Boots and the Bachelor

by Myla Jackson

  “Tonight?” Mrs. McFarlan sat in the porch swing sipping a glass of iced tea. “Come sit with me, sweetie.” She patted the empty space next to her.

  Dalton ran to the swing and climbed into the seat beside Angus’s mother.

  The sight of him and the older woman together brought a lump to Gwen’s throat. Her parents had died in an auto accident three months before Dalton was born. He’d never know his grandparents and his father’s parents weren’t alive either. Gwen had looked them up only to discover they’d died before she’d even met Dalton’s father.

  “Are you two going out tonight?” Mrs. McFarlan asked, her face open and all smiles.

  “I don’t know,” Gwen stalled. Going out alone with Angus had heartache written all over it. “Maybe not tonight—”

  “We will, if we can find a sitter for Dalton,” Angus said. “I don’t suppose you know someone who might be interested?”

  “Dalton can stay with me,” his mother announced. “We can play horseshoes until dark or play cards until your mama comes back. What do you think, Dalton?”

  “Can I, Mama? Please?” Dalton sat beside Mrs. McFarlan, perfectly at home with the woman. Gwen had been banking on the fact that Mona and Grant had another commitment and wouldn’t be able to watch Dalton while Gwen and Angus went out on the agreed-upon date. That would have given her time to tamp down her rising desire for the man. After the earth-shattering orgasm by the creek, she was still shaking with the amount of effort it had taken to force herself to break free of his embrace and pull herself together when Dalton woke. Physically breaking away hadn’t been so hard because Angus hadn’t been holding on too tight. He’d let go immediately.

  Gwen hadn’t wanted to let go.

  No no no.

  She couldn’t do this. It was supposed to be all about Dalton. A night alone with Angus could prove disastrous.

  “In fact,” Angus’s mother went on, “how would you like to stay the night on the ranch? You could build a tent in the living room out of old blankets and furniture.”

  “Really? A tent in the house?” Dalton looked at Gwen. “I’m going to build a tent in the house.” He jumped out of the swing and grabbed Mrs. McFarlan’s hand, tugging hard to get her out of her seat.

  “Now? I meant later. After the dinner Colin is going to fix.” She started for the door. “Oh well. I guess I could gather the blankets.” Pausing beside Gwen, she asked, “If it’s all right with you.”

  Gwen raised her hands, feeling as if decisions were really being taken out of her hands and everything was moving too darned fast. “I wouldn’t dream of spoiling his fun. Yes.”

  Dalton ran into the house, shouting at the top of his lungs. “Yay! Uncle Colin, we’re going to build a tent.”

  Uncle Colin? Gwen’s heart tugged once again. Dalton didn’t have a single uncle or aunt. For the past six years since her parents’ deaths, it had only been Gwen and Dalton. She’d struggled to take care of him, taking off work when he was sick, shifting her schedule to make it to his sporting events and being there for him as much as possible. She was his mother, father and all the family he had. But she couldn’t be everybody, and she missed having an extended family. Dalton had so much love in his heart; he needed more people to love and be loved by. Perhaps she was depriving him by not remarrying and giving him and herself the extended family they both needed.

  Gwen turned to Angus. “Okay. I guess I’ll see you at eight.” She entered the house, changed into her own clothing and would have left the jeans and shirt in the bathroom, but as she opened the door Mrs. McFarlan walked by with a stack of blankets.

  “Oh, honey, keep those old clothes. Who knows where Angus will take you on a date. He can be so unconventional. It wouldn’t hurt to have a spare.”

  Gwen left the house with the old jeans, a pair of slightly large cowboy boots and the shirt that smelled so much like Angus. She’d never be able to get rid of it. Likely she’d hug it every night before she went to sleep, wishing things had been different.

  She had no idea how she’d make it through the evening without hugging the real thing. Damn it, if she wanted to maintain her sanity, she had to.

  Who was she kidding? She didn’t have to be a psychic to see how doomed that plan was to failure.

  Chapter Seven

  Angus and Colin worked silently as they fed the animals, mucked the stalls and turned the horses out to pasture.

