Denny frowned. “He had the chance today. After I was off of him, he could have run away. Nobody would have been able to stop him. He could have vanished into the hills and maybe we never would have seen him again. But he didn’t. He stayed there close by, like he didn’t want to leave me.”

  “There you go again,” Louis said, “giving an animal human feelings. It doesn’t work that way, Denny.”

  “I reckon I know more about animals than you do,” she told her brother coldly. “I’ve spent a lot more time outdoors working with them than you have.”

  She saw the flash of hurt in Louis’s eyes and instantly regretted the harsh words. But he hadn’t been very careful of her feelings, either, so she told herself not to worry about it.

  “Did that horse throw you?” asked Sally, concern overcoming her irritation. “Are you hurt?”

  Denny shook her head. “No, I’m all right. I wasn’t thrown.”

  “How’d you stop him after he bolted?” Smoke asked.

  Denny hesitated. She didn’t want to answer that question, but a glance over her shoulder told her that Pearlie was approaching with Steve Markham riding double with him. She couldn’t see any way to avoid spilling the truth.

  “One of the other riders helped me,” she said. “He managed to catch up to me and lifted me out of the saddle before Rocket ran into one of those gullies. Then Rocket stopped as soon as I was off his back.”

  Smoke nodded toward Pearlie and Markham and said, “I’ll bet you’re talking about that hombre right there.”

  “That’s right.”

  “Don’t reckon I know him.” Smoke let those words hang in the air meaningfully as Pearlie brought his horse to a stop in front of the porch.

  Denny gritted her teeth again for a second, then took a deep breath and said, “Pa, this is Steve Markham.”

  “Mr. Markham,” Smoke called. “I understand you gave my daughter a hand out there. Thank you.”

  With that annoying grin on his face, Markham jumped to the ground and took the buckskin’s lead rope from Pearlie. “Why, it was a plumb pleasure, Mr. Jensen. I reckon you are Smoke Jensen?”

  “That’s right.” Smoke went down the steps and extended his hand to shake with the cowboy. “I’m glad to meet you.” Inclining his head toward the porch, he went on. “That’s Mrs. Jensen up there, our son Louis, and our soon-to-be grandson Brad.”

  Markham nodded. “Howdy, folks.” He snatched his hat off his head and held it to his chest as he bowed a little to Sally. “Mrs. Jensen, you got a lovely home here and I purely do appreciate you openin’ it up for folks to come and celebrate with you today.”

  “Well . . .” Sally’s tense mood softened slightly at Markham’s charming manner. “It’s an occasion worth celebrating, don’t you think?”

  “I sure do. Congratulations there, Louis, if you don’t mind me callin’ you that. I ain’t never been hitched my own self, but I hear that holy matrimony is a plumb blissful state.”

  Denny wanted to take her hat off and start whaling him over the head with it. Anything to shut up his silver-tongued blather. And her family was falling for it, too! Next thing you knew, her mother would be inviting Markham to sit at the same table as them once dinner was served.

  “Mr. Markham,” Smoke said, “thank you again for helping Denny.” A thoughtful expression crossed his face. “You wouldn’t happen to be looking for a riding job, would you?”

  Denny wanted to yell No!

  Markham scratched his chin and said, “Well, as a matter of fact, I ain’t lined up any employment since I rode into this valley yesterday.”

  “That young fella there is Calvin Woods, my foreman. Talk to him later. Tomorrow, maybe, once things have settled down a mite.”

  “I’ll sure do that,” Markham replied with a nod.

  Smoke fixed Denny with an intent look. “You and I are going to have a talk, too, but not now.”

  “And that includes me,” added Sally. “Right now, though, Denise, I want you to go inside, wash the dust off your face, and get dressed for the wedding. For goodness’ sake, you’re supposed to be Melanie’s maid of honor! How were you going to do that in . . . in boots and jeans?”

  Denny didn’t bother explaining that she’d always planned to clean up and change clothes after winning the race. There was time for that.

