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  “Crap,” he said, when Cosette hurried back into the room, her eyes distressed and her pink-tinted hair slightly mussed from her rush. “I think I just blew that.”

  “Oh, dear.” She handed him a small plate of homemade lasagna, steam rising from the cheesy top. “Eat for strength. Eat for intuition.”

  He looked at the lasagna, a four-by-four piece he would have devoured under any other circumstances, say, had Jade not ditched him, leaving him with a guilty conscience and a terrible case of buyer’s remorse where Daisy was concerned. “Will it help?”

  “Oh, lasagna always helps,” Cosette assured him. “A big man like yourself doesn’t do well on an empty stomach.”

  He thought that sounded like the first sane advice he’d had all day, and dug in with the silver fork she’d put on his plate.

  He actually felt a little stronger, and perhaps a bit of clarity come over him—it was too soon for intuition—as the warm food hit his stomach. “I’m in the doghouse with Jade.”

  “Yes.” Cosette nodded. “Probably so.”

  “Trying to do the right thing isn’t always easy.”

  “Indeed it’s not. But doing a dumb thing is very easy.”

  He gazed at her. “Were you just subtly trying to prod me into self-discovery mode?”

  “Not so wordy, dear. Just trying to help you pull your head out of your keister, as you young folks put it.”

  “Ah.” He ate some more lasagna. “Does Jade like me?”

  “A little,” Cosette said. “You did spend a lot of time being raised by her mother, if you recall. She got used to you.”

  “Yeah. Jade was an awesome little sister.” Only he hadn’t felt sisterly toward her in a long, long time.

  “Things change,” Cosette observed.

  “Daisy might have changed.”

  “And some things don’t ever change.”

  Ty nodded. “You think there’s no way to leave the past behind and move on with our lives? The Donovans can’t mean it when they say they want to be part of BC?”

  “Some things are just habit.” Cosette shrugged. “No, I don’t think the Donovans are being any more forthright than they’ve ever been.”

  Why was he training to be a SEAL if he didn’t believe in the greater good? “Eventually this town has to move on.”

  “I’m impressed that you want to forgive the Donovans, given how your father was treated by them when he was sheriff.”

  Ty’s blood hit low boil, began to simmer at the old, painful memories. He put his plate on the marble-topped coffee table. “I’m just trying to leave town on a good note. I want there to be healing, Cosette. No divisions in the town on my behalf.”

  “Are you not planning on coming back, then? Because this town wrote the book on divisions. We feel pretty safe with black and white, good and evil. We’re not trying to be a storybook town, Ty. We sell our charms and our legends, always with a hefty dose of fairy tale evil villains.”

  He looked at her. “You and Phillipe aren’t really getting a divorce, are you?”

  She stared at him. “Young man, how is that any of your business? I suspect you have plenty of your own love life to attend to.”

  He got up from the chair. “You never did say whether you believe Jade feels more than sisterly to me.”

  “But we’ve already established your head is firmly lodged in your hindquarters, dear, so what good would it do for me to try to help you with the answer?” Cosette walked him to the door. “I have no words of wisdom for you.”

  “No words of guidance from the local matchmaker?” He was teasing, but only slightly. He really wanted to know how Jade felt, because he was definitely getting some kind of strange vibe from her.

  “A little bit of guidance, just a smidge, if you’re in the mood to hear it,” the matchmaker said. “Jade needs to be able to trust a man. Completely.”

  Cosette closed the door behind him.

  Great. Jade didn’t seem to trust him much.

  Right now, Ty really didn’t trust himself.

  * * *

  SUZ HAWTHORNE, MACKENZIE’S little sister and part-owner of the Hanging H ranch, launched herself at Ty the moment he returned to the bunkhouse. “Are you an idiot?” she demanded. “A certifiable idiot?”

  Ty slumped into the leather recliner, noting that Sam, Squint and Frog were all there to witness his takedown. “Probably. On which topic are we speaking?”

