Ana Leigh (32 page)

“I’m going to the restaurant and make my apologies.”

“I’ll go with you.”

She turned her head and looked at him over her shoulder. His long body was stretched out in relaxation. “That’s not necessary, Zach. I’ll come back as quickly as I can.”

“Not on your life.” He sat up. “I’m not letting you out of my sight.” He kissed her on the back of her shoulder, then got up and peered out the window.

Rose slipped on her combination, then went over to the mirror and put her hair in order. When she started to put on her black uniform, Zach glanced up from pulling up his pants and looked at her in surprise.

“That’s what you’re wearing?”

She arched a brow. “Why, yes. Why not?”

“I, ah . . . thought since we just got engaged, we ought to celebrate. Why don’t you wear that ruby gown, Rosie? You look so beautiful in it.”

It wasn’t like him to care what she wore. Confused, she glanced again at him. He sure was acting strange. “Zach, are you still on some kind of medication?”

He pulled on his shirt. “No, why?”

“Just curious,” she said, and reached for her stockings and shoes. Then, to please him, she put on the ruby gown.

When they were ready to leave, he walked over and peered out of the window again.

“I know old habits die hard, Zach, but why don’t you try leaving by the door this time?”

Slapping on his Stetson, he gave her a light swat on the rear as he followed her out.

Chapter 32

R
ose was happy for the first time in two weeks as they walked hand in hand to the depot. She was surprised to see an engine and several cars parked on the siding.

“Looks like a train broke down.”

Zach cast a quick glance at it. “Ah, Rosie—before we go inside, there’s something I didn’t tell you.”

He looked so guilty, she knew it was bad news. “Worse than your being a Texas Ranger?”

“Maybe.”

She glanced at him warily. “You mean there’s another way you took advantage of my trusting nature?”

“ ’Fraid so,” he said. She paused with her hand on the restaurant doorknob. “Rose, don’t go in there yet.”

“Why not?”

“Remember how you said coming back here seemed like a good idea at the time, but it really wasn’t?” She nodded. “Well, I did something, too, that seemed like a good idea at the time. Now I’m not so sure.”

“So that’s the reason you’ve been acting so strange.”

“Let’s go back to your room, Rose, and I’ll tell you all about it.”

“All right, just as soon as I talk to Mr. Billings,” she said, and opened the door.

Rose froze on the spot and stared, dumbfounded. The room was full of smiling faces—
familiar
smiling faces.

Emily MacKenzie rushed up, hugged and kissed her, then stepped back. “Oh, Rose, this is so exciting.”

Stunned, Rose looked at Zach for an explanation.

Emily’s green eyes rounded in sudden comprehension. “She doesn’t know?”

Zach looked sick. “I haven’t had time to tell her.”

“Tell me what?” Rose asked warningly.

“You’d better tell her, Zach,” Emily murmured.

But it was too late. Several others descended upon them, Zach’s parents among them.

“Rose, dear, I’m so happy for you and Zach,” Garnet said. She gave Rose a hug and kiss. “I couldn’t hope for a more loving wife for my son.”

“Same with me,” Flint said in his typical reticent fashion.

Cynthia Kincaid and Beth Carrington came over, accompanied by a lovely, dark-haired woman.

“Rose, honey, this is our sister Angie,” Thia said.

Angie hugged her. “I’m so happy to finally meet you, Rose. I’ve heard so much about you. I want you to meet my husband Giff.” She grabbed Rose’s hand and led her over to a tall, tanned, blond-haired man. If it weren’t for the tiny lines at the corners of his eyes, he could have passed for a youthful Adonis. Rose recalled Em telling her about Peter Gifford, who had been the ranch foreman on the Colorado ranch where the MacKenzie sisters had been raised.

Soon Rose had Zach’s aunts and uncles, his cousins, and their offsprings around her. The room was full of MacKenzies. From what she could tell, the Harvey Girls and Mr. Billings were the only outsiders in the crowd.

Then the bell tinkled over the door, and the Reverend and Mrs. Downing entered the restaurant—and it suddenly became very clear what all these people were doing there.

Stunned, she looked at Zach.

He at least had the conscience to look sheepish. “That’s what I had to tell you, Rosie.”

