Bachelor Available!. Ruth Dale Jean

nature...

      And she sure was easy on the eyes....

      Blond, brown-eyed, peaches-and-cream skin, a figure that made men drool—actually, Jessica looked a lot like Emily Kirkwood. Jessica knew her power, too, although it took him a little while to realize it Now, two years after the divorce, he realized that he’d based all his hopes and dreams on what she’d said, not on what she’d done. He’d been wearing blinders, he realized in retrospect. He’d seen her with children and she was completely disinterested; he’d seen her with his family on the Flying J and she’d been standoffish and reluctant to join in.

      But all the time she’d been insisting that she loved kids and she loved ranch life and she loved big families and—the biggest lie of all—she loved him. He figured if he’d watched what she did instead of what she’d said, he’d have been spared a lot of heartache.

      The opening of the door broke into his reverie. Wanda stood there smiling. “Almost finished?” she asked cheerfully.

      Emily said, “Almost. May we have a few more minutes?”

      Wanda said, “Of course,” and went back outside.

      Emily looked at Cody and it wasn’t at all the way Jessica had looked at him. Somehow he felt as if Emily really saw him.

      She smiled. “It’s hard, isn’t it.” Her voice was soft and intimate, so appealing that it took him a moment to respond.

      “What’s hard?”

      “Answering all these personal questions.” She wrinkled her pert little nose. “I mean, it’s hard unless you sit around all day thinking deep thoughts about your life. Do you?”

      He laughed, feeling some of his tension drain away. “Not too often. Guess you don’t, either.”

      She made a rueful little face before turning back to the paper before her. Cody did likewise.

      Ideal Partner Would Be, “A good old down-home country girl without pretensions,” he wrote. What I’m Seeking In A Relationship: love and marriage.

      Last question. Describe Yourself In Your Own Words. He scowled at the paper for a long time, finally writing a single word: tall.

      Emily had finished the questionnaire well before Cody but hadn’t been satisfied with her answers. Going back over what she’d written, though, she couldn’t find anything worth changing.

      What difference did it make? It was all a pack of lies anyway. Still, she’d instinctively asked for more time when Wanda appeared. She didn’t need it but had a sinking feeling that she wasn’t going to like what came next.

      Wanda reappeared a few minutes later, bustling over to the table with her eyes twinkling. “There,” she said, scooping up the questionnaires, “that wasn’t so hard, now was it?”

      Cody groaned, which made Emily smile. She hadn’t enjoyed it, either.

      Wanda pursed her lips. “Now, now, I know we ask a lot of nosy questions, but the computer needs to know!”

      “I suppose.” Cody rose, stretching his lanky frame. “Now what?”

      “Why, now we take a couple of pictures.”

      “Pictures?” Emily didn’t much like the sound of that. She didn’t like having her picture taken because she thought the result never looked like her.

      “It’s a very simple procedure,” Wanda assured her. “The camera is all set up. I just plunk you down on the stool and say, ‘Smile!’”

      “And then what happens?” Cody asked again. “When will you have news for us?”

      Wanda frowned thoughtfully. “Tomorrow,” she announced, “unless George gets temperamental on me.”

      “Tomorrow!” Emily was astonished. “I wouldn’t even think that would give you time to put our information in the computer, let alone get the results.”

      For the first time, Wanda looked flustered. “I’m very good with computers,” she said defensively. “I know I didn’t grow up with them the way you young people did, but—”

      “Oh, Wanda, I didn’t mean...” Emily hesitated, chewing on her lower lip. She wouldn’t hurt this nice lady’s feelings for the world. “I only meant that I didn’t think anybody could work that fast. If you can, then I applaud you.”

      The old lady seemed to recover herself. “I guess I’m touchy about my age,” she confided. “When George was installed, it took me forever to learn to get along with him. For a while there, I thought I might actually lose my job.”

      “Hey,” Cody said, “you’re not the only one with computer problems. Those blamed things can be more trouble than they’re worth sometimes.”

      “You know, they really can.” Wanda gave him a grateful glance. “Let’s go get those pictures and then you can both run along. I’m sure you have many more important things to do today.”

      Cody grinned. “This is the most important thing I’ve got to do, period. As far as I’m concerned, you can take all the time you need.”

      He and Wanda turned expectantly to Emily. Cornered, she could only smile and agree. Even if it wasn’t true. None of this had the least bit of importance to her. Except, of course, that she didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.

      Or get involved.

      From: [email protected]

      Sent: Monday, Nov. 2, 7:42 p.m.

      To: [email protected]

      Subject: Hold your horses!

      Calm down, will you, Terry? I said I’d go to the Yellow Rose and I did. Answered the usual nosy questions, had my picture taken, the whole nine yards. The lady I dealt with, Wanda Roland, is really nice. I also met a really cute guy. Almost makes me sorry this isn’t for real. :-((Not really.) I’ll let you know if and when I get matched, but in the meantime... Yellow Rose Matchmakers is located in a beautiful old Victorian house in a quiet and shady neighborhood...

      CHAPTER TWO

      From: [email protected]

      Sent: Tuesday, Nov. 3, 6:30 a.m.

      To: [email protected]

      Subject: Good girl!

      I knew I could count on you, Emmy. Sorry if I pushed. Here’s a rose as a peace offering: @)->—>—Okay, down to business. Wanda Roland is in my notes and I want to know more about her, especially how she gets on with the computers. There seems to be some question about this “completely computerized” claim. Also, be sure to keep me posted on your adventures with the “really cute guy”....

      EMILY downloaded her E-mail from her laptop computer first thing Tuesday morning and read Terry’s note at the breakfast table while Laurie looked on with ill-concealed curiosity. When she’d finished the message, Emily wadded it into a ball, which she tossed on the floor for her yellow cat, Archie, to bat around.

      “I’m dying of curiosity!” Laurie announced. “What did he say?”

      “He who?” Emily reached for her glass of orange juice, trying to compose herself. She wished to heaven she’d never mentioned the “really cute guy”.

      “C’mon, that E-mail was from Terry, right? What did that con man want this time?”

      “That’s no way to talk about my cousin,” Emily said primly, but she couldn’t help smiling. She’d called him worse herself, but blood was still thicker than water.

      “Don’t forget, I know the guy,” Laurie said darkly. “Old Anything-for-a-scoop Kirkwood.”

      “Give him a break. This is a new job and he’s trying to make good.” Emily uttered an exasperated sigh. “Do