trees and an occasional house or barn. A few gently rolling hills could actually be seen in the distance, heralding civilization.

“You really remember us?” Ruby gave him a hopeful smile.

“Sure I do,” Tony answered. “We met in...um... er—”

“Colorado,” interjected Opal.

“That’s right,” he said. “At the...um...er—”

“Royal Gorge,” Ruby told him.

“Of course.” He beamed at them. “So how on earth have you two ladies been?”

“Just fine,” Ruby said. “And yourself?”

“Fine...fine. Busy.”

“Are you still doing those book covers?”

Mariah, who wasn’t a bit fooled by Tony’s glib tongue, saw his surprise, witnessed his quick recovery. “We did talk about my secret life, didn’t we?”

Opal and Ruby nodded in unison.

“We fully intended to locate one of the book covers you’d done and buy it,” Opal told him, “but never got around to it.”

“That’s okay,” Tony said. “Somehow I can’t picture either of you reading fantasy fiction. In fact, I’d guess love stories are more your cup of tea.” Though he addressed Opal, his gaze remained locked with Mariah’s.

“Oh, no,” Opal answered, “we leave those to Mariah, there. She’s a sucker for romance.”

Oh great...tell him all my secrets, she thought

“Mariah.” Tony Mason said her name slowly, almost as if trying it on for size. “Lovely,” he added with a wink.

Mariah tensed and turned to stare down Opal.

But Opal chattered on. “Her last name is Ashe, A-S-H-E. She’s a hairdresser. I’m Opal Crawford, and that’s my sister, Ruby Smythe, in case you’ve forgotten. We’re both widows. Mariah is single.”

Geez Loueeze! Mariah almost blurted.

Tony said nothing, but his gaze burned a hole in the back of Mariah’s head. By sheer determination, she glued her own gaze to the road.

“Where are you from, Tony?” Ruby asked. “If I knew, it’s slipped my mind.”

“Well, I was born here in Texas, but these days home is wherever I park my truck and set up shop. I guess you could call me a man of many homes.”

And Mariah would bet he had to slip in the back door of each.

Ruby sniffed the air loudly. “My, you smell sexy. What’s that cologne you’re wearing?”

As if you didn’t know, Mariah thought.

“Machismo...a gift from my mother last Christmas.”

“I believe my second husband liked that.” Ruby made a big show of sniffing the air again, even though she’d given her son a bottle of the same cologne the past two Christmases. “Yes, that’s definitely what Kenneth wore. He was a man’s man, too.”

Mariah couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“Where were you headed today?” asked Opal.

“Amarillo,” Tony answered, “to spend the holidays with my folks. Luckily it’s not for another ten days, so I should still arrive in plenty of time. I’ve never missed a Christmas with them yet.”

“It must be so exciting to move around,” Opal murmured with a telling look at Mariah, who was a very verbal proponent of another kind of existence.

“Most days I really enjoy it,” Tony answered. Mariah wasn’t surprised. He had that gypsy look about him. In fact, Mariah knew his type well, having had her heart broken by not one, but two guys with the same mysterious appeal, before she wised up and swore off them five years ago. Now she only dated men she believed would make good husbands—boring men according to the twins.

They thought she should hook up with a rogue who could put some excitement in what they considered her mundane, excessively ordered existence. If only they knew about the rogues she’d already met and fallen for.

“Where are we headed, anyway?” Tony asked, gazing out the window.

“Pleasant Rest, population 3,578,” Ruby told him. “All three of us live there.”

“Is there a good mechanic in town?”

Opal nodded. “Oh, yes, indeed. Frank Patterson’s boy, Micah, has a garage on Pine Street. We always take this car to him if we have a problem. He’s very good.”

“Any idea how late he works?” Tony asked. In the mirror, Mariah saw him glance worriedly at his watch.

“Until five o’clock, I think.”

“It’s almost that now.”

“And we’re almost there. In fact, it’s just around this curve.”

In spite of the stranger in the back seat, Mariah took great pleasure in maneuvering the gently sloping curve to which Opal referred. Almost at once a wrought-iron Welcome to Pleasant Rest sign came into view—a weathered greeting that for years had stood there, according to the twins. Twinkle lights had been strung on it in honor of the season, and Mariah felt the usual tug at her heart, remembering the first time she’d rounded that same curve and seen the little town about this time of year. She’d known in an instant that she’d found herself a home. Today, as always, she felt the joy again.

And what did their footloose passenger think of Pleasant Rest? she had to wonder, glancing in the mirror to find out. His face held no emotion whatsoever.

So he wasn’t impressed. Well, Mariah hadn’t expected him to be. He was a man on the move, after all—a man who didn’t appreciate simple joys such as sleeping in the same bed every night, greeting the same partner every morning, planting a flower garden and then being around to watch it bloom.

With great relief she spied Micah Patterson’s repair shop two blocks ahead. The raised garage door indicated he hadn’t closed yet—another blessing.

Mariah pulled right into the graveled parking lot and braked the car. Tony Mason opened his door at once. Her gaze on the mirror, Mariah saw him proffer his right hand to Ruby. When Ruby gave him hers, he raised it to his lips and kissed the back of it—gallantry that put Ruby in a near faint. At once Opal stuck her hand out, too.

Brother! Mariah thought. She kept her face straight and her gaze on the white, wooden garage, determined not to shake Tony’s hand or even say goodbye to him.

“Thanks for the lift.” His words, warm against Mariah’s hair, caught her off guard, since he’d leaned so very close to say them. She jumped and turned her head, only to find herself eye to eye with him.

