Courted By The Cowboy. Sasha Summers

and it had been the same for him.

      Still, she hadn’t dare let herself even think of a future with him. Her life, her family, her business—everything that was dear to her was in Liberty Hill. And Thomas had only come back to town to see after his mother. It was understood that as soon as she was well and back on her feet, he would return to his law firm in Chicago.

      But a month passed, and then another, and even after his mother recovered, Thomas showed no signs of leaving. Then one day, he surprised Merry with the announcement that he didn’t intend to return to Chicago. He’d made arrangements with his partners there to resign from the firm. He wanted to set up practice in Liberty Hill and spend the rest of his life with her. He proposed and gave her six months to plan a wedding.

      Just thinking about it made her want to laugh, to dance, to sing with happiness. Thomas had wanted a big wedding to show off his new bride, and it had taken six months to get everything ready, but all the work was about to pay off. The big day had arrived, and in less than an hour, she would be Mrs. Thomas Cooper. Finally!

      “It’s going to be fantastic,” Rose chimed in. “The sun’s shining, the birds are singing, and there isn’t a rain cloud in sight. What could go wrong? The church is full to the rafters, and Thomas is nuts about Merry. If I could find a man who’d look at me the way he looks at her, I’d be walking down the aisle myself. You’re very lucky, Mer.”

      Touched, Merry found her own eyes welling with tears. “I know,” she choked. “Sometimes, I have to pinch myself just to make sure I’m not dreaming.”

      “And this is just the beginning,” Angel said, grinning at her. Newly married herself to Merry and Janey’s brother, Joe, she knew from personal experience just how wonderful it could be. “You’ll settle in together, become a family, have babies—”

      “Diapers, colic—”

      At her sister-in-law, Lizzie’s, droll comment, they all laughed and the tears that threatened to ruin their makeup disappeared. “I can hardly wait,” Merry said with a chuckle. “It’s going to be wonderful!”

      The others had to agree, and as they finished dressing and the clock ticked toward five o’clock, the rescheduled time of the wedding, they talked about Merry’s future with the man of her dreams. Some things were just meant to be, and they all agreed that she and Thomas were one of those things. You only had to see them together to know that they were totally devoted to each other.

      Lost in the talk of babies and the nursery she planned to start as soon as possible, Merry didn’t notice the passage of time until she suddenly glanced at her watch and gasped. “It’s nearly five! Thomas should be here by now.”

      “He was coming straight to the church as soon as he changed the flat, wasn’t he?” Stella asked. “He does know how to work a jack, doesn’t he?”

      She hadn’t thought of that and blanched at the idea of setting back the wedding again. Everyone knew Thomas wasn’t mechanically inclined. She should have insisted that one of her brothers go pick him up, but he’d assured her he had everything under control.

      “Maybe I’d better call him,” she said, stepping over to the phone. “Something must have happened.”

      She punched in the number of his cell phone, only to get his voice mail when he didn’t answer. Surprised, she told herself there had to be a logical explanation. If his cell phone was in the car and he was outside loading the flat tire into the trunk, he wouldn’t even hear the phone ringing. Or he’d left the phone on the side of the road and driven off without it. He’d been so absentminded lately that she wouldn’t have put that past him.

      Or right this minute, he could be lying on the side of the road, sick from the same bug that had upset his stomach last night at the rehearsal dinner.

      She went pale at the thought. Worried, she turned to her sister. “Janey, what if he’s sick? You saw how he was last night. He was green as a gourd. He said it was nothing, but what if he’s got one of those nasty stomach viruses that won’t go away? He wouldn’t have told me because he wouldn’t have wanted to upset me, but he could be in trouble. Maybe the guys should go look for him.”

      Somber, Janey had to agree that her concern was legitimate. They’d all seen how uncomfortable Thomas was last night, and he was just the type to keep his illness to himself so he wouldn’t ruin their wedding day. “I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about,” she assured her, “but I’ll go talk to the guys. Who knows? He may have called Nick so he wouldn’t have to worry you. I’ll find out and be right back.”

      “Thank you! If something has happened to him—”

      “Don’t look for trouble,” her mother advised her calmly. Always the voice of reason when everyone else was falling apart, Sara McBride was as calm and self-possessed as a saint as she quietly took charge. “Everything will be fine. You’ll see. While we’re waiting, Lizzie and Angel and I will talk to the guests and assure them everything’s okay. You just stay here and relax and think of how wonderful your life with Thomas is going to be. I know you’ll be very happy together.”

      On the verge of panic, that was just what Merry needed to hear. Tears glistening in her eyes, she took her mother’s hand and squeezed it in appreciation. “Thanks, Mom. How did you know I needed to hear that?”

      “Because I know my children. Don’t have a meltdown, dear. Everything’s going to work out just fine. You’ll see.”

      The room reserved for Thomas and his groomsmen to dress was off the choir room and much smaller than that allotted to the women. Knocking on the door, Janey wouldn’t have been surprised to find Thomas inside, scrambling into his tux and cursing the flat tire that had delayed him.

      But when her brother, Joe, answered the door and she looked past him into the room, all she saw was their younger brother, Zeke, and the rest of the groomsmen. Already decked out in their wedding finery and standing around with their hands in their pockets, there was something about their somber expressions that had her heart jumping in alarm. “What’s wrong? Where’s Thomas? He is here, isn’t he?”

      “Not exactly,” Zeke replied grimly.

      “What?!”

      “He’s having trouble getting here,” Joe told her tersely. “Nick’s on the phone with him in the church office right now.”

      Confused, Janey frowned. Nick Kincaid was not only the local sheriff, but Thomas’s best man. “I don’t understand. If he’s still having car trouble, why doesn’t Nick just send one of his deputies to pick him up?”

      “Because Thomas won’t tell any of us where he is.”

      The color drained out of Janey’s face at Zeke’s curt announcement, and suddenly she understood why her brothers looked so serious. “He’s backing out of the wedding?”

      “I don’t know, but I’m tired of cooling my heels in here,” Joe retorted. “C’mon. Let’s go see what’s going on.”

      Jerking open the door, he ushered Janey and Zeke out into the hall, only to discover that a number of the guests had grown restless and escaped to the foyer of the church, where they stood in groups of twos and threes, gossiping. At the sight of the three McBrides, they immediately stiffened and nearly choked on what they were saying. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that they were whispering about the delay in the ceremony and the fact that no one had seen the groom all day.

      Joe couldn’t say he blamed them for speculating among themselves. Thomas’s behavior was damned odd, and he intended to tell him that the second he finally showed his face. For now, however, he and the rest of the family would, for Merry’s sake, act as if everything were fine.

      Nodding to the guests, he forced a smile and said, “Sorry about the delay, folks. There’ve been a few glitches, but we’re getting them straightened out and should start the ceremony any minute.”

      Not giving anyone time to ask what