Texas CHAOS (Texas Heroes Book 2)

by Sable Hunter

  When Dixie parked, she shifted in the seat of the Jeep to face Jenna. “Wanna go in? I’m sure Tildy and Lorraine would like to see you. Not to mention the cats, those monsters love you.”

  Jenna folded her arms tightly around her waist, almost as if she were holding herself back from throwing open the door and running out into the fields surrounding the shop. Before answering, she let her eyes wander over the patchwork beauty of daisies, mums and lavender, planted as far as the eyes could see. “You know how dumb I am?” She sat up straighter in the seat when she saw one of the big house cats winding his way among the pots and plants. One of the main things she’d loved about working at the wildflower farm was how they’d always made pets welcome, especially since three old fat cats ruled the roost, having the run of the store and grounds.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about, you’re not dumb.” Dixie pushed a lock of Jenna’s hair over her shoulder. “You’re smart and beautiful. I’d kill to look like you. Whoever drew Princess Jasmine from Aladdin could have used you for a model. While I look like Tinkerbelle on a bad hair day.”

  This made Jenna laugh. “You do not and I’m not Middle Eastern, I’m Irish or something. I just happen to have dark hair and dark eyes.”

  “You still look like her, I’ve always thought so. Now, why do you think you’re stupid?” Dixie asked, pulling her hair on top of her head and securing it in a swirly topknot.

  Jenna glanced out over the fairy tale landscape of the wildflower farm. “Because I have no ambition, I don’t want to be a teacher or a secretary or an accountant. My fantasy was to marry Logan, work here if we needed the extra money, ride horses and have babies. Pretty childish, huh?”

  “Not childish at all. You wanted to make a home, there is no higher calling.” Dixie sat there with Jenna, giving her time to think.

  “I have to get a job,” she mused. “Or enroll in college, maybe some online courses while I work here.” She lifted her eyes to gaze at the place that held so many good memories. “But it would be too close…I need to put some distance between us.” Remembering, Jenna dug in her purse. “Laramie gave me this card.” She showed it to Dixie. “A woman named Anne Rabb leads a group of riders called Cowgirl Angels. She thinks I would fit right in.”

  Dixie had mixed feelings. She wanted Jenna to be happy, that was the most important thing. “Well, wait till after the auction. A little time will give you the right perspective, you can decide then.”

  “You’re a very wise woman, Miss Dixie Bell.” Jenna leaned her head back. “We can go now.”

  Starting up the engine, Dixie pulled out into the road and they were on their way. Jenna stared out the window at the passing landscape. There were forty-six wineries between Fredericksburg and Austin. Her home was as close to Tuscany as one could get and not leave Texas. In addition to the vineyards, there were at least twenty peach orchards dotting the hillsides. When she’d first moved here with Logan and his family, Jenna had felt as if she’d moved to a wonderland. Her folks had lived near here, but living in town on a small residential lot surrounded by other houses was nothing like being out in the wide-open spaces. No matter if Logan rejected her, she could never deny that he and his family had provided her with a magical place to heal.

  Leaning her head against the window, Jenna took a deep breath. The bachelorette auction would happen in two weeks. In that time, she was going to get a make-over and a personality transplant if she could find one. At that thought, Jenna laughed, causing Dixie to look at her oddly. “I don’t know how to live without him.” Jenna folded her arms across her chest, hugging herself. “I don’t know how to explain it. In some ways, it’s like someone died or maybe how a person feels if they divorced.”

  “You’ll want to see him someday, Jenna. The Grays have been your family for two years.” Keeping her eye on the road, she missed Jenna wiping tears from her face.

  “I know you’re right, but I have to get over him first. And I don’t know how long that’s going to take.”

  * * *

  Logan couldn’t sleep, he couldn’t eat. He could barely function. When Jenna walked away from him, she stole his heart and almost took his sanity. He’d tried to phone her countless times in the past two weeks. She wouldn’t pick up, nor had she answered any of his emails or texts. His parents were standing on their head. His father’s words had been quick and succinct.

  “I never thought I’d raised a fool, Logan. Maybe I was wrong.”

