Bachelor Available!

Emily looked at Cody and it wasn’t at all the way Jessica had looked at him. Somehow he felt as if Emily really saw him.

She smiled. “It’s hard, isn’t it.” Her voice was soft and intimate, so appealing that it took him a moment to respond.

“What’s hard?”

“Answering all these personal questions.” She wrinkled her pert little nose. “I mean, it’s hard unless you sit around all day thinking deep thoughts about your life. Do you?”

He laughed, feeling some of his tension drain away. “Not too often. Guess you don’t, either.”

She made a rueful little face before turning back to the paper before her. Cody did likewise.

Ideal Partner Would Be, “A good old down-home country girl without pretensions,” he wrote. What I’m Seeking In A Relationship: love and marriage.

Last question. Describe Yourself In Your Own Words. He scowled at the paper for a long time, finally writing a single word: tall.

Emily had finished the questionnaire well before Cody but hadn’t been satisfied with her answers. Going back over what she’d written, though, she couldn’t find anything worth changing.

What difference did it make? It was all a pack of lies anyway. Still, she’d instinctively asked for more time when Wanda appeared. She didn’t need it but had a sinking feeling that she wasn’t going to like what came next.

Wanda reappeared a few minutes later, bustling over to the table with her eyes twinkling. “There,” she said, scooping up the questionnaires, “that wasn’t so hard, now was it?”

Cody groaned, which made Emily smile. She hadn’t enjoyed it, either.

Wanda pursed her lips. “Now, now, I know we ask a lot of nosy questions, but the computer needs to know!”

“I suppose.” Cody rose, stretching his lanky frame. “Now what?”

“Why, now we take a couple of pictures.”

“Pictures?” Emily didn’t much like the sound of that. She didn’t like having her picture taken because she thought the result never looked like her.

“It’s a very simple procedure,” Wanda assured her. “The camera is all set up. I just plunk you down on the stool and say, ‘Smile!’”

“And then what happens?” Cody asked again. “When will you have news for us?”

Wanda frowned thoughtfully. “Tomorrow,” she announced, “unless George gets temperamental on me.”

“Tomorrow!” Emily was astonished. “I wouldn’t even think that would give you time to put our information in the computer, let alone get the results.”

For the first time, Wanda looked flustered. “I’m very good with computers,” she said defensively. “I know I didn’t grow up with them the way you young people did, but—”

“Oh, Wanda, I didn’t mean...” Emily hesitated, chewing on her lower lip. She wouldn’t hurt this nice lady’s feelings for the world. “I only meant that I didn’t think anybody could work that fast. If you can, then I applaud you.”

The old lady seemed to recover herself. “I guess I’m touchy about my age,” she confided. “When George was installed, it took me forever to learn to get along with him. For a while there, I thought I might actually lose my job.”

“Hey,” Cody said, “you’re not the only one with computer problems. Those blamed things can be more trouble than they’re worth sometimes.”

“You know, they really can.” Wanda gave him a grateful glance. “Let’s go get those pictures and then you can both run along. I’m sure you have many more important things to do today.”

Cody grinned. “This is the most important thing I’ve got to do, period. As far as I’m concerned, you can take all the time you need.”

He and Wanda turned expectantly to Emily. Cornered, she could only smile and agree. Even if it wasn’t true. None of this had the least bit of importance to her. Except, of course, that she didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.

Or get involved.

From: [e-mail]

Sent: Monday, Nov. 2, 7:42 p.m.

To: [e-mail]

Subject: Hold your horses!

Calm down, will you, Terry? I said I’d go to the Yellow Rose and I did. Answered the usual nosy questions, had my picture taken, the whole nine yards. The lady I dealt with, Wanda Roland, is really nice. I also met a really cute guy. Almost makes me sorry this isn’t for real. :-((Not really.) I’ll let you know if and when I get matched, but in the meantime... Yellow Rose Matchmakers is located in a beautiful old Victorian house in a quiet and shady neighborhood...

CHAPTER TWO

From: [e-mail]

Sent: Tuesday, Nov. 3, 6:30 a.m.

To: [e-mail]

Subject: Good girl!

I knew I could count on you, Emmy. Sorry if I pushed. Here’s a rose as a peace offering: @)->—>—Okay, down to business. Wanda Roland is in my notes and I want to know more about her, especially how she gets on with the computers. There seems to be some question about this “completely computerized” claim. Also, be sure to keep me posted on your adventures with the “really cute guy”....

