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The Maverick's Holiday Masquerade
Caro Carson
UNDERCOVER COWBOYRUST CREEK RAMBLINGSGreetings, merry readers! As the holidays approach in Rust Creek Falls, we are marveling at the number of couples who have been brought together by this summer’s infamous wedding punch. And then there is Kristen Dalton, our town’s resident actress/romantic. Since July, she has been pining over the “perfect cowboy,” Ryan, whom she met at the wedding. But he left town soon after—for good, or so we thought.Now, Ryan has returned, and folks are betting he and Kristen will be engaged before we can hang the holly. Not so fast, romantic revelers! Our out-of-town cowboy may not be exactly as advertised. Will they still meet under the mistletoe when Kristen finds out who Ryan really is?



The Cowboy.
Her heart thudded in her chest. Another one of those giddy waves of joy passed through her, even as the lump in her throat returned. The Cowboy! She’d wished for him and he was here, so soon after she’d made her personal vow that she could hardly believe he was real.
Yet there he was, a man she’d never seen before, holding the bridle and calming the lead horse. The Cowboy—her cowboy—was the most physically appealing man she’d ever seen. Tall, dark and handsome barely began to describe him, inadequate to cover the physical confidence he possessed, that aura of calm and control about him as he talked with the other men and kept the horse calm at the same time.
Who are you?
He looked right at her, as if he’d heard her ask the question. Right at her. Over the nose of the white horse, across the dozen people who milled between them, their gazes met and held.
Across the crowd, they shared a slow smile. If it was true that like attracted like, then she and this man sure were alike. When people said “two peas in a pod” to Kristen, they were invariably referring to her twin, but on this special summer day, Kristen knew that she and this man were a match, too. That smile said it all.
* * *
Montana Mavericks: What Happened At The Wedding? A weekend Rust Creek Falls will never forget!
The Maverick’s
Holiday
Masquerade
Caro Carson


www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Despite a no-nonsense background as a West Point graduate and US Army officer, CARO CARSON has always treasured the happily-ever-after of a good romance novel. Now a double RITA® Award-nominated author, Caro is delighted to be living her own happily-ever-after with her husband and two children in the great state of Florida, a location that has saved the coaster-loving theme-park fanatic a fortune on plane tickets.
For my parents, Larry and Sue, with gratitude for all the plays and ballets, the Broadway musicals and the rock concerts, and for setting the example by pursuing their passion for the theater.
This theater-loving heroine had to be for you!
Contents
Cover (#u23713d67-90f1-586a-9a3b-eddff232415a)
Introduction (#uf69d0a2c-d459-57fc-8648-cb1a5b17b934)
Title Page (#u65345f38-8b49-5594-a9f3-8687aaed2da4)
About the Author (#u475a90dd-d74b-5dd7-95b4-5e5c7f524bde)
Dedication (#u9782c344-951b-5a83-953c-03b478651fc5)
Chapter One (#u7a6ea9ed-9268-5f9c-971c-757d5ea4789b)
Chapter Two (#uf8384736-d4ca-56f3-a05c-44e26a2f232a)
Chapter Three (#uc6d9df09-e2d6-5ed8-9588-d94409318ae5)
Chapter Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter One (#ulink_de44a1fc-8527-56b4-9514-6f564e8ca9a2)
Fourth of July
“Do you see them?”
Kristen Dalton shaded her eyes with one hand as she looked up the road, but she couldn’t see any hint of a horse-drawn carriage. “Sorry, sis. No sign of the bride and groom yet.”
“I can’t wait to see her wedding dress. The rumors have been all over the place. I’ve heard everything from country casual to Kardashian craziness.”
Anything could be true. Although Kristen and her sister lived in a small town surrounded by ranches, technology made the world itself a small place. Even to the far northern edge of Montana, a gown from glittering Hollywood could be shipped overnight. Since the wedding dress possibilities were endless, the speculation around town had been, as well. For weeks, Kristen had been patiently listening to her twin, Kayla, list the pros and cons of every type of gown. Although today was the Fourth of July, her twin’s excitement was closer to that of a kid on Christmas morning.
Kristen handed her sister her paper cup, then hopped up to perch on the top log of the split-rail fence that bordered the town park. She held out her hands for her cup and Kayla’s. “Come sit with me. It could be a while. That photographer has to take pictures of a million Traub family members at the church.”
Kayla climbed up to sit beside her on the railing, settling in for the wait. “What a beautiful day for their wedding.”
Kristen thought it was a little too warm, nearly eighty degrees, which was as hot as things got this close to Glacier National Park. As she handed back Kayla’s cup, Kristen took a healthy drink of her ice-cold wedding punch.
Thank goodness they’d decided to wear sundresses. They didn’t match, of course. She and Kayla looked as identical as two peas in a pod, a phrase Kristen had been hearing for as long as she could remember, but they hadn’t dressed like twins for as long as they’d been choosing their own clothes. From a distance, she supposed they looked like twins in blue dresses, but up close, they weren’t alike at all.
Kayla’s dress had an all-over print of tiny flowers. Her spaghetti straps were delicate, and she wore their grandmother’s earrings. The shiny filigree drops were shown to their advantage on Kayla because she swept her hair up most of the time.
No one would ever see those earrings if Kristen wore them, because her hair was nearly always down. And long. And wavy. And—okay, I’ll admit it, Mom—always blowing in the Montana breeze and getting tangled. Their mother had despaired of keeping it neat and had given up trying somewhere around kindergarten, when Kristen had become quite adept at removing barrettes and bows.
Kristen could also admit that she’d deliberately worn blue because it made her eyes appear their bluest. Her denim halter dress always made her feel like she struck the right balance between sweet and sexy. She got smiles from the town’s mavens and mavericks both. Rather than sandals, she wore her western boots. Not the solid, broken-in ones that she wore to do chores around the family ranch, but the ones with the hand-scrolled swirls in the leather. These were the boots she wore for two-stepping, waltzing and square dancing, all of which she hoped to do before, during and after tonight’s fireworks.
All she needed was the right cowboy to dance with.
If only...
If only there was a cowboy here in Rust Creek Falls that she didn’t already know—and already know wasn’t her type.
“I really admire Braden and Jennifer for thinking up this carriage ride,” her sister said. “Their first experience as Mr. and Mrs. Traub will be private, just the two of them, as they start their journey together, figuratively, literally—”
“Briefly.” Kristen nudged her in the shoulder. “The church is only two blocks away. Then we’ll be right here, ready to say hi while we’re really checking out the newest Mrs. Traub’s gown.”
Kayla shot her a look. “We’re supposed to admire the bride’s gown. It’s expected.”
“I know, I know. It’ll be worth the wait, I’m sure.”
“They say the best things in life are.” Kayla sounded like she really meant that.
Kristen kicked the heels of her boots against the lower log railing. Thunk, thunk. She polished off the rest of her punch, then lifted her heavy hair from the back of her warm neck again. Thunk, thunk. “I hope this carriage looks amazing, because it certainly isn’t a very fast way to travel.”
Kayla nudged her shoulder. “I heard Sutter Traub located true white horses, and they went to someone’s place south of Kalispell to borrow a two-seater surrey. Paige and Lindsay bought miles of white ribbon for it and were making bows all week.”
“Wow,” Kristen said, impressed at the wealth of details her sister knew. Kristen had only heard that the bride and groom were going to arrive at the park by carriage. “You’ve got wedding fever worse than anyone else in town, and that’s saying something, considering the entire town is here for the reception.”
Kristen stopped thudding her heels against the cross rail; even a twin might get annoyed at the rhythmic thumping, even an identical twin who understood Kristen’s restless nature better than anyone else in the world. Squinting against the bright July sun, she joined Kayla in staring silently down Buckskin Road, past their old high school. Every kid in Rust Creek Falls had been educated there. Every kid still was. Some things in this small town never changed, and that was fine with Kristen.
She’d gone to the University of Montana, majored in theater and spent a summer as an unpaid intern in New York City. Like Dorothy in a pair of ruby red slippers—a role she’d played onstage at the university—she’d realized there was no place like home. Cities were great fun to visit, but the tiny town of Rust Creek Falls under the big sky of Montana was home. It always had been. It always would be.
