Texas Tender by Leigh Greenwood Page A

“I won’t be here long.”
    Newt muttered a threat and stormed out of the jail.
    â€œYou’re so brave,” Mara said with a sigh.
    Emmett left to make his rounds, and Mara followed Will back to his office.
    â€œMama said supper would be ready at six, but you could come anytime before that. She says she’s got to thank the man who saved her little girl’s honor.”
    â€œI’ll be sure to be there on time.” Will sat down at his desk, dropped the two guns into their drawer, and closed it.
    â€œI hope you do come early,” Mara said. “There are lots of things I want to know about you.”
    â€œLike what?” Will asked, suddenly aware of the true nature of Mara’s expression and beginning to feel like a fly cornered by a spider.
    â€œAre you married?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œYou sweet on anybody?”
    He should have answered yes to both questions, but he’d learned long ago that although telling lies might help at a given moment, in the long run they caused even more trouble.
    â€œNo, but I’m not the marrying type.”
    â€œWhy? You’re not very old.”
    â€œI’m twenty-eight.”
    â€œI like older men. They’re more mature.”
    â€œYou’re too young for someone my age,” Will said. “You need a husband who won’t be old when you’re still young.”
    â€œI’m eighteen,” Mara said.
    â€œSee, that’s ten years. Practically a lifetime.”
    Mara laughed. “You’re funny.”
    Will wasn’t feeling the least bit amused. He realized that saving Mara had turned him into a hero in her eyes. From there it was only a short leap to husband material. He hadn’t been avoiding the clutches of females for more than ten years to fall victim to some young woman who couldn’t see reality because of the shining armor blinding her.
    â€œYou shouldn’t be thinking of marriage yet. You have years and years to enjoy having men adore you.”
    Mara frowned. “Mama says I should be married already. She was a mama when she was my age.”
    â€œDo you want to be a mama?”
    Mara looked besotted. “If I can have your babies.”
    Will nearly choked. “You don’t even know me. I could be a murderer, for all you know. You should marry some nice young man you’ve known all your life.”
    Mara frowned again. “Papa wants me to marry Van, but I used to be sweet on Carl Ellsworth.”
    â€œ
Used to be?
”
    â€œUntil I met you.”
    Now he was in for it. All he wanted to do was buy a bull. How complicated could that be? Instead, the damned bull was missing, he’d let Lloyd Severns talk him into being sheriff, and now the daughter of the richest man in town was infatuated with him and wanted to have his babies. He could barely resist the temptation to toss his badge on the desk and hop on a fast horse out of town.
    â€œStick with Carl. He’s a nice fella.”
    â€œPapa says I can’t marry a poor man.”
    â€œWhat makes you think I’m not poor?”
    â€œYou’re buying that bull.”
    â€œMaybe I’m not buying it. Maybe my father is.”
    â€œIf your father is rich, you are, too.”
    Boy, did this girl have a lot to learn. “Jake adopted eleven kids, then had one of his own. Even if he wanted to give me money, it wouldn’t be much. I’m probably no richer than Carl.”
    â€œPapa said everybody knows that Jake Maxwell owns practically a whole county. He thinks you’ll make a fine husband.”
    â€œYou mentioned this to your father!”
    â€œTo Mama, too. She can’t wait to meet you. That’s why she wants you to come early to supper. They won’t let me marry Carl, and I don’t want to marry Van, but they said I could marry you.”

Chapter Four
    Will felt the noose tightening around his neck. All he’d done was protect a young woman from