Dallas Hayes adjusted her prosthetic leg, pulled on her blue jeans and a pair of boots and headed out of the main house at the Brighter Days Rehab Ranch.

Once outside, she stretched both arms over her head and marveled at how blue the Montana skies were and how chilly the air was even in late June.

Even though everyone on the ranch had been up a good portion of the night, the animals still needed to be cared for and work had to be done to clean up after the wedding that had taken place the day before.

Gavin Blackstock, dressed in jeans and a faded blue chambray shirt, appeared in the barn door and shaded his brown-black eyes against the sunshine. “Mornin’, Hayes.”

Dallas nodded. “Hear any more from the Davilas?”

“After the doc cleared them to fly, they caught a later plane out of Bozeman and made their connection to Maui. I got a text around five saying they were in their bungalow, about to crash.” Gavin winced. “Poor choice of words. About to go to sleep for the first time since the wedding.”

“Cruddy way to start a marriage, if you ask me.” She tilted her head to the side, a frown pulling her brows together. “What about the driver? How’s Chuck?”

“He’s pretty banged up. He’s staying the night in the hospital, but the doc thinks he’ll be fine.”

Dallas nodded. “Glad to hear it.” She glanced around the barnyard. “What’s top on your list of chores that need to be done today?”

He nodded toward the stacks of chairs and tables waiting to be loaded. “We need to load the rented items onto the trailer and drive them into Eagle Rock. I’ll get Franklin and Vasquez to help.”

“Looking for us?” Brody Franklin, a blond-haired, green-eyed medically retired Army private, had just celebrated his twenty-first birthday a few days before the Davila wedding. He emerged from the barn, a little worse for wear after having had his share of the kegs of beer at the reception.

He was followed by Xavier Vasquez, the twenty-three-year-old former Marine.

Both young men had been on the ranch for several months and knew their way around. They’d proven they could handle any work thrown their way. As a team. Each man had lost an arm—Franklin his right, and Vasquez his left—during their last deployments. But together, they’d established a rhythm that worked for both. They performed the work of two men despite their missing limbs.

Dallas envied their easy camaraderie, something she hadn’t had since she’d declared her intention to complete Army Ranger training. Once she’d set her sights on that goal, her friends backed away and her peers steered clear. They wanted nothing to do with a female daring to step into the formerly male-dominated world of combat.

She hadn’t been the first female to go through the training, nor would she be the last. She had been fortunate to follow the first three very strong and determined women who’d blazed the trail through Ranger training. She’d wanted to prove to them, as well as herself, their sacrifices hadn’t been in vain.

“Hey, Ranger,” Gavin said. “Hank said he was stopping by the ranch on his way back from the hospital in Bozeman. He wanted to speak with you. So, don’t disappear. He should be here in the next twenty minutes.”

“Hank Patterson?” She narrowed her eyes. “Taz Davila’s boss? What’s he want with me?”

“I don’t know. I’m just passing on the information.” Gavin turned back to the barn. “I’ll be working with Little Joe if you need me. He’s due a good hoof cleaning. When you’re done with the chairs and tables, you can help Mize in the stalls. You know the drill by now.”

Dallas’s lips twisted. “They always need mucking. I don’t know why my therapist thought this place would be a good idea. All I’ve done since I’ve been here is manual labor. How am I supposed to move on with my life if I don’t get a real job?”

Gavin stopped and turned back to Dallas. “You don’t consider working with your hands and the animals a real job?”

Dallas squirmed under his direct stare. “That’s not what I meant.”

“What did you mean?”

She drew in a deep breath and let it go before responding. “It’s not a job I’ll be doing for the rest of my life. I need to get on with my career.”

“And you consider your time here on the ranch as a waste?” Gavin’s jaw tightened. “Well, you better get busy wasting your time, because the chores won’t get done on their own. Everyone pulls his or her own weight around here. Most do it without complaining.” With that parting comment, Gavin left her standing in the barnyard.

Having been thoroughly put in her place, Dallas squared her shoulders and turned toward Franklin and Vasquez.

Both men grinned.

“You’ve just been initiated into the wrath of Blackstock.” Franklin held up his only hand for a high five.

Dallas hesitated and then slapped his hand. It was that, or he’d hold it up all day.

Vasquez held up the opposite hand, obligating Dallas to slap it as well. “Consider yourself one of us now.”

“We had a few concerns ourselves when we arrived at the ranch,” Franklin admitted. He glanced at his friend and his smile broadened. “We worked it out and are better for the effort. Right?”

Vasquez nodded. “Right. It taught us we could do anything we set our minds to. We just had to find a way without the use of the limb we lost and rely a lot on teamwork.”

Jimmy Young emerged from the barn, covered in hay straw, moving his body by planting gloved hands on the ground and swinging his torso between his arms.

