He parked in front of Caroline’s small house and leaped out of the truck cab. Eager to get this settled, he took the steps up to her front door two at a time and leaned on the buzzer.

Caroline opened the door, her face registering surprise.

“Grady, hello.” She recovered quickly and held the screen door wide.

“Would you like to sit outside for a spell?” he asked, instead gesturing toward the porch swing. Since he was nervous about this entire thing, staying outside in the semidarkness felt more inviting than her well-lit living room.

“Sure.”

She glanced over her shoulder, and Grady noticed Maggie playing by herself in the background. She had her dolls sitting around a small table and was chatting amicably as she stood in front of her play kitchen cooking up a storm. He grinned at the sight.

Caroline sat down, but Grady found it impossible to keep still.

“Did Savannah phone?” he asked. It would be just like his sister to give Caroline a heads-up. He hadn’t announced where he was going when he left the ranch, but Savannah knew. After all, she was the one who’d steered him in this direction in that less-than-subtle way of hers. Grady tolerated Savannah’s matchmaking only because he wasn’t opposed to her efforts to promote a romance between him and Caroline. Frankly he could use the help. He wasn’t keen, however, on letting her know that.

“Savannah phone me?” Caroline repeated. “No, she hasn’t.”

Grady released a sigh, and some of the tension eased from between his shoulder blades. “What about Richard?”

“What about him?”

“Have you spoken to him recently—say, in the last four or five hours?”

“No,” she answered curtly. “Is there a reason for all these questions?”

Grady could see that Caroline was growing impatient but he needed the answers to both questions before he could proceed. “Of course there’s a reason,” he snapped, annoyed with his lack of finesse when it came to romance. “I don’t want to end up looking ridiculous, thanks to Richard.”

“What’s Richard got to do with anything?” Caroline demanded.

“If he’s been here first, just say so and I’ll be on my way.” The thought of Richard and Caroline together did funny things to his stomach. He’d never been a jealous man; it was an unfamiliar—and unpleasant—sensation. But he wasn’t about to let Richard walk all over him.

“It seems to me, Grady, that you don’t need Richard in order to look ridiculous. You do a damn good job all by yourself!”

Her words took him by surprise. He exhaled, counting to ten, in an effort to calm his racing heart, then leaned against the porch railing and faced her. “All I want to know is if Richard already asked you to the church dinner.”

Her eyes briefly widened when she understood the reason for his unexpected visit. Caroline smiled slowly and sweetly. It was a smile he’d seen all too rarely from her. He found it difficult to look away.

“Why do you want to know?” she asked.

“I told you already,” he blurted out. “If Richard’s already asked you, then I’ll save my breath.”

“What if I said he hasn’t asked me? Does that mean you will?”

His pride was a fierce thing and had gotten him into trouble with her in the past. He tucked his hands in his back pockets, shrugging as if it was of little concern. “I might.”

Caroline set the swing in motion and relaxed enough to cross her legs. She was wearing shorts, and the movement granted him the opportunity to admire those legs.

“Let me put it like this,” Caroline said after a moment. “If Richard had asked me, and I’m not saying he has, I’d turn him down.”

“You would?” This gave Grady second thoughts. If she’d turn down his brother, there was nothing to say she wouldn’t do the same with him. “What about me?” he asked before considering the question.

“But you haven’t asked me,” she reminded him.

If she was leading him on a merry chase, he swore he’d never forgive her. “Will you…would you and Maggie be my date for the church dinner Saturday night?”

The joy that lit her eyes was all the answer Grady needed. His heart felt as if it might fly straight out of his chest.

“We’d love to go with you,” Caroline answered without hesitation.

“That’d be great. Great!” He started to leave, but caught the toe of his boot on a toy Maggie had left on the porch and damn near fell on his face. Not that it would have mattered. He was too damn happy to let a minor humiliation detract from his pleasure.

He was halfway to his truck when Caroline stopped him. “Do you want me to meet you at the church?” she called out.

“No.” What kind of date did she think this was, anyway? “I’ll pick you both up.” Just so there was no room for misunderstanding, he added, “This is a date, Caroline.”

“Any particular time?”

Details. Leave it to a woman to be concerned about something like that. “When do you want me?”

“Six-forty-five sounds about right.”

“Then that’s when I’ll be here.”

She walked to the porch steps and wrapped her arm around the white column. “I’ll look forward to seeing you Saturday.”

It would have been the most natural thing in the world to jump up and shout, he was that happy. Happy enough to feel almost drunk with it. Damn it all, he hadn’t even kissed Caroline yet. If he got giddy from a little thing like this, he could only begin to imagine what it would be like the first time they made love.

* * *

REVEREND WADE MCMILLEN liked nothing better than social gatherings at the church, and this one was special, celebrating the one hundred and twentieth anniversary of the date Promise Christian Church had been established. He’d been ministering to this small but growing flock for five years now. It was his first assignment, and friends in the ministry had told him there was something special about a minister’s first church. This had certainly proved to be the case with Wade. The parishioners who crowded the church hall were as much his family as the people he’d left behind.

Raised in Houston, Wade had been around cattle ranchers and oil men from the time he was old enough to pull on a pair of cowboy boots. No one was more surprised when he was called to the ministry than Wade himself. His experience in Promise had shown him that he loved his work more than any other occupation he might have chosen.

Long tables at the far end of the hall were heaped with a variety of some of the best home cooking in Texas. Main courses, salads, desserts. Once the food had been readied, Wade led the assembled families in grace, then stayed out of the way while the women’s group got the buffet lines going. His role in all this was to make sure dinner went smoothly and everyone had what he or she needed.

“In my opinion,” Louise Powell said, pulling Wade aside, “Savannah Smith’s teriyaki salad with chicken should be considered a main course and not a salad. It’s misleading for those of us who’re watching our weight to be tempted with salads that under normal circumstances would be considered a main course.”

Louise and her friend Tammy Lee Kollenborn had been a trial to Wade from the start, but he wasn’t alone in his struggles with these two women. Heaven help him if he inadvertently crossed either of them.

“I’m afraid I’m the one to blame for that,” Wade explained, attempting to sound apologetic. “Savannah put it on the table with the main courses, and I suggested that since it was technically a salad, it belonged there.”

“I see,” Louise said and tightly pinched her lips together, letting him know she disapproved.

“I’ll make sure I don’t make that mistake again,” he said. “Perhaps next year you’d volunteer to help the women’s group set up the hall. I’m sure they’d appreciate your advice on such important matters as what should and shouldn’t be considered a salad.”