Marriage At Any Price. Lauren Canan

family, and she was correct in turning it down flat. Was this what had happened to her father? Had Reginald Masters offered him something that meant so much to her dad that he’d gambled everything on an outcome that Mr. Masters knew would never happen? If so, in the end it had cost them everything. The ranch was taken, and her father died of a massive heart attack knowing he’d lost it all. She couldn’t go through it again. She couldn’t. Parting from the ranch a second time was more than she could deal with.

      Trust had to be earned. Seth Masters had done nothing to prove himself. If he was setting her up and if she went for it, it would only confirm she was as big a fool as her father. Masters would laugh all the way back to LA.

      She dropped down on her small, well-worn sofa. It was either the cruelest thing she’d ever experienced or the chance of a lifetime. Either way, it was done. She had to let it go. But why would he do such a thing if he wasn’t serious? It was a very expensive joke. She couldn’t figure out the catch, but there had to be one.

      Grabbing her cell, she punched in Ben Rucker’s phone number.

      “Ben,” she said when he came on the phone. “This is Ally Kincaid. What can you tell me about Seth Masters?”

      All Ben would say was that Seth was an entrepreneur and sat on the boards of two large regional hospitals in Los Angeles. He couldn’t attest to the man’s nature, but he’d made a positive impression.

      What did that mean? Positive. So he was a good liar?

      By the end of the next day, Ally was exhausted. On the ranch, she’d made all sorts of stupid, thoughtless mistakes, and when you were working with twelve-hundred-pound horses, stupid mistakes could turn deadly in a heartbeat. But that was what happened when she didn’t get any sleep. The night before, she’d lain in bed, tossing and turning, picturing herself in her home, in her own barn. She remembered the silence of the evenings when a cooling summer breeze swept over the land. She remembered the sound of the horses eating their grain with an occasional low nicker, the smells of sweet alfalfa and leather. Those same sounds and smells were here, too, but they were somehow different. It just wasn’t the same. It never would be. She remembered the pride she’d known when a client or a buyer came to pick up their new future champion, one that she’d bred and trained.

      Once back in her cabin for the night, she forced herself to eat a sandwich. Then, stepping into the shower, she relaxed under the warm spray. She had to let it go. The whole idea of marrying a stranger was unconscionable. What if he was abusive? Or had any number of undesirable qualities?

      What if he didn’t?

      Then she asked herself another question. What if he’d found someone else to marry? He was certainly attractive enough. Most women would probably jump into his arms and hope they stopped by a bedroom on the way to the altar. All he would have to do was show them that grin.

      Just as she stepped from the shower, the lights flickered, and a long, low rumble of thunder passed overhead. Usually she loved the rain. Not tonight. It made her aware of how lonely she was. She looked at her bed then glanced around to her closet. Was it go to bed for another sleepless night or grab a fresh pair of jeans and a shirt and see if she could track down Seth Masters? There were only three hotels in Calico Springs...

      An hour later the rain pelted her as she entered the front lobby of the Calico Springs Hotel and Suites. Soon she was standing in front of room 214. Without allowing herself a chance to back out, she raised her hand and knocked.

      A couple of minutes later, Seth Masters pulled open the door. Bare to his waist, dressed only in formfitting jeans, he leaned one muscled arm against the door frame and looked surprised to see her.

      “Ms. Kincaid?” He opened the door wider.

      “Yes.” Ally swallowed hard. “And yes. I will marry you, Mr. Masters,” she said, “as long as that document conveys what you told me.”

      “It will.”

      “So what do we do now?”

      He backed up to let her in, that sexy grin on his face. “First, let’s get you dry.”

      “And then?”

      “And then...tomorrow I’ll have my attorney fly in, and while you provide the information for the legal agreement, I’ll arrange to buy the property.”

      “Just like that. You’re going to buy the ranch.”

      “Just like that.”

      Ally had never believed in fairy tales, but if this proposition was real and not some cruel joke, she was living in one.

      * * *

      Seth’s attorney, James Buchanan, and his legal assistant arrived by two o’clock the following day, ready to get to work. The fact that Seth let Ally set the conditions gave her added confidence in what she had agreed to do. Ally had no problem with clauses that precluded her from any claim on Seth’s current holdings. Fair was fair. The only thing she wanted was her ranch.

      At some point during the afternoon, it finally hit her: she was getting married. Married to a man she didn’t know. At twenty-four years old, she’d honestly never thought about getting married. While her friends in school planned and daydreamed about that special day, Ally’s thoughts had been of horses and taking the winning trophy at quarter horse competitions. All that changed in seconds when she agreed to say “I do.”

      The following day Seth picked her up and drove to the county clerk’s office, where they applied for the wedding license. In two days’ time, she’d become Ally Masters.

      It was an unbelievable situation, one that would have her father rolling over in his grave if he knew. She put it out of her mind and kept telling herself that Seth wasn’t a real Masters. He was from Los Angeles and not in cahoots with the local members of the family. Sometimes it worked for a few minutes. Then at other times she would look at Seth and see shades of his father and the truth came screaming back at her of how closely Seth was related to the Masters patriarch who had betrayed them, the man who’d taken them for all they had and left her alone struggling to survive.

      What was she doing?

      * * *

      Two days later the civil ceremony was a short, no-frills affair. Mr. Buchanan and his legal assistant served as the witnesses. The surprise came when Seth extracted a black velvet box from his pocket that contained a beautiful diamond-encrusted wedding ring and slipped it onto Ally’s finger. Then he handed her a solid gold band to be placed on his hand, and with a few words from the county judge, they were pronounced husband and wife.

      When Seth took her into his arms, their eyes met and the world tipped a little. Ever so slowly Seth lowered his lips to hers. His kiss was gentle, almost soothing. Reassuring. Ally became lost in his touch, in his strong arms. The kiss felt like something more meaningful than a token kiss at a fake wedding ceremony.

      Seth lost no time in taking it to the next level, his mouth closing over hers, his tongue entering and tasting, letting her taste him. When they finally drew apart, she glanced up at his face as he released her and caught a twinkle in his amber eyes. Her heart thumped a few hard beats. She hoped she saw merriment in his eyes, that the twinkle didn’t represent the dreaded gotcha.

      Either way, it was done. Because land acquisitions and sales were handled by a special department in Masters International, LLC., it was not necessary for any of the Masters brothers to be present for the transfer of the deed. Seth had received a phone call that morning from Cole, welcoming him to the neighborhood. There were three days until the purchase of the ranch was finalized. Another few days until the probate hearing. A few months until he would return to his life in LA. You can handle a few months. What would happen between now and then was anyone’s guess. The only thing she was assured of was that the ranch would be hers. Nothing else mattered.

      Returning the waves from Mr. Buchanan and his legal assistant, she let Seth escort her out to his car.

      “Are you hungry?” he asked. “It’s almost five o’clock. Care to grab a