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the parlor to wait, Miss Montgomery. It’s cooler in there.”
    â€œThank you, you are most kind.” Allison walked up the porch steps with her chaperone.
    *  *  *
    Upstairs, Zachary knocked on Hunter’s door. “I need you downstairs, boy.”
    â€œGo away, Pa, I’m busy!” Hunter yelled from inside the room.
    Zachary yelled back, “So get unbusy and bring your wife. We have—”
    â€œTiffany is busy, too, and I’m not about to interrupt her. Go away !”
    Zachary put his ear to the door and heard a giggle, then a passionate moan. He rolled his eyes and pounded on the door again. “Degan’s fiancée is downstairs and wants to know where she can find him. This really won’t wait.”
    A mere moment later, Hunter opened the door, holding up his unfastened pants, wearing nothing else. “Degan has a fiancée? I don’t believe it.”
    â€œCome see for yourself.”
    Once they were dressed, Hunter and Tiffany pretty much ran down the stairs. They came to a halt as soon as the parlor was within view and they saw the women sitting on the sofa. Hunter thought his father had just made up a tall tale to get them out of the bedroom since they’d pretty much been living in it all week. Tiffany knew her father-in-law wouldn’t joke about Degan’s having a fiancée, so she wasn’t surprised by the sight of the beautiful young woman in the room and went in to introduce herself.
    Hunter stopped to give Mary a bashful grin and a kiss on the cheek before she set down the coffee tray she’d just brought into the parlor. “Morning, Ma—is it still morning?”
    â€œYou’d know what time of day it is if you hadn’t decided to have your honeymoon here.”
    â€œNew York is going to be a hectic shopping spree. We’ll get there eventually.”
    â€œWell, behave. We have guests.”
    â€œSo I see.” Hunter moved over to sit on the arm of the sofa next to his wife. But he didn’t appear the least bit cordial as he stared at Allison Montgomery and said, “If Degan had a fiancée, he wouldn’t be selling his gun all over the West. Who are you really?”
    â€œHunter!” Tiffany exclaimed.
    The woman was blushing profusely now, having just been called a liar. “I see I’m going to have to explain.”
    â€œYeah, that might be a good idea,” Hunter agreed.
    Mary poured her guests cups of coffee, but Allison’s was left untouched as she began, “You are right, Degan and I aren’t engaged anymore, but we were, and if he hadn’t left Chicago, we would be married now. He doesn’t know I forgave him.”
    â€œForgave him for what?” Tiffany asked.
    Tears welled up in Allison’s eyes but she blinked them back. “We were childhood friends and so much in love. But Degan had a bit more than a flirtation with another young woman the night of our engagement dinner. I didn’t blame him. We weren’t married yet, and, well, I understand such things happen. But my parents weren’t as understanding. They made me break off the engagement. I didn’t want to do it, but I couldn’t defy them. I hoped my parents would relent and Degan and I would reconcile, but he left Chicago before my parents could reconsider.”
    In a friendlier tone now Hunter asked, “Why have you waited so long to come looking for Degan to patch things up?”
    â€œEveryone said to give him a year or two to sow his wild oats, that he’d be back, but it’s been five years! I tried to forget about him. I let other men court me, I tried to fall in love with them, but I just couldn’t forget about Degan. He and I were meant to be together. I just need to remind him of that and to tell him that I still love him, that I forgive him.”
    â€œI never would have took Degan for being a city slicker,” Zachary remarked.
    â€œI