  The thing about Suz was that she instantly commanded respect—if a fellow wanted to keep his hat attached to his head. Twenty-three and spunky, recently retired from the Peace Corps, she had come home to help her sister save the Hanging H, preserving it for herself and Mackenzie, but mostly for Mackenzie’s four newborns. You only had to look at Suz to realize she probably could make your life miserable if she cared to, Ty realized. He eyed her short spiky hair, streaked blue over blond, and the cheek stud that complemented her dark eyes—eyes that glared at him even as he stared back at her.

  “Kissing Daisy?” Suz demanded. “You’re not a certifiable idiot. You’re a certifiable dumb-ass!”

  “I did not kiss Daisy.”

  Suz’s glare went DEFCON on him. “The grapevine says differently. You of all people know Daisy Donovan is poison to us!”

  His brothers-in-mischief looked at him with great sympathy.

  “She has a point, bro,” Frog said.

  “Poison or not, Daisy’s hot,” Squint said, earning himself astonished stares from everyone.

  Sam grinned. “Doesn’t mean she’d be good for you.”

  “You can talk, Sam,” Ty said. “You’re just going to ride away one day. This is my town. I have to stay on everyone’s good side because eventually I’ll be pushing up daisies here with the rest of my fellow residents, and I don’t expect to get any more peace in the afterlife than I’ve gotten in BC in the present life. Staying on everybody’s good side is an art form.” And right now, he wasn’t on Suz’s good side. “Look, little sister—”

  “Don’t ‘little sister’ me.” Even with the wild hair, the piercings and the discreet tats, Suz was beautiful in her own way—and her expressive eyes right now stabbed him with guilt. “Daisy and her father tried to kill off the haunted house before it ever got started. If you’re so interested in saving Bridesmaids Creek, you’ll know that you can’t show up with the enemy. Or be sucking face with her, either.”

  Suz shot the men a last look of disgust and departed. Ty’s friends checked him for his reaction.

  “She has a point,” Squint said. “I’ll save you. I’ll suck face with Daisy.”

  “She’s a fireball. Won’t ever glance your way unless there’s something she wants from you.” Ty looked at his boots, which he’d propped on the coffee table, in direct violation of the house rules he had engraved on his mind from years of living under Jade and Betty’s roof. “In fact, I think I got snookered.”

  “What were you thinking?” Frog peered out the window after Suz. “That is some fine little lady, by the way.”

  “And that’s not going to happen, either.” Ty got to his feet. “Not at the pace you three are moving.” He felt distinctly glum about his dilemma. “Do you knuckleheads understand I’m leaving town soon? I won’t be here to guide the reins of romance for you.”

  Sam laughed. “There’s no such thing, bro. Romance isn’t guided. It’s a whirlwind of passion, joy, misunderstanding and longing.”

  They all gazed at Sam, who shrugged.

  “I’m just saying,” he told them. “If you really want romance, you have to let the whirlwind suck you into its vortex.”

  “I’ve had enough of sucking faces and whirlwind vortexes. One of you is going to have to escort Daisy to the opening. You must go in my stead, as my representative. It’ll be a poor substitute,” Ty said grandly, �
��but a man doesn’t go back on his promise.” He pulled a quarter from his pocket. “Here’s how we’ll decide which of you will—”

  “Lash himself to the mast of misfortune,” Frog butted in. “None of us wants to be saddled with the mistress of mayhem.”

  “You’re all so poetic today. This is how this works.” Ty put the quarter on the top of his fist. “Each of you will call heads or tails. The one who calls wrong wins the prize.”

  “Some prize,” Sam said. “I don’t see why we should have to clean up your mess, dude.”

  “Because I brought you here.”

  “In other words, no gain without pain. I call heads,” Sam said.

  “Is it a two-headed coin?” Squint asked. “It’d be like you to have a two-headed coin.”

  Ty gawked at his friend’s lack of trust in him. “Would a SEAL candidate scam his best buddies?”

  “I’ll call heads, too,” Frog sighed.

  “I’ll take tails,” Squint said, “just to liven things up.”

  Ty tossed the coin, let it land on the Southwestern-style loomed rug. The quarter stared at them.