“Y-you’re welcome,” she stammered, then could’ve bitten off her tongue. He wasn’t welcome. Not at all. Not in this car. Not in this town. And especially not in their lives. Thank goodness she would never see him again. Mariah quickly turned her face away from his and stared at nothing out the window.

The twins, for all their years’ experience with husbands and sons, still knew little about men. Mariah, on the other hand, knew too much. Growing up in New Orleans—The Big Easy—she’d met Tony’s kind every day and watched her mother fall victim to so many of them. Mariah herself had acted just as foolishly in later years and could easily recognize smooth-talking charmers who survived by preying on innocent women.

The slam of the door startled Mariah from her painful childhood memories. She saw Tony walk up to the garage and begin a conversation with Micah. At once she backed the car onto the street and headed for home, a large house across town. As she put distance between the car and Tony, she began to feel better, safer.

“Wasn’t he a pleasant young man?” murmured Opal after several minutes of silence.

“And such a talented artist,” added Ruby.

“He’s an artist, all right,” Mariah told them. “A con artist who can’t be trusted.”

Opal gave her a wondering look and a sad sigh. “Don’t you think that’s a bit of an overreaction? I mean, all he did was accept a ride. We know little else about him.”

Mariah shrugged.

“I’m beginning to think you’re prejudiced against handsome men,” Opal commented.

Ruby nodded firmly at Mariah in the mirror. “Me, too.”

“I have my reasons,” Mariah stated, and then turned the car into the twins’ driveway. She killed the engine and flipped a switch to release the trunk latch. It popped open with a soft thump.

“I’d love to hear those reasons.” Opal handed Mariah her leather handbag. “If you feel like talking about the past, that is.”

Up until now—over five years—Mariah never had...at least beyond an amusing anecdote here and there about life with a psychic mother, who could give advice on everyone’s love affairs but her own. Perhaps it was time to tell them the not-so-funny stuff, she decided. And if not that, then at least enough so they would realize she knew what she talked about when she summed up Tony Mason, freelance artist.

“Actually, I do feel like talking.”

“Then why don’t we go in and make some tea?” Ruby eagerly suggested.

“Yes, why don’t we?” Opal agreed.

Mariah gave both of those dear, nosy ladies an affectionate smile. “That sounds absolutely wonderful,” she murmured before getting out of the car and assisting with the twins’ many packages.

Less than a half hour later found the three of them seated at the kitchen table sipping spiced tea and munching on the sugar cookies baked by Opal on Saturday.

“I don’t know how much Emerald has told you,” Mariah ventured to say, referring to the twins’ older sister. Emerald Pierson owned a pottery shop in New Orleans. Mariah, working in a beauty shop next door to it, had styled her hair for years—as she now styled the twins’—in the process forming a fast friendship that eventually resulted in a business loan and some valuable advice.

“Only that you were having some difficulties and needed a fresh start.”

“That’s the understatement of the year,” Mariah answered with a dry laugh. “When I left New Orleans, I left behind a no-good boyfriend, a dingy apartment and a streak of bad luck that began the day I turned fourteen and came home from school to learn that my mother had been killed in an automobile accident.”

“How sad for you.” Ruby offered Mariah another cookie, which she refused with a shake of her head.

“Oh, I managed all right, thanks to social services and my mother’s friends. I even lived in some wonderfully stable foster homes...quite a change from living with a woman who always followed her heart.” Mariah rested her forehead in her hands and stared at the tabletop. “You can’t imagine how many wannabe musicians she brought home and fed. Then there were the sidewalk artists, the bartenders, the jazz singers...” She laughed without humor. “She just couldn’t resist the stranger in town. You’d think I’d learn from her mistakes, wouldn’t you? Well, I finally did, but not before I took in a couple of deadbeats of my own. And you wonder why I didn’t like Tony Mason.”

“But he seemed so nice,” murmured Ruby, frowning. “Not like a deadbeat at all.”

“Believe me,” retorted Mariah, “If I was the least bit attracted to him, he’s not a nice young man.”

“Are you saying you only go for guys who are bad for you?” Ruby asked. She leaned forward in her eagerness for the truth, and now had to rescue the ruffle on her dress from her teacup.

Mariah grabbed up a napkin and began to dab at the pastel floral fabric. “That’s exactly what I’m saying. It’s a genetic flaw, passed down from my mother and the reason I only date guys I don’t go for—that is, men who’ll make rock-solid husbands.”

“Well, that’s a relief,” said Ruby, rising to set her glass in the sink. “Opal and I have wondered what on earth you see in Willard Reynolds.” She referred to the superintendent of schools in Pleasant Rest, a fifty-year-old with several college degrees and a mother who wouldn’t cut the apron strings.

“Absolutely nothing,” Mariah told them with a laugh. She tossed down her napkin and rose to set her own glass in the sink. “I do admire his house and his job, though.” She gave them both a long look. “I guess I must sound awfully mercenary to you.”

“Actually you sound sensible...way too sensible.” Opal joined them at the sink and, after getting rid of her glass, framed Mariah’s face in her hands. “I want more than anything for you to be happy. I don’t think you ever will be if you marry a man for what he isn’t.”

“Or what he has,” added Ruby, her expression showing concern.

“I’m doing what I have to do to stay on the straight and narrow,” answered Mariah, taking Opal’s hands in hers. She squeezed, then released them. “I know where I’ve gone wrong in my life and don’t intend to make the same mistakes again. Most important, I’m happy.”

“Are you, Mariah? Are you really?” Ruby put her arm around Mariah and leaned close to hear the reply.

“I’m ecstatic,” Mariah assured her friend, a half truth. Of late the days had begun to drag and adventure to call...undoubtedly the reason she tried to drive past Tony that afternoon. She knew instinctively that he personified all that she’d left behind, all that she secretly missed.

