Free The Bridal Path: Sara by Sherryl Woods

meant.”
    Jake didn’t pretend not to understand a second time. “You were a girl, Sara. I may be a low-down skunk when it comes to women, but you were off-limits.”
    “I’m all grown up now,” she pointed out daringly.
    He grinned at that. “And more trouble than I can cope with,” he told her. “Don’t play with fire, Sara. You’re liable to get burned.”
    “That’s an odd warning coming from a man who figures on winning a bet that includes me among the prizes.”
    He shrugged. “I probably should have mentioned the warning before we made the bet. You might not have been so quick to take me up on it. Being married to a man like me wouldn’t be any bed of roses. I’m not going to settle down like some docile lapdog, Sara. You ought to keep that in mind.”
    “It doesn’t change anything,” she said with a touch of vehemence. “I want Three-Stars. I’ll do whatever it takes to get it.”
    “Including making a pact with the devil?” he asked dryly.
    “You don’t scare me, Jake,” she said, surprised by the certainty in her voice. He really didn’t frighten her, not nearly as much as he should have, given his coldhearted reputation as a love-’em-and-leave-’em ladies’ man. She’d seen exactly how kind and loyal he could be to the people he cared about.
    “That’s your first mistake, darlin’. You should always be a little bit afraid of a man who controls what you want.”
    “You don’t control it,” she shot back. “Not yet.”
    “The papers your father and I signed yesterday say otherwise.”
    Sara was so startled by the calm statement, she almost lost control of her horse. Dismay ripped through her. “You’ve signed the papers already?”
    “You knew we were going to,” he reminded her. “It’s just a matter of getting the bank’s okay on the loan and setting a date for the closing.”
    “That can’t be. We had a deal,” she protested. “I thought you were going to put everything on hold…”
    “I never said that.”
    “But I assumed… I thought we had a deal,” she repeated.
    “We do. If by some crazy fluke you win the bet, I’ll sign the ranch over to you. If I win, there’s no paperwork involved. I keep the ranch and get you in the bargain. Don’t count on a big, fancy wedding, though. The very thought of it gives me the jitters.”
    Sara wasn’t sure why Jake’s announcement about the paperwork came as such a shock. She should have known he wouldn’t wait for their contest to stake his claim on the ranch. Besides, what would he have told her father about the delay? The truth was certainly out of the question. Her father would go ballistic if he found out about the bet. No, realistically, Jake had done the only logical thing.
    A chill washed through her all the same. Once the ranch was in his name, what would prevent him from reneging on their bargain? She believed deep down that Jake was an honorable man, but he was also a man who fought hard for everything he wanted. He wouldn’t walk away from what was his easily. And the one thing she had never doubted was that he wanted Three-Stars as desperately as she did.
    “Maybe we’d better put our agreement in writing,” she said.
    “Don’t you trust me, darlin’?”
    There was an odd note of regret mixed in with the amusement in his voice.
    “Somebody very wise once told me never to trust a snake not to turn on me,” she said.
    “Good advice,” he agreed. “You draw up your little piece of paper and I’ll sign it.”
    Startled, she stared at him. She’d expected more of an argument. “You will?”
    “Why not? I don’t have anything to lose.”
    “Except the ranch,” she reminded him.
    He shook his head. “Sweetheart, it isn’t going to happen. You might as well make a trip into town and have a chat with the preacher. That way you’ll have a head start on planning that June wedding. What’s the waiting period for a license? Or we could get that now and get married right after you hit the