The Cowboy's Summer Love

by The Cowboy's Summer Love (mobi)

  “Why don’t you go dance with someone, honeybee? You don’t have to sit here and keep me company all evening,” Travis said, looking around to see who he could trust to dance with his girl. No one was coming to mind except his brothers or hers and they were already dancing.

  “If I can’t dance with you, I’d rather not dance at all. Besides, I’m not a very good dancer, as you well know,” Tess said tracing a pattern onto the table with her finger.

  “I know nothing of the sort,” Travis said, getting up from the table and pulling her along with him. Leaving his crutches leaning against the back of a chair, he slowly walked toward the dance floor, her hand firmly clasped in his.

  “Travis, what are you doing? You can’t dance and if you reinjure yourself, so help me, I’ll put you into a therapy program that will make what we’ve been doing seem like a Sunday afternoon picnic,” Tess said, trying to get him to stop. He kept walking, dragging her along with him. “Tee, this is crazy. I don’t need to dance with you that bad.”

  “But I need to dance with you,” Travis rumbled, turning as they reached the dance floor and drawing her into his arms. “It’s a slow dance. We’ll just stand right here and sway back and forth and everything will be fine.”

  Tess wasn’t sure about everything being fine as Travis pulled her flush against him and they swayed to the music. It only took a moment for the crowd to fade away and the two of them to get lost in each other. Trent and Trey, who were watching their baby brother fall in love, looked at each other and nodded their heads. Before the song ended, Trent maneuvered Lindsay close to the band and said something to one of the players.

  As the slow song ended, the lead singer looked around the crowd and tipped his head toward Trent.

  “We’ve got a special request for a song, so for the two of you who know what it’s all about, enjoy.” The band started to play Honey Bee and Tess shot Travis a look only to find him scanning the crowd for Trey and Trent. They were standing together and when he focused in on them, they pointed at him and smiled.

  “I think we’ve been had, honeybee,” Travis said, continuing their slow dance, because it was the only speed he currently had.

  Tess blushed, but kept on dancing with Travis. She should have known either her brothers or Travis’ would have to play some kind of joke on them this evening. If they hadn’t, she might have been disappointed or thought they had given in and finally grown up.

  Truthfully, she wasn’t going to complain about being held close in Travis’ arms, although she did worry about how he was holding out physically.

  When the song ended, the crowd laughed and cheered and Tess insisted Travis sit down and rest. He willingly agreed.

  They barely returned to their table when Trent came and asked Tess to dance. She was then passed on to Trey and Ben followed by Brice. Her dad even took her out to “cut a rug” as he called it before returning her to Travis. By then she was overheated and dying of thirst.

  Plopping down in a chair next to Travis where he sat quietly watching the crowd, she picked up one of the wedding favor fans Lindsay included at each place setting and batted it in front of her flushed face.

  “Whew. I think I’m getting too old for this much fun,” Tess said, snapping the fan back and forth and stirring a breeze that unknowingly set tendrils of curls into an alluring flurry around her face.

  Travis stared at her transfixed.

  “I’m going to go find some punch or iced tea. You want anything?”

  Travis continued staring at her with an odd light in his eyes.

  “Trav? You okay?” Tess asked, putting the back of her hand to his forehead. It felt warm, but not any hotter than hers. At her touch, he startled and gave her a grin that formed parenthesis around his mouth. Tess had the strongest desire to kiss each little bracket but refrained, knowing that would lead down a path where they really shouldn’t go. At least right now.

  “I’m fine, honeybee. What did you say?” Travis tried to pull his thoughts back together, but was finding it challenging with Tess leaning over him, her scent enveloping him and her warmth seeping into his bones. He placed a hot hand on her waist and moved his fingers up and down, enjoying the feel of the silky fabric beneath his touch.

  “Do you want anything? I’m going to see what I can find to drink that hasn’t been tampered with,” Tess said, trying to keep focused with Travis setting her side aflame with his caress.

  Travis raised an eyebrow at her.

