Although the party had drained her physically and emotionally, she’d enjoyed watching Richard with their neighbors. He’d been a gracious host, warm and welcoming, and it gave her a sense of pride. He was like their father in that way—although admittedly not in others.

Mel Weston had always been the life of the party. Friendly, charming, universally loved. Her world had gone dark without him there—to call her his princess, to give her encouragement and approval and unconditional love. Having Richard home again produced a flood of happy memories and she didn’t want those destroyed. Not if she could help it. So she was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Everyone had mentioned what fun Richard was and how the children had adored him, especially Maggie. Seeing them together had done Savannah’s heart good. The five-year-old tended to shy away from men, but she’d taken to Richard at first meeting, and he’d been wonderful with her, paying her lots of attention.

“I kissed that money goodbye the minute I signed the check,” Grady grumbled, telling her in no uncertain terms that he continued to distrust Richard.

“He’ll pay you back,” Savannah insisted.

Grady stared at her long enough to make her uncomfortable. “When are you going to learn, Savannah? What’s it going to take? Richard’s a user. He’ll never amount to anything because he’s never been made accountable. I want him off this ranch, understand?”

“You’re wrong, Grady. Richard might have a few bad habits—we all do—but he has a good heart. I refuse to believe otherwise.”

“Don’t kid yourself. As soon as he’s awake, I want him to pack up and leave. I’ve paid his debts for the last time.”

“You don’t mean that!” Savannah couldn’t believe her brother could be so hard.

“I want him gone by noon.”

“Grady...please.” Her voice cracked with emotion. “Don’t do this.”

“I’m not giving in to you this time,” Grady said, stuffing more garbage deep into the plastic bag.

Savannah jumped at the fierce anger she heard in him.

“Don’t talk to her like that,” Laredo demanded, walking over to Savannah. The animosity between him and Grady was worse than ever, Savannah knew. She had no idea what had possessed her brother to cause a scene on the dance floor.

In a replay of last night Laredo and Grady glared at each other with mutual dislike.

“What do you suggest we do?” Wiley asked her, apparently finding the men’s behavior amusing. “Get a hose and cool ’em both down?”

“That doesn’t sound like a bad idea,” Savannah responded, grateful for his sense of humor in this tense situation.

“Okay.” Wiley took charge. “We’re done here,” he said, stepping directly in front of Laredo.

Savannah thought Laredo might challenge the foreman, but after a short hesitation he nodded and set aside the rake. As he turned to head for the barn, he caught her watching him and winked.

Savannah blushed with pleasure, remembering the dance they’d shared. After spending all day and most of the evening in the kitchen, her hair damp with sweat and her clothes spattered with mustard and mayonnaise, she must have looked a sight. Yet he’d called her his sweetheart and looked at her as if she were beautiful. Savannah had always known she was no beauty. She’d never been one to turn men’s heads, and being shy had made it worse.

Over time she’d given up hope she’d ever find love. She’d never felt real attraction for a man, and as far as she knew, had never inspired it, either. All these years she’d been certain that a husband and family were for others and not for her. Her roses and her pets had become like her children. Grady constantly complained about the way she spoiled Rocket, but the dog was old, and if he was more comfortable in the house, she had no objection to letting him inside. And although Grady complained, she noticed that he was as guilty as she was about sneaking him leftovers.

Her musings returned to Laredo, and her heart softened at the thought of him. In less than two weeks, he’d changed her life, given her reason to dream, given her the most precious of human emotions—hope.

She loved him. It was that simple. That profound.

“I suppose you’re waiting for me to apologize for making an ass of myself last night,” Grady said, breaking into her thoughts. She’d almost forgotten he was there.

“You owe Laredo and me an apology.”

He paused, then to her amazement, agreed with her. “I suppose I do. My only excuse is that I was furious with Richard and took it out on Laredo. I realize I acted like an idiot. I don’t have any excuse other than I’d been drinking on an empty stomach.”

The irony of it, Savannah mused, was that Grady had ended up paying for a dinner he hadn’t bothered to taste.

“I’d be obliged if we could put the incident behind us,” he said stiffly.

“On one condition.”

He held up his hand to stop her. “I already know. You want me to apologize to Laredo.”

“You didn’t start this morning any better than you left off last night.”

“I know.” He wiped a hand down his face and she noticed that his eyes were tired and sad, and she wondered if he’d gotten any sleep whatsoever. “I’ll talk to him later.”

“What do you have against him?” she asked, genuinely curious. “Laredo isn’t anything like you think. He’s thoughtful and hardworking and—”

“Do you mind if I listen to you sing his praises some other time?” Grady asked from between clenched teeth.

“Oh, Grady.” It was then she realized her brother was suffering from a hangover. After his confrontation with Laredo, he’d apparently continued drinking—and probably not beer, either. The first moment she could Savannah had escaped to her room, taken a quick shower and fallen into bed. She’d fallen asleep immediately but woke periodically throughout the night. At least tired was all she felt—not hungover, like Grady.

“Yeah,” he groaned. “I had a few drinks after everyone went home. Figured it’d calm me down. It didn’t. But guess what? I found there was booze missing—my good single-malt Scotch. Where do you think it went?”

Savannah shook her head.

“Starts with ‘R.’”

“Oh, no. Are you sure?”

Grady gave her a cynical look and returned to his garbage collecting.

When the cleanup was finished, Grady grabbed a cup of coffee and headed about his day; Savannah went back to the house. It was almost eleven before Richard bothered to make an appearance.

“Good morning, my beautiful Savannah!” He kissed her noisily on the cheek, then hopped onto the kitchen counter, bare feet dangling while he nursed a mug of coffee. “What’s for breakfast?”

“It’s almost time for lunch.”

He didn’t react. “I was looking forward to sampling some of those fluffy scrambled eggs of yours. I woke up dreaming about eggs all gooey with melted cheese and toasted homemade bread.”

“Richard,” she said, angry with him and needing to let him know, “how could you have left Grady to pay Mr. Braunfels for the barbecue?”

“I feel really bad about that. I explained the situation to Adam earlier, and he seemed okay with me paying when I could. I wonder what happened to make him change his mind.”

She wanted so much to believe Richard, but it was becoming more and more difficult.

He must have realized that, because he leaped down off the counter, crossed the room and reached for her hand. “Savannah,” he said, holding her gaze, “I promise you by everything I hold dear that I’ll reimburse Grady the minute my check arrives. You’ve got to trust me.”

She wanted to, but the doubts refused to go away.

“You’re the only one who believes in me,” Richard said in obvious distress. “If it wasn’t for you, Grady would have kicked me off the ranch that first day. Give me this opportunity to prove myself, that’s all I’m asking.”

Savannah studied her brother, hoping against hope that he’d fulfill his promises.