One Texas Cowboy Too Many (Burnt Boot, Texas #3)(82)

Sawyer slapped four pieces of meat on the grill. Rhett took two pitchers from under the bar and filled them. Jill took the money and made the change.

“I hear the bar will be closed Monday and when it opens on Tuesday, it’ll have a new owner,” Tanner said.

“That’s right. And I hear that Rosalie is tougher than Polly ever was, so y’all best not start anything in here,” Jill told him.

“Where’s Leah tonight?” Tanner asked.

“That wouldn’t be a bit of your business,” Jill said.

Tanner picked up the two pitchers. “I’m going to marry her, so I expect it is my business.”

“Can’t marry someone that isn’t willing,” Rhett said.

“She’ll be willin’ real soon. Livin’ in poverty isn’t her style. She’ll figure it out real soon, so get ready for a broken heart. I’ll miss seeing you in here, Jill.” Tanner nodded her way.

*

Leah finished up her papers and got her lesson plans ready for the next week. The first week of school was always the week from hell, but this one had been even worse, with Gallagher and Brennan kids leery of each other and the other kids not knowing which side to take.

She thought about going to the bar, but that would have required getting cleaned up and she was very comfortable in her faded chambray shirt and cutoff jean shorts. She was sitting on the porch with Dammit right beside her when she saw headlights coming done the lane. Her heart did one of those familiar leaps that said Rhett was nearby and her pulse quickened.

The big, black truck parked right behind her red one and sat there several minutes. The hair on Dammit’s back stiffened, and he lowered his head. A low growl emitted from his throat, and his whole body quivered.

She looped an arm around his neck and said, “It’s okay, boy. Remember he got the new truck a couple of days ago. You’ll have to get used to him coming home in it rather than the old Fiddle Creek work truck.”

The truck door opened, and the moonlight lit up a blond-haired cowboy, not a dark-haired one. Dammit growled again and stood at attention, ready to leap.

“Stay,” she said softly. “I’ll get rid of him, and if I can’t, then I’ll call you.”

“Leah, darlin’, when did you get a big dog like that?” Tanner asked.

His boots crunched on the gravel and Dammit growled again.

“It’s okay, boy. He’s made of hot air and belt buckles. Nothing to be afraid of with him,” Leah whispered.

“Well?” Tanner asked.

“Dammit belongs to Rhett, but he and I are pretty good friends. He’s telling me he’d like to tear your ears off and have them for a midnight snack, but I’m keeping him at bay long enough for you to get off Double Shot Ranch.”

“I want to talk to you, Leah, and I’d like to do it without yelling.”

What in the hell did she have to do to make him back off and leave her alone? She had enough on her plate without adding an extra cowboy. There was the adjustment of the new job, getting used to living in a very different house with Rhett and yet seeing him even less than she had before, and trying to decide what to do about her mother.

“Stay right here,” she whispered to Dammit as she stood up.

She met Tanner halfway across the yard, both of them lit up by the headlights on his truck. “For the very last time, Tanner, I want you to leave me alone.”

He reached out and laid a hand on her shoulder. “What about our history?”

She shrugged it off. “There is no history. I had a crush on you when we were only kids, but I’m over it, and this thing isn’t going to happen. This is a game. You want me because you can’t have me and women always fall at your feet when you pay them any kind of attention. But once you conquer them, you throw them in the ditch like trash.”

“Not this time.” He grabbed her by both shoulders and dragged her into his embrace, his lips bearing down on hers fiercely.

She wiggled, but he held on tighter, his mouth grinding against hers and his tongue forcing its way into her mouth. She kicked him in shins, but he hung on tighter, like a bulldog in a fighting ring. Finally, she landed a good right hook to his chin, and his head popped backwards.

“You’ll change your mind after a couple of nights with me. And, Leah, don’t you ever hit me again,” Tanner growled as he grabbed for her again.

She ran back a few steps and yelled, “Dammit!”

Tanner laughed and went for her. “Never knew you to cuss.”

“Dammit!” she said again.

The dog howled and bailed off the porch. By the time Tanner realized she wasn’t cussing, he barely had time to make it to his truck and close the door. He rolled down the window and hollered, “Leah, this was your last chance. No more waiting until Halloween. It’s over between us. And you will regret this, believe me, you will.”

She whistled for Dammit to stop trying to jump inside the window and the dog returned to sit in front of her. “I hope it’s over, Tanner. I really do.”

He pulled a phone out of somewhere in the truck and she heard him say, “Do it right now.”

Tanner sped away and Rhett parked in the place he’d been. Dammit whined and ran to greet him, tail wagging the whole way.

“What the hell happened? I saw Tanner kissing you and then Dammit chasing him to the truck.” Rhett talked as he crossed the yard.