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  But no. He was miffed because she lacked important family connections and a fat fortune.

  And on top of talking trash about Tessa, Davis had the nerve to get on Gabe about seeing Mary.

  Mary. Gabe saw her pretty face in his mind’s eye. Yeah, he was wild for Mary, all right. He wanted to do whatever he could for her, to spend every spare minute in her company. He had no idea where this thing with them was going.

  But his dad could have saved his breath. Marriage wasn’t an issue. In the end, Gabe just wasn’t the marrying kind—not that it was any of Davis’s business, either way.

  And he’d been silent too long. His father prompted, “Gabe? What? Now I’ve offended you again?”

  You damn well have, he thought. In a too-quiet voice, he said, “Mary and I haven’t come to the settling-down point. But if that happened, I would be honored to be the husband of such a fine woman.” It was the truth, as far as it went. He looked his dad dead in the eye.

  Davis glanced away first. Gabe had been reasonably sure that he would. Davis Bravo could be pigheaded, heavy-handed and overbearing. But he had one saving grace. He loved his family. His wife and his children were everything to him. He’d already said it a few minutes ago: In the end, he would never drive any one of his sons or daughters away.

  “All right,” said Davis, sounding weary. “I guess I went a little too far. And I apologize for any out-of-line remarks I made about the widow.”

  “Her name is Mary.”

  “Ahem. Yes. Mary. I apologize for anything I said about Mary—and you’d damn well better be satisfied now, Gabe. I’m giving up on the Lazy H. And now you’ve got my solemn word I’ll be staying out of your love life, too.”

  Gabe gave him a slow smile. “It’s a moment to savor, Dad.”

  “Glad you’re enjoying yourself.” Davis glanced at the blinking light on his phone. “I want to take this call. Anything else?”

  “No. I think we’re finished here.”

  Mary was waiting for him out on the porch, perched on the top step, when he drove up that evening.

  She rose to greet him, her eyes bright as stars. “I fed Wyatt. He’s gone to the cabin for the night. And Ginny just fell asleep.”

  He pulled her close. The kiss they shared curled his toes inside his boots. When they came up for air, he asked, “You save any dinner for me?”

  “Right this way.”

  He ate the fried chicken and mashed potatoes she put in front of him while she told him how hard Wyatt had worked all day. “He fixed the fence around the goat yard.”

  “That’s great.” When goats got loose, they ate everything in sight—laundry off a clothesline. Tack, if you let them. They’d happily chew a man’s saddle and bridle to bits.

  Mary added, “He wants to fix up their yard a little, build a new goat house, stuff like that. And he wants to build a better lean-to for the horses, keep them more comfortable when the weather’s bad.”

  “Glad to hear Wyatt’s working out.”

  “Oh, Gabe. I think he is. Thank you for hiring him.”

  He saved the news of Davis’s change of heart for later, when he had her under him on the sofa and they were making out like a couple of teenagers.

  They’d been kissing for maybe five minutes straight without coming up for air when he lifted his head and said, “Guess what?”

  She gazed up at him, her eyes glowing with arousal, and he wondered how he was going to last four more weeks without scooping her up and carrying her to bed. “No idea,” she whispered. “But tell me later. Right now, you should kiss me…” She wrapped her hand around his neck and drew him down to her again.

  He kissed her. At length. And the next time he lifted his mouth from hers, he said, “It’s handled. BravoCorp will find the land they need elsewhere.”

  “Um…” She started to pull him close again. And then his words finally registered. Her lazy-lidded gaze widened. “Did you just say what I thought you said?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Seriously? No more visits from Emily Gray?”

  “Or any other BravoCorp representatives. Never again.”

  “No more talk of how ‘unpleasant’ things are going to get?”

  “Put all that behind you. It’s over. Done. I talked to my father this morning. He can be a sonofagun. But when he gives his word, it’s golden.”

  “And he gave his word today?”

  “Yeah. He did.”

  She let out a whoop loud enough to wake the dead down in Mexico. “Get up.”

  “Huh?”

