The Wedding Ransom by Geralyn Dawson Page A

beautiful woman to enjoy, and a holiday from the Lone Star during the season of the year that means a lot of lost sleep—maybe I should go with you.”
    “Did I say the lady was beautiful?”
    “With your luck, would she be anything else?”
    Rafe’s mouth tilted in a slow grin. “She’s as pretty as a west Texas sunset, and you can’t come because I’m not sharing. For one thing, Honor would kill us both.”
    “Yeah, she would, wouldn’t she?” Luke duplicated Rafe’s smile. “Reckon I’ll just have to suffer and do without a little taste of your good fortune.”
    Rafe glanced over his shoulder to where Luke’s exquisite wife was holding court to the four Lake Bliss pirates. “Some suffering,” he dryly drawled.
    Luke laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. He lifted his daughter back into his arms and asked, “So, where is she? When do I get to meet Miss Mary Margaret St. John?”
    ~~~~~~~~~~
    The elderly woman held the bottle of Lake Bliss water up in front of the mercantile window and frowned. “And you say this will cure my rheumatism?”
    “Not cure it, I’m afraid,” Maggie replied. “But chances are it will ease your pain. The story I told you is true, Mrs. Best. Once I started taking daily doses of Lake Bliss water, my rheumatism disappeared for the most part.”
    Luella Best smiled at Maggie. “You are a sweet girl, Miss St. John. I knew it the first moment I saw you. My Rafe wouldn’t have grinned at you the way he did if you weren’t sweet.”
    Maggie fumbled the bolt of fabric she’d been considering for a new bathing sarong and it thudded to the floor. “Your Rafe? You know Mr. Malone? You saw us together?”
    “Yes, earlier. We’ve been waiting for him for days. I tell you we were all happy to see him arrive on the ferry this afternoon.”
    “We? Who is we?”
    “The Prescotts, of course.”
    “Luke Prescott?”
    “And his wife and children. I’m Honor Prescott’s mother-in-law, her second husband’s mother. The boys, Micah and Jason, are my grandsons, although I consider the twins just as much my granddaughters even if we’re not blood related. We’re all family, you know.”
    No, Maggie hadn’t known. She’d had no idea this woman was in any way connected to Rafe’s partner Luke Prescott. She’d introduced herself to Luella Best in the mercantile because she’d noticed the pained steps the woman took as she entered the mercantile. “Does Rafe know you’re in Galveston?”
    “Likely by now he does. Luke and the others were headed to see him when they dropped me off here. I wanted to check you over.”
    “Oh.” She didn’t have the slightest clue of what else to say. That didn’t matter, because Luella had plenty of questions to ask. She appropriated a stool from behind the counter, settled herself down, and proceeded to conduct an interrogation worthy of any Texas Ranger on the hunt for facts. After fifteen minutes, Luella knew everything about Maggie that was of any interest and a number of things that weren’t interesting at all.
    “Now where was it you first saw women wearing these bathing sarongs?” she asked, holding up a length of the bright floral cotton Maggie had chosen.
    “Tahiti.”
    Luella clicked her tongue as her gaze measured Maggie’s curves. “That Rafe sure does lead a charmed life. I know he will simply love this trip.”
    “Tell me a little about him, Luella,” she asked, figuring the woman owed her some data in return.
    “What would you like to know about my favorite rascal?”
    The first question poured from her mouth like water from a dipper. “Does he have a lady friend back home?”
    “No, not at the moment. I’m afraid he spent too long pining over his lost love, Elizabeth Perkins. They knew one another as children, and then once he settled in Bastrop he took up with her for a time.”
    Luella wrinkled her nose. “He’s better off without her. Elizabeth is a silly twit. She chose Jasper Worrell over Rafe. She claimed she