When they reached the bar, Ginny scrambled up onto the only empty bar stool. That’s when Liam noticed Verona behind the bar scooping ice cream. A moment after he noticed her, she looked up and met his gaze. A wide smile spread across her face.
“Look what the cat dragged in,” Verona said.
“You really don’t take this retirement thing very seriously,” Liam said over the sudden clapping for the band playing.
“Oh, this? I’m just lending a hand. There’s usually two gals working back here, but one of them had her wisdom teeth out today. I’m guessing she’s got a hot date with her painkillers tonight.” Verona shifted her gaze to Ginny. “Is this your sister?”
Ginny giggled. “No. He’s my daddy.”
“Oh, he is? Do you think your daddy will let you have some ice cream?”
“Yes.”
“Yes, what?” Liam said.
“Yes, please.”
Verona smiled again. “Now what kind of ice cream can I get for a young lady with such fine manners?”
“Strawberry, please.”
“Strawberry it is.”
As Verona turned away to scoop the ice cream, Liam let his gaze wander over the crowd. He could tell himself he wasn’t looking for India, but that would be a lie. Maybe fate was kinder than his hormones tonight because he didn’t see her anywhere.
“I see you decided to take me up on my suggestion.”
Liam turned his head and noticed Elissa had walked up next to him while he wasn’t looking, Skyler not far behind.
“Yeah. Looks like you were right about it being popular.”
He pushed away a shot of disappointment that the trio of friends appeared to be a person short.
“I think India skipped out on us tonight.”
Liam detected a layer of irritation in Elissa’s voice, but he dared not comment on it.
Suddenly, a guy grabbed Elissa’s hand and dragged her, laughing, toward the dance floor. She shot a wave back toward Liam but was quickly lost in the mass of dancers.
“I think I had that much energy once, when I was about twelve,” he said.
“Yeah, that’s our Elissa. Never a dull moment.” Skyler took a sip of what appeared to be a soda of some sort.
For a moment, Liam remembered those early, carefree days when he’d been on the rodeo circuit, before he’d slept with Charlotte, before she’d shown up at the rodeo in Cheyenne and handed him a baby along with papers giving up her parental rights. He’d barely been able to get ten words out before she’d turned tail and run. Though it had been the biggest shock of his life, now he couldn’t imagine his life without Ginny. Things might not have always been perfect, but he thought they’d made it work okay.
A flash of red across the room pulled him from his mental wanderings through the past.
Ginny spun around on the stool with her bowl of ice cream. She pointed right where he’d been looking. “Look, there’s India.”
There was no way he could have missed her. She wore a red dress and black heels that reminded him of the women in those old World War II movies.
Beside him, Skyler waved to get India’s attention. Instead of looking at Skyler, however, India’s eyes met and held his for a long moment before she looked to her left and said something to a guy who’d spoken to her. Liam had the sudden, burning urge to toss the guy out the front door on his head.
Hell, he was losing his mind if he was being tempted to fall back into the same trap again. After all, he remembered vividly the first time he’d seen Charlotte, too. Like India, she’d definitely stood out in a crowd, a shiny penny among a bunch of dull nickels.
Needing to look anywhere but at her, Liam turned toward the bar. “I think I’ll take some ice cream myself.”
“Flavor?” Verona asked, her mouth twitching at the edge as if she knew exactly what he was doing.
“Rocky Road.” Now didn’t that just describe his life right now?
* * *
INDIA NEARLY TURNED ON HER heel and retraced her steps outside, especially when her gaze caught and held Liam’s across the room. But that would negate the long talk she’d had with herself earlier. Just because he didn’t fit her image of the perfect guy didn’t mean she had to avoid Liam. She could be friendly, get to know him a little more, maybe even dance to a song or two if that opportunity presented itself. After all, it wasn’t as if she was going to marry the guy.
She took a steadying breath then crossed the room to where Skyler was waving at her. A quick glance to the right as she passed the dance floor revealed Elissa laughing and having a good time with Greg Bozeman, Blue Falls’ best mechanic and all-around good guy.
By the time she reached Skyler, Liam had turned his back. She didn’t know if that made her feel better or worse.
“I didn’t know if you’d come tonight,” Skyler said so that no one else could hear her.
“I almost didn’t.”
“You know she’s just trying to help in her own over-the-top way,” Skyler said with a glance toward Elissa, then toward Liam.
“I know. But she should know once I’ve got my mind set on something, there’s no changing it unless I want to change it.”
“Proving that you and Elissa are both stubborn.”
India bumped Skyler’s shoulder. “I think there might be three of us in that pot.”
“Must be why we’re all such good friends.”
Skyler’s phone rang, and when she looked at the display she groaned.
“Work?”
Skyler nodded as she answered and started making her way toward the door so she could hear the caller on the other end.
“You’re pretty.”
It took India a moment to realize the person who’d spoken was Ginny, and that she was talking to her. And that Liam had noticed what his daughter had said.
“Thank you. You are, too, by the way.”
Ginny smiled and extended her partially eaten bowl of ice cream. “Would you like some?”
A smile tugged at India’s lips. “No, thank you, sweetie. You enjoy it.” She looked up at Liam, and her smile faltered a little.
