One Texas Cowboy Too Many (Burnt Boot, Texas) (17 page)

Jill plopped down in the chair beside her. “I wish they’d have this thing in the spring rather than at the end of August. My legs are going to stick to this webbing.”

“Plastic does that. Where’s Sawyer?” Leah asked.

“Catching up to Rhett and Finn so they can go to the bar together. I saw y’all on the Ferris wheel. The way Mavis was lookin’ up there, I figured it would put a chill on the whole town. To tell the truth, I was hoping it would.” Jill fanned herself with the clipboard.

Leah did the same thing. “No such luck. I know her glares, and those were not cold looks. They were full of fire and anger. They probably raised the temperature twenty degrees rather than lowering it.”

Tanner startled both of them when he sat down in his chair. He wore a ball cap, sunglasses, khaki shorts, and an orange tank top with the Wild Horse Ranch logo on the front. “What if Leah catches me? Think Mavis will be mad enough to raise the temperature twenty degrees then?”

“More like to the degree of hell’s furnace,” Jill said.

Leah turned to look at him, and her neck popped.

Tanner wiggled his fingers toward her. “I will gladly massage that kink out when you catch me. Did you read the new rules?”

“Same as the old ones, right? Handcuff your catch, haul him to the finish line, and have Sunday dinner with him the next day.”

“The committee added one this year. Handcuff your man to you, and the handcuffs don’t come off until after the ice cream supper at the church. The preacher will fire the shots to set the race off, and he’ll have the keys to the cuffs.”

Leah and Rhett would be handcuffed together for at least two hours. Maybe longer if they made sure they were the last people in line to get them removed. Now that was something to look forward to.

Wonder what kind of wild sex you could have if you were handcuffed together.
Eve’s voice sounded so loud in her head that Leah glanced at Jill to be sure she hadn’t heard the comment too.

Maybe it would be misconstrued as favoritism when she marked down Martin O’Donnell’s bike as her number one choice, but those horns wired up to his handlebars and the spurs attached to his boots were priceless. Of course, Tanner’s first choice was not Martin’s bike, and Jill had chosen a cute, little pink bike all done up with pink satin streamers.

They talked about it when the parade had finished, finally made their decisions, and handed in the list to the judge.

Tanner bumped her with a shoulder. “I’ll look forward to having ice cream with you this evening.”

“Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched,” she said.

Rhett’s hand was suddenly in hers and those old familiar sparks danced around the parking lot, wiping out everything but the two of them.

“Good job to all three of you judges,” he said.

“Thanks,” Tanner said and then turned his eyes toward Leah. “See you later. I told Granny to bring banana nut ice cream. A little birdie told me it was your favorite. I’ll feed it to you.”

“Like I said. Don’t be countin’ chickens,” she said.

He moved on toward a group of Gallaghers, and Rhett squeezed her hand. “Ready to go get some tacos and funnel cakes, or maybe some of those cinnamon rolls?”

She looped her arm through his. “Rhett, about Tanner.”

“There’s nothing to explain. Let’s go find some food.”

She nodded. “I am so hungry. Pancakes are failing me. And I want a beer too.”

“Hey, where are y’all going?” Jill hollered.

“To the taco wagon,” Rhett said.

“Wait up and we’ll go with you. I could eat half a dozen tacos.” Jill grabbed Sawyer’s hand.

“I thought you were going home,” Leah said.

“Food changes my mind real easy.” Jill laughed.

“Did y’all hear about the new kink in the race?” Jill asked.

“I didn’t, but then I’m not running, so I didn’t pay any attention to it,” Sawyer answered.

She told them about the handcuffs staying on until after the ice cream supper.

“I like the new rule. Reckon we could keep them on until after Sunday dinner.” Rhett wiggled his dark eyebrows at Leah.

“Damn!” Sawyer exclaimed and pulled Jill closer to his side. “Now I wish I were in the race so you could catch me. I wouldn’t mind being handcuffed to you for a couple of hours.”

“I’m looking forward to the race. Never did before. Usually I took off with the ladies when the gun went off and hid on the back porch of the church until the next shot signaled it was time for the girls to bring their catches back to the line,” Leah said.

“You mean I’ll be your first catch?” Rhett asked.

“Yes, you will be.”

Jill sighed. “That is so romantic. If I’d known about this, we might have put off our wedding until after it was over. Now I’ll never know the joy of catching you.”