Rose turned away and forced a smile to lips that felt as if they were glued together.

“Will everyone listen, please?” she said, raising her voice to be heard above the drone of noise in the room. All conversation ceased, and everyone turned their heads toward her.

“It’s a pleasure to see all of you again, but I’m sorry you’ve all come so far,
because there’s not going to be any wedding tonight.”
It had not been her intention for the ending to come out in a screech, but somehow it did.

Having said that, she pivoted on her heel and strode to the kitchen.

Zach followed her.

“Does this mean you’ve changed your mind and won’t marry me?” he asked as soon as the kitchen door swung shut.

With arms akimbo, Rose turned and glared at him. “I said
tonight
! How dare you invite all of your relatives to a wedding I knew nothing about? I presume that
is
all of them.”

“Every last one of ’em.”

“Well, you can get ’every last one of ’em’ out of here right now.”

“Shhh, Rose, they’ll hear you.”

“Good! It’s time they’re enlightened to the fact that you are the worst lying, sneaking, lowdown no-gooder I’ve ever met.”

“I only wanted to surprise you.”

“Surprise me? Surprise me!” She felt almost out of control. “You can surprise a woman by asking her to marry you, but you don’t
surprise
her with her own wedding. Don’t you know a woman dreams of her wedding day? She plans every detail of it. A string quartet playing soft music, the fragrance of orange blossoms in the air—
not
the smell of roast beef,” she declared, sniffing the kitchen odor. “She sees herself on the arm of her husband, surrounded by loving family and friends, and she’s wearing a beautiful white wedding gown with a long veil and satin bows like those in a catalog.”

“You’re as beautiful to me in that ruby gown as you’d be in any fancy white gown, honey. And I can guarantee you’d be surrounded by a loving family. My family all love you. I’m sorry there’s no orange blossoms, but my cousin Kitty made you a lovely bouquet of Texas bluebonnets. And we may not have a string quartet, but we do have a vocal one: my Aunt Honey’s agreed to play her guitar, and Thia, Beth, and Angie are going to sing with her.”

“When you were making all those arrangements, I don’t suppose you happened to remember a wedding ring.”

“Of course I did.” He dug a ring and a gold locket out of his pocket. “My mom wants you to have this locket. It’s her only keepsake and belonged to her mother. Mom hopes that one day it will be passed on to our children. She thought it could be the ‘something old’ for you to wear.” He fastened it around her neck.

Having vent her initial anger, now, try as she might, she couldn’t sustain it. He was so adorably contrite. And everyone seemed to have gone to a lot of trouble to make it special. But he was still wrong not to have discussed it with her before bringing his whole family to Brimstone. In a way, it was kind of sweet.
Sweet but stupid.

“I’m sorry, honey. All I could think of was getting you roped and hog-tied so you couldn’t run away again. I didn’t stop to think that naturally you’d want to plan your own wedding. I’m an inconsiderate, stupid fool.”

“That you are, Zach.”

“I’ll go in and tell them the wedding’s off until you can plan it right and proper. We’ll make this an engagement party.”

“No, we won’t,” she declared as he started to leave.

He turned to her with a questioning look. “You mean you don’t want that, either? Rosie, even Billings went to a lot of trouble for this.”

“Mr. Billings was in on it, too?”

“Uh-huh. Can’t you smell it cooking?”

“So now, after everyone has gone to all this trouble and has come all this way for a wedding, your whole family’s going to think I’m rude and ungrateful.”

“No, Rosie, they’ll understand. They’re all great people, and they already love you, because they know I love you. That’s probably difficult to understand, but that’s the way we MacKenzies are—every last one of us. Once we’re married, you’ll see that for yourself.”

Confused by conflicting emotions, she’d already begun to falter. “Then that makes me appear even
more
ungrateful for their love and loyalty.”

“Honey, it’s your privilege to have the kind of wedding you want without worrying what my family thinks about it. I want our wedding to be the happiest day of your life. We’ll hold off until we can arrange the kind of wedding day you’ve always dreamed about.

“Well . . . I suppose it doesn’t really matter what a woman wears when she gets married. It doesn’t make her any less married, does it?”

“That’s beside the point. A bride should have the kind of wedding she’s always dreamed about.”