And all that she should not, could not, would not let herself have again.

“You were really attracted to Tony?”

Opal’s question made Mariah frown. “He’s a very good-looking guy,” she said, hedging.

“And you were really attracted to him?”

“I only talked to the man for a second.”

“But were you attracted to him?”

“Yes!” Mariah almost screamed the admission, then felt bad for doing it. “And don’t you understand how that tells me he’s bad?”

Opal and Ruby exchanged decidedly worried glances before Ruby spoke. “I think you’re wrong about Tony, and I’m certain time would prove me right. But never mind that. I’m wondering what will happen if you’re someday attracted to someone simply because he’s the man of your dreams.”

Mariah bubbled with laughter. “I admit that the books I read are full of that kind of stuff, but there’s no such thing in real life.”

“Oh, but you’re wrong,” protested Opal, clearly appalled by Mariah’s pragmatism—at least from the twins’ point of view.

“And you call me a romantic?” Mariah laughed again. “Look ladies, I know exactly what I want in a man— family ties, a heart of gold and a steady job. Simple. And no other man is worth risking my hard-won independence. Now, I think I’ve explained myself very well, don’t you?”

“You have, indeed,” Ruby answered with another worried look at her sister.

“And we’re all clear on this?”

“We are.”

Affection for the two of them suddenly softened Mariah’s heart. “Please don’t worry about me or try to change my mind.”

“Okay,” replied Ruby, “but only if you’ll promise us that you won’t marry Willard Reynolds.”

That wasn’t hard to do, since he wasn’t in the market for a wife, dam him. “I promise. There, feel better?”

“Absolutely!” both women exclaimed in unison, at which all three burst into laughter.

Their good moods prevailed right through a light dinner consisting of salads and buttered homemade bread, eaten in front of the television a couple of hours later. After the meal Mariah returned to the kitchen to wash up their few dishes. Just as she finished her task, Opal entered the room through the swing door, which creaked loudly, reminding Mariah the hinges needed a drop of oil.

She immediately dug around for the oil can in the storage area under the sink. Opal hovered nearby, clearly thoughtful. When Mariah found the can, she walked to the door and began to work on the bottom hinge. Opal followed but said nothing, though she obviously had something on her mind.

Finally Mariah prompted her to speak with a soft “What’s up?”

“Ruby and I have been talking,” Opal began, her blue eyes misty with emotion, “and we’re sure we could find you a suitable husband...that is, if you’d let us—only because you don’t trust your own judgment.”

“And I suppose Tony Mason would be a candidate?” Mariah answered, pausing in her work.

“We are positive you’re wrong about him,” Opal admitted.

“Hmm. Well, I appreciate the offer, but I prefer to find my own man.”

“I was afraid you’d say that.” Opal sounded so distressed that Mariah impulsively wrapped her arms around the woman and gently patted her back.

In the distance the doorbell rang.

“I’ll get it!” Ruby called from the living room.

Mariah released Opal. “I know you two mean well, but I really don’t want you to set me up with anyone.” Turning to the door once again, oil can in hand, she squatted down to work on the lower hinge. Most of her attention stayed on Opal, however, instead of on her task. “So please promise you’ll never play matchmaker, okay?”

“Okay,” Opal answered with a sigh and a glance toward the living room. “I promise I won’t, but I’m not so sure you’ll be able to talk Ruby out of it....”

At that moment the kitchen door swung inward, knocking Mariah onto her butt on the linoleum floor. Into the room stepped Ruby with none other than Tony Mason right behind her, a duffle bag slung over his shoulder.

“Oops, sorry, dear,” Ruby murmured as Tony extended a hand to help Mariah up.

She hesitated, but short of being rude to the man, who’d really been nothing but polite so far, couldn’t refuse his assistance. She gave him her hand. He tugged her to her feet at once.

“Thanks,” Mariah said, swiping that hand down her jeans the moment he released it. She turned expectantly toward Ruby, who looked as smug as a shopper with a fifty-percent-off bargain.

“Micah towed Tony’s rig into town,” Ruby explained in a rush of words. “But he’s going to have to order a part for the truck before he can repair it.”

“Oh, dear,” Opal murmured. “How long will that take?”

“He might have it by tomorrow afternoon, if be can place the order tonight,” Tony told her. “Otherwise it will be Wednesday.”

Opal sighed her sympathy. “That’s too bad.”

“Not for us,” Ruby interjected, positively beaming. “Since there’s no motel, Micah sent him over to see if we’d rent one of the spare rooms. I told him we’d be glad to, of course.” She clasped her hands and gave Opal a huge smile. “What do you think about the one next to Mariah’s?”

Chapter Two

An awkward silence followed Ruby Smythe’s question. Tony Mason felt the tension in the room and looked from Ruby’s sister, Opal, to Mariah, waiting for someone—anyone—to speak.

Finally Opal, looking decidedly uneasy, did. “That room should be fine.”

“Good...good.” Ruby turned to Tony. “Get your bag, then we’ll let Mariah take you upstairs.” The petite senior citizen, who reminded him of one of his many elderly aunts, smiled sweetly. “Opal and I have bedrooms on this floor. Those steps get harder for us to climb every year.”

“I don’t know,” Tony answered. “You look pretty spry to me. In fact, I’ll bet you could outdance any of the sweet young things in the Southern Revue at the Abilene carnival earlier this year.”

“Southern Revue?” echoed Ruby.

“You know,” Tony teased. “The traveling dance show.”

Ruby gasped, then bubbled with laughter. “For shame! My papa would’ve tanned my hide if he’d caught me talking about such things, much less performing in one.”

“Is your papa still around?” he asked.

