Falling in love had transformed his sister into a woman of true beauty. It was as if all the goodness inside her had become outwardly visible. He wasn’t the only one who’d noticed, either. A couple of months ago she’d cut her hair—formerly waist-length—and begun wearing jeans instead of those long loose dresses. All at once other men had started to take heed. Too late, however, because her heart belonged to Laredo.

“What time did he leave?” Grady asked, rubbing his face tiredly. The problems with Richard just seemed to multiply. The money he’d claimed was coming had yet to arrive, although he’d managed to reimburse Grady five hundred dollars.

Grady had serious doubts about any so-called severance pay owed to Richard. He suspected the money was just the beginning of a long list of lies his brother had been feeding them.

To Grady’s relief, Savannah no longer actively championed Richard’s cause, and he knew she felt as troubled as he did about their younger brother. Neither was comfortable at the thought of kicking him off the ranch entirely. Besides, Richard occasionally made himself useful, running errands in town and making token efforts to help around the ranch.

“He left about three this afternoon.”

“He didn’t go into town, did he?”

Savannah hesitated. “I don’t think so, but then, he didn’t tell me where he was headed.”

“I could have used an extra hand this afternoon,” Grady murmured.

But they both knew Richard’s answer to that. He was never cut out to be a rancher, which was the reason he’d given for fleeing with the family money—his share of the inheritance he called it, since he wanted no part of the ranch. The excuse stuck in Grady’s craw every time he thought about it.

“He’s been keeping himself busy,” Savannah said, and held his gaze a moment longer than usual. Neither one of them was entirely sure what he did with his time. He disappeared for hours at a stretch without telling anyone where he went or who he was with. Normally Grady wouldn’t care, but considering Richard’s history, it was worrisome.

“I heard him talking to Ellie on the phone earlier,” Savannah told him. “He invited her to Ruth’s birthday party.”

This didn’t give Grady any cause for celebration. He’d noticed his younger brother’s growing interest in Ellie Frasier. The fact that she’d recently inherited the family business hadn’t escaped Richard’s notice, and Grady worried that his brother’s interest might be leaning more toward that feed store than to Ellie. She’d dealt with enough grief to have anyone exploit her now.

“She doesn’t know, does she?” Savannah asked.

Grady shook his head. Few people in Promise were aware of Richard’s crime. It was something Grady preferred not to share. No one wanted his friends and neighbors to learn that his only brother had robbed him blind. Only a handful of folks knew Richard had run off with every penny in the family coffers the day they buried their parents. Vanished for six years until he’d needed help himself.

Grady cursed under his breath and waited for Savannah to chastise him.

She didn’t, and Grady soon realized why. The screen door opened and Laredo walked into the kitchen. The wrangler’s gaze immediately met Savannah’s and they exchanged a tender look.

They fascinated Grady. His sister and her husband were so deeply in love he doubted either one remembered he was in the room. Savannah stood and poured Laredo a glass of iced tea, which the man accepted gratefully. After downing the contents in four or five gulps, Laredo set the glass aside and hugged her close.

Grady watched his brother-in-law’s eyes drift shut as he savored holding Savannah. In all his thirty-five years, Grady had never seen any two people more in love. Watching them lost in each other’s embrace was almost painful, reminding him how alone he was. He realized he wasn’t an easy man to love—he knew that—and he doubted any woman would put up with him for long. Yet he couldn’t watch Savannah and Laredo and not wish for that kind of contentment himself.

Grady had never felt lonely before, never given much thought to marriage. Someday was about as close as he’d gotten to thinking about any future romance and then only if he could find a woman willing to look past his very noticeable flaws.

There hadn’t been time to give any consideration to his marital status and romantic hopes—such as they were. It’d taken him six years of backbreaking labor to dig the ranch out of debt. If all went well with this year’s herd, they’d be completely in the black once again.

“Caroline’s coming over later,” Savannah murmured.

Grady wasn’t sure who the comment was meant for. Probably him. Nor was he sure whether she intended this as a warning or as...something else. Caroline Daniels was Savannah’s best friend and the town’s postmistress; he couldn’t seem to get along with her, but he was afraid Savannah still had matchmaking ambitions concerning them. A completely hopeless and wrongheaded idea. Lately his sister and Caroline had spent a lot of time discussing and designing house plans, and while that didn’t affect Grady one way or another, he often found himself in the company of Caroline’s five-year-old daughter, Maggie. He’d been gruff and impatient with the girl not long ago, and she would barely look at him now. Grady felt bad about that.

And it irritated him no end that Maggie had taken to Richard, and being the smooth-talking charmer he was, his younger brother soon had the kid eating out of his hand.

Grady considered his squabbles with Caroline more her fault than his. He admired people who spoke their minds, but Caroline did it a little too often for his liking.

“Are you going to Ruth’s birthday party?” Savannah asked.

Grady hesitated, but only for a moment. “Probably not.”

His sister’s eyes flared briefly and he knew that wasn’t the response she’d wanted.

“Why not?”

He wasn’t accustomed to explaining his decisions, but Savannah had that look about her, and he knew it was better to deal with the subject now than postpone it.

“Do I need a reason?”

“Laredo and I are going,” she said, wrapping her arm around her husband’s waist. “Ruth’s a sweetheart, and it means a great deal to Nell that there be a nice turnout.”

“Cal’s not going.” Grady couldn’t resist pointing this out, although he didn’t feel he should have to.

“That’s exactly my point,” Savannah returned. “If you’re not careful, you’re going to end up just like Cal.”

“And what’s wrong with Cal?” Although he asked the question, Grady knew what she meant. Ever since Jennifer had more or less left him at the altar, Cal Patterson had little that was good to say about women. His cynical attitude got to be a bit much, even for Grady, but now wasn’t the time to admit it.

“There’s nothing wrong with Cal that a good woman wouldn’t cure.”

“Savannah would like you to ask Caroline to the party,” Laredo inserted. He wasn’t much of a talker, but when he did speak, he cut to the chase. No beating around the bush with Savannah’s husband.

“What? You want me to what?” Grady pretended his hearing was impaired and stuck his finger in his ear. He thought he was pretty comical.

Savannah didn’t. “Is there a problem with Caroline?” she demanded. Her eyes flashed with spirit and Grady could see it wasn’t going to be easy to mollify her.

“Nope.”

“You’d be fortunate if she accepted!”

“Of course I would,” he agreed with more than a touch of sarcasm.

“Grady!”

Chuckling, he held up his hands in surrender. “Caroline’s all right,” he said. “It’s just that we don’t see eye to eye about a lot of things. You know that, Savannah. I like her, don’t get me wrong, but I can’t see the two of us dating.”

“Because of Maggie?” Savannah asked.

“Not at all,” Grady assured her, knowing how close Savannah and the little girl were.