One Texas Cowboy Too Many (Burnt Boot, Texas) (11 page)

“Are you Leah Brennan?” a man, holding a long, skinny box tied with a bright red ribbon, asked.

“I am,” she said.

“This came to the front desk for you. We don’t give out room numbers, so I told the fellow I would bring them up.” He handed them off to her. “You have a nice evening.”

She closed the door, set the box on the coffee table, and opened the card to find nothing but a phone number. Icy chills chased down her spine when she realized that it wasn’t Rhett’s phone number.

“Stop letting Tanner get under your skin. This is probably the number to the bar,” she said aloud. “But if it’s Tanner and I call with my cell phone, he’ll have my number.”

She finally decided to call on the room phone. It rang several times before a man answered. “Hello, Leah. So you got the roses. They are to let you know I’m serious about seeing you.”

“Where are you?” she asked bluntly.

“I’m in Burnt Boot, but I can be in New York by dawn. Just say the word,” Tanner said.

“This is beginning to feel like stalking,” she said.

“Darlin’, there’s no such thing when two people have been in love as long as we have,” he told her.

When Rhett said “love,” she wanted to run into his arms. When Tanner said the same word, she wanted to run away from him. Yes, sir, there was definitely one cowboy too many in her life right then, and she had no idea what to do about it.

“Are you there?” Tanner asked.

“I am, but please, Tanner, let this go. I should have never told you that I had a crush on you when we were teenagers.”

“But you did, and now I’m ready to tell the whole world about it,” he said. “I miss seeing you at the bar. I can’t wait for you to come home. Just call, and I’ll be there in person as soon as I can get a flight out of Dallas.”

She was sitting on the sofa with a beer in her hands when Honey and Kinsey came in together. The roses were on the table, still in the box, and Kinsey homed in on them like a hound dog after a coyote.

“From Rhett? I swear, girl, you are going to be in big trouble,” she said.

“From Tanner Gallagher,” Leah said. “And what are y’all doin’ home this early?”

Honey gasped. “We got bored. You know Granny will strangle you herself for even saying that Tanner is in your sights.”

Leah’s head went slowly from side to side. “He’s not even a dot on the horizon. Not anymore.” She went on to tell them the whole story.

“That’s stalking,” Honey said.

“That’s the Gallaghers trying to tear up the Brennan family from the inside. Naomi has sanctioned it if he offered to take you to Sunday dinner. She’s a sly old bitch,” Kinsey said.

Leah motioned toward the flowers. “What do I do with them?”

“I’ll set them outside the door and the cleaning lady can throw them away,” Kinsey said.

“That sounds like a wonderful idea to me,” Leah said.

“Want to keep the card?”

“Hell no!” Leah said quickly.

“You cussed again. You might be right about not being the good girl anymore.”

“I hope so. Thanks for listening to me and for taking care of those things for me,” Leah said.

“Hey, we’re blood kin. We might fight and we might bitch, but it’s our fight and our argument, so everyone else best leave us alone.” Kinsey gathered up the dozen red roses and carried them out of the room.

The Gallagher side of the church was missing Naomi, Betsy, Tyrell, and Tanner the next morning. All during the sermon, members of their family kept their cell phones on their laps and their eyes glued to them, hoping for a text.

On the Brennan side, the pews were full, with only Honey, Leah, and Kinsey missing, and everyone knew they were on vacation.

The middle section was about half-full. Rhett sat with his family and friends: Sawyer, Jill, Polly, and Gladys. His cousin Finn and Finn’s family were lined up in the oak pew in front of him.

Rhett spent most of the time during the opening hymns and the sermon thinking about Leah rather than listening. He did come on back down to earth when the preacher finally wound down his sermon. He glanced over his shoulder at the clock on the back wall of the church and wondered if Leah was having a late breakfast or if she’d been up for hours and was maybe having a hot dog from a cart on the street right about then.

Expecting the preacher to ask someone to give the benediction, Rhett had already bowed his head when the preacher said, “Zachary, would you please stand up, so everyone can see who you are?”