  “You and I both know those rotten Bradshaw boys will dump booze in anything left unattended. Henry’s been guarding the punch table, but he took a break and goodness only knows what happened when he did.”

  Travis laughed and grabbed Tess’ hand. “Whatever you find would be great. And maybe a piece of cake. I haven’t had one yet.”

  “Coming right up,” she said, kissing Travis on the cheek as she hurried off in the direction of the food tent. She returned carrying a tray with two glasses of iced tea and two pieces of cake, one white with raspberry filling, the other chocolate. Setting the tray on the table, she offered Travis his choice of cake, and he took the white, knowing she liked chocolate best.

  They finished their cake just as an announcement was made that the bride and groom were ready to leave and would be tossing the bouquet and garter. First, Trent carefully removed Lindsay’s garter. He managed not to flash more than her ankle as he took it off her leg, although the action made her face turn a fiery shade of red.

  Tess made Travis get up and walk with her to stand at the edge of the crowd gathered around the stage where Trent stood with the garter.

  Trent looked around and shot it in a high arch. Although several guys reached for the garter, it sailed across the crowd and Travis held up one crutch, catching it on the leg. The crowd burst into laughter. Trent gave Travis a salute then turned to Lindsay with a bow.

  Lindsay made note of who was standing where and gave the bouquet a good toss, making sure it flew straight toward Tess. No one in the crowd even made a grab for it as it sailed right into Tess’ arms. Tess blushed while the crowd whistled and clapped. Someone yelled, “two down, one to go,” referencing the number of weddings the Thompson family had held in the past year.

  “Nice catch, honeybee,” Travis teased as he pulled the garter to the end of his crutch and slid it over his arm. “What do you suppose Trent and Lindsay meant by throwing this stuff at us?”

  “I’m sure I don’t know,” Tess said, embarrassed and thrilled at the same time. She couldn’t give it too much thought as Trent and Lindsay prepared to leave.

  A carriage that looked exactly like something Cinderella rode in to the ball pulled up at the yard and a footman got out then intoned over the crowd, “Carriage service for Mr. and Mrs. Trent Thompson.”

  The crowd surged forward as Trent hurried Lindsay toward the carriage. She looked at it in awe, knowing her fairytale wedding was complete, right along with her very own prince charming.

  “My goodness, Trent, I don’t know how you did this, but it’s wonderful,” Lindsay said, allowing him to help her inside.

  “Nothing is too good for my princess,” Trent said, kissing her cheek. He had to pay extra to get the carriage to come all the way from Portland, but they were licensed to drive at night with lights on the horses and carriage. It was an experience he wanted Lindsay to be able to add to her memories of this very special day. The carriage would take them back to their newly purchased home for the night and in the morning they would leave for the Oregon coast for a week-long honeymoon in a luxury cabin near the beach.

  Trent settled into the plush interior beside his bride as the footman closed the door and climbed next to the driver. Trent and Lindsay both leaned out the window and waved as the carriage started down the long Triple T drive. Well-wishers blew hundreds of bubbles at them from the party favors placed in baskets around the yard.

  “Thank you so much everyone! Thank you!” they both called until they were out of sight.

  The
crowd began to thin, although some of the younger group stayed behind and enjoyed the band for a while longer. Soon it was down to family who was staying at the house and some close friends. Brice seemed to have taken a shine to Travis’ cousin Bailey. With honey colored curls and eyes the same striking shade of aquamarine as Trey’s, she was quite a lovely girl.

  As Tess helped clean up the monumental mess, she asked Travis about all the extended family that arrived for the celebration. She knew the Thompsons really well and couldn’t remember meeting or hearing about many of the relatives. She knew Drew Thompson was an only child, but she didn’t realize Denni had so much family.

  “Mama has three older sisters and one brother, but none of them live around here. Uncle Jack lives in Fort Worth, Aunt Donna lives in San Diego, Aunt Mary lives in Denver and Aunt June spends most of her time in Florida. I’ve never met half of these cousins, and I can only remember seeing the family all together twice at family reunions.”

