Fiance Wanted

She cut her hamburger in half but he could tell she was still watching him. “This is important to you, isn’t it?”

“Hell, no!” He shrugged that suggestion away.

“In that case—”

“I meant to say, hell yes.” He didn’t want to lose her, even if he had to swallow a little pride.

“In that case, my answer is yes.” She looked at him with a self-satisfied expression. “But just remember, you wanted this more than I did, so you owe me, Dylan Cole.”

“Yeah, and you’ll never let me forget it,” he muttered, staring down at the huge double burger and crisp steak fries on his plate.

And realizing that he’d mysteriously lost his appetite.

The Painted Pony Saloon was the local hot spot on Friday nights, starting with a happy hour—two drinks for the price of one—from five to seven and then dancing from eight until midnight. Katy had come a few times with dates, more often with girlfriends. It was the kind of place where women could do that without feeling threatened.

As a matter of fact, she’d never felt as threatened then as she did now, walking in on Dylan’s arm. They drew so many stares that she felt downright out of place.

“Wanna sit at the bar?” he inquired.

“No, I do not want to sit at the bar,” she snapped. “How about that table over there by the dance floor?”

“The music will be starting in less than an hour and it gets too noisy down front.”

“Is that a crack because I was late and the best tables are already taken? I told you, that last interview ran way longer than it should have.”

“Katy,” he said in a voice as cold as a well-digger’s knees, “if you don’t shut up at least until we find a table, I’m going to shut you up myself.”

She faced him with hands on her hips. “How are you going to do that? If you lay a hand on me, I’ll have you arrested. I’ll have you hauled away in chains. So how do you plan to shut me up yourself?”

“I only know one way,” he said grimly. “If I grabbed you and kissed you right here in the middle of the Painted Pony, that would shut you up pretty damned fast.”

She rocked back on her heels, shocked to the soles of her feet. Kissing Dylan Cole, or being kissed by him, was not something she had ever contemplated…willingly.

Before she could get her battle flags flying again, he took her hand and half-led, half-dragged her to a table in the corner. Once there, he guided her into a chair, then sat himself.

“Okay,” he said with a sigh that sounded like relief, “now you can insult me to your heart’s content.”

He looked so resigned to his fate that she had to laugh. His answering smile was both surprised and strangely warm.

“You win,” she said. “I’ll try to be nice, but with you, that’s a real stretch.”

“Maybe it’ll help if you remember it’s for a worthy cause,” he suggested. “If we can’t even convince folks we’re a couple—dating and dancing and the whole nine yards, I don’t see how we’ll ever convince ’em we’re engaged. And if nobody believes us, your grandma won’t either.”

“Sad but true.” She hauled in a deep breath. “Okay, I’m going to pretend that you’re Tom Cruise.”

“Too short.”

“Tom Selleck?”

“Too old.”

“Little Tommy Tucker—I don’t care! I just need someone to think about so I don’t jump down your throat every two seconds.”

“You mean, like now?”

Her shoulders slumped. “Exactly like now. Here’s a new idea. Why don’t we just declare a truce—in public, anyway?”

“Works for me.” He glanced at his watch. “It’s three minutes of seven. Shall we start on the hour?”

“You got it.”

“First person who slips owes the innocent party, big time.”

“Absolutely. Seven o’clock.”

“In that case—Katy, I hate that thing you’re wearing. It looks like an explosion in a fireworks factory.”

Offended, she looked down at the bright print of her sundress. “I’ll have you know, this dress cost me a lot of money.”

“Money can’t buy everything.”

“No, but it can buy a lot. Speaking of which, don’t you own anything except jeans and long-sleeved plaid shirts? I’ve often wondered if there was something wrong with your arms—flabby, weak, whatever—the way you keep them covered up.”

“Wanna find out?” Reaching for the top snap, he fumbled to open it, his eyes glinting dangerously. “We’ll see who—”

“Oops, seven o’clock.” She glanced at her watch to confirm this. “As I was saying, I just love a man in a cowboy suit, Dylan darlin’.”

He managed the switch in attitudes as seamlessly as she had. “And I love a woman who knows what she loves.”

Just then the cocktail waitress dashed up, ending the verbal sparring for the moment. But not before Katy felt a little thrill of dangerous anticipation dart down her spine.

Dylan should have been glad the Pained Pony was filling up so fast, but for some reason, all those people piling in simply added to his tension. It didn’t take a genius to know he and Katy were the prime topic of conversation. Although he wasn’t a particularly private person, all the attention was getting on his nerves.

So were the inevitable questions he got every minute he was away from her, as in fetching drinks, waiting while she visited the ladies’ room, watching her dance with those strong enough to ask.

Yeah, strong, he thought watching her in the arms of Mickey Evans, a fireman. He knew she intimidated most guys and with good reason. A lot of people thought it was her job that made her so willing to ask or say things that others would be too timid to touch, but Dylan knew better.

Katy had always been that way. As a pigtailed kid, she’d run with the boys and held her own with the best of them—Matt and Dylan not excluded. Anything they could do, she could do, too.

Or bust bones trying. Like the time she jumped out of the cottonwood tree when none of the boys would, because you had to be real careful or real lucky to avoid the rocks along the creek bank. Katy had been neither. She’d hit those rocks and broken a leg.

He smiled. She’d taken it like a man and her cast had been a badge of honor.

The thing was, other girls grew out of that tomboy stage. Katy hadn’t. Even while she changed from gangly hellion into beautiful young woman on the outside, her wild spirit did not change.

That was why she and Dylan were still at odds all these years later. And why most of the guys in town gave Katy Andrews a wide berth.

“Hi, handsome.”