  He missed her so much, he didn’t feel whole. Logan sat at his desk with his head in his hands. What had he expected? In his crazy mind he thought he could push her away and keep her close at the same time.

  Maybe he was a fool.

  “Chief!” Marcus, his second in command, came barreling into the fire station. Logan’s initial thought was that Terra had shown up again. Even though he hadn’t encouraged her, nor had he asked her out since the night of the rodeo when he’d seen Jenna in the arms of the young soldier, she persisted in coming around and bringing food. The men loved to see her arrive, arms loaded with pies, cakes or some other tasty concoction. They’d taken to calling her his ‘girlfriend’, which Logan protested loudly once the coast was clear. His denials hadn’t really affected their enthusiasm. How he was going to discourage her without being rude was a mystery to him. But he had to let her down gently, and soon. Jenna might be gone, but she had carried her heart with him.

  “I’ll be there in a second!” As Logan rose, he pushed his worries about Jenna aside.

  “The new truck’s here!”

  “Great!” At least it wasn’t Terra. “It was time to do his job. Since Jenna left, he’d been almost impossible to work with. The men deserved a medal for putting up with him.

  Strolling out into the bay area of the fire station, Logan found six of his men climbing all over a brand new fire engine like excited young boys. Brodie, a big, strapping former UT football player, even turned on the siren. Logan had to smile. This engine represented a lot of work on their part. Their department’s responsibility was growing, with the area’s population on the rise; and ensuring they had equipment enough to provide adequate protection for their community was a constant battle.

  “I know where I’m going this weekend.” Ronan waved a piece of paper in the air. “Who’s with me?”

  “What are you talking about?” Chris asked innocently as he buffed the gleaming red surface of one of the engine’s fenders with a rag.

  “There’s a bachelorette auction at the Luckenbach Saloon Friday night. There’s flyers all over town with pictures of some of the girls on them. I found this one on the bulletin board and there’s several in the kitchen.” He read the information again. “All proceeds go to charity.” He groaned a little. “God, look at this little darling. I’m feeling real charitable about now. I think I need to make a special donation just to her.”

  “Let me see.” Brodie grabbed the sheet from the younger guy’s hand. He stared at it, then whacked Ronan on the back of the head. “Chief would kill you. That girl you’re drooling over is part of his family.”

  “What?” Logan wheeled around so fast, he knocked a whole set of wrenches off a portable stand. The clatter sounded like they were being attacked. “Give me that,” he snatched the flyer from Brodie and almost swallowed his tongue. Jenna. His Jenna had been captured in a seductive pose, one finger in her mouth like she was sucking it and the other hand spread across her middle with the fingertips curved downward over her…female area. “What the hell?”

  Quickly he scanned the information under the photos. Apparently she had volunteered to go out on a date with the highest bidder for a good cause. He gritted his teeth as he saw the girls would be dancing and displaying their charms to increase the amount men were willing to offer. “Why in the hell is she doing this?” Jenna wasn’t shy, but she’d always been busy around the ranch or with school. She’d never been one to want to party – not that he would’ve allowed it.

  “I don’t know, but I
have a little money saved up. Maybe it will be enough to walk out with her on my arm.” Ronan muttered, still gazing at the photo with longing.

  “You will not!” Logan roared. “I’ll break the hand of any man who thinks he can buy Jenna Travis. Hell, she's barely eighteen. I should call the cops on the owners.”

  The men were taken aback. Chris recovered first. “I wouldn’t do that, Chief. It would cause a lot of hard feelings in the community. I’m sure everything is on the up and up. As long as they don't serve her alcohol, they haven't done anything wrong. Besides, Jenna might even get into trouble for the fake ID. It might be best if you just went and bid on her yourself.” Or at least that was the recommendation from the hot blonde he’d met outside named Dixie who’d thrust a handful of the flyers at him, begging him to help her get them into the fire hall. Subtle, she was not.

  Logan grumbled something unintelligible and stalked to his office. The men were left staring at one another. “I didn’t know who she was,” Ronan whispered. “I’m sorry.”