A young man over on the Gallagher side rose to his feet and turned around to face the congregation. He smiled and waved as the preacher went on to say, “I’d like to introduce you to Zachary Milton, who is engaged to our own Burnt Boot girl Angelina Gallagher. He and Angelina will be living on Wild Horse Ranch after their wedding in October. He’s a horse breeder in addition to helping with the Lord’s work in the youth program. Y’all, make Zachary welcome here in Burnt Boot. He’ll be sending out emails about his new youth programs. And thank you to the Gallaghers for the fine donation to the church that has allowed us to offer him a three-year contract. Now, Zachary, will you please deliver the benediction?”

Rhett looked over at Mavis, and from the way her face was turning from red to crimson, he’d have been willing to bet her blood pressure had jacked up to stroke level. Evidently she wasn’t too happy about the new youth director or the fact that the Gallaghers had donated the money for his salary. He’d have to ask Leah about it when he talked to her later. He was thinking about that when he realized that he and Verdie were walking out right behind Mavis and several members of her family. Verdie was the elderly lady who’d sold her ranch to his cousin, Finn, and then wound up returning to Burnt Boot to live with Callie and Finn. She was the same age as Mavis and Naomi, and was Gladys and Polly’s dear friend.

“Granny, why would they do that to Quaid? He’s worked with the church youth for years, and he deserves that title. Besides, he’s been doing the job for free. This is a slap in the face,” Declan whispered on the way out of the church. “Do you think they know about last night?”

She shot him a dirty look. “Shhh! This didn’t happen in ten hours. It’s been coming. Naomi has been going around all smug for weeks, and I’ll bet you a million dollars this isn’t the only thing she’s got up her sleeve. That bitch is about to pay for this.”

“Now they’ve got the sheriff’s department and God both on their side. Everyone knows that Orville is nicer to them than he is to us, and now the youth director? They’ll be running the church in no time,” Declan said.

Rhett flashed his most brilliant smile. “Hello, Miz Mavis. I missed seeing Leah in church this morning.”

“You stay away from my granddaughter,” she hissed.

“Which one?” Rhett asked.

“Every damn one of them.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t like you.”

“Because I’m not a youth director?” Rhett smiled. “I used to be one, down at my church in Comfort, Texas. You can call for references if you want.”

“Did you Brennans kidnap Naomi?” Gladys touched Mavis on the shoulder. “I figured she’d want to be here for the announcement this morning.”

Mavis’s smile was pure evil. “Not me. I was playing cards with my friends, and you were one of them, Gladys Cleary.”

Verdie ignored Mavis and whispered to Rhett, “Finn and Callie are having a baby in about six months over on their ranch, Salt Draw. But don’t let the cat out of the bag. They’re telling everyone else at lunch.”

“Well, how about that?” Rhett said.

“Shhh. Finn wants to spring the news on everyone at the dinner table. Not even the kids know yet.”

“I heard you, Verdie. You never could whisper worth a damn. Dear Lord, don’t Finn and Callie already have four kids?” Mavis gasped.

* * *

Leah had already decided what she was going to do when the phone call from Rhett came in right after noon. Her suitcase was on the bed, and Honey hadn’t even put up too much of an argument. Kinsey had told her to do what she had to do.

She answered the phone with, “Hello, Rhett. I’ve got a big favor to ask.”

“Name it,” he said.

“I’m flying home. Can you pick me up at DFW at four?”

“I’ll be there. What airline?”

“American.”

“I called to bring you up-to-date on the feud, but I’ll tell you the story on the way home. I’m afraid this one is going to blow Burnt Boot off the map. Naomi Gallagher might even put a hit out on your grandmother,” he said.

“You can tell me all about it when I get there. I’ve got to get to the airport in record time. Talk to you when I get there and believe me when I say it can’t be worse than the pig war.”

Leah zipped her suitcase and wheeled it to the door.

“You sure about this?” Honey asked. “You’re going home to an argument with Granny, and that never goes well. You might as well put it off as long as you can.”

“I’ve thought about it, worried about it, and now it’s time to face it head-on and get it over with before it gives me ulcers,” Leah said.

“I can’t talk you into staying?” Honey asked.

“There aren’t enough words in an unabridged dictionary to do that.” Leah opened the door and walked out with Honey right behind her. “You don’t have to go with me. I’m perfectly able to catch a cab by myself.”

