The Trouble with Texas Cowboys (23 page)

Verdie turned around in the church pew and winked at Sawyer. “I didn't think Gladys would miss another Sunday or let y'all stay home, either,” she said.

Gladys smiled. “That would set the rumor wheel on fire.”

“Why?” Jill asked.

“They'd say that y'all were laid up in bed together,” Gladys whispered so the children sitting beside Verdie couldn't hear.

Jill's face burned, but she took several deep breaths and hoped to hell that her aunt didn't notice.

“You. Are. Blushing,” Sawyer whispered softly in her ear. “Would you go to dinner with me after church?”

“As in a date?”

He nodded. “As in a normal, plain old date.”

“Are we telling Finn and Callie that we have a date and can't take them up on another invitation to their place?” she asked.

“We will if they ask. Is that a yes?”

“It is a definite yes,” she said.

The preacher took the podium, and the whole congregation settled in for a sermon. Jill could almost hear the old men behind her getting comfortable for their Sunday morning nap.

“Good morning. It is less than two weeks until Valentine's Day, a day of love and romance. I've been asked”—the preacher shuffled his notes—“to announce that there will be a Valentine's party right here at the church on Friday, the thirteenth.”

A few people chuckled.

The preacher held up a palm. “I know it's considered an unlucky day, but we're going to put that wives' tale to the side for our party and think of it as a wonderful day of romance. There will be a dinner, and Kinsey Brennan has said that she and Quaid are having a speed-dating evening for the young single folks, so get ready for lots of fun.”

He went on to announce that the nursing-home visitation had been postponed that week due to a conflict of schedule and that there would be a baby shower on Wednesday. Jill hadn't heard the names of the prospective new parents before, but they weren't Gallaghers or Brennans, so they were most likely sitting in the middle section of pews.

“I'll expect everyone to respect the church and be civil to each other during our Valentine's party,” he said seriously.

The tension level rose from a solid five all the way to a ten in seconds. The Brennans shot dirty looks across the heads of those folks in the middle section, looks which no doubt meant to tell the folks on the other side that, by golly, they would be civil only if they wanted to and not because the preacher told them to.

“And now I'd like to introduce you to Ruth and her mother-in-law, beginning with the Book of Ruth in the Old Testament,” the preacher said.

Evidently, he was going to preach on love that morning, which was a wonderful topic for the first of February in any other church at any other time. But he'd already lost his crowd when he made that statement about being nice. Still, he plowed on, raising his voice to wake up the dozing folks at the right time, lowering it to get the attention of those who were drifting away to think of something else.

Jill blocked all of it out of her mind and let herself get giddy thinking about a real date with Sawyer. It was crazy, but she couldn't help it. They'd been through so much together, including some damn fine hot sex, but this was a date. It wasn't friends with benefits; it was the real thing.

She glanced over at the Brennan side and locked gazes with Quaid. There were no daggers, but he was not smiling. His jaw was set firmly, and the look in his pretty eyes said that he still had a lot of fight in him. A cold chill chased down her spine. Surely the two families wouldn't do anything to take Sawyer out of the picture.

Sawyer's hand covered hers in the narrow space between them and squeezed gently. Could he read her mind? Was he assuring her that he could take care of whatever the Brennans threw at them?

She tried to listen to the sermon, but starting in the middle didn't work so well, so she looked at the Gallagher side of the church. Be damned if Betsy wasn't eyeballing Sawyer like she had something pornographic in mind. Before Jill could blink, Betsy caught her eye and smiled. She made a pistol with her thumb and forefinger, aimed it at Jill, and snapped it as if she'd pulled the trigger. Then her eyes shifted to Sawyer, and she blew him a kiss off the tips of her fingers.

Holy
freakin' shit! The Gallaghers are going to shoot me, and the Brennans are going to do away with Sawyer.

Gladys poked her on the arm. “What's goin' on?”

Jill shrugged. “Just my overactive imagination, I'm sure.”

She kept her eyes straight ahead until the preacher finally asked them to stand for the benediction that Quaid Brennan would deliver. Sawyer did not drop her hand when they were on their feet but held it firmly for the whole congregation to see.

Immediately Finn and Callie turned toward them, and Callie asked, “Hey, y'all want to try again for dinner at Salt Draw with us today? And while I'm thinking about it, you want to go to the antique show in Gainesville next Sunday?”

Sawyer held up her hand. “We have a date, so we'll have to take another rain check.”

“And, yes, for next Sunday,” Jill told Callie.