  “I think she belongs to the Chief,” Brodie murmured. “I’m just not sure in what capacity.”

  Logan was as confused as they were. He knew he had made quite a spectacle of himself. The emotions coursing through him ranged from fear to jealousy, to a longing so intense that his chest ached with it. Sitting in his chair, he stared at the picture. The very idea of another man having the privilege of kissing those lips or caressing her skin made him crazy.

  Again, he picked up his phone and hit her name in his contact list. The number rang several times with no response. “Damn,” he tossed the cell to one side. “I guess Chris is right. The only way I can protect her is to make sure the man she walks out of that auction with is me.”

  About an hour east, Jenna finished unpacking the last box. Louisa and Earl had dropped her belongings off for her. No matter what her relationship with Logan was like, she couldn’t and wouldn’t ignore them. She just needed some time to get her emotions in check. They were still taking care of Stormy until she could make alternative plans, for which she was eternally grateful. The beloved older couple begged her to come home, but she couldn’t. She hadn’t divulged the reason for her departure, she’d only said it was time. But she had agreed to meet Louisa in Fredericksburg for lunch on Sunday and that seemed to make her feel better.

  The one thing they hadn’t agreed on was her truck. Jenna had handed Earl the keys and begged him to drive it back to Gray Wolf. She’d explained that it wasn’t right for her to keep it and that she planned to buy something else on her own. Logan’s father had flatly refused and said if she wanted to give back Logan’s gift, she’d have to do it in person. Louisa had agreed. They loved her, there was no doubt about it. A painful sense of loss swept over her. She missed her mom and dad. She also missed the Gray’s and the loving home they’d given her. Even more, she missed Logan. He’d been her rock. When Jenna had been in his arms, there was nothing in the world that could harm her.

  But she’d blown all of that sky-high with her foolish dreams and silly expectations. While his motivation had been benevolence, hers had skated right past kindness to a wedding ring and the marriage bed.

  Oh well, he’d set her straight quickly enough.

  “Jenna? Are you ready?” Dixie came barreling in. “The shopping mall will not come to us. We’ve got to find two kick-ass outfits for the auction.”

  “Yea, I’m just finishing up. Let me get my purse.” Jenna was halfway out the door before she took a really good look at Dixie. “What did you do?”

  Dixie laughed, turning all the way around. Her hair was no longer blonde, it was pink. “How do you like it?”

  Jenna stood with hand on hip, trying to decide. “You know what? I do like it. You look daring and sexy.”

  As they started out the door, Dixie stopped, picking up an envelope off the floor. “What’s this?”

  “I don’t know, it must have fallen out of one of the boxes.” She removed a letter from the envelope and lifted it to read. “Oh, my God, Logan. What have you done?” A fist-size lump rose in her throat. He’d done it again.

  “What is it?” Dixie crowded close to her. “Let me see that,” she grabbed the letter. “You have a college fund. You can go to school!”

  “He’s got to stop trying to take care of me,” Jenna fretted. “I’m not comfortable with it anymore.” She took the paper from Dixie’s hand and returned it to the envelope. “I won’t be accepting this.” She’d return it to Logan when she returned the pickup. “Now, where were we?”

  “Heading out the door.” Dixie swung her purse and playfully bumped Jenna’s knee. “You, my friend, have lots of options. Whether you want to admit it or not, people care about you. School, the Wildflower Farm, and don’t forget the Cowgirl Angels. Heck, you could even start riding bulls.”

  She knew Dixie was teasing, but her words settled on Jenna’s heart “I know, and I’ll make a decision soon.” It was hard and seemed so final. “I have to admit, the idea of riding with the Cowgirl Angels is intriguing.”

  “Beats the heck out of a nine to five job. Why do you think I barrel race?” Dixie laughed, as she crawled in the Jeep.

  Jenna joined her, groaning. “I’d die if I have to sit in an office cubicle all day long. I’d rather ride and eat peanut butter for the rest of my life.”

  As Dixie backed out, she turned to confess. “I don’t mean to butt into your business, but I did a little research. The Angels train up in Oklahoma at the Bar X Ranch near the town of Moore. That’s a long way away from Stonewall.”