“Heavens no,” Ruby told him. “He died years ago.”

“Then he won’t know, will he?” Tony loved teasing Ruby, who seemed to enjoy it as much as the aunts he so badly missed. He also loved the way her bright eyes danced with mischief even as she feigned shock at his bold words.

“I did have nice legs at one time,” she said, easing her soft, floral print skirt up to mid-calf and glancing down at limbs past their prime.

“Ruby Rose Miller!” Opal scolded, swatting her sister’s skirt back down. Tony guessed that Miller must be their maiden name.

“I was just teasing,” Ruby responded, pouting. “And I’m sure he was, too.”

“Actually, I’m thinking you’re right about those legs.”

Tony could see that even Opal struggled not to laugh at his flattery, though she cast a worried glance in Mariah’s direction. His own gaze found the brunette, who didn’t look a bit amused by his tomfoolery.

What’s her problem? he asked himself for the umpteenth time since she refused his request for a ride into town. Beyond an unmistakably positive—maybe even sexual—first reaction to him, Mariah had been aloof, almost surly. Surely it was time to get past the hitchhiker thing. He didn’t break down on purpose, nor did he hurt anyone once they gave him a lift.

Mariah returned his stare coolly for a moment, then shifted her gaze to Ruby. “The room next to mine, you say?” Her tone chilled him as effectively as the box fan, whirling softly in the window.

Ruby nodded.

“This way, Mr. Mason,” Mariah then murmured, exiting the kitchen through the swing door.

Following Mariah down the hall and up the stairs gave Tony a chance to get a good look at her without being caught doing it. So look he did—beginning at her bare feet, traveling up to her jeans that hugged her shapely bottom the ways jeans should, ending at her straight brown hair, which hung past her shoulders and looked healthy enough for a shampoo commercial.

She stood about five foot six or seven, he decided, wishing it were his hands checking her out instead of his eyes. That height was just about right for his own five eleven. He liked the way she moved—gracefully—and the way she carried herself—with pride. Though he couldn’t see her face at the moment, he knew he liked everything about it, too, from her dark blue eyes to her straight nose, rosy cheeks and wide smile.

Not that he’d seen that smile or the dimples he suspected she might have. He hadn’t yet, but would. Oh, yes, he would. Mariah’s current dislike of him rankled and challenged since he excelled at attracting and entertaining strangers...especially women...talents on which his living depended.

Worse, he sensed that she feared him for some reason, and he suspected her fear went beyond that of bodily harm or loss of belongings, though she probably worried about both of those, too. Lovely Mariah was a puzzle for sure—a puzzle Tony intended to solve before he left Pleasant Rest. Luckily his antique truck had provided an excuse for staying in town a bit longer, just as it had provided him the opportunity to meet her in the first place.

Mariah halted her trek down the carpeted hallway so suddenly that Tony nearly ran into her. “Here’s where you’ll sleep.” She reached through a doorway and flipped on a light, illuminating a spacious bedroom complete with king-size bed, double dresser, sturdy bureau and leather recliner.

“Thanks,” Tony murmured, brushing past her into what had to have been a man’s bedroom. The colors of hunter green and rich maroon abounded, from the curtains to the mallard-print bedspread to the leather in the chair. “Wow,” he murmured, perusing the room, feeling instantly at home. “This is way better than any motel.” He gave her a smile. “It’ll be great to wake up in the same bed for a morning or two.”

She started, then swallowed audibly, almost as if something he’d said disturbed her. “Um...Ruby and Opal usually save this room for visiting relatives.”

“Then why’d they put me in here?”

“I haven’t the slightest idea,” answered Mariah, though she looked as if she might really have several and didn’t like a one of them any more than she liked Tony.

Seeing her as she appeared now—downright angry about his presence in the house—he had to wonder if the sun had fried his brain earlier that day when he’d imagined their initial instantaneous chemistry. All hints of physical attraction, at least on her part, had long since vanished. As for himself...well, at the moment all he could think of was that big ol’ bed and how nice it would be to cozy up with Miss Mariah Ashe on it.

“I get the feeling you wish I wasn’t here,” Tony said, stepping closer, testing her current frame of mind.

She didn’t take a matching step back, but then didn’t need to, since her gaze nailed him to the spot, preventing further advance. That left a yard or so still between them.

“I think my friends are foolish to take you in.”

“Why is that?”

“Because you’re a smooth talker who doesn’t mean a word he says.”

Mariah’s blunt answer surprised and insulted Tony. “Those are mighty strong words, considering we laid eyes on each other for the first time less than an hour ago.”

“Tell me you really remember your first meeting with Opal and Ruby, and I’ll take every word back.”

He couldn’t, so he felt his face flush. “Look, Mariah. I’m just an ordinary guy who’s a little down on his luck.”

“Meaning you’re as broke as your truck is broken?”

“Now what makes you say that?” he asked, insulted again. He’d managed his mobile business for years and always turned a healthy profit, most of which was tucked away in an Amarillo savings and loan, drawing interest.

“Just a guess,” Mariah told him. “So tell me...what’s Ruby accepting in trade for the room?”

Tony’s jaw dropped. How on earth could she possibly know he preferred bartering services to a cash exchange in delicate situations such as this? Or had she simply assumed he was a destitute, no-good drifter, out for what he could get?

Her expression suggested the latter.

“Actually, I am a little strapped for cash at the moment,” he murmured instead of setting her straight. Throwing up a hand to ward off the insults certain to tumble off Mariah’s lips, which still weren’t smiling, he quickly uttered the words she undoubtedly expected to hear. “But only until I know what this truck repair is going to cost me. Ruby’s agreed to accept pastel portraits in payment for one night’s lodging.”

“I see.”