  “Get off me.” She gave a shove and he levered back on his knees. Swinging her bare feet to the floor, she leapt upright. Then, laughing, she grabbed his hand and pulled him up with her. “Dance with me.”

  “You want it, you got it.” He grabbed her close and waltzed her around the room while her dog sat in the corner, watching with her ears perked. Mary stopped him in the archway to the kitchen. Swaying in his arms, she lifted on tiptoe and planted a big wet one square on his mouth.

  “Gabe Bravo, you’re a miracle worker.”

  “So I’ve been told.”

  “I have so many things to thank you for, it’s getting embarrassing, not to mention repetitious. I’ll never be able to pay you back.”

  Shamelessly, he took advantage of her gratitude. “I know one thing you could do….”

  “Name it.”

  “I brought a bag. It’s in the car. Let me stay overnight.”

  “Oh, Gabe…”

  He realized she thought he meant in her bed. “Mary. Come on. I wouldn’t do that to you. I meant on the couch.”

  Her sweet mouth formed a round O. “Well, all right.” She laughed again. “I have to tell you. I don’t get the appeal of that sofa. I know you’ve probably got a perfectly wonderful bed at home, big as a dance floor with a mattress like a cloud.”

  “I like it here. It’s…comfortable here. Feels like home, you know?”

  Her eyes shone with pleasure. “Like home, huh?”

  “That’s what I said.”

  “Be my guest, then. For tonight and tomorrow night—any night you please.”

  “That’s another thing…” He guided a few stray strands of hair out of her eyes. How many times had he wanted to do that, to touch her in such a casual, intimate way?

  Too many. And now, at last, he could.

  A sweet smile bloomed. “What other thing?”

  “I’ve got to fly to California on business. I’m leaving Thursday, before dawn.”

  She lifted on tiptoe again to brush a kiss across his lips. “I miss you already. How long will you be gone?”

  “Probably till Monday. You think you’ll be able to get along without me for four or five days?”

  “It’ll be tough. But somehow, I’ll manage.”

  “I was thinking when I get back, we should go out someplace nice.”

  “A date? As in dinner and a movie?”

  “Yeah. What do you say?”

  “A date…” She seemed kind of taken with the idea. “Just you and me, out someplace with candles on the table, maybe, and a white tablecloth.”

  “A week from Friday? You think you can get Ida to babysit?”

  “I’ll ask her tomorrow. Right now, though, take me back to the sofa. Kiss me some more.”

  Mary did miss him when he left. So much. All out of proportion to how long he planned to be gone. She took comfort in the thought that it wasn’t like when she’d sent him away after Ginny’s birth.

  This time, she wasn’t losing him. This time, he would return to her in only a few days.

  He surprised her on Sunday—which was Easter—showing up late in the afternoon, driving one of his sports cars. She heard an engine out in front and went to see who it was just as he emerged from the low, sleek car. He looked so handsome that her breath tangled in her throat and her heart turned over in her chest.

  With a cry of pure joy, she ran out to meet him.

  He paused halfway up the
front walk, a slow smile curving his mouth, as she banged through the storm door. She raced down the steps and threw herself into his open arms.

  “Happy to see me, huh?” Those unforgettable blue eyes gleamed down at her.

  “Oh, yes. I am…”

  He took her by the waist and lifted her high, letting her slide down his strong, hard body, finally catching her mouth, kissing her.

  Oh, the feel of his kisses. Nothing like them. Not ever, in the whole, wide world.

  Inside, he held Ginny while Mary finished preparing Easter dinner. Ida came to eat with them. And Wyatt, of course. And Garland, too. The whole table seemed to have a glow about it to Mary. No holiday dinner ever tasted so good.

  After the meal, they all went out and admired the way Wyatt had cleaned up the barn. He’d even swamped out the chicken coop.

  Wyatt took Garland and Ida for a spin in the old Ford pickup. Ida came back laughing, swearing how she’d always hated that pickup. Rowdy’s father was forever out tinkering with it when he wasn’t mending fences or taking care of the livestock. He never seemed to have time to pay any attention to her.