“We could play chase around the bunkhouse and you could handcuff me.” Sawyer grinned.

“We could do that,” Jill agreed. “But right now, I want tacos more than handcuffs.”

“What about you?” Rhett whispered in Leah’s ear.

“Can I have both?”

The preacher climbed up on the flatbed truck beside the store and picked up a microphone. “Gather ’round, folks. It’s time for all y’all fellers to check your boots in with Miz Gladys. She will tie them together and give you one end of a ticket that you’ll bring back to her to reclaim them once you get the cuffs off. However, if you have the good luck to outrun all these lovely ladies, then when you hear the all-clear shot at five o’clock, you can come on to the school cafeteria when the ice cream supper starts and reclaim them. I want to wish you all good luck and may the girl of your dreams catch you.”

The preacher reminded Rhett of an old-time snake oil salesman as he held the microphone close to his mouth and motioned to the young men with his hand. If he’d been selling a healing elixir, he could have probably made millions from the crowd, who was hanging on every word.

“That’s my cue. Remember the way?” Rhett asked Leah.

She kissed him on the cheek. “If you get there before I do, don’t give up on me.”

“I’ll hear that song playing in my head the whole time I’m dodgin’ and duckin’.” He laughed.

The country music tune played through his mind as he sat down on the edge of the trailer and handed his boots to Gladys. She tied them together with a zip tie and handed him a ticket stub. “Put this in your pocket and don’t lose it.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Rhett grinned.

She patted him on the shoulder. “Good luck, Rhett. I already heard several women sayin’ as how they’ve memorized that shirt you’re wearing, and they’re going to be after you. You better have some fancy moves.”

“I’ve got something better. I’ve got a plan.”

Tanner stepped up beside Gladys and handed his boots over to her. “Here you go, Miz Gladys.”

“Thank you. You know the rules, right?” Gladys asked.

“I do. I’ll get my boots back as soon as I get the cuffs off.”

“Line ’em up, boys!” the preacher yelled into the microphone. “See the line made out of duct tape right there under the banner? Put your toes on the tape and get ready to run. You’ll have fifteen minutes, but if a pretty girl winks at me, I might get trigger-happy and you’ll only have five minutes, so you better run fast, boys. When you hear the second shot, you’ll know the ladies are on the run. The third shot is the all-clear shot.”

Tanner lined up beside Rhett and said, “I hope you aren’t a poor loser.”

“I don’t intend to lose,” Rhett said.

“Okay, ladies, here’s this year’s pickin’s,” Emory said. “Take a long look at them and get a picture of what they’re wearing in your mind so you don’t go tackling the wrong cowboy. We’ve got three whole minutes for you to walk up and down the line to talk to them. No touching, but you can ask whatever questions you want.”

What happened next reminded Rhett of speed dating. Half a dozen women gathered in front of him, asking him what his favorite foods were, and if he liked picnics or restaurants best. Thank goodness Betsy Gallagher wasn’t one of them.

“Time’s up, ladies. Back to the sides, so these guys can get their proper head start,” Emory said. “On your mark.”

Rhett bent like a track runner.

“May the best man win,” Tanner said.

Rhett didn’t answer but kept his mind and eyes set on the goal.

“Get set,” Emory yelled.

The gunshot startled some of the guys so badly that they looked back at the preacher, who shooed them on with a wave of his hand. Soon, guys were tearing down the road like football players on their way to the goal line. Rhett stuck to the plan and was already on the path headed for the barn when he stepped on one of those Texas grass burrs called a goat head. He plopped down on the path and pulled the sorry sucker out of his heel and stood up to run again, only to feel half a dozen more poking into the ball of his foot.

“Dammit!” He swore and sat back down to pull them out. He didn’t remember those rotten things sticking to his jeans when he and Leah had made the practice run. He thought back to the night before and frowned.

“There weren’t any. I’d swear on a Bible that there weren’t, and now Leah is going to get them in her feet too,” he said. “I’ve got to go back and warn her.”

* * *

Leah handed her flip-flops off to Gladys and tucked her ticket into her hip pocket before lining up with Honey on one side and Betsy on the other.

Betsy cut her eyes at Leah and winked. “I’m planning on having dinner at Wild Horse with Rhett tomorrow.”

“I wouldn’t bet on it,” Leah said.

“I would put five hundred dollars on it if you want to put your money where you mouth is,” Betsy said.