Mariah’s cold tone said what he’d guessed—she thought he was a loser and a user. She turned on her heel and walked to the next doorway. Suddenly irritated with the way the conversation had gone, Tony caught up with her in three strides and grabbed her by the arm before she could vanish into what must be her bedroom.

“Look,” he said when she turned to glare at him. “I’m sorry that artist hurt you—” her shocked expression told him he could guess as well as she could “—but he wasn’t me. I really am a nice guy. I really will do the portraits, and the twins really will be thrilled with them.”

“Oh, I believe you,” Mariah murmured, shaking off his touch. Her tone said the twins would love crayon portraits of stick men if he drew them. “And for your information, they weren’t artists, but they were footloose charmers just like you.”

They? “Sounds like you’ve got my number,” Tony commented with sarcasm.

“Oh, I’ve got it.”

“And you’re prepared to do whatever it takes to save Opal and Ruby?”

“You’d better believe it.”

Inordinately bothered by Mariah’s low opinion of him, Tony leaned close and looked her straight in the eye. “I’d sooner hurt my own mother than either of those sweet little old ladies. So relax, will you? They’re safe...you’re all safe...from me.”

“Really?” She put her splayed fingers to his chest and gave him a little shove. “Well, remember this, Tony Mason. If either of my friends gets hurt in any way while you’re in this house, you’ll never be safe from me.”

Tony didn’t see Mariah again that night after she stepped into her bedroom and shut the door, but thought about their confrontation while he visited with the twins downstairs and consumed a peanut butter sandwich and the best sugar cookies in the state of Texas, maybe the world.

Curious about Mariah’s fierce defense, he did his best to get them to talk about her. “Mariah seems very nice.”

“Oh, she is,” said Ruby. “All her customers love her.”

Tony finished off his cookie before speaking again. “You said she’s single?”

Bright-eyed Opal nodded. “For the moment. She really wants a family, though, and I sometimes think if Willard Reynolds asked her to marry him, she might say yes in a weak moment.” Her expression told Tony she didn’t approve of this Reynolds guy.

“He’s the superintendent of schools,” added Ruby, looking equally disapproving.

“He has a house and a good job,” Opal further explained, as if that would make everything clear.

“What does this Willard guy look like?” Tony asked, naturally curious about a man who could attract a woman as lovely as Mariah.

Ruby spoke first. “He’s balding, with a ruddy complexion. Not too tall, a little pudgy. Opal? Can you add anything?”

“He’s a mama’s boy.”

Tony bit back a smile at their unflattering description. “I get the feeling you don’t care for Mr. Willard Reynolds.”

“Well, we do think she could do better for herself,” said Ruby. “In fact, just this evening we offered to find her a—”

“Ruby!” Opal’s sharp reprimand abruptly halted her sister’s exposé. “Let’s just say Mariah prefers flying solo.”

Flying solo, huh? Well, he understood that desire. Divorced and the wiser for it, Tony preferred flying solo, too.

Sometime later, when Tony lay alone in his borrowed bed, he realized there were times—usually at night—when going it alone became unbearable. He even admitted that just then he wouldn’t mind a close brush with a warm, female body... especially one with beautiful brown hair and long, shapely legs.

Suddenly raising himself up to punch his pillow, Tony successfully distracted himself from thoughts of just such a female, Mariah, sleeping alone in her bed just next door. Such thoughts didn’t surprise him. There’d been that initial power surge between them, after all, and the dark, of late, did things to his will. Luckily, daylight wasn’t many hours away, and with it would come the common sense that had kept him single and mobile the past few years.

And when he hit the road again, hopefully tomorrow afternoon or, at the latest, on Wednesday, he wouldn’t dream of a mystery woman, whose lips said “beat it” even as her sapphire eyes said “on second thought....”

Tony woke to the smell of coffee. He made short work of showering in the bathroom down the hall, then followed his nose downstairs to the kitchen, where Opal and Ruby sat eating breakfast. Mariah was nowhere to be seen.

“Good morning, Tony,” said Ruby. Her gaze avoided his, and Tony had to wonder what had happened during the night to make her appear so ill at ease.

“Good morning, ladies,” he answered. “Would you share a cup of that great-smelling coffee?”

“Of course.” Opal rose from her chair.

“Keep your seat,” Tony quickly said. He moved to the counter on which sat a dish drainer with a man-size mug in it. “May I?”

Ruby nodded and gave Tony a smile that made him feel much better... until she glanced at her sister. At once Ruby’s smile slipped and she sighed as if the weight of the world were suddenly on her shoulders.

What gives? Tony had to wonder. He asked no questions, but filled his cup with hot, black coffee and immediately sipped on it. Though he scalded the inside of his mouth, his resulting sense of rightness with the world made the burn worthwhile.

Tony joined the ladies at the table. “Has Mariah already gone to work?” He’d hoped to catch a ride into town.

“I haven’t seen her this morning,” answered Opal.

“Me, either,” said Ruby, adding, “She could’ve had an early appointment, I suppose. Do you see her car, sister?”

Opal pushed a blue-checkered curtain aside and peered through the window. “It’s still there.”

So Mariah went her own way, Tony realized, and didn’t tell her landladies every move she made. Interesting. Last night he’d gotten the feeling that the three of them were closer than that.

“How do bacon and eggs sound?” asked Ruby. “Or we have frozen waffles we can heat up for you.”

“This coffee is all I need.” Tony had no intention of causing extra work for his gracious hostesses or accumulating more debt than he could barter his way out of. The part for his truck would be hard to locate and would cost a bundle—the main disadvantages of driving a classic vehicle—and Micah worked on a cash-only basis just as Tony, himself, did.