“I’ll walk with you down to the lobby. I wonder what Granny would do if I told her I was in love with a Gallagher?” Honey asked as she opened the door for Leah.

“Are you?”

“Hell no, but you should tell her about Tanner and that we all think it’s one of Naomi’s tricks,” Honey said. “That’ll take some of the heat off you and Rhett. I still can’t figure out why she hates him so bad. I bet it’s the ponytail and the cycle.”

“Why?” Leah asked.

“I was flirting with a guy at Germanfest down in Muenster last year that looked a little like him, only his ponytail was longer and his cycle didn’t have horns on the front. Granny called me into her bedroom later that evening and put the fear of God into me. No Brennan was ever bringing home a man like that, so I could damn well watch who I was hangin’ all over—her words not mine,” Honey answered.

“You’re probably right.” Leah explained the ordeal with her mother leaving with the guy on the cycle.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Honey said. “I always figured it was Uncle Russell who did the cheatin’.”

“Why would you say that?”

“Just something I overheard him sayin’ one time. I was hiding in the living room up under a desk when us kids were playin’ hide-and-go-seek. He came in and shut the doors, looked out the window, and then made a phone call. I was a kid, but it sure sounded like he was talkin’ to another woman to me. His voice went all soft and he said he’d meet her later,” Honey said.

“And you never told anyone?” Leah gasped.

“Lord, no! They already said that I exaggerated and even accused me of lying. I wasn’t about to get myself sent to my room for a week with nothing but crayons and a coloring book. I wasn’t old enough to read, and I sure didn’t have a television in my room back then.”

“How old were we?” Leah asked.

“It was before either of us were in school.”

“Then it was at the same time Mama had her affair with the old boyfriend,” Leah whispered.

“I don’t know about all that. I only remember it because he shut the door and no one found me, so I won the game.”

* * *

She was the last one to board the plane taking her back to Burnt Boot. She had a window seat beside a small guy wearing a three-piece suit and a hundred-dollar haircut. He nodded and she did the same, and then she spent the rest of the flight looking at the clouds and thinking about Rhett. Something deep inside her said she was doing the right thing. That same feeling told her that even if she had to live in a tent on the banks of the Red River and eat nothing but catfish and bologna sandwiches, she’d be happier than living in the house on River Bend and wondering what life would have been like with Rhett.

He hasn’t proposed, and you’re fantasizing about living with him
, her new alter ego asked.

I’m not giving him up
, she answered.

There’s no going back.

That’s what makes this such a difficult thing,
Leah argued.
But it’s the right thing. I don’t want to run River Bend. I don’t want to be a part of this feud anymore. I want to live a peaceful, happy life without all the tension. I want what I saw when Rhett took me over to Ringgold to meet part of his family
.

When the plane descended onto the DFW runway, her chest tightened and her hands went clammy. Rhett was waiting. He’d said he would be there, and she could trust him with her life. That tingle inside her said that he was already there. Everything was going to work out exactly like it was supposed to because Rhett had come to take her home.

She turned on her phone as she headed for the baggage claim area and found that she had three missed calls from Rhett. She quickly hit the button to call him, hoping he wasn’t stuck in Dallas traffic.

“Are you on the ground?” he asked.

“I’m in baggage claim.”

“I’ll be sitting on the bench in front of the doors when you come outside,” he said.

“Thank you, Rhett.”

“No thanks necessary. I’m glad you are home.”

As luck would have it, her suitcase was the last one to appear on the conveyor belt. She quickly grabbed it before she had to wait another five minutes for it to roll around again. She stopped a few feet back from the door and scanned the area. There he was, waiting patiently and staring at the doors. Her pulse raced and she forgot to exhale for so long that she got a little dizzy.

He looked up and saw her, waved, and stood up, shaking the legs of his jeans down over his boot tops. Today he was dressed up, wearing his best boots, jeans that had been starched and creased, and a green-and-yellow plaid Western shirt with the sleeves rolled up right above his elbows.

Sex on a stick
, Eve’s voice inside her head said with a giggle.

You got that right
. Leah smiled.

She pushed her way through the revolving doors, out of the cool air and into the sweltering hot Texas summer heat. Rhett met her, hugged her, and kissed her on the forehead.