EMILY downloaded her E-mail from her laptop computer first thing Tuesday morning and read Terry’s note at the breakfast table while Laurie looked on with ill-concealed curiosity. When she’d finished the message, Emily wadded it into a ball, which she tossed on the floor for her yellow cat, Archie, to bat around.

“I’m dying of curiosity!” Laurie announced. “What did he say?”

“He who?” Emily reached for her glass of orange juice, trying to compose herself. She wished to heaven she’d never mentioned the “really cute guy”.

“C’mon, that E-mail was from Terry, right? What did that con man want this time?”

“That’s no way to talk about my cousin,” Emily said primly, but she couldn’t help smiling. She’d called him worse herself, but blood was still thicker than water.

“Don’t forget, I know the guy,” Laurie said darkly. “Old Anything-for-a-scoop Kirkwood.”

“Give him a break. This is a new job and he’s trying to make good.” Emily uttered an exasperated sigh. “Do you realize you’ve made me defend him? I must be nuts.”

“You sure are, after he basically blackmailed you into helping him research this story. He tried to pull the same stunt with me but he didn’t have anything to hold over my head.” Laurie took a sip of coffee. She was already dressed for work although she’d come in quite late the night before. This was the first chance the roommates had had to talk since breakfast yesterday.

“He didn’t have to blackmail me,” Emily said. “You know I owed him after he saved my father’s life in that boating accident. I can never repay him for that.”

“No, Em, your father can never repay him for that. Or couldn’t—I guess now that he’s dead, it kind of gets both of you off the hook.”

“Really? Then why do I feel so beholden?”

Laurie shrugged. “Because you’re one of the good guys,” she said with a smile. “You’d probably help Terry even if he wasn’t your cousin and you didn’t think you owed him.” She grinned and added, “But it’s still blackmail!”

“You could be right.”

Laurie returned to the main point. “Was Terry happy you’ve been to the Yellow Rose?”

Emily nodded. “My...counselor or whatever you call her is a delightful old lady named Wanda Roland. I mentioned her in my E-mail to Terry yesterday and he’s apparently heard of her. He wants to know all about her and how she gets along with computers.”

“That sounds innocent enough.”

“Yes, except...there’s something funny about Wanda and computers.”

“Funny ha-ha or funny strange?”

“Definitely funny strange. She talks about using them, even boasts about how computerized the company is, but she touches her computer the way I’d touch a snake.”

“Not with love, huh.”

“Definitely not.” Emily frowned. “She calls her computer George.”

“That is peculiar. Most computers I know are named Max.” Laurie laughed. “So did anything else happen yesterday, except that you met a strange little old lady?”

“Well...” Don’t go on, Emily warned herself. Don’t mention Cody James. She’d never see him again, so why bring him up? “I...uh...” She licked her lips, surprised at the unexpected desire to talk about him. “I met a really good-looking man. I mean, really.”

“Better-looking than John?”

“Much better-looking.”

Laurie rubbed her hands together with glee. “Now we’re getting down to brass tacks!”

“But I don’t want to get down to brass tacks. After John, I’m not in the market for a man, as you well know.”

For a moment, Laurie frowned at her friend. Then she shook her head sadly. “Emily Kirkwood, I don’t understand you at all. Just because your former fiance was a louse doesn’t mean they all are. Every woman without a man is in the market for one, preferably the right one, of course.”

“That’s just it. You never know if he’s the right one until it’s too late. And he doesn’t know if you’re the right one, either.”

Laurie winked broadly. “Half the fun’s in finding out.”

“No, thank you very much. I’m only doing this to help my cousin research a magazine article so he can make good at his job. I’m definitely not looking for a relationship.”

“You’re sure about that?”

Emily lifted her chin. “Absolutely sure.”

But if she was looking for a relationship—she pulled such thoughts up short. She had to forget Cody James and go to work! With any luck, today would not be the day she heard from Wanda Roland. In fact, if Emily was really lucky, Wanda wouldn’t find a match anywhere inside that darned computer.

Cody was surprised to find his niece, ten-year-old Liana, at the lunch table when he came in from running longhorns on the north forty. “What you doin’ home from school, shrimp?” he inquired, ruffling her straight dark hair.

