The Maverick's Wedding Wager. Joanna Sims

to say? Of course, she could hear her mother now. Genevieve, when will you ever learn to look before you leap?

      “We aren’t exactly dressed for a wedding, are we?” Knox asked as they walked to the sidewalk outside of the Kalispell courthouse.

      “I didn’t expect you to show up,” she admitted. In fact, she had only stuffed some things into a backpack at the last minute before she headed to the Gold Rush on the off chance he did show. In her backpack she had a toothbrush, a hairbrush, her laptop and a Swiss Army pocketknife. Not exactly the most practical of wedding trousseaus.

      “Well, I did.” He kept on smiling at her like the cat that ate the canary. “So, why don’t we find some wedding duds? There’s got to be a place where a man can get a suit and a bride-to-be can find a dress.”

      She wasn’t quite sure why Knox wanted to make such an event of a civil ceremony for their marriage-in-name-only, but the thought crossed her mind that her family, particularly her two sisters and her mom, would want to see pictures. Her family would totally buy her eloping in her barn clothes—they almost expected that kind of behavior from her—but what about Knox’s kin? Would they believe their elopement was the real deal if they didn’t look like a head-over-heels couple sneaking off to make their secret romance official?

      “I suppose,” she said, looking up the main street of Kalispell to a row of shops. “If we’re going to convince your father that we eloped because we’re crazy in love, we had better look the part.”

      After a quick search on her phone, they headed toward the Kalispell Center Mall on North Main Street. They found their way to Herberger’s department store for one-stop shopping. First, they purchased simple white gold wedding rings, just plain bands without any embellishment. After all, those rings were just costume props and would be discarded once Viv Shuster managed to get the last three Crawford cowboys engaged.

      Knox hadn’t wanted to scare Genevieve off, but it could take a while for Viv to make matches for the final three brothers. His brother Finn, older by only one year, might be the easiest to pin down with a bride. Finn didn’t seem to mind their father’s plan all that much and he was always falling in and out of love anyway. But, his one younger brother Wilder was going to prove extra challenging for Viv—he was a busy bee that loved to pollinate all the lovely flowers of Rust Creek Falls and it was going to be a neat trick to get Wilder to dedicate himself to one special rose. And, Hunter, well, he was a single father who wasn’t focused on finding love in the least. Hunter’s heart, mind, and soul were all wrapped up in six-year-old Wren.

      Knox pocketed the wedding rings as they parted ways—he headed to the men’s clothing section, while she headed for women’s dresses. They agreed to meet back at the jewelry counter in one hour. Genevieve wasn’t much of a shopper but she was quick to make decisions, so one hour suited her just fine.

      “Hi! Welcome to Herberger’s.” A petite salesclerk with a blond bob and bangs popped out from behind a tall rack of dresses. “How may I help you?”

      “I need a dress.”

      “Special occasion?”

      “My wedding,” Genevieve said. “I suppose.”

      “You suppose?” The salesclerk’s name tag read Kimber. “That’s a first. Don’t you know?”

      She didn’t have any intention of sharing the details of her wedding wager to Knox Crawford with a stranger in Herberger’s department store, so she ignored Kimber’s question and focused on the dress.

      “Do you have something you could show me? I’m in a bit of a time crunch.”

      “Of course, I do.” Kimber beamed with pleasure. “I love dressing brides. White, off-white?”

      “White.” That was for her mom—it was a small token but it was the least she could do.

      “Indoors or outdoors?”

      Not wanting to say “I don’t know,” she just took a guess. “Outdoors.”

      Kimber marched her over to a section of white dresses that could be worn as a casual-ceremony wedding dress.

      “You are short-waisted and petite like me,” the salesclerk said as they sifted through the rack. “If we aren’t careful, we’ll have you looking like you’re a little girl playing dress-up in your mama’s clothes. What size do you wear?”

      “In a dress? I have no idea.” She hadn’t put a dress on her body since high school graduation. “A four maybe?”

      “Ooooh, look at this!” Kimber pulled a gauzy white dress off the rack. It was a high-low dress with spaghetti straps and a sash at the waist. “What do you think?”

      Genevieve felt the material—it was light and airy and it wasn’t too fussy or girly. “I think, yes.”

      The moment she saw herself in the mirror with this flowing hippy-girl dress skimming over her body, she knew. This was her wedding dress. Kimber’s beaming face was further confirmation that the first dress she had tried was the only dress she needed to try. They found a pair of cowgirl boots in white in the shoe department, which worked perfectly with the gauzy dress. Kimber insisted that Genevieve go over to see her friend at the makeup counter just for a touch of mascara, blush and a light lip gloss. By the time she left the makeup counter in her new dress, her hair wavy and loose, Genevieve saw a bride in the full-length mirror.

      “Thank you.” She hugged Kimber. “I couldn’t have done this without you.”

      “You look absolutely, positively gorgeous, Genevieve!” the salesclerk gushed. “Congratulations.”

      * * *

      Knox was early to the jewelry counter, feeling slightly awkward in his new dark gray suit, crisp white shirt and a bolo tie. The suit wasn’t a perfect fit—it was a little tight in the shoulders and the pants and the jacket sleeves were almost too short—but it was the best the store could do. He checked his watch before he tugged on his shirtsleeves and adjusted his bolo tie for the sixth time. He couldn’t remember ever feeling this nervous to see a woman before, yet Genevieve wasn’t just any woman. She was about to be his wife. At the moment, it didn’t matter that it wasn’t a genuine marriage—in the eyes of the State of Montana, their families and God above, they were about to be husband and wife.

      One minute to the hour, Knox looked up from checking his watch and saw Genevieve round the corner in a filmy white dress with thin straps that showed off her tanned arms, toned from years of working with horses. Genevieve always presented herself as a confident, assured woman. Today, there was hesitancy in her cornflower blue eyes—a fleeting vulnerability that touched him. She wanted his approval; he could see it in her eyes. He didn’t have to fake what he was feeling in the moment—he had never seen a more beautiful bride.

      “Gen,” Knox said, his eyes drinking her in. “You’re a vision.”

      A pink blush stained her cheeks, so lovely and sweet that it made him want to reach out and touch her, but he resisted that urge.

      “Thank you,” she said. He had never seen this almost shy side to this woman and he had to admit that he liked it.

      “I like that tie.”

      Knox looked down at the bolo tie. He hadn’t been too sure about that fashion choice, but the salesman swore it was the item of choice for many Kalispell grooms.

      “When in Kalispell...” he said, making yet another attempt to adjust the tie to make it less tight around his neck. Giving up, he held out his arm to his bride-to-be. “Shall we?”

      Genevieve looked at his extended arm and he could almost see her thoughts as she stood there considering. A shift occurred on her pretty oval face. He witnessed the exact moment she decided, once and for all, to be his wife.

      “Okay,” she finally said. “Yes.”

      When Genevieve tucked her arm through his, a calm flooded his body. He had never felt so comfortable