“Okay, ladies, I really want to see these guys hauled in here before they die of heatstroke, so let’s get this show on the road a few minutes early. You know the rules. Bring home your man, and he’s all yours for supper tonight and dinner tomorrow. Get on your mark!” the preacher yelled.

“Well…” Betsy nudged Leah.

“I’d hate to see you lose your money.”

The preacher lowered his voice like he was telling a big secret. “They’re out there hiding from you, so look under every rock, under the hanging limbs of every willow tree, and you might even check the river for signs of air tubes. These are some wily guys, ladies. You should keep your eyes wide open and search for signs. We don’t care what condition you bring them back in, long as they’re handcuffed to you. Get set!”

The gun blasted, and Leah followed the path exactly as they’d practiced. Rhett was supposed to be waiting in the barn, so she didn’t have to hurry.

* * *

Rhett’s feet hurt, but he was making good time when he heard the second shot and knew the women were on the way. He kept his eyes on the path in front of him, hoping to see Leah at any time, when suddenly someone ran up behind him and cuffed his hand to hers. Breathing a sigh of relief that she hadn’t gotten into the dangerous area, he turned around and looked down into Betsy Gallagher’s emerald-green eyes.

“Well, Rhett O’Donnell, looks like you belong to me for the ice cream supper and Sunday dinner tomorrow. I hear that you really like steak, so that’s what we’re having on Wild Horse Ranch tomorrow. The whole family will be there to meet you. Who knows? Maybe we’ll show you a better life than Fiddle Creek.” She smiled up at him. “Let’s go on back now. I know a route that’s gentle on the feet. Maybe I’ll even get the prize for bringing in the first catch.”

“And that would be?”

“The look on Leah’s face when she comes in empty-handed. Or better yet, when Tanner catches her.”

“You put those stickers in the path, didn’t you?” he said.

“All is fair in wars, feuds, and the Sadie Hawkins race.” She laughed. “Now come on, darlin’, we’re takin’ a shortcut back to the store.”

“But I’ve got to warn Leah,” he said.

“Sweetheart”—Betsy smiled at him—“there won’t be a single sticker on the path by the time she gets to that spot.”

“You are mean,” Rhett said.

“Like I said, all’s fair.” She laughed again.

* * *

Leah kept on the path in a slow, steady jog until she saw the barn. Then she slowed to a walk and shaded her eyes with her hands, but she couldn’t see any sign of Rhett. That meant he was already there, waiting on her.

“Not giving up on me.” She smiled.

He was everything she’d ever wanted in a man, and if their relationship got her thrown off River Bend, well then, so be it. She wasn’t going to live like her father had the past twenty-five years. No, sir, she’d found the right man, and he was a fine person.

Who are you trying to convince? Yourself or your family?
the voice in her head asked, which reminded her of the Chris Young song about hearing voices all the time. Maybe Eve had always been there, waiting for the right time to give her the strength to get out of this damn feud.

She noticed a single wild daisy blooming beside the path and stopped long enough to pick it. She tucked it behind her ear as she covered the last hundred yards to the barn where Rhett waited for her. Would he be in the loft? Her skin went all tingly at that idea, and she started jogging again. The barn was dark and smelled like fresh hay. It was eerily quiet as she stood inside the shadows and let her eyes adjust to coming in out of the hot, broiling August sun.

“Rhett?” she whispered.

Nothing.

He should have been there, but maybe he’d had to alter his plans to outrun someone and was behind her. She turned around and looked out over the landscape. No Rhett, and the way her stomach had twisted up into a pretzel, her gut was telling her something was wrong. She went back inside and sat down on a hay bale to wait for him. If she couldn’t have him, she damn sure didn’t want anyone else, and the barn was a fine hiding place.

Someone slipped their hands over her eyes, and she smiled. After she kissed him, she fully intended to read him the riot act for scaring her.

“Keep your eyes shut.” He whipped the cuffs out of her pocket, snapped them on his wrist, and then on hers.

“Can I open them now?” she whispered.

He sat down beside her, their hands brushing together. “You sure can, Leah.”

She had already moistened her lips for the kiss, and her eyes were half-open when she realized that Tanner Gallagher was sitting beside her, his bare feet propped up on a bale in front of them.

“Congratulations, you caught me,” he said.

She rubbed her eyes with her free hand. Surely she was seeing things. Maybe she’d even had a heatstroke.

