“Oh, man. That is getting old,” he said, good-naturedly. “I’m glad I’m the younger brother.”

  “You’re not that much younger. Four years gets less and less important as we get older.”

  “Still, big sister, I haven’t turned the big three-zero yet, whereas you are officially over the hill.”

  “Gee, thanks for reminding me.” She clipped her tape measure onto her work belt and looked at Leo. “That reminds me. I’ve decided that I’m going to try to work dating into my schedule. So, if you know anyone and want to fix me up with someone decent, just let me know.”

  “What’s your idea of decent?”

  “You know, no gross habits. Employed. Reasonably intelligent and good-looking. Pleasant and kind.”

  “That’s a pretty big wish list, sis. Does he have to be older than you?”

  She thought about it a moment. “Not necessarily, although I wouldn’t want anyone more than a few years younger than me. Let’s say thirty.”

  “Okay, then. You want a thirty-something Prince Charming who has a decent job, doesn’t scratch his pits or burp in public, and likes puppies.” Leo laughed. “Wait! I’ve seen that guy. It’s your old boyfriend.”

  Toni punched her little brother in the arm. “Shut up, you dork. You’re insane. I’d rather have someone who wasn’t anything like Wyatt.”

  Leo looked at her closely. He sometimes irritated her, as any younger brother would, but Leo was sharp as a tack and had a special knack for reading people. “Really? Wow, that’s an interesting comment.”

  “Is not. I just mean that I’m not trying to replace him. He’s leaving town and I’m moving forward.” Toni picked up her level and pulled a flat carpenter’s pencil from her work belt. “Besides, don’t you want to be an uncle someday? I’d better get busy meeting someone, if that’s going to happen.”

  “An uncle? I think I’m too young for that kind of responsibility.”

  “You won’t be by the time I find Mr. Right and manage to drag him to the altar,” Toni muttered. Getting started on this dating thing was going to be harder than she’d anticipated.

  After marking the height for the new wainscoting that would be put up this week, Toni went to work upstairs, assessing the plumbing needs in the bathrooms that were being created in each unit. The old baths had been completely removed, as they weren’t original to the property. Back when the hotel was built, there were public baths on each floor. The only exceptions were the ladies’ suites, with shared baths just for women, on a different floor.

  Now the past had been swept away into roll-off containers and recycling bins. Of course, first they’d used hammers, mallets, saws and sweat to tear everything out.

  Sometimes removing the past was painful. But it had to be done. Toni sighed and took a look at her parts list. She just hoped she could stay busy until Wyatt and his entourage got out of town. Until he removed himself, she couldn’t start the equally difficult task of getting on with the rest of her life.

  “SO, I HAVE INTERVIEWS SET UP with People magazine and Us Weekly West Coast correspondents,” Louisa said. “Cassie is getting the details on when they’ll be in Carmel. They both want photos of you at home, and I’m providing JPEG files of the Christmas display.”

  “Hmm,” Wyatt said, sitting back in a soft butter-colored leather seat in the private jet he’d arranged for their trip back to California. Cassie and Louisa sat across the burled walnut table. The trappings were nice, but Wyatt felt as unsettled as if he were flying coach nonstop to Australia. Sitting next to a big guy with BO and a screaming baby.

  Definitely itchy.

  “Does this thing have any exercise equipment?” he asked.

  “I…I don’t know. I’ll go check,” Cassie answered, jumping up and approaching the attendant, who sat just behind the cockpit.

  Wyatt wiggled in his seat. He must have the imprint of a Ford truck bed on his back. And butt. After what they’d done, he should be limp with satisfaction. In actuality, he was wired, as if he’d drunk an entire pot of black coffee, and frustrated, as if he hadn’t just spent most of the night buried deep within a beautiful blonde.

  He still couldn’t believe Toni had taken him out to the water tower, used him for sex and sent him on his way. She really didn’t want him around “her” town anymore. She’d made her reasons sound so rational. She’d used his words against him.

  They couldn’t have a relationship unless it was “going somewhere.” That meant get married. Hah! He wasn’t getting married. She was being unreasonable, no matter how reasonable she claimed she was being.