Small didn’t mean boring. Things were always changing. Their local politics could make the national scene appear tame, but everyone had pulled together to rebuild after a flood had wiped out a substantial portion of the town just a couple of years ago. Old Bledsoe’s Folly, an abandoned mountain retreat, was now an upscale resort that had the town buzzing with talk about developing the area’s first ski slope.
But it was the people of Rust Creek Falls that were the most interesting. There must be something about Montana’s famous Big Sky, because lots of folks who’d come to help with the flood recovery or to turn Bledsoe’s Folly into Maverick Manor had ended up staying, partnered up after falling in love in Kristen’s hometown.
She glanced up at that blue sky now, automatically scanning the horizon for planes—for a certain plane. It was a habit she’d formed earlier this year, when she’d thought the blue sky was bringing her true love to her. The handsome pilot of a commuter airline had turned out to be a heartbreaker of the lowest kind. Like a sailor with a girl in every port, he’d had a woman at every airport. Kristen still felt like an idiot for falling for him.
She got another shoulder nudge from her sister. “Does he fly into Kalispell on weekends now?”
Leave it up to quiet Kayla to never miss a detail, not even a glance at the sky.
Kristen wrinkled her nose. “I don’t care what Captain Two-Timer does or where he flies or who he tells lies to after he lands.”
“Or to whom he tells lies after he lands.”
“You should be a writer, you know.” Kristen resumed her rail-thumping. “I don’t care ‘to whom’ he lies. It isn’t to me, not anymore. ‘Gee, I wish I didn’t have to go. I won’t be able to call you for a few days. You know I’d rather be with you, but this job is so demanding.’ I was an idiot. I can’t believe I couldn’t see through him.”
“You were in love.”
“I’m not anymore.” She tossed her hair back. “I’m in the mood to dance. I’m hoping for a handsome stranger or two to flirt with, but I’m not going to fall in love again.”
“Not ever?”
“Not for a long while. Definitely not today.”
Kayla didn’t say anything for long seconds.
Kristen stopped looking for the carriage when she realized her sister was staring at her, not at the road. “What?”
“You shouldn’t dare the universe to prove you wrong like that.”
“Stop that. You’re giving me goose bumps.” Kristen jumped down from the fence, an easy drop of two feet at most, but somehow she stumbled and nearly fell. She was normally as nimble as a cat, and this sudden imbalance struck her as—funny? Yes, it was funny. It was good to giggle after that serious moment. “You stay here on carriage watch. I’ll go get us some more punch. Give me your cup.”
When Kayla reached down to hand her the cup, she slipped, too, and fell right into Kristen. They dissolved into giggles together, for no reason at all.
“What do you suppose is in that punch?” Kristen asked. “We only had one cup.”
“I don’t know, but stay here with me. Just look down that road and wait for true love to come our way.”
* * *
Ryan Roarke parked his red Porsche in between two sturdy pickup trucks. The high-performance sports car belonged in Los Angeles, but this wasn’t LA. In fact, Ryan had come to Montana to get away from Los Angeles. When he’d directed his assistant to reserve a luxury rental vehicle at the Glacier Park airport, he’d expected to be handed the keys to his usual Land Rover or an Audi fitted with a ski rack, the kind of rental he drove when he visited his brother in a different part of Montana, the upscale ski resort of Thunder Canyon.
This was July, however, and the roads were clear of snow, so the clerk had been enthusiastic when she’d handed him the keys to the Porsche. Ryan had attempted to return her smile when he wanted to grimace.
He grimaced now. Pulling into the packed dirt of the parking spaces at the edge of Rust Creek Falls’ park in a Porsche was not what he’d had in mind for the weekend. The flashy car was so inappropriate for this rugged town, it made him look like he was having a midlife crisis. Ryan killed the powerful engine and got out, feeling like a giant at six-foot-one next to the low car. He returned the stares from a few cowboys with a hard look of his own.
Ryan knew what a midlife crisis looked like—too many of his fellow attorneys blew their children’s inheritances on sports cars in an effort to replace their children’s mothers with starlets—but he didn’t know what one felt like. He was not having a midlife crisis. He was only thirty-three, for starters, and a confirmed bachelor. He wasn’t trying to appear more wealthy or powerful or attractive to women than he already was.
As the second generation of well-known attorneys in Los Angeles, Ryan already owned the sports cars, the Rolex, the hand-tailored suits. Physical intimidation had a subliminal effect even in a courtroom, and Ryan kept himself in fighting shape by boxing with exclusive trainers and surfing on exclusive beaches. When it came to young, blonde starlets finding him attractive, he didn’t even have to try.
This was definitely not a midlife crisis.
So why am I standing in the smallest of towns in a landlocked state more than one thousand miles away from home?
He was supposed to be on a yacht, slowly getting sloshed with his fellow millionaires, drinking top-shelf mojitos while waiting for the sun to set over the Pacific and for the city of Los Angeles to blow an obscene amount of money on a fireworks display worthy of a Hollywood movie. One Laker Girl, in particular, was quite upset he’d canceled those plans. But the government had closed the courts of law on Friday for the holiday weekend, and for the past two years, whenever Ryan found himself with a chance to take a few days off, he’d found himself taking those days off in Montana.
The reason he’d first set foot in Big Sky Country was his brother. Shane Roarke had gained fame as a celebrity chef, a man whose dynamic personality and culinary skill had combined to give him the keys to the world. Shane had opened restaurants all over that world, but when it came to choosing one place to live, he’d chosen Montana.
Shane, like Ryan, was adopted. Shane had found his birth family in Thunder Canyon. He’d found a pair of half brothers, a baker’s dozen of cousins—and the love of his life. She’d been working right under his nose at his own restaurant in the Thunder Canyon resort.
None of that would be happening for Ryan. Not in Montana, and not anywhere else on the planet. Unlike Shane, Ryan hadn’t been adopted at birth. He’d been almost four years old, too young to have many memories of his birth mother, but old enough to have retained an image or two, impressions.
Feelings.
And that one clear moment in time: watching his mother voluntarily walk away from him, forever.
No, there would never be an embrace from a happy second family for him. He was loyal only to one family: the Roarkes. His parents, Christa and Gavin Roarke, his older brother Shane, his younger sister Maggie.
It was Maggie who lived here in Rust Creek Falls, some three hundred miles even farther north than Thunder Canyon. Maggie was married now, and she’d given birth to her first baby less than three months ago.
The Fourth of July wasn’t a big family holiday, not like Thanksgiving or Christmas. Between the LA traffic to the airport, the security checks, and the need to change planes in order to cross one thousand miles, Montana was no weekend jaunt. No one was expected to travel for nine or ten hours to see family for a day in July. And yet, Maggie had mentioned over the phone that the whole town would be celebrating the wedding for a couple Ryan vaguely knew from a previous trip, and he’d booked a flight.
Another moment in time, another feeling: A wedding in Rust Creek Falls? I should be there.
He was acting irrationally, following a hunch. Was that any worse behavior than the attorneys who really were having midlife crises?
Maggie had told him the wedding would be in the church, a formal affair with five bridesmaids and men in tuxedos. Accordingly, Ryan was wearing a suit and tie. He owned a few tuxedos, of course, but since the wedding was in the afternoon and he was one of an entire town of guests, he’d assumed wearing black tie would be too much.
As Ryan made his way from the parking lot to the main part of the park, he returned a few curious but courteous nods from the locals. His assumption about the tux being overkill had clearly been correct, but even his suit was too much. The reception was also the town’s Fourth of July community barbecue. Ryan felt exactly like what he was, an overdressed city slicker, standing in a grassy field that was dotted with picnic blankets and populated by cowboys in their jeans and cowgirls in their sundresses.
He stopped near the temporary stage and wooden dance floor. The bride and groom hadn’t arrived yet, but the band was warming up and the drinks were being served. An old man came toward him, going out of his way just to offer Ryan a cup of wedding punch in a paper cup. Amused, Ryan thanked him, realizing the old-timer must have thought he looked like he needed a drink, standing alone as he was.
He was alone, but only because Maggie and her husband were back at their house, hoping their baby would take a nap so they could return for the fireworks later. Being alone didn’t mean Ryan was lonely.