She gasped. “You cheated.”

“All is fair in the Sadie Hawkins race. Besides, if you yell that I cheated, who will believe you? Why in the hell would a Gallagher rope himself to a Brennan on purpose?”

“Tanner, please don’t do this,” she begged.

He held up his hand. “Too late. We’re together until after dinner tomorrow. Are we going to River Bend?”

“Hell no! Granny would roll you in honey and cornflakes and feed you to her new hogs. I don’t like you, but I don’t want to see the hogs eat you.”

“I’ve never heard you cuss, Leah Brennan.”

“You don’t know me,” she said.

“Then I’ll get to know you on the way back to the church for the ice cream supper.”

“How did you know I’d come to the barn?”

“Nothing is a secret in Burnt Boot. Betsy overheard someone talking about having seen y’all driving this way and then walking around the end of the store. She figured your plan out and told me. I’ve got a confession.”

“I’m not a priest,” she smarted off.

“Betsy put stickers on the path, and she’s already cuffed Rhett. And, darlin’, I like this new Leah with the sass better than the old one. But that’s not my real confession. It’s that when this started, it really was all Granny’s idea. She knows you’re being groomed to run River Bend like Betsy has been raised up to do at Wild Creek. After that shit storm on both sides, she decided if she could steal you, it would hurt Mavis worse than anything she could do.”

He stood up, and Leah had no choice but to follow him. “And?”

“It was a game until a few days ago, and I figured out that I really do like you. So say good-bye to Rhett. You’re going to be mine when it’s all said and done. I get what I want, and I want you.” He chuckled.

“When pigs fly. I might let Granny at you yet,” she said.

“No, you won’t. You have a nice side that keeps you sweet and a wild side that I damn sure intend to enjoy,” he said.

* * *

Leah and Tanner were one of the last couples to make it back to the trailer, and the preacher really made a big to-do about it. “Well, would you look at this, folks? I do believe this will go down in history as the first time a Brennan has ever chased down a Gallagher.”

Tanner played into the whole thing like a movie star. He hung his head as if he was totally ashamed that a Brennan had caught him. “I’m so sorry, Granny. Don’t shoot me and don’t let Mavis hang me from the nearest old scrub oak tree.”

Naomi yelled from the other side of the road, “Mavis, if you lay a hand on my grandson, you’ll pay for it.”

“If he sets a little toe on Wild Horse, he’s as good as dead,” Mavis yelled back. “What the hell were you thinkin’, Leah?”

“We’ll talk about it later,” she answered.

“You are damn right we will.”

“I expect we’d best take a picnic to the river tomorrow, since I’m not welcome on River Bend. Or maybe you’ll let me take you to a nice restaurant,” Tanner said.

“It’s my job to provide dinner. I hope you like bologna sandwiches. We’re having a tailgate picnic, but not at the river.”

“I’ll love anything you make, darlin’, and I’d have dinner with you sitting on a barbed wire fence in hell.” He grinned and held up the cuffs for everyone to see.

The crowd laughed at his joke and applause broke out. The preacher let it go on for a full minute before he said, “Crawl up here on the wagon with the rest of the couples. Ten more minutes and we’ll give you all a ride to the church. I imagine your feet are sore from all the barefoot business. Make the best of the bad situation, boys. It’s only for a supper today and for dinner tomorrow, then you can get on with your wild and woolly ways.”

Leah caught Rhett’s eye, and he mouthed, “Stickers.”

She nodded.

Tanner cupped her chin in his hand and turned her face toward his. “Don’t look at him. You belong to me.”

She scooted away from him as far as the cuffs would allow. “I will never belong to you.”

“For this ice cream supper and for our bologna sandwiches tomorrow, you do.” He moved close enough that their shoulders touched, and he ran a forefinger down her bare arm. “I can change your mind about me if you’ll give me a chance.”

It didn’t produce sparks, but it did bring on a desire to spit in his eye. Maybe that’s what this was all about: to show her once and for all that the childhood crush was just that and that there wasn’t even a tiny part of her heart that belonged to Tanner.

“Sometimes it’s too late for chances, Tanner. Let’s simply get through this ice cream business and get these cuffs off,” she said.

“I was thinking about asking the preacher to leave them on until tomorrow evening, say, at five o’clock. That way the ladies could have us for a full twenty-four hours.”