In a Texas Minute

by Bagwell, Stella

  Through the years those scars had hardened until sometimes he wondered if he could ever feel anything for anybody, including himself. But then Sierra had always been around to scold and prod and shame him until she pricked his conscience and he gave in and tried to show her a softer side of himself. Which, most of the time, was always just an act to make her happy.

  But in the past few days Alex had to concede that something had happened to him. Ever since Bowie had come into his life, he’d felt himself changing and looking at things in a totally different light. The baby and Sierra had brought an importance to his life that he’d never experienced before. He was beginning to think that maybe his existence did mean more than just courtroom tactics and getting some joker off the legal hook.

  “Who’s Rosita?” Alex asked.

  Sierra reached for her margarita. “Oh, you’ve heard me speak of her before, Alex. She’s the older lady who works as a housekeeper for Lily and Ryan Fortune out at the Fortune ranch. She’s been with them for years and years. Mom has tried to get her to retire, but Rosita won’t hear of it. I think she likes working because it keeps her in the thick of the Fortune family happenings. She’s a distant cousin to Mom and they’ve been good friends since they were children. Mom is jealous because Rosita has several grandchildren and she’s still waiting.”

  “Oh, yes, I think I do remember you mentioning Rosita before. She’s the one who has the prophetic dreams, isn’t she?”

  Sierra’s low chuckle was full of doubt. “Well, some of them have proved to come true. But her family takes all of her prophecies with a grain of salt.”

  “Maybe we should get her to tell us our fortunes,” Alex suggested. “It might be amusing to hear what we’ll be doing a year or two from now.”

  Shaking her head, Sierra said, “Rosita isn’t some sort of gypsy woman reading palms. These intuitions or dreams or whatever they are simply come to her. She doesn’t ask for them.”

  Alex shrugged as he sipped his wine. “That’s too bad. It would be nice to know if I’m going to win my next case.”

  Sierra rolled her eyes. As far as she was concerned she didn’t want to see what she and Alex would be doing a year or two from now. Especially with him acting so downright seductive toward her.

  She shot him a coy look. “I thought you were always certain of a victory in the courtroom.”

  Laughing softly, he picked up her hand and kissed her fingers. “Honey, you do know how to feed my ego.”

  Upstairs, in a room that Maria and Jose had furnished as a living room/office, Jose took pleasure in rocking Bowie in an old wooden office chair. Nearby on a dark green couch, Maria shook her finger at her husband.

  “I’m telling you, Jose, there’s something going on between the two of them. He was kissing her hand!”

  Jose smiled to himself. “So.”

  Maria rolled her eyes. “Ay! Ay! Ay! Do you go around kissing a woman’s hand if she’s only a friend?”

  Jose glanced up from the baby’s angelic face. The moment his wife had discovered that Alex had made a reservation for two tonight, her calculating mind had gone into overdrive. She’d insisted that the two of them have their dinner up here in the office so that she could go downstairs and casually meander through the room where Alex and Sierra would be eating and offer to watch Bowie for them.

  “Is that a trick question, woman?” Jose asked.

  Maria let out a long, impatient breath. Sometimes men could be so slow, or maybe they weren’t actually slow, they just pretended to be, she thought.

  “Jose Mendoza, I’m not questioning your fidelity. I’m just saying a man doesn’t go around kissing a woman’s hand out of friendship. Don’t you agree?”

  Jose cuddled the baby in the crook of his big arm and turned his attention to his wife. “Maybe. And maybe Alex is attracted to our little girl. Are you worried that he’s going to break her heart?”

  Maria thought about her husband’s question for a moment before she shook her head. “Not really. I’m more worried that she won’t take advantage of his attraction. Alex is just right for Sierra. I’ve never understood why she hasn’t noticed that before.”

  Jose scowled at his wife as she rose to her feet and began to walk back and forth in front of him. “And what makes you think they’re so perfect for each other? They’ve been friends for years. Don’t you think something should have sparked between them before now?” Jose questioned.

  Maria paused long enough to glance at her husband and bat a hand through the air. “Pooh! Sierra has always had some sort of boyfriend hanging on her arm. And Alex has been too tied up with his career to fall in love.”

