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  “You ask Cooper?”

  “Yep. He’s involved with the kids’ event there. Not interested in a bigger rodeo. His wife wants to compete in mine—”

  “I bet she does.” Hadley laughed. “Nell and I had our difficulties when I was her foreman there, and she rarely loses. What did Cooper say?”

  “He tried to say no.”

  His brother laughed again. “Did you sign her up?”

  “I’m letting them work it out.” Dallas leaned against a fence post, his hat tilted against the late-afternoon sun. “Good news, though. Lizzie—I mean, Elizabeth—Barnes is on my team now, helping me put the event together. Part-time.”

  Beside him, Hadley crossed his brawny arms. “That’s a surprise. She hasn’t been doing her usual civic duty since Harry moved out. She used to be in the center of everything, appearing at town functions, organizing the annual rummage sale the seniors put on, running every charity raffle and fund-raiser Harry could think of. He’s the original glad-hander, always working a room. Elizabeth did the real work, but since they split up—How’d you talk her into that?”

  “I didn’t. I mean, I tried, but she kept saying no. Then yesterday she said she’d do it.”

  “What’s in it for her?” Hadley frowned. “Or I should ask, what else is in it for you?”

  Dallas’s tone was flat. “What does that mean.”

  “I know when you’re on the road, there are lots of women. Big rodeo star like you, it can’t be hard to find female companionship. Elizabeth’s different. She’s fragile.”

  “I know that.”

  “See that you remember,” Hadley said. “Dallas, I’m more than glad to have you here, you know that, and I savor the time we have together after all those years when you were missing. But I also know you’ll be back riding bulls soon because that’s who you are, even if I’d have you stay. Don’t give that woman any more heartache.”

  “I don’t intend to.” Seemed to Dallas that more people in Barren supported her, cared about her, than Elizabeth believed. Which was a good thing.

  Hadley appeared to sense they were heading for a full-blown quarrel. He pushed away from the fence, then stood gazing around the property, taking in the house across the yard, the dirt space in front of the barn. He turned toward the outdoor ring where Trouble was still loping around the circle, snorting and shaking his head. “Let me talk to Clara.”

  Dallas’s inner alarm sounded. “About what?” Had he said something he shouldn’t have? Did Hadley really think Dallas was chasing Lizzie? And he was about to let him go after all? “Hadley, I’ll stay as long as I can.”

  “Long enough to put on that rodeo?”

  “Yeah, sure, but I won’t slack off here, if that’s what you’re thinking. I can do both.” He followed Hadley’s gaze at the ranch. “All I need is to find—”

  “A venue.”

  Dallas couldn’t think where that might be. “I already tried the NLS, the Circle H, Wilson Cattle...the fairgrounds.” He’d reached a dead end in his phone calls with the local Realtors to lease some land.

  Hadley clapped him on the shoulder. “Relax, little brother.” He grinned. “What about the McMann ranch? You work here, why not play here? I think Clara will give us permission without any fancy paperwork. Let’s rodeo.”

  * * *

  ELIZABETH HAD PROMISED Jenna she’d attend their next Girls’ Night Out group, and when they met later at Liza Wilson’s new home, she went. That had meant telling Dallas she couldn’t meet with him tonight about his rodeo, but the women’s get-together had almost slipped her mind.

  On purpose? Not only was she yawning—not sleeping any better—but her stomach now felt queasy. As soon as she knocked at the door, Jenna answered and greeted her, putting an arm around her shoulders.

  Jenna’s auburn hair gleamed in the light. “Congratulations. Before Olivia left the States for Kedar, she told me you’ve taken a job with her, sweetie.”

  “Yes.” They walked into the living room of the sprawling house, where Jenna had done the interior design. “I haven’t been here since you finished. This place is gorgeous. Olivia told me you used some pieces from the shop,” she said, but Jenna had picked up on her tone, which lacked sufficient enthusiasm.

  “You don’t like the work there?”

  “I like it, quite a lot actually, but I’m kind of under the weather tonight. Just sleep deprivation probably, and I’d be home in bed except I didn’t want to disappoint you again.”

