LITMIR.BIZ

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sell our charms and our legends, always with a hefty dose of fairy tale evil villains.”

      He looked at her. “You and Phillipe aren’t really getting a divorce, are you?”

      She stared at him. “Young man, how is that any of your business? I suspect you have plenty of your own love life to attend to.”

      He got up from the chair. “You never did say whether you believe Jade feels more than sisterly to me.”

      “But we’ve already established your head is firmly lodged in your hindquarters, dear, so what good would it do for me to try to help you with the answer?” Cosette walked him to the door. “I have no words of wisdom for you.”

      “No words of guidance from the local matchmaker?” He was teasing, but only slightly. He really wanted to know how Jade felt, because he was definitely getting some kind of strange vibe from her.

      “A little bit of guidance, just a smidge, if you’re in the mood to hear it,” the matchmaker said. “Jade needs to be able to trust a man. Completely.”

      Cosette closed the door behind him.

      Great. Jade didn’t seem to trust him much.

      Right now, Ty really didn’t trust himself.

      * * *

      SUZ HAWTHORNE, MACKENZIE’S little sister and part-owner of the Hanging H ranch, launched herself at Ty the moment he returned to the bunkhouse. “Are you an idiot?” she demanded. “A certifiable idiot?”

      Ty slumped into the leather recliner, noting that Sam, Squint and Frog were all there to witness his takedown. “Probably. On which topic are we speaking?”

      The thing about Suz was that she instantly commanded respect—if a fellow wanted to keep his hat attached to his head. Twenty-three and spunky, recently retired from the Peace Corps, she had come home to help her sister save the Hanging H, preserving it for herself and Mackenzie, but mostly for Mackenzie’s four newborns. You only had to look at Suz to realize she probably could make your life miserable if she cared to, Ty realized. He eyed her short spiky hair, streaked blue over blond, and the cheek stud that complemented her dark eyes—eyes that glared at him even as he stared back at her.

      “Kissing Daisy?” Suz demanded. “You’re not a certifiable idiot. You’re a certifiable dumb-ass!”

      “I did not kiss Daisy.”

      Suz’s glare went DEFCON on him. “The grapevine says differently. You of all people know Daisy Donovan is poison to us!”

      His brothers-in-mischief looked at him with great sympathy.

      “She has a point, bro,” Frog said.

      “Poison or not, Daisy’s hot,” Squint said, earning himself astonished stares from everyone.

      Sam grinned. “Doesn’t mean she’d be good for you.”

      “You can talk, Sam,” Ty said. “You’re just going to ride away one day. This is my town. I have to stay on everyone’s good side because eventually I’ll be pushing up daisies here with the rest of my fellow residents, and I don’t expect to get any more peace in the afterlife than I’ve gotten in BC in the present life. Staying on everybody’s good side is an art form.” And right now, he wasn’t on Suz’s good side. “Look, little sister—”

      “Don’t ‘little sister’ me.” Even with the wild hair, the piercings and the discreet tats, Suz was beautiful in her own way—and her expressive eyes right now stabbed him with guilt. “Daisy and her father tried to kill off the haunted house before it ever got started. If you’re so interested in saving Bridesmaids Creek, you’ll know that you can’t show up with the enemy. Or be sucking face with her, either.”

      Suz shot the men a last look of disgust and departed. Ty’s friends checked him for his reaction.

      “She has a point,” Squint said. “I’ll save you. I’ll suck face with Daisy.”

      “She’s a fireball. Won’t ever glance your way unless there’s something she wants from you.” Ty looked at his boots, which he’d propped on the coffee table, in direct violation of the house rules he had engraved on his mind from years of living under Jade and Betty’s roof. “In fact, I think I got snookered.”

      “What were you thinking?” Frog peered out the window after Suz. “That is some fine little lady, by the way.”

      “And that’s not going to happen, either.” Ty got to his feet. “Not at the pace you three are moving.” He felt distinctly glum about his dilemma. “Do you knuckleheads understand I’m leaving town soon? I won’t be here to guide the reins of romance for you.”

      Sam laughed. “There’s no such thing, bro. Romance isn’t guided. It’s a whirlwind of passion, joy, misunderstanding and longing.”

      They all gazed at Sam, who shrugged.

      “I’m just saying,” he told them. “If you really want romance, you have to let the whirlwind suck you into its vortex.”

      “I’ve had enough of sucking faces and whirlwind vortexes. One of you is going to have to escort Daisy to the opening. You must go in my stead, as my representative. It’ll be a poor substitute,” Ty said grandly, “but a man doesn’t go back on his promise.” He pulled a quarter from his pocket. “Here’s how we’ll decide which of you will—”

      “Lash himself to the mast of misfortune,” Frog butted in. “None of us wants to be saddled with the mistress of mayhem.”

      “You’re all so poetic today. This is how this works.” Ty put the quarter on the top of his fist. “Each of you will call heads or tails. The one who calls wrong wins the prize.”

      “Some prize,” Sam said. “I don’t see why we should have to clean up your mess, dude.”

      “Because I brought you here.”

      “In other words, no gain without pain. I call heads,” Sam said.

      “Is it a two-headed coin?” Squint asked. “It’d be like you to have a two-headed coin.”

      Ty gawked at his friend’s lack of trust in him. “Would a SEAL candidate scam his best buddies?”

      “I’ll call heads, too,” Frog sighed.

      “I’ll take tails,” Squint said, “just to liven things up.”

      Ty tossed the coin, let it land on the Southwestern-style loomed rug. The quarter stared at them.

      “That’s it, then,” Squint said, “I’m your fall guy.”

      Frog and Sam leaned back on the leather sofas, oozing relief. Ty picked up his quarter.

      “I thought you said you wanted to kiss Daisy,” Ty said to Squint.

      “I thought I did. I think I just got really cold feet.” He looked suddenly apprehensive. “It was one thing to have the fantasy. It’s another to have the fantasy sprung on you in all its—”

      “Soft, delicate flesh.” Sam hopped up, clapped Ty on the shoulder. “Thanks for the good flip. I’m off to hunt up trouble at the big house.”

      “Big house?” Ty watched Frog shoot to his feet, following Sam to the door. “You mean the Hanging H? Are you going to see Suz?”

      “I am,” Sam said. “Frog’s not.” He glared at his buddy. “You stay here with them. I don’t need any deadweight.”

      Frog hurried out the door in front of Sam, in a rush to get to Suz first. Sam glanced back at Squint and Ty with a grin. “He’s so easy to work. A little spark of jealousy and watch those boots fly.”

      He closed the door. Ty sighed. “Thanks for taking Daisy on for me. I just can’t afford any drama right now. Not when I’m leaving.” He sank into the sofa. Of course,

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