“You home already?”
Leanne produced a smile at the weak sound of her mother’s voice. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“I’m glad you came in to say goodnight.” Her mother frowned. “But you shouldn’t have hurried home.”
“I didn’t want to stay out too late. You feeling all right?”
Her mother dredged up a smile from a source of strength Leanne could only imagine possessing. “I’m just fine. How did Ty’s trip go?”
“He won’t know for a while.” Leanne looked away. She didn’t want to get into a discussion of Ty with her mother. Not tonight.
“Is something wrong, Leanne?”
Her mother read her too well. “Oh no,” she assured her. “Everything’s fine.” But it wasn’t, she thought, remembering the way he’d looked at her in the truck on the way home and then at the door when they’d said goodnight. Something was definitely different.
Her mama’s hand closed over hers. “I wish I could make you see, child, what a good husband Ty would make. I don’t know why you don’t trust your mama’s instincts.”
Here they went again. Leanne sighed. “I know he’d make a fine husband, Mama, that’s not the problem.”
Joanna shook her head. “You’ve read too many of those paperbacks. You keep expecting some knight in shining armor to come take you away. Well, that ain’t the way it works. You know Ty and his family. They’re good folks. Marrying Ty is the right thing to do.” She squeezed her daughter’s hand. “It’s the only way you’ll ever save this ranch.”
There it was, the bottom line. The weight of saving the family ranch fell squarely on Leanne’s shoulders. “I know all that,” she said. “It’s just that I don’t feel that way toward Ty.” At least she hadn’t until today. Maybe that was just a fluke.
Her mother sighed wearily. “You’ll see, Leanne. Everything will be fine. You’ll learn to love Ty that way. He’s a good man. It’s what we all want.”
Leanne arched a skeptical brow. “You might be counting your chickens before they hatch considering he hasn’t asked yet. Maybe he won’t.”
Joanna smiled. “Oh, he will. The Coopers have wanted to combine this land with their own for two generations.” Her mother patted her hand. “He’ll ask. It’s just a matter of time.”
Opting not to argue the issue further, Leanne kissed her mother’s forehead. “Goodnight, Mama.”
Leanne left her mother’s room and headed toward her own. According to what her mother had told her eons ago, the Coopers had been disappointed when their only daughter, Tara, hadn’t married the only Watley son, Leanne’s father. Instead, she’d married the son of the Cooper family’s archrivals, a Montgomery. Tara and her husband had died in a tragic accident just one year later, leaving their infant sons, one of which had died shortly thereafter.
Now, the sole Cooper heir and the Watley heiress were once more being groomed for merging the two properties.
But that wasn’t the kind of merger Leanne was looking for.
After dragging off her boots, she stripped off her clothes and slipped into a warm flannel gown. It was May, not quite summer yet, and nights were still a bit chilly. She crawled beneath the covers and tried without success to block Ty Cooper’s image from her mind.
Being Ty’s wife wouldn’t be such a chore, she admitted. He was handsome, broad-shouldered and a gentleman in the truest sense of the word. She remembered well her first day in kindergarten. The school bully had made fun of her on the playground. Ty had come to her rescue. Though nine years her senior, he seemed always to be there, taking care of her.
She heaved a weary breath and flopped over on her side. But she didn’t love him, and she doubted he loved her. The Coopers already leased part of her grazing land. In fact, that lease money was all that stood between the Watleys and the poorhouse. Two or three times in the last year, they’d skated far too close to foreclosure for comfort.
No matter, Leanne didn’t want to get married because it made financial sense. The lease appeared to be working for both families without a marriage to seal the deal. Why didn’t they just leave it at that? Even if she somehow managed to bring life to her father’s dream, it wouldn’t prevent the Coopers from continuing to run cattle on her land. On the contrary, the cattle would add Western ambiance to her dude ranch. But her mother wouldn’t hear of it. She intended Leanne to marry Ty.
Maybe Leanne could work up the nerve to talk it over with Ty. She couldn’t imagine that he liked this matchmaking business any better than she did. Surely he would see reason. Then they would both be free to look for their own true loves.
That warm sensation that had bloomed in her middle when she’d kissed Ty suddenly swirled inside her once more. She remembered the searing heat in his eyes when he’d looked at her, as if for the first time, before she’d said goodnight. She shook her head and hugged her pillow. It was ridiculous. He wouldn’t be able to make her feel that way again. She was sure of it.
Spending time with him at the dance on Friday night would prove it.
The dance.
Leanne sat straight up. She had absolutely nothing to wear to the dance.
She mentally ticked off every dress in her closet. It didn’t take long, she only owned three. She couldn’t wear any of those old flour sacks. She chewed her lower lip. But she sure hated to spend the money to buy something new. Though she supposed that it was time she bought a new church dress. The whole congregation was likely tired of looking at the same old three over and over.
Funny, she mused with growing self-deprecation, she hadn’t worried about anything new to wear to the dance until tonight. What was it about Ty this evening that made her suddenly feel so strangely attracted to him? What made this day any different from the thousands of others they’d shared in the past twenty years?
Leanne dropped back onto her pillows. She couldn’t answer that question. She would just have to wait and see if that zing of desire happened again.
Probably not, she decided. Lightning never struck the same place twice.
Did it?
DEX HAD FOUND Ty’s room with only a couple of false starts. Fortunately no one had been around to see those blunders. The whole Cooper clan had gathered in the family room to watch television after he’d excused himself.
Dex felt immensely grateful for the reprieve. His feet were relieved as well. He simply couldn’t imagine what made cowboys believe that boots were comfortable. Apparently their feet had been molded for the footwear since birth.
How would he endure the ill-fitting get-up he was supposed to wear for the duration of this ruse? He wondered then how Ty was faring in Atlanta. The notion that Grandfather Montgomery was probably completely fooled pleased Dex entirely too much. He knew he should feel some regret, but he didn’t. Not in the proper sense anyway. He regretted wearing the boots. He didn’t look forward to pretending to be someone he wasn’t. Yet, he savored the idea of the discoveries he would make. He would learn about his mother and the people who’d turned their backs on him as a mere infant.
And he intended to teach the Montgomerys a little lesson as well. He and Ty were the victims here. No one could call any part of this entire sham fair. Their whole lives were based on one huge, bogus negotiation strategy.
Was Ty lying in Dex’s bed in Atlanta and wondering how the Montgomerys could have chosen Dex over him?
It wasn’t a good feeling. Dex knew first-hand.
He thought of his Grandmother Cooper and the way her smile did strange things to his heart. He glanced at the unopened gift waiting on the bureau. A part of him wanted desperately to