Ryan took a swig of the wedding punch, then immediately wished he hadn’t. It was a god-awful sweet concoction with sparkling wine thrown in, something he’d never drink under almost any other circumstance. Worse, he couldn’t just pour the stuff out on the grass. In a small town like this one, he was as likely to be standing near the person who made the punch as not. Some doting grandma or an earnest young lady had probably mixed the juice and wine, and the odds were good that if Ryan dumped it out, she’d see him do it. He’d break some proud punch maker’s heart.
If there was one thing Ryan was not, it was a heartbreaker. His Laker Girl, for example, was irritated at losing a yacht outing, but she wasn’t heartbroken. He kept his relationships painless, his connections surface-deep. In LA, it seemed right. Today, here in this park, it seemed...too little.
He polished off the punch, but on his way to the industrial-size trash can, he passed the punch table and found himself accosted by a trio of sweet little grannies.
“Well, don’t you look nice?”
“Are you waiting on somebody? A handsome young man like you must have a date for this wedding.”
“It’s nearly eighty degrees. You must be ready to melt in that jacket, not that you don’t look very fine.”
He wasn’t overheated. In Los Angeles, the temperature would easily reach one hundred, and he’d still wear a suit between his office and the courthouse. It took more than a reading on a thermometer to make him lose his cool.
Still, he appreciated their maternal concern. Their faces were creased with laugh lines, and all three of them had sparkling blue eyes that had probably been passed down from the Norwegians and Germans who’d settled here centuries ago. It was like being fussed over by three kindly characters from one of Grimm’s fairy tales.
“Here, son, let me refill your cup.”
“No, thank you.” Ryan waved off the punch bowl ladle.
All three women jerked to attention, then looked at him through narrowed eyes, their fairy-tale personas taking on the aura of determined villainesses.
“Don’t be foolish, dear. The day is hot and this punch is cold.”
This was Montana, land of grizzly bears as well as grannies. At the moment, it seemed like there might not be much difference between the two groups. When confronted by a bear, one should let it have its way. Ryan forced another smile as the punch pushers refilled his cup.
“Thank you very much.” He raised his paper cup in a toasting gesture, took a healthy swig to make them happy and continued on his way.
To where? Just where did he have to go?
To a trash can. He had nowhere else to be, nothing else to do, no one else to see.
His vision burst into stars, like he’d been hit in the boxing ring, a TKO. He put his hand out to steady himself, the wooden fence rough under his palm. He wasn’t drunk. It wasn’t possible on a cup of juice-diluted sparkling wine. And yet he felt...he felt...
Good God, he felt like garbage.
Useless.
Maggie was with her husband. Shane was with his wife. Even his parents were together back in California, planning their retirement, ready to travel and spend time together as Christa and Gavin after decades tirelessly fulfilling the roles of Mom and Dad.
Lonely.
One thousand miles he’d traveled, and for what? To be a stranger in a strange land? He looked around, keeping his grip on the split-rail fence. Everywhere, everyone had someone. Children had grandparents. Husbands had wives. Awkward teenagers had each other. The teen girls were toying with their hair, whispering and talking and looking at the boys. The boys stood with their arms crossed over their chests, testing their fledgling cowboy swagger, but they stood in a cluster with other boys with crossed arms, all being independent together.
All being independent, together. That was what this town was about. Ryan had first come here after a flood had decimated the southern half of the town. His sister had been helping process insurance claims in the town hall. Maggie was so efficient Ryan hadn’t been needed the weekend he’d arrived to help. Instead, he’d picked up a spare pair of work gloves and started using his muscles instead of his brains, picking up the pieces, literally, of someone’s broken dream.
Without a lot of conversation, he’d joined a cluster of men and women as they’d each picked up one brick, one board, one metal window frame to toss in a Dumpster before reaching for the next. One by one, each piece of debris had been cleared away. Independently but together, he and the others removed the remains of an entire house in a day, leaving the lot ready for a fresh building and a new dream.
With a few nods and handshakes, all the men and women had gone their separate ways after sunset, to eat and rest and do it all over again the next day. Ryan had never been part of something so profound.
He stared at the split-rail fence under his hand. That was why he kept coming back. For one day, he’d belonged. No one had cared which law firm he was with, which part of LA he could afford to live in, which clients had invited him onto their yachts. He’d been part of this community, no questions asked, and he’d liked it.
But now, they don’t need me.
He rejected that thought, hearing in it the echo of a pitiful little boy whose mother had decided he was no longer needed in her life. Rejected that emotion as he had rejected it so many times before. He refused to be an unwanted child. He was a Roarke, a powerful attorney from a powerful family, and when he wanted something, no one could stop him from achieving it.
He just needed to know what he wanted.
The drunken, emotional craziness cleared from his mind as he kept staring at his hand, still gripping the solid wood railing. Slowly, he lifted his gaze, following the line of the fence as it stretched along the perimeter of the park. He could hardly believe the direction his own mind was taking, but his thoughts were heading straight toward one idea. What if he chose a new path in life? What if he came to Montana for more than a long weekend? Could he live here? Would he feel like he belonged, or would he always be skirting along the outside of the close-knit community?
His visual run along the length of the fence was interrupted a hundred yards away by two women in blue dresses who were sitting on the railing, their backs to the people of the town. The one with the loose, long hair threw her head back and laughed at something the other woman said, happy although she was on the outskirts of the party.
Happy, because she’s not alone.
Shane and Maggie were happy in Montana, too, because they were not alone. Marriage and parenthood were sobering concepts for him. He didn’t think he’d be very good at either one, and he didn’t particularly have a burning desire to try, either. He let go of the fence and headed back toward the Porsche, loosening his tie as he went. Maybe he had come to Montana looking for something, but it hadn’t been for love.
If he made such a drastic change, if he gave up LA for a life in a small town, he’d do so on his own terms. This was about a different standard of living, a different pace of life. There was only one way to find out if this town could meet his terms, and that was to try it on for size. Just for today, he was going to act like he belonged here. He’d eat some barbecue, dance with some local girls and decide if this community of extended families and battered pickup trucks was really richer than his moneyed life in LA.
If he decided it was, then he’d develop and execute a plan for responsibly resigning from Roarke and Associates in Los Angeles and moving permanently to Montana.
What if they don’t like me here, now that they don’t need me?
He shoved the boyishly insecure emotion aside as he opened the Porsche’s trunk to get to his suitcase. The Porsche had its trunk in the front of the car and the engine in the back, making it just as unusual as Ryan himself in this humble parking lot. The Porsche was doomed to always be different. But he, with a simple change of clothes, could make himself fit in. He’d brought the jeans he usually wore to ride ATVs in Thunder Canyon and the boots he’d worn when he’d helped out after the flood.
If the town rejected him this time, if he was treated like he was no longer wanted now that the flood was a receding memory, then no harm done. He’d lived through rejection before. He could take any heartache this town could dish out.
He took off his Rolex and tossed it into the trunk before slamming the red metal shut.
Chapter Two (#ulink_83d38301-1818-55da-a277-42f46eddd1a2)
“Well, it won’t be long now. The band’s tuning up.”
Thank goodness. That giggly buzz from the powerful punch had started wearing off, giving way to a different sensation. After a few tipsy laughs with her sister, Kristen now felt more than sober. She felt almost somber, as she shifted her seat on the increasingly uncomfortable wood rail.
Her life needed to get on the right track. Things weren’t right. Pieces were missing. She was twenty-five, a college graduate with a passion for the theater, yet she spent her days running to the feed store and performing the same ranch chores she’d been assigned in junior high. Not that she wanted to lose her roots—her family, the ranch, this town—but she wanted more. An outlet for her theatrical passion—something that was hard to find in her hometown. An outlet for real passion, too, someone to lose her head and her heart over—someone who wouldn’t trample them this time.
This bad mood was probably just because a plane had flown overhead, reminding her that a good man was hard to find. Maybe she envied her pilot for having a home base but the freedom to fly and explore. If only he hadn’t been exploring with other women in other towns...
Jeez, she was spiraling down into a full-blown pity party.
The band began playing its first song of the afternoon. Kristen looked over her shoulder toward the empty wooden dance floor in the distance. If no one else started dancing, she’d get the party started and be grateful for the chance. If there was one thing that could shake Kristen out of the blues, it was a party. And man, was she feeling blue.
Stupid airplane.
