Dream Kisses (Romance on the Ranch Series #1) (19 page)

Pastor Porter asked the newlyweds to face the
congregation. To everyone's delight, Jacob sneaked another kiss as the portly
pastor announced, "I now present Mr. and Mrs. Hackstetter. Please
congratulate our newlyweds in the foyer and then head on over to Lazy M Ranch
for the reception. Everyone's invited!"

There was a little crackle over the speaker
system and then Shania Twain sang,
From this Moment.
The happy couple
descended the few steps of the chancel platform, followed by Julie's maid of
honor, Tooty Townsend, and Jacob's best man, Bobby Joe Banyon. Julie's gown, a
simple strapless A-line with lace overlay, matched her easy going personality,
and Jacob, in a gray cowboy tux with black vest, looked striking. The pair had
insisted on a small wedding, so there were no bridesmaids or groomsmen.

Beaner, a ranch hand from the Lazy M, and now an
usher in the wedding, stepped to the first aisle and offered his arm to Ann.
She placed her hand in the crook of his elbow. Sarah and Sage stepped into the
aisle behind Tooty and Bobby, and Beaner led Ann behind them. The bride and
groom waited just outside the entrance to the sanctuary ready to greet their
guests. Ann took a position beside her son, and Sage and Sarah stood next to
her.

Mr. and Mrs. Mercer, the parents of Julie's dead
mother, and Mr. and Mrs. Carter, Sarah's parents, exited the sanctuary followed
by Sarah's sister, Libby, on the arm of another ranch hand, Ned Waldo. Next,
Ann's parents, Abby and Bert Baxter, and her grandmother, Molly Baxter, entered
the foyer. The old cowpoke, Newt Tucker, escorted Molly, who was talking a
mile-a-minute and gesturing with her hands to emphasize her words. He'd craned
his bony neck downward so he could hear. Ann grinned at the sight of granny
talking Newt's ear off. Of course, Newt could hold his own in spinning a tale.
Between the two of them, they could probably talk nonstop for days.

Ann returned her attention to accepting
congratulations from guests and tried to keep her emotions at bay. Her son was
married. She blinked rapidly, wishing Jerry had lived long enough to see their
son wed, and dabbed at her eyes again. Jacob bent and whispered, "You okay,
Mom?"

"Oh, yes, Jacob."

He looked into her eyes and read her unspoken
thoughts. "I know. I wish he was here, too."

Julie stepped around Jacob and hugged her.
"I love you, Mom," she said to her new mother-in-law.

"I love you, too, Julie."

For the next half hour the bride and groom and
family members greeted guests. Ann was exchanging pleasantries with Sally
Higginbotham, a vocalist in the wedding, when she heard a familiar voice that
shifted her heartbeat into triple rhythm. She wanted to look in the direction
of the voice, but kept her gaze riveted on Mrs. Higginbotham's red lipstick
teeth. She smoothed a hand down her pale green chiffon-over-satin, form fitting
dress, with satin bolero jacket, and hoped it didn't make her look too
matronly. Sarah and Julie had assured her the color contrasted beautifully with
her olive complexion and set off her hazel eyes. She hoped so.

Jackson Martinez continued speaking, "Julie
and Jacob. You're a fine looking couple. After you're back from your honeymoon
and settled in, I'd like to invite you to the Triple T for dinner."

Jacob responded, "We'd like that Jackson.
By the way, congratulations are in order for you, too, now that you own the
Triple T."

"Thanks. Tommy always said he'd give me
first dibs if he ever put it up for sale, and when he did, I didn't have to
think twice."

Mrs. Higginbotham moved on and Ann chanced a
glance upward at Jackson. He was looking at her with a little smile. Her face
flooded with color. He continued talking to Jacob while still looking at her.
"I'll check back in about a month. Give you time to get settled. I'd like
you to come too, Annie, if you're still in town."

Ann smiled and nodded; afraid her voice would
sound breathless if she spoke.

"Sounds good," said Jacob.

"It's a date," Julie agreed.

Jackson leaned over and kissed Julie's cheek.
"You done good, baby girl."

"Thanks, Jackson."

The tall cowboy stepped in front of Ann.
"Hello, Annie," he said, low and deep.

"Hello, Jackson. Thank you for coming to
the wedding."
Stupid thing to say, and damn, you do sound breathless.

His little smile turned into a grin. "I
wouldn't have missed it." For a second he just looked at her. "Hey, I
like your hair that darker color."

Self consciously, Ann lifted a hand to a soft
curl on her shoulder. "Thank you."

"Hello, my name is Pritzy Purvis." A
beautiful young blond stepped up beside Jackson and possessively snuggled her
hand under his elbow, interrupting the moment. She stuck her other hand out
toward Ann."

Ann accepted the woman's gesture. "I'm
happy to meet you Pritzy."

Pritzy said, "How does it feel being the
mother of a grown man who has just gotten married?"

"It feels wonderful. And now I have a grown
daughter, too."

There was an uneasy silence and then Jackson
said, "Well, I guess we'll see you at the reception."

Pritzy gave her a sugar-coated smile and then
looked up at Jackson, turning it into a sexy one. They moved on and the
pastor's plus-sized wife stepped into their position squeezing Ann in a bear
hug that swallowed her in folds of taffeta.

