One Texas Cowboy Too Many (Burnt Boot, Texas #3)(24)

It felt oh so right for her to be there in his truck with him—even covered in crap.

“Dammit!” he said.

“Where? Is he getting that mess on him?” Leah asked.

“No, look.” Rhett pointed toward two headlights coming at them. “Not dammit, as in my dog, but dammit, as in I wanted to make out with you some more.”

The headlights of a truck approached slowly, and she quickly moved to the far side of the seat; it wouldn’t do for her brother to catch them making out like a couple of teenagers. The truck carefully backed up beside Rhett’s poor, crippled vehicle, and Declan honked. Leah took a deep breath and rolled down the window.

“I want you to open the door and very carefully step from that truck to this one. I swear to God, Leah, if you make a mistake and step wrong, you will ride in the back just like Betsy,” Declan said. “And once you are inside, then Rhett can come across and get in the back. I’ll take him home first. Granny will have a shotgun loaded by now and you sure don’t want to take him to the house.”

“Pull up a little more,” Leah said.

“Why?”

“Because if Rhett can’t ride in the cab, neither will I,” she said.

“What in the hell has gotten into you?”

“I mean it. We are all three going to ride in the front seat, because if any of this splatters up on me in the back, Granny will have your hide, not mine, for bringing the smell in the house.”

“Then you’d both better be careful. Granny’s anger won’t be nothing compared to mine if you get that crap inside my truck. I can hose off the back where Betsy was, but the inside is a different matter,” Declan said.

She eased out carefully and slid across the seat and into the other truck. Rhett did the same, going slow so that he didn’t touch anything. Even though Declan was behaving like a jackass, she couldn’t blame him a bit for not wanting that stuff inside the cab of his truck. Thank goodness Rhett hadn’t been driving with the windows down, or the story would have had a whole new ending to it.

“Thank you for taking me home,” Rhett said after they were both in Declan’s truck.

“You were trying to help my sister. It’s the least I can do.”

Leah poked Declan in the ribs with her elbow. “And his truck is ruined because of our feud that he didn’t have a thing to do with.”

Declan’s truck tires spun, and Leah inhaled deeply, getting a nose full of the horrible smell again. She said a silent prayer that they wouldn’t get stuck and need another truck to come pull them out of the slime. He gunned it, and they were on the way, leaving a four-foot splash of crap in their wake.

“Dammit,” Declan groaned and slowed down.

“Just be damn glad I wasn’t back there,” Leah told him.

“I believe that’s the first time I’ve ever heard you cuss,” Declan said.

“Well, it might not be the last time after this. You know they’re going to dub it the shit war now,” she said.

“I’d already thought of that, but if you’re smart, you won’t be using words like that in front of Granny.” Declan drove slowly until they were out on the paved road, and then he floored it, going ninety miles per hour down the winding road toward Fiddle Creek. He barely slowed down to turn onto the gravel road beside the store.

Leah slapped his arm so hard that the noise echoed in the truck cab. “Slow down. You’re going to knock your alignment out, driving like this. Just because you’re angry with me, you don’t have to drive like a maniac.”

“I hate this feud,” he mumbled.

Leah raised her voice an octave. “You think I don’t? Maybe when our generation has a turn at running things, we can make some changes, but right now Granny and Naomi aren’t going to budge.”

“Not after this stunt tonight.”

He came to a halt in front of the bunkhouse and Rhett opened the door. “Thanks for the ride home. I’ll call my insurance company as soon as it opens tomorrow morning.”

Leah laid a hand on his thigh, and when he turned, she pulled his face down to hers for a quick kiss. “Thank you, Rhett, for trying to take me home. I’m sorry about your truck and I’ll make it up to you one way or the other.”

Declan set his mouth in a firm line and glared at her. “Granny is serious about this, Sis.”

“I know she is. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Rhett.”

Rhett closed the door and waved. “I’ll look forward to it.”

“Why?” Declan asked.

Leah shrugged. “Because I’m a big girl and I should get to make my own decisions.”

He put the truck in gear and drove away from the bunkhouse. They were all the way out on the road and headed back to River Bend when he finally said, “I respect your right to make your own decisions, but remember, you’ll have to sleep in the bed you make so be very careful.”

“I will,” she answered.

*

Rhett took several long gulps of fairly fresh air while he tried to sort out the evening. Had those kisses made Leah’s toes curl like they had his? The answer didn’t fall down from the starlit sky, so he sucked in one more lungful of air and went inside the lit-up bunkhouse. Jill and Sawyer were sitting at the kitchen table, sharing a cup of hot chocolate, and they both looked up at the same time.