“You are the cowboy?” the man asked.
“I suppose,” Last replied. “Some days more than others.”
“Come with me.”
“I don’t think so,” Last said. “I paid my ticket, and that means I leave when I want.”
“Poppy wants you,” the man in the ringmaster’s costume insisted.
“Poppy?” The hottest magician on the planet—or in California or whatever—wanted him? Last blinked. “All right, stranger. Move along. I’m right behind you.”
He walked into a makeup room where Esme stood surrounded by her charges, a lion tamer, a man in a gorilla costume and the ringmaster.
“Mr. Jefferson!” Curtis and Amelia cried.
“I told you he was here, Aunt Poppy,” Amelia said.
Last crossed his arms. “Nice show,” he said, meaning costume, though now was not the time to say it. The atmosphere in the room was distinctly testosterone-charged.
“Thanks.” Poppy turned to her friends. “I thank you for your offers of marriage, all of you. However, this is the man who would like to take me to his ranch and this is the man I have chosen.”
Last stood still, not even allowing himself to blink. What was she saying? He couldn’t marry her. He couldn’t marry anyone, but especially not someone who was as unstable as he was. Together they’d be combustible!
The ringmaster nodded. “Come,” he told Last.
“I prefer to stay here,” Last said.
The gentleman seemed to take exception to that, so Last shrugged and followed the guy in the too-tall hat. “Great duds,” he said.
“You can do better?” the man asked in his heavily accented voice.
Last figured by the pleading look in Curtis’s and Amelia’s eyes that he’d better follow along. “Welcome to the family,” the ringmaster said, opening a curtain to reveal the innermost workings of the circus.
It was far busier and more colorful than anything he’d ever seen at a rodeo. “Wow. Crazy.”
The ringmaster nodded. “You are sure you want to take our Poppy to Texas with you?”
“Uh—”
Amelia and Curtis nodded emphatically. Last recognized desperation when he saw it.
“The judge was sitting right next to you, Mr. Last,” Curtis said. “We think he wasn’t very happy.”
So reassurance of stability was in order. Surprisingly, he was eager to do the reassuring. “Yes. Absolutely. I’ll take Esme—I mean Poppy and company to Texas.”
Everyone stopped when the ringmaster gestured. “This is Poppy’s husband-to-be,” he announced, and everyone applauded. Sweat broke out on Last’s forehead under his hat.
He’d offered the ranch, not a ring! Mason had nearly blown a gasket when a pregnant Valentine had shown up a while back. But Mason was going to kill him if Last brought home a ready-made family.
“THAT WAS AWKWARD,” Poppy said once the three of them were packed into his truck. “I apologize.”
Last seemed too stunned to reply. She could tell he was feeling a mixture of anger and annoyance. “Last?”
“You look better without the stage makeup,” he said. “Though I really dug the costume.”
She blinked. “I always thought the plumes were a bit over-the-top.”
“No way. Made you look like a fan dancer.”
Then he went back to staring at the road.
“You can drop us off at the ranch you’d mentioned,” Poppy said, feeling sick at how she’d used him. The judge had been adamant tonight about taking the children and…she’d had no choice. “I don’t really expect you to marry me.”
“I should hope not,” Last said. “I can’t marry anyone. Ever. It’s a conscience thing.”
“I understand. And I don’t want to get married. It just got very heated back there. The lion tamer said the judge was a bit upset, and the ringmaster said I needed to make a magical disappearance but in a way in which they could responsibly cover my leaving. You provided the perfect cover.”
Last sighed. “How?”
“They told him we were leaving on a honeymoon. And then you were taking us to your Texas ranch to see how we liked living life in one place, in the country, far from all the glitter.”
“I see. Did he buy it?”
She shrugged. “Enough to give us some time. We have to be back in a month, of course, so he can check on the children’s well-being before he’ll give me final custody.”
Last felt sorry for Esme and her kids. It was tough being in the middle of a custody battle—he knew that too well—and there was no reason for him to say that everything would work out. It might not.
“Well, you’ll like the ranch,” he said. “Everyone around there is certifiable but nice. You’ll fit in just fine. The kids can go to school—”
Clapping erupted from the backseat. Esme turned around. “I’m surprised at you two!”
“It sounds like fun!” Amelia said.
“Yeah,” Curtis said. “I’m going to be just like Mr. Last. A cowboy!”
Last sighed. “You’re going to get me in big trouble with your aunt.” Frowning, he said, “Hey, since you’re not in the circus anymore, can I call you Esme instead of your stage name?”
She blinked. “I’ve never gotten used to Esmerelda. I was teased in school over it, and when the ringmaster named me Poppy Peabody, I was so relieved.”
“I know exactly how that feels,” Last said. “Imagine your name being Last. And being last in a long line of brothers. Never mind the name games. Fast Last, Lasting Gas and so on. I pounded on some kids in my youth.”
“I didn’t,” Esme said. “I pretended I didn’t hear them. Esmerelda Smells was the main nickname.”
“Oh. Bummer.” He brightened. “You smell wonderful to me.”
She looked at him askance. “Thank you. When were you close enough to tell?”
“I can tell.” He nodded. “Women come in all flavors under the sun, and I love them every one.”
She stared at him.
“Sorry.” Last looked only a tiny bit ashamed. “Well, I do.”
She narrowed her eyes at this too-playful cowboy. “I have the strangest feeling you didn’t bear the heaviest load at the ranch,” Poppy said. “You’re far too relaxed.”
“Mason bore most of the burden,” Last admitted cheerfully. “And I was ever the baby wearing rose-colored glasses. My brothers all had problems. Tex, for example, had budus interruptus.”
“Sounds painful.”
“It was. For all of us. He was a madman when things didn’t go his way with his plants. No different than the rest of us, of course. Everybody’s got hang-ups. Probably even you.”
She looked out the opposite window.
“You can share if you like,” he said. “I’m listening.”
She checked over her shoulder. Amelia and Curtis had fallen asleep, their heads resting against each other’s.
“I never wanted to be tied down,” she said quietly. “I was the girl who never dreamed of The Prince. The One. I was