AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My throat tightened. Ma poured the boiling water into the mugs, dropped a tea bag into each cup, and slid one over to me.
“Now,” she said. “Tell me more about Rory. She must be pretty amazing if she has you thinking about giving me a few grandkids in the future.”
Chapter Twelve
Rory
By Wednesday, Beau and I managed to get some free time for lunch. We agreed to meet at the ranch for a picnic, and I left Daisy in charge of the bakery for an hour or two. With a basket packed full of food, I set off to meet Beau.
Despite my best efforts to push the town gossip out of my mind, it still lingered like a thundercloud hanging over my head. I didn’t really care what people thought of me, or the fact that Beau and I were together. The part that got under my skin was how they voiced my greatest fears.
I really thought Rory had more sense than that. Besides, Beau isn’t the marrying kind. He might be handsome, but he won’t settle down. Rory knows better.
I gripped the steering wheel of my Jeep tighter until my knuckles turned white, shaking my head as if I could get rid of that haunting echo. And then that conversation with Beau the other day on the phone made my feelings even more jumbled up.
You’ve always been my girl, Rory.
My stomach filled with giddy bubbles all over again at the memory, as if I’d swallowed an entire bottle of fizzy champagne. I hoped my heart wasn’t going to make a fool out of me. Just because Beau was good with pretty words was no indication that he actually meant them.
When I arrived at High Plains Ranch, Beau was waiting for me, elbows propped on the corral fence by the barn. Two horses were saddled and tied to the fence beside him. He lifted a hand in greeting as I parked.
At the sight of him, I stifled a little whimper. He looked so good that it wasn’t fair—a flash of that smile beneath the brim of his Stetson, long legs eating up ground as he confidently strode toward me with the laser focus of a man who knows what he wants and nothing could keep him from it. I’d barely opened my car door before Beau scooped me up in his arms, slotting his mouth to mine.
The worries that had been tumbling around in my head for the whole drive flew from my mind. Beau slid his hand into my hair, pressing my mouth open with the slick heat of his tongue. He was warm from the sun, dusty from work, and his firm, muscled body fit against my curves even better than I remembered.
When Beau finally broke away, I suppressed a little noise of disappointment that the kiss had to end. He rested his large hands on my hips, sending a flush of heat through me. All he had to do was touch me and I felt like the most desirable woman in the world, even in my flour-dusted overalls.
Beau brushed a quick kiss to my temple and leaned past me, grabbing the picnic basket from the passenger seat.
“How do you feel about continuing this conversation in a more private location?” he asked. “Far away from the smelly barn.”
I wrapped my hands around his forearm, resting my chin on his shoulder.
“Sounds good to me.”
After Beau and I were settled on our horses, with the picnic basket attached to the back of his saddle, he stretched his arm out toward me. I took his hand, interlocking our fingers together.
“You look good on a horse, darlin’,” he said. “If you ever decide it’s time for a career change, you’d make a damn fine cowboy.”
“I think that’s a line of work I’ll leave in your capable hands,” I replied.
Ever since I was a kid, I’d grown up around horses on my father’s small farm. I spent more time riding wild across the countryside, or making a mess in the kitchen, than I did having tea parties and dressing up. A few girls in school teased me for being a tomboy, but my mother insisted I should never change for anyone. Judging by the way Beau’s thumb swept over my knuckles in a soothing rhythm, it seemed my mother was right.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
Beau lifted his chin toward the tree line.
“Beyond those trees, there’s a small clearing with a stream. I figured we could go skinny dipping to cool off.”
“What if I can’t swim?” I countered.
Beau cast a glance at me as if to say, I know you better than that.
“I guess I’d have no choice but to jump in and rescue you. And then you’d have to take off those wet clothes as soon as possible, of course. Wouldn’t want you to catch a cold.”
“So, you’re getting me naked, one way or the other,” I replied. “Is that what you’re saying?”
He grinned—a beautiful, heart-stopping smile in the shadow of his hat brim. My stomach did a little somersault. Why did I have to fall so damn hard for this cowboy? Why couldn’t I shake the nagging feeling at the back of my mind that all of this was too good to be true?