“Welcome home to Texas, Leah. Ain’t nothin’ like it at this time of year.” He laced his fingers with hers. “I borrowed Sawyer’s truck. Didn’t think we could manage luggage on the cycle.” He opened the truck door for her and then shoved her suitcase into the backseat.

“I appreciate this, Rhett,” she said and then noticed a bouquet of pink mimosa blooms mixed with greenery and baby’s breath. It happened to be her all-time favorite flower, and one that nobody had ever given her. As a child, she’d told herself that when her true prince came along, she would know he was the one because he would give her a bouquet of mimosas like the ones from the tree below her bedroom window on River Bend.

She picked up the bouquet and slid into the passenger’s seat, not even minding the heat. Rhett hurried around the back of the truck and quickly got inside, turning the air conditioner on high right after he started the engine.

“It’s lovely. How did you know I liked mimosas?” she asked.

“You are a mimosa, Leah. You are delicate, but inside you are wild and free. You are sunshine to everyone around you, and there are many layers to you as a woman, like there are many little petals on the mimosa bloom. I expect it will take a lifetime to see all the layers,” he said.

Her eyes misted. “That’s pretty romantic for a biker cowboy.”

“I was speakin’ from my own heart and tellin’ it the way I see it.” He opened a small cooler, brought out a plastic container with a cupcake inside, and handed it to her. “It’s your welcome-home cake. I had to keep it on ice so it wouldn’t melt.”

She put the bouquet in her lap and took the chocolate cupcake. When she popped the top off, the smell of chocolate filled the cab of the truck.

“I hope I’m right and you aren’t a red rose lady,” he said.

“Mimosas and chocolate cake—my two secret delights. How on earth did you find mimosas at this time of year?” she asked.

“I went into a flower shop and asked for them. The lady said they only used them as fillers for wedding bouquets and she had a few left. Must have been an omen. I’m glad you like them,” he answered. “So the mimosas and chocolates are secrets?”

“Most folks have figured out the chocolate, but no one knows about the mimosas,” she said.

“Then that can be our secret.”

She stuck her finger in the icing and held it out toward him. “You should have the first bite for giving up your fishing to come down here to get me.”

He gripped her wrist, and his mouth closed around her forefinger. His tongue licked away every bit of the icing, and all the air left her lungs. Heat shot through her like she had a full-out drip of pure Tennessee whiskey flowing through her body.

Then he popped her finger from his mouth and returned the favor, scooping up an inch of frosting on his finger and offering it to her. She took a deep breath and grabbed his wrist. His eyes went wide as she cleaned every bit of that chocolate from his finger, working her tongue around to make sure nothing was left behind.

“Sweet Jesus,” he mumbled.

She opened her lips enough to slide his finger out and then kissed his wrist before she let it go. “That is some fine chocolate, and I do know good chocolate.”

“You are not a sweet little angel, Leah Brennan. You might come off as a pampered rose, but, darlin’, you are a wild and free mimosa bloom for sure.”

“I’d say that we match pretty good then, wouldn’t you?”

“I never was accused of being an angel.” He laughed as he backed the truck out of the parking spot.

* * *

Rhett’s finger burned and then it tingled. Hell, it might never be the same.

“Share this with me. I didn’t even realize I was hungry until I smelled the chocolate.” She pinched off a bite and held it close to his mouth. “And speaking of sharing, tell me the story of the horns on the cycle and the tat while we drive.”

“No, ma’am. This is our second date. That’s a third-date story, remember?” He opened up wide enough that she had no excuse to put her fingers in his mouth again. “Good,” he said, chewing.

“It’s not good. It’s excellent. It will hold me until we get out of the traffic, but then I’m buying supper for us to repay you for all this,” she said.

“No, ma’am, you are not. I’d love to take you to supper at the restaurant of your choice, but my mama would come after me with a switch if I let a lady pay on a date,” he said.

“You’re afraid of your mama? I wouldn’t think you’d be afraid of a hungry grizzly bear.” She polished off the last of the cupcake.

“Honey, my mama puts fear in the hungry grizzly bear,” he told her.

“No wonder you’re still single at nearly thirty.”