The wedding carriage appeared at the end of the block with a flutter of white ribbons and the tossing of a horse’s snowy white mane. If Cinderella had been a cowgirl, this would have been her glass carriage.
“Oh, wow.”
“Wow.”
There were no other words between the sisters. As the surrey rolled steadily toward them, Kristen swallowed around a sudden but definite lump in her throat.
The closer the carriage came, the more clearly she saw the faces of the couple on the high bench. The groom, a man born and bred in Rust Creek Falls like Kristen herself, was transformed. Kristen felt she’d never seen Braden Traub before. Wearing a tuxedo and black cowboy hat, he held the reins loosely in his hands and kept his face turned toward his bride. Whatever she was saying, he found fascinating. He had eyes only for her and never looked at the horses, and yet, had those horses bolted, Kristen knew he would have had them back under his control within seconds, never allowing his bride to be in danger.
“I want what they have,” her sister said, reverence in her quiet tone.
“Me, too.”
With a love like that, she could branch out, she could fly, she could be fearless. A love like that would be her home base, the heartbeat at the center that made everything else come alive.
Kristen laid her head on Kayla’s shoulder. Her sister was supposed to be the serious twin, but Kristen suddenly felt like crying, completely undone by the romance of the moment, by what was possible between a man and woman, by what she’d never experienced herself.
I want a cowboy, capable and strong, who has eyes only for me, who loves only me, ’til death do us part.
She loved her family. She loved her hometown. And someday, she silently vowed, she would love a cowboy who was honest and true. If only...
If only she could find the right cowboy.
“No more city slickers for me,” Kristen whispered. “I’ll have the real deal, or I’ll stay single forever.”
“To true love.” Kayla raised her cup in a toast.
Kristen knew Kayla was trying to cheer her up, so she straightened and lifted her cup. “To true love. Too bad we’re out of actual punch for this toast.”
“It still counts.”
The carriage had been noticed by other people as it drew closer to the park entrance. Kristen and Kayla jumped down from the fence to join the growing crowd as they followed the carriage into the heart of the park. The bride and groom’s tête-à-tête was over as Braden pulled the team to a stop amid applause, good-natured catcalls about what had taken so long and a flurry of activity as the bride gathered up her skirts and bouquet, preparing to get down from the high surrey bench.
“Looks like she went traditional with a sweetheart neckline. I’m going to the other side to get a better look at her dress, okay?”
“Have fun,” Kristen said as Kayla slipped through the small crowd.
Braden tied off the reins and set the brake, but for added safety amid the noisy well-wishers, two cowboys held the bridles of the white horses as Braden jumped down from the surrey. One cowboy was Sutter Traub, the town’s own horse whisperer, and the other was...
The Cowboy.
Kristen’s heart thudded in her chest. Another one of those giddy waves of joy passed through her, even as the lump in her throat returned. The Cowboy! She’d wished for him and he was here, so soon after she’d made her personal vow, she could hardly believe he was real.
Yet there he was, a man she’d never seen before, holding the bridle and calming the lead horse as Braden handed his bride down from the surrey. The Cowboy—her cowboy—was the most physically appealing man she’d ever seen. Tall, dark and handsome barely began to describe him, inadequate to cover the physical confidence he possessed as he talked with the other men and kept the horse calm at the same time. The Cowboy had an air of authority that had surely come from a lifetime of handling anything that land or livestock could throw at a man.
Kristen stepped a little to one side, and the crowd parted just enough that she could check him out from his boots and jeans—check and check—to his white button-down shirt. It looked a little dressy for the picnic; he’d probably been at the church for the ceremony. He’d cuffed up the long sleeves, revealing strong forearms.
He was tan, but so were most of the ranchers who worked outdoors. Even the summer sun couldn’t lighten his nearly black hair, which he wore short, but not shorn. It was long enough that she could see a bit of a wave in it, and she knew it would feel glorious when she could run her fingers through it. When he was hers, she’d have the right to touch him and casually brush his hair back from his forehead.
Her gaze traveled past his broad shoulders to the strong hands that held the bridle. When he was hers, she’d have the right to touch him anywhere. Everywhere.
Her fingers practically tingled in anticipation.
He wore no cowboy hat, but that wasn’t unusual. Half the cowboys didn’t wear one when they weren’t working. A lot of the local guys wore ball caps with dumb fishing mottos on them, but not her cowboy. He looked too classy for that. He looked...
She couldn’t put her tingling finger on it, but he didn’t quite look like any of the cowboys from around Rust Creek Falls.
He’s not from around here, that’s why.
Kristen would have noticed him long ago if he were a local.
Who are you?
He looked right at her, as if he’d heard her ask the question. Over the nose of the white horse, across the dozen people who milled between them, their gazes met and held.
The people and the picnic and the party disappeared. Kristen felt only the heat in his dark brown eyes. He checked her out as thoroughly as she’d been checking him out, his gaze moving across her bare shoulders, down the V of her halter dress, taking in her boots with a brief quirk of his lips. She didn’t miss it, because she hadn’t looked away for a second. She was no shrinking violet. When he realized she was still watching him, he lifted a brow. She tossed her hair back and shrugged one bare shoulder.
Across the crowd, they shared a slow smile. If it was true that like attracted like, then she and this man sure were alike. When people said “two peas in a pod” to Kristen, they were invariably referring to her twin, but on this special summer day, Kristen knew that she and this man were a match, too. That smile said it all.
Without warning, the horse he was holding threw its head up. The Cowboy lost his grip on the bridle and took a head-butt to the jaw. Of course, he had the bridle back in hand and the horse steady in a second, but as his dark brown eyes met Kristen’s once more, his mouth quirked again in a bit of a sheepish smile.
Kristen wanted to toss her head like the snowy white horse. What do you know? I just made a cowboy lose control of a horse.
With a self-satisfied smile, Kristen turned toward the pavilion and the punch table. It was time to get two fresh cups and introduce herself to the man of her dreams.
* * *
Ryan rubbed his jaw as he moved with the rest of the wedding party toward the stage.
That horse had hit him as hard as the best boxer he’d ever faced down in the ring. Ryan was grateful that he knew how to take a punch. He’d managed to stay on his feet, so he hadn’t looked like a complete fool in front of the exquisite woman he’d been so thoroughly distracted by. He hoped he hadn’t looked like a fool. She’d disappeared into the crowd.
He’d find her again. The crowd here wasn’t big enough for someone to get lost permanently, a point definitely in favor of small towns at the moment. He scanned the people edging the dance floor, looking for her unusual blend of delicate features and a bold gaze.
The lead singer of the band spoke into the microphone. “Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention please? I’d like to turn the stage over to the mayor of Rust Creek Falls, Collin Traub.”
Another Traub. Was everyone in the town related to the bride and groom? And, by birth and by blood, to Ryan’s own brother?
As a man about Ryan’s age took the mike amid a round of applause, everyone turned to face the stage. Ryan kept looking through the crowd, scanning the backs of the heads of the people in front of him, looking for one particular woman’s long hair.
The attorney side of himself, which was practically the only side he had, yanked his attention back to the stage. If he was seriously considering a move to this town, he ought to be evaluating the mayor. Local government would have a huge impact on the growth of the town and the requirements for operating a business. He couldn’t prosper in a town that elected inflexible or unqualified people to office. Ryan focused on the mayor, who still wore his tuxedo as part of the wedding party, a tuxedo with a bolo tie instead of a bow tie, of course. The men around here were never far from their cowboy roots, even in their formal attire. The mayor’s welcome speech was sensible, friendly and, that most appreciated trait of all speeches, short.
Like Ryan’s attention span. He couldn’t focus on anything but seeing that woman again. The sun had highlighted her hair when he’d seen her, framing her in a halo of light. He was looking for a shade of brown that shone with gold, like caramel or honey or something appealing he’d find in one of his brother’s kitchens.
Unbelievable. He was turning into a poet. Beautiful, long hair was hardly a rarity where he came from, but Ryan would bet a million dollars that he could bury his hands in his mystery woman’s hair and not have to politely avoid the anchors of fake hair extensions. So many women in Hollywood paid a fortune to look like they had the kind of hair that his boot-wearing beauty probably had gained through healthy living on a ranch.