  Of course, as the maid of honor, she should have been there to help Melanie this morning, she knew, and she felt a significant twinge of guilt because she hadn’t been. Melanie had other friends, though, who would have shown up to assist her with her hair and dress and whatever else needed to be taken care of.

  “I’m sorry,” Denny muttered as she went up the steps. She glanced at her brother and added, “I’m sorry, Louis.”

  “Just go ahead and get ready,” he told her. He summoned up a smile. “It’s all right.”

  She returned the smile gratefully and went into the house as she heard her father telling Cal to take Rocket back to the stable.

  “Put Markham’s buckskin in there, too, and see that it’s taken care of,” Smoke added.

  The screen door banged behind Denny, and rapid footsteps sounded as Brad hurried to catch up to her. “Are you in trouble?” he asked as he looked up at her.

  “Not really,” she told him. “At least, I don’t think so.”

  “I knew what you were gonna do. As soon as I saw you out in the barn with Rocket last night, I said to myself, ‘I bet Denny’s gonna sneak him out and ride him in the race today.’”

  She paused and looked down at him. “You did, did you?”

  “Yep.”

  “But you didn’t say anything to anybody?”

  His eyes widened and he exclaimed, “Gosh, I wouldn’t do that. You can trust me, Denny.”

  “Good. And I’m glad you stopped calling me Aunt Denise!”

  CHAPTER 14

  A large shady area under some trees served as the site of the wedding ceremony. Chairs were set up for family and close friends, and the others in attendance stood in two large groups around the location, with a path in between for Melanie to walk, accompanied by Brad and followed by Denny as maid of honor. Louis waited under the trees with Smoke, his best man, and Walter Cordell, the minister from the Baptist church in Big Rock who would perform the ceremony.

  As Louis shifted around a little, Smoke smiled and said quietly, “Are your feet getting a little chilly now, son?”

  “No, not at all,” Louis replied without hesitation. “Melanie is wonderful, and I’m convinced that marrying her is the best thing I’ve ever done. I just don’t like waiting, you know? I’m ready to get on with it.”

  As if taking a cue from what he’d said, the Big Rock town band struck up the chords of the “Wedding March.” Unlike some small-town bands, these musicians were actually pretty talented and well-rehearsed, and Smoke thought the song sounded good.

  When the music started, everyone turned to look. Melanie had started from the house with Brad walking beside her, his arm linked with hers, and a bouquet of colorful flowers in her hands. She wore a cream-colored gown with no veil and looked absolutely lovely with a serene smile on her face.

  Louis swallowed hard and stood up straighter as he watched his bride coming toward him.

  Denny, looking unusually feminine in a sky-blue gown, followed Melanie. Nobody would have guessed that half an hour earlier she’d been dressed in range clothes and covered with trail dust from the race. The sort of transformations that ladies could make in such short periods of time never failed to astound Smoke. He glanced over at Sally, saw how she was beaming with happiness, and his heart warmed at the sight. Hardship and danger had played such large parts in their lives that it was good to witness moments of peace and happiness.

  Then Louis stepped forward to position himself beside Melanie as she came to a stop and turned to hand the bouquet to Denny. The ceremony was underway.

  For being such momentous occasions, weddings didn’t really take very long. Louis and Melanie’s concluded with the usual promptness, and it seemed to Smoke that barely any time had passed before Louis and Melanie had said “I do” and the preacher was telling Louis that he could kiss his bride. Cheers went up as he did exactly that.

  As the band played again, the newly married couple went back down the aisle between the groups of applauding spectators.

  Smoke put his arm around Sally’s shoulders as she leaned against him. “Well, they did it.”

  “And it was a beautiful ceremony,” she replied.

  The whole thing had seemed pretty cut-and-dried to Smoke, but then, he wasn’t a woman. And if he was being really honest, there had been a moment or two during the ceremony when he’d felt a little emotional tightness in his throat. Life had not been easy—all too often, in fact, it had been fraught with potential disaster—but his family had come through it all, was still together, and was even growing with the addition of two new members. With maybe more to come in the future . . .

