Jody wanted to sink right through the grass to the center of the earth as all around her and her baby and her infuriating mother, people snickered and stared and a few of them even whispered to each other. They laughed and they clapped. Jody knew what at least a few of them were wondering: Had bad Willow Bravo suddenly decided to put a move on hunky, upstanding Sheriff Yancy? What would she do to him? Something ruinous, wicked and wild, no doubt.
The last to drop out against Willow was Adriana. Willow topped her final bid by shouting, “Fifteen hundred!” It was two hundred dollars higher than Adriana’s bid. Everybody clapped.
The auctioneer pounded his gavel and asked Adriana for fifty bucks more. She shook her head. “Going once,” warned the auctioneer. “Going twice...”
Seth had relaxed since Willow started bidding—oh, he was still standing there with his arms crossed and his legs braced apart, his expression carved in stone. But after living with the guy for weeks, Jody could read him pretty well. She saw the twitch at the corner of his mouth that gave away his effort not to smile.
Apparently, he’d figured out what her mother was up to, that Willow was set on winning him for Jody. And being won by Jody was what he’d been after all along.
Because they were good buddies, Seth and Jody. Because he could count on her not to try to put a move on him. With Jody, things wouldn’t get “messy.”
For some reason, that he was so pleased with her mother’s machinations annoyed Jody no end. If she was going to win the guy anyway, she would damn well make it happen herself.
Jody stuck up her hand.
The whole park seemed to go absolutely still. Silence echoed in the balmy air.
The auctioneer pointed his gavel at Jody. “Fifteen fifty.” He aimed the gavel at her mother. “An even sixteen?” Willow gave a tiny shake of her golden head. The auctioneer scanned the crowd. “Do I hear sixteen? Ladies? Don’t miss out! Going once, going twice...” The gavel went down. “Sold to the lady in the Broncos cap for 1,550 dollars!”
The crowd went wild, clapping, laughing, whistling. Throwing their hats in the air.
“Attagirl.” Willow patted her shoulder. Jody turned to say something sarcastic, but her mother had already set off through the crowd.
Caroline Carruthers called, “Winners, congratulations! Come on up here and claim your men!”
There was more hooting and hollering. That last burst of sound finally woke Marybeth up. She started to cry.
Jody pushed the fussing baby forward toward the stage. When she got there, Seth could soothe Marybeth. After all, she’d paid fifteen fifty for him. He could at least make himself useful.
Seth was waiting for her, looking way too pleased with the way things had turned out. He jumped down off the stage, took the stroller with Marybeth in it and hoisted it up there. Then he reached for Jody.
She shook her head. “I’ll take the stairs.”
But he grabbed her by the waist and lifted her anyway.
As her feet left the ground, she clutched his giant shoulders and let out a shriek. “Seth, put me down!”
And he did—on the stage, which brought another loud flurry of applause and laughter from the crowd. Then he jumped right up beside her, grabbed her hand and raised it high. “Smile,” he commanded. “Give the folks a wave.”
It was done. She’d won the guy. Might as well give the crowd what they wanted. Jody smiled and waved, which caused more clapping and stomping and catcalls.
When Seth finally let go of her hand, he bent right down to Marybeth, lifting her so gently out of the stroller and up to his shoulder. The ripple of applause increased again, but Marybeth didn’t seem to care about all the noise now. She snuggled right in.
They joined the other bachelors and their dates. Caroline thanked the crowd and the auctioneer. She congratulated the winners and reminded them of the table under the tree where three library-association ladies waited with open cash boxes and credit-card readers to take the money the winners had bid.
To a final round of applause, the group on the stage disbanded. Seth put Marybeth back in the stroller long enough to get her down off the stage.
Jody jumped down after them. “If you’ll take the baby for a minute, I’ll settle up with the library ladies.”
Marybeth had started fussing the minute he put her back in the stroller, so he scooped her up again and cradled her close. The crying stopped.
“I’ll take care of the money,” he said. “It’s only fair.”
Jody made a show of rolling her eyes. “What in the world has fairness got to do with this?”
He leaned closer, and she got a tempting whiff of his manly, clean scent. “Come on, Jody. I know your mom forced your hand. Let me pay for this. I want to.”
“Ah, but see, that wouldn’t be fair.” She poked him in the chest with a finger. It was like poking a boulder. “I won you. I’ll pay for you.”
He shook his big head and patted the baby on his shoulder. “There’s no making you see reason when you get that stubborn look.”
“It’s settled, then. Watch the baby. I’ll be right back.”
“I’ll go with you, at least.”
Together, they headed to the long table under the tree. Jody pulled her credit card from her cross-body bag and waited her turn to pay. Seth, at her side, held Marybeth in one arm and pushed the stroller with his free hand, making himself useful as he always did. The guy was way too easy to have around.
Jody tried to keep in mind all the ways he irritated her. Didn’t work. Her frustration with the situation had faded to nothing.
Seth was happy and so was Marybeth. It felt great to be out in the sun on a beautiful day. Yeah, he’d just cost her more than fifteen hundred bucks. But hey. It would go to a good cause.