In a flash, he saw himself burying his hands in her hair, holding her reverently as she gazed up at him from the pillow, her happiness a part of his pleasure as—
Get a grip, Ryan.
He needed to snap out of this. This day was turning strange, whether it was from the strain of work and travel, the strangeness of ruminating over his siblings’ marriages or the sight of a bride and groom, he couldn’t say. Maybe it was the higher elevation or the cleaner air or that damned syrupy wedding punch, but he felt off.
The mayor called the bride and groom to the stage for the best man’s toast. Ryan saw the three fairy-tale grannies circulating in the crowd, coming toward him with trays of paper cups, making sure everyone who didn’t already have a drink in hand accepted one of theirs.
Absolutely not. Ryan Roarke, attorney at law, was not going to drink punch and spin ridiculous fantasies about a cowgirl he hadn’t even met. He turned on his heel and headed away from the stage.
“Were you looking for this? I think you’re going to need it.”
Ryan stopped abruptly, face to face with the cowgirl herself. Had he been heading straight for her, or had she stepped into his path? Either way, she was right here, stunningly beautiful in denim and sunshine.
She held out a cup and nodded toward the stage behind him. “It’s time for the toast.”
From her, he’d take the punch. He’d probably stand here and drink water from the river Styx, as long as he could keep looking at her. She looked right back, her blue eyes and heart-shaped face framed by that hair he so keenly wanted to touch.
“I’m Kristen,” she said with a smile.
He nodded gravely, aware that this was an introduction he’d remember.
“Ryan,” he said, and he suddenly didn’t care about Montana or Hollywood, about mayors and law firms. The only thing he cared about was getting to know the woman who smiled at him in a green park on the Fourth of July. She was worth traveling a thousand miles.
“You’re not from around here, are you?” she asked.
“No, I’m not.” Now that he’d decided what he wanted, he could relax. He found himself smiling at her—with her—without any effort at all. “But I could be.”
The best man finished his toast. “To the new Mr. and Mrs. Braden Traub.”
The crowd around them cheered and raised their drinks to toast the happy couple. Ryan tapped his cup to Kristen’s, then watched her over the rim of his cup as they drank to the newlyweds’ happiness.
The band struck up a song, a country-western ballad for the bride and groom’s first dance, and the lovely Kristen turned to face the dance floor.
With the taste of that sweet punch lingering on his tongue, Ryan looked at the faces of the townspeople who were looking at the newlyweds, faces that were young and old and in between. He could practically feel the goodwill and best wishes being directed toward the center of the dance floor as the bride and groom danced alone. Where were the murmured whispers about the prenuptial agreement? The bets that this marriage wouldn’t last longer than the bride’s previous two or the groom’s last three?
Ryan glanced down at the beautiful woman beside him. Her profile was not only pure physical perfection, but the expression on her face looked to him to be genuinely pure, as well, as open and honest as her friends’ and neighbors’ faces. He rubbed his still-aching jaw in disbelief. He’d had to see this to believe it, the possibility that an entire town could be truly wishing this couple a lifetime of happiness. If he wanted to fit in here, he’d have to leave some of his skepticism in LA.
The song came to an end, and Kristen bit the edge of her cup in her perfect white teeth so her hands were free to applaud with the rest of the crowd.
“Allow me.” Ryan tugged the cup from her, charmed by her unselfconscious smile. He slid her empty cup inside his own, then turned to put them down on the nearest picnic table.
The lead singer of the band was doubling as the master of ceremonies. “Everyone is invited to join in for this next dance. For every couple who gets on the dance floor, the bride and groom will get another year of happiness, so don’t be shy. Find your partners.”
The fiddle player began the first notes of a country-western song in the clear one-two-three rhythm of a waltz.
Ryan didn’t know how to two-step or boot-scoot or do any kind of country dancing, but a waltz was a waltz, whether it was danced under the chandeliers of a ballroom or on temporary wood planking in a park. He could fit in here, on the dance floor with the citizens of Rust Creek Falls, and he could waltz with the prettiest cowgirl of them all.
“May I have this dance?” he asked.
“You may.” Kristen took her place in his arms with a graceful swirl of her denim dress. They began to move as one.
There was nothing that satisfied Ryan’s sense of irony more than holding a beautiful woman in a ballroom dance. It seemed so civilized on the surface, when it was really a way to bring a man and a woman’s bodies in sync. While they performed the prescribed moves of the centuries-old waltz, he could touch the smooth skin of her upper back, left bare by the halter dress. He could feel the incredible softness of her hair brushing his wrist as they turned in smooth circles. He could hold her so close that they stepped between each other’s legs, graceful movements of her booted feet between his own.
“I love the waltz even more than the two-step,” she said, civilized small talk made while her thighs brushed against his.
“I do, too.” Of course, he only knew the waltz, not the two-step, but he’d watch and learn the two-step in record time today. He intended to dance as much as possible with Kristen. This was where he wanted to be, but more importantly, this was the woman with whom he wanted to be. She moved with him effortlessly, lightly, wonderfully. The moment in time seemed perfect.
As if this dance were destined to be.
No. He didn’t believe in things like destiny. Men and women had to carve their own lives out of the circumstances they were dealt. As beautiful as the woman in his arms was, as expressive as her eyes were and as easily as her smile came, it was still absurd to think she’d come into his life today because of destiny.
It was even more absurd that he was debating the possibility.
It had to be the wedding. The music. The damned effect of that punch. This was just an average town, a simple song, an average band. There was nothing special about this waltz, and the woman he shared it with was merely a pretty country girl. Those were facts, not fate.
He was an attorney, a man of letters. Like his parents, he believed in laws and rules, not in mystical interpretations of life.
But Mom, I’m not really a Roarke.
Oh, but you are. I think you were always meant to be my son, and I was always meant to be your mother.
The memory caught him by surprise. Did his analytical adoptive mother truly believe in fate, or had she said those words to comfort a boy who’d never forgotten being left behind?
“Are you okay?”
Kristen’s soft question brought him back to reality. He gave her a polite, reassuring smile that was little more than a reflex.
“Yes, I’m fine.”
How odd that she’d asked. He hadn’t changed the rhythm of their dancing or the way he was holding her as he’d remembered his mother’s words about destiny. On the surface, everything was the same, all smooth skin, smooth steps, synchronicity. And yet, Kristen had noticed his subtle change in mood.
She was more than a pretty country girl, and he couldn’t fool himself otherwise. There was something special about her. This day had become so much more than a weekend away from the rat race. This town, this celebration, this woman all combined to make Ryan feel like he was standing at the brink of something new. Did she feel it, too?
He’d known her for minutes. He couldn’t ask her if she believed in destiny, but he could hold her as the band played, so he lost himself in her blue eyes as they waltzed together under the big Montana sky.
* * *
The Cowboy didn’t seem inclined to make small talk, and she loved dancing too much to want to chatter about nothing when she could be enjoying the music and the motion, so they danced in silence as one song led to the next.
Occasionally, though, she noticed someone on the dance floor would seem to recognize Ryan, and they’d exchanged a friendly nod.
Who are you? Where did you come from?
She was half-afraid to ask. He was too perfect for her—he even wanted to dance every song, just like she did—so she could almost imagine she’d conjured him up. Like a figment of her imagination, he could disappear as easily as he’d arrived.
Sooner than she would have liked, the band stopped playing and the wedding cake was cut with the usual ceremony. It went without saying that after being so in tune with Ryan on the dance floor, they’d take their cake slices and walk in step toward one of the many card tables that had been set up under the park’s shade trees.
Dancing had been all about communicating with movement, but Kristen had no desire to sit across from the man and eat wedding cake in silence.
“Will you be in town long?” she asked, jumping in with both feet and asking the most important question first. Her brothers would probably shake their heads and say she was being too bold again, but her sister would probably tell her she’d make a good journalist, getting right to the point.
“Just until tomorrow.” Ryan set his plate aside and gave her his full attention, arms crossed on the table, gaze on her face.
Shivers ran down her spine. Hadn’t she vowed to find a man who paid attention to her and only her?
Her sister had been so serious as they’d sat on the fence, telling Kristen she shouldn’t dare the universe with her declaration about not falling in love today. If the universe had decided to prove Kristen wrong by setting the perfect man in front of her as a temptation—well, heck, that wasn’t much of a punishment. She’d said she wouldn’t fall in love, but a girl would be crazy not to reconsider after meeting a man like Ryan.
