Savannah was working in her garden when he pulled into the yard. Her head was covered with a wide-brimmed straw hat, and she wore a sleeveless summer dress and an apron. The minute she spotted him she stepped out of the flower garden, a basket of freshly cut roses dangling from her arm.

“Grady?”

“Woman’s a damn fool,” he said, heading into the house. He took the porch steps two at a time. It didn’t surprise him that his sister followed him inside; he would have been disappointed if she hadn’t.

“I assume you’re talking about Caroline,” she said as she set the roses on the kitchen table.

“Is there anyone more stubborn than Caroline Daniels?” He paced the floor of the large kitchen, unable to stand still.

“Only one person I can think of,” she said, smiling slightly. “And that’s you.”

“Me?” Grady considered himself a reasonable man. “Caroline rejected me. Not the other way around.”

“Did she now?” Savannah removed a vase from the cupboard above the refrigerator. Grady recognized it as one that had belonged to their mother—crystal, sort of a bowl shape. He’d always liked it. Savannah began deftly arranging the roses.

“I asked Caroline to marry me,” Grady said impatiently. He’d never intended to tell anyone what had happened, but the events of that evening burned inside him. It was either tell Savannah or scream it from the rooftop.

“So I understand,” she murmured.

Grady had had it with women and their subtle messages. While he might normally have appreciated Savannah’s reserved manner, it infuriated him just now.

“What exactly do you understand?” he demanded.

“Two hurting people, if you must know. Two people deeply in love with each other, neither one fully appreciating or—”

“She said no,” he cut in. “She wasn’t interested in being my wife—said it wouldn’t work. Said it twice, as a matter of fact.”

“Did she now?”

Grady slapped his hat against the edge of the counter. “If you have something to say, Savannah, just spit it out.”

“Well, since you asked…” She gave him a demure smile. “It seems to me—and of course I could be wrong—that Caroline might have said no, but that wasn’t exactly what she meant.”

“I’m a simple rancher. If she said no and meant something else, then she should’ve come right out and said what she meant. I’m not a mind reader.”

“Neither am I,” Savannah stated. “But really, how else did you expect her to respond?”

“A yes would have sufficed.”

“And what was she supposed to do then? Wait until your wedding day to casually mention that her child is also your niece?”

“No. It doesn’t matter who fathered Maggie. I’m offering to be her daddy, to make her my own.”

“Exactly!” Savannah rewarded him with a wide grin. “Bingo, big brother! Now collect your prize.”

The woman was speaking in ridiculous riddles. “Damn it, Savannah, what do you mean by that?”

“You should be able to figure it out.”

He frowned.

Savannah sighed loudly. “I believe what you said was, It doesn’t matter who fathered Maggie. Now tell me, why is that?”

“Why?”

“Yes, why?” she repeated.

“Because I’m asking to be her father.”

The smile was back in full force. “Very good, Grady.”

His frown deepened.

“You’re almost there, big brother.” She added a long-stemmed yellow rose to the vase.

“Almost? I’ve been there and back a thousand times in my mind. Why do I have to fall in love with the most stubborn woman in the entire state of Texas? What did I ever do to deserve this?”

“I don’t know, but if I were you, I’d thank God every day of your life for a woman as wonderful as Caroline.”

He stared at her.

“If you’re lucky enough to convince her to be your wife, that is,” Savannah said.

“As far as I’m concerned she has to come to me now.” A man’s pride could only take so much, and Caroline had run roughshod over it one time too many.

Savannah shook her head. “Wrong.”

“Wrong?” Grady didn’t see it like that, but he was desperate enough to listen to his sister’s crazy reasoning.

“You were doing so well there, too,” she said with another sigh. “Grady, I’ve never known you to be a man who took no for an answer. It’s just not like you to roll over and play dead.”

“I’m not playing dead!”

“You’re just acting that way?” She made the statement a question, which irritated him even more.

“Either you don’t love Caroline as much as I believe, or—”

“I love her and I love Maggie, too. When Maggie was missing, it felt as if a part of me was gone. When I saw she was safe and sound, I damn near broke into tears myself.”

Savannah, ever patient, ever kind, beamed him a dazzling smile. “I’m not the one who needs to hear this, you know.”

“So you’re telling me I should ask Caroline again.” Even as he spoke, he was shaking his head. “Not in this lifetime.” In his view, it was Caroline’s turn to risk her pride. If she wanted to change her mind, she could let him know. He grabbed his hat and walked out the back door.

“Where are you going?” his sister asked.

Until that moment he hadn’t been sure, then in a flash he knew. “I’m going to give Caroline a chance to change her mind.”

* * *

EDWINA AND LILY MOORHOUSE had just stepped up to the counter when the door to the post office flew open and Grady Weston stepped inside.

The two elderly women turned to look at him; so did Caroline. He was staring straight at her, and she could tell he was breathing fire.

“Caroline—”

She instantly returned her attention to the Moorhouse sisters. “Can I help you?” she asked ever so sweetly, ignoring Grady. Her heart was pounding like a frightened kitten’s, but she refused, refused, to allow Grady to intimidate her.

“You can talk to the Moorhouse sisters until Kingdom come, and it isn’t going to help. Eventually you’re going to have to speak to me, too.”

Edwina’s eyes rounded as she glanced at her sister. “It’s Grady Weston again.”

“I have eyes in my head, sister. I can see it’s Grady.”

“Fit to be tied, from the looks of him.”

“Indeed.”

Despite the way her heart raced, Caroline found herself smiling.

“I do think he’s constipated again, sister.”

Lily studied him, tapping her foot. “Prunes, young man, eat prunes. They’ll do wonders for your disposition.”

Grady scowled at her, but Caroline knew it would take a lot more than that to intimidate the retired schoolteacher.

“Listen here, Grady Weston, I wiped your nose in third grade, so don’t you be giving me dirty looks. My, oh my, but you always were a headstrong boy.”

It was clear Grady wasn’t going to be drawn into a verbal exchange with the two women.

“In some ways,” Lily mused, “your stubbornness was a characteristic I admired.”

Edwina slapped a ten-dollar bill onto the counter. “We’d like a book of stamps, Caroline.”

“Of course.” Caroline handed her the stamps with her change.

“Good day.”

“Good day,” Caroline replied, watching them leave.

“Good day, young man,” Edwina said as she passed Grady and winked.

Caroline wasn’t sure what to make of the wink. If Grady noticed it, he didn’t let on.

He touched the brim of his hat and stepped around the two women in his rush to reach the counter.

“Can I help you?” Caroline asked, lowering her gaze for fear of what he might read in her eyes.

“As a matter of fact you can.” Grady’s voice echoed in the room.

She waited, figuring he wasn’t going to ask for stamps.

“I’m here to talk some sense into you.”

“Grady, listen—”

“Hear me out first. The last time we spoke I asked you to marry me and you turned me down.”

Caroline doubted he’d ever fully comprehend how difficult it had been to reject him. She’d wanted to say yes more than anything she’d ever wanted in her life. But no self-respecting woman willingly entered a marriage if she believed she’d be a burden to her husband. Even loving him the way she did, she couldn’t do that to him. Couldn’t do it to herself.