Page 28 of Love’s Silver Bullet

“I know.” Shaking his head, Jake bent to snatch up his two horseshoes, glancing over at sweet Shaylee to see if she was gawking along with the rest of the females. His scowl softened when he noted she didn’t seem as impressed in the least, opting instead to practice with two horseshoes instead. Jake grunted.

Good. At least one of the females still had some sense.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

“Uh … what on earth just happened?” Sheridan could only gape with a whisper of shock, jaw dangling along with Maggie’s as they watched Uncle Finn lead Clay up to the porch for lemonade.

“It would appear, Sheridan Marie,” Maggie said with a bump of her hip against Sheridan’s, “that Mr. Clay Morgan is not only gorgeous, but quite clever as well.”

Sheridan turned to Maggie with an open-mouthed smile, totally caught off-guard that it could be this easy. She stifled a giggle with a hand to her mouth, careful to cover the grin inching ear to ear. “Brilliant might be a better word, Mags, because sweet mother of Job, would you take a look at the scowl on our boys’ faces!”

Maggie shot a glance over her shoulder and chuckled before tweaking the back of Sheridan’s neck. “I’d say that’s a definite answer to our first prayer about ‘the perfect young man to put a burr in Jake’s saddle,’ Sher, so let’s just see if we can make short work of the second one, all right?” Giving Sheridan a quick hug, Maggie made a beeline for her husband.

Sheridan sighed, the memory of Maggie’s prayer warming her as much as the Nevada sun. “If Jake is the one God has in store for you, it will happen before you go off to college.”

“Oh, Lord, I hope so!” Sheridan said under her breath, tempering her grin as she snuck a peek Jake’s way, his grumpy mood obviously still intact given the hard clamp of his jaw.

“Hey, sis, ready to kick some backside?” Dash ambled over to loop an arm around Sheridan’s shoulder, “because I’m counting on all that practicing of yours to snag us the win.”

She grinned, so very grateful she’d taken to perfecting her game with lots of practice ever since she won against Jake last year, forcing him to take her to the rodeo dance. “Count on it, Dash, at least with Jake and Shaylee, but I’m not too sure about Clay Morgan,” she said with a quick glance at the front porch, thrilled to see him laughing and chatting with Uncle Finn.

“Well, since Jake’s as good as you, he’s our real threat at the moment, Sher, so let’s just focus on him for now, okay?” He gave her a side hug.

Sheridan grinned. Believe me, I’m trying!

Dash cut loose with a piercing whistle. “Okay, everybody, let’s get this buggy in motion, shall we?” Grinning, he loped over to the sand pit where Shaylee was practicing, leaving Jake to pair up with Sheridan at the other pit since one team member had to be on each side.

“Hey, Dash, we’re pairing the girls on one side and the men on the other, remember?” Jake waved Dash over to his pit, hurting Sheridan’s feelings that he wasn’t even willing to stand next to her in a game of horseshoes. “And Shay can have the first throw.”

“I couldn’t agree more.” Flipping her hair over her shoulder, Sheridan hurried over to Shaylee and Dash’s pit with her nose in the air, more anxious than ever to rub Mr. Clay Morgan into Jake Sullivan’s face.

“Holy thunder, what is Jake’s problem today anyway?” Dash said, shaking his head as Sheridan took his place next to Shaylee. “He’s in the surliest mood I’ve ever seen.”

Yes, and it’s about to get worse. “Hate to say it, Shay, but your partner is a crab.” Smiling, Sheridan gave a tug of her sister’s braid.

“I know,” Shaylee said with a pinch of concern, “just imagine how he’ll be if we lose …”

Oh, I am. Sheridan’s smile broke into a grin.

And the grin only grew bigger and bigger as Dash and Sheridan made easy work, first of Jake and Shaylee despite the 5-point handicap, then Maggie and Blaze, finally bringing Clay Morgan to the pit to stand next to Sheridan.

“Congratulations on the wins,” Clay said as he approached Sheridan with a lazy smile that all but melted the tendons at the back of her knees. She thought she just might need a handicap advantage, too, just to stay on her feet.

She forced a confident smile. “Thank you, but I think the win goes to you, Mr. Morgan, since you just accomplished something no man has ever been able to do.”

“And what’s that, Miss Donovan?” he said as he slowly rolled the sleeves of his shirt, black eyes twinkling more than the flash of white teeth.

Her smile tipped off-center as she jerked her chin toward Uncle Finn and Dash at the other pit, where they waited for her first toss while the rest of the family looked on from the porch. “My uncle hasn’t allowed any man outside my family to even talk to me, much less wrangle an invitation to a family tournament and dinner, so congratulations.”

He grinned. “Well, I suppose that should give you some idea of just how badly I wanted to see you again, Miss Donovan.”

She swallowed hard. “Call me Sheridan, please,” she whispered, quickly turning away lest he spy the blush in her cheeks. Sucking in a deep breath, she forced herself to focus on the far pit, not sure if all the practice in the world could have prepared her to play a calm and steady game with Clay Morgan by her side.

“All right, Sheridan … as long as you call me Clay.”

His husky tone did nothing for her concentration as she tried to center her thoughts on the far sandpit. She squinted hard to fixate on the stake, biting back a groan when the raspy tenor of his voice caused her arms to go as limp as her legs. Focus, Sheridan! Blocking him out, she tossed her first horseshoe, and immediately the loud ping of steel against stake stabilized her once again.

“Go, Sheridan!” Maggie called from the porch, and Sheridan felt her confidence resurge as she snagged a second ringer.