The Rancher's Cinderella Bride. Sara Orwig

couldn’t hold the grin that came that time.

      “Gabe, so help me—”

      Impulsively, he hugged her. “I’m teasing, Meg, and you know it. You just get so riled up that I can’t resist.” He released her, but not before he noticed she was soft to hug and far different from when she was a skinny middle school kid.

      “His dad and grandfathers have offered him so many financial incentives—you can’t imagine.”

      “That’s no incentive if the lady doesn’t like you. I’d think your family would listen if you firmly tell them you don’t want to marry him.”

      “They’re not listening, Gabe. That’s the problem. They’re all pushing, including Justin, who thinks this would help his career. He’s laying the groundwork to run for the Texas legislature, but he wants to be in Washington and he thinks I would make—to quote him—‘the right kind of wife.’ What a reason to marry!” She grabbed Gabe’s hands again. “You can’t imagine the pressure my family is putting on me. Please, just think about a pretend engagement,” she begged.

      He kept telling himself this was ridiculous, she was exaggerating and he wanted no part of it. But as she held his hands in hers, he looked down into imploring brown eyes and felt himself sinking into quicksand.

      “I’m friends with Justin’s secretary, Gretchen,” she went on. “She told me Justin is planning to propose at the big anniversary dance this month at the country club. If I turn him down in front of all those people and our families, it’ll be dreadful.”

      Gabe pulled back and stood up. “Dammit, Meg. Justin isn’t planning that because he loves you and wants a fun memory for you. He’s doing it to get attention for himself.”

      “I know that.” Her eyes went watery and he was afraid she’d start to cry. “You’re not going to have to go through with marrying me. Just a pretend engagement for a month and then you can tell all your lady friends that it was a sham. I’ll tell them if you want.”

      Shaking his head, he gave her a brief crooked smile. “Geez, Meg, I don’t have a harem. You don’t have to reassure anyone that I’m available.” He ran a hand through his hair. “You’ve never been dishonest or hidden things from your folks in all your life. How are you going to look them in the eye and tell them we’re engaged?”

      She took a deep breath. “That’s worried me the most, but they are really pushing me to marry a man I don’t love, so I can do it and later I’ll apologize and remind them that they forced me into this and I was really desperate.”

      “Ah, Meg, this isn’t like you and it isn’t like me. No one would believe us. Remember, we’ve never even had one date.”

      “They’d believe me. You know they would.”

      He stared down at her, the sinking feeling growing in the pit of his stomach. Much as he hated to admit it, she had a point. Meg was the most honest, frank person he had ever known, so a pretend engagement was so foreign to her way of living that people might never suspect it. But... “There is not another person on this earth that I know who could carry a pretend engagement off and get people to believe it, but I’m not sure you can, either.”

      “Gabe, it would only be a short time and—”

      “I still say people won’t believe us.”

      She stood up, dug in a hip pocket and pulled out a small velvet box. Opening it, she held it out to him. “They’ll believe it when I announce it with this on my finger,” she said.

      He took the small box in his hand and looked down at a dazzling diamond ring. Then he looked at her. “Is this real?”

      Her cheeks turned pink. “Of course not. I can’t afford a diamond like that, but if it were real, you could afford it.”

      “Megan, your family doesn’t like me or my family. Except for you and your brothers, the Aldridges haven’t spoken to me for years.” The silly feud had seen to that. Decades ago, both their fathers had been business partners, until his dad had bought out her dad and caused a rift that had never healed.

      “Don’t you see, Gabe? That’s exactly why my plan is perfect. If they think I’ve gotten engaged to you, they’ll back off pushing for marriage so fast,” she said with a grim determination in her voice. “Just one month, Gabe.”

      He gazed into her big brown eyes and his spirits dropped another notch. “Ah, Meg, I just don’t think it’ll work. If it does, everyone will think I’ve gotten you pregnant.”

      “I don’t care because in time, they’ll know that you haven’t. That’s no problem.”

      “We’ve never had one date,” he insisted.

      “So we start dating. Gabe, I’m desperate,” she cried.

      Gabe patted her soft hand while he thought about what she had just told him. He had always promised her he would help her if she ever needed him, and he was letting her down now, when she needed him most.

      Meg was relentless. Her barrage of persuasion persisted. “If we get engaged, everyone will talk about it and Justin and I will vanish from the center of conversations in our families.

      “You ought to be at my house for dinner any night and hear them badgering me. My dad has offered to give us enough money to buy a house. My grandparents have offered the deed to one of the ranches they own. They’re so earnest. One set of grandparents will fly me and my mom to New York for me to have a makeover and buy an entire new wardrobe. It’s ridiculous.”

      She tightened her cold fingers around his hand, leaning closer, looking as if she would burst into tears. “Please. It’s just pretend, so it doesn’t matter how we feel about each other.”

      No matter how many reasons she gave him, he still thought the ploy wouldn’t work. It would be disastrous and only make her family dislike him even more. And he wasn’t sure it would help her at all. In fact, the only one he saw coming out of this well was old Justin, who’d save face by not getting rejected during a dumb public proposal.

      No, he thought, this was not a good plan at all.

      Reluctance filled him. He squeezed her shoulder gently, her soft hair falling on his hand. He looked deep into her eyes and prepared to decline, no matter how much it hurt him to not be there for her.

      But he couldn’t believe the words that came out of his mouth.

      “I’ll be your pretend fiancé if that’s what you want.”

      The words had just spilled out. Who was he kidding? He could never resist helping her.

      “Oh, Gabe, thank you,” she cried, hugging him.

      He wrapped his arms around her, still feeling as if she were the sister he never had. Except when he hugged her, it was a curvy woman’s body pressed against him and he had a fleeting curiosity about what she’d look like out of that shapeless sweatshirt she wore. She was soft and smelled sweet, the same lilac scent he’d always remembered. As a little kid, she’d told him her grandmother got her lilac soap. He released her and gazed into brown eyes and a big smile.

      “You’re pretty, Meg. There ought to be all sorts of guys wanting to take you out.”

      She shook her head. “Not anyone I want to go out with and not anyone I’d trust with a pretend engagement. I’m probably too bossy because I’m used to running my own business and giving orders.”

      “I don’t recall thinking you’re too bossy.”

      A brief smile flickered on her lips. “That’s because you’re bossier.”

      “You never told me that. Well, maybe a time or two.”

      “You can be as bossy as you want. Thank you, Gabe.”

      “If we’re going to do this, and you want to stave off a public proposal