At the front of the line, she offered her credit card to the lady from the library association. “I won the sheriff.” Beside her, Seth actually dared to chuckle, and she had to stop herself from poking him in the ribs with an elbow.
But the library lady shook her head. “Your bid’s been paid.”
“By who?”
The library lady peered at her list. “Mrs. Franklin Bravo.”
Ma. She should have known.
Jody turned and glared at Seth, who was actively grinning. Seriously, the man never cracked a smile, but today he couldn’t stop smirking. “What are you going to do if my mother wants her date with you?”
His grin vanished. She found his look of bewildered surprise way too gratifying.
But then the library lady piped up with, “Are you Johanna Bravo?”
“Yeah. So?”
“It says here that you are the holder of the winning bid. Mrs. Bravo has only paid it for you. The date with the sheriff is yours.”
Jody whipped her head around to find Seth starting to smirk again. “Wipe that smile off your face,” she commanded. He tried to look innocent, but didn’t succeed. She turned back to the lady behind the cash box. “As you just pointed out, I won the sheriff. I want to pay for my prize.”
“I’m so sorry,” said the library lady. “But this bid is already paid. It’s a donation freely given. We don’t refund donations.”
Jody tapped her Chuck Taylor. Damn her mother anyway. Willow just had to have the last word.
And really, Jody should have been happy with Willow paying up. Her mother had a lot more money than Jody did. Plus, Jody had only won Seth because her mother had manipulated her into it. It could definitely be considered fair that Willow should pay.
Beside her, Seth cleared his throat.
She froze him with a glance. “Shh. I’m thinking.” And that was when the solution came to her. She gave the library lady a gracious nod. “All right, then. I’d like to make a donation for 1,550 dollars, please.”
As the library la
dy’s eyes lit up, Seth growled, “Jody...”
She shushed him again. Yes, shushing was rude, but she didn’t feel like listening to him tell her what to do. “It’s tax deductible,” she muttered, as if that explained everything. “And it’s for a good cause.”
“Oh, yes, it is!” chirped the library lady as she accepted Jody’s credit card.
Once Jody had signed for the money and received her tax-deductible receipt, her Silver Star Limo voucher and gold-embossed coupon for a full day of pampering at Sweet Harmony Day Spa, Seth suggested, “Why don’t we hang around for a while, get something to eat and enjoy the band?”
“Oh, right,” Jody scoffed. “Now the auction’s over and you don’t have to worry about one of your admirers putting a move on you, you’re feeling good.”
He didn’t even pretend to deny it. “Hey. Got me there. Let’s get a hot dog.”
“Why not?” Marybeth seemed content. If she got hungry, Jody had pumped milk that morning and had a bottle ready to feed her.
They stayed for two hours. Jody devoured a chili dog and a tall lemonade, and they made the rounds of the craft, art and book booths, meeting up with Clara and Dalton and their little girl, Kiera, for a while and later running into Jody’s half brother James, his wife, Addie, their seven-month-old, Brandon, and Addie’s grandfather and her grandfather’s girlfriend, too. They all sat together at a picnic table to catch up.
More than one of the other women who had bid on Seth stopped by to congratulate Jody on her win, Adriana among them. She leaned close to Jody and teased, “We all knew there was more going on with you two than you admitted the other day.”
Jody played along. “It was the tight T-shirt. I realized I had to have him.”
* * *
Seth, sitting next to Jody feeding Marybeth her bottle, heard what both women had said.
He knew Jody was joking, but her response pleased him anyway. Somehow he kind of liked the idea of Jody laying claim to him. He liked just about everything right at this moment.
Was this happiness? It sure felt like it.
Seven long years had passed since he last felt this way, felt that the world had more good in it than evil, that today was a fine day and tomorrow would be great, too.
He looked down at the baby he held in his arms. She waved her little fist and made soft smacking noises as she sucked on her bottle. That feeling happened in his chest, a good kind of tightness, a warmth. A rightness. He’d only truly loved a few people in his life: his dad, his stepmother, Nicky and Irene.
And now there was Marybeth. There had been too many losses. But Marybeth made up for a whole lot of loss.
Beside him, Jody laughed at something her brother James had said. Seth liked Jody’s laugh. It was low and rich and real. It reached down inside him and stirred things up. At first, he’d fought that stirring. But sometime in the past week or so, he’d given in and let himself be stirred.
He liked a lot of things about Jody. She was smart and beautiful and easy to be around. She didn’t take any crap from him, and he admired her for the way she stood up for her beliefs. He’d also grown to respect her. Slowly, he’d come to appreciate her ingrained integrity. Yeah, she’d made some choices he would never have made. But she owned her mistakes, took responsibility for her actions.
He fully understood now why Nicky had fallen for her.
And as for himself? He’d finally faced the truth. He was attracted to her. He couldn’t deny it anymore, didn’t want to deny it.
They were compatible, him and Jody. They worked well together. He’d lived in her house for three and a half weeks and their lives just naturally seemed to fit together like the parts of a well-oiled machine. They never argued over household stuff. They both just kept at it till everything that needed doing got done. They picked up the slack for each other.
They were a good team.