  “I think it’s nice they all came for the wedding. No wonder your mom and Nana have been so excited. Nana must be thrilled to have all her family together.”

  “Yeah, she is. I think most of them are planning to stay a few days. We’ll have a big family dinner tomorrow after church. I hope you’re planning to be here,” Travis said, as he helped her fold up linens removed from the tables in their tent.

  “I don’t want to intrude,” Tess said, thinking it probably best if she took a few days away from Travis. This wedding had her thinking all kinds of thoughts and none of them were particularly helpful in keeping herself on an even keel where the undeniably gorgeous male at her side was concerned.

  “You’re family to us and it wouldn’t be an intrusion.” Travis looked outside the tent and grinned. “Besides, with the way Brice is panting after Bailey like a puppy on a leash, you better bring him along.”

  Tess glanced up to see her brother hot on the heels of Travis’ lovely young cousin. Laughing, she snapped the linen in her hand as she folded it. “That’s going to be fun to tease him about later.”

  “Now, honeybee, you wouldn’t tease your poor little brother would you?” Travis said, knowing she could spend hours tormenting Brice.

  “BB deserves it and then some,” Tess said as they finished the linens in their tent. Travis stood up and leaned on his crutches, following her to the food tent.

  It took two hours with all the Triple T hands, family and friends helping, but they finally got everything torn down, put away, packed up, and set to rights.

  Walking Tess to her car, Travis stopped her before she got inside. Leaning against the door, he pulled her close to his chest. “Tessa, you look so beautiful tonight. In case I didn’t mention it before, you take my breath away,” Travis said, toying with a curl by her ear.

  “You’re more than a little breathtaking yourself,” Tess whispered, as Travis’ lips moved toward hers. She didn’t know how he could have looked any more appealing than he did this evening. Having him attentively by her side, squeeze her hand conspiratorially, and sneak kisses was better than anything she had ever dreamed possible.

  When their lips touched, Travis was pretty sure fireworks were exploding behind his eyes and all around them. As the kiss deepened, his fingers somehow managed to pull all the pins from her hair and he wound his hands into the silky curls.

  “I think you two have done more than enough of that for one evening. Come on, Tessie, let’s head home,” Brice teased as he walked up to the car.

  Tess jerked away from Travis, giving her brother a stern glare that only made him laugh.

  “Thanks, dude,” Travis said, shaking his head at his friend, while dropping a bunch of hair pins into Tess’ hand. “Don’t think we didn’t notice you saying goodnight to Bailey a minute ago.”

  Brice stopped the snappy retort he was going to give Travis and instead climbed in Tess’ car.

  “See you tomorrow, honeybee,” Travis said, holding open her door while she slid inside. “I love you.”

  “Love you, too,” Tess said, blowing him a kiss through the open window.

  Brice leaned across the seat, mimicking Tess’ action and batting his eyelashes at Travis. “Love you, too!”

  Tess elbowed him in the side. As he grunted, she grinned at Travis and waved as they left.

  Watching them leave, Travis was standing with a big smile still on his face when his mother came up to him and looped her arm through his.

  “Did you have fun, baby?” Denni asked as they slowly made their way to the house.

  “I did, Mama. How about you?” Travis asked, holding the mud room door as his mom went inside.

  “I had a wonderful time. It pleases me more than I can say to see my boys choosing such fine women to marry. Lindsay made a beautiful bride.” Denni stood looking at her youngest son. For the first time in a very long while, Travis looked peaceful, settled, and happy. She thought part of the reason he couldn’t seem to quit smiling was directly connected to their sweet Tess. “From the looks of things, do we need to start thinking about a third wedding?”

  Travis’ neck turned red but he didn’t stop grinning at his mother.