Her mother, Elena, scowled from her spot before the built-in cooktop. Most family meals at the Flying J were taken in the large kitchen with everyone clustered around the big round oak table. The ranch hands ate at the chuck wagon, their own “café” staffed with a cook who made her way to the ranch each day from a nearby farm. Cody and his brother, Ben, Elena’s husband, were as likely to eat the midday meal at one place as the other.

“Liana woke up this morning claiming to be sick,” Elena said. “Silly me, I believed her.”

Liana’s lower lip thrust out in a pout. “I am sick,” she whined. “I mean, I was, only now I feel better. Can I go out with Uncle Cody this afternoon, Mama? Can I?”

“No way.” Elena used a spatula to dish up grilled steak-and-cheese sandwiches to augment the tomato soup already steaming in mugs. “If you’re sick enough to stay home from school, you’re too sick to get out of bed.”

“I’m out of bed now,” Liana argued, snatching a golden triangle off the platter when her mother set it down.

“Meals don’t count. As soon as you finish...” Elena pointed toward the door leading to the stairs, which in turn led to the bedrooms.

“Uncle Cody!”

“Sorry, cupcake, your mother’s right.” He settled into his seat and warmed his hands around the mug of soup. It was chillier than usual out there today.

Elena smiled, her beautiful white teeth flashing. Ben had found a real jewel in her. “That’s what I like about you, Cody,” she said. “You never let them get the best of you.”

Cody winked at Liana. “Never?”

Elena laughed. “Not that I know of anyway. So tell me, how did it go yesterday at the Yellow Rose?”

“All right,” he said in a noncommittal tone. Although his entire family knew all about his decision to go wife-hunting, he felt uncharacteristically shy about yesterday.

Elena’s brows rose. “You mean...?”

Just then, Ben entered through the back door, yanking off his denim jacket and tossing it onto a hook beside the door. “I’m hungry enough to eat a horse,” the manager and co-owner of the Flying J declared. He paused long enough to drop a kiss on his wife’s cheek on his way to wash up.

Watching them together, smiling and happy after twelve years of marriage, Cody felt envy start to boil in his chest. He fought it down valiantly. That was why he’d taken his courage in hand and gone to Yellow Rose Matchmakers; he wanted what Ben and Elena had. That included little Liana, grinning after her tall father with adoration in her eyes, and eight-year-old Jimmy, who was at school.

Elena smiled at her husband’s broad back. “I was asking your brother how it went at the matchmaker’s yesterday.”

Ben grinned over his shoulder, busily splashing his hands beneath the stream of water. “Yeah, Cody, tell us all about it.”

“Had to fill out a lot of junk,” Cody said. He made a face.

“Like what?” Elena pressed.

“Ah, you know—what kinda guy I am, what kinda woman I’m looking for, stuff like that.”

“Aunt Jessica was pretty,” Liana piped up.

“Yeah,” Cody agreed, “but I’m not lookin’ for another one of those. Although...”

Elena and Ben both perked up. Ben dried his hands on a dish towel and joined them at the table. “Although what?”

“Well...I met a real looker while I was there.”

Husband and wife exchanged knowing glances. “You did?” Elena asked encouragingly.

“But I’ll never see that one again. It was just a screwup over the appointments.” Cody helped himself to several sandwich halves from the platter, then reached for the jar of pickles.

“How can you be so sure?” Elena leaned forward on her elbows, apparently more interested in her brother-in-law’s love life than in lunch.

“For openers, she’s too good-looking.”

“Uncle Cody doesn’t trust pretty women,” Liana announced with youthful authority.

All three adults stared at her, dumbfounded.

Flustered, she tried to regroup. “Well, I heard him say that to Daddy one time,” she wailed.

Elena shook her head. “Little pitchers have big ears,” she announced.

Ben laughed. “Little pitchers have got the straight of it this time. Okay, little brother, she’s too good-looking. What else is wrong with her?”

“She’s not interested in marriage.”

“How can you be so sure of that?” Elena demanded.

“She said so.”

The minute he made that announcement, he realized his mistake. Jessica had consistently said one thing and meant another. Maybe this woman meant one thing and said another. In which case, Cody’s interest might not be as misplaced as he’d—

The telephone on the wall near the door began to ring and Elena went to answer it. After the briefest of conversations, she turned back with a big smile on her face. “That was a lady from Yellow Rose Matchmakers, Wanda something—”

“Wanda Roland.” Cody’s stomach clenched in the kind of anticipation he hadn’t expected to feel. “What did she say?”

