LITMIR.BIZ

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who’s been putting off the wedding?” she asked. “Not Miss Carter?”

      “It’s been mutual,” Jake said.

      “Why has she been putting it off, if I may ask?”

      “That’s between her and me.”

      “Well, why have you been putting it off?” she persisted.

      “That’s none of your business.”

      “I think it is,” Hope said. “I think you’ve been waiting for me to grow up,” she said with the beginning of a smile. “I think you’ve been hoping I would come back from all my travels and convince you—”

      “That’s enough,” Jake said. “The fact is, Amanda and I have set a wedding date. Nothing’s going to change that now.”

      “Lots of people decide not to go through with their weddings,” Hope argued.

      “When I make a promise, I keep it,” Jake said.

      Hope cocked her head and frowned. “Even if it means being miserable for the rest of your life?”

      “Amanda and I are well matched,” he said. “We can be happy together.”

      “I notice you’ve never once said you love her,” Hope pointed out.

      “My feelings for my fiancée are my business.”

      “If you tell me you love her, I’ll go away, Jake. I won’t say another word. I’ll accept the fact that I’ve lost your love to another woman, and I’ll let you go.” Hope’s stomach was turning somersaults. What if he said he loved Miss Carter, just to get rid of her?

      Luckily for her, Jake was too honest to lie. “I want you to leave me be, Hope. I want you to keep your distance from me between now and the wedding.”

      “Give me one good reason why I should,” she said.

      “Because if you love me, you’ll understand how hard this is for me. My word is given. And I’m not going back on it.”

      Hope swallowed past the painful knot that had grown in her throat. “You don’t play fair, Jake.”

      He didn’t say anything, just looked down at her, a wall behind his blue eyes that shut her out.

      “All right, Jake,” she said at last. “I won’t purposely tempt you again.”

      She felt some of the tension ease out of him.

      “But I’m not going to leave town. I’m not going to hide myself from your sight. I’m going to be right here every day from now until you commit yourself to Miss Carter. And I’m going to hope that between now and then you come to your senses.”

      She looked up at him and said, “Open the door, Jake. And let me out.”

      He seemed to realize suddenly that he was standing in her way, blocking the exit. He stepped aside, opened the door and held it while she walked from the room, shoulders back, chin up. She could feel the heat of him following her down the stairs. She was aware that he was no longer behind her when she headed into the kitchen. She greeted the women working there with a smile and said, “Need any help?”

      “We’re about done,” one of the women said. “Things have pretty much wound down since that rumpus in the gazebo.” The woman glanced over her shoulder narrow-eyed at Jake, who’d appeared in the doorway, and said, “You need a ride home, Hope?”

      Hope smiled more brightly, aware of Jake’s presence at her shoulder, and the worried, confused and distrustful looks on the faces of the other women. “I’m riding with Faith and Randy,” she said. “I’ll find them and be on my way.”

      She was out of the kitchen and into the backyard a moment later. The sun was setting, and the fenced backyard was nearly deserted. Faith sat on the steps of the wrecked gazebo with Randy beside her. She rose as Hope approached her.

      “Are you all right?” Faith asked.

      Hope kept the smile pasted on her face for Faith’s sake. Her sister knew far too much about her feelings as it was. “Jake and I had a little talk and ironed things out.”

      “Oh?”

      Faith had a way of getting her to spill the beans by looking sympathetic. “I agreed to keep my distance,” Hope said.

      “Did you, really?”

      “Why do you sound so surprised?” Hope said irritably. “He’s engaged to Miss Carter. The wedding is in two weeks.”

      “I thought you might have had some luck changing his mind,” Faith said, sliding her prosthetic hand around Hope’s waist. “You can be very convincing.”

      The knot was back in Hope’s throat. “He doesn’t love her,” she said fiercely. “But he’s going to marry her anyway.”

      “Well,” Faith said. “Maybe he is. And maybe he isn’t.”

      Hope frowned. “What is that supposed to mean?”

      “There’s many a slip twixt the cup and the lip,” she said. And grinned at Randy.

      “What’s going on?” Hope said, glancing from Faith to Randy and back again.

      “Faith doesn’t want you to give up,” Randy said. “Isn’t that right, Faith?”

      “Right,” Faith said. “If you love Jake, you have to keep fighting for him. No matter what.”

      “I told him I’d keep my distance,” Hope said.

      “How much distance was it you promised him?” Faith asked.

      Hope made a disgusted sound. “We didn’t measure—”

      “Do you love him, Hope?” Faith interrupted.

      “That’s a dumb question.”

      “Do you love him?” she asked again.

      “Yes.”

      “Then keep fighting for him. Put yourself in his way. Keep your distance, but keep him thinking about you.”

      Hope hugged her sister. “Have I told you lately what a great sister you are?”

      “Nope. But you can sing my praises while Randy drives us home.”

      Hope sat, crowded into the front seat of Randy’s pickup, thinking and thinking and thinking all the way home. Jake needed to see how she could fit comfortably into his life. He needed to see what a good partner she would be. And there was only one way to prove herself to him. By being there. The only question was, how could she get herself invited to spend time at Jake’s ranch?

      AMANDA COULDN’T BELIEVE HER party had ended in such disaster. She’d watched Jake flatten the cowboy bothering Hope Butler, then stood mouth agape as he hauled Hope off into her house without a second thought for how it would look to their friends. It had been left to her to excuse Jake’s behavior and say good-bye to their guests.

      “Amanda, are you all right?”

      She turned to find Rabb Whitelaw at her elbow. “I’m fine,” she said, pasting a bright smile on her face.

      Ever since Rabb had built the gazebo in her backyard she’d felt self-conscious around him. She didn’t understand her attraction to him. She only knew it was there.

      Maybe it was the fact he’d worked all those weeks with his shirt off. She’d wanted to touch his broad shoulders, his bronzed flesh. She’d attributed her attraction to the fact he was so obviously healthy, when she’d spent so many years nursing her mother’s frail form.

      She’d been drawn outside again and again to spend time with him, using the excuse of offering lemonade or iced tea on a hot day. And she’d stayed to talk, admiring his strong hands at work, creating something lasting and

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