Taming a Texas Rascal (Bad Boy Ranch #6) - Katie Lane Page 0,26

beautiful up close as she’d been from far away. Unfortunately, she was a giggler. Everything he said, she giggled at. After a while, it became a little annoying and he made his excuses and headed back to the table. On the way, he made a pit stop at the bathroom. Dixie and Devlin were huddled together outside the ladies’ room. As he drew closer, he couldn’t help overhearing what the two women were talking about.

“She’s pregnant?” Devlin said in a hushed voice. “No wonder she was throwing up. Why hasn’t she told anyone?”

“She wanted to keep it a secret until—” Dixie cut off when the bathroom door opened and Maisy stepped out. She didn’t look well. Her face was pale and she held a hand to her stomach as she spoke to Devlin and Dixie. “I think I’m going to head on home. I don’t feel so good.”

Suddenly, Sawyer didn’t feel so good either.

Chapter Eight

Her daddy was dead.

Lincoln had pulled Maisy aside at Cotton-Eyed Joe’s and told her the forensics lab in Washington, D.C. had been able to identify the femur bone Boomer had found as Sam Sweeney’s. She’d shrugged it off as if it wasn’t a big deal, but a knot had formed in her stomach and gotten bigger and bigger until she’d made her excuses and left Cotton-Eyed Joe’s.

Now that she was back at her trailer, she felt drained. Like all the life had been sucked right out of her. All she wanted to do was crawl into bed and sleep.

She carefully removed her sling and got undressed, then she slipped on a t-shirt and boxer shorts. She didn’t realize the t-shirt she had chosen until she was standing in front of the mirror in the bathroom brushing her teeth. It had a picture of Waylon Jennings on the front. Waylon and Willie were her mama’s favorite singers and Maisy had grown up listening to their songs played over and over again on her mama’s CD player. Sometimes she’d catch her mama crying when certain songs came on and she knew those songs made her mom think of Sam.

Her mother had been head over heels for Sam and it had taken a long time for her to get over him and remarry. Because of that, Maisy had gotten it into her head that her father was worth loving. As a teenager, she’d started to blame her mother for Sam leaving. Her mama had always been a clingy-type of woman who could suffocate people. More than a few times in her life, Maisy had felt suffocated. Maybe that’s why she had spent so much time looking for Sam. Deep down, she had been convinced he was a good man who made a bad choice and she’d wanted to give him a chance to correct his mistake.

Now she couldn’t cling to that spark of hope anymore. Sam was dead. The merry-go-round had stopped and Maisy was now standing there trying to catch her balance.

A burning started at the back of her eyes and grew along with a tight pain in her chest. She grabbed onto the edge of the counter and tried to breathe. But the pain just grew worse until it burst out of her eyes in hot tears that rolled down her cheeks and dripped from her chin. Her knees gave out and she crumpled to the floor as loud sobs escaped her mouth. She had never been a crier, but she couldn’t seem to control the tears or the painful wailing.

Then, suddenly, she was being lifted up from the floor and pulled against a muscled chest that smelled of leather, soap, and horse.

“It’s okay, Maze. It’s going to be okay.” Sawyer rubbed her back in soothing strokes. “Don’t cry. Please don’t cry. I’m not going anywhere. We’ll get this figured out together.”

His kind words made her cry even more, and she wrapped her arms around his waist and clung tightly as she finally accepted her father’s death. She didn’t know how long they stood there in the little space next to her bathroom, but finally she cried herself out and reality started seeping in.

She felt like the biggest fool in the world for acting like a crybaby in front of Sawyer Dawson. Her cheeks heated with embarrassment as she drew back and she refused to look him in the eyes.

“I bet you think I deserve the nickname ‘Little Girl.’” Her voice sounded nasally and congested.

He stepped into the bathroom and tore some toilet paper off the roll