Love Under Two Cowboys (2 page)

From what Carrie had seen so far, Lusty, Texas, was a phenomenon unto itself.

“Oh, my, you ladies have done a spectacular job! It all looks so wonderful!”

Carrie couldn’t help but smile at the sound of that soft, feminine voice. Speaking of a phenomenon, Kate Benedict suited that definition to a tee. She was, in Carrie’s estimation, a marvel without equal.

“Thanks, Mrs. Benedict.” Carrie couldn’t help but smile when that woman turned her grinning gaze on her. Then the matriarch of Lusty shook her head. “Now, Carrie, you’re even more stubborn than our Ginny was.”

Carrie felt her cheeks heating, which was not a common occurrence for her. She rarely blushed. “Grandma Kate,” she dutifully corrected.

Kate Benedict got such a huge smile on her face, Carrie wondered why she was so stubborn about giving the elderly woman the form of address that so clearly made her happy.

It’s all those cowboys’ fault. Kate Benedict is
their
grandmother, and I don’t want them getting any idea that
I
have any ideas.

Carrie stomped on her mental brakes. That was all of the brain power she was going to give those two men today. She turned her attention back to the buffet. The food that needed to be kept warm was in the heated trays, and covered, and the food that needed to be kept chilled was on ice, and also covered.

Much of the menu being offered here today consisted of dishes that Kelsey, a highly trained and
accomplished chef, had created. But there were a couple of items Carrie had supplied. One, a pasta and chicken salad, had been well received at the restaurant. The other dish she’d prepared, a meatball, mushroom, and tomato casserole, had won enthusiastic approval from both Ginny and Kelsey in their taste testing earlier in the week.

“That about does it, I think.” Kelsey came out of the on-site kitchen and set two large baskets of patted butter on the table. She turned and grinned at both her grandmother and Carrie.

“You always provide such a bountiful spread, sweetheart,” Kate said. “And such a delicious one.”

Kelsey grinned. “The idea of running out of food is a terrifying one for a chef. We have nearly as much again in the kitchen if we need it. Folks sure do like to eat at these ceremonies.”

“We do indeed, especially since you and Tracy started catering for us,” Kate agreed.

Kelsey flushed with pleasure. Carrie completely understood. There was nothing better for a cook than to have people really love her food.

Kelsey said, “Well this time we have a couple of new dishes that Carrie’s come up with. She’s also going to help me devise seasonal menus—just a few extra dishes we can offer and then change with the calendar. It was her idea, and it’s a good one!”

That
had
been her idea, and it gratified her to know that her input was not only encouraged and appreciated, but acknowledged, too.

“I look forward to trying them.” Kate checked her watch. “Well, it’s almost time. Carrie, now you make sure you get a good spot, right up close, to watch the ceremony from.”

“She’s going to stand with Matt, Steven, and me.”

“Perfect!” Kate sighed. “These occasions are always special to me, but this one is even more so.”

Carrie watched the energetic nonagenarian move off, greeting folks as they made their way toward the front of the great room of the community center.

“I don’t know where she gets her energy,” Kelsey said.

Carrie had to agree. “I’ve never met anyone like her.” Then she tilted her head to the side. “I thought that Matt was Adam and Jake’s best man? How can I sit with the three of you?”

“Yes, he was their best man, at the actual marriage ceremony last night.” Kelsey must have seen the total confusion on Carrie’s face. She came over and slipped her arm through Carrie’s and began to walk her over to the front of the hall, where a pretty bower had been decorated with flowers and silk.

“I guess none of us ever gave you a crash course in the way these things are done here. I should have seen to that, because not that long ago I was a newcomer, myself.”

Carrie thought Kelsey was sweet to say so, but she’d been on the outside looking in since she was eleven. She shook her head and said, “I’m new in town. I wouldn’t have expected to learn every secret overnight.” What Carrie didn’t say was that keeping the walls high around herself and her past made her less eager to pry into other peoples’ lives.

“Granted. But you’ve been here for a while and you fit in just fine. You’re not in the least judgmental of others.”

Carrie frowned. “Of course I’m not. My experience is that old saying rings true. ‘Point your finger at someone else and at least three more are pointing back at you.’”

Kelsey laughed. They came to stand in the second row very close to the bower. A line of Kendalls stood in front of them. When Henry turned to see who was behind him, he grinned, and motioned them up to join the family.

Carrie couldn’t see how she could refuse when her pregnant boss had such a firm grip of her arm, and was effectively dragging her along.

“The oldest man becomes the legal husband.” Kelsey edged closer and spoke more quietly. “So last night, at a private ceremony with just the immediate family—and attendants—Ginny Rose married Adam Kendall. Today, here in front of the whole of Lusty, the three of them will pledge themselves to each other. For us, this is the most important ceremony.”

“Why?”

Kelsey tilted her head to the side, and Carrie had the sense she was weighing her words. Finally, she said, “It’s complicated, and the guests of honor will be arriving soon. Have you visited the museum yet?”

“No, I’m sorry. I haven’t had time.” Which was probably a lie, because Carrie knew a person could always find time to do the things they really wanted to do, if they really wanted to do them.

“You really should make the time. And don’t feel bad, I was here more than six months before Matt and Steven finally succeeded in dragging me to the place.” Her cheeks turned a light pink, and Carrie wondered what private reminiscence had emerged from her memory.

Of course, Carrie would never ask. To ask another about their secrets was to invite inquiry in turn.

So she simply said, “All right, I will.”

“Oh, good, we’re not late.”

Carrie turned and smiled at the woman who’d said that.