  That thought made him glance around and find Denny, who stood with her hands clasped in front of her as she smiled after Louis and Melanie. He couldn’t help but think that maybe someday he would get to walk her down the aisle like that, to where some fine young man was waiting for her.

  He frowned slightly as he realized that he hadn’t seen Brice Rogers at all today. Everybody in the valley had been invited to the wedding and the accompanying festivities. Smoke wondered if Brice had chosen not to attend, or if his duties as a deputy U.S. marshal had him busy elsewhere. He would ask Monte Carson about that later, Smoke decided.

  “I reckon we’ve got a feast to get started on now,” he said.

  Sally nodded. “That’s right.” She came up on her toes and kissed his cheek. “I need to get busy.”

  “Anything I can help you with?”

  “Just make sure everyone’s having a good time. I’ll let them know when all the food is ready.”

  Smoke grinned. He knew what that meant. Sally would ring the iron triangle hanging on the porch, just like she was calling the ranch hands in for a meal.

  She hurried off, leaving Smoke to amble back to the ranch house and climb the steps to the porch. Louis Longmont and Monte Carson joined him there. Louis offered them cigars, and even though Smoke wasn’t much of one for using the things, he accepted on the special occasion.

  When the three of them were puffing on the cheroots, Monte said, “That was a mighty fine ceremony, Smoke.”

  “Got the job done, anyway, I expect.”

  “Melanie is a beautiful young woman,” said Louis. “The young man is very fortunate.”

  Smoke grinned. “He’s always had an eye for a pretty girl . . . sort of like the fella he’s named after.”

  “Speaking of pretty girls,” Monte said, “Denny looks mighty nice today.”

  “You mean since she cleaned up after that horse race.”

  “I saw her when she rode in with Cal,” Louis said. “What was that all about?”

  Smoke explained about the near-debacle to his friends, which made both of them laugh.

  “Miss Denny’s got a mind of her own, I don’t reckon anybody could argue with that,” the sheriff said. “But sooner or later some fella will come along and figure out how to tame her down a mite, I’ll wager.”

  Smoke wasn’t sure he wanted that. Denny would be happier if she found somebody who could accept her as she was and not try to change her too much. Although it would be all right if she had a fella who’d rein in some of her more reckless impulses . . . He blew out a gray cloud from the cigar and said, “I was just thinking about Brice Rogers a little while ago. He and Denny sometimes seem like there’s a spark there.”

  Monte grunted. “And sometimes it seems like they’re at each other’s throats.”

  Smoke shrugged in acceptance of that point, then went on. “I haven’t seen him here today.”

  “He got a wire from the chief marshal in Denver a couple of days ago that sent him off on the trail of some federal fugitive,” Monte explained. “He said he planned to be here for the wedding if he got back in time, but he didn’t really expect to. I guess he didn’t.”

  “He seems to be pretty devoted to his duty.”

  Monte nodded. “He’s a good lawman. Better than what I expected when he was assigned to this area, him being as young as he is.”

  Louis smiled and asked, “Are you thinking about playing matchmaker, Smoke?”

  “No, sir,” Smoke answered without hesitation. “I’d rather face down a whole gang of owlhoots than get mixed up in Denny’s love life.” He put the cigar in his mouth, clenched his teeth on it so that it stuck out at a jaunty angle, and added, “I’ll leave it up to her mother to do that!”

  CHAPTER 15

  Denny supposed her father had really meant it when he said they would talk about Rocket, the race, and everything else later. She sat with her family at dinner, and not a word was said about any of that . . . for which she was grateful, since this was Louis and Melanie’s day, and she didn’t want to ruin it for them. That had never been her intention.

  There was enough food for an army, which was good because that was sort of what had shown up at the Sugarloaf. Big Rock had to be almost empty. The same was true for the rest of the valley. Everyone seemed to be having a wonderful time, and the level of noise in the air remained high as the guests ate, drank, and visited with one another.

  After the meal, Sally, Denny, and a number of volunteers from among the guests cleaned up, but the tables and chairs the ranch hands had set up remained in place so people could sit and talk.

