She wanted to agree to anything, to promise this man who had nearly met his Maker that she’d try her best to make him happy, but she didn’t want to lie. “I’ll give it a shot,” she said, wondering why she would even think of returning to Bittersweet, the place where, as far as she knew, not only her half-sisters lived, but where she’d lost her heart years ago to a cowboy who had used her and thrown her away.

As if reading her thoughts, her father fingered the edge of his sheet and announced, “Lafferty’s back in Bittersweet.” His mouth tightened at the corners and Bliss’s heart lost a beat. “Lookin’ for property, the way I hear it”

“Is he?”

“His ex-wife and kid are there, too.”

Wonderful, she thought grimly. “Doesn’t matter.”

His eyes narrowed a fraction. “Just thought you’d want to know.”

“Why?”

“Well, you and he—”

“That was a long time ago, remember? He got married.”

“And divorced.”

She’d expected as much. Mason wasn’t the kind of man who could commit to one woman for very long. She’d found that out. The hard way. “I couldn’t care less,” she lied, and cringed inside.

“Good. You’ll have enough to deal with.”

“If I come.”

“I’m countin’ on it, Blissie,” her father said with an encouraging smile. “It’s time for me to start over and I can’t do it without you.”

A huge lump filled her throat. Half-sisters.

She’d have to meet them sometime, she decided without much enthusiasm, but that didn’t mean that she had to like them.

Chapter Two

“Bliss Cawthorne’s coming back to town.”

Mason froze, his pen in his hand as he sat at his desk. “What?”

“You heard me.” Jarrod Smith snagged his hat from the hall tree as he walked to the door of Mason’s office. “Just thought you’d like to know.”

“You’re full of good news, aren’t you?” Mason said, leaning back in his desk chair until the old springs creaked in protest. His stupid pulse had jumped at the mention of Bliss’s name, but he calmed himself. So she was returning to Bittersweet. So what? He didn’t doubt that she cursed the day she’d ever set eyes on him. He didn’t blame her.

She was, as she always had been, forbidden.

Jarrod grinned like a Cheshire cat. “Supposedly it’ll be a short visit, just coming back for her old man’s wedding.”

“To your mother.” Mason had already heard the news that had swept like wildfire through dry grass along the streets of Bittersweet. In the taverns, churches and coffee shops, the topic of John Cawthorne’s marriage had been hashed and rehashed. Not that Mason cared so much about what Cawthorne did these days, except when it came to the ranch, the damned ranch. Behind the old man’s back he’d made a deal with Brynnie to buy out part of it. His conscience twinged a bit; he had a ten-year-old deal with the old man, too. One he no longer intended to honor.