  “Yea, it is.” Jenna added in a whisper. Fingering a strand of her own hair, she muttered almost defiantly. “Maybe I should dye mine purple or burgundy.”

  “Logan Gray would die.” Dixie blurted out with a giggle.

  Jenna wilted before Dixie’s eyes and she immediately felt contrite for bringing up his name.

  “Logan doesn’t get a vote. Not anymore.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  “Are you listening to me, Ronan?” Logan got right in his face. “I have to go out on this call, I don't have a choice. So, you go to that auction and make damn sure to outbid everybody. I don’t care how much it costs. Do not let another man end up with Jenna or I’ll seriously hurt you.”

  He could see the Captain was dead serious. “Yes, sir. I won’t let you down, Sir.”

  Climbing onto the fire engine, he gave his proxy one last instruction. “I’ll be there by the time the auction is over to pay the bid. And if I’m not, you keep her there until I arrive. Got it?”

  Ronan nodded as the bay doors began to open.

  “And don’t tell her you’re bidding for me!” Logan yelled as the engine pulled out into the street.

  Dry-scrubbing his face, Ronan groaned. “Geez, that woman is gonna skin me.”

  “What’s going on?” Chris asked, flopping down on a bench. He was just coming on duty and Ronan was heading out.

  “Chief asked me to buy Jenna Travis at the bachelorette auction.” He checked his watch. “It starts in a half hour. I guess I’d better head out there.”

  “I don’t envy you.” Chris laughed. “What if some high roller comes in and outbids you? How much did he say to spend?”

  “He said he didn’t care how much it cost.” Ronan looked worried. “I have an uneasy feeling about this.”

  “I don’t blame you. Sounds like a touchy situation to me.”

  Grabbing his duffle, Ronan headed out. “I hope they take credit cards.”

  Over at the Luckenbach saloon, Jenna was shaking like a leaf. “I need a drink,” she told Dixie as she smoothed her barely there skirt down over her thighs. “Why did I agree to do this? What kind of man bids on a woman he doesn’t know, anyway?”

  Dixie stared at herself in the mirror. “Quit worrying, you look beautiful. Sexy. Your boobs look two sizes bigger and your legs are a mile long. Red is your color, girl.”

  “I don’t know.” Jenna fretted. “These heels are gonna kill me. I’
ll fall off the table and land in some strange guy’s lap.”

  Laughing, Dixie turned to Jenna. “Come here. Let me fix your eyeshadow.” She took a brush and began applying a little glitter. “This is supposed to be fun. It’s your first step into the world of men, sans Logan.” Dixie put a hand behind her back with fingers crossed. Jenna didn’t know she’d personally taken some flyers about the auction to the fire station. There was no way Logan didn’t know what Jenna was up to.

  Jenna took a deep breath. “Okay, I’m ready. I can’t let him ruin my whole life. I gotta get out there and…shake my booty!” She ended on a happy note, albeit a forced one.

  “That’s right.” Dixie laughed.

  “Hey!” A voice called from the door of the small make-shift dressing room. “You two are up next. Let’s go!”

  A sense of panic hit Jenna, but she didn’t get a chance to back out. Dixie grabbed her by the hand and the next thing she knew, she was being led through a crowd of people, then helped to climb up on the bar to dance. It took Jenna a moment to get her footing. The music was loud and the lights were blinding. She had a sinking feeling that this was a big mistake.

  Out in front, Ronan watched the line-up of beauties with his mouth open. “Land-sakes-a-goshen,” as his mother always said. The only place he’d ever seen more beautiful skin was on the beach. Jenna was in the middle, undoubtedly one of the prettiest girls there. She’d been shy at first, but someone had handed her a drink. After downing it in a couple of gulps, she was loosening up. He was glad the Chief wasn’t there, men were lined up at her feet and their hands weren’t being shy.

  When the bidding started, it went fast. When it came to Jenna, he had competition, but the Chief had given him orders and he was going to do his dead level best not to let him down.