Rough Wrangler, Tender Kisses

"Oh, Miss Summers, do remember what I said. Don't ever, ever, ever fall in love with a cowboy." As the stagecoach lumbered to a shuddering halt in the center of the tiny Wyoming town called Hope, the stout woman wearing the feather-trimmed hat and the puce traveling gown leaned forward, and nodded wisely at the blond girl seated across from her. "If you do," she sighed, "he'll only break your heart." "Don't worry, Mrs. Casper." The blond girl's tone was reassuring. She straightened the satin bow atop her smart pink hat, smoothed her pale lavender skirt, and managed a smile for the woman who had talked incessantly since boarding the stage, mostly about her niece in Kansas who'd been left brokenhearted by a smooth-talking wrangler. Despite her tendency to babble, Mrs. Casper was kind, and Caitlin appreciated kindness. She hadn't seen much of it lately. "I promise you, there's no need to worry about me." The girl spoke quietly as the stagecoach driver clambered down from his perch and the coach swayed. "There is absolutely no chance of my falling in love with anyone." Ever again, she thought firmly. Once had been more than enough. Caitlin fought the pain that squeezed around her heart as Alec Ballantree's sensitive, beautifully handsome face surged into her mind. She didn't want to think about that, or the fact that her reticule contained only a meager twelve dollars and forty-seven cents, all the money she had left in the world--or about any of the countless other ways her life had fallen apart in the past few months. She wanted to think only of what must be done, only about Becky, the little sister who needed her. Only about the future. But her stomach clenched at the thought of all the responsibilities facing her. Her eleven-year-old sister's wan little face and worried brown eyes lingered in her mind and she knew she must not fail. She turned her attention to the sights beyond the stagecoach window, trying to concentrate on the town, to forget her weariness, the length of her journey, and the uncertainty of the future. She was here now, in Hope, and it was only a matter of hours before she reached her father's ranch. Cloud Ranch. Reese Summers's pride and joy. The town looked small, but bustling. Laughing children ran along the boardwalk, while men in chaps and spurs and Stetsons strode up and down the street. Women wearing bonnets and bright gingham dresses bustled in and out of various shops. And there were wagons and buggies and horses everywhere she looked. From the saloon came the tinny plinking of piano keys and the sound of deep raucous laughter. Mrs. Casper's high-pitched voice overrode everything else. "Mmm, take that one there for example. Isn't he a handsome devil? Just the kind to steer clear of, dear. Mark my words." Caitlin spotted him even as Mrs. Casper spoke. For a moment her breath caught in her throat. The dark-haired man leaning against the railing outside of Hicks Mercantile was eyeing the stagecoach, his thumbs hooked in the pockets of his dark pants, two six-shooters slung in the gunbelt fastened across his lean hips. Handsome devil didn't begin to describe him. Dangerous, gorgeous, intimidating--those words did describe him, Caitlin thought faintly. Well over six feet tall, he was deeply bronzed and muscular, with sharp, even features, wide shoulders, and an air of nonchalance. Was he a gunfighter perhaps? she wondered a bit uneasily. There was something undeniably dangerous about him. His looks and demeanor didn't shout danger--but instead whispered it. He was certainly handsome, but in a completely different way from Alec, she thought as she recalled her former fiance's curling light brown hair and debonair smile, his quick laughter and smooth elegant hands, hands befitting the gold signet ring that had been in his familyGregory, Jill is the author of 'Rough Wrangler, Tender Kisses' with ISBN 9780440235484 and ISBN 0440235480.