  Shaking his head, Jose clicked his tongue with disbelief. “Boyfriends. Careers. It takes more than that to keep people from falling in love. And while we’re on this subject, you need to forget all about pushing Sierra and Alex together. Let nature take its course.”

  Comic outrage froze her features. “How can you say that to me? Look what I’ve done for Gloria and Christina! They’re happy—they’re both going to be married. That’s what I want for Sierra. And besides all that, nature takes too damn long.”

  Marie picked up a finger sandwich from a tray sitting on the corner of a large oak desk and shook it at Jose as she went on, “Sierra is twenty-eight. She needs to get a life—a family of her own.”

  Jose bit back a sigh and tried to answer as patiently as he could. “She will. When the time is right. And if Alex is the man for her, then I’m sure she’ll let him hear about it.”

  Maria was thoughtful for a few moments and then a cunning smile spread across her face as she lifted the sandwich to her lips. “Well, at least we have Bowie with us tonight. The two of them can have a quiet, romantic dinner alone.”

  “I feel lost without Bowie,” Sierra said some minutes later as she and Alex partook of a table full of food. For her main dish, Sierra had ordered one of her favorites, grilled chicken breast stuffed with spinach and topped with queso sauce. Every bite was hot and spicy and she found herself reaching frequently for the margarita to cool her tongue.

  “I’m sure you do,” Alex replied, “but it’s good for you to have a rest. I’m glad your mother made the offer to watch him.”

  Sierra started to tell him that Maria’s kindly gesture had been blatantly deliberate, but she didn’t bother. Alex had a strong mind of his own. He saw all sorts of people in the courtroom who were experts at manipulation. He certainly couldn’t be swayed one way or the other by a meddling, middle-aged woman hell-bent on marrying off her three daughters.

  A half hour later, the two of them had finished their meal and Alex had related to Sierra several amusing incidents that had happened to him in the courtroom when he’d first started practicing law. The laughter and the alcohol had left her feeling a bit giddy and when he suggested they walk out to the courtyard, she was glad for the opportunity to get some fresh air.

  As soon as they stepped outside onto the red-brick paving that formed a small patio beneath the eave of the building, the warm, muggy air wrapped around them like a velvet blanket. The trickling water fountain filled the gardenlike area with soothing music while chattering mockingbirds and the gentle cooing of gray doves added their own special notes to the song.

  Alex placed his arm lightly against the back of Sierra’s waist and guided her toward one of the empty tables situated in the far corner of the courtyard. The space was partially hidden by a thick oleander dripping with white blossoms.

  The moment the two of them stepped behind the bush, Alex tugged her into his arms.

  “Alex! What—what are you doing?” she stuttered as her palms instinctively came up against the broad width of his chest.

  With his head bending downward, he murmured, “Surely you don’t have to ask.”

  Sierra had never expected him to kiss her here, like this, where people were dining only a few feet away! Actually she’d not expected him to kiss her at all. Maybe that was naïve thinking on her part after the heated e
xchange they’d shared on the porch swing. But she’d pretty much convinced herself that his attraction for her was just a momentary thing. Something he’d get over quickly, like the three-day measles.

  Now, as his lips sealed hers with a slow, seductive search, she realized she’d been very wrong. If anything, the desire she felt on his lips was hungry and reckless and totally shocking to her senses.

  Stolen moments turned into risky minutes until finally Sierra’s knees began to give way and Alex was so starved for air he was forced to lift his head.

  “Alex,” she said in a breathless rush. “Have you gone crazy? If someone sees us, they’ll complain of indecency!”

  Nuzzling his cheek against the curve of her neck, he chuckled softly. “I’m a lawyer, remember. If we get charged I can get us off.”

  Oh Lord, it was heaven to have him touching her, holding her like this, Sierra thought desperately. How could she resist him, when all she really wanted to do was curl her arms around his neck and hang on for dear life?

  “Oh,” she said in a thick, drowsy voice. “How would you manage to do that?”