Holding the hands of Richard and Trevor Benedict, with Kevin following close behind, Maggie Morrison huffed out a breath and nodded to her and Kelsey. “One of my guests cornered me in the kitchen and seemed to want to chat the day away. Thank God Kevin rescued me.”

“That’s what I’m here for, baby.” Kevin Benedict grinned, the kind of grin that Carrie had learned to recognize in life as trouble of the fun kind.

“You should be up here, since you’re Ginny’s aunt,” Carrie said. She was quite prepared to step back, but she was overruled before she could make the offer.

“There’s plenty of room for all of us.” Henry Kendall nudged his brother, Morgan, and before she knew it, the line that formed the semicircle behind the bower became much longer. Then Matt and Steven Benedict joined them, squeezing into place, flanking their wife.

For just a moment, Carrie had the sense of being alone in a room full of loving families. Loneliness and sadness warred with wisps of memory, painted photographs, and still-life snapshots. She had wisps of seeing her mom and dad at some sort of party, her and her older sister Chloe all dressed up, their outfits complete with pretty dresses, crinolines, and shiny Mary-Jane shoes.
Stupid to wish for what never was
. Life was what it was, and pining over what “might have been” was a waste of time.

A shiver caressed her, and she recognized it as the sensation of being watched.

Fear flickered to life within her and then died almost immediately. It wasn’t a specter of the past that caused that skittish kiss of nerves on flesh. She shifted her position just slightly, and sought out the source of the feeling.

Chase and Brian Benedict stood to her left in the row behind her
and
stood out even in this crowd of damn fine-looking women and men. She didn’t mean to really look so openly or let them know she was doing so, but they’d both dressed in crisp white shirts open at the collar, and between the two of them they made a mouth-watering sight. She couldn’t help but stare at them—and blush when she realized they’d both had their gazes fixed on her even before she’d turned around.

Caught, unable to tear her eyes away, Carrie felt her nipples tighten and her pussy become moist. Chase flicked his gaze down, then back up. His lips slid into a slow and sexy smile. She realized that one small lapse on her part had just put paid to all the times in the last two months she’d told those two cowboys that she wasn’t interested in them in the slightest.

Now what the hell am I going to do?

That question was abandoned in the short term when applause erupted in the hall.

Carrie turned her attention to the back, clapping with the rest of the crowd. It didn’t take long for Ginny and her men—all
three
of them—to reach the front.

Carrie’s eyes immediately went to Benny. Nearly seven, towheaded and gap-toothed, Benny Rose had been blessed with more than his share of charm.
He’s gonna be a handful when he turns sixteen.
Carrie imagined that there might be some extra-vigilant daddies watching their daughters in this town in about nine years’ time.

At the moment, Ginny’s boy wore the biggest grin, and his chest was puffed out as if he’d never been so proud.

Carrie looked at Ginny, and couldn’t help but feel a little bit teary-eyed at the sight her new friend made. Wearing a wedding dress of white silk with a halter top that gathered just below the bust, Ginny was a vision of elegance and beauty. At four months pregnant her baby bump barely showed, and in the gown, it showed not at all. She’d swept her brown hair up into an intricate chignon, with a coronet of tiny white rosebuds decorating her hair, instead of a tiara. Around her neck, on a delicate chain, a golden angel sparkled in the lights of the hall.

The happiness and love in Ginny’s eyes far outshone the beautiful gown she wore.

The guests of honor greeted their families, and then turned to Kate Benedict who had quietly moved to the front and stood on a tiny raised platform, under the bower.

“This is such a happy day for all of us!”

Although her voice didn’t sound loud or booming, Kate’s dulcet tones proved enough to quiet the entire assemblage.

“For those of us who have been privileged to always call Lusty home, who have grown up, or grown old here in this special place, surrounded by the love of family, we cannot know what it is to face the world alone. We can, none of us, even imagine the courage and strength of character it takes to raise a child alone, without family or friends, because we’ve all been blessed with an abundance of both.

“But we do, every single one of us, understand love when we see it. We understand and respect the depth of a mother’s love, and that she would go to any lengths to protect her child.”

Kate paused, her eyes shiny with tears, as she turned her attention to the bride. “Ginny, from the moment you came to Lusty, you
belonged
to us—although it did take you some time to understand that fact.”

Carrie saw the grins on the faces of the Kendalls and Benedicts on either side of her. She knew a little of Ginny’s story, of course. The young woman had been very open and frank about how she came to be here.

She’d heard from others about the way Ginny had, not all that long ago, taken down the bastard who had abused her, and then stalked her. Carrie felt a special kinship for the woman, based on that alone.

She turned her attention back to Kate.

“And now, finally, we’re here to celebrate that you belong to us in name, as well as in heart.”

Carrie thought Kate looked right at her then, although she knew it must have been the family surrounding her that had the matriarch’s attention.

“The history of our families is rife with tales of women and men who have defied the odds, and convention, and have dared to love. This town was created as a sanctuary where that love could be indulged and nurtured. Our forebears, in their wisdom, and yes, in their
love
, saw to it that we not only had a place to call home, a place where we could live freely as our hearts demanded. They also provided a solid moral, legal, and financial foundation for their children, and their children’s children. This legacy remains strong even to this day. And it is in the tradition of those first Kendalls, Jessops, and Benedicts that we are gathered here, for this very special occasion.

“Today, we celebrate the marriage of Ginny Rose to Adam and Jake Kendall.”

“Me, too, Grandma Kate!”

Everyone laughed, but that laughter didn’t faze Benny Rose one bit. He wore a huge smile, and positively preened under the attention of the adults surrounding him.

Kate Benedict smiled. “Oh yes, my darling, and you, too.” Then she looked to the celebrants. “Mom and Dads, are you ready to give and receive your vows?”

“We are.” The three of them answered as one.