“Maybe we can invite these cowboys and make it a double date next Sunday,” Callie suggested.

“Shopping?” Finn raked his hands through his dark hair. “The only way I'll agree is if Sawyer does. Otherwise, it's going to be a long Sunday afternoon nap for me.”

“I'll go,” Sawyer said quickly.

Gladys raised an eyebrow. “Two dates in as many weeks?”

“It would be three,” Jill said, “but we'll have to work the bar on Friday night. If we didn't, I might ask Sawyer to go with me to the Valentine's party.”

“And I'd refuse,” Sawyer said seriously.

Jill cocked her head to one side. “Why?”

“Because I don't want none of that speed-dating shit that Quaid and Kinsey have come up with. I don't trust them. I'd rather sling burgers behind the bar with you all evening as do that stuff. Let's have a Valentine's party of our own at the bar on Saturday night. We'll talk to Polly about it.”

“You're going on a real date?” Callie's daughter, Olivia, asked.

“Yes, we are.” Sawyer grinned.

“Is Jill going to wear a fancy dress like Mama did when she went on a real date with Daddy?” Olivia's eyes glittered at the memory.

“How fancy was it?” Jill asked.

“It was the Christmas parties at Wild Horse and at River Bend,” Callie explained.

“I don't think I'll get that dressed up for a dinner date,” Jill said.

“When you do go to a party like that, will you come over to Salt Draw and let me see you? Mama looked like a princess,” Olivia said.

“I will, and I bet your mama did look beautiful,” Jill said.

“She was the queen, not just a princess,” Adam said shyly.

“Yes, she was.” Finn grinned.

It was the smile that said Finn and Sawyer were related. Jill wondered as they moved along with the congregation to the front of the church if maybe it hadn't been the smile that had captured Callie's heart in the very beginning. It certainly had been that quality that she first noticed.

No, it wasn't. It was the way he filled out those jeans, and those dark eyes that bored right into your soul
, her inner voice argued.

She let the sassy voice have the last word, because she couldn't very well do battle with the truth. Besides, today was going to be perfect. No Gallaghers. No Brennans. No feud. Not even the faintest whiff of a pig war. It was the first date with Sawyer, and first dates were always exciting.

Even
when
you've already had sex?

She smiled and thought,
So, I got things backwards. Maybe that's what it takes to make something work. God only knows, I did it all the right way before, and it didn't last.

She refused to listen to any more doubts and fears. “So where are we going for dinner?”

“You like Tex-Mex, American, or barbecue better?” he asked.

“Tex-Mex sounds really good,” she said.

“Then Chili's it is.” He grinned. “Need anything from the bunkhouse before we go?”

“Not a single thing.” She smiled up at him.

“I thought we might catch a matinee afterwards. You've got a choice of six. I'll even promise to stay awake in a chick flick if that's what you choose.” He guided her toward the pickup with a hand on her back.

She wore a chocolate-brown corduroy skirt that morning with a matching jacket. She'd chosen it because it reminded her of the color of Sawyer's eyes. The pointed-toed, heavily detailed cowboy boots were stitched in turquoise that matched the turtleneck sweater she wore under a jacket.

“Have I told you today that you look mighty fetchin' in that outfit?” he said as he opened the door for her.

“Only three times,” she answered.

“Well, then make it four.”

After he shut the door, he rounded the front of the truck, climbed inside, and started the engine. “So what is it that you like in the Mexican line of food?”

“All of it, from enchiladas to tacos and everything in between. I don't think I told you before, but my mama is half Latino. My grandmother was a Torres from just over the border in Mexico.”

“Does she make good tamales?” he asked.

“Oh, yes, she did, but she passed away. Haven't had decent ones since.”

“My mama makes all the Mexican food, but I'm real fond of her tamales. I don't eat them in restaurants, because they can't begin to compare to hers,” he said. “They're coming up here in the spring to see Fiddle Creek, so maybe we'll talk her into making tamales for us while she is here.”

Jill's gut clenched up in a knot. “This is our first date, Sawyer. It's too early to talk about taking me home to meet Mama.”

“I'm not. She's not coming to Burnt Boot to meet you, Jill. She's coming to see me.” He grinned. “We are too busy with all that's on our plate, so the family is coming to Burnt Boot for Easter weekend. We might even have an Easter egg hunt out in the pasture behind the bunkhouse. Depends on whether Finn's folks all make the trip too.”

“Where are they all going to stay? We don't have a single two-bit motel in Burnt Boot,” she asked.

“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.