  “Still missing your tribe? How’s Harry doing with the kids?”

  Elizabeth took a seat on a sofa in front of the fireplace. From the kitchen she could hear the clatter of plates and an oven door slamming. Water gushed from a faucet. “It’s more how the kids are doing with him,” she said. “Seth’s better—not as homesick—but now it’s Jordan. Stella’s been so quiet, even stoic, that I can’t read how she really feels. At any rate, Harry is Harry. I don’t think he was present in the same room with us as a family more than a couple of times a week. Even then, he was always the mayor, looking at his phone, answering messages on his laptop. I’d hoped for better this summer. For them.” She told Jenna he was looking for a job. “I mean, suppose he becomes mayor of some town in Iowa or Vermont?”

  Jenna’s blue eyes sparkled. “He’d be out of your hair.”

  “But also farther from the kids. I won’t have them divided like that, spending summers here and holidays wherever...”

  “Let’s hope he chooses a position in the state. He’s not entirely irredeemable, is he?”

  “You’re asking me?” Her question didn’t need an answer.

  The front door opened then closed, and Elizabeth welcomed the interruption. Sound drifted from the entry hall. The others were all here, but she felt too weary to say more than a quick hello to each one. She really should have stayed home, but at that minute their hostess emerged from the kitchen to hug everyone, which virtually said Let the party begin. Elizabeth took a deep breath. She loved these women who had stood by her, but the subject of her divorce, a rehash of the scandal, would likely be on tonight’s agenda at some point. Unless she found an excuse to leave early.

  She didn’t get that chance. Food was spread on the dining room table, wine was poured and talk sprinkled with laughter filled the air. It was Jenna who noticed that Cooper Ransom’s wife had chosen to drink water—and that Nell couldn’t suppress her broad smile.

  “All right, Nell. What’s happened now?” The group had heard stories about her new marriage, and her love for Cooper, every time they met.

  “We’re pregnant,” Nell announced. “Too early to tell yet, but Sawyer thinks it’s a boy. Everything’s fine, he says, right on schedule.”

  Her last words were wiped out by the chorus of congratulations, more laughter and another round of hugs. Elizabeth participated, yet inside she held back. She might avoid any discussion now of the divorce, but hearing about other people’s babies wasn’t her favorite thing these days either. Then she realized she wasn’t the only one who’d moved back from the group and was seated on the sofa again, the huge ceiling fan whirring overhead to cool the room. Beside her, Jenna stared at her hands clenched in her lap.

  “I’m so happy for them,” she said with a glance at Elizabeth. “Really, I am. Nell and Cooper were meant to be together. Now they’ll be a family too.”

  Elizabeth covered Jenna’s hands with hers. She remembered Jenna’s wistful expression the last time they’d talked.

  “Oh, Jen. You wish you could have a baby of your own, don’t you?”

  Her face looked suddenly stricken. “It’s that obvious?”

  “Have you talked to Hadley? Maybe there’s some way—”

  “I’d be going back on my word. When he asked me to marry him, I said I was fine with the twins, and I am. You know I adore them, and it doesn’t bother him that I’m infertile, but
wouldn’t it be lovely for them to somehow have a sibling before they get much older?”

  Nell had turned from the rest of the group. “Private party?” she asked, still with that aura about her that reminded Elizabeth of a Madonna. The way she’d felt during her last pregnancy until...

  Nell interrupted her thoughts. “Liza’s opening champagne. Join us.”

  Nell drank more water while the others toasted her and Cooper, and everyone fought to see who would hold the baby shower. Elizabeth set aside her wine. Her already nervous stomach kept rolling.

  Shutting out the happy talk in the room, Jenna leaned close. “You sure you’re okay? You look a bit chalky.”

  Elizabeth glanced at Nell. Amid the chatter and celebration, she kept feeling worse. Day by day worse, if she were honest. “I’d kill for a good night’s sleep. I should go,” she said. “I need to catch up before the kids get home. It’s nothing, really, just this relentless fatigue and a bit of tummy trouble tonight.”

