Marrying Dr. Maverick Read online

  Hitched for love—or business? Find out as Karen Rose Smith returns to Rust Creek Falls in the latest installment of the Montana Mavericks: Rust Creek Cowboys!

  Rust Creek Ramblings

  It seems as if all we’ve been hearing about these days in Rust Creek Falls is folks falling in love and getting engaged. But this latest one tops them all. Dr. Brooks Smith, our favorite veterinarian, the most confirmed bachelor in all of Montana, is taking himself a bride!

  The fact that he has chosen Jasmine “Jazzy” Cates, his new assistant, a visitor from Thunder Canyon, is only fueling speculation. Rumors are this “love match” is really just a business proposition, but sweet Jazzy may have something more in mind. Can she turn her convenient husband’s wedding fever into a lifelong condition?

  Jazzy gazed at Brooks in stunned silence. Had he asked her to do what she thought he’d asked her to do?

  “I asked you to marry me. I know you think I’m absolutely crazy.”

  “No…” she started and didn’t know quite how to finish or where to go from there.

  “This isn’t a joke, Jazzy. I’m not out of my mind. Really. But I need to solve this problem with my father. The only way he’s going to let me in on the practice, the only way he’s going to rest and stop wearing himself down, is if I’m really settled. I have to give him what he wants.”

  “I don’t understand,” she said very quietly.

  “He wants me to have a wife, so I need a wife. The way we’ve worked together the past week, I just know you’d be perfect.”

  “So you really do want me to marry you?”

  “It wouldn’t be a real marriage.”

  When he said those words, she found herself amazingly disappointed. How stupid was that?

  * * *

  MONTANA MAVERICKS: RUST CREEK COWBOYS

  Better saddle up. It’s going to be a bumpy ride!

  Dear Reader,

  As a child, I often visited my cousins’ farm. I was a teenager when I witnessed a foal being born. I’ll never forget the way the veterinarian helped with the birth and watched over the mom and baby. I have always loved animals and adopted cats and dogs. Fortunately, we have had caring veterinarians to watch over them. These experiences were the basis for my hero Brooks’s reverence for the profession and my heroine Jazzy’s dream of managing a horse rescue ranch someday.

  This romance between Brooks and Jazzy is a whirlwind one. Jazzy’s feelings for Brooks escalated easily when she saw how much he cared for animals, as well as his dad. Brooks’s feelings for her grew deeper and stronger because he saw her bonds with both the people around her and the animals he helped heal. These two were a perfect match from the start, even though they fought their attraction for as long as they could.

  Brooks and Jazzy swept me along with them into their romance. I hope they do the same for you!

  All my best,

  Karen Rose Smith

  Marrying Dr. Maverick

  Karen Rose Smith

  Books by Karen Rose Smith

  Harlequin Special Edition

  ¤His Country Cinderella #2137

  **Once Upon a Groom #2146

  **The CEO’s Unexpected Proposal #2201

  **Riley’s Baby Boy #2205

  ¶Wanted: A Real Family #2277

  ¤¤Marrying Dr. Maverick #2287

  Silhouette Special Edition

  Abigail and Mistletoe #930

  The Sheriff’s Proposal #1074

  His Little Girl’s Laughter #1426

  Expecting the CEO’s Baby #1535

  Their Baby Bond #1588

  Take a Chance on Me #1599

  Which Child Is Mine? #1655

  ΔCabin Fever #1682

  ΩCustody for Two #1753

  ΩThe Baby Trail #1767

  ΩExpecting His Brother’s Baby #1779

  +The Super Mom #1797

  §Falling for the Texas Tycoon #1807

  ±The Daddy Dilemma #1884

  ^Her Mr. Right? #1897

  ±The Daddy Plan #1908

  ±The Daddy Verdict #1925

  *Lullaby for Two #1961

  *The Midwife’s Glass Slipper #1972

  ΦThe Texas Bodyguard’s Proposal #1987

  *Baby by Surprise #1997

  *The Texas Billionaire’s Baby #2032

  *The Texan’s Happily-Ever-After #2044

  ΨFrom Doctor…to Daddy #2065

  *Twins Under His Tree #2087

  **His Daughter…Their Child #2098

  Silhouette Books

  The Fortunes of Texas

  Marry in Haste…

  Logan’s Legacy

  A Precious Gift

  The Fortunes of Texas: Reunion

  The Good Doctor

  Signature Select

  Secret Admirer

  “Dream Marriage”

  ΩBaby Bonds

  ΔMontana Mavericks: Gold Rush Grooms

  +Talk of the Neighborhood

  §Logan’s Legacy Revisited

  ^The Wilder Family

  ±Dads in Progress

  *The Baby Experts

  ΦThe Foleys and the McCords

  ΨMontana Mavericks: Thunder Canyon Cowboys

  **Reunion Brides

  ¤Montana Mavericks: The Texans are Coming!

  ¶The Mommy Club

  ¤¤Montana Mavericks: Rust Creek Cowboys

  Other titles by this author available in ebook format.

