“We do. Friendship. You said it yourself, remember?”

He nodded.

“I don’t want a husband who proposes marriage to me because it’s an obligation.”

“I didn’t mean it like that.” His voice sounded odd to his own ears. A little ragged and faraway.

“When and if I agree to marry anyone, I want it to be for specific reasons.”

“Okay, that sounds fair.” Weren’t his reasons specific? Glen’s ego came to the rescue, and the anger and pain in his voice were less evident now. More controlled.

“Reasons other than it’s time and you have excellent qualities. Reasons other than I should get married now and you’ll do.”

“I didn’t say that!”

“No, but you might as well have. Oh, and I almost forgot, you said you owed me.”

“Owed you what?”

“I might not get the words right so bear with me.” He could tell she was being sarcastic but wasn’t sure why. “Something about duty because you’d embarrassed me in front of the whole town.”

“I...I didn’t mean it to sound like that. Damn it, Ellie, you’re putting words in my mouth.”

“I don’t need any favors, Glen.”

He looked at her, afraid she was about to cry, but he was mistaken. Her face was strong and confident. She could give him all the excuses in the book, but he knew what was going on here and wasn’t shy about saying it, either.

“It’s Richard, isn’t it? You’re in love with him.”

“That’s it!” she cried.

“I thought as much.” He shoved the ring back into his pocket. He’d tell his brother to bury it—the diamond must be hexed.

“The thing is, Glen, you’re too late.”

“Too late?” He didn’t know what the hell she meant by that, but he wasn’t sticking around to find out.

Ellie, however, insisted he hear her out. “Richard came by earlier and he proposed. Sorry, Glen, he beat you to the punch.”

Nine

Not for a single moment would Cal describe himself as a romantic. Despite that, he felt good about encouraging his little brother to go and propose to Ellie Frasier. He’d even given him the ring!

Good enough to tell his neighbor. It wasn’t often that Cal had reason to shoot the bull over a telephone; usually a beer at Billy D’s served the same purpose, but even better. However, this news was too good to keep to himself.

Grady answered on the second ring.

“It’s Cal,” he announced.

“Something wrong?” Grady asked right off.

They’d been best friends since first grade, and Grady knew him about as well as anyone ever would. Over the years they’d been through a lot together. As kids, they’d explored Bitter End. Later Grady had talked to him about his parents’ deaths, his problems with Richard, his concerns about Laredo. And it was Grady Cal had gone to when Jennifer canceled their wedding, Grady who’d gotten him home safely when he’d fallen down drunk. Grady who’d talked some sense into him when he badly needed to hear it.

“Glen’s driving into town to ask Ellie to marry him,” Cal said without preamble. He wasn’t a man who wasted words.

“You’re kidding!” Grady sounded shocked.

“No. He’s been acting like a wounded bear for damn near two weeks and then I found him mumbling to himself in the barn, about as miserable as I’ve ever seen him. Tried to talk to him, but he damn near bit my head off. I’d had enough. I figured he should either fix what was wrong or forget Ellie.”

“And Glen listened?”

“No, I didn’t get the chance to give him my advice. He decided to marry her all on his own.”

“That’s great.” Cal heard the relief in Grady’s voice and knew his neighbor harbored his own set of fears when it came to Ellie Frasier. “At least she won’t be marrying Richard, then.”

“Not if Glen has anything to say about it.” Cal knew Grady didn’t trust his younger brother, and with damn good reason.

“I was thinking of celebrating,” Cal continued. “You’re welcome to join me if you want. There’s cold beer in the fridge, plus a bottle of the hard stuff if you’re interested.” An invitation from Cal was about as rare as a phone call.

“I might just do that.”

A couple of minutes later Cal hung up the receiver, feeling more like his old self than at any time since his broken engagement. Grinning from ear to ear, he reached for a beer and walked outside, where he leaned comfortably against the porch railing. In years past he’d spent many an evening in this very spot, looking out over the land, knowing that cattle grazed peacefully in the distance. In certain moods, wistful moods, he liked to imagine a wife standing at his side and the sound of their children’s laughter echoing in the house.

Glen married.

Cal had known it would probably happen one day, and he’d always wondered how’d he react, seeing that, despite his imaginings, he’d likely remain a bachelor himself. In fact, he felt surprisingly good about having played a small role in his brother’s romance. He’d known Glen was in love with Ellie months before it even occurred to Glen.

Glen’s feelings for her had been apparent for a long time. He’d drive into town and return a couple of hours later and talk of little else. Ellie amused him, challenged him, comforted him. She fired his senses. And all that time Glen had insisted it was “just” friendship.

Right! Cal nearly laughed out loud. It was friendship and a whole lot more.

The sound of an engine broke into Cal’s musings, and he looked toward the driveway as Grady’s truck pulled into view. Good, his neighbor was going to take him up on his offer.

Grady leaped down from the pickup and raised a bottle of whiskey high above his head. “Glen getting married. Hot damn, this calls for a party,” he shouted.

Cal lifted his beer in salute and let out a cheer.

“So Glen’s really doing it,” Grady said, taking the porch steps two at a time. “He’s marrying Ellie.”

“Unless the woman’s a fool and turns him down.”

“Ellie Frasier’s no fool,” Grady said with confidence.

“He took the diamond I bought Jennifer,” Cal explained as he headed into the house for a couple of tumblers and some ice.

“Glen asked Ellie to marry him with Jennifer’s ring?” Grady followed him, sounding worried.

“It’s just a loan. I figure Ellie’ll want to choose her own diamond later.” He dumped the ice cubes into two mismatched glasses.

“You think that was wise?”

“Well, yeah. This way Glen wasn’t proposing to her empty-handed.”

The two men returned to the porch and Cal poured two generous measures of the honey-colored liquor over the ice, but he noted that his friend’s worried frown didn’t go away. “What harm could it do?” he asked.

“Probably none.” Grady sat down with Cal in the white wicker chairs and relaxed. Leaning back, he stretched out his long legs and crossed his ankles, then with a deep contented sigh, raised the tumbler to his lips.

Cal tasted his own drink. His eyes watered as the whiskey burned its way down his throat.

“I have to tell you,” Grady admitted, “it does my heart good to know Richard’s out of the picture with Ellie.”

“Mine, too.” Cal wasn’t fond of the youngest Weston. Richard was a difficult person to understand. Witty, amiable, a natural leader—and yet he’d squandered his talents, in Cal’s opinion, anyway. Richard had taken a wrong turn and he’d never gotten steered back on course. It was unfortunate, too, because he could have been a success at just about anything he chose.

“I told Savannah,” Grady mentioned casually, “and she’s delighted for Glen.” Then, looking as though he might have done something wrong, he glanced at Cal. “You don’t mind, do you?”

“She won’t tell anyone else, will she?” Not that it mattered; word would be out soon enough.

“I doubt it.” Grady didn’t seem to know for sure.