  “I noticed you didn’t eat much.” Jenna’s gaze looked keen. “I don’t mean to throw a hand grenade into your life here, but what if, instead of all that, it’s something else?”

  “What else could it be?”

  “Elizabeth. What have we all been talking about nonstop this evening? Some of us more happily than others.” She arched one eyebrow. “I know it’s not a subject either of us feel comfortable with—my infertility, your miscarriage last year—but isn’t it possible?” Her voice softened. “After Dallas Maguire, I mean.”

  Oh, God. She never should have said anything about that day with him. Elizabeth searched her mind for the pertinent details. “I told you, we used contraception. Why would you think I could be—?”

  “Accidents happen.” Jenna drew back. “Never mind, I didn’t intend to say anything. Forget it. Wishful thinking on my part, perhaps.”

  Yes, but that opened a whole Pandora’s box for Elizabeth, and she was quaking inside.

  She now had her excuse to run. She said her hasty good-nights, on her way out the door promised to call someone—she forgot who—about having lunch one day, then sped home along the dark roads into Barren, her mind racing faster than the car.

  In the house, she tore upstairs to her bedroom and scrambled through the nightstand drawer until her fingers closed around the box Harry had left there. While trying to conceive their new baby, the one she’d lost, of course they’d given up using protection. Then last May, she and Dallas had their one unplanned romantic interlude. Naturally he hadn’t come prepared. She stared in shock at the date on the box of condoms in her trembling hand. July. Two years ago. Expired.

  She groaned aloud. Accidents happen. She needed a test kit from the pharmacy, but by now it was closed. Her pulse kept skipping. She’d have to wait until tomorrow, but she’d already borne three children, lost another. She knew all the signs, including her last missed cycle and the one due days ago, which she’d blamed on other factors. Nerves, the divorce, missing her kids...

  This couldn’t be. But it was. Elizabeth was sure she was pregnant.

  * * *

  ON SATURDAY MORNING, Elizabeth was still reeling. She hadn’t slept at all. She had gotten up at dawn, gone to the drugstore and bought three home tests. All of them had read positive. The day of her divorce she’d taken one misstep, and now look. And as luck would have it, Dallas had phoned minutes after she’d taken the last test, while Elizabeth was still trying to absorb the fact that she was, indeed, pregnant. His deep voice, sounding excited about the venue he’d found for his rodeo, had sent another rush of shock through her, along with an unwelcome wave of awareness. How to tell him that his world was also about to be rocked off its foundation?

  No wonder she’d been so tired and, more recently, queasy. She should have known.

  “What are your plans today?” Dallas had asked.

  Trying to keep my eyes open and my breakfast down. “Cleaning my pantry,” she said.

  What else did she have to do besides search her shelves for expired cans of beans or tuna? Oh, yes. Let him know he was about to become a father. How would she ever find the right words knowing he probably wouldn’t welcome the news?

  “Can I change your mind? Today’s the kids’ rodeo. I’d like you to see this lesser version of events—not on TV. Show you firsthand what the fun is all about. If it’s that important to you, we don’t have to go together,” he added. “You drive, I’ll drive, but you really should see this.”

  Elizabeth couldn’t think of a good reason to say no. Maybe they’d find the opportunity to talk later. As if she didn’t already feel nauseated again, instead of going back to bed, she changed into fresh clothes then searched her closet for a pair of boots. And here she was, half an hour later, parked several cars behind Dallas’s truck on the verge of the driveway at the Sutherland ranch.

  As she walked with him across the yard toward the outdoor arena filled with boys and girls all eager to ride, or whatever they did at a kids’ rodeo, Elizabeth stayed several paces behind. Though she tried to hide her misgivings, her disapproval sounded clearly in her tone. Dallas knew how she felt about the sport. “How long have the kids been doing this?”

  His voice was low. “Don’t know. I wasn’t here.”

  And Dallas wouldn’t stay longer than the end of this summer. She tried not to let that panic her. This was a first. She’d never been pregnant before without Harry to share the experience. What would Dallas say when she found the nerve to tell him?

