My Southern Bride (The Texas Two-Step Series, Book 4) (17 page)

If he did have time to talk with her before she left, what would he say? That he had planned to ask her to stay? It would be silly now Will had arrived.

What else would he have said or asked?

A dozen conversational threads came to him, and he discarded each one. At last, the only words he couldn't discard were that he and the animals would miss her. He could say that in front of an entire crowd of people. Nothing too personal there.

Yet the longing to have her to himself remained.

Mainly because he yearned for another kiss. If she were as confused as he was, a kiss would likely mix each of them up inside more than they already were.

No. He wouldn't try to get her alone. He'd just tell her how much she'd be missed.

Having made the decision, he turned back to his guests. "Giles, my brother-in-law is a pilot. How long have you been flying?"

"Over fifteen years. I got my start in the Air Force."

"Air Force man, huh? Where did you serve?"

"Out of Eglin, and a stint in Afghanistan. How about your brother-in-law?"

"Strictly a hobby for Davis, but he says there's nowhere he feels more free than in cockpit at fifteen thousand feet."

"He's got that right."

"Do you fly?" Carolyn asked Monty Joe.

"Only off a demented bull."

She laughed. "I suppose I deserved that. But I saw you win the buckle at the Mesquite Rodeo a few years back. I thought for sure you'd fall off, because that bull sure seemed to be airborne."

"You enjoy rodeos?"

"I'm not up to your standards, but I've barrel raced in a few small ones."

Will shot her an approving smile. "Where were you raised?"

"On a ranch in East Texas."

Will shot a glance at Monty Joe. Oh, man, he didn't like the match-making glint in his foreman's eye.

Then he heard the first clump of Lori's bag being rolled down the stairs. Will jumped from his chair and went over to help.

Monty Joe bit back a grin. He could have told Will she didn't need help with that particular bag, but another was yet to come. Will would soon learn the lesson on his own.

"Let me help you," Will said from the stair landing.

"Thanks, Will. I've got this one. But could you pull out my other one, the big bag from the laundry room? I'll definitely need help with it."

And Will would need a chiropractor afterward.

Monty Joe faced Carolyn. "Are you taking the helicopter all the way back to Dallas?"

"No. Just to Houston, and then to my small private jet. It shouldn't take too long for Giles to get us back to DFW." She reached out her hand and stroked Monty Joe's arm. "Are you sure you don't need for me to stay behind and help you? I'm very good with horses."

Lori reached the den entrance just in time to hear the question, and she stopped in place, waiting for him to answer.

"Will's got me covered, thanks." Monty Joe kept his gaze trained on Lori.

Tension left her face, and she wheeled her bag the rest of the way to the kitchen table. She set her purse down, then rejoined them in the den. "I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be."

"We're sure going to miss you around here."

"You are?"

Her expression revealed a trace of sadness, but she was doing a good job of disguising it.

"Sure we'll miss you. Newton, the horses, and me."

"Newton?" asked Will.

"Billy's new name."

"That's your pet goat?" Carolyn turned to face him.

Before he could answer, Will did. "Monty Joe's best friend."

Lori laughed. "See? I told you he was your bestie."

"I see." Carolyn appeared to finally understand. A good woman doesn't come between a man and his best goat.

Will slapped his knee. "When did Billy get a name change?"

"Long story. But his full name is now Sir Isaac Newton."

Will looked like he was about to argue about it.

"Just go with it."

Giles rose from the comfy chair. "Guess it's time to hit the clouds."

Carolyn stuck out her hand to shake with Monty Joe. "Very nice to meet you, Monty Joe. I hope I'll get to see you again before too long."

He shook her hand and when he dropped it, he could tell she would have enjoyed a little more handholding. Not that he was adverse to handholding, but it was the wrong hand. The wrong woman.

Using his cane to help regain his footing, he stood and hobbled around the sofa to Lori. But he didn't aim to hold her hand. His arms snaked around her for a hug.

Her unique scent wrapped around his senses.

She reached up and hugged him, too.

A man could get lost in her arms. He whispered, "Thanks for everything you did for me and the animals, Lori. We couldn't have made it without you."

Will made an ahem sound, so Monty Joe reluctantly dropped his arms and stepped back, the bottom of his cane landing close to Will's foot, but not close enough if you asked Monty Joe.

"I was happy to help. Thank you for putting me up during the storm. It would have been miserable hanging out at the airport for this long."

Carolyn clapped her hands and stepped toward the back door. "Come along, now. We've got work waiting for us."

Monty Joe followed them outside. Giles led the group, with Lori and Carolyn close behind. Will had somehow managed to foist Lori's heavy suitcase off onto Giles, and the foreman walked beside Monty Joe, ready to offer assistance.

Walking on the icy ground wasn't easy, but it was doable with the cane.

Giles toted the suitcase as if it was full of pillow stuffing rather than books. Who could trust a man like that? Especially a man who kept shooting admiring looks behind him at Lori.

And worse, the walk to the pasture seemed to take forever. Prisoners on death row probably felt like this when waiting for their last meals.

Carolyn remained animated, but Lori appeared subdued. She was probably thinking of all the work awaiting her in Big D.

