Lone Star Rancher (15 page)

Clyde, dressed in a dark suit, paused in his pacing and listened to the laughter of the three women. “What do you think is so funny?” he asked his brother.

Miles, who was to be Clyde's best man, grinned and shrugged.

Clyde glanced at the kitchen clock and resumed pacing. “We're going to be late.”

“Nah,” Miles assured him.

“Okay, we're ready,” Violet shouted down from the gallery rail. “You guys go on. We'll follow.”

Clyde started to object, but Miles took his arm in a firm grip and led him out to the truck, which was mysteriously clean inside and out. So was the station wagon parked next to it. And the two sheriff's cruisers in the driveway.

“What the heck?” he said.

Miles laughed. “Come on. We can't keep the governor of Texas waiting. The man's on a tight schedule.”

With a fore and aft police escort, the group arrived in style at the small church in Austin. The women were whisked through one door while the men were directed to another.

The ache in Clyde's head had dimmed to a dull echo, and he was impatient to claim his bride and take her home. He paused to reflect on the feeling. He'd expected the anticipation, but not the sense of responsibility, the need to blend his life with hers…and the tenderness, a vast ocean of it ebbing and flowing through him like the very tide of life itself.

Steven, with his best man, Ryan Fortune, entered the small antechamber, alongside the two ministers who would be performing the ceremony for each couple. The men shook hands.

“Jack and our parents are here,” Steven said. “Their plane was delayed, so it was late when they got in last night. The governor has arrived too, along with the press and about a hundred TV crews.”

“Ready?” the pastor of the church asked after peering into the auditorium and getting a nod from the organist.

The men entered and lined up before the bank of flowers in front of the altar. The church was standing-room-only.

Clyde's throat closed with a solid lump when the two brides, escorted by their fathers, came down the aisle. He
recalled the stormy day when he'd picked Jessica up at the airport. He felt that now, at last, they'd reached the end of their journey.

When her father gave her over to his keeping, he felt he'd been given a treasure. Gazing into her beautiful, shining eyes, he knew he had.

“Dearly beloved,” the minister began.

Steven and Amy said their vows.

“Dearly beloved,” the second minister repeated.

Clyde and Jessica exchanged their vows.

The newlywed couples kissed as tradition required, then turned to the gathering of family and friends. A cheer from the crowd, as spontaneous as it was joyful, filled the air.

Steven and Clyde glanced at each other, then at Miles. “You're next,” they said in unison.

“Horrors,” he said as the bridal parties laughed in pure delight.

Everything you love about romance…
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Bonus Features.

Bonus Features:

Author Interview

A Conversation with

Laurie Paige

 

Laurie Paige's Travel Tale

 

Bonus Read

Home on the Range

by Elizabeth Bevarly

 

Sneak Peek

The Good Doctor

by Karen Rose Smith

BONUS FEATURES

 

 

 

Lone Star Rancher

 

Recently, USA TODAY bestselling author Laurie Paige chatted with us as she took a break from writing her latest Silhouette Special Edition.

 

Tell us a bit about how you began your writing career.

My sister and I used to write two-page stories (mostly about animals and their adventures on our farm) and read them to each other when we were in elementary school. That started a lifelong love of reading. After growing up—college, working, marriage, motherhood—I read a romance novel, loved it and started writing my own stories again, this time about people.

 

Was there a particular person, place or thing that inspired this story?

I lived in Austin, Texas, at one time and my next-door neighbor was a native Texan. She told me about her ancestors who settled in the area—stories
rich in history and adventure. I also traveled the state from border to border. The Pedernales cascades was a favorite day hike. LBJ's ranch was downriver from there.

 

What's your writing routine?

I am definitely a morning person. I get up around 6:30 a.m. and am usually at the desk around 7:30. I do original writing until lunchtime. Afternoons are devoted to chores and/or hiking the many logging trails in the area. In the evenings, I often read over what I've written that morning and do editing; the next morning I put in the changes and this gets me back into the story.

 

How do you research your stories?

I love interesting names on maps, so when we travel on vacations, I direct my husband to little-known roads. We stop at ghost towns and old graveyards. I also tend to accost ranchers, park rangers, librarians, waiters and anyone else who crosses my path with dozens of questions about the area. It amazes me that they answer and add in all kinds of useful details!

 

How you do develop your characters?