She flipped her hair back over her shoulder to keep it out of the white icing. “What did you mean when I asked you if you were from around here, and you said you could be?”
“It’s a thought I’ve been entertaining. It might be time to get out of the fast lane and settle down, somewhere away from the madding crowds. I like Montana.”
She licked a little frosting off her finger as she listened. Not a lot of cowboys would describe their lives as being in the fast lane.
“I’ve visited a few places in Montana over the past couple of years,” he said, “but right now, Rust Creek Falls looks just about perfect.”
He was looking right at her. Another shiver went down her spine, and she decided the sensation was as delicious as the cake. She was already half in love with Ryan. He was handsome and humorous, with a cowboy’s good manners and rock-hard body, and most of all, he seemed to be interested in everything she had to say. If he was considering a permanent move to Rust Creek Falls, the universe had won the dare. She’d fall in love today and be happy that the universe had known better than she had.
“Are you a Traub?” he asked.
“No, I’m a Dalton.”
“Good. I was starting to think everyone was a Traub except me.”
It could have been her overactive actress’s imagination, but he’d said that line with a touch of wistfulness.
“Don’t feel too left out. There are oodles of Daltons and Crawfords and Stricklands here, too. You don’t have to be a Traub to live in Rust Creek Falls.”
One of the Traubs in question passed near their table, Collin Traub, the mayor, to be exact. He nodded at Ryan, who hesitated just a moment before nodding back.
“You know Collin?” Kristen asked. That was excellent. The more ties Ryan had to this town, the more reasons he had to stay.
“Collin who?”
“The man you just nodded at.”
“No, not really.” He looked away from her toward Collin, then glanced around the other tables, but his gaze didn’t stop on anyone in particular.
He knew no one, then. That could be a lonely feeling. Kristen remembered feeling lost on campus when she’d first arrived at the University of Montana. The modest city of Missoula had seemed like a giant metropolis of heartless strangers.
She didn’t want Ryan to feel that way, not in her town. She slid his discarded plate back in front of him, took his fork and scooped up a chunk from the best part of the slice, the corner between the top and side that had the most frosting. Maybe a little sugar would bring the smile back to his face.
She held the fork up. “Here, eat this. You can’t let homemade cake go to waste.”
He didn’t smile. One brow lifted slightly at her impulsive gesture. She hadn’t thought it through, but if she’d expected him to take the fork from her, she’d been wrong. Instead, with his intense gaze never leaving her face, he leaned forward and ate the bite off the fork as she held it.
It was a move for lovers. There was an intimacy to feeding someone. She could imagine that mouth on her skin, tasting her, taking his time, savoring the moment...
Kristen sat back in the metal chair and lifted the hair off the back of her neck. The heat of the day hadn’t dissipated, although it was getting close to suppertime, but she knew the real reason she was warm, and it had to do with a man who was just a bit older, just a bit more self-possessed, just a bit more devilish, than the men she usually dated. The universe had outdone itself.
She leaned forward once more, determined to match Ryan’s confidence. “Collin seemed to recognize you, even if you don’t know him.”
Ryan nodded once, a crisp acknowledgment of her observation. “I’m surprised. I didn’t think anyone around here would recognize me.”
The proverbial lightbulb went off over Kristen’s head. What kind of cowboy talked about crowds and fast lanes? What kind of cowboy got recognized by people who were strangers to him?
A cowboy who starred in the rodeo, that was who. Collin Traub had once been a rodeo rider, and he recognized Ryan.
In ninth grade, Kristen had gone through her rodeo phase. She’d been able to name all the best cutting horses and recite the bloodlines of all the barrel-racing champions, but even then, she’d been more interested in boys than livestock. She’d been able to name the most handsome bull riders as well as the most noble horses. She’d begged her parents to drive her all the way to the Missoula Stampede. Afterward, she’d cut photos of her favorite cowboys out of the color program and taped them to the inside of her locker.
She’d outgrown that infatuation. Cowboy crushes had given way to movie star mania, and she’d left the ranch to taste life on the stage. Now everything seemed to be coming full circle. Here she was, eating wedding cake on the Fourth of July with a rodeo rider. The Cowboy. Her Cowboy.
Bravo, Universe. Bravo.
Since the professional rodeo circuit ran nearly all its events in July and August, she wasn’t surprised Ryan had to leave town tomorrow. It was only surprising he’d been able to stop here today. He’d hoped Rust Creek Falls would give him a break from his everyday life in the fast lane. When people recognized Ryan, he returned all their nods politely, but he hadn’t been striking up conversations or handing out autographs. He didn’t want to play up his life on the professional circuit obviously.
She wasn’t about to ask him about his life on the rodeo circuit, either. Her days as a fourteen-year-old fan were long behind her. Now she was the woman who’d fed a man cake while he’d devoured her with his eyes. That man was the person she wanted to get to know.
She only had today to do it. One day for him to decide if he’d ever come back to Rust Creek Falls—or rather, one day for her to decide if she ought to convince him.
One day that could decide the rest of their lives.
Chapter Three (#ulink_2893951f-51ef-546e-8a73-9b0f4fd6c362)
Kristen missed the feel of having Ryan’s arms around her, but even the most die-hard dancers had to take a break when the band stopped playing.
As the next band set up its equipment, Kristen got to know more about Ryan than the clean smell of his dress shirt and the way their bodies fit together in a slow dance. Sitting together on a corner of the stage, they discussed everything from favorite sports teams to favorite seasons. She loved the Green Bay Packers and Christmas. He preferred the New York Yankees and summer. He was the middle child of three; she was the baby of five—even if she was only separated from number four by a few minutes. His siblings didn’t live in the same state as he did; her entire family lived in the same town.
“In other words,” Kristen said, “we have everything in common.”
“A perfectly logical conclusion.” Ryan kept his expression perfectly serious, too, although she knew he was teasing her.
“It is.” She polished off her punch and set her cup down, prepared to check off her conclusions one by one on her fingers. “We both enjoy watching professional sports. We each have one sister. We each have at least one older brother. We talk to our families all the time.”
That made four. She wiggled her pinky finger, the last one she hadn’t checked off. “And we both love to dance. Like I said, we’ve got everything in common.”
His slow smile was just about the sexiest thing about him, and considering everything about him was sexy, that was saying something. “I have no objection to any of that. But for the sake of accuracy, and to give myself an excuse to keep watching a beautiful woman as she makes an animated argument, I have to point out that our preferred seasons are opposites.”
“That is a fact.” Kristen was never one to back down from a challenge. She lowered her voice. “Having one thing we don’t agree on keeps it...interesting.”
His gaze dropped to her mouth. He was interested, all right.
“Differences can be good. For example, you’re a boy. I’m a girl.” She pointed at his chest, then at hers, his gaze dropping farther, down to where she pressed her finger to her heart. “You’re summer, I’m Christmas.”
Just as their eyes had met over the head of that white horse, his gaze suddenly left her finger and focused right on her. He looked serious for real this time, no joke to it. “I believe if anyone could make Christmas better, it would be you.”
Kristen leaned in a little closer. “If every Fourth of July could be spent with you, I’d start to look forward to summer as soon as the first snow fell.”
He was going to kiss her. Right here, sitting on the edge of the stage in the middle of the town’s celebration, he was going to kiss her, and she felt her heart beating under her own fingertip in anticipation.
But he didn’t. In silence, he looked at her for one second longer, then lifted his cup to her in a salute, and downed his punch.
“Hi, Kristen.”
She looked up to see one of the guys from her high school drama club days standing over her with his guitar.
“My band’s on for the next hour. Make sure you clap even if we suck, okay?”
“You’ll be great.” Kristen stood along with Ryan, and yielded the stage with a wave of her hand. “It’s all yours. Break a leg.”
The dance floor began filling up again. She spotted Kayla dancing with someone else Kristen hadn’t seen in a while, one of their brothers’ friends who’d been a few years ahead of them in high school.
High school. Again. She was twenty-five. She didn’t want her life to revolve around high school. Hadn’t she evolved since then?
Yes, of course she had. She was just overthinking everything.
