Tokyo, Japan – April, 1887

Bebe had always loved springtime, but nothing had prepared her for her first sight of the cherry blossoms of Japan.

“It’s…it’s as if heaven itself had opened up and planted trees on earth,” she said to Hubert as the two of them walked arm and arm through the elegant paths of the Shinjuku Gyoen, one of Tokyo’s imperial gardens. Hubert had secured access for the two of them thanks to his journalistic connections, and Bebe was grateful for it.

“Yeah.” Hubert shrugged, seemingly nonchalant. “It’s pretty.”

Bebe smacked his arm. “It’s more than pretty. It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

“It’s not the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” Hubert said.

“How can you say that? Every one of these blossoms is perfection.” She reached up to brush her fingertips over a branch they were walking under. Petals fluttered down like pale pink snow, taking her breath away.

“It’s nice,” Hubert agreed, mischief in his eyes.

“And whoever tends these lawns should be given a medal,” Bebe went on. “I’ve never seen anything so green in my life.”

“That’s because you’re used to the landscape in southern Wyoming,” Hubert told her. “The high prairie isn’t exactly known for lush vegetation.”

“That’s true, but there were some areas around San Francisco that were green.”

She’d loved San Francisco from the moment she and Hubert arrived just before Valentine’s Day. They had stayed in Haskell for New Year’s, then planned a speedy wedding for the end of January. Vivian was livid about every aspect of Bebe’s and Hubert’s happiness, but she was powerless to stop it. When she put her foot down and forbid Bebe to take a single thing from the ranch, Bebe was forced to start over with nothing but the clothes on her back.

Fortunately for her, Honoria and Solomon had taken her in without a moment’s hesitation. Hubert’s sisters and Elspeth had gifted her with a whole new wardrobe as a wedding present. The only things that Bebe regretted being forced to give up were the portrait of her mother and a necklace belonging to her, and Glory. Honoria had promised to try to talk Vivian into parting with their mother’s things, and in the end, Bebe had decided that with or without her, Glory would be happier on a ranch than in the city.

But when Hubert had been given a new assignment in Tokyo a year after they were married, Bebe discovered that there truly was an entire world for her to explore, just like Hubert had promised.

“I should really buy some postcards of the garden to send to Vivian and Melinda,” Bebe said as they turned a corner to walk alongside a shining lake.

“Do they ever write back to you?” Hubert asked.

“No,” Bebe sighed. “But I feel like I should at least try to keep in touch. And if I ever confronted her about it, I’m sure Vivian would say she’s been too busy for idle correspondence.”

Indeed, Vivian had been busy in the last year. After Hubert paid off the debt, the ranch had just enough money to continue business through the breeding season. It was a stroke of luck that the herd increased more than usual, and that the livestock they sold that year fetched such a good price. Although Bebe suspected that the Bonneville herd always fetched a good price, and that the Price had pocketed the difference for far too long. Even though neither Vivian nor Melinda wrote to her—or attended her wedding or even spoke to her after she was married—she was able to glean what was going on at the ranch through second-hand reports. It was reassuring to know that Vivian had wised up and was taking control of things with an iron hand, but Bebe shuddered to think what kind of woman Vivian was becoming.

But she had very little space in her thoughts for something as miserable as Vivian and the ranch when she was surrounded by so much exquisiteness.

“All right,” she sighed as she and Hubert walked on. “You might not think the trees and the grass are the most magnificent thing you’ve ever seen, but what about the flowers? We don’t have half of these species in Haskell.” She gestured around at the colorful chrysanthemums that lined the pathways.

“The flowers are okay.”

Bebe huffed in frustration. “Well what about the gorgeous tea house over there? What is it called again, a pagoda?”

Hubert chuckled. “No, no a pagoda is a building with multiple tiers, like that one.” He pointed beyond the garden’s walls to a temple that stood a few streets away. Its unique architecture towered above the other houses of the city’s street. “The tea house is just a pretty building.”

“Ha! So you admit that it’s pretty?” Bebe teased him.

“Of course it’s pretty,” Hubert said. “All of this is pretty. Very pretty, in fact.”

Bebe stopped and turned to him, planting her hands on her hips. “You said it wasn’t beautiful.”

Hubert shook his head, then took her hands. “I said none of this, none of this amazing example of nature at its best, is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

She arched an eyebrow at him. “Really? Then what is?”

His smile grew. “You,” he said, raising her hands to his lips and kissing them.

In an instant, Bebe was ready to melt into a puddle at his feet. Hubert had a way of doing that to her. And while she still had a long way to go before her tendency to distrust—born of more than two decades of living with her father and Vivian—completely went away, but there were times when Hubert made her feel like the luckiest woman in the world.

“You won’t be able to say that forever, you know,” she said, cheeks going pink. Perhaps that was a good time to let him in on the secret she’d been keeping from him.

“Never,” he said. “I don’t care what happens, where we go, or what wonders we see. You will always be the most beautiful thing in the world to me.”

“Hmm.” She slipped one of her hands out of his and pressed it to her stomach. “I hope this one isn’t a girl, then. She might not like her daddy thinking anyone is more beautiful than her.”

Hubert blinked, his smile fading to surprise, then growing a thousand times brighter. “This one?”

Bebe nodded, bursting into a smile herself. “I was waiting for the right time to tell you. This seemed like it.”

“Bebe.” He laughed, then scooped her into his arms and whirled her around.

She giggled, dizzy with joy and spinning. When he put her down, he pulled her into his arms and gave her a kiss so long and passionate that she feared the local authorities would come after them to break it up.

“You’ve made me the happiest man in the world already,” he said at last. “This just adds to that happiness.”

“And with any luck, there will be more and more to add over time,” Bebe went on. “Because I’m pretty sure we used up all of our bad days already.”

“We most certainly have,” he said, kissing her again. “I’ll make sure every day for the rest of our life is a good one.”

And, finally, she believed him.

* * *

And now, I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that this is it, the last book in my Brides of Paradise Ranch series. But the good news is that it isn’t the last you’ll ever read about Haskell, Wyoming and the people who live there! In fact, coming this summer (2018) I’ll be starting a whole new series, Haskell Heritage, which takes place starting in the 1890s and follows the lives and loves of the children of some of your favorite characters from the Brides of Paradise Ranch, the Hot on the Trail series, and the Montana Romance series, as well as a few surprise appearances from characters in the West Meets East series. If you’d like a sneak peek at what’s to come, check out the bonus story, A Haskell Christmas Reunion, included with the , available now.

Also, new for 2018, I’ll be writing romance set in Victorian Britain in the 1880s, involving slightly older (but still incredibly yummy) heroes, The Silver Foxes of Westminster. Book one in the series, , is available for pre-order now, and you might just recognize the estate, Starcross Castle, and some of the servants of the house from my West Meets East series. Look for stories that take place “upstairs” with the nobility and “downstairs” among the regular folks in this sexy new series!

Be sure to so that you can be alerted when all of these exciting books are released!