âIt wasnât my intention to rope you into a wedding.â
âWhy didnât you tell me you were expecting in the first place, Daisy? Whyâd you leave?â
âI left because it was Crazy Town around here. I wasnât sure what I wanted to do.â
âItâs always Crazy Town. You canât expect BC to change, Daisy.â
âI didnât tell you, because you shouldnât feel compelled to marry me. I donât need a husband.â
âAnd yet, youâre going to have a husband.â John frowned at her. âDaisy Donovan, youâre going to marry me, next weekend as a matter of fact. Enough lollygagging and floating around. Iâve pursued you for years, and whether you want to admit it or not, youâve enjoyed being the princess of my passion.â
She raised a brow. âIâm not getting married.â
Chapter One
John Lopez âSquintâ Mathison came roaring into town with Daisy Donovan on the back of his motorcycle, making all the good citizens of Bridesmaids Creek, Texas, buzz like bees in a beehive. The five men who were in love with Daisyâher gang, consisting of Carson Dare, Gabriel Conyers, Clint Shanahan, Red Holmes and Dig Baileyâfollowed behind them in a truck, with Daisyâs infamous motorcycle secured in the truck bed.
It was a very strange sight not to see Daisy riding her own bike. No one could remember ever seeing her on the back of someone elseâs, and the gossip flew fast and thick.
Squint was ready to see the last of Daisyâs gang. And maybe even Daisy herself, despite the fact that sheâd once possessed his heart and his romantic dreams.
What heâd been thinking, he wasnât certain.
She was completely wild, as everyone in Bridesmaids Creek had always tried to warn him.
The trouble was, heâd made love to Daisy Donovan while they were in Montana, in a weak moment when he shouldnât have let his stupid heart outstrip his good sense.
Making love to Daisy had been even more mind-bending than he could have ever imagined. Then the five Romeos had blown into Montana to retrieve their small-town wild child princess, and Squint had seen that they wereâhimself includedâall dopes dangling after a prize they couldnât win.
At that moment, heâd decided to come back to Bridesmaids Creek, check in on his buddies and shift off to the rodeo. After the rodeo, if his heart was still bleeding, he thought maybe heâd get a job teaching ROTC or something, somewhere far away. Heâd make those decisions as soon as Valentineâs Day was past, although he couldnât have said why Cupidâs Big Day was his marker for a quiet exit.
Daisy hopped off the bike as soon as he came to a stop in front of the main house at the Hanging H Ranch. âThanks for the ride.â
âNo problem.â
âIt was great seeing the country from a motorcycle. No windows to block the view.â She shook her long, dark locks out of her helmet. âBut itâs wonderful to be home.â
He nodded and headed into the kitchen to find his friendsâthe men that he could always count on to talk sense into him. Daisy followed, which was a surprise. Wherever Daisy went, so did her love-struck gang, so they came, too.
âIâm so glad to be back in BC,â Daisy said, and Squint started. âMontana is beautiful, but after a while, I began craving the comforts of small-town life.â
This was news to him. Squint wished he hadnât fallen head, heels and heart for Daisy, and had put plenty of distance between him and her gang perching at the kitchen island. The gang gathered around the kitchen island, which had over the years become the communal gathering place and feed bag summit. No one ever knocked on the back door of the Hanging H; they just let themselves in.
If you werenât family or friend, you rang the front doorbellânot a good sign in a small town where everyone knew everybody else, and their business. Ringing the front bell meant you were an outsider.