  KAREN ROSE SMITH

  Award-winning and bestselling author Karen Rose Smith’s plots are all about emotion. She began writing in her early teens, when she listened to music and created stories to accompany the songs. An only child, she spent a lot of time in her imagination and with books—Nancy Drew, Zane Grey, the Black Stallion and Anne of Green Gables. She dreamed of brothers and sisters and a big family such as the ones her mother and father came from. This is the root of her plotlines, which include small communities and family relationships as part of everyday living. Residing in Pennsylvania with her husband and three cats, she welcomes interaction with readers on Facebook, Twitter @karenrosesmith and through her website, www.karenrosesmith.com, where they can sign up for her newsletter.

  To my family and friends who love animals as much as I do—my husband Steve, my son Ken, Suzanne, Sydney, Liz, Jane, Ryan, Heather, Abby, Sophie, Chris. Special thanks to my pet sitter, Barb, whose expertise allows me to leave home with a free heart.

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Epilogue

  Chapter One

  Brooks Smith rapped firmly on the ranch-house door, scanning the all-too-familiar property in the dusk.

  His dad didn’t answer right away, and Brooks thought about going around back to the veterinary clinic, but then he heard footsteps and waited, bracing himself for this conversation.

  After his father opened the door, he looked Brooks over, from the beard stubble that seemed to be e
ver present since the flood to his mud-covered boots. Tending to large animals required trekking through fields sometimes.

  “You don’t usually come calling on a Tuesday night. Run into a problem you need me for?”

  Barrett Smith was a barrel-chested man with gray hair and ruddy cheeks. At six-two, Brooks topped him by a couple of inches. The elder Smith had put on another ten pounds over the past year, and Brooks realized he should have been concerned about that before today.

  There was challenge in his dad’s tone as there had been since they’d parted ways. But as a doctor with four years of practice under his belt, Brooks didn’t ask for his dad’s advice on animal care or frankly anything else these days.

  “Can I come in?”

  “Sure.”

  Brooks entered the living room where he’d played as a child. The Navajo rugs were worn now, the floor scuffed.

  “I only have a few minutes,” his father warned him. “I haven’t fed the horses yet.”

  “I’ll get straight to the point, then.” Brooks swiped off his Stetson and ran his hand through his hair, knowing this conversation was going to get sticky. “I ran into Charlie Hartzell at the General Store.”

  His father avoided his gaze. “So?”

  “He told me that when he stopped by over the weekend, you weren’t doing too well.”

  “I don’t know what he’s talking about,” his dad muttered, not meeting Brooks’s eyes.

  “He said you carried a pail of oats to the barn and you were looking winded and pale. You dropped the bucket and almost passed out.”

  “Anybody can have an accident. After I drank a little water, I was fine.”

  Not so true according to Charlie, Brooks thought. His dad’s longtime friend had stayed another hour to make sure Barrett wasn’t going to keel over.

  “You’re working too hard,” Brooks insisted. “If you’d let me take over the practice, you could retire, take care of the horses in the barn and help out as you want.”

  “Nothing has changed,” Barrett said angrily. “You still show no sign of settling down.”

  This was an old argument, one that had started after Lynnette had broken their engagement right before Brooks had earned his degree in veterinary medicine from Colorado State. That long-ago night, his father had wanted to discuss it with him, but with Brooks’s pride stinging, he’d asked his dad to drop it. Barrett hadn’t. Frustrated, his father had blown his top, which wasn’t unusual. What was unusual was his warning and threat—he’d never retire and turn his practice over to Brooks until his son found a woman who would stick by him and build a house on the land his grandmother had left him.

  Sure enough...

  “Your grandmama’s land is still sitting there with no signs of a foundation,” his dad went on. “She wanted you to have roots, too. That’s why she left it to you. Until you get married and at least think about having kids, I can handle my own practice just fine. And you should butt out.”

  He could rise to the bait. He could argue with his father as he’d done before. But he didn’t want his dad’s blood pressure to go any higher so he stuck to being reasonable. “You can issue an ultimatum if you want, but this isn’t about me. It’s about you. You can’t keep working the hours you’ve been working since the flood. You’re probably not eating properly, grabbing donuts at Daisy’s and potato chips at the General Store.”

  “Are you keeping track of what I buy where?”

  “Of course not. I’m worried about you.”

  “Well, don’t be. Worry about yourself. Worry about the life you don’t have.”

  “I have a life, Dad. I’m living it my way.”

  “Yeah, well, twenty years from now you just tell me how that went. I’m going out back. You can see yourself out.”

  As his father turned to leave, Brooks knew this conversation had been useless. He knew he probably shouldn’t even have come. He had to find a way to make his father wake up to the reality of his deteriorating health. He would...one way or another.

  * * *

  Jasmine Cates—“Jazzy” to her friends and family—stood outside the Ace in the Hole, Rust Creek Falls’ lone bar, staring up at the wood-burned sign. She glanced around at the almost deserted street, hoping she’d catch sight of her friend Cecilia, who was tied up at a community meeting. They were supposed to meet here.