  His hands began to move up and down across her back. Heat filled every inch of Sierra’s body and burned her face like the hot afternoon sun. Why hadn’t she ever felt like this before? Why had it taken Alex to wake up the latent woman inside her?

  “Demand a jury trial and make sure it was made up of nearly all men. None of them could blame me for wanting to make love with you.”

  “Alex,” she whispered sweetly, “you’re so silly.”

  He brought his face back around to hers and said in a husky voice, “You know, you’re right. I’ve been very silly all these years not to realize how beautiful you are. Inside and out.”

  Sierra winced as pain and joy balled together and smacked her right in the middle of her chest. “Don’t fib, Alex,” she pleaded.

  Bringing his forefinger beneath her chin, he lifted her face up to his. “I’m not lying,” he insisted.

  “Then stop trying to charm me.”

  He looked amused. “Why? Because you think I’m trying to seduce you? Well, I am.”

  Desperate to hide how shaken she was by his blunt statement, Sierra turned her back to him and sucked in a shaky breath. “I can’t understand why. You can have any woman you want. And you’ve never wanted me.”

  His hands curled over the back of her shoulders as he bent his head and spoke softly against her ear. “That’s not true. I can’t have any woman I want. And I’ve always wanted you as a friend. Now I happen to want you to be more than a friend.”

  Sierra closed her eyes as all sorts of wicked images danced through her mind. At least he was being honest, she thought. At least he wasn’t trying to pretend he felt love for her. Especially when they both knew it was sex. And sex only.

  But even knowing that wasn’t enough to damper the longing that was growing, spreading through every inch of Sierra’s body. She’d never felt such a sudden, overwhelming desire for any man, and maybe a few days ago she would have been too shy and worried to act upon her feelings. But tonight she was feeling anything but timid.

  Turning slowly back around to him, Sierra lifted her face and met the dark, smoky glint in his green eyes.

  “I think we’d better get Bowie and go home,” she murmured. “Don’t you?”

  Surprise flickered across his face and then he gave her a slow, crooked smile. “Straight home. Without any stops or U-turns.”

  Chapter Seven

  Minutes later, Alex and Sierra were driving the short distance back to Sierra’s two-story. In the back, Bowie was fussing and chewing his fist.

  “He must be hungry,” Alex suggested. “Isn’t that what a baby does to try to tell you that he’s hungry?”

  Twisting around in her seat as far as the seat belt would allow, Sierra studied the baby’s red face and jerky arm movements. “I think so. But he shouldn’t be hungry. Mom said he just drank a whole bottle of formula.”

  When the two of them had gone up to her parents’ office to pick up Bowie, they’d both made an issue of wanting to keep the baby longer and that they’d not had nearly enough time to spend with him. Maria had even suggested that she keep Bowie overnight to give Sierra a restful night’s sleep. But Sierra wouldn’t hear of it. She wasn’t quite ready to let her little guy be that far away from her. And besides, she got the feeling that Alex was around because baby Bowie was around. She didn’t want to take away his chance to spend more time with the baby.

  “That may be the problem,” Sierra said as her forehead puckered with worry. “He usually doesn’t eat that much at a time. He’s probably got a tummy ache.”

  “When a baby has a stomachache, don’t you call that colic?” Alex asked.

  Sierra groaned. “Yeah. That and a nightmare.”

  By the time Alex parked his SUV in front of the house and Sierra lifted Bowie out of his carrier, the baby was squalling at the top of his lungs.

  “I’ll bring the diaper bag. You take him on into the house,” Alex told her as she carefully propped the baby against her shoulder.

  Sierra went ahead of him and after turning on a lamp, she sank onto a wooden rocking chair and checked Bowie’s diaper. It was clean and dry so she ruled that out as the offending culprit.

  Alex appeared and set the diaper bag down on the floor next to the rocker. “I’ve never heard our boy cry like this. He must be miserable,” Alex mused aloud as he gazed down at the baby nestled in the crook of Sierra’s arm. “And look how he’s drawing his legs up. Must be his stomach. What do you do for colic? Is there some sort of medicine you can give him?”

