One Texas Cowboy Too Many (Burnt Boot, Texas #3)(13)

She offered one to Rhett, and he took it without hesitation.

“Thank you. I didn’t think to bring snacks.”

“So, all three of you O’Donnells grew up in the same area?” Leah asked.

Rhett talked between bites. “Pretty much. We were usually together on Sundays after church. Probably not a lot different setup than you and your family.”

Leah reached across Dammit and took the apple from the cooler. She’d only brought one, but he’d shared his beer with her, so she felt like she should at least offer. She bit off a hunk and handed it to him.

“This looks ominous, especially on a Sunday afternoon. Didn’t Eve feed Adam an apple and then they had to make clothes out of fig leaves? These weeping willow leaves are pretty small.” He grinned.

In a whoosh, her cheeks were on fire, but not as much as her fingertips when he held her hand in his and bit right next to where she had. She hoped he couldn’t see the tremble in her hand as she finished the apple and threw the core out into the river. An instant splash said that a big fish had snagged it.

“They’re too smart for me today,” she said as she pulled her rod out of the sand. She reeled in the line, removed the soggy bait, and fed it to the dog. She carefully wound the hook and line around the rod and stuck the tip in the cork handle.

“You leaving?” Rhett asked.

“Not yet, but they aren’t bitin’ today. Did you come from a big family?”

Rhett followed her lead and brought his line in also. Dammit wasn’t a bit interested in a soggy grasshopper, so Rhett tossed it back out on the water. Before he could get the line wound around the rod, a splash out in the river said that a fish had eaten the free food again.

“Dammit!” Rhett said.

The dog rose up and cocked his head to one side.

“Not you. That smart-ass fish,” Rhett said.

The dog resumed his position and his tail started again, this time in a different spot in the sand.

“He knows his name and he understands you.” Leah laughed.

“I raised him from a puppy. We’re pretty good friends.”

“You mentioned a sister in the store that first day. Is she your only sibling?”

Rhett shook his head. “No, but she’s the baby of the family. I have three older brothers, then me, and then Katie. O’Donnells throw pretty good-sized families. You should see us when we all get together over in Ringgold, Texas, for a reunion.”

“Why Ringgold?”

“My Uncle Cash has a horse ranch there, and it’s kind of a central location. The reunion is the last Saturday in September. Maybe we’ll be good enough friends by then that you’ll go with me.”

“Maybe. Or maybe we’ll be Sunday afternoon fishing buddies,” she said softly.

Dammit got mentally moved back to the rug beside Rhett’s bed. He had to earn that spot on the foot of the bed, and he hadn’t done it that day.

“Time will tell,” Rhett said.

“Guess I’d best get on back up to the ranch. Granny and I usually watch a movie together on Sunday night,” Leah said.

“So you live with her?” Rhett shut the lid to his tackle box.

“Have all my life. My dad, Russell, was born in that house. He’s the firstborn of five sons. The Brennans are a big family, but we all pretty much stayed on River Bend. Declan is my older brother, and both of us live with Granny and Daddy in the main ranch house.”

“Your mother?”

“Left when I was a toddler and never came back. Granny and Daddy raised me.”

“Maybe I’ll see you at the bar tomorrow night?”

She shook her head. “I’ve got to go to the school again and do some work.”

“Do you like teaching at a private school?”

“I never thought about whether I liked it or not. I got an education so I could teach at our school, but sometimes I wish all the kids in Burnt Boot went to the same school.”

“Why?”

“It would better fit them for the world. They only see kids from River Bend and don’t get as much outside contact as they need, and I’m tired of this feud.”

“Did you go to the private school?”

“Yes, I did, and then to college, but I was not at all prepared for the world.”

They bent to pick up their tackle boxes and her hair brushed against the side of his face. He gently tucked it behind her ear, and the soft, dreamy look in her eyes drew him closer and closer until his lips found hers in a sweet kiss. It was impulse, spur of the moment, letting the heart lead the mind. And chaste as it was, it absolutely rocked Rhett’s emotions to the core.

“Hey, can I have your phone number in case I need someone to talk to later tonight?” he asked.

Leah hesitated but then she rattled it off. “You won’t remember it, but I don’t have a thing to write with or anything to write it on.”

“I’ll remember,” he said. “See you later, Leah Brennan.”

*

Leah mumbled something like, “See you later,” before she turned abruptly and hurried to her four-wheeler. Her heart pounded like a bass drum in her chest all the way back to River Bend. She parked it beside the house, forgot all about her fishing equipment and cooler, and made her way through the kitchen and up the stairs without being seen.