One Texas Cowboy Too Many (Burnt Boot, Texas #3)(85)

“I believe I can do that,” he said.

She rolled over on her back, pulled him on top of her, and guided him inside. They rocked together until they were both panting, and then she dug her fingernails into his back and gasped.

“Oh, oh,” she said.

“Yes?” he asked as they reached the peak together.

“Let’s skip church and do that all over again.”

He smiled and shifted his weight to his elbows as he leaned in to look deeply into her eyes. “We might miss church a few times a year, but this is not one of them. This is the day we declare to the whole town that we are a couple and no one can mess with what we’ve got.”





Chapter 26


Guilt and freedom mixed together produced an antsy feeling in the pit of Leah’s insides when she and Rhett walked into the church hand in hand. He tapped Sawyer on the shoulder and the whole bunch of folks on the pew scooted down to make room for them. Jill leaned around Sawyer and smiled at her; Gladys winked and Polly gave her a thumbs-up.

“See, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” Rhett whispered.

“Depends on whether the looks from Tanner and my grandmother burn me into nothing but a pile of ashes right here in the church. We should have brought Dammit with us,” she answered.

“I’ll protect you. If I didn’t, Dammit would bite me. That dog loves you.” He grinned.

He laid his arm on the back of the pew and patted her upper arm. That simple gesture gave her enough courage to glance over toward the Gallagher side. Tanner was sitting beside a tall brunette that looked at him like she’d already had him for breakfast and was contemplating a second serving of the same for dinner. Leah wondered if the new woman would get the big diamond ring or if he really would return it to the jeweler. Maybe it wasn’t even real. Fake diamonds, like fake love, were hard to tell from the real thing.

She turned her head slightly and looked over toward the Brennan side of the church. Honey smiled and made a sign with her thumb and little finger that said to call her. Leah nodded slightly and noticed Kinsey tapping a message into her phone.

“Your phone is vibrating against my hip,” Rhett whispered.

Leah dug it out of her purse and scrolled down to read what Kinsey had written: Insurance will take care of the barn burning but it’s your fault.

She quickly wrote back: Did she want me to marry Tanner Gallagher?

She glanced toward Kinsey and got a wink as an answer.

The preacher took his place behind the podium, cleared his throat, and said, “I’m sorry to hear about the Brennans’ hay barn burning to the ground last night. I understand there was also a grass fire over at Polly’s ranch. Speaking of that, Rhett O’Donnell has bought Double Shot Ranch. He’ll be putting permanent roots down here, and we want to welcome him to the town with open arms. My sermon this morning is on love. We’re all familiar with the love chapter in Corinthians, but today I want to talk about another love affair. The one between Adam and Eve,” he said.

Rhett leaned over and whispered, “Got an apple in your purse?”

Leah bit back a giggle and squeezed his thigh, letting her hand rest there afterward. If lightning bolts didn’t come through the ceiling and zap her on the spot for sitting in the neutral section of the church, then touching a hippie cowboy’s leg probably wouldn’t get her fried into a pile of ashes.

The preacher talked about how that love didn’t seek revenge, but neither the Gallaghers nor the Brennans looked like they were in the forgiving mood that morning. Forgiveness?

Love?

No, sir! The Brennans were figuring out what they could do in retaliation for the barn burning, which was payback for the shit storm on Wild Horse, which was… And the list went backwards for a hundred years. And then the Gallaghers would huddle up and plan their next move.

But you are free from all that, Eve’s voice said in her head.

I’ll always be a Brennan. DNA and blood are permanent, she argued.

Well, at least you aren’t living in the middle of it.

Leah nodded.

“Fighting or agreeing with Eve?” Rhett whispered.

“A little of both,” she answered.

The sermon ended with a plea that everyone in Burnt Boot show love toward their neighbors, their friends, their spouses, and even their enemies. Leah figured most of it fell on deaf ears. Quaid gave the benediction, which was short and to the point, then everyone was on their feet and the noise level went from stone-cold quietness to whispered conversations.

“Fire hurt anything on your place last night?” Sawyer asked.

“Didn’t get past the fence in most cases,” Rhett answered. “Fire trucks got there before it got out of hand. They thought it was caused by a cigarette, but I reckon it was a diversion. One cigarette wouldn’t have burned a quarter mile long and twenty feet deep.”

“You’re probably right.” Sawyer nodded. “It had to be long enough to use up all the water in the trucks, right? More feudin’.”

“That’s what I thought from the beginning.”

“You and Leah want to go to dinner with us? We’re taking Polly and Gladys out for Italian and a matinee,” Sawyer said.

“Thanks, but we’ve got a roast in the oven, and we’re going to invite her dad and maybe Declan over to our place,” Rhett said.