The Rancher's Cinderella Bride. Sara Orwig

she had grown up?

      He turned the velvet box over in his hand, thinking about the dazzling ring that was as fake as their engagement would be. Would a month’s pretend engagement really have any impact on his life?

       Two

      Meg closed the door of her small house in Downly, and glanced around at familiar surroundings without seeing any of them. She threw her arms up and spun on her toes, joy and relief overwhelming her. Gabe would help her. He was going along with the pretend engagement and she couldn’t wait for their first date.

      A date with Gabe. The thought stirred tingles of excitement that surprised her. She didn’t want to feel any attraction to him. He was a wild man with wild ways. He loved the ladies. And he was not her type. Whatever excitement she felt over being with him would vanish, she was sure.

      She poured a glass of water and stepped onto her patio while she thought about Saturday night. Saturday was a big day in the landscape business, but she could get off early. She wasn’t going to say no to any date Gabe suggested as long as it was soon. She knew she should head to work now, but she wouldn’t be able to focus on anything except jubilation that Gabe would bail her out of her problem.

      She remembered how she had tried to cheer him up and comfort him as a kid when his dad wouldn’t come home or ignored Gabe when he was home. Through the years, Gabe had repeatedly promised that he would help if she ever had any problems and he’d insisted she promise she would come to him with them. That was all childhood history, but he had come through on his long-ago promises to her today.

      She went to the room she had turned into an office. Shelves lined the walls with books, pictures, trophies, awards and stacks of papers. She crossed the room to pick up a small picture and looked closely at it. It was a snapshot of her and Gabe in her backyard. He held her pigtail in front of his face like a mustache while he grinned at the camera. She smiled as she looked at it. “Thanks for being my friend always,” she said to his picture.

      She was going out with him Saturday night—their first date. But one where she needn’t worry about what to wear. Gabe wouldn’t care. Going out with him would be like an evening with one of her brothers. The thought reminded her of Hank again. Hank and Gabe had been close friends, and they were a lot alike. Hank had taken risks like Gabe did and had loved life on the wild side—flying, competing in rodeos, taking out party girls and never getting serious. Gabe was slightly older and her family felt he had been a bad influence on Hank. In the early years when her dad had worked with Gabe’s dad in their own business, both families had been close and Hank thought Gabe was great. Later, her family was so bitter over the way Dirkson Callahan had cut her dad out of the business that they stopped speaking to any of the Callahans and didn’t want any of their children to speak to them, either. While the grandparents felt the same as her parents, the feud had never carried over to her generation, and as much as possible, her generation had stayed friends with one another.

      Her family wasn’t going to want her to marry Gabe, and with a ring on her finger from him, she expected them to stop pushing her to marry.

      She hugged the picture. “Thank you, thank you,” she whispered, remembering when he had hugged her today. His broad shoulders and strong arms were a physical reassurance that made her feel safe, as if her problems were solved. She looked more intently at the picture. When had that skinny kid grown into a tall, strong man whose hug could make her feel that she was safe and all would be right with her world? He had grown up to be a good-looking guy, which she had never thought about before in her life.

      “You’re definitely my best friend,” she whispered to his picture.

      Still smiling, she placed the picture back on the shelf and went to her desk to check emails on her laptop.

      Like her brother Hank who had been in commercial real estate, Gabe had gone into business with his older brother Cade in commercial real estate with a large office building in Dallas. She knew through the years they had oil and gas investments and business ties with Gabe’s stepbrother, Blake, who was a hotel mogul. She didn’t know whether Gabe spent more time in Dallas now or more time on his ranch. He could afford to do whatever he wanted.

      Briefly, she concentrated on her emails, answering quickly and then gathering things to take to Dallas to her office, which was almost a two-hour drive away, depending on traffic. Before she left the room she blew a kiss toward Gabe’s picture. “My handsome knight to my rescue,” she whispered.

      Relieved, happier than she had been in a couple of months, Meg gathered her things and left for her office, able to concentrate fully on business and work that she had planned for the day.

      * * *

      Saturday came swiftly and at the end of the day, she rushed home to get ready to go out with Gabe. She showered and dressed, selecting clothes that might get her noticed—not by Gabe but by other diners. She chose a pair of her fancy skintight jeans, her best black boots and a bright red sleeveless vee-neck shirt, and a matching red headband.

      Gabe suggested they go to the best barbecue place near Downly, where they could have ribs along with some boot-scootin’ fun. Because many people from Dallas were there on the weekend, word would spread back to Big D real easily. Not only would that put the kibosh on Justin’s proposal, but she would have fun with Gabe in the meantime.

      Promptly at seven she heard a car door slam and seconds later her doorbell rang. She hurried to open the door to Gabe, who wore a black hat, black shirt, jeans and black boots. He had never looked as appealing as he did at that moment because he was going to deliver her from a worrisome dilemma.

      “Are you ready for a new adventure?” he asked, grinning at her.

      “You can’t imagine how ready, you handsome cowboy. I want you to sweep me off my feet.”

      “That sounds like my kind of task,” he replied as his gaze swept over her from head to toe. He whistled. “Wow, you grew up in the most delightful way. You look pretty.”

      “Thank you. I hope I’m pretty enough for people to post our picture on all sorts of social media.” She reached for her keys. “I’ll show you my house sometime, but right now, I can’t wait to get out there and let every Texan possible see us together.”

      “Slow down, Meg,” he said, laughing. “I promise, you’ll be noticed.”

      Grabbing her broad-brimmed black hat, she locked up and left, walking beside him toward his shiny black pickup. “You know, I never noticed what a good-looking guy you are.”

      His smile widened. “You’ve gotten what you want, Meg, so you can cut the flattery. Or are you buttering me up for more? I’ll tell you now—I agreed to a pretend engagement but I draw the line at a pretend marriage. I’m not the marrying kind, real or even pretend.”

      “I wouldn’t think of asking you to do one more thing,” she answered with exaggerated politeness.

      “I seem to remember a few instances when you turned on the sweetness and charm with a definite goal in mind.”

      “You exaggerate, but that’s okay. With time your memory has embellished circumstances. I can’t tell you how happy I’ve been the last couple of days, and how relieved. I feel as if I’ve escaped prison.”

      “Yeah, I’ve had a few relationships that I ended and then felt the same way,” he said with a smile.

      She wrinkled her nose at him and shook her head. “Well, this is a once-in-a-lifetime dilemma for me. I will never again get myself in this kind of situation with a guy.”

      “Watch what you predict. Life has a way of sending us all kinds of surprises. Did you ever think we’d be going out on a date?”

      Shaking her head, she laughed. “I’m sure on this one,” she said as he opened the pickup door and she slid into the seat to watch him circle the pickup. He was good-looking, something she hadn’t given much thought to in past years.