  On the north side of town, the Ace in the Hole hadn’t been touched by the devastating July flood, but Jazzy didn’t know if she felt comfortable walking into the place alone. It was a rough and rowdy cowboy hangout, a place single guys gathered to relax. But when they relaxed, all hell could break loose. She’d heard about occasional rumbles and bar fights here.

  Feeling as if she’d scrubbed herself raw from her shower at Strickland’s Boarding House, attempting to wash off the mud from a disastrous date, she passed the old-fashioned hitching post out front and stared up at the oversize playing card—an ace of hearts—that blinked in red neon over the door. After she climbed two rough-hewn wooden steps, Jazzy opened the old screen door with its rusty hinges and let it slap behind her. A country tune poured from a jukebox. Booths lined the outer walls while wooden tables with ladder-back chairs were scattered across the plank flooring around a small dance floor. Jazzy glimpsed pool tables in the far back. Old West photos as well as those from local ranches hung on the walls. A wooden bar was situated on the right side of the establishment crowded with about a dozen bar stools, and a mirrored wall reflected the rows of glass bottles.

  Cowboys and ranch hands filled the tables, and a few gave her glances that said they might be interested in talking...or more. Jazzy quickly glanced toward the bar. There was one bar stool open and it was next to—

  Wasn’t that Dr. Brooks Smith? She hadn’t officially met him, but in her volunteer work, helping ranch owners clean up, paint and repair, she’d caught sight of him now and then as he tended to their animals. She’d liked the way he’d handled a horse that’d been injured. He’d been respectful of the animal and downright kind.

  Decision made, she crossed to the bar and settled on the stool beside him. Brooks had that sexy, scruffy look tonight. He was tall and lean and broad-shouldered. Usually he wore a smile for anyone he came in contact with, but now his expression was granitelike, and his hands were balled into fists. It didn’t even look like he’d touched his beer.

  As if sensing her regard, and maybe her curiosity, he turned toward her. Their gazes met and there was intensity in his brown eyes that told her he’d been thinking about something very serious. His gaze swept over her blond hair, snap-button blouse and jeans, and that intensity shifted into male appreciation.

  “You might need a bodyguard tonight,” he drawled. “You’re the only woman in the place.”

  He could be her bodyguard anytime. She quickly banished that thought. Hadn’t she heard somewhere that he didn’t date much? Love gone wrong in his romantic history?

  “I’m meeting a friend.” She stuck out her hand. “You’re Brooks Smith. I’m Jazzy Cates. I’ve seen you around the ranches.”

  He studied her again. “You’re one of the volunteers from Thunder Canyon.”

  “I am,” she said with a smile, glad he’d recognized her.

  When he took her hand to shake it, she felt tingles up her arm. That couldn’t be, could it? She’d almost been engaged to a man and hadn’t felt tingles like that. Brooks’s grip was strong and firm, his hand warm, and when he took it away, she felt...odd.

  “Everyone in town appreciates the help,” he said.

  “Rust Creek Falls is a tight-knit community. I heard stories about what happened after the flood. Everyone shared what was in their freezers so no one would go hungry.”

  Brooks nodded. “The community spirit was stoked by Collin Traub and the way he pulled everyone together.”

  “I
heard about his proposal to Willa Christensen on Main Street but I didn’t see it myself.”

  Brooks’s eyes darkened at her mention of a proposal, and she wondered why.

  “He and Willa seem happy” was all Brooks said.

  So the man didn’t gossip. She liked that. She liked a lot about him. Compared to the cowboy she’d been out with earlier tonight—

  A high-energy country tune played on the jukebox and snagged their attention for a moment. Jazzy asked, “Do you come here often?”

  “Living and mostly working in Kalispell, I don’t usually have the time. But I’ll meet a friend here now and then.”

  Kalispell was about twenty miles away, the go-to town for everything anyone in Rust Creek Falls needed and couldn’t find in their small town. “So you have a practice in Kalispell?”

  “I work with a group practice there. We were called in to help here because my dad couldn’t handle it all.”

  She’d heard Brooks’s father had a practice in Rust Creek Falls and had assumed father and son worked together. Her curiosity was aroused. She certainly knew about family complications. “I guess you’re not needed here as much now since the town’s getting back on its feet.”

  “Not as much. But there are still animals recovering from injuries during the flood and afterward. How about you? Are you still cleaning out mud from homes that had water damage?”

  “Yep, but I’m working at the elementary school, too.”

  “That’s right, I remember now. You came with Dean Pritchett’s group.”

  “Dean’s been a friend of our family for years. He was one of the first to volunteer to help.”

  “How long can you be away from Thunder Canyon?”

  “I’m not sure.” Because Brooks was a stranger, she found herself saying what she couldn’t to those closest to her. “My job was...static. I need a business degree to get a promotion and I’ve been saving for that. I came here to help, but I also came to escape my family. And...I needed a change.”

  “I can understand that,” Brooks said with a nod. “But surely they miss you back home, and a woman like you—”