  “Well, how did your family date go?” Colin asked on the way back to the house. “Did having a kid along cramp the Angus McFarlan style?”

  Angus shot his brother the finger, having no intention of telling him what had transpired between him and Gwen. Hell, he was still struggling to keep from hardening every time he thought about how completely Gwen had given herself to him. “Have you called Brody to apologize and ask him to come home?”

  “What’s that got to do with your date?” Colin grumbled.

  “Nothing. I just want to know what you’re doing to fix what’s broken between you and Brody.”

  “You talk to him.”

  “I’m not the one who pissed him off enough he’d stay away from home for eight years. You better get on it or the two months Mom gave us will be over before you even find him.”

  “Fine. I’ll call him tonight.”

  “Call him now.”

  “Don’t push me.”

  Angus ground to a halt. “I sure as hell will if you don’t get off your high horse and call him.”

  “You don’t have to bite my head off.”

  “Then grow some testicles and apologize. Family is all we have, and we haven’t been acting like much of one lately.”

  Colin’s lips slipped upward in a smirk. “You’re sounding more like Mom than yourself.”

  “Well, maybe it’s time I wasn’t myself.” Angus walked away feeling more conflicted than ever.

  “Not yourself?” Colin chuckled. “Does it have anything to do with one hot chick who rocks a tight, gray skirt?”

  “It has to do with me.” Angus stopped, sucked in a deep, steadying breath and went on, “My life has been on hold for far too long.”

  “On hold? You’ve been working your ass off making this ranch work, and look at all you’ve accomplished. A sustainable business and the best quarter horse breeding program in the country.”

  “At what cost? It’s like Mom said, who would I leave it to? What’s the use of building up a great legacy if you don’t have a family to pass it on to?”

  Colin’s eyes widened. “Wow, Mom really got to you, didn’t she? And Gwen. And how good she made baggy jeans and an old shirt look… Yeah. I can see she rocked your world. But I’m not ready to settle down. The way I see it, I’m three years behind you on the power grid. That’s three more years of living and loving every female I can get my hands on. Why settle for one?”

  “You’re wasting time. We have two months before Mom sells the place. I don’t plan on being homeless when I’ve put too damned much time and effort into this place. And I want my children to know where they came from and have a place to call home.”

  “Okay, okay.” Colin blew out a breath. “I’ll call Brody.”

  Already riled and anxious about his date that night, he didn’t have time for all the drama that had dragged on far too long between his brothers. Angus blasted through the door and didn’t slow down until he hit the shower. His mother was right. The three of them had needed a swift kick in the pants to make them grow up and see that life was passing them by.

  Angus hadn’t asked for it, and had convinced himself he didn’t want it, but he’d gotten a second chance at the woman he’d fallen in love with so long ago. He’d be damned if he squandered it this time around. He’d also be damned if he let his brothers’ rift be the reason his mother sold the family ranch.

  At fifteen minutes after seven o’clock, Angus was dressed in his best blue jeans, boots and a crisply ironed, white, button-down, long-sleeved shirt. He’d dusted off his best cowboy hat and polished
the belt buckle he’d earned during the one year he’d ridden broncs on the rodeo circuit. As he passed the living room, he heard childish giggles coming from under a half-dozen blankets strung across the living room. The sound warmed his heart.

  “Dalton?” he called out.

  The little boy’s auburn head appeared from beneath the draped edge of a blanket. “Sir?”

  Angus squatted down next to him and peered into the tent city. “This is some setup you have here.”

  “Uncle Colin helped me build it. Wanna come in?”

  “Maybe later. Where is Uncle Colin?”

  “He’s getting a shower and Memaw is making hot dogs for us.”

  “Memaw, is it?” She’d gone on a cooking strike for her own sons, but she’d feed a stranger’s son. Angus smiled. Figures. The woman had a big heart, especially where children were concerned. And little boys had always been her favorite. Angus wondered how she’d react if she had a granddaughter. He wondered himself how he’d like having a little girl trailing around behind him in the barn. “Hey, Dalton, what kind of flowers does your mama like?”

  The boy shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  “How about what color of flowers does she like?”

  He smiled and announced, “White.”

  “White?” What woman liked plain white flowers?

