Wildflower Bride in Dry Creek

“We’ve all changed.” She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed Tyler. She wondered if he’d stay in touch with her this time. After high school, he had just ridden off into the sunset without a look back to see if she was standing there watching him leave.

“And even if we give Clyde a free lunch, he’ll want to be paid regular, too,” Tyler said.

Angelina nodded. “You know I have money.”

He grunted at that. “You’re an heiress. I know.”

“That’s not who I am,” she snapped back.

Then she realized she was a working woman now. And she was supposed to have the evening meal on the table by five-thirty in the Elkton bunkhouse. She had a nice beef stew in the oven and had told the ranch hands to be punctual because Tyler’s memorial service was scheduled for seven-thirty. She had insisted they all go, and the foreman had backed her up. When the cowboys hesitated, she had promised them biscuits with honey butter. She didn’t know what the foreman had offered them.

Whatever it was though they would probably still want their biscuits. But before she could make any, there was something else she needed to do.

“I need to go out to your ranch,” she told Tyler. She had to explain things to his family before she could think of feeding the ranch hands. “You may as well ride with me.”

“In that?” Tyler looked at her convertible like it was a leaky tub she was planning to set afloat in a raging flood. “That thing isn’t made for these country roads. And your driving isn’t—”

“Fine,” she interrupted him. Why had she decided to have a funeral for the one man who felt free to criticize her? Maybe he only spoke his mind so freely because they were friends. But right now she didn’t have time to argue. “I’ll ride with you then.”

She walked over and pushed the button that put up the roof on her car.

“Don’t forget Prince here,” the sheriff said as he let go of the dog’s leash.

“He rides in the back,” Tyler said.

“But he could fall out,” Angelina protested as she pushed another button to roll up her windows.

“Not at the speed I drive these roads,” Tyler said. “Only fools go fast on gravel roads. It makes too much dust and ruins your shocks.”

With that he turned his back on her and headed toward his pickup. Prince, the traitor, followed right along with him, his leash and the ribbon she’d put on him this morning, trailing behind.

She wished she could just refuse to ride with Tyler, she thought as she hurried after them. But she needed to prepare him. She really hadn’t intended to meddle in his life, she assured herself as she walked to the other side of his pickup. Of course, it couldn’t be seen as interfering since she’d thought he was dead.

Tyler opened the passenger door for her and she started to climb into the vehicle. He was reasonable. Maybe he would even see the gravestone with the angel as a compliment. It’s not like she had gotten the one with the inset photograph on it, she reminded herself. Now, that would have been extravagant.

She sat down on the seat in the cab. And that’s when she saw the photo.

“You’ve got my picture,” she said, pointing to it. “Right there.”

She hated that picture. Her father’s secretary had taken the shot, and Angelina thought it made her look like a porcelain doll. No one needed a wedding dress with that much netting. But when she complained, her father had merely sent the garment back for adjustments.

“Ah—” Tyler stopped with his hand on the door. “It was for identification purposes.”

“You needed a picture to identify me! We spent my whole senior year together.”

“Well, of course, I know what you look like,” Tyler said as he put his right hand up and ran his fingers through his hair. She remembered that gesture. It meant he didn’t want to admit something.

“Then why did you have the picture?” she asked, some of her pride soothed.

“I was trying to figure out why you were marrying that Daryl guy.”

“Derrick,” she corrected him automatically. “His name is Derrick. And I’m not marrying him.”

“Your father said the wedding was all set and is just postponed.”

“There is no wedding.”

“I have a feeling that will change,” Tyler said gloomily and with that he shut her door.

She watched him walk around the pickup toward his own door. Strangely enough, she kind of liked that he was curious about her and Derrick. She had confided in Tyler when she was in high school, but that was a long time ago. She wondered if he might be just a little bit jealous.

The truth was she didn’t have good radar when it came to men. Mrs. Hargrove was helping her correct that and, when she had gotten to know the older woman, Angelina could see that Mrs. Hargrove and her husband were deeply in love with each other and with God. They had given her hope that she might find someone special like that, too, someday.

All of her life Angelina had felt like she was on the outskirts of something warm and cozy because she was not important to anyone’s happiness. Maybe if her mother hadn’t died when she was young, she would have more of a sense of being part of a family. But it had just been her and her father for as long as she could remember and he had been preoccupied with building his empire. What he had was never enough for him.

Tyler opened his door and climbed into the driver’s seat of the pickup.

Of course, Tyler never needed anyone or anything but himself, either.

Her big problem, she told herself still looking at him out of the corner of her eye, was that she always fell for the bad boys. She liked to believe one of them would draw her so close that his life would be empty without her. Unfortunately, good girls with trust funds should never go for the bad boys. Her father hadn’t given her much advice, or attention, over the years, but he had drilled that one lesson into her teenage head.

She wasn’t sure, but she thought her father had Tyler in mind when he gave her that lecture.

Of course, she doubted Mrs. Hargrove would think Tyler was the one for her, either. It’d be hard for him to claim he was a godly man and that was number one on the older woman’s qualities for a husband.

“Don’t you ever pray?” she asked him now, her voice quiet.

Tyler looked at her and shook his head.

Well, she knew that, she told herself. There was no need for disappointment. She just needed to press forward with the memorial tonight. Maybe that would help her say a final goodbye to Tyler.

Chapter Two

Tyler kept his eyes on the road as he drove. The afternoon sun was low in the sky, but it was behind him so he could see clearly without squinting. His window was down a little and the faint smell of sage drifted in. He was trying to keep things between him and Angelina in perspective. Her tears hadn’t been for him personally. It had been unsettling for her to see someone she thought was dead, but that would pass.

Her feelings had always been delicate.

Besides, her father was right to warn him away from her. If he ever married, Tyler told himself he should marry someone who knew what it was like to survive with little money. Someone who’d grown up in the country like he had. He might still think about Angelina, but that was probably just because that year guarding her had been the happiest one of his life. He hadn’t had many friends in his life and no one bubbled over with happiness like she did.

He tried to relax the muscles on his shoulders. The more he thought about it, the more likely he decided it was that Angelina was going to marry that man. She always was skittish about serious relationships. All of her worry about having the man investigated was probably a stalling tactic, just something to allow her some breathing room. It was hard for her to trust men. Her father might not have spent much time with her when she was growing up, but he was unerring in his understanding of her.

Tyler unclenched his teeth and smiled at her. He’d call her bluff on this one and contact Clyde.

“I forgot how dry it can be this time of year,” Tyler said, feeling the slight movement of air on his face. “It’s nice though.”

He glanced over at Angelina and she was looking straight ahead.

Clumps of scrub grass covered the ground on both sides of his pickup and the prairie spread out into the distance with a few weeds and some tiny wildflowers showing up here and there. He’d guess they were bluebells. Back down the road a piece, he had seen a desert cottontail rabbit, its brown body crouched low beside a fence post. The blue sky faded to white in the heat of the day.