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She never wore heels, because she hated them, but she’d worn a pair to Abby’s wedding last month. She’d wanted to dance with Blaine so badly, but Denise had claimed him as her date, and she’d needed him.
He’d played his part so perfectly that Tam had actually experienced some pretty severe jealousy. She knew what it was like to stand in the circle of his arms, and she felt so good about herself when he held her close.
“Tam?”
She lifted her head, her heart suddenly tapping far too fast in her chest. Blaine’s voice came again, and she hurried out of her closet to find him poking his head into the bathroom.
“There you are,” he said. “I knocked and rang the doorbell.”
“You did?” She looked down at Jane and Jasper, who had stood up but hadn’t made a peep. “That doorbell is on the fritz.” She held up her shoes. “I can wear these?”
“With that dress?” He looked down to her toes and back to her eyes. “Sure,” he said. “You look beautiful, by the way.”
“Beautiful?” Tam took a step toward him, but she did not want their first real kiss to be in her bathroom. He’d kissed her on the front porch and then a hospital bed, and neither of those were her first choice for kissing a handsome cowboy.
The wedding was at the ranch, and Tam had decided that an amazing kiss next to the white fences at Bluegrass Ranch would be perfect.
“Yes,” Blaine said, swallowing.
“You’ve never said I’m beautiful.”
“You are.”
Tam ran her fingers along his collar, which lay perfectly flat, and trailed her fingertips down his silk tie the color of ripe peaches. “No tuxedoes for the brothers?”
“Thank the Lord,” Blaine said, his voice barely above a whisper. “If I had to wear a tuxedo for someone else’s wedding, I definitely wouldn’t go.”
“Even for one of your brothers?”
Blaine looked torn, and Tam knew he’d go. His devotion to his family was ironclad, and he’d told her about how he’d started to rebuild the bridge that had been splintered between him and his mother. Tam was mildly terrified of Julie Chappell, though Blaine said she was starting to mellow out a little.
She hadn’t been terribly mellow at the family dinner Spur and Olli had hosted a couple of weeks ago, but there’d been enough people there for Tam to avoid her. She supposed that Duke and Ian had gotten injured on the same day, and that had probably been stressful for her.
“Are you listening to me?” Blaine asked.
“No,” Tam said. “Am I late?”
“Yeah.” He checked his watch. “We need to go so we’re not late.”
“I told you I could drive over,” she said.
“And I said you weren’t meeting me at my brother’s wedding.” He put a smile on his face and his arm around her shoulders. “I think you’re really going to like a wedding on the ranch.”
“You do?”
“Oh,” he said. “I saw something you need to make.” He pulled out his phone and started tapping. Tam went out into the living room, everyone following her. Her dogs liked Blaine, and that was probably why they hadn’t barked when he’d come inside.
He showed her the phone. “Look at that.”
She took his phone as she sat down on the couch so she could slip on her heels. It was a saddle that had been made into a tree swing. “This is incredible.” She abandoned her shoes, studying the picture. “Where is this?”
“A ranch in Texas,” he said. “You could make those, right?”
“Definitely.” Tam’s mind whirred, because she could see so many possibilities with this. “It’s like a tire swing, but a saddle.”
“A complete saddle,” Blaine said. “The chains are laced with reins.”
“Can you send me a picture of that? Or that website?”
