One Texas Cowboy Too Many (Burnt Boot, Texas #3)(38)

That’s when the Leah’s new alter ego surfaced, and she hit the message button on her mother’s Facebook page and wrote, “Hello, this is your daughter, Leah. I’ve got questions. Got time to give me answers?”

The three little dots at the end of her note said that it had been seen, and then a line appeared, saying that Eden was typing.

The two minutes that it took for a reply lasted three days past eternity, but it finally flashed on her screen. “Are you still living on River Bend?”

Leah wrote, “For the time being, but the future is getting shaky.”

The next one read, “When you divorce River Bend, get back with me. Until then, I signed a paper and gave my word.”

Evidently, Eden did not go back on their word either. Now her curiosity was piqued. There were skeletons hiding, and they were rattling loud enough that Leah wanted to open the door.

Her phone rang again. She hoped it wasn’t Granny for the second time that night, but the picture that came up was one of Rhett at the bar.

“Hey, what’s happening? Talk to me. I’m homesick,” she said.

“After only two days?” Even his deep drawl was sexy.

She closed her eyes and pretended that he was sitting beside her. “I sent my mother a Facebook message.”

“Wow! That was a change in subject.”

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“Don’t be. What did she say?”

“To get back to her if I divorced River Bend,” she answered.

Rhett chuckled. “And have you even talked to a lawyer?”

She eased back in the sand and opened one eye to see the big lover’s moon hanging out there above the skyscrapers. “No, but I looked one up in the yellow pages.”

“Why? Are you teasing me, Leah?”

She took a deep breath. “Yes, I was teasing. But it would be like a divorce, because Granny told me I had to make a choice.”

“Between?”

“The ranch and you.”

The silence was so long that she held the phone out and glanced at it to be sure the connection hadn’t broken. “Rhett?”

“Sorry, that took me by surprise. We’ve only known each other a week and, Leah, I would never come between family. You’ve seen how close the O’Donnells are and—”

“I’m not proposing to you,” she said.

“Well, thank God for that. I’m not sure what Eve would do, but you seem like the type of woman to let a man have his moment and do that job,” Rhett said.

“Even Eve isn’t that brazen,” she said. “Do you have an alter ego, Rhett?”

“We all do. Some of us call it a conscience.”

Leah sat up and shut her laptop. “What if you have both?”

“Unless there’s a psychological problem, it’s called a conscience. You can name it if you want. I call mine Scorpion.”

The giggle came from her chest. “Like the bug.”

“That’s right. Because, more often than not, it stings me, it’s not pretty, and it’s sneaky.”

“Mine is sneaky too, but it doesn’t sting me. It tells me to not be so trusting and laid-back, to make up my own mind and not let others do it for me,” she said.

“It sounds like you’re becoming friends with yours,” he said.

“Do I hear you filling beer pitchers? Please tell me you don’t have this on speakerphone.”

“No, ma’am, I’ve got you wired up to my ear. Bought this thing to use when I’m driving and it works very well in the bar when I want to talk to you,” he said. “But”—his voice dropped to a whisper—“I’d rather be close enough to whisper in your ear in person.”

“Me too, Rhett. Why don’t you fly up here for the weekend?”

“Hey, Jill, I’m stepping outside for some fresh air,” Rhett said, his voice coming through loud and clear.

“When you get back, I’ll take a turn outside. Polly should have made it a nonsmoking place years ago. I’ll be glad if the law is passed that declares we don’t have a choice in the matter and all public places are nonsmoking,” Jill hollered back.

“Might as well shut it down,” Rhett said. Polly was Gladys’s sister-in-law and she still owned the bar. She’d broken her ankle in a fall a while back and it was taking longer to heal than she’d have liked. Nowadays she was even talking about selling the place, but so far it was just talk.

And then the noise softened.

“Pardon that interruption. Are you still there?” he asked.

“Yes, I’m still here. Are you on the way to New York to take me up on my offer?”

“I wish I could, but the bar stools are all lined up with Gallaghers, and the Brennans have three tables at the back instead of their usual one or two, and there’s something in the air, Leah. It’s heavy and thick, worse than the tension in church when everyone is leaving and some of the Brennans get tangled up next to the Gallaghers.”

“Granny is going to get revenge, and then in a few days or weeks, the Gallaghers will do something right back at us. I’ve lived with that tension my whole life.” Leah sighed.

“No wonder you want to divorce the ranch. I couldn’t live six weeks under a roof like that. Come home and let’s go skinny-dippin’ in the river,” he said.