India clamped down on the desire to shift her gaze to the dressing rooms. “We got caught in the rain, and he’s changing into some dry clothes.”
Verona eyed India. “You don’t seem to be too wet.”
“I was able to get inside quicker.” Thanks to two very strong arms that she’d swear she could still feel scorching her legs and back. Lordy, she needed a fan to cool herself down.
Thankfully, Liam emerged from the dressing area fully clothed, drawing Verona’s attention away from her. India spared Liam only a glance, but it was enough to notice he’d exchanged his blue shirt for a green one and a dry pair of jeans. Attempting to push away thoughts of that peek at his naked legs, India moved to make the necessary introductions.
“Liam Parrish, this is Blake Magnusson, head of the Blue Falls Tourist Bureau.”
The men shook hands before Liam shifted his attention to Verona.
“And this must be your sister,” he said, glancing back at India for a moment before shaking Verona’s hand.
“Oh, I like this one,” Verona said, smiling widely. “Blake, hire him on the spot.”
Liam smiled and even shot Verona a wink. It took India a moment to remember she should be saying something.
“Verona Charles, former head of the tourist bureau,” India said. “Also known as the lady who hasn’t really grasped the concept of retirement yet.”
Verona made a dismissive sound. “Retirement’s for old people.”
“Well, nobody here fits that description,” Liam said, further charming Verona.
“Mr. Parrish, if I were a younger woman, you’d be in trouble right now.” Verona shot India a look that said while she might be too old for Liam, India definitely wasn’t.
Geez, just what she needed—to be caught in the crosshairs of Verona’s incurable desire to matchmake. She’d been called Blue Falls’ own Cupid on more than one occasion.
“I hear you’ve been able to take a look at our facilities,” Blake said, thankfully steering the conversation in a less “Oh, look how hot the cowboy is” direction.
“Yes, India was kind enough to show me around. I think with a few repairs and adjustments, and some good prize money for the riders, you could pull in a sizable crowd.”
India directed the others toward the table where this whole rodeo idea had been hatched. Over the next half hour, they hammered out the details and came away with a verbal agreement pending the forthcoming written contract.
“I think this calls for a bit of celebration,” Verona said as they wrapped up the discussion. “I’m thinking pie down at the Primrose.”
“Sounds good to me,” Liam said.
India guessed he’d have a bit more than pie, considering he’d been hungry for lunch when he’d arrived at the shop earlier. The grin on Verona’s face left India conflicted. Part of her didn’t want to leave Verona alone with Liam. Who knew what kinds of crazy ideas she might put in his head? But she’d spent about as much time in Liam Parrish’s presence today as she could handle. She needed some time alone to detox from his way-too-sexy, fry-your-brains looks.
When India didn’t walk toward the front door like the rest of them, Verona looked back at her. “Aren’t you coming, dear? It’ll probably be slow here this afternoon, anyway.”
India shook her head. “No, you all go ahead. I’m expecting a delivery this afternoon.” Which was true, but also a convenient way of getting out of the pie outing.
She thought she heard Verona heave a sigh, but she ignored it. If Verona could find a successful man who looked as if he could grace the cover of GQ, then that would be a different story. Yes, Liam Parrish was dead sexy, but she very much doubted they had anything in common other than being citizens of the great state of Texas.
Liam opened the door and allowed Blake and Verona to go out ahead of him. But then he hesitated before following them and met India’s eyes. He held the door with one hand and his bag of wet clothes with the other. “It was nice to meet you. And thanks for the use of your dressing room.”
“You, too, and no problem.” She nodded toward the bag in his hand. “You might want to hang those up in your truck so they don’t sour.” Needing to escape his gaze, she dipped below the front counter to retrieve a couple of wire hangers. “Here. I’ve got more of these than I can use.”
Liam took a step forward and accepted the hangers. “Thanks.” After a momentary pause, he nodded. “I’ll be in touch.”
She nodded back then watched as he walked out the door, said something to Verona and Blake then crossed the street to drop off his clothes in his truck. She noticed he just tossed everything into the backseat, not taking the time to hang his wet clothes. She rolled her eyes and forced herself to look away, to refocus on the order form for some 1920s flapper-style fashions.
But no matter how much she tried to make herself focus on work, her thoughts kept going back to that glimpse of naked legs and the indisputable fact that the sexiest man she’d seen in a long time had been fully naked mere feet from her. And it didn’t seem to matter that he was nothing like her dream guy.
* * *
LIAM’S STOMACH FELT AS IF it were going to consume itself by the time the waitress at the Primrose brought his plate of chicken-fried steak with a heaping order of fries. The coffee and stale doughnut he’d downed that morning as he left Fort Worth were long gone.
“Thank you,” he said to the waitress.
She gave him a shy smile before leaving the table.
“Don’t look now, but I think you have another fan,” Verona said as she gestured toward the waitress.