“That she’s made a match for you. She wants you to come to her office this afternoon at four to hear the good news.”

“Good news? How does she know it’ll be good news? It could be a disaster. It could be—”

“Look, Daddy,” Liana said, grinning. “Uncle Cody’s scared!”

He sure was. Scared to death.

Emily was having a tough day at work. As temporary office manager for a brand-new branch of A&B Construction, she had more than enough to keep her busy. When her boss, Don Phillips, poked his head in, she had a whole list of questions for him.

Don was big and bluff and hearty, not to mention a great boss. In his mid-forties, he treated everyone who worked for A&B the same, although he was a partner in the business he’d helped build from the ground up. When all her questions had been answered and decisions made, he refilled his coffee cup and lingered.

“So how are you liking San Antonio?” he asked. “Had a chance to look around?”

“Not much. It’s pretty, though. I saw that right away.”

Don nodded. “That it is. I’m sorry I’ve been such a slave driver.”

“You haven’t! Just yesterday, I took an extra long lunch.” To go to a dating agency, but he didn’t need to know that.

He chuckled. “But you worked the entire weekend. Don’t think I wasn’t aware of it. And you work late almost every night. You’ll probably only be in San Antonio for a few months, so you need to get out and see—”

The telephone on her desk started ringing. With a nod of apology, she picked it up. “A&B Construction.”

“Is that you, Emily dear?”

“Wanda?” Surely she hadn’t made a match already! Emily’s heart fluttered.

“How flattering. You remember my voice. I’ve called to tell you that George has found a match for you already. Isn’t that good news?”

“Wonderful.”

“Yes, well, I wonder if you could come to the office at four o’clock?”

“Four o’clock today?” Emily’s mind raced, coming up with all kinds of reasons why it was impossible. “I’m afraid that’s completely out of the question. I—”

Don interrupted her. “Whatever it is, go ahead. Wasn’t I just telling you not to work so hard?”

Emily felt a touch of panic. “But—”

“Hey, who’s the boss here?” He rose, placed his coffee cup on the desk and picked up his hard hat. “Just lock up when you go and put the Back Tomorrow sign on the door.”

“Oh, Don, I really don’t want to cause anyone any inconvenience.”

“Not a problem. Just do it.”

Emily sat there with one hand over the mouthpiece. There was simply no way to get out of this. Taking a deep breath, she removed her hand and said, “All right, Wanda. I’ll be there at four.”

“That’s wonderfull See you then.” Wanda’s relief came through loud and clear.

Emily hung up, wondering at her reluctance to see this charade through to a speedy end so she could be free of her obligation. And then she remembered Cody James and realized that no matter whom George had matched her with, he was bound to be a big letdown.

Cody walked into Yellow Rose Matchmakers at 4:03 and found Emily standing in front of the receptionist with a puzzled expression on her beautiful face. He couldn’t help smiling at the pretty picture she made in her pink suit with her blond hair tousled around her face by the wind.

She saw him and did a double take. “What are you doing here?” she demanded.

Slightly taken aback by her lack of enthusiasm, he shrugged. “Wanda called. I have a four o’clock appointment.”

“Oh, dear.” Teresa grimaced. “Don’t tell me she’s done it again.”

Emily sighed. “Looks like.” To Cody, she added, “I apologize if I sounded unfriendly a minute ago. I was Just surprised to see you again, that’s all.”

“Me, too.” But for him, the surprise had been pleasant. To Teresa, he said, “Does this happen often?”

“Often? No.” She rolled her eyes. “Occasionally... yes. But Wanda has such a great instinct for matchmaking that we tend to overlook it.” She frowned. “You two aren’t upset, are you? I suppose I could always assign one or the other of you to a different mentor—that’s what we call them, mentors—maybe Miss Willie or Moira can help?”

“No!” they exclaimed in unison, then exchanged surprised glances.

Emily added, “I wouldn’t want to cause Wanda any trouble. It could happen to anyone.”

“Yeah,” Cody agreed. “Besides, I’ll be glad to let the lady go first.”

“Thank you,” Emily said firmly, “but that’s not necessary. We could...we could draw straws or something. Just because you’re a man is no reason for you to go last.”

