Judy Christenberry - The $10,000,000 Texas Wedding

“There’s a rancher with four children. He needs a mother for them. Katie—”

“No! She’s already raised her brothers and sisters.” Gabe remembered Katie’s face when he’d asked if she’d gone to college. His heart ached for her lost dreams.

“There’s the minister. Katie would make an excellent minister’s wife,” Florence said.

“No, I don’t want—” Gabe stopped, frustrated. “Damn! Isn’t there someone who would let Katie be Katie? Who would help her? She deserves the best!”

“Well, of course she does,” Edith said. “I told them that, but they argued with me.”

He nodded eagerly at Edith. “Yeah? Who did you think would do for Katie?” He wasn’t going to marry Katie off to just anyone.

“Why, Gabe, dear, the perfect man is you.”

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Judy Christenberry has been writing romances for fifteen years because she loves happy endings as much as her readers. Judy quit teaching French recently and now devotes her time to writing. She hopes readers have as much fun reading her stories as she does writing them. She spends her spare time reading, watching her favorite sports teams and keeping track of her two daughters. Judy’s a native Texan, but now lives in Arizona.

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Epilogue

Cactus, Texas.

Gabe Dawson carefully pulled into a parking space on the town square. He didn’t want to have a wreck on his first day back in town. With memories pouring into his head, he feared he might be too distracted to drive.

He’d grown up here, learning about life, sharing, hunting, camping, riding with his friends. Falling in love for the first time. Katie.

“Gabe!”

The man standing by his car door waited for him to acknowledge his presence. Gabe opened the door and got out. “Mac Gibbons!” he replied, grabbing one of his best childhood friends into a bear hug. “How did you know I was here?”

“I’d been to see Cal. Your new Mercedes caught my eye. Nice car.”

“Yeah, thanks.” The car was a result of his recent success. “I was on my way to see you.”

“About your grandmother’s will?”

Gabe nodded.

Mac reached out and squeezed Gabe’s shoulder in silent sympathy. “Come on, let’s get it over with. Then we can visit.”

Mac Gibbons knew Gabriel Dawson was in for a shock. He decided it would be better not to procrastinate. He hoped Gabe would take some time to think, not make a quick decision.

He led his old friend into his offices. After introducing him to his secretary, an efficient middle-aged woman, he took him down the hall, stopping at the first door.

“Alex, let me introduce an old friend, Gabe Dawson. Alexandra Langford is my partner.”

“Langford?” Gabe repeated, a question in his voice.

Mac nodded. “And Tuck’s wife.”

Gabe smiled. “Tuck always was a lucky man. But I’ll admit, I never thought he’d marry.”

Mac chuckled. “One look at Alex, and he was a goner.”

Alexandra gave her partner a knowing look. “You don’t have room to talk, Mac.”

“Yeah,” he agreed with a contented sigh.

“You remarried?” Gabe asked, astounded. He’d been around when Mac had lived in Dallas. He knew how badly his friend had been hurt.

“He married and is a daddy twice over,” Alex added.

Mac’s grin only widened. “Never mind that. We’ll catch up later. First, we’ve got some business to conduct.”

He led his friend into his office and shut the door.

Before sitting down, he pulled a legal file from his file cabinet. “Your grandmother changed her will last year.”

Gabe’s head snapped up. “Do you mean I’m not the heir?”

It wasn’t that he needed his grandmother’s estate. As an attorney with a large firm in Dallas, he earned a more-than-healthy salary. Then he’d taken a risk on a personal injury case and had won big. Big enough that he’d never have to work again.

But he’d loved his grandmother. He wouldn’t want to think he’d disappointed her.

“You’re still the heir,” Mac assured him, “if you meet certain conditions.”

“Certain conditions?” Foreboding filled Gabe. His grandmother had fussed about his lifestyle. Surely she hadn’t—

“You know how amazed you were that Tuck and I were both married?”

Gabe stared at his friend. What did their marriages have to do with anything? “Well, yeah, Tuck was determined never to marry and you, well, I was there when you went through your divorce. I remember how bitter and hurt you were.”

Mac nodded. “Spence and Cal are married, too,” he added, naming two other friends. “It seems our mothers were frustrated that we hadn’t married, any of us, and made a bet to see who would get the first grandbaby. They were so successful, they inspired a lot of other mothers…and grandmothers.”

“Are you telling me Gran changed her will to—to force me to marry?”

Mac nodded. “Yeah. I tried to talk her out of it, but you know how hardheaded she was.” He lifted several papers and passed them to Gabe before sitting down behind his desk. “You might as well read it yourself.”

Gabe took the will, his brows furrowing. He couldn’t believe Gran would try to force his hand. He’d been engaged once, but Gran hadn’t seemed too pleased with his choice. So why would she try to rush him into something?

He quickly read the papers, noting the requirement that he return to Cactus for one year. Outrageous, but not impossible. It would take him that long to sell her house. In the meantime, he would live there.

But it was the last requirement that had him leaping to his feet. “Marry Katherine? Was she crazy? Katie married over eight years ago. This is insane. When did she write this?”

“About six months ago. Katie is a widow now.”

Gabe swallowed. “I can’t believe she’d agree to this blackmail.”

“I don’t know whether she agreed or not. And there is a provision, saving you from that requirement if Katie marries someone else.”

“Where is she? I’m going to share a few facts of life with Miss Katherine Peters!” he exclaimed, turning to charge out of the room.

“Katherine Hill. And you’ll find her at The Lemon Drop Shop,” Mac obligingly told Gabe, a speculative look in his eyes.

“The what?” Gabe said, coming to an abrupt halt.

“It’s a bakery on the other side of the square. That’s how she supports herself these days.”

Gabe had avoided seeing Katie when he’d come back to visit his grandmother. His trips had always been brief and far apart. He hadn’t even visited the guys very often. He was always too busy.

Gran had come to stay with him at Christmas every year, preferring his bachelor apartment to his parents’ pretentious house in one of those neighborhoods in Dallas where the houses were huge and the lots small.

“She must not have been of sound mind when she made the changes,” Gabe protested.

“I’m afraid you won’t be able to prove that,” Mac assured him.

“Then Katie must have put her up to it. She probably needs the money and thought I’d be easy plucking.” He paced back to Mac’s desk. “Is she still supporting half her family?”