Tony, who’d recently laid out a lot of money for family Christmas presents, needed every cent he had in his wallet at the moment and probably more. He half wished for a checkbook, something he didn’t bother with, since so many places didn’t take out-of state checks—exactly what traveling Tony usually had. As for a credit card...in his experience, those were nothing but trouble. Hadn’t he labored three whole years to pay off his ex-wife’s debts, thanks to a divorce court judge?

He had, indeed, and so now paid as he went—by cash or services—and saved the rest. More important, he didn’t owe anyone a cent.

“But you have to eat.” Ruby looked decidedly distressed. “A good breakfast makes for a good day.”

“And I could sure use one of those,” Tony answered. He glanced toward the kitchen counter and spotted a toaster. “Got any bread?”

“White wheat or homemade sourdough?” asked Ruby, jumping up to dig in a wooden bread box and produce both.

“Sourdough.” Rising from the table, Tony took the bread from Ruby and motioned for her to sit back down. “You don’t have to wait on me.”

“Oh, let her,” Opal told him with an airy wave of her hand. “She misses that. We both do. Ruby has two grown sons, and I have one. I also have two daughters and four grandchildren. We sometimes long for the days when we had our hands full with doing for them.”

“You both sound like my mother. I’m the next to youngest of five kids, and the only son.”

“What do they think of your being on the road all the time?” This question didn’t come from either of the twins, but from Mariah, who now stood in the doorway.

“They’re used to it,” he answered, noting that she looked brighter than the morning sun in her coral top and black pants. Mariah also wore a coral-and-black, geometric-print overshirt, which she had not buttoned, but simply knotted at the waist. To artist Tony’s eye, she appeared symmetrical and coordinated. The man in him simply appreciated her feminine style.

“Even your mother?” Mariah questioned, walking over to the refrigerator. From it she took a jug of orange juice. She then walked to the cabinet and retrieved a small glass.

“Even her. She knows I smother when there’s too much family around. Besides, I’ve been on the road since I was twenty-six. That’s eight years.” Tony let Ruby put the bread into the toaster and push down the spring lever, then motioned for her to let him take over.

Mariah leaned against the counter and sipped on her beverage. “Where do you travel?”

“All over. I prefer the northwestern states, but I’ve done spring break in Florida, July Fourth in Boston, the Jazz Festival in Memphis, and Mardi Gras in New Orleans.”

“Mariah was born and raised in New Orleans,” Ruby said.

Tony smiled. “I love the French Quarter. Always do my best work there. I don’t know if it’s the atmosphere, the music or what.”

For just a moment Mariah’s features softened. Tony guessed his words had brought back fond memories. Obviously she missed Louisiana.

“What made you move to Texas?” he asked, as his now-toasted bread popped into view.

“I like bluebonnets.” Mariah said, referring to the state flower. That answer, of course, told Tony nothing. Finishing her drink, Mariah set the glass in the sink. “I have to run, ladies. I’ll see you both tonight, okay?” Turning she headed for the door.

Tony tensed. “Mariah, wait!”

She paused, a look of irritation on her face.

“Can I bum a ride to the garage?”

Mariah’s gaze shifted to the unbuttered toast in his hand. “I’m ready to go now.”

“Oh, surely you’ll give him time to butter his bread,” said Ruby.

Mariah sighed. “I’ll be outside. Please hurry. I have a nine o’clock perm.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Tony answered.

The moment Mariah vanished from view, Opal grabbed a paper towel and then motioned for Tony to put his toast on it. “I’ll do the buttering. You get on some shoes.”

Since he’d forgotten his bare feet, Tony groaned, nodded and dashed up the stairs. Barely three minutes later he bounded back down them, sneakers now on his feet, grabbed the buttered toast from Opal and, with a jaunty wave, ran out the front door.

Mariah, her forehead already beaded in sweat, flashed him a look of impatience, but said nothing as they got into her sensible white sedan. The drive to the garage took maybe five or six minutes. By then Tony had consumed his toast. Muttering thanks, he got out of the car and shut the door. She drove away at once without a backward glance.

For several seconds Tony stared down the street after the car. Never had he met a woman who tried so hard to dislike him. And never had he met a woman who so intrigued him. He wanted to find out what made her tick. He wanted to find out what turned her on.

Too bad she wanted him to drop dead.

“Must be losing my touch,” Tony murmured with a shake of his head. He turned and walked slowly to the garage, which appeared to be closed. Spying a note taped to the door, he stepped closer to read it and learned that the shop would be closed today.

Suddenly faced with a free day, Tony set off toward town on foot, searching for a pay phone. He found one at a gas station two blocks away and called home. His mother answered on the second ring.

“Hi, Mom,” he said when she answered. “It’s your prodigal son.”

“Well, hello, prodigal son,” Margaret Mason answered, clearly pleased to hear his voice. “Where are you?”

“A little town called Pleasant Rest.”

“And are you having one?”

Tony laughed dutifully at her little joke. “Actually I’m here because my truck broke down yesterday. Hopefully the mechanic will get it repaired pretty soon and I’ll be home in a day or two, as planned.”

“You’d better. Aunt Irene is already making plans for a big Christmas dinner.”

Tony’s mouth watered at the thought. “I’ll be there if I have to take the bus.”

“I consider that a promise.”

“It is. Will you tell everyone hi?”

“Of course,” she answered.

“And if you get mail for me from any junior colleges, will you put it somewhere safe?” Safe being anyplace his nieces and nephews couldn’t get hold of it.

“Actually you got something from Amarillo Junior College last week. I wanted to steam it open but your dad wouldn’t let me, so I put it on top of the refrigerator.”

Tony chuckled. “It’s a job application. I’m thinking about teaching art again.”

