Page 65 of Pure Temptation in Cowboy Boots

Tess glanced across the park. Joan and Rhino were walking back toward them. They didn’t have much time. She lowered her voice. “Dammit, I will not have you taking the blame for this. It was my idea and I should be the one feeling guilty, not you.”

“Like they said, I could have turned you down.”

“You knew I was going to nab somebody for the job, and you were afraid I’d end up with a dweeb.”

“Yeah. And then there was that dress.”

She glanced at him.

“Why did you wear it today, Tess?”

Because I was selfish enough to want you to look at me like that one more time. “I’d packed everything else.”

“And what about the necklace?” he asked softly. “Didn’t get around to packing that, either, did you?”

Her heart ached so fiercely she could barely breathe. “Mac, I⁠—”

“Promise me something.”

“What?”

“That you’ll wear that necklace in New York.”

“Loafing, are we?” Joan said with a grin as they walked up. “Boy, I can’t leave my staff for a minute without discipline going to hell.”

Rhino’s glance shifted from Mac to Tess and he frowned. “I’ll put Big Mac to work for you, sweetheart. He’s probably distracting Tess so she can’t get anything done.”

“Oh, I don’t really care,” Joan said. “After all, we won’t have Tess around here much longer, so I’m sure everybody wants a chance to spend a little time with her today. Technically, I shouldn’t be making her work at all, since this is also supposed to be her party.”

“I wouldn’t feel right sitting around,” Tess said. She’d caught the brief look of disapproval on her brother’s face. He might have shelved his anger for the time being, but he wasn’t about to let Mac spend any more time alone with her.

“None of us are going to sit around,” Rhino said. “Come on, Mac. I have a bunch of lawn chairs in the van. Let’s go take them out and set them up.”

“Sure thing.” Mac glanced at Tess.

She realized she was clutching the pearl in one hand. She released it and turned away. His request completely confused her. He knew that wearing the necklace would be a constant reminder of him, preventing her from moving on to someone else. That sort of dog-in-the-manger attitude wasn’t worthy of him, and she couldn’t quite believe that was his motivation. Yet she could think of no other reason he’d want her to continue wearing the necklace.

The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. Who did he think he was, branding her like that when he didn’t have the slightest intention of making a commitment himself?

Her parents arrived soon afterward. Once the party was in full swing, Tess focused on making this a special day for her parents. More than once she felt the tug of tears as she realized that by next week she wouldn’t be able to see them and talk to them every day as she could now. She wondered if she’d made a terrible mistake taking the job in New York, but she couldn’t change her course now, and besides, she needed to get away from Mac. If she stayed around much longer, he would surely break her heart for good.

Although the festivities took most of her attention, she couldn’t forget that Mac was there, although she really tried. Despite her efforts, she always seemed to know where he was, whether he’d stripped off his shirt for the volleyball game, or had taken yet another kid for a ride on his shoulders, or was challenging one of her brothers to a game of horseshoes. His voice, his smile, his laughter drew her as if they were connected with an invisible string.

Finally she decided the pearl necklace was part of the problem. She couldn’t take it to New York, let alone wear it while she was there. And Mac needed to know that.

She excused herself on the pretext that she needed to head for one of the park restrooms. When she was away from the crowd, she took off the necklace. Unclasping it wasn’t easy because her hands were shaking. Once she’d done it, she felt as if someone had wrapped her heart in barbed wire.

But this was what she had to do. She found Mac eating some of her parents’ anniversary cake while he talked with a couple of ranchers who lived on the outskirts of Copperville.

“Excuse me, Mac,” she said.

“Sure.” He glanced at her bare neck and his gaze grew wary. “What is it?”

She reached over and dropped the necklace in his shirt pocket. “I need you to keep this for me.” Choking back a sob, she turned and hurried away.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Mac wanted to throw the necklace away. In the tortured days that followed, right up to the morning Tess was scheduled to leave, he tried to make himself pitch it in the garbage, in the river, over a cliff. He couldn’t do it.