  “Did you say something?” Louisa asked.

  “Did I?”

  “Um, I thought so, but maybe not.” She paused and looked at him closely. “Is everything okay?”

  “Just peachy.” He unfastened his seat belt and bolted from the chair. If he could do no more than pace the length of the plane, that’s what he’d do. He made it front to back and returned to Louisa’s side.

  “It’s not you. I’m just in a bad mood.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Cassie returned then. “I’m sorry, but there’s no exercise equipment. There is a bed in the back, if you’d like to nap.”

  “No bed,” he said, and began pacing again.

  The last thing he needed at the moment was to get into a bed while he was still thinking about Toni. He’d be better off finding a parachute and jumping out of the emergency exit. No, he shouldn’t think that way. He’d gotten into trouble more than once by imagining the most outrageous stunt he could perform without a high probability of serious injury or death.

  “How about a game of cards?” Cassie asked. “My grandmother always suggested cards when we traveled, to keep us entertained.”

  Wyatt stopped and looked down at Cassie and Louisa, both of whom were obviously concerned about him. “Okay, let’s try cards. I promise to play fair.”

  “We always think you’re fair, Mr. McCall,” Cassie said.

  “I’m sorry you’re…concerned about leaving your hometown. It seems like such a nice place,” Louisa added.

  “The horseback riding was really great,” Cassie said. “Thank you very much for that.”

  “No problem. I’m glad I could do it.” And despite how he felt, now that he and Toni were once again going their separate ways, he was glad he’d returned. The week hadn’t been boring, that was for sure.

  He paced until Cassie returned with some cards. Wyatt flopped back into his leather chair and broke open the deck. “Five card stud, deuces and jacks wild,” he said, discarding the two jokers with a flip of his two fingers.

  “Um, what?” Cassie said.

  “I know how to play hearts and bridge,” Louisa offered tentatively.

  Wyatt laughed. “Just kidding, ladies. You pick the game. I’ll try my best to play nice.” He’d do almost anything to keep from thinking about Toni and how she’d discarded him as easily as he’d flipped those jokers out of the deck.

  He looked at the two masked harlequin-costumed jokers lying on the floor. Who took jokers seriously?

  Maybe it was time Toni understood that he was no longer playing the fool.

  BRODY’S CROSSING Settlers’ Stroll occurred the weekend after the first Saturday of December, since the first weekend was always reserved for the parade. The Stroll had been an annual event for as long as Toni could remember. When she and Leo were children, their parents had dressed them up in homemade costumes and people met at city hall. Now everyone gathered at the farmers’ market, since it had a nice awning and lights. Most people kept their costumes from year to year, but some women sewed new outfits almost every Christmas for themselves and their families.

  Since she was mayor, she started off the Stroll by visiting various businesses in the old downtown section. Proprietors offered hot drinks and yummy confections, and some gave small gifts to the children. Everyone had a great time socializing and imagining how Christmas used to be a hundred years ago, when Brody’s Crossing was a young town in the still somewhat Wild West of Texas.

  Tonight Toni wore her 1890s-style lady’s walking dress, which was really a light gray suit with a white blouse. Her hat only worked when the wind wasn’t blowing too hard, since it sported a floppy brim and lots of silk flowers and peacock feathers. Instead of the horribly uncomfortable shoes the original settlers would have worn, she opted for sensible women’s boots, knowing no one could see them anyway under the long skirt. Beneath the old-fashioned trappings, she wore high-tech thermal underwear and socks to keep her warm as she strolled. Corsets and thin cotton shifts couldn’t compete with Gore-Tex.

  “There,” she said to herself in the mirror in the office hallway. She looked as she always did for the annual event, with her hair pulled back and wound into a chignon and her great-grandmother’s jet bead and enamel brooch pinned to the lapel of her jacket. Little jet earrings dangled from her ears. She’d gotten dressed at home, then driven to her office. From here, she’d walk to the farmers’ market.