  “Whenever she gets them from the store, she lets me pull the petals off until the last one.”

  “You pull off the petals?”

  “Yes, sir. The white flowers with the yellow in the middle.” He ducked back into the blanket fort.

  Colin appeared barefoot in a clean T-shirt and jeans. “Did you decide to stay and play in the fort with us?”

  “No.” Angus straightened. “I’m leaving now.”

  “Go get ’em, tiger.” Colin slapped his back a little harder than was necessary.

  “Hey, what kind of flower is white with yellow in the middle?” Angus asked.

  “White with yellow in the middle?” Colin gave him a blank stare.

  “The kind you can pull petals off,” Dalton said from beneath the blankets.

  Colin grinned. “Daisies.”

  With the answer he needed, Angus headed for the phone in the hallway and dialed Bunny Leigh, the owner of Temptation’s only flower shop.

  “Sweet Temptations, this is Bunny.”

  “Bunny, it’s Angus. I need flowers,” he said without preamble.

  “Now? The shop closed two hours ago.”

  “I know. But I’ll pay double if you can get me a dozen daisies.”

  “Double?” Bunny cleared her throat. “Is your mother in the hospital? You tell Mrs. McFarlan I’ll be by tomorrow to visit.”

  “No. My mother is perfectly fine.”

  “Then why the emergency flowers?” Bunny gasped. “Wait. Didn’t you go to the highest bidder last night? And wasn’t she your old flame?”

  News traveled fast in a small town. Gritting his teeth, Angus bit out, “Can you get me the flowers or not?”

  “Hey, you’re cranky. Is it because you’re not getting any and you hope to by giving her daisies? I’m telling you. Sex bribes come better in full, lush, fuck-me red roses. I can set you up with two dozen, just say the word.”

  “I don’t want roses, and they aren’t sex bribes. I want a dozen very sincere daisies. If you don’t have them, just say so.”

  “Oh, I have them.”

  “Holy hell, Bunny, stop teasing me, already.” Angus took a steadying breath. “Will you sell them to me tonight?”

  “Sure. What time do you need them and do you want them delivered?”

  “I’ll pick them up in fifteen minutes.”

  “You don’t give a girl much time to think about it, do you?”

  “That’s the idea,” he muttered as he ended the call.

  “Mona, what am I going to do?” Gwen had called an emergency meeting with her old school chum and only confidante. “I can’t go out with him.”

  “Why not? You paid for him.” Mona’s eyes narrowed. “Or is it because you don’t trust him?”

  “Hell no. I trust him. It’s me I don’t trust!” Gwen paced the small bed-and-breakfast room in nothing but her bra and panties. “Besides, I don’t have anything to wear!” She threw her hands in the air and paced faster.

  “Hey, hey.” Mona stood in front of her and grabbed her shoulders. “Snap out of it. You could probably wear nothing at all and suit him just fine.”

  “I know!” Tears sprang from Gwen’s eyes. “Damn. I swore I’d never cry over that man again.”

  “And all these years you thought he didn’t care about you. He’d never gotten your note and he thought you’d run out on him without so much as a goodbye.”

  “Exactly. Now you see why my life is so fucked up. I can’t afford to let go of the old hurt. It was the only thing holding me together.”

  Mona pulled her into a tight hug. “Oh, baby. You can’t hold on to that hurt. It was groundless.”

  “I have the worst luck with men.”

  “Two men. One due to a misunderstanding. The other due to a mindless mistake in Vegas. You were young, depressed and looking for love in all the wrong places.”

  “Damn right I was.”

  “I remember. I found Grant at a rodeo. It wasn’t Vegas, but a girl can do some pretty stupid things at a rodeo. Things didn’t work out for us at first.”

  “But everything worked out fine in the end between you and Grant. Why can’t everything work out fine for me?”

  “It can if you let it.”

  “No. I won’t subject Dalton to the heartache. If he gets used to having Angus around, he’ll be devastated when we break up and he doesn’t come around anymore. And if it works out between Angus and me, how can I expect him to take in another man’s child? It’s hard enough to be a parent to your own children, much less someone else’s.”

