Free The Bride Wore Starlight by Lizbeth Selvig Page B

Paradise Ranch lands, and the reputation of the Crockett’s legacy crashed into him. Whether it was the picture of Eli Crockett in the general store he’d started, the map of the area with Paradise boundaries outlined in red hanging in the post office, or talk of the new, successful windmill farm on the enormous spread’s southeastern border, Alec had heard enough about the fifty-thousand-acre spread by the first time he’d visited to be awed.
    It was impossible to truly get the scope of the place, Gabe had told him, until you went on a fence-checking mission that required days in a pickup or on a four-wheeler, or got a view of the endlessly varied landscape from the seat of a plane or helicopter. Seventy-eight square miles of grassland, wooded foothills, mountainscapes, and beautiful creek bottoms were deserving of all the reverence they received.
    Alec had neither ridden the fence lines nor seen Paradise from a plane, but he partially disagreed with his old army buddy. Just looking toward the Grand Teton massif sixty-five miles distant, his jaw dropped knowing the space in between had been privately owned for almost a hundred years by the family surrounding him. He couldn’t fathom the freedom or the responsibility such ownership offered and required. His childhood on the streets of Minneapolis had been the exact opposite of free until he’d gone to live with an uncle and cousin in Wisconsin at age fourteen.
    He’d learned the value of hard work on his uncle’s small dairy farm and had gotten his only freedom when his cousin had introduced him to local rodeos. He’d been as shocked as anyone to learn a skinny kid from a big city had a natural talent for roping and riding bucking horses. The rest, as the cliché went, was history. He’d run away to the professional rodeo right after high school and loved it. From Wyoming to Texas he’d lived in wide-open spaces just by moving around.
    Just until 9/11 had changed the world for everyone.
    He stood now on an impressive multiple-level deck at the back of Rosecroft, the name of Paradise’s main house, two glasses of wine in hand, and stared at Grand Teton. For all his travels, he’d never been to the national park. He’d always intended to take his favorite horse and spend several weeks exploring the countryside in each of several parks—he’d had a list. But the list was long lost—along with his favorite horse. He hadn’t dared bring up the lost horse subject with Joely. From what he’d heard that was a taboo subject, but it was something they had in common.
    â€œHi there, cowboy.”
    He turned at the sound of the sweetly pitched voice and came face-to-face with Skunk Girl. With a swift mental kick and a quick bite to the inside of his cheeks to stop a laugh, he managed a friendly smile.
    â€œHi back. It’s Heidi, if I recall.”
    â€œOoh, very good!”
    She was a stunner, he had to admit—the kind of platinum bombshell he’d practiced all those pickup lines on years ago. Taller than Joely by a solid four inches and leggy even in her red strapless dress that came, sort of modestly for her personality he thought, to her knees, she looked like she would still knock the socks off a pageant judge in a swimsuit competition.
    â€œYou came through the receiving line at the end—made it easier to remember.”
    A slightly crestfallen shadow flit through her eyes, as if it bothered her he hadn’t simply remembered her for being fabulous.
    â€œIs one of those for me?” She leaned a hip provocatively against the deck rail and lifted the corner of her full, red-as-her-dress lips in a flirty tease as she eyed the wine glasses in his hands.
    Alec kept a sardonic smile from his face with effort.
    â€œI’m sorry, ma’am, these are spoken for. Another has caught my bartending affections, I’m afraid.”
    â€œSo sad.” She sighed. “Well, perhaps