Sherryl Woods - The Cowgirl & The Unexpected Wedding

Hank had no difficulty at all keeping his expression impassive. He’d had lots of practice over the years at pretending that he had no interest whatsoever in Lizzy’s comings and goings. Unfortunately, Lizzy’s big brother had his own opinion of Hank’s fascination with his baby sister and he used almost any opportunity to taunt Hank about it.

“For how long this time?” Hank inquired, keeping his tone every bit as neutral as Cody’s. Most of Lizzy’s visits had been whirlwind affairs during which he’d never once caught a glimpse of her. He suspected that was deliberate on her part. He also had no reason to think this time would be any different.

In fact, he’d long since come to terms with the fact that keeping his distance from Mary Elizabeth Adams was the wisest thing he could do. The woman had a way of clouding his thinking, of making him want things he had no business wanting if he expected to turn the run-down ranch he’d bought into a respectable neighbor for the Adamses’ White Pines operation. Besides, Lizzy wasn’t interested in being a rancher’s wife. She had her own dreams.

“A couple of weeks, I suppose. Whatever spring break is these days,” Cody said.

“I see. I imagine she’s been anxious about Harlan.”

“That’s part of it, I’m sure.” Cody grinned. “Then again, I don’t think Daddy’s the only reason she’s coming.”

“I’m sure she misses all of you,” Hank said, ignoring the blatant innuendo in Cody’s remark.

Cody chuckled. “Give it up, Hank. You’re not fooling anyone. Why don’t you ask what’s really on your mind?”

“Which would be?”

“When she’s coming home for good.”

“She’s not,” Hank said flatly. “She made that clear way back. She’s going to be a hotshot, big-city doc. From the day I bought this place, all she talked about was her fancy office and her fancy patients.”

Cody shook his head. “For a smart man, you are the dumbest son of a gun I’ve ever met.”

Hank refused to take offense. “Thanks,” he said dryly. “I’ve always held you in high regard, too.”

“Can’t you see that all that talk about setting up practice far away from Los Piños was so much nonsense? All she wanted was for you to ask her to stay. One little sign from you, and she’d be back here in a flash.”

Hank wished he could believe his friend, but Cody was every bit as capable as his daddy of wishful thinking. “Did she ever once say that?” he demanded. “Or are you into mind reading now?”

“It’s as plain as day,” Cody insisted. “Always has been. Don’t you think it’s time you did something about it?”

“Me? Not a chance. I don’t intend to tangle with a woman who’s got her mind set on a certain path for her life, especially when that path takes her far away from Los Piños. I chose to be here. She couldn’t wait to get away. She’d just end up resenting me, and then where would we be?” He shook his head. “No. This is for the best. Lizzy’s smart and ambitious. She’ll get the life she wants.”

“Paths have a way of coming to a fork,” Cody advised him. “Leastways that’s what Daddy always says. Maybe when Lizzy hits that crossroads, you could help her decide which way to go. It’s always been plain that you have more influence over her than the rest of us. Even Daddy admits that, though it clearly pains him to think that he can’t control her.”

“I don’t think so,” Hank said. “That’s just Harlan dreaming up a new way to get what he wants and using me in the process.”

Cody regarded him knowingly. “Are you saying you aren’t already half crazy in love with Lizzy?”

“I’m saying that it doesn’t matter whether I am or I’m not,” Hank said impatiently. “I’m not what she wants.”

“A hundred bucks says otherwise,” Cody taunted.

Hank stared at the older man, whose own kids were about the same age as his baby sister. He wasn’t sure he’d heard Cody right. It had sounded an awful lot like he was actually daring Hank to make a pass at Lizzy.

“You’re betting me to do what?” he asked cautiously.

“See Lizzy, flirt with her, see where it leads. If she blows you off, I’m wrong and you win.”

“And just how far am I supposed to carry things to win this bet?” Hank asked. “I don’t want you and Luke and Jordan chasing after me with a shotgun.”

“Not that far,” Cody retorted with a hard glint in his eyes and a harder edge to his voice.

“See what I mean. You all would have my hide if I actually pursued your baby sister. You chased off every other man around these parts who was interested in dating her.”

“It wasn’t the dating we were concerned about,” Cody said, his temper visibly cooling. “Besides, even though you’re too stubborn to admit it, I know you care too much to ever hurt her.”

“I’d say your logic is twisted,” Hank retorted, torn between anger and laughter at the pure foolhardiness of Cody’s plan. “You want me to put my heart on the line, then be glad of the hundred bucks you’ll give me if your sister tells me to take a hike?”

“Then you’re admitting your heart would be at stake,” Cody said with a hoot of triumph. “I knew it. Daddy said so, too.”

“I suppose he put you up to this, too. Well, it’s wishful thinking on your part and Harlan’s. I’m not admitting a damned thing,” Hank corrected. He allowed the weight of his words to linger, before adding impulsively, “But what the heck, you’re on.”

He wasn’t going to admit it to Cody, but he’d been looking for an excuse for a very long time to see Lizzy Adams again. Maybe there’d be fireworks. Maybe there wouldn’t. But it sure would break up the monotony of his unceasing thoughts on the subject of the pretty little gal he’d let get away.

* * *

“Will you get that danged stethoscope away from me?” Harlan shouted at Lizzy. “You’re my daughter, not my doctor.”

“I just want to see for myself how you’re doing,” Lizzy protested.

She’d been home less than a half hour and so far she was no closer to knowing exactly how her father was doing than she had been back in Miami. The only certainty was that he was every bit as cantankerous as ever.

He scowled at her, daring her to put the stethoscope anywhere near his chest again. “You got a degree yet?”

“No.”

“Then keep that thing away from me.”

Lizzy sighed and put the stethoscope back in her medical bag. “I don’t suppose you’ll let me take your pulse, either.”

“You think I don’t know why you’ve been clutching my wrist every few minutes since you walked in the door?” Harlan grumbled. “If you haven’t found the pulse by now, I must be dead.”

Lizzy resigned herself to getting a complete picture of her father’s medical condition from his doctor and not firsthand. She leaned over his bed and hugged him, relieved by the strength with which he hugged her back.

“What’re you checking for now?” he grumbled as he released her.

“That was a daughterly hug, nothing more,” she reassured him.

He regarded her warily. “You sure about that?”

“Absolutely.”

“Okay, then. Sit down here and tell me what you’ve been up to. Don’t leave out any of the juicy stuff, either. Have you found yourself a man yet?”

She should have known it wouldn’t take long to get to the subject nearest and dearest to his heart. “Daddy, not every woman needs a man in her life,” she explained for the thousandth time, even though she knew she was wasting her breath.

“Don’t give me that feminist hogwash. How’re you going to give me any grandbabies if you don’t find a man?”

“Maybe I’ll just have them on my own,” she taunted because she knew it would irritate him. Clearly, he was well enough to argue. He was probably well enough to be out of bed, too. His wife Janet had hinted that he was playing invalid just to entice his baby to stay around a little longer. If his doctor confirmed that, Lizzy was going to drag him out of bed by force and put him on a regimen of exercise that would have him pleading for mercy.