“Why, Tony, that’s wonderful.” She sounded honestly pleased—no surprise. An art teacher herself, Margaret Mason had never really understood how he could give up his career, though she had graciously accepted his decision.

“Yeah, well, it won’t be at a high school and probably not in Amarillo, so don’t get your hopes up.”

“I won’t,” she told him, no doubt a lie. In spite of any and all warnings, she would continue to hope he’d move back to their neck of the woods and build a house within spitting distance of theirs. And why shouldn’t she? All his sisters had done exactly that, thanks to a gift of land from their dad. Beyond one foolish lapse, Tony had resisted the bait.

“Well, I’d better go, I guess. Love you, Mom.”

“I love you, too, son,” his mother responded, words that warmed him as much today as they had the first time he’d ever heard them.

At five-thirty that afternoon, Mariah waved goodbye to her last customer, a teenage boy in for his biweekly buzz cut, then heaved a sigh of relief. For a day that should have been easy—according to her appointment book, that is—this one had turned out mighty tough. Only part of the problem stemmed from walk-ins and the unseasonable heat, she decided, as she swept up and then locked up. The other stemmed from her tumultuous state of mind and a resulting stress.

Did Tony Mason get his truck repaired? she wondered as she walked to her car and got in. Was he safely on the road now, headed to Amarillo and out of her sight?

She sincerely hoped so. The man did a number on her sense of security, for sure, and as a result she snapped his head off every time he spoke, and otherwise played the role of big bad witch. Mariah, who worked with the public every day and knew how to be charming, especially regretted having been that way, since she could tell her rude behavior distressed Ruby and Opal.

But Tony hadn’t gone, she discovered a short time later, when she stepped on the front porch and saw him sitting there, under a spinning ceiling fan, sketching Ruby. Mariah now saw what the oleander bushes had hidden from the driveway—Ruby posing in a flared-back wicker chair, looking every bit the southern belle, while Tony sat several feet in front of her, working at an easel he must have brought over from his truck.

One peek at the sketch as Mariah waved and waltzed by, revealed him to be an artist of considerable talent. Dismayed instead of impressed—she desperately needed reasons to hate him—Mariah stepped into the kitchen to say hello to Opal, whom she found at the stove. The smell of a pork roast and baking cookies filled the air.

“Oatmeal raisin?” Mariah asked hopefully by way of greeting. That was her favorite cookie. Opal, looking a bit flushed from the heat of the oven and numerous pots and pans gave her a nod.

“They’re Tony’s favorite,” she answered, belatedly adding, “and since they’re yours, too, I’m making a double batch. I also have a roast in the oven. Dinner will be ready in about twenty minutes.” She nodded toward the table, which looked picture-perfect with a bold, checkered cloth that matched the ruffled curtains, pristine white plates and the best silver. There was even a red rose in a bud vase, serving as the centerpiece.

“Thanks,” Mariah murmured, heading on upstairs. Refusing to think about what she’d just seen, she quickly shed her clothes, which reeked of perm solution and hairspray. After donning a terry robe, she walked to the bathroom for a shower. She stayed in the stinging spray longer than usual in hopes it would pound the tension from her body. And when she finally dressed in jeans and an oversize Dallas Cowboys T-shirt, she did feel better, at least physically.

Mentally, however, she remained a wreck. On one hand it bothered her that Opal and Ruby so obviously adored Tony, since he could do them much harm if he wasn’t exactly what he claimed to be. But on the other hand, it bothered her even more that she’d put those dear ladies in the position of feeling guilty for liking him.

This was their house, after all. Tony, an invited guest, and quite possibly as nice a person as he claimed, had as much right to be there as Mariah, an invited boarder. Besides that, he provided a diversion—something they badly wanted, even though it was something she could live without.

Standing before the bathroom mirror, brushing out her hair, Mariah vowed to be friendlier to Tony at dinner so Opal and Ruby could relax and enjoy him. It was time to shake off or at least ignore old prejudices. Time to take the man at face value and give him a chance to prove he didn’t deserve her scorn or fear.

It wasn’t his fault he sent her hormones into a frenzy. And it wasn’t as if she was in danger of getting involved with him, crazed hormones or not. So far he hadn’t done anything to threaten her heart or even her body. In fact, beyond a visual once-over, he didn’t seem the slightest bit interested in either, which suited her fine.

“From now on, I’m judging him only on what he does, not on what some other jerks did,” she promised her reflection, before exiting the bathroom and walking downstairs to the kitchen.

There she found Opal whipping potatoes with the electric mixer. Mariah got to work doing what else had to be done—filling glasses with ice for tea and setting the butter, salt and pepper on the table.

Since that table wasn’t very large, Mariah assumed they would do as always and serve their plates buffetstyle from the pots and pans on the stove. But Opal soon set her straight by handing her china bowls and pointing to the gravy and green beans.

So Tony had earned special guest status.

Mariah shook off her instant alarm and did as Opal wanted. She also set the roast pork planer on the table, too, only then noticing that one of the extra leaves had been inserted to enlarge the table capacity. Those leaves, large and heavy, weren’t easy to maneuver, and Mariah was surprised her landladies had gone to the trouble for a couple of meals.

Keeping her vow to reform, Mariah made no comment, however, but simply helped Opal in any way she could. Finally, everything was ready, and Opal called her sister and Tony in to dinner.

They entered the room laughing. Tony walked immediately to the sink and washed his hands. Mariah noted smears of chalk on his jeans and on his face. He didn’t know about the color on his cheek and chin so didn’t wash it off until she caught his eye and wordlessly tapped a finger to her own face. Then he shook his head, grinned and wiped off the smear before moving to the table.

