Buck threw the garter and hit an eighty-year-old widower right in the chest. The older man had no choice but to catch it.
“That-a-boy, Marlin!” someone in the crowd crowed. “You’ve been pining for Ludie Morgan all these years. Now she can’t say no when you ask her to marry you!”
“Forget Ludie,” a cowboy at the back of the crowd advised over the laughter of the crowd. “Elizabeth’s prettier!”
Hot color stinging her cheeks, Elizabeth had to laugh. She was saved from having to make a response when Timothy Reynolds, Buck’s best man, announced that the bride and groom would soon be leaving for their honeymoon. Friends and family pressed forward, heading for the barn, and as Elizabeth waited with them, she knew that even if she had a chance to talk to Buck for a few minutes, she wouldn’t tell him about her problems with John Cassidy. This wasn’t the time to burden him with any strife between her and his foreman. And it wasn’t as if she couldn’t handle the man. She was an owner; he was an employee. End of story.
“Are you sure you can handle everything here by yourself?”
“Maybe we should stay. I could work on my designs here, and Katherine can take some time off from work. Her boss won’t mind.”
Fighting tears as her sisters tried to talk themselves out of leaving the next morning, Elizabeth hugged them both fiercely. “Don’t be silly. You’ve got your show to work on and Katherine has to be home for Tracy Lawrence’s wedding. And you don’t need to stay. I’ll be fine. Quit worrying.”
“Easy for you to say,” Katherine retorted. “What if someone tries to kill you the way David Saenz did Rainey?”
“David’s dead—”
“So?” Priscilla said. “Somebody hired him to blow up the mine, and whoever it was is pretty damn desperate to drive all of us away so he can get his hands on the ranch. That’s the person you need to be worried about. We don’t even know who he is!”
“You know I won’t take any chances,” she replied, hugging them each as the cabby put their luggage in the boot. “And John Cassidy’s here. The man’s tough as nails. He’s not going to let anything happen to me—Buck would have his hide. So quit worrying. I’ll be fine.”
Katherine and Priscilla looked far from convinced, but the meter was running and they had a flight to catch. “I don’t like it,” Katherine said huffily. “But I don’t know what else we can do about it.”
“Watch your back,” Priscilla warned. “Don’t trust anybody!”
“I won’t,” she promised, hugging them both one more time. “I’ll see you in a month. God, I’m going to miss you!”
“Keep in touch! We expect an e-mail every other day.”
“You, too,” she said, forcing a bright smile as they slipped into the cab. “I want to know all the little details—where you’re going, what you’re doing, who you’re seeing.”
“Oh, no!” Priscilla said with dancing eyes. “I don’t kiss and tell!”
Grinning, Katherine pushed her into the cab. “We’ll call every Sunday,” she told Elizabeth.
“Good. Be careful! I love you.”
They waved all the way down the drive, until the cab disappeared around the first curve and they were lost to view.
Later, Elizabeth couldn’t say how long she stood there, staring at the empty drive. Silence enveloped her, broken only by the sigh of the wind as it whispered through the pines. Hugging herself, she was surprised when tears suddenly spilled into her eyes. She’d thought she was prepared for her stay at the ranch. But already she could feel the loneliness creeping in on her, chilling her.
It wouldn’t be so bad, she told herself. This was now home. Granted, it didn’t feel like it yet, but she was sure it would eventually. It just took time. And it wasn’t as if she was locked in a cave somewhere. She was free to leave, even be gone overnight. But just for one night at a time, she reminded herself. And that was okay. She’d take day trips, explore Colorado, e-mail her sisters and friends and keep in touch with what was going on in London. And since Spencer had betrayed her, she’d been rethinking her plan to open a dress shop with Priscilla in London after she finished her internship. Maybe Colorado would be better. She’d check out possible shop locations. So she had plenty to do. She’d be fine.
So why did she feel like crying?
“Are you all right?”
Startled, Elizabeth whirled to find John Cassidy studying her with dark-brown eyes that saw far more than she liked. Irritated, she scowled at him. “Don’t do that!”
For just a moment, she thought she saw the glint of amusement in his eyes, but he blinked and it was gone. “I beg your pardon,” he said stiffly. “Don’t do what?”
“Sneak up on me! You scared me.”
“That wasn’t my intention,” he retorted, “but you need to be scared. Being on guard is probably the only thing that’s going to save that pretty little ass of yours.”
“Excuse me?”
His lips twitched, and this time, he made no effort to hide the wicked humor that flashed in his eyes. “There’s no need for that. I’m just trying to keep you safe. If something happens to you, I’ve got to call Buck, and then there’s going to be hell to pay.”
She lifted a delicately arched brow at him. “Oh, really? So what are you saying? He’d blame you or me?”
“I’d just as soon not take a chance,” he said smoothly. “Behave yourself, watch your back, and we’ll both get along fine.”
“Behave myself!” she sputtered, indignantly. “Do you know who you’re talking to?”
Not the least intimidated by her, he grinned. “Elizabeth Wyatt, oldest sister, the responsible one. I can think of other ways to describe you, but I think I’d better stop there.”
She was so irritated, steam was practically coming out of her ears. She didn’t, however, blast him as she so obviously wanted to. Instead, she said through clenched teeth, “We need to get something straight, Mr. Cassidy, before we go any further. I’m your boss. You don’t tell me to behave myself or how to get along with you. You have to worry about how to get along with me. Understood?”
He should have said, “Yes, ma’am,” and apologized for so obviously insulting her. It would have been the wise thing to do since she did, probably, have the power to fire his ass. But pushing Miss Elizabeth Wyatt’s buttons, he was discovering, was too damn easy. There were just some things a man couldn’t resist.
“You’re my boss?” he repeated, making no effort to hide his mocking grin. “Yeah, right.”
“You don’t believe me? Well, how about this, Mr. Cassidy? You’re fired!”
Far from impressed, he only laughed. “Sorry, sweetheart. I work for Buck. You don’t have the power to fire me.”
Chapter 2
Outraged,
