The Bridal Promise. Virginia Dove

it. It struck him solidly that if she did run this time, he would go after her.

      It was a shock to discover how rapidly Perri Stone could sink back into his system. He didn’t care for it Matt clamped down hard on the urge to get mean twice in one day.

      He had fully intended that kiss earlier to be antagonistic, maybe a little punishing. Matt had figured if he offended her just enough, she would keep her distance. That would be easier for all concerned. He really hadn’t planned to make love to her mouth. He still wasn’t entirely certain how that had happened.

      A small portion of his brain puzzled over the fact that the taste of the woman could be so much more powerful than that of the girl she had been twelve years ago. He had loved that Perri with all his young heart.

      Now the woman she had become summoned him on some deep level. That would never do. Matt would have sworn he could no longer feel anything that deeply and he had no intention of starting now. So it was back to business.

      Deepwater went on talking. “The Ransoms and the Stones, and the Marlowes, through Perri here,” he said nodding in her direction, “would be announcing that they were united in an attempt to bring some sort of new business into the area. The town would see a strong commitment, a strong front.

      “As you know,” John continued, “our parents and grandparents tried a couple of decades ago to position Spirit Valley for the future. But they made their efforts based upon Spirit as a continuing center of commerce.” He paused briefly. “Nobody dreamed it would ever get like this. So nobody planned for the worst.” John sighed. “They complacently expected things to continue as they had always been.”

      Perri finally spoke. “I think accusing them of complacency is a little harsh, John. Nobody could have predicted drought, the oil bust and the railroad’s demise,” she pointed out.

      “Thank you, Miss Oklahoma Girl Stater,” Matt interjected dryly, “but we’re getting off the subject here.” Didn’t she realize her calm appeal for reason was killing him?

      Perri remained unruffled and coolly crossed her legs. He realized he was staring. He realized she knew it. How she could remain that placid was just beyond him. He made a mental note to set about breaking down that composed demeanor at the first opportunity.

      Matt grimly turned his attention back to the man he was beginning to think of as “that lawyer.” “I want to know what Gannie said,” Matt demanded. “Why did she want me to many Stone here? And, Johnnie, don’t you give me that attorney/client confidentiality crap.”

      John Deepwater looked his best friend in the eye. “She said it was time you did something you should have done over ten years ago.”

      Perri inhaled sharply. John continued. “She said it was time that the Stone-Ransom animosity was put to rest for the good of all concerned. Now that you’re both older. Now that . . . you’re both single, Gannie felt it was high time you two got married.” He didn’t have to add, “now that Leila Ransom is dead.” The words John left unspoken were a silent outcry heard by everyone in the room.

      “But why?” Perri spoke so low she might have been alone. “Why barter me and buy him? I have no interest in holding Matt to anything he said twelve years ago. As a matter of fact,” she continued, “I’m grateful to him for ending it. I was way too young to get married. Please tell me why she would do this, Johnnie.”

      Matt was saved from responding to that bit about her being “grateful” when he saw Deepwater’s face gentle into a faint smile. As always, it softened the fierceness of his features to a surprising degree.

      “Gannie said she promised your grandmother Anne to always look out for you and your mother.” Matt and Perri both displayed a momentary lack of composure at the mention of Peni’s grandmother, Anne. “She said it was time for the Stone/Marlowe women to stop running—mat you, in particular, needed to come home. That even later,” he added, “and divorced from Matt, you’d be accepted as a member of the community and not as an outsider. She said: ‘Perri needs to have her home restored. The Ransoms took it from her and they can damn well give it back.”

      Matt sat silently, his mind racing around all the angles as John continued. “So folks, here’s the bottom line. Number one, you two have ninety days to accept or decline the terms of the will. If you marry, you stay married for at least six months before entertaining the possibility of a divorce—all the while, you must live together in the Gledhill place.”

      Matt stirred indignantly at that. “I don’t have the time to be driving back and forth to the farm,” he said. “I’ve got horses to see to. I’ve—”

      “Oh, please. It’s down the road, not even a mile,” Perri interjected. “I live 2,000-something miles away and you have the nerve to whine about how—”

      “Number two,” Deepwater’s rich, courtroom voice filled the little office. “You come up with a plan to use the land she’s donated to Spirit in a way that will benefit the area. From the way she described it to me, what she wanted from y’all . . .”

      John’s eyes were drawn to a photograph on the wall behind his clients’ chairs. His voice trailed off. Matt could almost feel him looking back to a time before the sound of the starting gun for the Run of ’89. The day the town of Spirit Valley sprung up overnight.

      “Well,” John continued, “it was as if she wanted you two to homestead and make the improvements necessary to maintain a claim. I think that’s how she saw it, as a claim. I think it was important to her that the two of you were the ones to find some way to bring people and commerce into the area.” John looked from Perri to Matt, letting his words sink in.

      “But I don’t want to bring people into the area,” Matt pointed out politely. “I want them to stay out.”

      “Well, then you’re going to have them in your lap, Matt,” his friend replied just as politely as you please. “The house and the land will be sold to the developers and you’ll have a condominium resting up by your east pasture.” The thought of that left all three of them breathless.

      “Gary Kell is the attorney for the developers and he is just about beside himself, he wants that deal so bad,” John stated grimly. “So unless you put your back into this project, not only will you lose the inheritance of that land, you’re going to have people just about up your nose.

      “Perri.” John continued, “I’ve seen the plans. They are trying to be sensitive and tasteful about it, but the condo will surround the old graveyard. Some of your family is buried there.”

      Perri looked away.

      “Of course, maybe that’s your preference,” he added with studied carelessness.

      Well, that brought her head back around to stare him down. The tears in her eyes had dried in an instant and the green glints flashed with a renewed show of spirit.

      Good, Matt thought. Whatever else had happened, the woman had acquired some grit along the way.

      “Take the money,” John continued in the same indifferent vein, “and let us become even more of a bedroom community for Oklahoma City than we already are.”

      “So, is that all?” The simmer and sizzle of Ransom’s slow burn could probably be detected all the way to Oklahoma City.

      “No.” Deepwater replied soberly. “No.”

      “Well?” Matt was in no mood to be strung along. And he still wasn’t fooled John had been looking forward to this. “What else did she say?”

      Deepwater’s gaze fell upon Perri. “She said “Tell Perri I said it was time she stopped running and came home.’” Perri looked deeply into John’s eyes, as if she were trying to see Gannie’s face emerge from their onyxlike surface. “Tell her I said for her to just trust me.’”

      “Don’t make me drag it out of you, John. What else?” Matt demanded.

      A surprisingly boyish grin lit Deepwater’s