  In the ring, Logan from the Circle H looked harried without his brother, who was now in Kedar with Olivia, as he tried to bring order to chaos. Children clamored for his attention, shouted and laughed, and a number of parents crowded around, a few with the same uneasy expression Elizabeth was sure she must be wearing. And Jordan wasn’t even here.

  “Are the events the same as in professional rodeo?” she asked.

  “Not likely,” Dallas said. “There are no bulls.”

  On the other side of the ring, Hadley had Dallas’s niece and nephew, the twins, by the hands and, his face intent, was showing them a calf. “That little Hereford is a surrogate steer for today, and last time I checked—” he glanced at a trailer rig parked nearby “—no one around here was raising sheep, but I guess Cooper must have found someone. I count two, three, four, no, five right there.”

  The side of the truck hitched in front of the trailer read The Carter Farm. That must be Becca’s father’s rig. Elizabeth didn’t see Becca, though.

  She glanced at Dallas. “What do they do with the sheep?”

  He grinned. “Ride ’em. Instead of bulls or broncs. We call that mutton bustin’.”

  “Really.” Elizabeth inhaled the gamy-smelling air, then wrinkled her nose. “No, thanks.”

  “You’re glad your boy’s in Colorado, right?” He was still smiling, but her lips had firmed.

  “If Jordan was here, my day would be even more of a challenge.”

  “I’ll make a believer of you.” Striding in front of her, Dallas led the way through the throng of local ranchers and their families. She knew most of them and, when she stopped to say hi to Jenna, Dallas moved on to approach some men, many of them fathers with kids on their shoulders or in their arms.

  “How are you today?” Jenna asked.

  Elizabeth hesitated, wondering if she should tell Jenna, then decided against it. She needed to talk to Dallas first. “Much better. I didn’t mean to worry you last night.”

  Jenna glanced toward Dallas. “Did you two come together? I can’t imagine you at a rodeo otherwise. You must have been dragged.”

  “No, we...happened to park near each other. Jordan’s been so insistent about this, I decided to see for myself while he’s away.”

  “A bigger crowd today,” Jenna said, “with our local celebrity here. Wonder if he’ll sign autographs?” She fanned her face. “Um, I’m wild about Had
ley, and Dallas is my brother-in-law, but that is one good-looking man. Must run in the family.”

  Dallas was also a happy force of nature, so different from Elizabeth, who fretted over everything, including what other people might be thinking. She worried about his reaction when she found the courage to tell him about the baby. It was a good thing she’d driven herself today instead of riding with him. “The kids look so excited,” she managed. “I can’t imagine my mother allowing me to play cowgirl. Different times,” she said.

  “Different moms.” Jenna’s gaze tracked Harry’s daughter Emmie, who’d been lifted onto a calf’s back and was being led around by Logan. “I saw your mother yesterday at the Bon Appetit having lunch with Bernice Caldwell. They play mah-jongg every week, they said.”

  Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “They’re bosom buddies, aren’t they? I don’t know which of them is harder to deal with.” Or more critical, she added silently.

  Jenna took her arm. “The first event’s starting. Let’s get a seat on the fence over there.”

  The kids’ rodeo was a casual affair. In the mutton busting, the competitors’ time and score counted but hardly mattered—everyone got a prize. Elizabeth was relieved to see that even on this hot summer day, they all wore helmets, long-sleeved shirts and jeans for protection. Soon, she stopped thinking about the speech she had to give Dallas. Several boys went head over heels off the sheep, which stopped on a dime then ran off around the ring. Luckily, one parent was permitted to be in the arena to supervise and, if necessary, intervene so no one got hurt. Dallas stood nearby, observing, giving pointers and shouting encouragement.

  He’d been right. It was nothing like the rodeo Elizabeth had watched on TV with him. The people here were noisy too, but there was a generally festive, good-natured air that didn’t come across as well on-screen. Elizabeth cheered along with everyone else.

  After the event, Dallas strolled over to the fence and said hi to Jenna too.

  “You’re a great teacher,” Elizabeth said, a bit breathless. Beside her, Jenna shot her an interested glance, then focused on the center of the ring where the pint-size entrants had lined up and were taking bows, none of them in sync.