Dallas couldn’t help but be amazed at how well the young man with no legs got around.

“Hey, Ranger,” he said. “If you’ll hand me the chairs, I’ll stack them on the back of the trailer.” He pulled himself up onto the trailer and held out both hands. “Come on. I don’t have all day. I need to exercise the ponies when we’re done here.”

Dallas grabbed a chair and handed it to Young. He stacked the chair against the side of the trailer wall and held out his hand for the next one.

They worked, Dallas and Young, stacking chairs while Vasquez and Franklin loaded all the folding tables. By the time they were done, a big, black, four-wheel-drive truck had pulled into the barnyard, followed by a charcoal gray truck.

Hank Patterson dropped down from the driver’s seat of the black truck.

Dallas had met the man the day before at the wedding. He’d been with his pretty movie-star wife, Sadie McClain, and their daughter, Emma.

Today, he was accompanied not by his wife, but by a man who climbed down from the second vehicle. He’d been introduced to the wedding party as the new guy on the Brotherhood Protectors team, Vince Van Cleave, or Viper, as he preferred to be called.

He appeared in the nice clothes he’d worn the day before, but they were muddy and torn. Dirt smeared Viper’s face, and his eyes were slightly sunken, as if he’d had less sleep the night before than she had.

“Miss Hayes.” Hank approached and held out his hand.

Dallas took the proffered hand and gave it a firm shake. “Mr. Patterson.”

“Call me Hank.” He gave an abbreviated smile. “Blackstock told you I wanted to speak to you?”

“He did.”

“Good.” He nodded toward the man at his side. “You’ve met Viper?”

She nodded.

“We were introduced yesterday at the wedding,” Viper verified.

The deep resonance of his voice sent a strange ripple of awareness across Dallas’s senses, and she gave the man another look.

He was tall. A few inches taller than Hank. He wasn’t as young as Hank, based on the salt gray streaks at his temples. Light blue eyes bored into her, making her wonder what he saw. Did he find her lacking in some way?

Not that she cared. When she’d signed on to be a Ranger, she knew her status would be off-putting to most men. Especially those who served or had served in the military. So many men took issue with women in combat and snubbed her without getting to know her.

Dallas lifted her chin. She didn’t need a man in her life to make her complete. What she needed was a job, a home and a place where she could start over, one leg short of being a whole person.

“Can we go inside the house to talk?” Hank asked.

Dallas shrugged. “I guess. It’s not my house, but Miss Kendricks—Mrs. Davila—assured me I could make myself at home.” She led the way to the sprawling ranch house, climbed the steps to the porch and held the door for Hank and Viper.

Hank entered.

When Viper stepped past her, his broad shoulder brushed against her breast.

A shock of electricity shot through her body, pooling low in her belly. The guy, dirt and all, was more man than any of the soldiers she’d accompanied through Ranger school.

“Pardon me,” he said in that tone that had every one of her nerves on alert.

“No problem,” Dallas said, unsure of how to respond. She had zero experience with men in any other sense than that of a battle buddy. She could provide cover fire, carry a two-hundred-pound body out of harm’s way and lob a grenade like a professional baseball player. But she didn’t know how to flirt, bat her eyelashes or react to a man when his touch made her insides go all mushy.

What the hell?

She shook off the feeling and followed the big guy into the house, her cheeks burning. She hoped the heat would subside before she faced him again.

Hank found his way to the kitchen and the automatic coffeemaker which still had half a pot keeping warm. “Want a cup?” he asked Viper.

Viper shoved a hand through his hair and nodded. “I could use one. And a shower.”

“I can offer you the coffee, but as for the shower, you can get that when we’ve had a chance to discuss the situation.” Hank waved a hand toward the cabinets. “Now, where can I find a mug?”

Dallas reached into a cabinet and retrieved three mugs. She hadn’t bothered with breakfast, after sleeping past dawn. She preferred a stiff cup of caffeine instead of the usual eggs and bacon Cookie, the ranch cook, stirred up each morning.

She handed the mugs to Hank, who waited with the coffee pot. He poured out three cups and set them on the large kitchen table that seated over a dozen people. The day before, the table had been moved outside for the meal following the wedding.

Dallas pulled out one of the chairs and sat in front of a steaming mug. She inhaled the aroma of strong coffee, letting it calm her. She had a feeling whatever Hank had to say would be a game-changer. The serious look on his face portended nothing less. Not one to beat around the bush, Dallas launched with, “What is it you wanted to talk to me about?”

Hank stared down at his coffee for a moment as if gathering his thoughts. Then he looked up, straight into Dallas’s eyes. “What happened last night nearly got three people killed. One of my men is lying in a hospital pretty banged up.”

“I was sorry to hear about the incident,” Dallas acknowledged. “What does that have to do with me?”