“Can I get you something to drink?” he asked.
She nearly said no, but she imagined Elissa’s look of disappointment that she wasn’t even trying to “live a little.”
“A Coke would be great, thanks.” She turned to Ginny and asked, “Are you enjoying yourself?”
Before Ginny could answer, someone grabbed India around the waist and pulled her toward the dance floor. “I’m about to enjoy myself,” T. J. Malpin said as he breathed on her with his beer-scented breath. He leaned too close to her face. “Did I ever tell you how much I love red?”
India dug in her heels and tried to push away from him. “I’m not in the mood to dance, T.J.”
“What, you think you’re too good for me? Ain’t that rich? Little poor girl done gone and got high-and-mighty.”
India’s face flamed, partly from embarrassment and partly in anger. She felt as if his words boomed so loudly that everyone in the music hall had heard them over the band and the thud of boots on the wooden dance floor. She’d gone to school with T.J., and when he wasn’t drinking he was an okay guy. But get some alcohol in him, and he had a problem holding his tongue.
Tears pooled in her eyes as she tried to extricate herself without causing a scene. One moment he was hanging on to her waist, and the next he’d been ripped away.
“She said she didn’t want to dance.” Liam stood several inches taller than T.J., and the look on his face made India’s heart beat a little faster.
“Who the hell are you?”
“The guy who’s going to teach you some manners if you don’t leave right now.” The fierceness in Liam’s voice didn’t leave any doubt that he meant what
he said.
India caught sight of Deputy Pete Kayne as he strode up beside Liam.
“Come on, T.J. It’s time you and I go have a come-to-Jesus meeting.”
Liam hung on to T.J. for the space of a couple more heartbeats before he finally let Pete escort T.J. and his foul breath out of the music hall. Then he turned his attention toward her.
“Are you okay?”
The intensity of Liam’s concerned gaze frazzled India almost as much as T.J.’s drunken attention. Still, she managed to nod. “Yeah. He just surprised me.” And dragged her back in time to a part of her life she’d worked very hard to put behind her. Had Liam heard him? How many other people?
Liam took her gently by the elbow and led her toward the bar. When she saw the wide-eyed concern on Ginny’s face, India forced herself to smile as if nothing were wrong. Wanting to shift Ginny’s attention in a different direction, India nodded at the now empty bowl in Ginny’s hands.
“How was your ice cream?”
Ginny looked confused by the question for a moment before she answered. “Good. Who was that man?”
So much for diverting her line of thought.
“Oh, don’t worry about that. He just wasn’t feeling himself. He should be better in the morning.” Well, except for the hangover and the fact that he might be waking up in a cell at the sheriff’s department—again.
The band on stage tonight, local favorites the Teagues of Texas, wrapped up their first set with a flourish and announced they’d be back after a break. The house DJ put on some familiar country hits in their absence.
“Hey, I have an idea,” India said. “Why don’t you go dance with your dad?” Maybe that would give India time to recover from her encounter with T.J., and a break from the intense way Liam was still watching her, as if she might break at any moment.
India made the mistake of glancing at Liam, and she could tell by the look in his eyes that he knew exactly what she was doing, pushing him away and crawling further into her shell than she’d been in a long time. Still, he wasn’t going to disappoint his daughter, so he let Ginny take his hand and lead him onto the dance floor.
They really were cute together with Liam twice Ginny’s height, Ginny smiling from ear to ear and Liam twirling her through the song like he’d done it a thousand times before. Maybe he had. It was obvious Ginny thought her dad hung the moon. India wondered if maybe she’d been wrong when she suggested Ginny might be lonely on the rodeo circuit.
A pang of envy twisted in her middle. What was it like to look up at one’s dad with such love and admiration? To have your dad make you feel as if you were the most important person ever, not just on the planet but in the universe?
Before India could even begin to relax, Elissa and Skyler approached her from both sides.
“Are you okay?” Elissa asked.
“Yes, fine.” Really, she wished people would stop asking her that, would stop looking in her direction, would just forget it happened.
“I guess T.J. spent a little too much time at the Frothy Stein before he ventured over here,” Skyler said. “I had to stifle a laugh when Pete got him outside. He smacked T.J. on the back of the head and told him what an idiot he was.”
Any other time, the story would have been funny. Everyone in town had a story that involved T.J. and his best frenemy, Adam Parker. But tonight, thinking of T.J. and what he’d said just made India’s stomach churn.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Elissa asked. “You look like you’re going to be sick.”
“Just tired. I think I’m going to go home.”
“Don’t let T.J. win like that,” Skyler said.
“Yeah, the best thing to do to sweep this away is for you to act as if it didn’t bother you. Stay and have some fun.”
“They’re right,” Verona said from behind the bar. “You need to dance with that handsome cowboy before somebody else gets it in her mind to do so.”
“I don’t think I’m going to be the best company tonight.” But did she really want to go home? Yes, she was embarrassed, but she knew what she’d do if she went home now. She’d sit and let herself worry about a past she couldn’t change.
“Well, no, because that’s me, obviously,” Elissa said.
