clustered around the big round oak table. The ranch hands ate at the chuck wagon, their own “café” staffed with a cook who made her way to the ranch each day from a nearby farm. Cody and his brother, Ben, Elena’s husband, were as likely to eat the midday meal at one place as the other.
“Liana woke up this morning claiming to be sick,” Elena said. “Silly me, I believed her.”
Liana’s lower lip thrust out in a pout. “I am sick,” she whined. “I mean, I was, only now I feel better. Can I go out with Uncle Cody this afternoon, Mama? Can I?”
“No way.” Elena used a spatula to dish up grilled steak-and-cheese sandwiches to augment the tomato soup already steaming in mugs. “If you’re sick enough to stay home from school, you’re too sick to get out of bed.”
“I’m out of bed now,” Liana argued, snatching a golden triangle off the platter when her mother set it down.
“Meals don’t count. As soon as you finish...” Elena pointed toward the door leading to the stairs, which in turn led to the bedrooms.
“Uncle Cody!”
“Sorry, cupcake, your mother’s right.” He settled into his seat and warmed his hands around the mug of soup. It was chillier than usual out there today.
Elena smiled, her beautiful white teeth flashing. Ben had found a real jewel in her. “That’s what I like about you, Cody,” she said. “You never let them get the best of you.”
Cody winked at Liana. “Never?”
Elena laughed. “Not that I know of anyway. So tell me, how did it go yesterday at the Yellow Rose?”
“All right,” he said in a noncommittal tone. Although his entire family knew all about his decision to go wife-hunting, he felt uncharacteristically shy about yesterday.
Elena’s brows rose. “You mean...?”
Just then, Ben entered through the back door, yanking off his denim jacket and tossing it onto a hook beside the door. “I’m hungry enough to eat a horse,” the manager and co-owner of the Flying J declared. He paused long enough to drop a kiss on his wife’s cheek on his way to wash up.
Watching them together, smiling and happy after twelve years of marriage, Cody felt envy start to boil in his chest. He fought it down valiantly. That was why he’d taken his courage in hand and gone to Yellow Rose Matchmakers; he wanted what Ben and Elena had. That included little Liana, grinning after her tall father with adoration in her eyes, and eight-year-old Jimmy, who was at school.
Elena smiled at her husband’s broad back. “I was asking your brother how it went at the matchmaker’s yesterday.”
Ben grinned over his shoulder, busily splashing his hands beneath the stream of water. “Yeah, Cody, tell us all about it.”
“Had to fill out a lot of junk,” Cody said. He made a face.
“Like what?” Elena pressed.
“Ah, you know—what kinda guy I am, what kinda woman I’m looking for, stuff like that.”
“Aunt Jessica was pretty,” Liana piped up.
“Yeah,” Cody agreed, “but I’m not lookin’ for another one of those. Although...”
Elena and Ben both perked up. Ben dried his hands on a dish towel and joined them at the table. “Although what?”
“Well...I met a real looker while I was there.”
Husband and wife exchanged knowing glances. “You did?” Elena asked encouragingly.
“But I’ll never see that one again. It was just a screwup over the appointments.” Cody helped himself to several sandwich halves from the platter, then reached for the jar of pickles.
“How can you be so sure?” Elena leaned forward on her elbows, apparently more interested in her brother-in-law’s love life than in lunch.
“For openers, she’s too good-looking.”
“Uncle Cody doesn’t trust pretty women,” Liana announced with youthful authority.
All three adults stared at her, dumbfounded.
Flustered, she tried to regroup. “Well, I heard him say that to Daddy one time,” she wailed.
Elena shook her head. “Little pitchers have big ears,” she announced.
Ben laughed. “Little pitchers have got the straight of it this time. Okay, little brother, she’s too good-looking. What else is wrong with her?”
“She’s not interested in marriage.”
“How can you be so sure of that?” Elena demanded.
“She said so.”
The minute he made that announcement, he realized his mistake. Jessica had consistently said one thing and meant another. Maybe this woman meant one thing and said another. In which case, Cody’s interest might not be as misplaced as he’d—
The telephone on the wall near the door began to ring and Elena went to answer it. After the briefest of conversations, she turned back with a big smile on her face. “That was a lady from Yellow Rose Matchmakers, Wanda something—”
“Wanda Roland.” Cody’s stomach clenched in the kind of anticipation he hadn’t expected to feel. “What did she say?”
“That she’s made a match for you. She wants you to come to her office this afternoon at four to hear the good news.”
“Good news? How does she know it’ll be good news? It could be a disaster. It could be—”
“Look, Daddy,” Liana said, grinning. “Uncle Cody’s scared!”
He sure was. Scared to death.
Emily was having a tough day at work. As temporary office manager for a brand-new branch of A&B Construction, she had more than enough to keep her busy. When her boss, Don Phillips, poked his head in, she had a whole list of questions for him.
Don was big and bluff and hearty, not to mention a great boss. In his mid-forties, he treated everyone who worked for A&B the same, although he was a partner in the business he’d helped build from the ground up. When all her questions had been answered and decisions made, he refilled his coffee cup and lingered.
“So how are you liking San Antonio?” he asked. “Had a chance to look around?”
“Not much. It’s pretty, though. I saw that right away.”
Don nodded. “That it is. I’m sorry I’ve been such a slave driver.”
“You haven’t! Just yesterday, I took an extra long lunch.” To go to a dating agency, but he didn’t need to know that.
He chuckled. “But you worked the entire weekend. Don’t think I wasn’t aware of it. And you work late almost every night. You’ll