  “That’s it, then,” Squint said, “I’m your fall guy.”

  Frog and Sam leaned back on the leather sofas, oozing relief. Ty picked up his quarter.

  “I thought you said you wanted to kiss Daisy,” Ty said to Squint.

  “I thought I did. I think I just got really cold feet.” He looked suddenly apprehensive. “It was one thing to have the fantasy. It’s another to have the fantasy sprung on you in all its—”

  “Soft, delicate flesh.” Sam hopped up, clapped Ty on the shoulder. “Thanks for the good flip. I’m off to hunt up trouble at the big house.”

  “Big house?” Ty watched Frog shoot to his feet, following Sam to the door. “You mean the Hanging H? Are you going to see Suz?”

  “I am,” Sam said. “Frog’s not.” He glared at his buddy. “You stay here with them. I don’t need any deadweight.”

  Frog hurried out the door in front of Sam, in a rush to get to Suz first. Sam glanced back at Squint and Ty with a grin. “He’s so easy to work. A little spark of jealousy and watch those boots fly.”

  He closed the door. Ty sighed. “Thanks for taking Daisy on for me. I just can’t afford any drama right now. Not when I’m leaving.” He sank into the sofa. Of course, his relief had nothing to do with his departure; it was all about Jade. Once he’d realized he had stepped in a huge pile of cosmic poo, he knew he had to back out on Daisy no matter what it took. There was no way he wanted Jade upset with him.

  “You’re crazy about that little lady, aren’t you?”

  Of course he wasn’t crazy about Jade. What a dumb thing to say. “Don’t try to make romance bloom in a desert, Squint.”

  Jade blew in on a flurry of cold wind and a gust of snow that slithered from the bunkhouse roof. Ty straightened, stunned that she was here, glad as heck to see her.

  “I think I’ll join the fellows and see what trouble we can conjure up,” Squint said, disappearing.

  Some friend, taking off when it was clear there was going to be a sonic boom leveled at him. Ty looked at Jade, appreciating the tall redhead’s sass as she put her hands on her slender hips and gazed at him with disgust.

  “Daisy Donovan,” she said.

  “I felt sorry for her.”

  “You did not.” Jade glared at him. “Daisy tried to ruin my business. She’s trying to ruin the Hawthornes’ haunted house, which, may I remind you, is something that could bring Bridesmaids Creek back to life. As I recall, that was your stated purpose in returning with three bachelors, wasn’t it? New blood to breathe new life into the moribund shell that is Bridesmaids Creek?”

  He loved looking at this woman. He loved hearing her talk, even when she was railing at him. When she said words like moribund, her lips pursed so cutely it was all he could do not to jump up and take those lips with his mouth, hungrily diving into the sweet sex appeal that was Jade.

  Hell, he wasn’t 100 percent certain what moribund meant—although it sounded distinctly dire—but maybe if he let her talk long enough, she’d say something else that started with m-o-r. He decided not to confess that he’d already dumped Daisy off on Squint, and to let the little lady fuss at him.

  “Don’t you have anything to say for yourself?” Jade demanded.

  “I’m content to let you do all the talking.” He settled himself comfortably, watching her face. “You have something on your mind, and I’m happy to let you clear the deck.”

  She sat next to him, so she could look closely at him to press her case, he supposed. But the shock of having her so near to him—almost in his space—was enough to brain-wipe what little sense he had. Damn, she smelled good, like spring flowers breaking through a long, cold winter. He shook his head to clear the sudden madness diluting his gray matter. “You’re beautiful,” he said, the words popping out before he could put on the Dumb-ass Brake.

  The Dumb-ass Brake had saved him many a time, but today, it seemed to have gotten stuck.

  “What?” Jade said. Her mesmerizing green eyes stared at him, stunned.

  He was half drowning, might as well go for full immersion. “You’re beautiful,” he repeated.