  Two high-school girls had been hired to serve refreshments at her office this year. This was the first time she’d ever opened her business to the public for the event. Now was the time to start thinking about the future, beyond being mayor, when she could concentrate more fully on renovation projects.

  An artist’s rendering of the railroad hotel project, created for the city council presentation by her architect in Fort Worth, was the focal point this evening. It was displayed prominently on an easel where everyone could see it as they entered the conference room for hot mulled cider and cookies. With any luck, she might meet some potential condo buyers or retail space renters tonight.

  The two students she’d hired knocked on the door. “Come in,” Toni called out. They entered on a gust of cool evergreen-scented wind.

  She gave the girls instructions and showed them where everything was, pulled on her long calfskin gloves, then ventured outside.

  She stopped next door at the hardware store and convinced her brother, Leo, to leave his own feast of imported chocolates and walk with her down Main Street, past the bank. Leo had dressed as a gambler in black and silver, rather like the old Maverick TV series their father watched. The choice was appropriate since, as Leo liked to say, he’d played a little poker in his day. Most people laughed, since Leo was only twenty-nine years old, but Toni’s brother was a math genius and all card games came easily to him.

  They crossed the street at Commerce and strode past the city hall and then Clarissa’s House of Style. The big picture window was brightly lit and outlined in tinsel.

  Which made Toni think of the somewhat pitiful and weathered tinsel-covered candy canes that the city placed on utility poles around town every December. Wyatt had mentioned replacing them, but she’d insisted he leave before he could take any further action.

  After all, he’d done enough. Fulfilled his duty, completed his sentence and all that stuff. There was no reason for him to stay in Brody’s Crossing or do anything else for the town. Thank goodness. Seeing him work on another project, or just knowing that he’d bankrolled more decorations, would make her think of him more.

  She didn’t need that burden. No, it was best that he’d returned to California, to his beautiful home and scruffy cat. He’d probably gone off on another adventure by now, possibly someplace sunny and tropical, or maybe someplace snowy and bright. Someone would probably show her a photo of him in a celebrity magazine next week, going somewhere exciting with yet another beautiful woman. The anticipation alone made her tense.

  Toni stumbled on the uneven sidewalk. Leo reached out to steady her. “Hey, we should tell the city about these sidewalks. They’re a real hazard,” he said.

  “Very funny,” she said, turning right onto Market Street. The farmers’ market was just across the road. “We have sidewalk improvements in the budget for next year, I’ll have you know.”

  “And not a moment too soon,” Leo said.

  A group had already formed beside the structure, although it was another thirty minutes before the actual stroll was scheduled to take place. Toni liked to get there early to talk to people. They often opened up more in this casual environment than when she was sitting behind her desk at city hall.

  She spotted Cal and Christie Crawford, who seemed to be without their son, Peter. He was probably home with his nanny, Darla Maxwell. Christie appeared very pregnant in her matching dress and long fur-trimmed coat. They were talking to James and Sandy Brody.

  “Come on,” Toni said to Leo. “Let’s socialize with people we know best at first.” They walked the thirty feet or so to where everyone was gathered.

  “How are you feeling?” she asked Christie.

  “Okay, although I’m a little more tired than I was with Peter. I’m excited about tonight, though. This is my first Settlers’ Stroll. Hopefully, next year I’ll need a different dress in a smaller size,” she said, rubbing her hand over the mound of her stomach and giving Cal a look.

  Toni smiled automatically, but she felt a twinge of envy, too. Soon Christie would have two beautiful children—after she’d once been told that she couldn’t get pregnant. Boy, had that doctor been wrong! Still, Toni knew that every year over the age of thirty, a woman’s chances of conceiving went down. She’d be thirty-three in January. Would she ever have a child? Did she want one? Or was her career and her service to Brody’s Crossing enough?

  The more she’d thought about it lately, the more she believed she wanted a family. Her mother and father would be fantastic grandparents, and if she had children they’d have an excuse not to work so hard at the grocery. And Leo would make a really fun uncle.

