Randall Pride

With a wave, he walked with the cousins.

“Hey, we didn’t have a chance to ask last night,” Rich began. “You haven’t told us about any of the women.”

“What women?” Toby asked, his mind on Elizabeth.

“The women that chase all the rodeo guys,” Russ explained.

Toby shrugged his shoulders. “There’s not much to tell.”

“Come on, Toby!” Rich protested. “Don’t tell me you’ve lived like a monk all these years.”

Toby knew his cousins would be shocked if he told them how seldom he’d indulged in feminine company…and how dissatisfying those few encounters had been. “Guys, those women are like the ones who hang out in a bar hoping to pick up a man for the night.”

Russ frowned, considering his words. Rich grinned. “Some of them aren’t so bad.”

“Yeah, but do you want one of them as mother to your children?”

Rich frowned then. “Of course not! But one night doesn’t make a marriage.”

“Depends on whether or not you’re lucky, friend,” Toby pointed out. “If you play with fire, you can get burned.”

“You sound like Dad,” Rich protested.

“Uncle Pete is a pretty smart man. Besides, there are some great ladies around here.”

“I haven’t seen you courting anyone,” Rich said. “I think you’re just saving all those models for yourself.”

“Models aren’t interested in settling down.”

“That’s the good part,” Rich explained. “Neither am I.”

Toby chuckled and shook his head. He’d try to knock some sense into Rich’s head later.

“Toby?”

The feminine voice brought him to an immediate stop. He’d recognize Elizabeth’s tones anywhere. Turning slowly, he said, “Yes, Elizabeth?”

“Could I talk to you a minute?”

“How about after I clean up?”

“It won’t take long.”

She had an anxious look on her face, and he couldn’t reject her. So much for being strong. “Yeah, sure. I’ll be in in a minute, guys.”

There was a bench on the porch of the Pad. Without any urging on his part, Elizabeth sat down. She was still wearing the blue-jean jumper and pale blue blouse she’d worn to school that morning. Her blue eyes looked huge.

He put a booted foot on the bench but didn’t sit down. He didn’t trust himself to get that close. “What is it?”

“Uh, I’m supposed to— You’re really staying?”

Toby drew a deep breath, taking in her sweet scent. His hands tingled with the desire to touch her, to press her against him and tell her he’d stay forever if she wanted him to.

But ever since he’d realized, the summer she turned sixteen, that his feelings for Elizabeth weren’t cousinly, he’d fought them. Elizabeth was his cousin, even if not by blood. His father would be horrified if he admitted the truth. And the one thing in life he wanted to accomplish was to make Jake proud. Not shame him.

“Why do you want to know?”

She gave him a funny stare. “But you said—”

“Okay, I’m staying, at least for a while. What do you want?”

“Abby—you remember Abby Gaylord, don’t you?”

“Yeah.” He was getting impatient. It was draining to resist Elizabeth and he was already tired. Who cared about Abby Gaylord?

“She wanted me to ask you— We have the Halloween festival for the area, remember, at school?”

“Yeah!” he snapped, wondering where this was going.

Elizabeth stood and crossed her arms over her chest. “You don’t have to growl at me. I’m asking you because Abby asked me to.”

“What? What are you asking me?” he persisted, trying to sound like a reasonable man when she was driving him crazy.

“She wondered if you’d sign autographs for a dollar and give the money to the teachers’ fund.”

The teachers’ fund? That hadn’t been what Toby expected. “What’s the teachers’ fund?”

“We try to make money each year and give a scholarship to a deserving student. And the rest is used to buy cards, or goodbye gifts, or flowers for funerals, things like that.”

“Are you a member?”

“Of course I am. Will you do it?”

“I don’t usually charge for autographs.”

“But it’s for a good cause.”

With a sigh, he said, “Yeah, okay.” As he took his foot down and turned to go in the Pad, she stopped him again.

“Wait!”

“What? I agreed.”

“I know but—but Abby had another idea.”

He thought she seemed even more reluctant about the second idea than she had the first. Warily, he asked what the second idea was.

“She wants to hold a raffle.”

Toby frowned. “What does that have to do with me?”

“Um…you’re the prize.” She stared at him, wariness in her eyes.

He exploded. “What? I’m not a prize. What are you talking about?”

The door opened and Rich and Russ, fresh from their showers, stepped out on the porch. “Wow, Elizabeth, you must be in big trouble if it takes you this long to convince Toby to get you out of hot water,” Russ said with a grin.

“I’m not in trouble!”

“You sure? You’re still engaged to that, uh, to Cleve, aren’t you?” Rich pointed out.

“That has nothing to do with what we’re talking about.”

“Okay,” Rich continued. “But I was going to offer to help if that was what you wanted.”

“Go away!” Elizabeth shouted at them.

“Why don’t you ask one of them to do the raffle,” Toby suggested. “I don’t want to hog all the fun.”

“What raffle?” Russ asked.

“It’s for the Halloween festival,” Elizabeth explained.

But Toby knew she was in a difficult position. She didn’t want to hurt her cousins’ feelings by telling them they weren’t important enough for the raffle. She shifted her gaze to Toby, as if asking him to get her out of the bind, but he just smiled and waited.

A sudden glint in her eye alarmed him, however. She no longer was looking helpless. “You’re right, Toby. You should all get the same treatment. We’ll have a bachelor auction, and you can all participate.”

“Wait a minute. What do you mean a bachelor auction?” Russ questioned. “I’m not ready to get married.”

“Don’t be silly,” Elizabeth said with a smile directed at Toby. “You’ll each provide a picnic dinner and whoever pays for your picnic will share it with you. It’s the reversal of what women used to do to raise money.”

“You won’t have anyone volunteer for that,” Toby assured her.

“But you’re only committed for a picnic dinner and we’ll raise a lot of money. You’ll do it, guys, won’t you?” Elizabeth asked sweetly, smiling at them. “It’s for a good cause.”

“Aw, I guess,” Russ agreed, “since it’s for a good cause. If Red will agree to fix the dinners for us.”

“I’m sure he will,” Elizabeth said with a smile. “You will, too, won’t you, Rich?”

The second twin nodded, a rueful smile on his lips.

“And Toby? Unless, of course, you feel you’re too important to participate.”

He was ready to wring her neck. She’d trapped him into agreeing with her plan or look like a jerk to his cousins.

“Well, Toby?” she prodded.

“Yeah, sure. Now can I go get cleaned up before dinner is ready?”

“Yes, thank you. I’ll tell Abby you’re volunteering.” She smiled before turning and hurrying to the main house.

“You know, this kind of sounds like fun,” Russ said, grinning. “It saves us the trouble of finding a date, but it guarantees we won’t end the evening alone.”

“Maybe,” Rich agreed. “It depends on who bids for my picnic basket.”

“Hey, if they think Red made the food, they’ll all bid for it.”

“You idiot!” Rich said with a hoot of laughter. “Women don’t care about the food. They just want to jump your bones.”

“Even better,” Russ said. “Right, Toby?”

Toby still had his gaze fixed on the back door of the house where Elizabeth had disappeared.

“Uh, yeah. Right.” He’d even be okay with the idea if Elizabeth were one of the ladies bidding. He’d pray for luck. But she wouldn’t be. She was engaged. Maybe she’d even be married by then.

“I’m going in to shower. Save me some food.”

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