  She looked at him for a long moment, then scoffed. “Ty Spurlock, don’t you dare try to sweet-talk me. If there’s one thing I know about you, it’s that sugar flows out of your mouth like a river of honey when you’re making a mess. The bigger the jam, the sweeter and deeper the talk.” She got up, putting several feet of safety between them, and Ty cursed the disappearance of the brake that had deserted him just when he’d needed it most.

  “Okay, so if sweet talk won’t save me,” he said, reverting to cavalier, since that’s what she seemed to be expecting, “all I can say is that Daisy asked me to take her to the grand opening, and you didn’t.”

  “I didn’t want to ask you!”

  “Then why are we having this conversation? Good old-fashioned green-eyed monster, maybe?” He got up, took her in his arms. “I’ll talk sweet to you if you want me to, beautiful.”

  She stomped on his toe and moved out of his arms. He bent over, his toe impressed by the sudden squelching it had cruelly received.

  “What I want you to do is tell Daisy Donovan you wouldn’t be caught dead escorting her to the haunted house. No smart remarks about puns.” Jade glared at him. “And from now on, I suggest you remember who your real friends are.”

  He fell onto the sofa, wondering if she’d broken his toe. Definitely he was going to donate a toenail to the cause. Not a good thing to have happen right before he left for BUD/S. “I know who my friends are. They’re the ones who don’t try to damage me right before I leave for SEAL training.”

  “I don’t care about that,” Jade said sweetly. “I care that you don’t fall into one of Daisy’s many traps, and leave drama back here in BC for me to clean up. You’re just lucky I got to you before Suz did.”

  “She’s already been here. Only she didn’t wound me.” Ty glanced at his secret sweetie’s boots with respect. Square-toed and sturdy, they could have been registered weapons.

  “She didn’t? Maybe she’s going soft. But I’m not. I know who my friends are.” Jade walked over, tugged his boot off. “I also know how commerce works in this town, and I understand Daisy’s tricky little mind. Oh, you big baby,” she said, staring at the toe she’d rescued from his boot and sock. “It’s just going to be a little black-and-blue. You’d better toughen up if you’re going to make it through training.”

  He smelled that sweet perfume again, was riveted by the soft red sweater covering her delicate breasts. Wondered if playing the pitiful card would get him attached to her lips—and decided he probably didn’t want to do anything to upset the grudging sympathy he finally saw in her eyes. “My toe is fine. My
life is fine. Everything is fine.”

  “It’s not fine yet.” She smiled, leaned over and gave him a long, sweet, not-sisterly-at-all smooch on the lips. Shocked, he sat as still as a concrete gargoyle, frozen and immobilized, too scared to move and frighten her off.

  She pulled away far too soon. “Now it’s fine.”

  Indeed it was. He couldn’t stop staring at her mouth, which had worked such magic on him, stolen his breath, stolen his heart. He gazed into her eyes, completely lost in the script.

  “What was that for?”

  Jade got up, went to the door, opening it. Cold air rushed in and a supersized sheet of snow fell from the overhang, but he couldn’t take his eyes off her.

  “Because I felt like it,” Jade said, then left.

  Damn. His toe still throbbed, but his lips were practically sizzling from her kiss, far outweighing the complaining from his phalange bone. Ty had no idea what the hell had just happened here—but it dawned on him through his shell-shocked, sex-driven, Jade-desiring brain that if he were a smart man, he’d better decline Daisy’s invitation on the double, let her know he was sending a stand-in.

  If he ever wanted to be kissed like that again.

  Chapter Four

  The night of the grand opening of the refurbished, reborn Haunted H was glorious, by anyone’s standards. Ty felt a real sense of satisfaction as he looked at the new lights his buddies had put up in an elegant arch over the long drive-up to the ranch. Lights were everywhere, twinkling and beautiful, highlighting the butt-freezing weather and somehow making it romantic.

  Maybe his three bachelor candidates weren’t totally useless, after all. They could at least decorate, apparently, if not appropriately seduce the women he’d brought them here to romance.

  Ty hurried after Jade when he saw her moving with long strides toward the jump house, which was teeming with kiddies. Parents with strollers watched, smiling, as their kids bounced inside the huge, inflatable pink-and-purple castle.