Despite what had transpired over the past several minutes, India laughed then shook her head. “I love your modesty.”
“I am nothing if not modest.”
Verona snorted at that one, which set the rest of them to laughing.
Pete made his way back through the crowd only a few seconds before Liam and Ginny left the dance floor.
“Did you arrest that guy?” Liam sounded as if he’d like to give T.J. a good beat-down.
India knew she should be wary of that kind of violence, should say something about being able to take care of herself. After all, she’d been doing it for as long as she could remember. But there was a distinctly feminine part of her that liked having a guy willing to come to her defense.
“T.J. will be a guest of the county tonight,” Pete said. “We really should start charging him rent.”
“Okay, boys and girls,” Simon Teague said from the stage. “We want to see everyone paired up and on the dance floor for this next one.”
“You heard the man,” Verona said. “Grab while the grabbing’s good.”
“Well, I can’t disobey my boss and my next-door neighbor,” Pete said as he grabbed Elissa and headed for the growing number of couples.
This time around, Greg Bozeman nabbed Skyler despite her protest that she’d been on her feet all day at the inn.
India’s nerves sparked to life when she was left standing on the sidelines with Liam.
“Go on, you two,” Verona said. “Don’t be party poopers.”
India glanced at Liam in time to see indecision flit across his face. “It’s okay,” she said. “We’ll hang out with Ginny.”
“Then you’re going to have to go to the dance floor because I think she’s going to have a partner in a moment,” Verona said.
Liam’s face tightened until he looked past Ginny to where Nathan and Grace Teague’s son, Evan, was headed straight toward Ginny.
India had to hide a smile. “Hey, Evan.”
He gave one of those enthusiastic, little-boy waves.
“Ginny, Liam, this is Evan Teague,” India said. “That’s his dad and uncles in the band.”
Liam, relaxing, extended his hand to shake Evan’s as if he were a grown-up. “Nice to meet you, Evan.”
“Want some ice cream?” Ginny asked. “They’ve got all kinds.”
“Sure.”
This time Liam was trying to suppress a smile as Evan scrambled up onto the stool next to Ginny.
India took a step closer to Liam and leaned toward him. “You’re not very good at hiding that you want to smile right now.”
Liam turned his back to the kids. “If I don’t get away from here right now, I’m going to start laughing and embarrass Ginny.” He held out his hand. “Save me with a dance?”
India’s breath caught and she had to force her lungs to start behaving properly again. With a nervous smile, she said, “Sure,” and placed her hand in Liam’s.
The moment his big hand wrapped hers in warmth, her knees weakened a bit. But this was just one dance, nothing more. Besides, he had helped her break free from T.J. and any further embarrassment he could have caused.
Her thought that this was merely a simple dance between budding friends faltered when he placed his arm around her back and pulled her close. The overwhelming maleness of him made it difficult to breathe, and when she finally did manage to take a breath she smelled him. A manly soap that reminded her of evergreens and some other scent that she couldn’t name. She might not be able to identify it, but there was no mistaking one-hundred-perc
ent, red-blooded male.
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yes, really. Do I look that fragile?”
“No, you look beautiful.”
India lowered her gaze to the middle of Liam’s chest and stared at one of the buttons. If she were a different sort of woman, she’d be tempted to start releasing those buttons to see what lay beneath.
Who was she kidding? She was tempted now.
“I didn’t mean to embarrass you,” he said, stirring the hair atop her head with his breath.
“You didn’t. I...I’ve just had a long day. I probably should have gone home.”
“I’m glad you didn’t.”
India missed a step, but Liam’s grip on her tightened enough that she didn’t fall, didn’t even falter enough for anyone else to notice. No one, that was, but her.
She looked up into his eyes and felt as if she’d never seen anything more beautiful. The image of her perfect man faded some in her mind, gradually being replaced by Liam’s angular face shaded by that ever-present cowboy hat. What was scariest was in this moment, with him holding her so close she could feel the warmth of his body, she didn’t mind. Not one bit.
Chapter Five
Liam tightened his grip on India a fraction, enough that he hoped he could prevent her from bolting. Because that was what she was thinking about doing. He saw it in her eyes the moment he’d said she was beautiful, felt it in the increased tension in her body. But he didn’t regret saying it, no matter how much his common sense was screaming at him not to go down that road. Because it was true. She was the most beautiful woman in the entire music hall. He couldn’t figure out why every male eye in the place wasn’t trained on her, but he was glad they weren’t.
“Looks like Ginny does make friends pretty quickly,” India said.
He pulled his gaze away from her to look over toward the bar. Verona said something as she slid more ice cream in front of Ginny and Evan, and the kids burst out laughing.
“If Verona is trying to matchmake my kid, I’m going to have something to say about that.”
There it was again, the slight tightening of her muscles. He guessed he’d just given himself away, that he knew that Verona was trying to push them together. He opened his mouth to say that she didn’t have to worry. He didn’t push women into relationships they didn’t want. But he couldn’t find the words because, honestly, there was a little part of him that wanted to find out what it would be like with India. He wanted to believe she wasn’t like Charlotte, but did it even matter?
Her Perfect Cowboy Page 6