He was really beginning to irritate her. How had the rogue turned the tables on her? Now she was the one trying to convince him. “Dammit it, Zach, I’m the bride. I ought to know what I want. I’ve changed my mind.”

“You changed my mind, too, Rosie. The more I think of it, the better it sounds. I can imagine how beautiful that red hair of yours will look against a white veil.”

“Too late, Zach—because the gown I’m wearing is the one I’m getting married in.
Tonight. This
is my wedding.”

“It’s mine, too, isn’t it? Don’t I have anything to say on the subject?”

“We’ll just see about that!” She surprised him by snatching his Colt out of the holster. “You aren’t going to make a fool of me in front of your whole family, Zach MacKenzie. They came here for a wedding, and they’re going to see one.”

He suddenly broke into laughter.

“What’s so funny?”

“History repeating itself—except it was my dad who forced my mother at gunpoint to marry him.”

Rose couldn’t help grinning. “The little I’ve seen of your parents, I doubt it took that much
forcing
.”

He took the Colt from her and slipped it back into its holster. Then he cupped her cheeks in his hands, and stared down at her with that little-boy earnestness that always made her want to hug him.

“Are you sure this is what you really want to do, honey?”

Rose looked up at him. His eyes were warm and compelling, his mouth softened in a smile. “Sweetheart, those things I mentioned—like fancy gowns and veils—were just trimmings. I never told you what the most important thing was in my wedding dreams.”

“What is it?”

She slid her arms around his neck. “To marry the man I love.”

“Even if he’s not a rich man?” He slipped his arms around her waist.

“Ah, but the man I love is very rich: he has the richness of a loving family.”

Zach smiled down tenderly. “And even greater fortune he has your love, Rosie. No other man has that wealth.” His kiss was unbelievably gentle, and said so much about this man she loved.

Joy bubbled in her laughter as he swept her up in his arms. “So what are we waiting for, Rosie love? We’re holding up the wedding.”

Laughing, Zach burst through the kitchen door carrying his future bride.

The mix of voices ceased instantly, and all stared with surprise and confusion.

Garnet MacKenzie was the first to grasp the meaning. With a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, she exclaimed, “Oh, my! It would appear Zach has inherited his father’s tactics when it comes to getting a woman to agree to marry him.”

Flint’s usually impassive face broke into a wide grin of approval.

“Yep, that’s our boy, Redhead!” he said, swelling with pride.

“With one difference,” Luke said beside him, and winked at Cleve.

“And just what would that be, Big Brother?” Flint asked.

“What he means, Brother Flint,” Cleve replied, “is that at least your son doesn’t have to use a shotgun to get the bride to say yes.”

Flint cast a droll glance at his younger brother. “It was only a Colt, Little Brother. Just a li’l old Colt.”

The MacKenzie brothers broke into laughter, and Honey, Garnet, and Adriana MacKenzie combined their lilting laughter with that of their husbands.

Cynthia MacKenzie Kincaid added hers as she looked up into the brown eyes of her husband, David, who’d begun whistling and applauding.

Angeleen MacKenzie Gifford’s laughter blended with her beloved Giff’s, and she snuggled contentedly against his firm body. He kissed the top of her head and tightened his embrace.

Elizabeth MacKenzie Carrington blushed with pleasure as her husband, Jake, ceased cheering long enough to bend down and whisper an intimate message in her ear.

Clapping and hooting, Josh shouted, “Way to go, cousin!” He winked at his younger cousin Cole, then slid an arm around Emily’s waist and drew her closer.

Cole MacKenzie added his whistle and applause and hugged his cousin, Kitty.

Squealing with happiness, Kate, Melanie, Aubrey, and Andrea hugged each other, each hoping that one day she, too, would experience such a happy moment.

Everett Billings dabbed a sentimental tear from the corner of his eye, then glanced anxiously at the clock and hoped they’d get on with the ceremony before the beef roast overcooked.

Zach gazed with adoration at the woman in his arms. “See what you’re getting into, Rosie?”

Rose, her eyes sparkling with happiness, whispered back, “I love you, my darling.” Listening to the sound of the heartfelt jubilation that filled the room, she added, “And I love the whole MacKenzie family, too.”

She looked up into the adoring gaze of the man she loved. “Every last one of them.”