“Based on what Chuck was able to tell me, the brakes didn’t work. As soon as we can collect the limousine from the side of that hill, I’ll have a mechanic go over the vehicle with a fine-tooth comb. But I have a feeling the brake lines were cut.”

Dallas frowned. “You don’t think I had anything to do with damaging the limo, do you?”

Hank waved her worry aside with a sweep of his hand. “No, of course not. But I talked with my wife, who keeps up with the local social events more than me. She tells me a number of questionable occurrences happened at several weddings in the county over the past few weeks. In one case, the bride ended up in the hospital with a concussion after the rose arbor they’d had specially built for the wedding collapsed on top of her.”

Dallas didn’t understand the need to spend money on special settings that would only be torn down the day after a wedding. “Sounds like faulty construction.”

“The builder was very careful, knowing how strong the winds can get in these parts. The arbor had been sabotaged. Someone sawed through the brace posts holding the upper section. All it took was a person bumping against it and it came down.”

Dallas sat forward. “Sawed into it? As in deliberately?”

Hank nodded. “That’s exactly what I mean. And at another wedding, the wine the bride and groom drank had been poisoned. They were lucky they threw up most of what they drank and were airlifted to the hospital in time for medical help.”

“That’s awful. Who would do that?”

“Some sick son of a bitch who doesn’t like weddings?” Viper suggested. “Excuse my language.”

“I don’t give a fuck if you cuss.” Dallas gave Viper a wry smile. “I’ve heard and said worse.” She turned back to Hank. “I still don’t see what this situation has to do with me.”

“Or me.” Viper ran his hand through his hair again and sat back in his chair, his coffee untouched. “Unless you want me to attend every wedding scheduled in the near future looking for the saboteur. That solution could be like searching for a needle in a haystack. The bastard might not even attend the event after setting it up for failure.”

“Actually,” Hank said, drawing out the word. “You’re thinking in the same direction as I am.”

“Oh, yeah?” Viper sat forward. “How so?”

“Rather than have another innocent bride and groom take a hit, I thought it might be better to have two of my own Brotherhood Protectors lay a trap and lure the culprit into revealing himself.”

“What did you have in mind?” Dallas asked. Though she had an idea where Hank was heading, she wanted to be perfectly clear. Her body tensed and her pulse raced.

“A wedding, between two of my most skilled operatives who are recent arrivals. They’d have to be so new to the area, no one would know their backstory.”

“I meet the new criteria, having just arrived in town yesterday,” Viper said. “How will this work?”

“I need you to get married,” Hank said, his tone flat, his face set like stone.

“Ha!” Viper’s bark of laughter met silence. “You’re kidding, right?”

Hank shook his head, his gaze swinging away from Viper to Dallas.

Dallas set the mug she’d been holding on the table and wiped her suddenly sweaty palms against her jeans. Before Hank uttered his next words, she knew what he would say. She held her breath and braced herself.

“I’m not kidding. As of now, I don’t have a female protector as part of my team. But I’m all for equal opportunity and for hiring the right man…or woman for the job.” He leaned toward Dallas.

She shook her head and sat back as far as she could get away from Hank and his intense stare. “Not me.”

“Yes, you.” Hank gave her a hint of a smile. “I’ve read your dossier. You kicked ass in Ranger school, and you’re an expert marksman on a number of different weapons. Plus, you can take on anyone in hand-to-hand combat.” His tone lowered and became even more intense. “I need someone I know can handle a potentially bad situation…a trained combatant. But most of all…a female.”

Married? Her? The one-legged female who gave up any possibility of getting married when she opted into Ranger training? And now…one leg short, she most definitely was out of the marriage pool. Dallas held up her hands. “Whoa, wait just a minute. I might be all of those things, but I’m nothing like the marrying kind. I don’t even look like a bride.”

“My wife, Sadie, can help you with everything you need to put together a wedding. Hannah’s father, the senator, will fund the effort. He’s promised to pay for everything you need to stage a ceremony, from a wedding dress to a three-piece band, if that’s what you think we need. The bigger the event, the better chance of flushing out our guy.”

“But, you don’t get it.” Dallas shook her head. “I’m not the right woman for the job.”

“You’re female. You’re good with a gun. You know how to fight. You’re perfect,” Hank said. “And in case I didn’t say it before, I want to hire you as one of the Brotherhood Protectors. We could use another competent fighter on our team.”

Hire her? Hank wanted to hire her? For a moment, a flash of hope swelled in her chest, only to be crushed seconds later when she reflected on the reality of her world.

She shook her head, heat rising in her cheeks. “I’m sorry, Mr. Patterson, but I’m not the right woman for the job. I’m not the fighter I used to be. Hell, I’m not sure I can fight anymore.” She turned in her seat and pulled up her pant leg, exposing her prosthetic where a healthy leg had been months before. “You see, I’m not the person I was in that dossier.”