There was something in the air today. The town seemed different somehow. Maybe because a police officer she didn’t recognize had walked past her, heading toward the fountain and the sounds of a fight, although public brawls were rare in Rust Creek Falls. Maybe because a high-stakes poker game had kicked off at the Ace in the Hole bar, and lots of rowdier folk were drifting that way. Members of the wedding party were sneaking off, too, headed for the park exit, where the groom’s truck was now parked in preparation for the getaway.
A getaway. It sounded appealing on one level, but she’d already been there, done that. She’d gotten a college degree, even lived in New York City one summer, and then returned to Rust Creek Falls by choice. She wasn’t stuck here; she was happy here. People visited and ended up staying permanently, which was proof enough that the town was great. If the Cowboy settled down here, maybe she’d feel more settled herself.
“Where do you want to go?” Ryan asked.
Kristen almost laughed at the timing. “Is that a trick question? Do you mean where do I want to go in life or just in the next five minutes?”
“They say the journey of a lifetime starts with a single step.” A smile teased the corners of his mouth. “I’ve always thought that put a lot of pressure on choosing where to step.”
“Let’s be daring and step this way, then.” She stood shoulder to shoulder with him and deliberately raised her knee high, then took a giant step in the direction of the fence where she’d sat with her sister, waiting for true love to arrive.
Those moments with her sister seemed prophetic now. Her emotions seemed wild and free today, swinging from a kind of drunken silliness to intensely important. Through it all, she’d had Ryan’s arm around her on the dance floor, Ryan sitting across from her at the table, Ryan walking beside her now, matching her stride for stride after that first silly step.
“I think the bride and groom are going to make a break for it,” Kristen said. “We can wave goodbye from the fence.” The fireworks wouldn’t begin until after ten since the sun set so late in July, but Kristen had noticed the newest Traub couple saying goodbye to their bridesmaids and groomsmen.
“I guess they’re not too worried about seeing fireworks tonight,” she said. “Maybe they’ll watch them from the balcony of Maverick Manor. That’s where they’re staying. They’ll fly out tomorrow on their honeymoon.”
“I’m sure they’ll see fireworks tonight.” Ryan kept his serious poker face in place as they reached the fence.
She did a little Groucho Marx imitation, wagging her eyebrows and pretending she held a cigar. “Fireworks? Is that what the kids are calling it these days?”
Ryan gave her a boost to sit on the top rail. His laughter was as warm and masculine as the brief touch of his hands on her waist. He stayed on the ground, leaning against the fence, and crossed his ankles as he settled in for the wait.
Kristen enjoyed the novel position of being able to look down on him. All that rich, dark hair, just waiting for her to mess up—and if she sat at just the right angle, she could see a bit of his chest below the unbuttoned V at his throat. He had no farmer’s tan, just more yummy bronzed skin...
He looked up at her, catching her staring.
She was so busted, but she didn’t bite her lip or blush or look away. She’d learned a long time ago to brazen out embarrassing situations.
“You were sitting right here when I first saw you,” he said.
If he’d seen her sitting on the fence, then he’d seen her before the carriage had arrived. She hadn’t spotted him first, after all.
Why didn’t you approach me right away? That was too bold even for her. She tried a different question. “What did you think about the girl on the fence?”
“That you were happy. You were laughing with your sister. I envied you.”
“For having a sister?” She shook her head and answered her own question. “No, you have a sister of your own. You envied us for laughing. Are you not happy?”
“Is that a trick question? Do you mean for the next five minutes, or do you mean my life in general?”
She smiled at his light words, but her curiosity grew. “Let’s start with at the moment.”
He didn’t answer her immediately, looking away to gaze calmly at the horizon and the first streaks of the sunset appearing over the mountain peaks.
She thunked her heels on the railing, stopped herself and smoothed her skirt over her knees. She’d rather be smoothing his dark hair.
“I met a wonderful woman today,” he said, “and she’s tolerating my company without complaint. I’m happy.”
“Good answer, but that was a mighty long pause.” She wanted to see his face, so she climbed down and leaned against the fence beside him, watching his profile as he watched the horizon. “I thought ‘Are you happy?’ would be an easy yes or no.”
“I don’t usually think in terms of being happy. It sounds frivolous.”
She slipped her hand in his. It felt familiar, for they’d been holding hands in the traditional ballroom holds that went with the waltz and the two-step, but it also felt significant. There was no excuse of a dance this time. He rubbed his thumb along the back of her hand, as if they often held hands while they talked.
“It’s not frivolous, though,” he said. “Happiness is serious. It’s the driving force behind our lives. ‘The pursuit of happiness’ is a legal right. We all have the right to try to find it.”
“To try.” She echoed the words he’d emphasized. “Have you been successful in your attempt?”
He raised their joined hands and placed a light kiss on her knuckle.
“Today, yes.”
She made him happy.
She sucked in a little breath at the compliment. But he’d said today, as if happiness were a rare occurrence.
“Isn’t your life usually happy?”
“I’m working on it,” he said with all the confidence of a man who was certain he’d solve a problem soon.
That kind of confidence must be nice to have. “How do you work on happiness?”
“My job isn’t as fulfilling as it once was. I need to reevaluate. Refocus.”
Kristen could imagine that even if he was born for the rodeo, it could easily be more stressful than happy. Rodeo careers were physically punishing and therefore short. He looked to be about thirty. He’d said he was considering a change of pace, getting out of the fast lane, but maybe he was being forced to by circumstances.
“It’s more than my career, though. I find myself envying my brother and sister.” He paused, and Kristen suspected that he was giving these thoughts voice for the first time. “Within a year of each other, they got married. My sister had a baby just a few months ago, and my brother is expecting his first.”
“So now they’re happy?”
“I wouldn’t have said they were unhappy people before. They had great careers and a family they could rely on, but I can see that they have more now. Even though they weren’t missing anything, they found something else, anyway, and now they are really living. Or more accurately, I should say they found someone else. Not a thing, a person.”
A little distance away, the bride laughingly yelped as she and Braden were pelted with birdseed as they ran toward the opening in the fence. The groom’s black truck was parked on the street beyond.
Ryan didn’t move as the whole wedding party came closer. “I’m starting to believe it’s not how much fame and fortune you have, but whether or not you have someone by your side.”
As Braden and his bride ran past them, Kristen waved and shouted “good luck,” but they already seemed incredibly lucky to her. She and her sister had started the afternoon by wishing they had what the newlyweds had. It hadn’t occurred to Kristen that she ought to do something about it besides hope and wait. Ryan was right about pursuing happiness. It was sobering to realize that she’d been so passive about her life.
“I’m sorry,” Ryan said quietly, and she realized he was studying her closely. “Here we are at a happy occasion, and I’m being too maudlin and reflective. Montana has that effect on me.”
“Montana makes you sad?”
“Montana makes me think. I wish I didn’t have to leave tomorrow. I feel more at peace here than anywhere else.”
Then he’d be coming back.
She felt her buoyant mood returning. The truth was, no matter how much she admired Ryan’s determination, hoping and wishing had worked for Kristen. Who was she to double-guess how the universe worked?
The groom opened the passenger door of his truck and began helping his bride gather up her full skirts so she could climb in. He knew which door to open for her because his friends had very helpfully used white shoe polish on the window to write the words Bride Goes Here with an arrow.
Kristen gave Ryan a gentle nudge with her shoulder. “The truck isn’t as romantic as the carriage, but infinitely more practical. It wouldn’t be too romantic to ride off into the sunset and then spend the first hours of your wedding night unhitching a team and stabling the horses, would it?”
“I would never argue with a cowgirl. If you say unhitching horses would delay the fireworks, then I trust you.”
“You’re just humoring me now.” He was doing that serious-joking thing again, implying she knew more about horses than he did.
“I’d bet the ranch that you live on a ranch. You must know horses.”
The black truck drove off, the cluster of empty cans that were tied to its tailpipe clattering loudly behind it. Ryan gave their joined hands a tug and started leading her along the fence, away from the send-off crowd who were now milling about.
“I do live on a ranch, but what made you guess that? Do I smell like I mucked the stables this morning? I’m not saying I did, but is there hay in my hair? Or do I just snicker like a horse when I laugh?”
He stopped walking once they reached a cluster of spruce trees. She moved a little closer into his personal space.
