The Cowgirl & The Unexpected Wedding

“A hundred bucks says otherwise,” Cody taunted.

Hank stared at the older man, whose own kids were about the same age as his baby sister. He wasn’t sure he’d heard Cody right. It had sounded an awful lot like he was actually daring Hank to make a pass at Lizzy.

“You’re betting me to do what?” he asked cautiously.

“See Lizzy, flirt with her, see where it leads. If she blows you off, I’m wrong and you win.”

“And just how far am I supposed to carry things to win this bet?” Hank asked. “I don’t want you and Luke and Jordan chasing after me with a shotgun.”

“Not that far,” Cody retorted with a hard glint in his eyes and a harder edge to his voice.

“See what I mean. You all would have my hide if I actually pursued your baby sister. You chased off every other man around these parts who was interested in dating her.”

“It wasn’t the dating we were concerned about,” Cody said, his temper visibly cooling. “Besides, even though you’re too stubborn to admit it, I know you care too much to ever hurt her.”

“I’d say your logic is twisted,” Hank retorted, torn between anger and laughter at the pure foolhardiness of Cody’s plan. “You want me to put my heart on the line, then be glad of the hundred bucks you’ll give me if your sister tells me to take a hike?”

“Then you’re admitting your heart would be at stake,” Cody said with a hoot of triumph. “I knew it. Daddy said so, too.”

“I suppose he put you up to this, too. Well, it’s wishful thinking on your part and Harlan’s. I’m not admitting a damned thing,” Hank corrected. He allowed the weight of his words to linger, before adding impulsively, “But what the heck, you’re on.”

He wasn’t going to admit it to Cody, but he’d been looking for an excuse for a very long time to see Lizzy Adams again. Maybe there’d be fireworks. Maybe there wouldn’t. But it sure would break up the monotony of his unceasing thoughts on the subject of the pretty little gal he’d let get away.

* * *

“Will you get that danged stethoscope away from me?” Harlan shouted at Lizzy. “You’re my daughter, not my doctor.”

“I just want to see for myself how you’re doing,” Lizzy protested.

She’d been home less than a half hour and so far she was no closer to knowing exactly how her father was doing than she had been back in Miami. The only certainty was that he was every bit as cantankerous as ever.

He scowled at her, daring her to put the stethoscope anywhere near his chest again. “You got a degree yet?”

“No.”

“Then keep that thing away from me.”

Lizzy sighed and put the stethoscope back in her medical bag. “I don’t suppose you’ll let me take your pulse, either.”

“You think I don’t know why you’ve been clutching my wrist every few minutes since you walked in the door?” Harlan grumbled. “If you haven’t found the pulse by now, I must be dead.”

Lizzy resigned herself to getting a complete picture of her father’s medical condition from his doctor and not firsthand. She leaned over his bed and hugged him, relieved by the strength with which he hugged her back.

“What’re you checking for now?” he grumbled as he released her.

“That was a daughterly hug, nothing more,” she reassured him.

He regarded her warily. “You sure about that?”

“Absolutely.”

“Okay, then. Sit down here and tell me what you’ve been up to. Don’t leave out any of the juicy stuff, either. Have you found yourself a man yet?”

She should have known it wouldn’t take long to get to the subject nearest and dearest to his heart. “Daddy, not every woman needs a man in her life,” she explained for the thousandth time, even though she knew she was wasting her breath.

“Don’t give me that feminist hogwash. How’re you going to give me any grandbabies if you don’t find a man?”

“Maybe I’ll just have them on my own,” she taunted because she knew it would irritate him. Clearly, he was well enough to argue. He was probably well enough to be out of bed, too. His wife Janet had hinted that he was playing invalid just to entice his baby to stay around a little longer. If his doctor confirmed that, Lizzy was going to drag him out of bed by force and put him on a regimen of exercise that would have him pleading for mercy.

She shot him a deliberately innocent look and added, “I think I’d make a terrific single mom, don’t you?”

“Over my dead body!” he shouted.

“You keep losing your cool like that, and you will be dead,” she informed him mildly.

His gaze narrowed. “You said that on purpose, didn’t you?”

Lizzy grinned. “Yep.”

“Daggone it, girl. You know my heart’s weak.”

“I don’t know that,” she reminded him plaintively. “You won’t let me check it.”

He scowled at her, then said casually, “Cody saw Hank Robbins the other day.”

“Really?” Getting that word out without betraying any emotion was harder than tangling with her daddy over the state of his health.

“He said Hank was asking about you.”

Lizzy’s heart did a little tap dance of its own. “Oh? How is he?”

“Getting along right good,” Harlan said. He shot her a sly look. “Cody says he’s thinking of getting married and settling down.”

This time her heart plummeted straight to her toes. “Married?”

“You sound surprised. Ranch life’s a whole lot easier if there’s a woman you love by your side. Besides, he’s not getting any younger. I’m sure he wants kids.”

“I suppose,” she said as her heart thudded dully. “Who’s he marrying?”

“I didn’t say he had anyone special in mind, just that he was thinking of it.”

Lizzy stared at her father’s innocent expression and chuckled. She should have known he was up to something. “You did that on purpose, didn’t you?”

He grinned. “Yep. Worked, too.” His expression sobered. “Why don’t you just break down and see the man, Lizzy my girl? You know you want to. You were always crazy about him. For a few years there, you were thick as thieves. It made me hope that you’d settle down right next door. I never did figure out what happened between the two of you.”

“Nothing happened.” Which, of course, was the whole point. She stood up and leaned down to kiss her father’s weathered cheek. “Stop manipulating, Daddy. I’d already planned to see Hank while I’m here.”

His expression brightened. “Whooee! It’s about time you showed some sense.”