The Rancher and the Baby
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Marie Ferrarella
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15.4K
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19
Prologue
“Mind if I cut in?”
Instantly pulled out of her mental wanderings—a defense mechanism she employed when whoever she was with was boring her out of her mind—Cassidy McCullough looked up, focusing on the man who had just tapped her dance partner’s shoulder.
Not that she really needed to.
Despite the fact that he had been absent from Forever for the better part of four years, she would have recognized that voice anywhere.
It popped up in her nightmares.
Will Laredo.
Will had been her brothers’ friend for as far back as she could remember—until his estrangement with his father had taken him to parts unknown, simultaneously bringing peace to her own corner of the world.
As she looked back, it felt as if her peace had been far too short-lived. Especially since, for reasons that were beyond her understanding, all three of her brothers liked this six-foot-one-inch, dirty-blond-haired irritant on two legs—which was why Cody had not only invited him to his wedding, he’d made Will one of his groomsmen.
To her surprise, Ron Jenkins, her fawning partner on the dance floor, seemed all too ready to acquiesce to Laredo’s casual query. Under normal circumstances, she would have celebrated getting a different partner—but not this time.
Ron might be willing, Cassidy thought, but she damn well wasn’t.
“He might not mind,” Cassidy retorted defiantly, “but I do.”
Rather than taking his cue and backing away, Will remained exactly where he was. Not only that, but his mouth curved in that annoying, smug way of his that she had always hated.
“Your brothers seemed to think I should dance with you.”
“Maybe you should dance with one of them since they all seem to be so keen on the subject of dancing,” Cassidy informed him.
Looking increasingly more uncomfortable, Ron seemed ready to fade into the shadows. “No, really, it’s all right,” he assured both her and Will nervously. A slight man, he appeared more than ready to surrender his claim to her.
Cassidy’s eyes narrowed as she froze her partner in place. “You stop dancing with me, Ron Jenkins,” she warned the man, “and it’ll be the last thing you’ll ever remember doing.”
Rather than slow down, Cassidy sped up her tempo.
Instead of being annoyed or embarrassed at this obvious rejection, Will laughed. “You’d better do as she says, Ron. Most men around here would sooner cross an angry rattlesnake than Cassidy. I hear that her bite is a lot more deadly.”
Struggling to hold on to her temper, Cassidy tossed her head. Several blond strands came loose and cascaded to her shoulders. She ignored them.
“If I were you, Laredo, I’d keep that in mind the next time you think about cutting in,” she informed him, her eyes blazing.
Will inclined his head, the same amused smile slowly curving his lips. “There’s not going to be a next time,” he assured her.
Cassidy turned her face up to her partner’s and said in a voice intentionally loud enough for Will to overhear, “Dance me by the champagne table, Ron. Now I’ve got something else to celebrate besides my brother Cody’s wedding.”
“I would,” Ron told her dryly, “if you’d let me lead for a change.”
Cassidy could have sworn she heard Will laughing in the background.
She wasn’t going to cause a scene, she promised herself. Not here. This was the first wedding in the family, and it was Cody’s day. But the moment it was over, she was going to find out which of her three brothers had put Will Laredo up to this, and they were going to pay dearly for it. They knew how she felt about him.
She’d been incensed when she found out that Cody had gotten in contact with Will and asked if he would come and be in his wedding party. When he’d told her about it, she’d almost withdrawn herself, but Connor had talked her out of it, appealing to her sense of family.
“Cassidy,” Ron said, raising his voice.
She realized by the look on the man’s face that this was not the first time that Ron had tried to get her attention.
“What?” she snapped, then cleared her throat and repeated the word in a more subdued tone—silently damning Laredo. The man had the ability of messing with her mind and ruining any moment just by his being there. “What? Am I leading again?”
“I don’t care about that,” Ron said, which told her that she was guilty of doing just that. Again.
“Then what?” she asked.
“You’re crushing my hand.” He looked positively pained.
Embarrassed, as well as annoyed, Cassidy released Jenkins’s hand. A more accurate description would have been that she threw it aside and out of her grasp.
To the casual observer from across the floor, had Ron’s hand been detached, it would have most likely bounced on the floor and gotten wedged somewhere.
“Man up,” she ordered Ron through gritted teeth and then walked away from him just as the band began to play another song.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Laredo shaking his head. He made no effort to hide the fact that he was observing her. She felt herself growing angry. Had they not been at her brother’s wedding, she would have marched right up to him and demanded to know just what he thought he was shaking his head at.
But they were at Cody’s wedding, so she couldn’t cause a scene, couldn’t hold Will accountable or wipe that smug look off his pretty-boy face. It wouldn’t look right for the maid of honor to deck one of the groomsmen at her own brother’s wedding.
That didn’t change the fact that she really wanted to.
Cassidy squared her shoulders and went to get a glass of punch.
Hang in there, she told herself. Come tomorrow, Will Laredo was leaving Forever, going back to wherever it was that he disappeared to when he’d initially left. And then life would go back to being bearable again.
Twelve more hours, she thought. Just twelve more hours.
It felt like an eternity.
