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black-and-white cowhide sofa in the formal living room at the JH Ranch. She raised a cold glass of sweet tea to her lips and took a sip. “I had new photos taken to show you.” The ice cubes rattled in the tall glass as she set it on the coffee table. “But they aren’t ready yet.” Nathan said his mother lied about putting the photographs in the mailbox. Daisy hadn’t ever seemed like a liar to Becca. She was a professional. Why would she lie? Why would Nathan lie? It was crazy. Maybe the knock on his head had given him a concussion and memory loss.
    “That’s okay.” Sadie pointed to a photo of a model with loose curls and a waterfall braid in back. “I like this one. It’s pretty and informal.”
    “I like that one for you, too. It fits the wedding and your dress. It’s relaxed and gorgeous with or without a veil.” Sadie had chosen a simple filigree and pearl comb and single layer cathedral veil. “I can tuck your headpiece into the hair at your crown.” The wedding was scheduled to take place in the big backyard, with the reception directly afterward in the bunkhouse. It wouldn’t have been Becca’s first choice in venues, but the more she knew Sadie, the more it fit her. And Vince, too. He was a no-fuss kind of man. He scowled and frowned a lot, but he was a regular sweetheart. “Is Vince around?”
    Sadie shook her head and her gaze slid away. “No. He’s not home. He’s probably checking out my surprise wedding present. I think it’s just about ready.”
    “I take it the surprise isn’t a surprise.”
    Sadie shook her head and her straight blond hair fell over her bare shoulder and strap of her orange tank top. “He’s having my mother’s 1966 Cadillac restored down at Parrish’s auto body shop.”
    “The long red car?”
    Sadie smiled. “He had it painted red?”
    Becca sucked in a breath and covered her mouth with her fingers. “You didn’t know?”
    Sadie leaned back against the cowhide sofa and laughed. “No.” Light from the big antler chandelier shined in her blue eyes.
    “I feel horrible. I thought it wasn’t a surprise.”
    “It isn’t.” Sadie took a sip of her tea, then set the glass on an end table next to a portrait of her deceased daddy, Clive Hollowell. He looked as mean in the picture as he had in real life. “Vince doesn’t know that I know, but you really can’t haul a big car like that out of the barn without it being noticed.” She set Becca’s portfolio on the sofa between them. “Please don’t let on that I know about the surprise. It’s very sweet of him.”
    Becca nodded and took a drink of her tea. “He’s a sweet guy.” Sadie laughed and crossed one long leg over the other. She was a beautiful woman, and Becca figured that Sadie should thank her lucky stars and god or goddess of her choice that she resembled her beauty queen mother and not her grouchy daddy. “I think you’ll like it.” Although Becca didn’t particularly care for old—or classic, rather—cars, the paint shone like a cherry apple in the sun.
    “When did you see it?”
    “Today.” She took another drink then. “I had to run to Parrish American Classics before I came out here. Daisy took some photos for me, but there was mix-up and they weren’t there. That’s why I was a little late this afternoon.” She was also a little late because she’d stood in Nathan Parrish’s house, watching droplets of water run down his spine to the waistband of his underwear. She could have stood there all day and watched him blow water from his lips and shake his head and fling droplets around the kitchen. She could have watched him pull his T-shirt down his hard chest and flat belly just above his spiky belt a few more times, too. And for those few moments while she’d stood in his kitchen, she’d forgotten all about the photographs and her portfolio and that that she was a busy girl and time was money. She’d forgotten that she wasn’t there to look into his eyes and breathe in