The Rancher's Wedding - Diana Palmer Page 0,2

long, she added; once the ceremony was over she’d go out to Beverly Hills and get a nice apartment in some fancy building and shop, shop, shop.

It had seemed to surprise her, Cary added, when she turned around and found him standing right behind her. She’d stammered an excuse, and begged him not to tell JL. He’d refused. It was a rotten, low-down, dirty thing to do, he’d said indignantly. And he’d marched right back to JL’s ranch to tell him all about it.

JL had been livid. She’d come home that night and he’d met her at the door with her things neatly packed by his housekeeper into two suitcases. He’d asked for the engagement ring back and told her that he wanted nothing else to do with her.

She’d stared at him blankly, as if she feared for his sanity. Why was he doing this, she asked.

Because he knew what sort of woman she was, and Cary had told him what he’d overheard her saying on her cell phone.

She’d countered that she knew what he thought of her family, and she should have broken the engagement when he made that remark about her father.

He couldn’t remember saying anything about her father, whom he’d met and instantly disliked, but he’d passed over it. He never wanted to see her again, he added. Cary had also mentioned her opinion of him as a lover, which put his pride in the dirt. He didn’t tell her about that. It still hurt too much.

She wanted to talk it out, but he knew he’d cave in and take her back, and she’d stab him in the back. He’d closed the door in her face and she’d left. He hadn’t heard anything else from her. Cary had mentioned that he heard she’d gone to Europe to take a job at some winery as a receptionist. JL hadn’t paid that remark much attention. It didn’t occur to him to wonder how Cary knew it.

The whole experience had warped him. He’d have staked his life on her honesty, but she’d sold him out. He’d never trust another woman. He’d had three months of absolute bliss until Cary told him the truth about his perfect fiancée. Now he was distraught. He drank too much, brooded too much. He’d let the ranch slide, endangering his livelihood. He didn’t blame Cary, exactly, but he associated the man with his misfortune, and it was painful to have him around.

And here sat a victim of his cousin’s warped sense of humor. She looked absolutely crushed.

“Don’t take it so hard,” he said. “Cary can fool most people when he tries.” He glanced at her as they approached the huge, one-story brick ranch house. “Why did you think I kept chickens on a ranch?”

“I’m from Atlanta,” she said, and then flushed because she hadn’t wanted to admit that. “Well, north of us a lot of people have chicken houses. I’d heard stories about how they were kept, but Cary said . . .” She stopped, swallowed. “I guess Cary knew about them somehow. I’m sorry I picketed you,” she added miserably.

He was surprised at how much he liked her. She was vulnerable in a way that most women today weren’t, especially in his circle of acquaintances. She had a sensitivity that was rare. “What do you do?”

“I’m a waitress at the Gray Dove restaurant in Benton. Cary comes in there a lot,” she added reluctantly.

A waitress. Well, he hadn’t expected a debutante, he thought sarcastically. “Cary runs his mouth too much,” he murmured.

“Yes, he does,” she agreed.

“That coat is too thin for a Colorado winter,” he remarked.

She winced. “I guess so. We don’t get a lot of really cold temperatures in Atlanta,” she added.

He chuckled. “I wouldn’t expect it to be that cold in the Deep South,” he agreed. He liked her accent. It was a soft, sweet drawl.

“Yes, well, we don’t get much snow, either, only very rarely. And then the whole city shuts down,” she added with a soft laugh.

He grinned. “I can imagine. We get used to snow because we have so much of it.”

He pulled up in front of the ranch house. “Come on in,” he said as he swung down out of the SUV.

She hesitated. She’d never gone to a man’s house or apartment in her life. Her father and mother had sheltered her. She was an only child and she’d had a lot of health problems through her youth. She’d dated very rarely, and mostly double dates with her