  Denny was walking around when she saw Brad sitting by himself at one of the tables. “Hey, kid,” she said as she took one of the empty chairs beside him. “What are you doing? Why aren’t you with your mother and Louis?”

  “Everybody keeps coming up to them and shaking Louis’s hand and telling them congratulations. It’s boring.”

  “Yeah, I can see how you might get tired of that after a while.”

  His expression brightened as he suggested, “Why don’t we go out to the stable and see how the horses are doing? I reckon Rocket’s back in his stall by now.”

  “That da—darn mustang! I don’t care how he’s doing.”

  “I’ll bet you don’t mean that. He ran really fast out there in the race, didn’t he?”

  “He did,” Denny admitted. “We would have won if he hadn’t gone loco.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure you would have. So why don’t we go see him?”

  Denny gestured at the elegant, expensive gown she wore. “I’m not exactly dressed for clomping around in a barn.” She lifted a foot shod in a lightweight slipper. “And if I stepped in anything with these on, my mother wouldn’t be happy.”

  Brad sighed and shook his head. “All right. If you want to be a girl about it.”

  A new voice said, “I don’t reckon Miss Denny can be anything else, son, and a mighty pretty girl, at that.”

  She looked up and around and stiffened as she saw Steve Markham standing there.

  “Who are you?” Brad wanted to know.

  “Name’s Steve.” The cowboy stuck out his hand. “And I know you. You’re the young fella whose ma married Miss Denny’s brother a while ago.”

  “That’s right. I’m Brad Buckner.” He shook hands with Markham like a grown-up. “Pleased to meet you, Steve.”

  “Likewise.” Markham looked at Denny and commented, “The two of you seem to be hittin’ it off pretty good.”

  “Brad and I are old friends,” she explained coolly.

  Without being invited to, Markham pulled out one of the chairs, reversed and straddled it. “I’m hopin’ you and me will get to be friends, too, especially if I go to work here on the Sugarloaf. Your pa offered me a ridin’ job, you know.”

  “Not exactly. He told you to talk to Cal about it. As far as I know, we haven’t been hiring any new hands lately, so I wouldn’t get my hopes up if I were you.”

  Markham chuckled. “Reckon I’ve always got my hopes up. It’s just my nature. And speakin’ of which . . . I hope that once the baile starts tonight, you’ll do me the honor of sharin’ one of the dances with me, even though I got to warn you I ain’t what anybody would call nimble-footed.”

  Denny reached over and linked her arm with Brad’s. “Sorry, but all my dances are promised to my new nephew here.”

  “What?” Brad exclaimed. He hurriedly extricated his arm. “I’m not gonna spend all evening dancin’ with a girl.”

  “You’ll feel different in a few years, pard,” Markham told him. “I can promise you that.” He turned his attention back to Denny. “I reckon that means your dance card is wide open . . .”

  “Not hardly.” She stood up. “Come on, Brad. Let’s go out to the stable and look at the horses.”

  “But I thought you said—”

  “Never mind what I said. Come on.”

  Brad looked at Markham and rolled his eyes, which made the grin on the cowboy’s face get even wider. Denny saw that and tamped down the irritation she felt. She motioned for Brad to follow her and started toward the barn.

  When he caught up to her, he said, “You don’t like that fella, do you?”

  “He just gets on my nerves.”

  “He’s the one who saved you when Rocket ran away with you, isn’t he?”

  “He didn’t . . . well, yeah, sort of . . . But that doesn’t mean he and I are friends, and it sure as he—heck doesn’t mean I want to dance with him.”

  “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings when I said I didn’t want to dance with you, Denny. I really don’t mind . . . I guess.”

  She put a hand on his shoulder and said, “Don’t worry about it, kid. I don’t need you to rescue me from Steve Markham. I can handle varmints like that myself.”

  “Pearlie says sometimes you have to shoot varmints.”

  Denny grunted. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”

  CHAPTER 16

  Some of the guests headed back to their homes, either in Big Rock or on one of the other spreads in the valley, after the meal was over, but most stayed to enjoy the rest of the day and some would even spend the night.