Wildest Dreams - By Rosanne Bittner Page 0,191

we can present the sheep issue without any big problems. Maybe pa will even let you try raising sheep on his land."

Bradley chuckled. "You're a dreamer, Katie girl."

She walked closer, taking hold of his hands. "Maybe. But ornery as my pa can be, one thing I know is how much he loves his family and wants what's best for us. It was Pa who came for me when I was abducted, and I'll never forget the look on his face when he found me." Her eyes teared again. "And when he told me never to hang my head. And with all those men surrounding us, he grabbed me up and rode off with me, took a bullet in the back that could have killed or crippled him. No matter how he reacts, don't hate him right away. He's a good man. He gets a little stubborn in his ideas sometimes, but he can be reasoned with, and my mother is the one who can do it."

Bradley sighed deeply. "All I know is that I'll do whatever it takes to make you my wife, but I won't bow to any man or give up what I know how to do best. And with or without Luke Fontaine's blessing, I want you for my wife, Katie. Will you still marry me, even if he doesn't approve?"

Katie could not imagine going against her father; but now she could also not imagine letting Brad Tillis ride out of her life. "Yes, I'll marry you, even if Pa doesn't approve."

CHAPTER 27

The entire Fontaine family sat around the elegantly set table in the dining room of the family mansion. It was Christmas Eve, a time when there would normally be a great deal of talking and celebrating; but everyone was quiet, the younger children all gawking at Brad Tillis. Tyler sat at his father's right hand, scrutinizing Brad with the same possessive, untrusting eyes as his father.

Brad could hardly eat. He had hoped Luke Fontaine would not be the big, domineering man he had pictured; but upon meeting him, he felt his case was even more hopeless. When Luke came to the parlor to meet him after coming in late and first cleaning up, his big frame had seemed to fill the room, in spite of the fact that the parlor itself was huge, with high ceilings. Luke Fontaine fit every picture of the cattle tyrant, powerfully built, a weathered face, piercing blue eyes, a firm handshake, raw power emanating from his very being. He had looked Brad over, then announced he had paperwork to do and that they would "discuss this thing" at the supper table. Before leaving the room, he had announced that "no young man I've met for the first time is going to tell me he's marrying my daughter, nor should he even dare to ask me if he can."

"Brad, would you like some more turkey?" Lettie asked, interrupting the silence.

Brad glanced at the gracious, beautiful woman, whom he already liked a great deal, as he did Pearl and Robbie, who had been receptive and full of questions. If it was only those three he had to deal with, this would be easy, but Luke Fontaine was protective of his daughter, and he could understand that protectiveness was even stronger because of what had happened to her. Her brother Tyler was equally protective, and now Brad was not so sure that it was true Lettie Fontaine could help their situation. When he and Katie had talked to Katie's mother alone earlier and explained that he raised sheep for a living, the woman had at first been aghast. "Sheep!" she had exclaimed. "Katie, it's one thing to ask me to help you convince your father to let you get married; but to a sheep man! Even I might have trouble talking him into that one!" She had not been rude about it, only worried, for she seemed to understand how much Katie loved him, and how important finding love was to her, for more reasons than the average young woman.

Brad glanced at Pearl, who he could see was ready to giggle at the odd silence at the table. The children knew he wanted to marry Katie, but no one except Lettie knew yet that he was a sheep man. He had never been so nervous in his life, and it irritated him that Luke was silently devouring his meal, making him wait for the "discussion" he intended to have. He decided that there