The Trouble with Texas Cowboys (Burnt Boot, Texas #2)(79)

“They have RVs. Remember, we’re a rodeo family, so we have trailers and RVs. All they’ll need is an electricity outlet, and they’re set to go,” he answered. “Don’t get your little Irish knickers in a wad, darlin’. They’ll love you. Now tell me something more about this double date you and Callie have cooked up for next Sunday.”

“The antique stores and a lot of the little downtown places have a romance weekend planned, with sales and sidewalk sales if the weather permits,” she said.

“So you like antiques?”

“Old things, like old people, have such personality. Someday when I have a home, I want to furnish all of it in either handmade furniture or those with stories behind them. Imagine telling your child that the chair in the corner was the one that your grandma sat in when she read her Bible in the evenings by a kerosene lamp.”

He nosed into a parking spot in the crowded lot beside Chili’s and turned to face her. “I like that idea, Jill. Mama has an old buffet in the dining room that her grandpa made. It’s pretty rustic, but there’s something settling and homey about the old thing. But what I like even better is that we’re going out today as a couple.”

He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her, sweetly at first and adding more passion with the second and third kisses. “And I really like the way that makes me feel.”

“Well, shit!” she said.

“What?” He drew back to his side of the console.

She pointed. “Sure you want to go here?”

He followed her finger to see Betsy, Tyrell, and three other Gallaghers going inside the restaurant. “What in the devil are they doing here?”

“We could go somewhere else,” she said.

“They’re not going to run us off or ruin our day,” he said. “It does look like there is a rat in the henhouse, though. Someone is spreading news faster than we can even make it.”

Betsy looked up with an evil little grin on her face when Sawyer and Jill came in out of the cold. “Looks like we all decided to eat out today. Sawyer, have you met my cousins? Of course you know Tyrell. This is Eli, Hart, and Randy.” She pointed as she made introductions.

Hart stretched out a hand. “I’ve seen you in church and at Polly’s.”

Sawyer shook it and smiled. “Nice to meet y’all. Now if you’ll excuse us, we’ve got reservations.”

“How’d you do that?” Jill asked when the waitress took them to a private corner table.

“Made them just before church, soon as I knew the place was opened. If you’d have turned me down for a date, then I’d have called and canceled,” he said.

“And if I’d wanted to go somewhere else?”

“I had it all covered. Finn canceled for me at the other two places.”

The waitress handed them menus and took their drink orders before she disappeared. Sawyer leaned across the table and captured Jill’s hands in his. “I’m just going to say this, and then we aren’t giving the feud any more attention today. I recognized Hart Gallagher’s voice as one of the men who stole us from the Brennans. I knew I’d heard that voice in the bar before, but I wasn’t sure until right now. It’s not proof that we can take to the sheriff, but it’s enough proof for me.”

“This isn’t a coincidence about them being here too. Someone ratted us out,” Jill said. “But I refuse to let it ruin my date. Now tell me, Sawyer O’Donnell, are you more Irish or Hispanic?”

“Half and half. Love the Mexican food but also love a good Irish whiskey on occasion. They’re both really good lovers, you know. Hot-blooded and stand by their women.” His eyes met hers and twinkled in the dimly lit restaurant.

As luck would have it, the hostess sat Betsy and her four cousins at the next table. Tyrell was so damn close to her, that Jill caught a whiff of his expensive cologne every time she inhaled.

“If they follow us to the movies, I’m going to get the pistols out of the truck and start shooting,” Jill whispered.

“We can leave if you want.”

“Not on your life, darlin’. Now we were talkin’ about you. So how did your mama and daddy meet anyway?” she asked.

“Mama’s daddy was a horse trainer for my daddy’s parents up in Ringgold, Oklahoma. When her daddy took her up there to visit, my daddy met her, and they fell in love.”

“How old were they?”

“Mama says fifth grade, but Daddy swears he saw her first when she was in the third grade and knew he was going to marry her even then. They were young when they married. Daddy had just finished his first rodeo tour, and she was right out of high school. They bought a trailer and moved it on his folks’ ranch, and he went to work for them.”

“That was what, thirty years ago?”

“Try forty-five. They had my sister and two brothers pretty quick, and I came along as a complete surprise.”

Jill laughed. “That’s why your sister bosses you around. You were her real, live baby doll.”

The waitress came back with their sweet tea and took their orders. Sawyer leaned over and kissed Jill on the tip of the nose. “Now tell me about your parents.”

The Gallaghers were right there, but they weren’t important, not anymore, not when Sawyer’s eyes were locked with hers and his hands were on hers on top of the table.