Cowboy Seeks Perfect Wife. Linda Lewis

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СКАЧАТЬ it. Tomorrow you’re finding someplace else. Understand?”

      “You don’t have to shout,” she yelled.

      “I never shout,” he yelled back, slamming the door shut.

      

      Rafe stared at the bedroom door he’d run for, the minute Sidonie started her striptease. Except she hadn’t been teasing. She’d been playing to win, and she had succeeded. She was sleeping in his house. Only for one night, sure, but that was bound to be one night too many. If anyone found out, and odds were that someone would, the good people of Proffit County would have a new episode to add to the saga of Rafe McMasters. They’d talk and talk about him and the redheaded temptress who now sat triumphantly behind the closed bedroom door.

      They’d think he hadn’t changed at all.

      Tugging his tie from around his neck, Rafe paused at the door to his room. He’d been getting ready for bed himself when he’d heard someone drive up. He glanced at his watch. That was only half an hour ago. He’d been tired, ready for sleep, until she’d shown up and attacked him.

      Now he was wide-awake. With a disgusted groan he turned on his bare heel and walked through the house to the front room. Heading for the window, he pulled the curtains back and looked up the hill opposite the house. He could see the dark outline of his house silhouetted against the night sky.

      A fierce sense of pride filled him. He’d done it! It had taken fifteen long years, countless hours of hard work and a little luck, but he was finally back where he belonged. The land had been the first step. No one in his family had ever owned his own land. Beginning with his great-grandfather, the first McMasters to settle in Proffit County, the men in his family had worked for other men all their lives. Rafe had vowed to change that, and he was well on his way to succeeding.

      Over the years he’d bought the land, a few acres at a time. Now he owned a good part of the county— enough land to challenge Emmet Clancy for the title of biggest rancher in the area. But that was only the first step in executing his lifelong plan. Rafe glanced at his house on the hill again. In a few months he’d be living in the biggest and best house in the county. After that he needed only one thing to reach his goal. A wife.

      For years Rafe had planned on becoming a rancher, a respected member of the community, marrying a woman who knew what it meant to be a rancher’s wife. He’d almost realized his goal years ago, when Cathy Sue Clancy had agreed to marry him, but then—

      With a muttered oath Rafe stopped that line of thought. No guilt, no regrets. He’d find another woman, someone with the all the right qualities. Together they would raise a family and build a solid, respectable life together. His mouth curved in a sardonic smile. He could kiss that part of his plan goodbye, unless he could get Sidonie out of the house, and fast. No self-respecting woman—no lady—would keep company with a man living with a chorus girl.

      He knew all about Sidonie. People still talked about her and her mother, the Las Vegas showgirl Buck had married thirty years ago. Almost as much as they talked about him.

      Sidonie could call herself a dancer all she wanted to, but he knew darn well she only danced in the chorus. That made her a chorus girl. A tightening in his loins forced him to admit Sidonie was well endowed with all the talent needed for that job—long legs, sensuous curves and clear blue eyes filled with seductive promises. If he wasn’t looking to settle down, she’d be exactly the kind of woman he’d enjoy getting to know—in the Biblical sense. But he’d sown all his wild oats years ago. No more flings for him, no matter how tempting his unwelcome guest.

      Even if his feet weren’t firmly set on the road to respectability, a man would think twice before getting involved with someone like Sidonie. Look what a dancing girl had done to Buck Saddler. Broken his heart, that’s what. After only a few years of being a rancher’s wife, Belle had left him for the bright lights of Broadway, taking Sidonie with her. After that, they hadn’t stayed put in any one place for long.

      Buck had shown him postcards and playbills from every major and not so major American city, and more than a few European ones. Belle and Sidonie had traveled all over the world. Rafe suppressed the sudden twinge of envy caused by visions of London and Paris. Looking up the hill at his house, he concentrated hard on why he’d come back to Proffit County. He’d seen some of the world himself—mostly corporate boardrooms and luxury hotels, now that he thought about it. But there would be time to travel again, once he had his plan fully realized.

      First he had to get rid of Sidonie.

      His reputation would have sent any other female running for cover, but Sidonie obviously didn’t know anything about him. The one time his notoriety might have been of some use, he had to come up against a woman who’d never heard the stories about his wild and woolly youth She hadn’t run. She’d kneed him.

      He should have grabbed her by the scruff of her shapely neck and thrown her out the door. He would have, too, if her surprise attack hadn’t taken him out of the match.

      By the time he’d recovered, his brain had registered several important facts about her. One, Sidonie Saddler was the daughter of the best friend he’d ever had in Proffit County. Two, she was injured.

      And three, she could give a ninety-year-old eunuch erotic dreams.

       Chapter Two

      Sidonie was awakened by a cold nose and a whine. She got up and let the dog out the front door, then looked for her reluctant host. Rafe McMasters was nowhere to be found but he’d left an envelope addressed to her on the kitchen table. It contained a check for a thousand dollars and a brief note. “Happy house hunting.” He’d signed it “McMasters.”

      Sidonie tore up the note, but she folded the check and put it in her handbag. Lease money went to Judge Longstreet for deposit into her trust account. After she fed the dog a can of chili she found in the pantry, Sidonie returned to her bedroom.

      Her single suitcase rule didn’t allow for many clothes, so her wardrobe consisted mostly of rehearsal outfits—leotards, tights, shorts and slacks. She unpacked, hanging her colorful clothes—she favored primary colors over pastels—in her old closet. While stashing her underwear in the dresser, she found several pairs of faded jeans folded in the bottom drawer, along with a couple of Western shirts. Neither her old clothes nor her current wardrobe coordinated with the black plastic brace.

      The brace was standing in the corner of her bedroom. She left it there. She had to go to town, and she couldn’t wear the hateful thing when she drove. She topped a chrome yellow leotard and matching tights with a turquoise wraparound skirt that ended a few inches above her knees. As soon as she’d dressed, she returned to the kitchen.

      “Come on, pup.” The small dog licked the last of the chili from its mouth and followed Sidonie to the pickup.

      Once they were on their way, Sidonie looked at the dog. “The fuddy-duddy was right about one thing. You need a name.” Scratching the dog behind the ear, she thought for a moment. “Gypsy. You’re a gypsy, like me. That’s what I’ll call you.”

      She dropped Gypsy off at the vet’s, then headed for the Proffit County Courthouse and Judge Tyler Longstreet’s courtroom.

      “Well, well, well, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes!” Judge Longstreet enveloped Sidonie in a bear hug and led her СКАЧАТЬ