“She’s a waitress. Being friendly is how they make good tips.” And what did she mean by “another,” anyway? Was she referring to herself? Because she surely couldn’t mean India. They’d parted on friendly terms, but he couldn’t imagine a woman like her giving him a second glance. Well, maybe a glance but nothing remotely serious. He’d learned that the hard way.
Still, there had been that unexpected moment in the truck earlier.
“I think you underestimate your appeal, Mr. Parrish.”
“Verona, let the man eat his lunch,” Blake said, his voice part teasing, part gentle scolding.
Verona swatted Blake playfully on the arm, drawing a laugh from her successor at the tourist bureau.
Thankfully, the rest of their conversation veered toward the rodeo, life in Blue Falls and how the rain would barely make a dent in the rainfall deficit. But no matter how the conversation twisted and turned, he couldn’t keep his mind from wandering back to India Pike. One would think he’d learned his lesson with women who wore dainty, hundred-dollar shoes and then were surprised when they didn’t hold up to a little uneven terrain. Give him a good, solid pair of boots any day.
But damn if he couldn’t get the image of her striking, pale blue eyes and wavy black hair down to her shoulders out of his mind. Not to mention the curves of her body as he’d held her in his arms. What had possessed him to pick her up like that, anyway?
“Can I get you all some dessert?” the waitress asked from his side almost as soon as he’d finished his last fry.
“What kind of pie do you have today, Gretchen?” Verona asked.
“Pecan, lemon, rhubarb and chocolate fudge.”
“You all enjoy,” Blake said as he stood. “I’ve got to get back to work.”
Liam reached across the table to shake the man’s hand again. When he was left with just Verona and the waitress, he had to resist the urge to fidget.
“None for me, thanks,” he said.
“Now you can’t leave your first visit to the Primrose without some of its famous pie,” Verona said. “I think it’s actually against the law.”
Gretchen nodded her agreement. “At least a night in jail.”
Knowing better than to try to defy two
women who had their minds set, he said, “In that case, I’ll take a slice of pecan to go. I’ve got to get back to Fort Worth.”
He didn’t know if he actually saw a flicker of disappointment on Gretchen’s face or if Verona’s suggestion of an attraction was making him see things that weren’t there. Whatever it was, it was gone in the blink of an eye.
“And for you, Verona?” Gretchen asked.
“I feel like lemon today. And get me a slice of the chocolate fudge for India. It’s her favorite.”
Gretchen nodded and headed off to retrieve the pie.
“Too bad India couldn’t join us,” Verona said. “At least I can get her some pie for the work she’s doing on the rodeo.”
Liam made a noncommittal sound.
After Gretchen brought them their to-go boxes and Liam picked up the bill, they headed out the front door. Verona pulled out her phone and looked at the display.
“Oh, I’m sorry, but I have to run.” She looked at the take-out containers in her other hand then glanced down Main Street. “Could you drop off India’s pie on your way back to your truck?”
Liam got the sneaking suspicion he was being maneuvered, but Verona was just so nice as she did it. How could he say no without looking like a jerk? Besides, it would only take him a few extra seconds, and then he could hit the road north.
“Sure,” he said as he took the box she offered.
Verona squeezed his free hand. “Thank you, dear. See you soon.” And then she was off, almost as if she wanted to make sure she was gone before he could change his mind.
Liam stood on the sidewalk watching her hurry away and couldn’t help but laugh. He was pretty sure if he looked up dynamo in the dictionary, Verona Charles’s smiling photo would be right there next to the definition. With a shake of his head, he turned and started down the sidewalk.
The moment he stepped inside Yesterwear, that flowery, female scent hit him again. If he wasn’t careful, he was going to go back to Fort Worth smelling like a bouquet. Thank goodness he didn’t have to go to the office—or, heaven forbid, a rodeo.
India wasn’t anywhere to be seen. He was about to just set the pie on the front counter and leave when he heard a loud grunt from farther back in the store. Concerned that she might have managed to injure herself with no one around to help her, he strode past the changing area and racks of frilly clothes. More grunts, louder now, led him to the back of the building where he spotted India, now barefoot, shoving large boxes across the floor toward a storeroom.
“Need some help?”
India yelped so loudly that Liam couldn’t help but laugh. Wrong move, judging by how she straightened and shoved her fists against her hips.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you,” he said.
“I thought you were gone.” And didn’t she sound as if she wished he was.
He lifted the take-out container. “Verona asked me to drop off a piece of pie for you.”
Her stance softened a little. “What kind?”
“Chocolate fudge.”
“I swear it’s that woman’s aim to make me fat.” That still didn’t keep India from walking up to him and taking the container holding said pie.
“I don’t think you have to worry about that.”
He noticed she didn’t meet his eyes as she uttered a quick thanks. As she took a step toward the front of the shop, he placed his pie on a low, glass-topped table in front of two cushy white chairs and headed toward the pile of boxes.
“What are you doing?”
He looked back at her over his shoulder. “Being chivalrous?”
Her eyebrows bunched together, eliciting a smile from him.
“Where do you want these boxes?”
“I can get them.”
