One Texas Cowboy Too Many (Burnt Boot, Texas #3)(63)

Leah did the same thing. “No such luck. I know her glares, and those were not cold looks. They were full of fire and anger. They probably raised the temperature twenty degrees rather than lowering it.”

Tanner startled both of them when he sat down in his chair. He wore a ball cap, sunglasses, khaki shorts, and an orange tank top with the Wild Horse Ranch logo on the front. “What if Leah catches me? Think Mavis will be mad enough to raise the temperature twenty degrees then?”

“More like to the degree of hell’s furnace,” Jill said.

Leah turned to look at him, and her neck popped.

Tanner wiggled his fingers toward her. “I will gladly massage that kink out when you catch me. Did you read the new rules?”

“Same as the old ones, right? Handcuff your catch, haul him to the finish line, and have Sunday dinner with him the next day.”

“The committee added one this year. Handcuff your man to you, and the handcuffs don’t come off until after the ice cream supper at the church. The preacher will fire the shots to set the race off, and he’ll have the keys to the cuffs.”

Leah and Rhett would be handcuffed together for at least two hours. Maybe longer if they made sure they were the last people in line to get them removed. Now that was something to look forward to.

Wonder what kind of wild sex you could have if you were handcuffed together. Eve’s voice sounded so loud in her head that Leah glanced at Jill to be sure she hadn’t heard the comment too.

Maybe it would be misconstrued as favoritism when she marked down Martin O’Donnell’s bike as her number one choice, but those horns wired up to his handlebars and the spurs attached to his boots were priceless. Of course, Tanner’s first choice was not Martin’s bike, and Jill had chosen a cute, little pink bike all done up with pink satin streamers.

They talked about it when the parade had finished, finally made their decisions, and handed in the list to the judge.

Tanner bumped her with a shoulder. “I’ll look forward to having ice cream with you this evening.”

“Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched,” she said.

Rhett’s hand was suddenly in hers and those old familiar sparks danced around the parking lot, wiping out everything but the two of them.

“Good job to all three of you judges,” he said.

“Thanks,” Tanner said and then turned his eyes toward Leah. “See you later. I told Granny to bring banana nut ice cream. A little birdie told me it was your favorite. I’ll feed it to you.”

“Like I said. Don’t be countin’ chickens,” she said.

He moved on toward a group of Gallaghers, and Rhett squeezed her hand. “Ready to go get some tacos and funnel cakes, or maybe some of those cinnamon rolls?”

She looped her arm through his. “Rhett, about Tanner.”

“There’s nothing to explain. Let’s go find some food.”

She nodded. “I am so hungry. Pancakes are failing me. And I want a beer too.”

“Hey, where are y’all going?” Jill hollered.

“To the taco wagon,” Rhett said.

“Wait up and we’ll go with you. I could eat half a dozen tacos.” Jill grabbed Sawyer’s hand.

“I thought you were going home,” Leah said.

“Food changes my mind real easy.” Jill laughed.

“Did y’all hear about the new kink in the race?” Jill asked.

“I didn’t, but then I’m not running, so I didn’t pay any attention to it,” Sawyer answered.

She told them about the handcuffs staying on until after the ice cream supper.

“I like the new rule. Reckon we could keep them on until after Sunday dinner.” Rhett wiggled his dark eyebrows at Leah.

“Damn!” Sawyer exclaimed and pulled Jill closer to his side. “Now I wish I were in the race so you could catch me. I wouldn’t mind being handcuffed to you for a couple of hours.”

“I’m looking forward to the race. Never did before. Usually I took off with the ladies when the gun went off and hid on the back porch of the church until the next shot signaled it was time for the girls to bring their catches back to the line,” Leah said.

“You mean I’ll be your first catch?” Rhett asked.

“Yes, you will be.”

Jill sighed. “That is so romantic. If I’d known about this, we might have put off our wedding until after it was over. Now I’ll never know the joy of catching you.”

“We could play chase around the bunkhouse and you could handcuff me.” Sawyer grinned.

“We could do that,” Jill agreed. “But right now, I want tacos more than handcuffs.”

“What about you?” Rhett whispered in Leah’s ear.

“Can I have both?”





Chapter 20


The preacher climbed up on the flatbed truck beside the store and picked up a microphone. “Gather ’round, folks. It’s time for all y’all fellers to check your boots in with Miz Gladys. She will tie them together and give you one end of a ticket that you’ll bring back to her to reclaim them once you get the cuffs off. However, if you have the good luck to outrun all these lovely ladies, then when you hear the all-clear shot at five o’clock, you can come on to the school cafeteria when the ice cream supper starts and reclaim them. I want to wish you all good luck and may the girl of your dreams catch you.”