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CHAPTER ONE

WHEN SHE’D FIRST heard about the plan, Blair Townsend had thought a bachelor auction was a desperate and probably futile sches Ranch for Boys A bachelor auction? Were they joking? What nificant suroup of forry wouys off likelike prize bulls?

Blair had pessimistically predicted that there would be more men up for auction than there would be woe they were hoping forshe’d thought they would be lucky to get aCreek Leader

Now, as she gazed in awe at the TV news vans and reporters crowding the ranch grounds, she was perfectly willing to ad

She didn’t kno they had done it, but soe had pulled off an aeous bachelors, a stadium full of enthusiastic bidders and a whole herd of reporters there to cover the festivities The public relations benefits alone should go a long way toward helping Lindsay save her ranch—and the lost young boys who needed it

Blair groaned at the thought of lost young boys That particular probleroup of boys dashed past her, shouting, laughing, their destination the peeled-log forts and jungle gyh soreat tisters would be in attendance at a charity bachelor auction Now she wondered why she hadn’t expected it—this was, after all, a boys’ ranch

Maybe she should have brought Jeffrey It ood for him to socialize with other children today And yetdid she really want his? Wasn’t he difficult and rebellious enough without the influence of this group of troubled boys? She’d spent a lot of tis didn’t i to be a priram for boys ere headed for serious problems

She put a hand to the back of her neck, squeezing thethat had been happening with uncoularity since her ten-year-old nephew hadsensation in her stomach an for a roll of antacids She popped a couple in her rimace

Wanting so to wash away the residue, she looked toward the crowded pavilion where food and drinks were being sold to an eager throng of custo, s her lick her lips She had only come to observe the activities today, not to participate in them, but she could at least contribute to the cause by purchasing a soft drink and e in a spicy barbecue sandwich, but she was afraid that would only intensify her heartburn

Barely thirty, she thought ruefully, and she had to eat like a little old lady And to think she’d , to reduce the stress in her life! But that had been before she’d become responsible for Jeffrey

Several acquaintances greeted her as she approached the barbecue pavilion, people she had o to take over her uncle’s law practice Lindsay Duncan, the ranch owner and one of Blair’s clients, rushed by with a clipboard in her hand and a slightly harried look on her face She gave Blair a distracted s Lindsay didn’t have time for conversation just then