And lately, in the past few days anyway, maybe longer, he kept finding himself thinking that they could have a good life together, raise Marybeth together, be a family, even have more kids...
* * *
That night, when Jody dropped down beside him on the sofa in the great room after putting Marybeth to bed, he muted the basketball game and asked, “So where do you want to go for our big date?”
She made a sound of amusement low in her throat. “What date? I want you right here doing what you always do, rocking the baby, changing the diapers, bringing the baked goods and the takeout for dinner—and washing up the dishes afterward.”
Actually, he loved the sound of that. “Whatever you want from me, Jody, it’s yours.”
She drew up her bare feet and crossed them on the cushions. “Wow. That was downright affectionate.”
He wanted to touch her—that silky brown hair, the curve of her cheek. Yeah, he still loved Irene and that was forever. After losing her, he’d known that he would never get married.
But now there was Marybeth, and she changed how he looked at things. He and Jody could make a good life together—good for each other, good for Marybeth. “Ever been married?”
She grabbed a throw pillow and bopped him on the shoulder with it. “Really? Suddenly you want to talk about my past relationships?”
He picked up the remote again and turned the game off. “What’s wrong with that?”
“I don’t know. It just seems...un-Seth-like, somehow. I mean, you’re always willing to listen when I need to talk something out, and I appreciate that about you. But you’re not exactly one of those guys who asks for it.”
“Look. I like you.”
“Um. I like you, too?”
He almost laughed. She did that to him. Made him want to laugh again. “Do you really like me, Jody?”
She hugged the pillow to her chest. “Of course I do.”
“Good. Ever been married?”
“Never.”
“Serious relationships?”
She hugged the pillow tighter and tipped her head to the side, studying him. “You honestly want to know.” That time it wasn’t a question.
“Yes, I do.”
She tipped her head the other way and stared at him some more. Then, finally, she gave it up. “No, I have never been married. After my father carried on a quarter-century-long affair with my mother while still married to his wife and then my high school boyfriend dumped me because I was having his baby, I had some serious trust issues when it came to men, I guess you might say.”
“Understandable.”
She put the pillow in her lap and fiddled with the fringe on it. “After I came back from Sacramento, I went to CU for a business degree. And I went a little wild in college. I had more than a few lovers. But there was nobody serious. I wanted things casual. I didn’t want to get too close.” She slanted him a wary look. “Don’t get judgy, now.”
He hadn’t been judging her. Had he? “What makes you think I’m judging you?”
“I know how you are, Mr. Straight-and-Narrow.”
“Jody. Come on. I told you I had some wild years myself.”
She laughed then. “Point taken. So, I kept things casual, but I was looking.”
“For?”
“A good guy, a trustworthy guy. When I was twenty-three, I found that guy. Or so I thought. His name was Brent Saunders. Brent was an insurance adjuster here in town. He was also kind and gentle and thoughtful. I just knew I had found what I was looking for. We were together for four years.”
“What went wrong?”
“Brent was never quite ready to talk about marriage. At first, that worked for me. I wanted to take my time, to be sure it was the real thing with him. We’d been together about eight months when he told me he loved me. I said I loved him, too. After that, he was always saying it. But he never said a word about forever. After two years together, I told him my
goals, which included marriage and children—marriage to him, I hoped.”
“So then, he finally proposed?”
“Not a chance. Brent was vague on the marriage thing. He loved me more than his life, he said. But why rush into anything? We had plenty of time. After four years together, I finally admitted to myself that Brent and I were going nowhere. I broke it off. Three months later, he eloped with the receptionist at his office. They moved to Seattle soon after.”
“What a jerk. Not to mention, a fool.”
“Thank you. I mean, he could’ve had me.”
“He was an idiot.”
She hugged her pillow again. “You’re kind of a hard-ass, Seth.”
“Me? No. I’m gentle. Trustworthy. Thoughtful, too.”
She snorted a little as she stifled a giggle. “What I meant is that being a hard-ass is only on the outside. Deep down you’re a softy. And sometimes you do say just the right things.”
“I say what I really think.”
“Mostly. Except when you put on your Mount Rushmore face and say nothing at all.”
“Sometimes less is more when it comes to talking.”
“Said no woman, ever.” Her cheeks were pink, and those blue eyes gleamed. And her mouth. He liked the shape of it, the pretty dip of the Cupid’s bow on top, the softness below.
He wanted to kiss her. But he held himself in check. For now. “But about Brent...”
She cocked an eyebrow. “Yeah?”
“It must be a relief that you never said yes to that bozo.”
“Well, he would’ve had to ask in order for me to say yes to him, but you’re right. It worked out for the best.”
“And after Brent the bonehead?”
“Hmm. Brent the bonehead. Catchy. I like it.”
“After Brent...?”
“After Brent, I seriously considered swearing off love and romance for good. I was twenty-seven when I broke it off with him. I decided to focus on my business, on my family and friends. It was fine for a couple of years. And then I started feeling that I was missing out on the most important things. I still didn’t know if I would ever find the one. But I kind of started thinking I needed to get out and try to meet up with guys again. And then, one night last August, I decided to get out and party. I went to Alicia’s.”
The Lawman's Convenient Bride Page 10