“It’s reason enough for me,” Cody said. “My daddy didn’t bring me up to—”

“Hold on, both of you.” When Teresa had the floor, she continued, “Wanda called just a few minutes ago to say she’s running late. She’ll be here in—” she checked her watch “—about thirty-five minutes. She hopes you can both wait.”

“Oh, dear.” Emily looked positively exasperated.

“No problem,” Cody said, hoping to set a good example for patience and understanding. “Should we just wait here?” He glanced around the reception area.

“Sure, or maybe...” Teresa looked thoughtful. “There’s a coffee shop just a couple of blocks away. Maybe you’d like to kill a few minutes there and then come back about five?”

Cody looked at Emily and Emily looked at Cody, and something seemed to click; her expression softened and he knew what her answer would be before she said it.

“If it’s all right with you, Cody...?”

“I’ll drive,” he said. “See you at five, Teresa.”

Holding the door for Emily to precede him, Cody realized he didn’t mind waiting at all...with her.

“Wanna piece of pie with that coffee? It’s homemade.”

Cody looked at Emily, who smiled and shook her head. But she wasn’t surprised when he hesitated.

“What kind?”

“We got apple, cherry, lemon and...” The waitress craned her head to view the pie case behind the counter. “Looks like pumpkin, but I won’t guarantee it.”

“I’ll take a slab of apple. Could you warm that up and throw a scoop of vanilla ice cream at it?”

The waitress grinned. Cody sure knew how to warm up strangers. “Glad to do it, cowboy.” She headed for that pie case.

Emily stirred a packet of sweetener into her coffee, feeling strangely ill at ease. They hadn’t talked at all on the short ride over in the battered old red pickup truck with the big J painted on the side—with wings yet. Now the silence would have to be broken.

Cody took a gulp of hot black coffee. “Isn’t this better than sittin’ in a waiting room?” he asked rhetorically.

“Much better,” she agreed, although she wasn’t quite sure about that. “Do you have far to drive to get here?”

“Seventy-five miles or thereabouts, depending on which part of the ranch I start from.”

She was impressed. “That’s quite a drive.”

He shrugged. “I’m used to it.”

The waitress put a huge piece of steaming pie in front of him, ice cream already beginning to melt in a creamy puddle around it. He gave her a quick smile of thanks and picked up his fork.

“How about you?” he asked, the first bite hovering above the plate. “Where do you live?”

“Not far from here. I share an apartment in a converted Victorian with a friend.”

He chewed thoughtfully before answering. “Not a male friend, I take it. Otherwise you wouldn’t be here.”

“That’s a safe bet.” She looked away from those probing blue eyes at several people perched on stools at the counter.

“Why are you here?”

Rattled, she jerked back around. “You mean here at this café or there at the Yellow Rose?”

“Let’s start with the Rose.”

She licked her lips, fumbling for an answer. “All the usual reasons,” she hedged, “exactly as I said before. I’m new in town, I don’t know many people—”

“Any woman who looks like you doesn’t need to go to a dating agency to meet people, at least not to meet men people.”

That was exactly what she thought about him and women people. “If that’s a compliment, thank you.”

“It’s a compliment.”

“What about you? Why are you here?”

“Here at the café or there at the Rose?” He gave her that crooked little grin that was so charming. “I’m here because I was curious about you and wanted to know more. I’m there because I want to get married and have a passel of kids.”

“That makes sense,” she said, “I guess.”

He finished the pie, placed the fork on the plate and slid it aside. “But you said you’re not interested in marriage.”

She lifted her chin. “That’s right.”

“Why not?”

“Because there’ll be plenty of time for that later.”

“Are you one of those career women, then?”

“Not exactly. I mean, I have a job I like but I don’t see it as a career, exactly.”

“Ahh,” he said wisely, “I see.”

His tone annoyed her. “What do you see?”

“You’ve been burned. Some guy done you wrong and you’re having a hard time getting over it.”

“Why, of all the—that’s not it at all!” But it was. She’d been burned not once but twice, and two men had indeed done her wrong: the man who’d dumped her, and the man with whom her mother had run away when Emily was twelve. Both were rich and handsome and thought they could buy anything they wanted.

Unfortunately, in the case of Beverly Kirkwood, that had proven to be true. But when her lover tried to use his enormous wealth and power to gain custody of Emily, the child had dug in her heels and fought to stay with the father who had not betrayed her. The legal battles had gone on for years and left her father broken in spirit as well as financially.