One Texas Cowboy Too Many (Burnt Boot, Texas #3)(60)

Mavis jerked her hand free and glared at him. “I’d catch a Gallagher before I would you.”

“Ouch!” He threw a hand over his heart. “Does that mean if Leah catches Tanner, you won’t throw her out in the yard?”

“It means that you should mind your own damn business.”

Russell winked at Leah.





Chapter 19


Rhett put the tailgate of his truck down and scooted to the back of the bed, using the cab for a leaning post and stretching out his long legs. The sounds of the carnival filled the air, along with the laughter of kids and people talking, but he didn’t hear much of it. Mostly what he heard was the Keith Whitley song playing in his ears from the night before. She’d assured him that Tanner was no longer in her heart, and she’d kept her eyes open while they made love, but still there was a small voice in the back of his head saying that first loves were hard to forget.

“I forgot Mary Lynn Walden,” he muttered.

You were eight years old, the voice argued.

“I forgot Lisa Lawson,” he said.

You were twelve. You want to talk about Anita Green?

He closed his eyes, and there was a vision of the first girl who he’d kissed, with her long, dark hair and big, brown eyes. Another picture appeared of her in a yellow formal dress at their junior prom, and a red formal dress lying in the corner after their senior prom. It had been the first time for them both, and he’d fumbled his way through it. She’d cried afterward, and he’d promised that they would be together forever.

You didn’t forget her, did you?

“But I’m not still in love with her. She broke it off with me and married someone else two years later. I moved past it.”

He quickly opened his eyes and looked around to make sure no one had heard him talking to himself. Leah was the only one around, and she was coming out of the school cafeteria, so she couldn’t have heard him. She smiled when she saw him and he waved. All thoughts of that first love were erased immediately when she started toward him.

“I hoped you’d be somewhere close by,” she said.

“Want to take in the carnival?” Rhett asked.

Leah hopped up on the tailgate. “I’d love to. I believe you owe me a ride on the Ferris wheel.”

“Yes, I do, and you sure look cute in that outfit. If you braid that blond hair, you’ll be set to catch me,” he teased.

She slipped her hand into his. “I can catch you fine with my hair down. I look like Pollyanna with my hair in braids. I have about an hour before I have to be at the bicycle judging, so let’s go check out the fun.”

“Finn and Callie’s kids have spent a week working on their bicycles for the parade. It should be cute.” Rhett took her hand in his.

“It starts at eleven at the school yard and goes to the bar, where Polly always gives the kids cookies and juice packs. Jill and Tanner are the other two judges. To make it fair, the committee chooses a judge from each family and one who’s not a Brennan or a Gallagher.”

“Finn couldn’t judge because his four kids will be riding, right?” Rhett asked.

Leah nodded. “That’s right. Judges can’t have kids in the parade.”

“I’ll wait for you at the bar and watch it at the finish line. Polly is still having trouble standing very long on that ankle she broke last winter. She might need some help.” Rhett let go of her hand and slung a leg over the side of the truck bed.

When his feet were firmly on the ground, he held out his hands and said, “Jump.”

She smiled and fell forward into his arms. Nothing she’d ever experienced prepared her for the feeling that shot through her body in the split second between when she left the solid truck and trusted Rhett to catch her. Without even bending his knees or making any kind of noise indicating that she was too heavy, he caught her and held her like a bride as he carried her to the passenger side of the truck.

“We don’t have to drive,” she said. “It’s not that far, and we may not find a parking spot any closer anyway, so let’s walk.”

“I could carry you. If we had those cuffs, we could take care of everything right now,” he said.

She wiggled until he finally set her on the ground. “Why didn’t I think of that? I could have bought a pair of cuffs, and we wouldn’t have even needed a plan.”

He tucked her hand inside his. “Hindsight is twenty-twenty.”

When they got close to the carnival, Rhett caught several stares and noticed a few women talking with their hands held over their mouths. The feud might have to take a backseat to the new gossip about the battle at River Bend.

“What?” she asked.

“I didn’t say anything,” he answered.

“Yes, you did. Not out loud, but your body went all stiff. I could feel it.”

“I can see the way folks are reacting to us being together, and I hate that,” he said.

“It’s worth it.” She smiled. “You are worth it.”

“Just know that if you need me for anything when she comes at you with those long, red fingernails, I’m only a phone call and five minutes away.”

“You can’t get from the bunkhouse to River Bend in five minutes.”

He squeezed her hand gently. “I can if I make a hole through the fence separating us and goose my motorcycle a little.”