Hank glanced down at the prosthetic and back up to Dallas’s face. “You’re everything I read in that dossier. And more. And you’ll be perfect to play the part of a blushing bride. You even have the blush down pat. And you’ll make a convincing bride to your groom…” Hank waved his hand toward the other man sitting at the table, “Viper.”

The heat increased and spread all the way up to her ears. She shot a glance toward Viper, hoping he would back up her refusal.

His eyes had widened, and he shook his head slowly from side to side. “You want us to stage a fake wedding? I don’t know…I’ve never done anything like this. I wouldn’t know where to start.”

“It’s all about acting. You don’t even have to like each other.” Hank grinned. “Although, that would make the scenario more believable.”

“Weddings are for girly-girls,” Dallas protested. “I’m the furthest thing from being a girly-girl. I don’t think I’ve ever painted my fingernails, and I couldn’t begin to tell you how to apply makeup. And I can’t wear high heels. The prosthetic rules that out.” She laid her hands on the table. “You’ll have to find someone else.”

Hank’s smile faded and his eyes narrowed. “Again, I don’t have any women in my organization who qualify. Hell, I don’t have any women in my organization. You’d be the first, and you’re a highly trained Ranger. I couldn’t ask for better.”

“But, don’t you see?” Dallas fought the sting in her eyes. Rangers didn’t cry, she reminded herself. She lowered her voice to a whisper, afraid it would break on a sob she refused to release. “I’m the reason all the members of my team died. I’m poison. Worse, I’m a curse.”

Hank jerked back, a frown pulling his brows low. “Who told you that?”

Every man in her unit. Every Ranger she’d sworn to protect. “No one had to tell me. My history is the proof. Of the seven-member team that went into the village that night in Afghanistan, I was the only one who lived.”

Hank’s fierce expression softened. “And you carried one of your own men out on your back.”

“He died!” she said, her voice catching. Dallas pushed to her foot, spun on her prosthetic leg and nearly fell on her face.

If Viper hadn’t leaped to his feet at the same time, she would have fallen and made a complete fool of herself.

His hands grabbed her arms and steadied her until she could get her body straight and the prosthetic squarely beneath her weight. Damn the device. And damn Viper for catching her, proving she was vulnerable when all she’d wanted was to get away from the men before the tears burning her eyes slipped down her cheeks.

Too late. A fat, wet tear slipped free and made a long damp trail down her cheek. She ducked her head. “Let go.”

“Can you stand alone?” Viper asked.

“Yes.” Shame burned in her chest as well as her cheeks. “I just got ahead of myself.”

He hesitated a moment more, and then released his hold on her arms.

Without Viper to lean on, Dallas swayed.

He cupped her elbow and steadied her. “Please. Sit.”

She shook free of his hold and walked across the kitchen, careful not to display her decided limp. Yes, she lost a leg, but no, she refused to reveal just how the loss had slowed her down…any more than she had already. Finally, she turned to face Hank and opened her mouth to decline his offer.

But he held up a hand. “Look, this is a paying gig. A job. I’ve read your file, I’m a pretty good judge of character. I know you’re the one we need in this position.” Hank stood. “Think of it this way…if I chose any other female, she’d be a liability to Viper. You and Viper will be a team. Equal pay for equal performance. I expect no less. I know you can handle yourself and that you will provide cover and backup for Viper. I know he will do the same for you.” Hank turned to Viper.

Viper nodded. “I’m game if you are.” He shrugged. “I was never much of an actor, but for the sake of smoking out the bastard who almost killed a few of our own, I’ll do it.”

“Do it for all the couples in this area thinking of tying the knot,” Hank urged. “You’d be saving them from heartache and possibly an end to their happiness before it has a chance to begin.”

“To hell with them,” Viper said, his gaze intense and staring as if right through her. “Do it for yourself. Do you want to remain in rehab, wondering what you’ll do for a real job? Or do you want to take an honest-to-goodness offer to do what you do best?” He crossed both arms over his chest. “I’d rather work to get on with my life than spend the next couple months wondering where I fit in.”

Damn the man. He made too much sense. When Viper put it that way, Dallas would be a fool to pass up an offer that required the use of the only skills she possessed.

She drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Then she faced Hank. “Sadie can help me with whatever frou-frou things I’ll need to know and do?”

“She will,” Hank agreed. A smile crept up the corners of his lips. “You’ll do it?”

Despite her reticence, Dallas nodded. “I’ll do it. How do I start?”

“By getting to know your fiancé.” Hank stuck out his hand.

Dallas placed hers in his. He shook it and then dragged her over to Viper. “Viper, meet your bride to be. Dallas, you’ll need to become acquainted with the man you’re going to marry.”

As she stared up into Viper’s blue eyes, Dallas was positive she’d regret her decision.