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just have to wait.”
    “I know,” Samantha assured her. “But Florence will be upset.”
    Megan had been here long enough to know better. “Your mother-in-law thinks you walk on water, you fraud. She’ll know it wasn’t your fault.”
    Samantha beamed. “I know. She’s so wonderful.”
    With a sigh, Megan stowed away the last of the supplies they’d used. “Okay, I’m done. I’ll hurry home and turn into a blushing bride. Then I’ll be back at nine in the morning.”
    Samantha shook her head.
    “Nope. It’s a surprise, but Marybelle agreed to work all day tomorrow so you can have the day off.”
    “No!” Megan protested. “That’s not necessary.”
    “Oh, yes, it is,” Samantha assured her, with a look that made Megan uneasy.

Chapter Six
    Rick swallowed his nervousness, trying to give the appearance of an eager bridegroom. Instead of a man facing the gallows. Get a grip, man. This isn’t for real.
    “You okay?” Cal Baxter asked. He was standing next to Rick, as his best man.
    Giving the best grin he could summon, Rick muttered, “Yeah, of course.”
    It amazed him, as the organ music began, how quickly the ladies of Cactus had pulled together a real wedding. He’d assumed he and Megan would stand up in front of the preacher, say their vows, and be done. Instead, he was wearing a tux, there were flowers everywhere, and, damn it, there were a lot of people in the church.
    Where had they come from?
    He’d invited Jose, of course, who was sitting in the second row, a very attractive young woman beside him. And Cal’s wife had agreed to be Megan’s maid of honor. Then, the four matchmakers and their husbands were in attendance, along with Faith and Torie and Drew.
    And, of course, Tuck and Spence, with their families, and Mac, the attorney Megan had consulted, whose mother Florence was one of the matchmakers.
    But the others? He recognized the feed store man who’d introduced Megan to him. That must be his wife beside him. And Lucy, the one from the drugstore—
    A sudden shifting of the man beside him caught Rick’s attention, halting his inventory of the guests. He followed Cal’s line of vision and realized the music had changed and Jessica, in a blue suit, was coming down the aisle.
    Envy filled him. Not because of Jessica’s beauty, or because he had any interest in her romantically, but because of the marriage she had with Cal. They’d been married over a year and a half, and you’d think it was their wedding day.
    He found it hard to believe there were marriages like theirs, especially after going through one himself, but they were living proof.
    His own marriage had been a mistake almost from the first day of the honeymoon. He’d tried and tried to remember what had prompted him to think they could make a go of it, but he remained bewildered.
    Then suddenly his breath deserted him.
    Megan.
    His bride.
    She was dressed in a cream suit that hugged her curves and gave her an air of sophistication that belied the dinners they’d shared in his kitchen. Softening the look, however, was a cream rosebud and baby’s breath tucked in her hair.
    The perfect bride.
    He quickly reminded himself that his first bride had looked elegant also. Of course, he’d paid for it. In more ways than one.
    But this bride was temporary. So, if she turned out to be less than she looked on their wedding day, it wouldn’t cost him anything. He could breathe again.
    And took a deep breath.
    Lordy, she was beautiful, though.
     

    M EGAN CAUGHT HER breath as she looked down the aisle at the man waiting to become her husband.
    She’d thought him handsome, sexy, in tight jeans and a Stetson. But in a tux, he was incredible. A tux? How had he had time to get a tux? He probably had to go into Lubbock, an hour’s drive away.
    She felt badly that he’d taken that much time out from his busy schedule. A tux hadn’t been necessary. But the man seemed determined to do everything right. Even if it was a pretend