One Texas Cowboy Too Many (Burnt Boot, Texas #3)(5)

“Keeps her trying.” He laughed.

Rhett’s sister, Katie, driving his truck, and his brother-in-law, Danny, pulling an empty cattle trailer, drove into the lot as Rhett climbed onto his cycle. “We’re all following Sawyer down to the bunkhouse. Just pull in behind us. I understand Jill has supper ready.”

Katie nodded and fell in behind the cycle. When they got to the bunkhouse, she parked beside Sawyer and bailed out of the truck before either of her relatives could open the door for her. She stretched and rolled her neck from side to side. “That was one long ride in a truck all by myself. I’ll be glad to get in with Danny. I wish I’d have had Dammit in the truck with me to have someone to talk to.”

Sawyer threw an arm around his cousin. “Welcome to Fiddle Creek, Katie. Supper is ready, so you can take time to eat with us and work out a few of the kinks before you get on up the road to Oklahoma City.”

The hot summer wind blew her long, blond hair into her face. She tucked it behind her ears and said, “That sounds good. I’m hungry and Danny has called every thirty seconds for the last forty miles wanting to know if there was a McDonald’s in Burnt Boot. I told him I’d rather eat at Olive Garden and almost had him convinced there was one here until he drove into town and saw all there is, is a school, a beer joint, and a general store.”

“You are just plain mean,” Sawyer said.

“Yes, she is. My mouth was watering for Italian food and she treats me like this. I think it might be time for the broom and the pen,” Danny said. He wasn’t any taller than Katie and had a round baby face and clear blue eyes.

Jill opened the door to welcome them inside the bunkhouse where she and Sawyer lived. “Broom and pen?”

“He’s being a smart-ass,” Katie said.

“I’m only returning your words back to you,” Danny told her.

“And?”

Rhett hugged Jill. “She told him at the beginning of their relationship that if she caught him cheatin’, she’d get out the broom and pen. She’ll beat him all the way to the courthouse with the broom and then hand him a pen to sign the divorce papers.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Jill said. “But what’s driving for hours got to do with cheating?”

Danny hung his hat on the rack inside the door and sniffed the air. “The way she had my mouth watering for Italian food and then I find out that Burnt Boot doesn’t even have a burger joint is worse than cheating. But I swear I do smell oregano and chocolate.”

Jill nodded. “Sawyer made a huge lasagna last night, and I made desserts this afternoon—tiramisu, brownies, and chocolate pie.”

Danny smiled at Katie. “You’ve been saved from the broom and pen, woman.”

Jill tucked her arm in Rhett’s and led him to the kitchen. “So I hear you’ve already met some of the Brennan women and Betsy Gallagher.”

“I did, but it was only five minutes ago,” Rhett said.

“Honey called Mavis and told her that you were at the store. Mavis called Aunt Gladys, and she called me. Gossip travels fast in a small town. You going to hop the fence to the River Bend or the one to the Wild Horse?” Jill asked.

“Jump the fence?” Rhett asked.

“Fiddle Creek separates the two ranches. Wild Horse is on one side of us and River Bend is on the other. All you’ve got to do is climb over a barbed wire fence and you can be on either side of the feud,” Jill explained.

“I’m not going anywhere, but I might get Leah to jump the fence to Fiddle Creek.” He smiled.

“Aha, so it’s Leah, the quiet one, that’s took your fancy. Too bad, darlin’. She’s had her eye on Tanner Gallagher for years.”

“Mavis Brennan would string her up and see her die before she’d let her marry a Gallagher,” Sawyer said.

“The heart will have what the heart wants,” Jill said. “Now come on into the kitchen and let’s eat. I know y’all want to make Oklahoma City by night, so we can visit while we have supper.”

*

The Burnt Boot Bar and Grill was not exactly what Rhett expected. The parking lot was gravel, or at least it had been at one time. Now it was thinly distributed gravel on top of dirt with only one streetlamp to illuminate the whole place. The building was weathered wood that didn’t look as if it had ever seen a drop of paint applied. Hell, it might have even been petrified, as old as that sign swinging above the entrance. The roof was rusty sheet metal, and the only window in the place was the one in the door.

“Not what you thought it would be?” Sawyer asked when Rhett got out of his truck.

“Looks more like a barn than a bar,” he said.

“The inside is better—air-conditioning, jukebox, and even paint on the walls.” Jill laughed.

“I like the air-conditioned part best of all.” Rhett followed them inside.

The bar itself was only eight stools long and had a small area for grilling burgers and making fries behind it. There were no pool tables, which surprised Rhett. But not as much as the shelves holding loaves of bread, hot dog and hamburger buns, and a small assortment of prepackaged pastries, or the refrigerated section beside that, with milk, beer, wine, and soda pop behind sliding glass doors. The other end of the long, rectangular room sported a jukebox, a few mismatched tables with chairs around them, and a small area for dancing.