A Bargained-For Bride

"You're the sweetest girl in Mourning Dove Creek, you know?" Jack mumbled as he paused in kissing Jilly a moment. Jilly smiled. "And you're the handsomest man in Mourning Dove Creek, you know," she flirted in return. Jack smiled. "I do know," he said. Jilly giggled. Jack Taylor was so predictable—and a little conceited. He really did think he was the handsomest man in Mourning Dove—and he was, for the most part. Secretly, however, if Jilly ever allowed herself to be completely honest about it (which she tried to avoid), there was one other man in Mourning Dove who always crossed her mind when the subject of the handsomest man in town arose. Yet there was no lingering on thinking of that man—no sirree! Not for a moment! Not for any reason—ever. And so Jilly just kept telling Jack that he was the handsomest man in Mourning Dove Creek. Besides, it was almost true—being that the other man lived outside of town and not right in town the way Jack did.