and fiery passion engulfing his entire soul as he watched her walk away from him. It felt as if he were drowning in desire, as if his impulses were threatening to overtake his good sense. Aching to take back every word he’d said, he rubbed his chest where she’d lightly smacked his heart, willing himself to come back inside his body and be rational, damn it—but he had never really been rational where Daisy Donovan was concerned, and today was probably not going to be the day he started.
Bridesmaids Creek’s reach appeared to be long-ranging.
* * *
“I’M FINE,” DAISY said as she and Sam got back into his truck. “Thanks for driving me out here to find John’s knuckleheaded self.”
Sam laughed as he pulled onto the highway. “I told you he’d have his cabeza pretty well stuffed up his butt.”
“It’s a lot of my own fault.” Daisy sighed, resisting the urge to glance over her shoulder in the vain hope that John might have had second thoughts about sending her away and was even now charging after Sam’s truck. “I chased something I didn’t even want too long, and ignored the man who is right for me. I don’t blame him for not being entirely convinced that my heart belongs to him.”
“So now what?”
“Now,” Daisy said on a long breath, “hopefully, I enjoy a healthy pregnancy—”
“What?” Sam slammed on the brakes.
“Don’t you dare even think about turning around and going back.”
“But you didn’t tell him that! I know you didn’t! John would never have let you go if he knew you were pregnant! Are you really expecting a baby?”
“Keep driving,” Daisy said in a toneless command. “Yes, I’m expecting a baby.”
“Holy crap!” Sam turned the air conditioner on full blast, though the day was chilly and overcast. “Listen, you’re going to get me in a whole lot of caca with one John Lopez Mathison. If he finds out that I knew—”
“It’s all right, Sam. John’s made his choice. I’m not using a baby to change his mind. Absolutely not. And if you tell him,” Daisy said, staring at him, “I’ll set the matchmakers in town on you.”
The gentle bear of a man literally developed a peaked cast under his skin. “You wouldn’t!”
“I would.”
“I don’t want a woman! I don’t want a bride. Everyone has long known that I came along with John and Cisco just for the ride. Just to cause trouble, really.”
“I’m aware.” Daisy nodded. “But troublemakers sometimes find trouble.”
He pulled off a ramp and parked in a deserted parking lot that appeared to once have housed shops, but was now long abandoned. “Daisy, listen. When Ty Spurlock invited us to BC to find brides, I made it clear that was for everyone but me. I made a deal, in fact, with Cosette that she leave me out of any sprinklings from her magic wand.” He mopped his brow with a blue bandanna. “I’m everybody’s friend and nobody’s fellow, you see what I mean?”
She shrugged. “All you have to do is keep your lips sealed very tightly, Sam. If I’m going to catch John, I don’t need you bringing him back home when he thinks he needs to be free.”
He gulped, his brown eyes rolling nervously. “I don’t want to agree to this, but I’ve seen the BC magic at work, and it’s potent stuff.”
“When applied correctly, yes, it is. Don’t think for one minute that I couldn’t convince Cosette that you’re just talking big, Sam Barr, and like every other man claiming you don’t want a woman. It wouldn’t be hard to convince Cosette that settling the mischief-maker of BC down would be a pièce de résistance for her magic wand.”
He took a deep, shuddering breath. “Excuse me,” he said, and got out of the truck. Reached into the double cab to pull a handful of ice from the cooler, wrapped it inside his blue bandanna and stuck it against his forehead. “He’s going to know, Daisy. Someone will tell him.”
“I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. But he can’t know, not yet. He will know eventually,” Daisy said. “You’re going to have to give me time.”
He nodded. “I know. I get it. I totally understand. You don’t know John like I do, and he’s superstitious as hell. You learn these things about a man in a war zone.”
“Superstitious?”
“Yeah. He really bought into all that BC charm and nonsense.”
“Nonsense!” Daisy sat up. “BC makes its living on that nonsense, and though I may be late to understanding it, I certainly endorse anything that fiscally benefits our town!”
Sam got back in the front seat, handing her a water bottle and cracking one open for himself. “Whatever happened up in Montana really changed you, Daisy. I don’t know what potion Branch Winters poured over you, but it’s a humdinger.”
Daisy shook her head. “I fell in love,” she said softly. “Branch helped me see the path, but the fact is, I’ve been in love with John for a long time. I was much too invested in my own pride to see it. And now I’m going to have to earn his, and the town’s, trust. I’m willing to do that, but it’s going to take time, which I won’t have if you go bumping your gums all over BC.”
“They’ll know as soon as you start showing.” He cast an aggrieved glance at her tummy.
“I have time.” At least she hoped so.
Sam shook his head, glanced up at the roof of the truck. “Daisy Donovan, I’m only going to say this once because my whole body is going to go into shock, but there’s only one way to bring my buddy back home, and to his senses, even.”
“I’ll happily take any advice you can give me.” She meant every word, too. Earning John’s trust wasn’t going to be easy—she’d made quite a mess of things, and Daisy didn’t need Sam, or Cosette or anybody else in town to spell that out for her.
“You’re going to have to let me put a ring on your finger,” Sam said, before passing out and falling over like a giant bear with its cotton stuffing pulled out.
She patted his face urgently. “Sam! Don’t be a schmuck, I’m not marrying you!” Grabbing the cold bandanna, she wiped it over his face, shrieking when John knocked on the driver’s-side window.
“John!”
He pulled open the door. “What the hell is going on?”
“Sam fainted!” She patted his face some more, willing color back into the dark skin. “He proposed to me, and then he—”
“What?” John helped her lay Sam across the seat and Daisy got out of the truck to make room. She worked on Sam at one end of the cab, and John worked on Sam from the driver’s side. “You’re gone five minutes and work a proposal out of Handsome Sam? Wake up, buddy,” he said, touching cold water to Sam’s face, “so I can knock you back out again!”
* * *
SAM