  Damn Wyatt for making her think about her ticking biological clock! Before he came to town, she’d been blissfully unaware of what she was missing. Now, she not only thought about having a baby, but what you had to do to get pregnant.

  She’d spent many nights this week tossing and turning, remembering their time together under the stars. She’d managed to convince him that she wanted nothing from him, but her body was screaming, yes, yes, yes!

  “I’m really happy for you. I hope you have a good time tonight. If you get tired, though, just find a comfortable place and sit a spell and talk to whoever is around. That’s what tonight is all about—meeting up with neighbors, old friends and new ones.”

  “Thanks. I’ll remember that. See you later.” Christie and Cal walked away, arm in arm.

  “Hey, there’s Mom and Dad,” Leo said, nodding toward the couple in prairie attire, who were getting out of their sensible Chevy sedan in the parking lot behind the farmers’ market. “Looks like they brought Myra Hammer with them.”

  “Oh, that’s going to put Dad in a bad mood. Myra can be pretty critical of his driving.”

  “And everything else. Watch out or she’ll blame you for the windy weather.”

  “I’ll go say hello and then excuse myself. Maybe you should stay and talk to Mom and Dad while I go mingle. Officially, of course.”

  “I wish I had a good excuse.”

  “When my tenure is finished, you can always run for the job.”

  “You’ll be mayor forever. You love this stuff.”

  Toni shrugged, then headed toward her parents. “Hi, Mom, Dad. You look great.”

  “I think my dress is tighter this year,” her mother said, fluffing the skirt. “I’m going to have to stop eating those day-old blueberry muffins.”

  Toni laughed. Being in the grocery business was both good and bad for her folks. Low profit margins, but plenty of leftover bakery items and slightly bruised bananas.

  “At least the temperatures are nice tonight,” her dad said.

  “Bah! The wind’s blowing too hard,” Myra said.

  “Sorry, but I’ve got to go mingle,” Toni said. “I’ll see you later,” she told them. She thought she heard Leo moan.

  The group had swelled as she’d been talking to her parents. Everyone seemed to be enjoying the visiting. Soon it would be time to start the procession. She really did have to mingle, so she waved to her parents and excused herself from the Crawfords and Brodys.

  She walked to where Clarissa, Venetia, Ida Bell, Bobbi Jean and Burl Maxwell stood nearby. “How are you tonight?” Toni asked the group.

  “Just fine, honey,” Clarissa said, wrapping her wool shawl around her. Clarissa’s generous bosom looked as if it might burst the buttons on her high-neck green dress. She was a widow who wasn’t looking for a man, although she might get some attention in that dress.

  “I wish Caroline could be with us, but she’s back at James’s law office again this year.” Caroline Brody was one of their lunch buddies.

  “And Rodney is with the 4-H Club. They’re doing a fundraising bake sale at the café,” Ida said, explaining her husband’s absence.

  Toni knew so many of these families, most of them all her life. She looked around but didn’t see Mr. and Mrs. McCall. They always attended, usually strolling with banker George Russell and his wife.

  Just then, Toni heard the clatter of hooves. Not the tiny little reindeer kind, but horses coming down the street. Others must have heard them also, because the entire group of settlers turned back and forth to see where the sound was coming from. Suddenly, from the direction of McCaskie’s Service Station, a stagecoach came into view, clattering around the corner and into the pool of light beneath the streetlamps.

  “Whoa!” the driver called out, pulling the team of four to a prancing stop right in front of the farmers’ market. The other man, the one with a shotgun Toni hoped was empty or a prop, climbed down and opened the stagecoach door. Both men were dressed in Western frontier outfits.

  The McCalls climbed out, and then the Russells. The crowd clapped and gathered round. Toni held her breath, nearly expecting Wyatt to step out next. But he wasn’t in there. Of course he wasn’t. He was in California. Or Tahiti. Or on Mount Everest.

  The last time she remembered Wyatt attending the Settlers’ Stroll, he, James and several others had dressed up as “wild Indians,” as the police chief had called them, and run up and down the line of settlers, whooping and hollering. Despite the cold weather that night, they’d worn only loincloths and war paint.