  “Not only was I stuck on this ranch,” she said, “but my husband loved his pickup more than me.” She slapped the old truck’s rusted fender. “But you know, since this old hunk of junk and me are no longer in competition for my husband’s affection, I’ve become kind of fond of her. Glad to see someone’s got her working again.”

  Wyatt’s ears were red with pleasured embarrassment. He kicked the dirt and said it wasn’t any big deal.

  Later, after everyone left, when Mary and Gabe were alone, she told him she’d given Wyatt the old truck. “I’ve been trying to get someone to come and haul it off since Rowdy died,” she told him. “So it’s not like I’ve been having trouble getting along without it.”

  “It’s good,” Gabe agreed. “To give Wyatt his own wheels. Not only to work around the ranch, but also because a man needs the means to get where he’s going.”

  She teased him about all of his cars then. And then he kissed her. And she forgot everything but the feel of his mouth on hers.

  Friday night he took her to a beautiful restaurant overlooking the Riverwalk. There were white tablecloths and flowers on their table. And white candles, too. It was just as she’d imagined it. Magical. Romantic. Gabe wore a suit that probably cost a fortune. Mary thought she looked pretty good, too, in a sleeveless silk dress she’d found at a consignment shop when Ida took her and Ginny into San Antonio the day before so Mary could get her hair cut. The dress clung to her curves, and was a beautiful bronze color, with a sheen of gold or red, depending on how the light touched it. It made her look sophisticated, Ida had said.

  Gabe told her she was beautiful and she felt beautiful. The evening was like a dream. The chef came out and talked to them, deferential to Gabe, suggesting a few menu choices they might enjoy.

  As they lingered over a fabulous dessert of raspberries and lemon curd, a couple of sharp-dressed men about Gabe’s age approached their table.

  “Gabe. How’s it been going?”

  There was hand-shaking and introductions. Mary felt both men’s eyes on her when they thought she wasn’t looking, probably assuming she was just another conquest of the Bravo Bachelor. Mary grinned to herself. Well, and she was, wasn’t she?

  Even if she couldn’t help hoping what she shared with Gabe would end up being so much more.

  “What was that secret smile about?” he asked, when the men had moved on.

  She only shrugged and took another bite of that scrumptious dessert.

  They went to his place after. It was gorgeous and ultramodern. Mary thought it looked a little bit sterile, though. No wonder he preferred to stay at her place where it was homey, if not nearly as beautiful.

  She drank mineral water and he had a beer and they kissed until steam was coming out of their ears. Sheesh. They’d be lucky if they both didn’t explode before she got the approval for lovemaking from Dr. Breitmann.

  Two weeks and three days. It wasn’t that long…

  At eleven, she had him take her home. She’d used a breast pump before he came to pick her up. But the way his kisses excited her, well…

  If she didn’t get home to her baby soon, she would be leaking all over her pretty silk dress—not that she told Gabe that. Some things a man just doesn’t need to know. Not on a fabulous, romantic evening, anyway. Not on their first real date.

  At her house, she thanked Ida and sent her home. She nursed Ginny and put her back to bed. Then she and Gabe went out to the patio together. They sat in the plastic chairs and looked at the stars.

  He slept on her sofa that night. And the night after that. And every night his work allowed it.

  Mary treasured each moment she spent at his side. She longed for the six weeks to hurry up and be over so she could belong to him in every way.

  Sometimes, she would think of Rowdy. And miss him. And even talk to him on occasion when she and Ginny were alone in the house, talk to him as if he were there with her, still at her side. But she didn’t long for him the way she used to, she didn’t feel that hurtful sadness to have lost him.

  Now the sadness was gentle. And sweet. Now she had Gabe. Love had found her again.

  Love.

  Oh, yes. It had happened. Mary was in love again and the one she loved was Gabe.

  No, she didn’t tell him. It felt to her that it would be rushing things a little to start defining what they had together so soon. To call it love outright. Out loud.

  No. Not yet. She just wanted to be with him, whenever he came to her.