Fortunately, Newton chose that moment to run up and join them, giving Lori a cheerful head butt. She stopped and sank to her knees. "I'm going to miss you, Newton. Promise to be a good goat."

Newton licked at her hand as she stroked his head. "Meh. Meh."

"Oh, heavens, Monty Joe," she cried, shooting him a distressed look. "I haven't taken care of the horses this morning."

"I looked in on them on my way to the house," said Will. "They're fine. You did a good job of looking after them."

"Thanks, Will." She beamed a smile their way, and Monty Joe's stomach did another one of those loopedy-loops.

Only Monty Joe heard Will mutter, "And hopefully the horses' digestive tracts, what with all those apples, will recover in no time."

Monty Joe made a mental note to explain to his foreman that sometimes horses need to be lured—to the pasture or back to the barn—with apple slices. It made perfectly good sense.

But now it was time for Lori to board the helicopter.

Newton stood beside him and Will at a goodly distance from the craft. For a second, Monty Joe thought he made out a panicked expression on Lori's face as Giles guided her on how to buckle in.

She couldn't be more panicked than he felt inside.

But then she turned and waved goodbye as the helicopter took off. He'd been mistaken. The huge smile on her face told him everything he needed to know.

She was happy to leave, to get back to her life, and as far away from his ranch, and him, as possible.

That made two of them.

As quickly as he could hobble with a cane and a bum ankle, he made his way back to the house. Will had enough sense to not say a word, although he remained beside Monty Joe to help in case he needed it.

He didn't.

He'd done just fine by himself all these years.

Newton—no longer Billy—followed behind, but thankfully not in butting range.

Monty Joe entered the house and made his way to the den. Placing his cane on his comfy chair, he dragged it back into its original position. Lori's flight-attendant voice sounded in his head: "Original and upright position."

That didn't improve his mood at all.

He headed toward the sofa and began shoving it. The last thing a man wanted was a woman to interfere, especially a bossy woman like Lori's boss. Rearranging his furniture without so much as a do-you-mind.

At least Lori hadn't behaved that way.

"Here, let me help you with that." Will grabbed the opposite end of the sofa.

Monty Joe gave it a yank, almost sending Will sprawling. Monty Joe bit back a smile. Nearly toppling Will almost improved Monty Joe's mood. Almost.

He'd gotten along just fine on his own, without any woman giving him grief. This was the moment he'd been waiting for—when Lori got out of his hair.

A bachelor liked things the way they were, and there was no more confirmed bachelor than he was. All he needed now was to rid himself of the heavy weight that had settled on his chest.

Yup. Life was good.

"So, how about an update on the livestock?" Monty Joe sank into his comfy chair, pulled the lever for the footrest, and settled into place, deliberately ignoring the little voice in his head reminding him how lonely he'd been.

Chapter 27

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Lori wasn't going to let herself cry. She'd known better than to give her heart to someone who didn't like her. She'd known. But she'd done it anyway.

That's why she was stupid, stupid, stupid.

Seated inside her closet-sized space in the Texas Literacy offices, she pushed back her chair from the desk.

Could anyone be more foolish than she?

When Monty Joe had walked her to the helicopter, he had plenty of chances to call her aside, to ask her to stay.

But he hadn't.

She should never have hoped for it. She should never have allowed her heart to feel anything for him.

When Giles had buckled her into the helicopter, she'd watched Monty Joe for any sign, any signal that he didn't want her to go.

There'd been nothing.

So she'd plastered the biggest grin possible on her face, while her heart splintered a little more with each rotation of the helicopter blades.

Now that she was back home in Dallas and had returned to work, she wouldn't allow herself to grieve. She'd hoped for something more from the lonesome cowboy, but it had all been in her own imagination.

She'd been a way for him to pass the time. What man wouldn't steal a kiss or two if they were on offer?

She didn't deserve to grieve. And so she wouldn't.

Grabbing the computer mouse, she clicked open her Excel spreadsheet with all the details for the golf tournament. Work would clear her head.

And with time, she'd forget all about the cowboy who'd branded her heart.

Carolyn breezed into Lori's office. "Have you made arrangements for the car to pick up Mr. January?"

Lori nodded, and mentally shuffled all her attention from her so-not-a-love-life to business. She clicked a few buttons on her keyboard. "It should arrive at his home at 7:00 a.m."

Lori wanted to be more like Carolyn. The woman had devoted her life to literacy, a foundation for so many good things for so many people.

Collapsing into the side chair facing Lori's desk, Carolyn sighed. "Thank you for being on top of all this. I'd never be able to organize an event like this by myself."

"Thanks, but that's why you pay me the big bucks."

That got a rise out of Carolyn, who laughed. They both knew Lori was paid peanuts. But working for her wasn't about money. It was about doing good things for other people. Plus not everyone was as lucky as she was to have a trust fund that allowed her to manage on a tiny salary.

Lori wondered what had really brought Carolyn to her office. Although Lori hadn't worked full-time, until now, for the literacy organization, she'd volunteered here long enough to note the woman usually stood in the doorway, barking out orders, rather than taking a seat.