One Texas Cowboy Too Many (Burnt Boot, Texas #3)(89)

He broke the kiss and together they gave Ella back her babies while Dammit watched protectively. Then Rhett stood up and extended a hand. She put hers in it and he scooped her up with one arm under her legs and the other around her shoulders. Her head, resting on his chest, felt so right that he could not imagine life without her.

In his bedroom, he shut the door with his boot heel, laid her down gently on his bed, and stretched out beside her. She rolled toward him and wrapped her arms around his neck, tangling her fingers in his hair and bringing his lips back to hers.

“Nothing outside this room matters when I’m in your arms,” she whispered between hot and heavy kisses.

“I know,” he said as he slowly untied the strings of her sundress and trailed kisses down the curve of her bare shoulder, her arm, and to each fingertip. “We’re in our own world where no one else is allowed entrance.”

Her phone rang but she ignored it. “Not even telephones.”

“What telephone?” He grinned.

Her body was familiar, but every time he touched her, it was a brand-new experience, one that dug deeper into his heart and hollowed out a place for more memories and more emotions. Leah had damn sure brought out a side that he’d never realized he had.

*

The sex was utterly fantastic like always. She’d completely lost herself in it, and the afterglow was as spectacular as it had always been. In that moment, she realized that Rhett completed her soul. When she couldn’t breathe for panting and sweat covered her whole body, when her pulse was still thumping against her wrist with such force that she feared it would blow a gasket any minute, she looked up to find Rhett staring down at her.

At the same time, without a moment’s hesitation, they both said, “I love you,” in perfect unison. She pulled his face to hers in the sweetest yet most passionate kiss they’d ever shared.

“When did you figure this out?” he asked.

“I think I always knew, but it took a while for me to admit it, even to myself,” she answered.

“Me too. I fell in love with you in the store that first day.”

“Now what?” she asked.

“Now we lie here and be in love for the rest of the afternoon,” he said. “This is our last free Sunday. Next week, Double Shot will belong to me, and I’ll have to work seven days a week until I get on my feet to hire someone.” He rolled over on his back and took her hand in his, bringing it to his lips to kiss the palm before he tucked it inside his.

“I might have to apply for that job,” she said.

“You like to teach better than you like to plow and fix fence, right?”

“I love teaching, Rhett, but I can do anything on a ranch.”

“You should do what you love to do. That’s what makes a person a success, whether he’s a ditchdigger or a bull rider. The way I see it, you’ve got three choices. You can move out of here so you aren’t living in sin, and get your own place somewhere else. I’m sure that Jill will let you have a room at Fiddle Creek until you can find something else. Or you can go back to River Bend. I have no doubt your dad will stand up to Mavis and will give you a place to live, but your granny will treat you like shit because she won.”

She propped up on an elbow and with the other hand, brushed a strand of his dark hair from his forehead. “I don’t like either of those options. Tell me the third one.”

“Marry me and then we won’t be living in sin. They won’t have a leg to stand on and you will keep your job,” he said.

“Rhett, we’ve known each other less than a month,” she said.

“My heart has known you my whole life, Leah Brennan. I’ve been waiting for you to show up in person,” he answered. “You don’t have to answer me right now, darlin’. We’ve got until Thursday.”

“I love you. I trust you. The answer is yes, I will marry you. But, Rhett, that gives us four days to plan a wedding.”

“What all do you need? A dress, a bouquet, and what else?”

“A wedding band and a marriage license,” she answered.

“I’ll get the license, the ring, and the bouquet. You can get the dress and meet me at the courthouse one evening this week.”

“How about Thursday, right after school?” she asked.

“And then we’ll attend the school board meeting together, right?” he asked.

“You are reading my mind, Rhett O’Donnell.”





Chapter 29


Leah appreciated the cool air in Rhett’s truck when he picked her up in front of the school that afternoon. “It still smells like a new truck,” she said.

“Dammit’s been doing his best to give it some dog aroma by riding inside when I let him. You ready to do this?”

“I am ready. Courthouse first?”

“Yes, I called and the judge is there,” he said.

“I’ve been thinking about that Rhett. I want to be married in the church, not in a courthouse. I called our preacher, and he said he could do the ceremony right after school on Thursday, but we’d have to bring two witnesses.”

“I think we can find a couple of those, don’t you?”

“I believe so. Gladys and Polly?”

“And Verdie.”

“We only need two, but Verdie would have her feelings hurt, wouldn’t she? So how do we get them to the church?”