The Trouble with Tomboys (Tommy Creek #1)(39)

“Don’t you start with me again,” she groused.

“We already went over this. There’s no reason we should marry. I told you, you can have as much Daddy time as you want. You can—”

“That’s not the same, and you know it.”

“You’re being ridiculous.” She raised her voice.

“We are not getting hitched after one measly night in a hotel room.”

“B.J.,” he said under his breath, risking a quick glance toward her dad, clearly not receptive to the fact Pop was listening to their every word. “Will you just listen to me? I—”

“Hell, no. I’m not going to stand here and listen to you rant and rave like a psycho. We’re not getting married, and that’s that.”

“Guess you two are still working out the date,”

Pop cut in. He eyed Grady thoughtfully before sighing. “I suppose there’s worse out there that could’ve knocked up my little girl.”

For the first time since entering the hangar, Grady looked contrite.

B.J. decided she didn’t like the hold Grady

119



Linda Kage



Rawlings had on her, because she felt the urge to say she’d marry him just to wipe that miserable look of shame off his face. No, she’d never liked seeing anything suffer, but that trait seemed magnified ten-fold with this man.

“Can we leave now?” she asked abruptly, more uncomfortable with the situation than she ever would’ve admitted. In fact, she’d probably just turn tail and stalk out of there if the obstinate man who’d knocked her up hadn’t insisted on them riding together.

He nodded once and then focused his attention on her dad. “There will be a wedding,” he assured him. “Woo-wee, little sister,” Leroy hooted. “You sure hog-tied him around your little finger, didn’t ya?

Who’d a thunk it? You must got a golden—”

“That’s enough,” Grady growled, effectively

making her annoying brother swallow his tongue.

When he glanced at her with an impatient,

restrained anger, she knew it was way past time to skedaddle. She nodded, feeling a hard plop in the base of her stomach. Felt kind of strange watching someone defend her.

Together, they turned toward the exit.

****

B.J. had never been inside the main Rawlings

homestead before. The thousands of times she’d passed the mansion, she’d always wondered what it was like. Today, she finally found out.

As Grady knocked on the front door, a lump of pure fear settled in the base of her stomach. Telling Pop she was knocked up was one thing. Informing the fancy Rawlings was completely different.

Shoving her clammy hands into her back pockets, she waited behind Grady and forced herself to stand still. The urge to turn and flee was pretty strong though.

120



The Trouble with Tomboys



As the door started to open, she held her breath.

She actually expected a maid or butler or something to answer, but when Tara Rose Rawlings herself peeked her head out the door, B.J. almost groaned.

Damn. The Rawlings were home.

“Grady,” his mother exclaimed, her eyes

brightening instantly.

“Mom,” he murmured respectfully as she

reached out to hug him.

“What a delightful surprise.” She hooked her arm with his to draw him forward. “Come in, come in.” As he moved, she finally noticed B.J. lurking behind him. “Oh! I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you there.”

When Grady stepped inside and to the left to let B.J.

in, the two women fell to a stop and studied each other cautiously.

Tara Rose’s smile froze. After blinking back a blank look, she asked, “It’s D.J., right? D.J.

Gilmore?”

“B.J.,” Grady corrected.

A hint of pink highlighted the tops of his

mother’s cheeks. Still smiling at B.J., she spoke through gritted teeth to her son. “That’s what I said.”

“You said D.J.”

His mother finally turned from B.J. to pin her oldest with an annoyed look. “No, I said B...not D.

Don’t question your mother.”

That was when the most amazing thing

happened. Grady grinned.

Both Tara Rose and B.J. gaped.

“Yes, ma’am,” he murmured, all the while

smirking from ear to ear.

B.J. was still thinking he had the most

enticingly ornery look ever when Tara Rose cleared her throat. “Well, let’s not stand in the foyer all day.

Come into the parlor.”

121



Linda Kage



Said the spider to the fly.

B.J. shivered but followed mother and son into the next room, where they all three stood,

awkwardly staring at each other as if expecting someone else to break the silence. Tara Rose kept sending curious little glances B.J.’s way, and B.J.

was trying to get Grady’s attention by glaring at him, silently urging him to talk. But he seemed intent at rubbing at a scuff on his shoe with the heel of the other boot.

Finally, he glanced around. “Where’s Dad?”

“He received a call and had to check something in the south field.”