“You got it.” He grinned. “So what do you have a hankering for?”

“Are we still talking about food?”

He slid a long look toward her, and their eyes locked. “That’s up to you, Leah.”

She sighed. “I want a big, fat hamburger with double meat, an order of fries to dip in ketchup, and a tall glass of sweet tea.”

“Then I know the place to go.” He blinked and looked back at the highway stretching ahead of him.

“You said you had something to tell me about Burnt Boot or the feud when we talked this morning.” She looked out the side window.

He nodded. “It can’t be proven, but last night, for the sake of the story we’ll say the Brennans intercepted a bit of information saying that Naomi Gallagher was afraid the Brennans might blow up the septic tank to her house, so she’d called a company to have it pumped. I’m thinking she let the news out on purpose, so that Mavis would know it was empty, and therefore, she wouldn’t blow it up in retaliation.”

“That sounds like the two of them,” Leah said.

“Your family must have paid someone to do the dirty—and I do mean dirty—deed. Instead of putting what was in the septic tank into the truck’s holding tank, they let it flow out all around the main house, trapping Naomi, Betsy, Tanner, and Tyrell in the house. Story has it that the company called Naomi and said they’d had some kind of trouble, and it would be real late when they got there. So it was after everyone had gone to bed when it all happened.”

“Why didn’t they call out for help?”

“I guess their computers, cell phones, and even the landline was down until right after church.”

“Quaid.” She smiled.

“What about Quaid?”

“He’s a computer genius. When he finished college, he was recruited to work for one of those alphabet sections of the government, but he turned them down. This serves them right for blowing up our school the way they did. It’s a stroke of genius. I’m glad Betsy was stuck in there. She’s such a bitch.”

“The claws have come out,” Rhett said.

“When it comes to Betsy, they stay out.”

“Oh, and the Gallaghers made a donation to the church sizable enough that they’ve hired Angelina’s fiancé as the new youth director. They gave him a three-year contract. Mavis looked pretty upset about it when we were leaving church this morning,” Rhett said.

“Granny will be so worked up, she won’t even know I’m home for a week. My cousin Quaid should have been given that position years ago,” she said.

“That’s what I heard from Sawyer and Jill. I overheard one of the Brennan cowboys saying that now the Gallaghers have the law and God both in their pockets.” Rhett chuckled.

Leah’s eyes widened as big as silver dollars. “Granny is meaner than the law or God.”

“And yet you’ve cut your vacation short to come home to face off with her when she’s in this mood. You sure you don’t want to come live in the bunkhouse on Fiddle Creek until she gets in a better mood?” Rhett asked.

“I don’t move in with a man after only knowing him eleven days and before I’ve been on a third date with him,” she said.

He tapped the clock on the dash. “Eleven days, one hour, and eleven minutes. That extra time should make a difference.”

The glorious beauty of her laughter filled the truck and put a smile on his face.

“So you think that’s funny?”

“You make me laugh, Rhett. I like that.”

“And no one else makes you laugh?”

“Not like you do. Why do things have to be so complicated when it comes to families?” She wiped her eyes with the napkin that had come with the cupcake.

He turned off an exit ramp into Gainesville. “Some things can’t be explained. Ever eaten at Five Guys?”

She clapped her hands together. “I love their burgers. There’s one not far from the condo in Florida where I stayed with Honey and Kinsey last year. This is perfect, Rhett.” A frown suddenly covered her face.

“What’s wrong?”

“You know me so well after only eleven days, it’s scary,” she answered.

“I told you it’s that extra hour and minutes that make the difference.” He covered her hand with his. “Leah, all love and relationships are dangerous. That’s what makes them exciting, but it also teaches both parties that they can trust each other in times of danger.”

“The path ahead of me looks pretty dangerous, all right.” She nodded.

“Sometimes you’ve got to get a machete and hack your way through the kudzu to make your own path in life.”

“You ever do that?”

He leaned across the console and kissed her on the cheek. “Yes, I have. Now let’s go get a burger.”

She left her mimosas on the seat and hoped the heat didn’t wilt them. She looked at them one last time and smiled. In her imagination, the bouquet morphed into a machete, ready to hack down the kudzu and create a path for her.