  “Honey, Dalton is the sweetest little boy in the world. Angus will love him. Especially since he’s the spittin’ image of the woman he loves.”

  “He doesn’t love me.” How could he when he’d thought she’d dumped him without a word all those years ago? God, what a waste. “Hell, it’s been seven years. He’s probably had at least that many lovers since me.”

  “That cowboy wouldn’t have expanded the dates if he didn’t have feelings for you.” Mona shook her. “Woman, he freakin’ doubled them! That says something.”

  “I’m so confused.” Gwen shoved a hand through her heavy mass of hair. “I’ll never be ready in time. Hell, I haven’t even done my hair.”

  “All you really need to do is brush it and leave it down. When you wear it up, you look older than you are.” Mona hugged her. “No offense, but you look uptight.”

  “I am getting older, and my hair is completely unmanageable when I don’t put it up.”

  “Wear it down,” Mona commanded.

  Gwen popped a salute at her friend. “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Tell you what, I have a dress you might be able to wear.” Mona spun and sprinted for the door. “I’ll be right back.”

  “Why don’t I come with you?”

  Mona laughed. “You’d be arrested for indecent exposure. You get yourself a cup of tea while I run across the street. I’ll be back in three shakes.”

  After Mona left, Gwen’s panic levels rose exponentially. Without someone to talk her down off the ceiling, she clung to the rafters. Making herself sit in one of the two easy chairs in the room, she pulled her wallet out of her purse and dug a photograph out of a hidden pocket.

  The picture was of her and Angus that summer when she was only twenty-one and he was twenty-five. Mona had taken it of them kissing. They looked so in love it brought tears to Gwen’s eyes. “I can’t do this.”

  “Yes, you can,” Mona said from the door, breathing hard. “And I have the perfect dress for you to wear.”

  “What if he takes me four-wheelin’ on the flats out by the lake?”

  “Then you hang on tight.�
� Mona patted her arm. “Don’t worry, Angus is seven years older than the last time you dated. He’s not going to take you mud ridin’ or four-wheelin’. My bet is he’ll take you somewhere the two of you can stare at the moon or each other, whichever melts your butter. Then he’s going to turn that horse-whisperin’ magic on you and charm you right out of your panties.” Mona held up an accordion of condom packets. “That’s what these are for.”

  “Mona! There will not be sex tonight.” Though she protested, her loins ached at the very thought. Hell, he’d given her a breath-stealing orgasm with Dalton nearby. “Fuck! Now you’ve got me thinking about it.”

  “That’s right.” Mona grinned. “You’ll be in a full lather by the time he arrives.”

  “I already am,” Gwen wailed. “I’m trying to come down from it. Holy shit. I can’t handle this much stress.”

  “Sweetie, you’re not handling this reunion very well. Take a deep breath and let it out .”

  Gwen sucked in a shaky breath and let it out slowly. “I don’t feel any better.”

  “Well I do. That was a whole two seconds you weren’t freakin’ out on me.” Mona shoved the dress into her arms. “Now, go try on this dress. It’s a surefire way to get laid tonight. I guarantee it.”

  “What part of I don’t want to get laid did you not understand?”

  “Blah, blah, blah. You’re not foolin’ me, even if you are foolin’ yourself.” Mona unzipped the back of the dress and held it up for Gwen to slip into.

  Gwen had to shimmy into the formfitting dress that hugged her body like a second skin. The front neckline plunged halfway to her belly button, displaying a lot more boobage than she’d shown in public since she was two and playing in her wading pool in the nude. The back plunged so low she suspected her butt crack showed.

  “Lose the bra,” Mona said.

  Gwen unhooked her bra in the back and slid the straps from her shoulders, then slipped her arms into the dress. “I can’t wear this. It screams fuck me, all over the place. And look at this.” She plumped her breasts. “The girls are barely covered.”

  A knock on the door made Gwen jump. She glanced at the clock and nearly had a cow. “Shit, he’s early.” She adjusted the bodice of the dress to cover as much as possible, marched to the door and yanked it open. “You said eight o’clock—” Her words lodged in her throat at the sight of the gorgeous cowboy carrying an embarrassingly large bouquet of daisies.