Baby Kisses

Romance on the Ranch Series

Chapter One Excerpt

Tooty drove her old Ford Ranger, gray in color
under all the oxidation, to the front of Jacob and Julie Hackstetter's cottage.
Parking in a cloud of dust, she sat for a minute and tried to calm her nerves.
She was about to meet Maxwell Henry—
the famous author.
Sarah Tanner,
Julie's stepmother, had explained his real name was Miles Brightman, and he was
staying at the cottage while Julie and Jacob visited Maude and Clyde Hix in
Alaska. Tooty had often heard stories about the former employees of the Lazy M
Ranch and how they had struck it rich as gold prospectors. Now in their
eighties and sixties, with Maude being the older, they still lived in the same
cabin they'd built after moving to the wilds years earlier. Tooty understood her
friends' desire to spend as much time as possible with the old-timers. They
were going to have a blast.

Okay, you've stalled long enough. It's time to
get the embarrassing part over.

Tooty bit her thumbnail and still didn't move to
open her door. She remembered Miles from Julie and Jacob's wedding reception.
He was the guy in the wheelchair. Actually, he was the
hot
older guy in
the wheelchair. Even now, she cringed remembering their encounter. She'd gone
in search of her mischievous four-year old and seen him checking out the man's
wheelchair. When she'd approached, she'd heard Harris say, "Hi, my name is
Harris and, hey, that's a really cool chair. Ya wanna take me for a ride?"

Rushing forward, she hadn't reached Harris in
time to stop him from climbing onto the man's lap. The startled expression on
the guy's face had said everything. He wasn't used to kids. Besides that, she
didn't know how severe his physical challenge was and whether Harris could
injure him. When she'd reached to grab her son off his lap, he'd said,
"No, leave him." After that, he'd told Harris about his wheelchair
and shown him how to operate it, both manually and with battery assistance. Of
course, Harris had been fascinated and oblivious to his faux pas of just
climbing on the guy's lap. With a mixture of mortification and gratitude, she'd
stepped to the sidelines to watch.

The man had finally said, "Well, Harris,
looks like your mother is waiting for you, you better hop off now."

That's when Tooty had stepped forward. As she'd
bent to help her son down, he'd glanced from her to the man and said,
"Hey, I need a daddy. You wanna marry my mommy? Don't you think she's
pretty?"

Tooty had looked from her son's innocent brown
eyes into the man's Mediterranean blue ones and literally froze. She'd seen his
shocked expression and then a slight quirk of his lips, like he was trying not
to laugh. Before he could say anything, she'd jerked Harris off his lap.
"I'm
really
sorry. My son just says whatever pops into his mind."

Harris defended himself. "But Mommy, Grammy
says it too. She says I need a daddy and you need a man. What's wrong with
him?"

"Ah…ah…I'm
really
sorry."
Knowing there was no way to salvage their fiasco, she'd simply walked away
carrying Harris. She'd never been so embarrassed in her life. Every cell in her
body had felt on fire—even her scalp.

Shaking the memory and inhaling a calming breath,
Tooty forced her hand to the door handle. She was turning scarlet just thinking
about meeting Mr. Brightman and she had half a mind to flip the ignition key,
back the truck up, and peel out of the driveway, never looking back. Of course,
she wouldn't do that. She needed to earn money, but, more importantly, she'd
never forgive herself if she turned down an opportunity to work with a famous
author—an author whose every book she'd read at least twice.

* * *

Miles shifted his wheelchair so he could see out
the living room window. He watched the young woman step from her battered
pickup. So this was the girl with the strange first name Sarah had referred. Her
dark, strawberry blonde hair looked familiar. When she'd almost reached the
porch, recognition slammed him and he groaned. It was the girl from the
wedding; the one with the cute, but rascally little boy—the boy who'd ask him
to marry his mommy and become his daddy.

Candy Kisses

Romance on the Ranch Series

Chapter
Two Excerpt

Tooty listened to Miles' deep breathing and
turned on her side to gaze at him, so serene and handsome while he slept.
Slipping quietly from their bed, she rubbed her round belly and smiled. They'd
finally gotten their girl. She'd already started decorating the baby's room
with princess and fairytale castle wallpaper.

After checking on her boys, something she often
did just because she loved watching their sweet faces in sleep, she walked to
the large window in her front room and stared into a night splendidly lit by a
full moon that showcased their fabulous property with outbuildings and a
special park-like area for picnics and gatherings with family and friends, and
now the boys' tree house. She loved her life, her family, and her home.

Remembering her struggles as a single, teenage
mother, she felt forever grateful for the direction her life had taken after
meeting her famous author-husband, Miles Brightman, pen name, Maxwell Henry;
she wanted for nothing. Miles had often said he would build her the palace of
her dreams if she so desired, but she'd never wanted to live anywhere but the
home she had inherited from her distant relative, Beatrice Shipley. And Miles,
even after living in a penthouse in New York, said this home meant more to him
than the grandest mansion money could buy.

The baby kicked and Tooty smiled.
Baby girl,
you kick harder and more often than your brothers ever did.

A cloud passed in front of the moon and cast
shadows across her property and her thoughts drifted to Monica. Her inclination
had been to gloat over Monica's predicament, but her conscience had kicked in.
The more she tried to dismiss the spoiled woman from her thoughts, the more she
remembered how alone she had felt when she was facing the same circumstance.
Although her parents had allowed her to remain in their home before and after
Harris' birth, their emotional detachment had been hard on her. Harris had
captured their hearts from the beginning, but they had remained aloof from
their daughter. The stigma of Tooty's unwed pregnancy at the age of sixteen had
been overwhelming and embarrassing for them in their small town. Over the
years, however, and with the birth of Tooty and Miles' children, they had
loosened up, although the unconditional acceptance Tooty longed for was still
absent. Even so, she had never lacked for a place to live during those early
years. It appeared Monica was homeless. Tooty sighed.
I wonder if Sarah has
any connections in New York.