Some writers make lists about their characters, detailing schools, friends, hobbies and events in their lives. I like discovering things about my hero/heroine the same way we learn things about new friends—as they talk to each other or think about their life experiences, then I share these
tidbits with the reader. Writing their stories becomes a tale of discovery for me, too.

 

When you're not writing, what are your favorite activities?

Reading, of course. All kinds of books. Lots of ideas spring from this. I love exploring new places, so we travel quite a bit. Hiking is an exercise of mind and body. I find characters coming to life and story lines opening up as I tramp around the woods or a nearby lake. Hiking is also a social outlet. I belong to a weekly hiking group. We usually hike to some lovely viewpoint and eat lunch, then hike back. Occasionally after a hike, we meet at someone's home and have a cookout or ice-cream party, sometimes a wine tasting since one member of the group is a vintner. Gardening is a newly discovered pleasure. We also get together with family and friends every holiday. I usually save some bulbs and seeds for fall planting, so at Thanksgiving everyone helps with this. At spring break, we admire our handiwork as daffodils, tulips, crocuses and lilies come up.

 

If you don't mind, could you tell us a bit about your family?

I was the youngest of seven children, which is rather akin to growing up with four extra fathers and two extra mothers as everyone feels free to boss the baby! Our farm in Kentucky seemed a magical place to me. I roamed all over it, rode the two horses, and also tried riding the milk cows and the pigs. Did you
know pigs buck just like horses? Neighbors would get together nearly every Saturday night and have square dances at each other's homes. Everyone would bring a dish or two, plus dessert. When we moved to town, I found that was lots of fun, too. My family attended the Baptist church, where I belonged to the choir. I also went to choir at the Methodist church, story hour at a nearby Presbyterian church and art class at the Christian church. Best of all were the library and museum, only five blocks away and a short detour from school to home. Growing up, I always had a dog (and still do). The first book I ever owned was
Heidi.
My favorite book is still
The Little Engine That Could.

 

What are your favorite kinds of vacations? Where do you like to travel?

I love vacations with family and friends, the more the merrier. We have visited all fifty states…or fifty-one, as we in Northern California like to say. There was actually a movement in the late 1800s to establish the state of Jefferson, carved out of Northern California and southern Oregon. Today we have road signs declaring Scenic Highways, put up by the state of Jefferson and local radio stations with this name. Last year my sister, brother-in-law, husband and I visited presidential homes and civil war battlegrounds in Virginia, Pennsylvania and other points back East. Another year we traveled across Canada. With friends, we camped in all the national parks of the western U.S. and Canada.
We've hiked sections of the Pacific Crest Trail (and have a friend who has hiked the whole thing!). This past summer, we visited all the caves we came across during a trip to Kentucky for a family reunion. Cruising is a new discovery. We “did” Alaska and the Panama Canal and would like to try diving in the Caribbean. Five of us went Down Under and explored Australia from coast to coast. The three-day trip from Perth to Sydney by train was fun and relaxing; the Aussies were great hosts. So were the Kiwis when we toured New Zealand, staying in private B and Bs in people's homes. While I enjoy new landscapes, I love meeting the residents more. People are endlessly fascinating!

 

Do you have a favorite book or film?

I've mentioned
The Little Engine That Could.
And
Heidi.
In science fiction,
The Mote in God's Eye
is an all-time favorite. In romance/women's fiction, there are too many to name. For films, who can forget
Gone with the Wind?
The old aunts never appreciated Scarlett, but Melanie knew who kept the wolf (or carpetbaggers) from the door. Scarlett had her flaws but, for me, she was like the little engine—she kept going no matter what life threw at her. And there's that great five-hankie movie,
An Affair To Remember.
Oh, and
Madame X
with Lana Turner. I used to wait up for my husband, who worked second shift at the Kennedy Space Center at the time, and it seemed
Madame X
was on once a week.
By the time I saw it the third time, I was crying from the opening credits….

 

Any last words to your readers?

Like all readers, I love entering the world of heroes and heroines in the stories. I laugh with them. I cry with them. I sometimes frown on their decisions, but as long as I understand why they did what they did, I'm okay with that. I think stories can be great learning tools. They can also heal. While working in the school library, the librarian once told me she could always tell the students who came from difficult homes. They wanted sad stories that “come out happy at the end.” I like that for my characters, too, and for the readers who turn to stories for pleasure, to escape from everyday life for a few hours and sometimes to heal a heart that's been trampled.

 

 

Don't miss Laurie Paige's Silhouette Special Edition,
The Other Side of Paradise
.