He didn’t back up an inch. This close, in order for him to look down at her, his eyes got that heavy-lidded look. Bedroom eyes.
“Those aren’t the clues that you live on a ranch.”
“The boots, then?” She felt a little nervous, a little excited. Ryan had been willing to follow her playful lead all day, but the way he looked at her now left no doubt that he was a man who knew where the game was leading—and who’d know exactly what to do when they got there.
“You must be a cowgirl because you have incredible stamina,” he murmured, “on the dance floor.”
A shiver threatened to run down her spine.
“You practically glow with health. Your hair, your skin. You. Every single inch of you.” They were so very close, bodies nearly touching in the quiet twilight, the sounds of the band and the crowd far in the background.
She wanted to kiss him. She could go up on tiptoe and taste his lips as she’d been dying to do forever, but she wanted him to initiate it. Good girls didn’t steal the first kiss. How such an old-fashioned notion had been ingrained in her brain was beyond her, but there it was. She kept holding his hand, wanting so much more.
An evening breeze carried the crisp air from the distant mountains into the park, stirring the evergreen sent of the spruce trees, blowing a few strands of her loose hair over her cheeks. Ryan brushed them back, those bedroom eyes making the touch of his hand on her hair as sensual a feeling as she’d ever experienced.
As Ryan tamed her hair, she stayed still, wishing, wishing. His body was so much larger than hers, his muscles moving under the polished cotton of his shirt with the gentle motion of his hand.
Kiss me.
He let the last lock of her hair go, and his fingers brushed the bare skin of her shoulders, then higher, a smooth, light run up the length of her neck, a barely there brush of fingertips on her jaw.
Kiss me, kiss me.
The gentle touch of his fingertips was replaced by the sure warmth of his palm as he cupped her face in his hand. Her eyes closed.
Kiss me.
“Kristen Dalton.” When he spoke her name, she felt the whisper of his breath on her lips. “Where have you been all my life?”
“Right here, waiting for you to find some happiness.”
He kissed her, and, oh, it was a glorious feeling of soft lips and restraint, a tender you-may-kiss-the-bride moment. He ended it too soon, and she opened her eyes. Behind him, the sunset had come into its full colors over the snow-capped mountains that had defined the horizon her entire life.
Had she expected the kiss to make him happy? He wasn’t smiling. His gaze was direct, his face so serious it was almost a frown.
Before she could say something, anything at all, he let go of her hand to hold her face between both of his palms. Words fled. He pulled her to him for a kiss that rocked her world. Rougher, more greedy. Possessive, more passionate.
Her fingers slid into the hair at the nape of his neck as he pulled her into him more tightly than any dance had allowed. She felt the hard planes of his body, and everything soft in her wanted to give in and melt in the safety of his arms.
She kissed him until his arms felt more sexy than safe. She kissed him until the only reason she was standing was that he held her up.
If he could have laid her down, if they hadn’t been hiding in plain sight in a corner of the town park, she would have gone willingly. It would be madness, but finally, she understood the crazy things couples did. Love at first sight, undeniable desire, life-changing decisions made in a split second—it all made perfect sense.
He ended the kiss when she would not have, could not have. As they held tightly to each other, she could feel every breath that filled his chest. She panted softly herself, as if she’d run a mile. Run a mile, and won the race. The endorphin rush, the thrill of knowing that this had happened, that she’d found the one man with whom she connected more strongly than she’d known was possible, was almost frightening.
He placed gentle kisses on her temple and at the corner of her eye, little echoes of the passion that had just obliterated all her thoughts. “You smell fantastic, by the way.”
It took her a second to remember what they’d been talking about before the kiss. “Not like a stable?”
“Like summer.”
“Your favorite.”
And then they were kissing again, hungry and intense. She wanted him with a desperation that threatened once more to make her shameless. He broke off the kiss but clutched her closer. His breath was harsh in her ear. “That was damned...”
“Scary?” she whispered.
“Powerful.”
She pulled back a little bit. All the emotions overwhelming her were reflected in his expression, too. It made her feel even closer to him, to the one person who was weathering this unpredictable storm with her.
“I think...” She didn’t have any clear thoughts, only feelings. Crazy, uninhibited feelings today, here in the town park. She looked up at him through her lashes, hoping to lighten the intensity. “I think we just found a great way to pursue happiness.”
His smile was brief. “I still have to leave tomorrow. The fact that I’m falling for the most beautiful girl in the world doesn’t change the fact that I have people depending on me.”
Falling for her. He was falling for her, and everything was right in the world—except that he had to leave tomorrow. She didn’t like it, but she understood it. The rodeo wasn’t so different from the theater in many ways.
“The show must go on,” she said.
“And on, and on. I get to enjoy the victories for about five seconds before the next challenge begins. But we still have tonight. How would you like to spend it?”
He had to ask?
She kissed him this time. He responded instantly, perfectly, opening his mouth to her demands, anchoring her to him with his hands. He kept the kiss from exploding into desperation this time, setting a slower pace, a more luxurious exploration. It was divine to kiss him, the sensation so perfect that it was like seeing a new color she’d never known existed or hearing a beautiful piece of music for the first time.
He broke off the kiss with a softly spoken damn.
“Ryan,” she begged.
“I know.” He tucked her securely against his chest. She breathed in the warm skin exposed at his throat. “I know.”
Where are you staying? Let’s leave the park now. The words wouldn’t come, too many years of that good-girl upbringing preventing her from saying what she wanted.
“I have to leave tomorrow,” he said, so quietly that she wondered if he was speaking to himself. “It would be...we should just...we shouldn’t.”
There was nothing else to say. A part of her wanted to plead childishly, Don’t you want to? Or more importantly, Don’t you want me?
She stayed silent, her cheek to his chest. He was older than she was and almost certainly more experienced, but she trusted herself to answer those questions. Yes, he wanted to. Yes, he wanted her. She could feel the muscle tension in his body. He was deliberately keeping himself under control. His breathing was steady only because he was requiring himself to breathe steadily.
He was being a true cowboy, one with all the courtesy and respect that a gentleman traditionally showed a lady. Hadn’t she vowed she’d settle for nothing less?
Frankly, she wished the universe hadn’t listened to her quite so thoroughly on that point. This man was hers, and they would be together sooner or later, and her body was certainly eager for sooner. With a sigh, she lifted her head and stepped back just a tiny bit, keeping her arms looped around his waist.
“I guess it’s too early for fireworks,” she said.
The corner of his mouth quirked in that hint of amusement she was coming to love. When the breeze blew her hair forward again, she tried to toss it back with a shake of her head, refusing to let go of Ryan.
He pushed her hair back for her and kept his hands on either side of her face. “I can hardly believe you’re real.”
“Wanna kiss me again to be sure?”
He laughed at that, a much needed break in the tension. “I know you’re real. Amazingly, incredibly real. But today hasn’t been. This isn’t my real life.” He let go of her face.
“But it could be. That’s what you came here to decide.”
He stepped back, and she let him go. Desire that could not be satisfied wasn’t a desirable state to be in. But then he turned away from her—and from the sunset, the mountains, everything. He braced his hands on the fence and looked down at the railing.
As if the man hadn’t already stirred up enough emotions in her, she now felt the tender tug of sympathy. There was some pain in the way he bowed his head as well as strength in the set of his jaw. It must be hard for a man’s career to be ending when most people were just hitting their strides. The rodeo was unforgiving, and Ryan seemed determined to choose his next step in a purely objective manner. But any man who knew horses and victory and defeat, any man who appreciated music and summer and family, must have a heart.
She hoped he’d listen to his.
“Should I leave my current life and start a new one in Rust Creek Falls? That’s the essential question. I can’t drop the commitments I’ve already made. Being impulsive would hurt too many people. Today was supposed to just be a first step. I only came to see the town and begin evaluating my options.”
“That’s perfectly logical.” She said it with a straight face, the way he had over dinner.
He glanced sideways at her. “You don’t think so?”
“I think you’ve already made up your mind. All this ponderous decision-making isn’t necessary, but if it makes you feel better, ponder away.”
Her attempts at humor were helping her regain some equilibrium, anyway. She turned around to lean back on the fence, resting her elbows on the top rail and hitching the heel of one boot on the bottom. She let her head drop back far enough so she could look up at the darkening sky.

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