“I’ll think of somethin’.”

“If there was another solution, we’d have thought of it by now.” His uncle slipped a hand in his waistcoat pocket and pulled out his gold watch. “You better start praying that the lady shows.”

The judge’s unkempt, bushy eyebrows rose and fell. “You have ten minutes.”

Chase took a seething breath and continued pacing while his uncle kept checking the time. After another couple of minutes, he stopped. “Whether she shows or not, I’m not givin’ up.”

Uncle Baxter grimaced. “You may have to,” he said, surprising Chase. It wasn’t like his uncle to admit defeat. “It’s a shame for it to end this way. The ranch meant everything to your father.”

Chase’s nostrils flared. “If it meant so much to him, then why did he put such a stipulation in the will?”

How his father’s second wife had persuaded him to write such a will was a puzzle that continued to haunt Chase. Her son, Royce, had never put in an honest day’s work in his life. Drinking, gambling, and womanizing were more his style.

“There’re some things that are out of a person’s control,” his uncle said cryptically.

Chase’s gaze sharpened. “What things?”

A look of uncertainty crept into his uncle’s expression. “Just…things.”

There was something his uncle wasn’t saying, but Chase was too incensed to pursue it.

The judge’s voice floated across the room. “If your bride doesn’t show in the next couple of minutes, I won’t have time to marry you. The next wedding party is due to arrive momentarily.”

Chase sucked in his breath and started for the door.

“Where are you going?” his uncle asked. “There’s still time.”

Chase whirled around. “Marrying the lady was your idea, and I should never have agreed to it.” Lord knew he had enough on his plate without taking on an unwilling bride.

“Now listen to me—”

“No, you listen to me.” Chase was shouting now but didn’t care. “If I lose the ranch, I lose the ranch. But at least I won’t be tied to a loveless marriage!”

He turned toward the door just as it flew open. The widow had finally arrived, and she was decked from head to toe in full bridal regalia.

2

Emily stared at the two men whose voices had been loud enough to be heard in the hall. She guessed that the younger man was Jake Garvey, the druggist she’d come here to wed, but she couldn’t be certain. Please don’t let the groom be the one with the shotgun…

Whichever he was, the groom had sounded as reluctant to marry her as she was him, and that was odd. He’d been so persuasive in his letters, so committed to making a life with her, so perfectly charming and kind.

If she hadn’t known it before, she knew it now. Coming to Texas had been a mistake. How foolish of her to think that marrying a stranger would solve her problems.

Since neither man seemed anxious to say to her face what had been said before she’d walked in, it appeared it was up to her.