The Wedding Wager. Sara Orwig

stepped out of a limousine into the bright Houston sunshine. Waiting on the tarmac were three sleek jets with each man’s logo proclaiming ownership.

      “One year from today, whoever’s net worth increases the most wins our bet.” Chase Bennett said, rehashing their agreement.

      “Yes, the deadline for our bet is the first Friday next May,” Matt Rome confirmed. “We each put five million in the pot, so whoever wins gets a fifteen-million-dollar prize.”

      “Right,” Jared nodded. “On top of poker winnings, Chase.”

      Chase grinned. “I was lucky this year. Guys, it’s been great to be together again.”

      “Still best friends, still bachelors—maybe forever bachelors. This weekend together is necessity,” Matt said.

      All three shook hands. “So long, my two best cuz,” Jared said, grinning.

      “If nothing else, we’ll see each other next at the family Christmas get-together,” Jared added. “Stay cool.” He boarded a white plane and sat by a window, watching his cousins’ planes taxi, one Houston-based cousin heading off to Paris, the other returning home to Wyoming. With mothers who were sisters, they had grown up close, even competing in football in college. All were wealthy and owner-CEOs of vast enterprises.

      Jared intended to win the bet Matt had dreamed up. It would add some spice to work, akin to the thrill of success when he’d started out. Waiting until they were airborne, Jared withdrew his BlackBerry to send out messages that would start his staff searching for possibilities for solid moneymaking deals. He mulled over current projects and realized the bet gave him an opportunity for payback.

      Excitement gripped him. He’d offer to buy the Sorenson ranch in Dakota. If Edlund Sorenson would sell, Jared could make money. Whether or not Edlund would sell, Jared knew he would have the satisfaction of letting an old enemy know he could buy him out. Making money was great. But best of all was revenge.

       One

       June

      That old saying about a woman scorned was too damn true, Jared Dalton thought.

      He thought back to when he’d first learned that old man Sorenson had died and that Megan had no apparent interest in keeping the family ranch. Jared assumed he could buy it easily. To his surprise, the minute Megan had learned who intended to buy the ranch, she’d withdrawn it from the market. Now he was here to get her to sell.

      With a disturbing skip in his heartbeat that overrode a simmering anger, he saw Megan emerge from the Sorenson barn, carrying a saddle to the corral. She was too far away for him to see if her looks had changed. Her red shirt was as noticeable as her long-legged, sexy walk, which still revealed the years she had studied dance before she’d left for college. Her black hair was in a thick braid that lay on her back. Setting the saddle and blanket on the fence, she turned to the approaching horses to give each a treat. Within minutes she had saddled and mounted a sorrel.

      The sight of her brought back too many hurtful memories. Vengeance was sweet. He just wished her father had lived to be part of the intended payback.

      Jared intended to encounter her out on the ranch, where she would have to talk to him. He’d spent the night in a comfortable log guesthouse on her ranch without her knowledge in order to watch for her this morning. Before dawn he had dressed in jeans, a blue Western shirt and a wide-brimmed black Stetson.

      Now he went to the barn to saddle a bay to follow her without haste.

      The vast, grassy land made it easy to see in all directions except along the river, where trees could hide a rider from view. He knew he could catch her when she stopped at the river to let her horse drink. Until then, he didn’t want to alert her that he was trailing behind. Thunder rumbled in the distance, and a glance at gathering clouds told him rain seemed imminent.

      As soon as she reached the line of trees, she vanished from view. Watching, he could remember meeting her at the river—and their steamy kisses. Since their split, he rarely thought of her without bitter feelings surfacing.

      Unwanted memories enveloped him. He had known her all his life. Even as their dads battled over water, he’d paid no attention to her because she had been six years younger—the skinny little kid on the neighboring ranch. The first time he’d ever noticed her was when he was getting his master’s degree and she’d entered his same university in Chicago.

      Too clearly he could recall that initial encounter. Her black hair had cascaded in a cloud over her shoulders and her startling turquoise eyes sped his pulse. She filled out a white cotton blouse that tucked into the narrow waistband of a tan skirt. When she’d smiled broadly at him and said hello, he’d thought he was looking at a stranger. If a beautiful woman greeted him, however, he had no intention of not responding.

      “You don’t know me, do you, Jared?”

      Surprised, he’d stared at her and frowned, trying to recollect. “Did you go to UT?” he asked, referring to the University of Texas, where he’d gotten his undergraduate degree.

      She laughed and stuck her tongue out at him and he sucked in his breath. All her pink tongue had done was make him think about kissing her. He was getting turned on and he didn’t have a clue how he knew her.

      “Jared, for heaven’s sake!” she said. He shook his head, touching a lock of her soft hair.

      “Okay, I give. I can’t believe I don’t remember a gorgeous woman. Where have we known each other?”

      “I’m Megan Sorenson,” she’d said, laughing at him. He stared in astonishment, seeing it now in the turquoise eyes. But that was all. Gone was the skinny little kid, replaced by a luscious, curvaceous woman.

      “You grew up,” he said, and that sparked a fresh burst of laughter.

      “I didn’t know you’re going to school here,” she said. “I thought I’d heard you’d graduated.”

      “MBA,” he said slowly. “Have dinner with me tonight.”

      She tilted her head to study him. “You know how our dads fight. You and I should keep a distance.”

      “C’mon, Megan. Their fight isn’t our fight. I’ve never in my life had anything against you.”

      “Oh, liar, liar!” she accused with amusement again dancing in her eyes. “You thought I was a pest. You wouldn’t even say hello if you saw me.”

      He felt his face flush. “I’ll make it up to you. I promise to give you my full, undivided attention,” he said, and saw a flicker in her eyes. The moment between them sizzled and his heart raced.

      “Dinner it is,” she said breathlessly.

      “About seven,” he’d replied. And from that moment on, he’d thought he was in love. He’d hoped to marry her. They’d talked about it and planned on it, and then that summer after her freshman year, when Megan had gone to Sioux Falls to stay with her aunt and uncle, Olga and Thomas Sorenson, her dad sent one of his hands to summon Jared.

      The old man had run him off by threatening harm to Jared’s dad. He’d always wondered how much Megan had known about what her father was doing. For over a year he’d hurt, pain turning to anger that had grown when she wouldn’t answer his letters. It pleased him enormously to buy her ranch. This payback was long overdue, and again he wished he’d offered to buy the ranch when Edlund Sorenson had still been alive, just to watch the old man’s face.

      Most obstacles weren’t insurmountable, he’d discovered. Not with the wealth he had accumulated. He didn’t expect this one to be, either.

      He heard her horse before he rode into a clearing at the river’s edge, and then he saw her. His insides clenched. Longing, hot and intense, rocked him. He rarely spent time on regrets but briefly, the thought