One Texas Cowboy Too Many (Burnt Boot, Texas #3)(25)

“Why did Declan bring you home? Did you feel that earthquake?” Jill asked.

“Good God! What is that smell? Have you been in a hog house or did you step in something on your way home from the bar?” Sawyer asked.

Rhett took a beer from the refrigerator and twisted the top off. “It’s a long story, but that was not an earthquake. It was the beginning of a new level of the feud that goes on around here.”

“Well, shit!” Sawyer said.

Rhett pulled out a chair and sat down. “Quite literally. And I would advise you both to pray that the wind doesn’t blow tomorrow, as close as the bunkhouse is to the Brennan school.”

“Why?” Jill asked.

Rhett told the story.

“Whew! The shit war has begun.” Jill chuckled.

“That’s what Leah said it would be called. She said it would be even bigger than the pig war. I guess now all the kids on both sides will be enrolled in public school.” Rhett finished off his beer.

“I wonder what they used on that septic tank,” Sawyer said.

“Dynamite would be my guess and entirely too much of it if they were just trying to blow up the sewer system so the Brennans couldn’t have school. That poor school won’t be good for nothing but bulldozing,” Rhett said.

“Did you see any of them?” Jill asked.

“I saw the faint blur of headlights through a shit-covered windshield. If either of those toilets had fallen differently, they could have come down through the roof and killed all three of us right there on the spot.”

It started as a chuckle in Sawyer’s chest and developed into a masculine roar that bounced of the walls and sent both cats scurrying for cover. Poor old Dammit came out of the bedroom, dropped to lie on the ground, and put his paws over his ears.

“And that is funny, why?” Rhett asked.

“Because I can see the headlines.” Sawyer made a sweeping motion in the air with his hand. “Deadly Toilet in Shit War Kills Three.”

Jill giggled so hard that she got the hiccups. “Feud takes three out in initial battle of the shit war.”

“I’m going to take a bath and go to bed. You two ain’t funny.”

His phone rang while he was digging through a drawer in search of his favorite well-worn T-shirt that he liked to sleep in.

“Hello, Leah. Are you still alive?” he answered when he saw her name on the ID.

“For tonight,” she said. “After I took a shower and got the Gallagher germs off me, Granny wasn’t nearly as mad. She’s got a war to plan, so I’m not in the limelight anymore. Do you work at the bar every night this week?”

“Not Wednesday. Jill and Sawyer are taking that night to give me a rest,” he said.

“I’d like to take you up on that motorcycle ride you offered,” she said.

“Shall I pick you up about six?”

“No, would you please meet me in the school parking lot?” she asked.

“I hope you aren’t talking about the Brennan school,” Rhett said.

“No, the public school. It’ll be empty except for my truck.”

“What time?”

“To meet or going to the bar?”

“To meet at the parking lot.” He grinned.

“Six o’clock.”

“I’ll be there.”





Chapter 7


Sweat poured from Leah’s forehead down into her eyes that afternoon. Finally, she got tired of the sting and wrapped a bandanna around her forehead and tied it in the back. The public school wasn’t so different than the private one in that they did not turn on the air-conditioning in the summer months. That meant she was setting up her classroom with the windows open, praying for a breeze to flow through.

Her tank top was glued to her with sweat. The waistband of her cutoff jean shorts was wet. She’d long since kicked off her shoes and had been running around barefoot for the past hour. Now she was putting up the last of the bulletin board welcoming the kids to the fourth grade when the door opened.

She turned to find Tanner Gallagher standing there with his arms crossed over his chest. “So it’s true. You’re going to be teaching here.”

“It’s true. What can I help you with?”

“I’m waiting on Wanda. She was supposed to meet me here. I’m bringing some of the Gallagher kids’ shot records and birth certificates for her to copy.” He crossed the room and sat down behind her desk. “You ever get tired of all this feudin’ shit?”

She stood on tiptoe to put a butterfly on the W in Welcome. “I do, but it seems to get worse instead of better. How about you?”

Tanner pulled out a chair and sat down. “It gets in the way of lots of things. Did you know I had a big crush on you when we were teenagers?”

“I had one on you when we were kids too,” she said.

“If it hadn’t been for the feud, we might have…” He let the sentence hang.

“But it was, and you’re a Gallagher and I’m a Brennan,” she said.

“I’ve always liked you, Leah. You are so sweet and kind, not like those other Brennans,” he whispered.

Leah didn’t know what to say or if she should say anything. Tanner was a Gallagher. There was a feud, and this could easily be a ploy of some kind to get back at the Brennans.