“Wow,” he murmured, obviously impressed. “This looks like Sunday dinner at the Mason house. Mom cooks a huge roast every week and feeds anyone who shows up—usually a houseful since all my sisters and my dad’s five older sisters live within a mile of my parents’ cattle ranch.”

“How nice for your folks,” murmured Opal, pointing Tony to the chair opposite the one in which Mariah sat. She and Ruby took their usual places across from each other. “My children and grandchildren are scattered all over the United States.”

“Mine, too,” said Ruby, adding, “Would you say grace, Tony?”

He did without hesitation and so sweetly that Mariah felt yet another pang of guilt for judging him so harshly without really knowing him. In truth, he could claim one of the three qualities she admired most in a man—family ties. So when he murmured “amen” she squared her shoulders, opened her eyes and pasted a smile on her face.

He blinked in visible surprise and slowly smiled back. “It sure is great to be having dinner with the same nice folks I had breakfast with.”

So he also appreciated some elements of family living....

“Hard day at the shop?” he asked.

“Harder than expected,” Mariah answered. “But nothing I couldn’t handle.” She passed him the green beans.

“One of my sisters is a hairdresser,” Tony told her as he scooped out a spoonful. “She has a shop in her house. Do you have your own place or are you working on percentage?”

“I have my own, thanks to Emerald Pierson,” Mariah said, quickly explaining about the business loan the twins’ sister had given her. “She’s actually the reason I’m in Texas.”

“Her and the bluebonnets.” His sexy smile now teased.

Mariah blushed, remembering her evasive answer to him earlier, and changed the subject. “What’d you find out on your truck?”

Tony’s smile slipped. “Actually, Micah didn’t order the part until late this afternoon.”

Mariah frowned. “Why not?”

“Lisa had her baby last night,” interjected Opal by way of explanation for Micah’s uncharacteristic lapse of dependability. “Micah was at the hospital in Fort Stockton until after one o’clock this afternoon.

“Is everything okay?” Mariah loved Lisa Patterson, one of her longtime customers, who wasn’t due to deliver for another three weeks.

“Mother and baby are fine,” Ruby answered.

“I can’t believe no one told me at the shop today. Did she have a girl like they expected?”

“She had a boy,” Ruby said with a jubilant laugh.

“Lucky Lisa,” Mariah murmured, wishing she were the one with the new baby boy. She caught Tony’s eye. “Sorry about leaving you at the garage this morning. I never even noticed it wasn’t open. How’d you get back here?”

“I walked, and I enjoyed it. The place is really prettied up for Christmas, and what better way is there to get a look at a town than strolling the sidewalks?”

“None, I guess, though it’s unseasonably humid for much walking.” Mariah helped herself to potatoes, then passed the bowl. “Did Micah give you any idea when he’d get whatever it is you need?”

“He hopes by Friday or Saturday, but it could be as late as Monday if heavy holiday shipping delays things.”

“We told Tony not to worry about it,” Opal said. “He can stay here. We’ll be glad to have someone to visit with.”

Am I so boring? Mariah wondered with a stab of emotion very like jealousy. She immediately chided herself for her childish feelings, the depth of which surprised her. Opal and Ruby just wanted some excitement. And though Mariah didn’t, she couldn’t blame these dear women, who weren’t her property or even her family, though they certainly felt like the latter.

A woman on her own, Mariah appreciated how the twins had opened their hearts and let her be a surrogate daughter. She couldn’t resent their adopting Tony in the same way, just couldn’t...but apparently did. Perhaps because he had family of his own already. It also rankled that he wasn’t paying for his keep, something she’d always taken care to do.

Mariah shifted her attention to Opal. “You did a wonderful job on the roast.”

“Everything else is perfect, too,” added Tony. Opal positively glowed at the compliments.

“Opal has always been handy in the kitchen,” said Ruby, the next moment launching into a tale about the time she talked her twin sister into baking a cake for the football team, then told everyone she’d cooked it herself.

That story triggered the memory of another and then another example of sisterly feuding. Mariah let their words and laughter wash over her, grateful for the shift in focus from the issue of Tony’s housing. By the time the meal ended, she actually regained a little of her good humor.

“Now you ladies get out of this kitchen,” Mariah said, shooing them toward the door. “I’m washing up.”

“I’ll help,” Tony announced, an offer that disconcerted Mariah.

She waited until the twins were out of sight before answering. “This isn’t at all necessary.”

“Sure, it is.” He began to stack the plates.

“No, really. You go visit with the girls. They love having you around.”

“I’ve visited with them all day. It’s time to visit with you.”

Great. “I’m really not in a talkative mood.”

“Tired? Or upset with me for accepting the twins’ hospitality?” Tony asked. Mariah’s unguarded expression evidently told him all he needed to know. “I thought so, and since I intend to pay cash for the rest of my time here, I don’t understand why you feel that way.”

“You’re going to pay cash?”

He nodded. “If I don’t have enough after I pay for my truck repairs, I’ll get the money when I’m in Amarillo for Christmas and either drop it back by or mail it.”

Mariah wondered if he intended to borrow it from his parents or something.

“Meanwhile, Ruby and Opal have my IOU,” he continued, handing her another stack of dishes. “You know I have as much right to rent a room as you do, Mariah.”

“I realize that.”

“Then why don’t you lighten up? Smile? Get over it?”

Not trusting herself to answer without growling, Mariah turned her attention to filling the sink with water, setting the dishes in it, then washing them one by one. She breathed slowly and deeply, all the while reminding herself of her vow to give Tony a chance. Meanwhile Tony ran water over each piece she finished, then tucked them in the drainer as if he’d been helping out in the kitchen for years.

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