  “Now, what gives you that idea, Mama? Aren’t two weddings in a year enough for you? Haven’t we had enough excitement in the past few months to suit you?” Travis teased. In addition to his accident, in the past six weeks they made it through one of the best wheat harvests they’d ever had, purchased the ranch next door, landscaped what seemed like half the country-side under the militant direction of his mom and Cady, and pulled off a wedding a good portion of the county would be talking about for weeks. The county fair was coming right up, school would be starting and then it would be time for the last harvest of hay, fall farm work, and the usual attention required by the cattle.

  “We’ve had plenty enough excitement, baby, but I think we could handle a little more, if the timing is right,” Denni said with a wink. “You know I’ve always loved Tess like a daughter.”

  With that, Denni stood on tiptoe, kissed his cheek and left him watching her walk off to her room.

  Chapter Twenty

  Love is not finding someone to live with,

  it's finding someone you can't live without.

  Rafael Ortiz

  “No, I think she was ten,” Brice said, trying to remember exactly how old Tess had been the time she poured syrup into his and Travis’ cowboy boots in retaliation for them putting a garter snake in the box where she kept her hair ribbons.

  “That’s right, because it was the same summer she took pink nail polish and painted tutus on all our GI Joe figurines,” Travis said with a laugh. Squeezing Tess’ hand in his, he grinned. “You were a sassy little thing even way back then.”

  “That’s because I had to put up with all you rotten boys,” Tess said waving her arm toward Brice, Ben, Trent and Trey as they sat outside around the back yard at the Triple T.

  The men labored hard all day with the final cutting of hay and were ready for a break on this pleasant Friday evening in mid-September. It felt good to sit and joke, basking in the perfect temperature and friendly company.

  “If you recall, the reason your action figures got the paint job was because you two hooligans gave my favorite Barbie doll a Mohawk and then dipped her in the manure pile.”

  “Oh, yeah. Those were good times,” Brice said with a grin that earned him a slap on the arm from his sister.

  “How did you put up with them?” Cady asked Tess as she set a tray of cookies on the table. Before she could reclaim her seat next to Lindsay, Trey pulled her onto his lap.

  “We’re the ones that had to put up with her,” Trey teased, as Cady looped an arm around his neck.

  “I somehow think Tess was the one who had to tolerate more than you boys ever did,” Cady said, looking from her husband to his two brothers. “You boys are still a handful now that you are supposedly grown up. You expect me to believe the five of you took orders from one sweet little girl?”

  “You b
etter believe it,” Trent said, joining the conversation. “Tess gave Travis his first taste of military training when she practiced her drill sergeant tactics on us.”

  “She was bossy and opinionated and thought we should all listen to her,” Ben threw in, earning a cool glare from his sister. “Oh, wait. I guess that hasn’t changed over the years, has it?”

  “Now, she wasn’t all that bad,” Travis said, coming to Tess’ defense, or so she thought. “If you didn’t mind being brow-beaten, treated like a peon, and forced into slave labor.”

  Tess popped Travis on the arm and started to get up from her chair. She’d had about enough of the pick-on-Tess-fest that had been going on this evening.

  “Don’t get your feathers all ruffled, honeybee,” Travis said in a low voice that made her sit back down beside him. When he started rubbing lazy circles with his thumb up her arm, she felt a familiar tingle start at her toes and work its way up to her head. It was hard to be mad at him when he made her heart pound and her stomach feel weightless.

  “You boys have teased her enough for one evening,” Cady said, smiling at Tess. Cass was already in bed, exhausted after a long day at school and then playing hard after she got home.

  Dusk was settling in and it would be dark before too long.

  Tess decided she should probably go home. She had a challenging week with patients and a busy day was planned at the Running M Ranch tomorrow as they worked on their own last cutting of hay. That was why Ben was home for the weekend.

  “It’s about time we headed for home anyway,” Tess said looking at her two brothers. They shot her a look that said she was being bossy again and shook their heads.

  “Not yet,” Travis said, getting to his feet and holding a hand out to her. Making remarkable progress with his therapy, he was able to feel useful and productive once again. Although he still couldn’t ride his horse, he was getting back to what he liked to think of as normal. Able to walk without crutches, his legs grew stronger every day.