“I’m sure you can...with a lot of grunting.”
When her mouth dropped, he laughed.
“Come on, just tell me where you want them. Then we can both enjoy our pie sooner.” He hadn’t meant to stay and eat with her, but he suddenly found the thought appealing. She seemed like a stubborn, independent woman, and he got the distinct impression he’d knocked her a little off-kilter today. Whatever that said about him, he kind of liked it.
With a sigh, she tossed her container of pie next to his. “Fine.” She strode past him and pointed at the biggest box. “Put that one on the table in the back.” She indicated a long table that took up the back of the storage room.
It only took Liam a couple of minutes to heft the half-dozen boxes to the spots India indicated. When he placed the last one on a lower shelf filled with shoe boxes, he turned back toward her as he dusted off his hands. “See, no time at all.”
“Yes, you’re very manly,” she said with a roll of her eyes.
He resisted the urge to flex his biceps. Geez, he hadn’t acted that stupid since he was halfway through his teens. He realized that India wasn’t the only one off-kilter today.
India headed out of the room, stopping at a small fridge to retrieve some bottles of water. Then she went outside the door to slip on a pair of white flip-flops with some sort of poufy flower-looking thing on top of them.
“Those shoes look a little safer,” he said.
“You’d be surprised. Unfortunately, I tend to be way klutzier than I’d like to be.”
He followed her back to the front of the store, nabbing their pie containers and plastic forks along the way. He should leave before he did something really stupid, but he found himself slipping into a chair across from her at the same table where they’d met with Verona and Blake earlier.
“So, Verona’s an interesting lady,” he said as he dug in to his pie.
“Lord, what did she do now?”
He chuckled. “Nothing much. She just seems really full of life, which is a good thing.”
“Don’t let her hear you say that. The next thing you know, she’ll have you at her beck and call and thinking you begged for the honor.”
“So, you really like her.”
India opened her own pie box. “She grows on you.” She took a bite of pie and made an appreciative sound that went right to the part of him that was thankfully hidden by the top of the table.
She closed her eyes for a moment as she swallowed the bite. Did she not have any idea how sexy she looked right now?
“Verona’s the aunt of one of my best friends, so she’s sort of like a second mom to all of us. She’d do anything for us, but she also gets these wild ideas in her head like she knows our paths to true happiness, too.”
“Well, she was right about one thing.”
India looked up to meet his gaze. “What’s that?”
He cut another piece of his pie and gestured with it on the end of the fork. “It would be a crime to visit the Primrose and not have a slice of pie.”
Just as they finished their dessert and India stood to toss their containers and forks in the trash, a tall brunette breezed through the front door. She stopped in her tracks when she spotted Liam then shifted her curious gaze to India.
When he also looked at India, he thought he detected more embarrassment, like she’d shown earlier after he’d carried her to the truck. He took that as his cue to head home for real this time.
“I’ll send the contract out in tomorrow’s mail,” he said as he stood and met India’s lovely eyes.
“Sounds good,” she said with a quick nod.
The devil inside him almost wanted to say something to make the color rise higher in her cheeks, but he bit down on that idea. He had to work with her in the coming days, and the last thing he needed was to say or do something that would make that working relationship uncomfortable for them both.
“Ma’am,” he said to the new arrival, who had curiosity coming off her like waves of heat on a highway in July.
Al
l the woman managed was a nod and a strangled “Hey” before he made his way out the door. Instead of simply sliding into the driver’s seat of his truck, however, he took the time to retrieve his drying Stetson and plop it atop his head. Then he looked back across the street and noticed the brunette staring out of the boutique’s front window. And she wasn’t the only one.
He tapped the front brim of his hat and smiled at India. Though it was probably the height of stupidity, he was already looking forward to returning to Blue Falls.
* * *
“WHO WAS THAT MIGHTY fine speciman of hunkitude?” Elissa asked as she blatantly watched Liam cross the street, tap his hat and drive down Main Street.
“Liam Parrish, the head of the rodeo company we’re using.” India tried to keep her voice even and matter-of-fact, with no more feeling than if she were telling Elissa what color of paint she’d picked out for her bathroom.
“Mmm-hmm, just like I predicted—hot cowboys.” Elissa unfortunately shifted her attention to her friend just as a rush of heat washed through India. “And I see you appreciated the eye candy.”
“The only thing hot around here is me. I’ve been shoving around boxes that feel like they’re filled with rocks instead of clothing.” Granted, Liam did most of the heavy lifting. No, she couldn’t think about Liam, especially not with Elissa watching her every facial expression.
“I know you have Mr. Perfect all picked out in that little brain of yours, but don’t stand there and tell me you didn’t notice that man was hot enough to fry bacon on.”
India shrugged. “He’s okay.”
With a sound of exasperation, Elissa rounded the front counter and retrieved the phone book. She licked her thumb and started turning pages.
“What are you looking for?”
“Dr. Pinter’s number, because you obviously are in dire need of some glasses.”
Her Perfect Cowboy Page 3