  Ashamed that she didn’t have answers for all his questions, she said, “I’m sorry, Alex. I’ve never been a mother before. I’m just learning about all this stuff. Maybe we could call the all-night drugstore and ask the pharmacist?”

  “Good idea,” Alex said. “I’ll call while you see if you can quiet him.”

  Sierra began to rock and the lulling motion settled his screams to hiccupping wails. Smoothing her fingers over his head, she began to sing a lullaby in hopes her voice would distract him.

  Across the room, Alex hung up the phone and hurried back to Sierra and the baby. “He said it sounds like colic and there’s not much you can do for it. If he doesn’t get better soon, he suggested giving him a few drops of liquid simethicone. But he said before we resort to that, we might try making him burp the gas off his stomach.”

  Sierra was incredulous. “Use medicine as the last resort? Wouldn’t easing his stomach with medicine be better than him screaming with pain?”

  Alex shook his head. “The pharmacist said when it comes to infants as young as Bowie, it’s best not to overmedicate.”

  Put like that, Sierra could understand. But she could hardly bear to see the baby in such distress.

  Shifting in the rocker, she started to lift Bowie to her shoulder, but Alex quickly bent and reached for him. “Here, let me have the little guy. I was the best belcher in the high school locker room. If anyone can get it out of him, I can.”

  Sierra didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as she handed the fussy baby over to Alex. “Just because you know how to rid yourself of gas doesn’t mean you can make Bowie do it,” Sierra argued. “He’s a baby!”

  Placing the infant against his broad shoulder, Alex began strolling around the large living room as he patted and rubbed Bowie’s back in a circular motion.

  Sierra watched Alex’s tender ministrations and her heart clutched with something that felt soft and warm and terrifyingly like love.

  No! That couldn’t be, she silently denied. Wanting Alex in her arms was one thing, but loving him was something altogether different. He was a man who played fast and loose. In and out of the courtroom. She couldn’t love a man who would never love her back.

  As Alex completed another circle around the room, he paused by the rocker to toss Sierra a droll look. “Of course I know he’s a baby,” he said, attempting to raise his vo
ice above the baby’s wails. “And I’m not a dunce. I’ve seen all this stuff on television. You pat their back and soured milk spews out. Just give me time.”

  Alex had hardly spoken the last word, when a loud burp erupted from Bowie.

  Putting a hand to her mouth, Sierra began to giggle. Alex twisted his head in an effort to see what sort of substance was running down the back of his shoulder.

  “Oh, I’m so sorry about your shirt, Alex,” Sierra said between laughs. “But you should have seen Bowie’s face. He looked so surprised and relieved.”

  Alex grinned with inane pride. “Told you I could do it. Do you think that’s all of it? The gas, I mean?”

  Sierra left the rocker and headed toward the kitchen. “I don’t know. Maybe you should pat him a little more and I’ll get a towel for your shirt.”

  In the kitchen she grabbed paper towels and dampened a dish towel with warm water and soap. She was turning away from the sink when Alex appeared in the doorway. He mouthed the words “asleep” and with his free hand pointed to the baby.

  Sierra walked quietly over to the two of them and peered at Bowie’s face which was scrunched up against Alex’s shoulder. The baby was snoozing peacefully as though he’d never experienced a moment of colic in his life.

  Breathing a sigh of relief, Sierra nodded. “He’s out like a light.”

  “What do I do with him now?”

  Sierra wanted to laugh. For a man who’d seemed so confident about baby care a few minutes ago, he sure seemed lost now.

  “Bring him into my bedroom and we’ll put him to bed in the bassinet. Hopefully he’ll stay asleep now that he’s rid of some of that formula.”

  Putting down the things to clean his shirt, Sierra followed Alex to the bedroom and straightened the blankets in the little bassinet. Once she stepped out of the way, Alex carefully laid the sleeping baby onto the bed and covered him with a light blanket.

  “He has dried milk around his mouth,” Sierra whispered.

  Alex turned wide, threatening eyes on her. “You’re not about to wake that little boy up just so that he can have a clean mouth,” he said in a loud whisper. “He’ll sleep just fine like that.”