“It wasn’t my intention to rope you into a wedding.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you were expecting in the first place, Daisy? Why’d you leave?”
“I left because it was Crazy Town around here. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do.”
“It’s always Crazy Town. You can’t expect BC to change, Daisy.”
“I didn’t tell you, because you shouldn’t feel compelled to marry me. I don’t need a husband.”
“And yet, you’re going to have a husband.” John frowned at her. “Daisy Donovan, you’re going to marry me, next weekend as a matter of fact. Enough lollygagging and floating around. I’ve pursued you for years, and whether you want to admit it or not, you’ve enjoyed being the princess of my passion.”
She raised a brow. “I’m not getting married.”
The Cowboy
SEAL’s Triplets
Tina Leonard
TINA LEONARD is a USA TODAY bestselling and award-winning author of more than fifty projects, including several popular miniseries for the Mills & Boon® Cherish™ line. Known for bad-boy heroes and smart, adventurous heroines, her books have made the USA TODAY, Waldenbooks, Ingram and Nielsen BookScan bestseller lists. Born on a military base, Tina lived in many states before eventually marrying the boy who did her crayon printing for her in the first grade. You can visit her at www.tinaleonard.com, and follow her on Facebook and Twitter.
For the many wonderful readers who so enthusiastically and kindly supported my work from day one—I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Epilogue
John Lopez “Squint” Mathison came roaring into town with Daisy Donovan on the back of his motorcycle, making all the good citizens of Bridesmaids Creek, Texas, buzz like bees in a beehive. The five men who were in love with Daisy—her gang, consisting of Carson Dare, Gabriel Conyers, Clint Shanahan, Red Holmes and Dig Bailey—followed behind them in a truck, with Daisy’s infamous motorcycle secured in the truck bed.
It was a very strange sight not to see Daisy riding her own bike. No one could remember ever seeing her on the back of someone else’s, and the gossip flew fast and thick.
Squint was ready to see the last of Daisy’s gang. And maybe even Daisy herself, despite the fact that she’d once possessed his heart and his romantic dreams.
What he’d been thinking, he wasn’t certain.
She was completely wild, as everyone in Bridesmaids Creek had always tried to warn him.
The trouble was, he’d made love to Daisy Donovan while they were in Montana, in a weak moment when he shouldn’t have let his stupid heart outstrip his good sense.
Making love to Daisy had been even more mind-bending than he could have ever imagined. Then the five Romeos had blown into Montana to retrieve their small-town wild child princess, and Squint had seen that they were—himself included—all dopes dangling after a prize they couldn’t win.
At that moment, he’d decided to come back to Bridesmaids Creek, check in on his buddies and shift off to the rodeo. After the rodeo, if his heart was still bleeding, he thought maybe he’d get a job teaching ROTC or something, somewhere far away. He’d make those decisions as soon as Valentine’s Day was past, although he couldn’t have said why Cupid’s Big Day was his marker for a quiet exit.
Daisy hopped off the bike as soon as he came to a stop in front of the main house at the Hanging H Ranch. “Thanks for the ride.”
“No problem.”
“It was great seeing the country from a motorcycle. No windows to block the view.” She shook her long, dark locks out of her helmet. “But it’s wonderful to be home.”
He nodded and headed into the kitchen to find his friends—the men that he could always count on to talk sense into him. Daisy followed, which was a surprise. Wherever Daisy went, so did her love-struck gang, so they came, too.
“I’m so glad to be back in BC,” Daisy said, and Squint started. “Montana is beautiful, but after a while, I began craving the comforts of small-town life.”
This was news to him. Squint wished he hadn’t fallen head, heels and heart for Daisy, and had put plenty of distance between him and her gang perching at the kitchen island. The gang gathered around the kitchen island, which had over the years become the communal gathering place and feed bag summit. No one ever knocked on the back door of the Hanging H; they just let themselves in.
If you weren’t family or friend, you rang the front doorbell—not a good sign in a small town where everyone knew everybody else, and their business. Ringing the front bell meant you were an outsider.
Robert Donovan, Daisy’s father, always rang the doorbell. Somehow his daughter had managed it so that she considered herself part of the backdoor squad. Very recently, indeed—and Squint wasn’t sure why his poor mushy heart suddenly wished he had his own back door that she could make herself at home through anytime she liked.
But he’d never been one for settling down, never had a “real” home that wasn’t on wheels, so he shoved that thought out of his brain, a useless organ that did little to assist him with rational thinking where Daisy was concerned. Out of habit, he shifted the Saint Michael medal he wore, trying to figure out his next move.