  They went out again the next weekend. On Saturday, to a fun Mexican place Gabe liked. And afterwards, they went dancing. Mary had a ball.

  That night, when they got home to the Lazy H, after Ida left, another guy without a place to stay knocked on the door. Mary gave him some leftover chicken and he slept in the barn.

  The next morning, before dawn, Gabe went out to talk to him and hired him to work with Wyatt. His name was Ty Grimes.

  Ty came in for breakfast. He was a soft-spoken fellow in his mid-twenties. He knew ranch work, he said. He’d run cattle and even herded sheep. Plus, he’d worked for a plumber once. And an electrical contractor. He was handy, he said, with a hammer and nail. He and Wyatt seemed to get along.

  After Ty and Wyatt finished the meal and left them alone, Mary turned to Gabe. “Okay. Two hands. I can use them.”

  “I know you can.”

  “I might be able to make a little time to plant a garden one of these days, since Wyatt and Ty will be taking care of most everything else.”

  “Great idea.”

  “And I’ve been thinking about expanding my goat operation.”

  “You’ve got five goats, Mary. That’s hardly an operation.”

  “Well, and that’s my point. I hate selling off the kids. But I’ve been doing it because I can’t handle any more of them. Now, though, since they are milk goats, maybe we could start selling the milk, start making goat cheese. I know, it gets complicated. Permits, special equipment. I don’t want to discount any possibilities, though.”

  “Good thinking.”

  “But, Gabe, two hands is enough. Please. No more.”

  He grinned. “What? You want me to promise?”

  “I do. Absolutely. Promise you won’t hire me any more hands.”

  “What will you do for me if I promise?”

  “Gabe Bravo. You really have to try and think of other things besides sex.”

  “I’m trying. Believe me. It’s just not working very well.”

  “Eight days,” she said softly.

  He reached across the table. She reached, too. Their hands met in the middle.

  The next week, Gabe was gone to California Tuesday through Saturday morning, wrapping up the details of a wind-energy deal. Saturday night he showed up at her door with a gorgeous diamond tennis bracelet and a platinum necklace with a diamond pendant to match.

 
She told him it was too much.

  And he looked bewildered. “What? You don’t like diamonds?”

  “Of course I like diamonds.” She touched the chain around her neck, gazed down at the sparkly bracelet adorning her arm. “But you’ve done enough for me. Too much, really…”

  “I like to do things for you.” He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her slow and deep. And when he lifted his head, he grabbed her hand. “Come on out to the car. I bought a few things for Ginny.”

  It turned out he’d gone shopping with Emma Bravo, the wife of the distant Bravo cousin who had offered BravoCorp a cut of the wind-energy deal. Emma was from Texas, too. And she’d had all kinds of suggestions as to what to buy a baby girl. She and Gabe must have cleaned out every pricey baby boutique in Beverly Hills. There were twenty-three darling little outfits. And a top-of-the-line stroller and baby toys for days.

  “Gabe, you’ll spoil her completely.”

  “She’s a baby. You can’t spoil a baby….”

  “I mean it, Gabe. This is way too much.”

  “Come on, let’s get all this stuff inside.”

  Mary knew she had to make it clear to him, had to firmly draw the line. He was paying the wages of two ranch hands for her, for heaven’s sake. That was more than enough—too much, really. The diamonds and the carload of baby things? He was getting way beyond it.

  But he looked so happy to be showering her and her baby with gifts, it seemed kind of small of her not to simply be grateful and leave it at that. So she thanked him and kissed him and let it go.

  Sunday Donna Lynn had a barbecue at her place. There were several older people there—Donna Lynn and her husband, Ida and some of their mutual friends. And Donna Lynn had four daughters, each of them married with kids. So there were people Mary and Gabe’s age, too, and a whole bunch of little ones running everywhere.

  They all made a big deal about Ginny. And Gabe fit right in—but then, he could fit in anywhere, it seemed to Mary. He always knew the right thing to say and he seemed to have a good time whether he was holding Ginny on his arm to quiet her when she was colicky, or jetting off to California to firm up a business deal. He could go anywhere and be liked and included.