Taming a Texas Rascal (Bad Boy Ranch #6) - Katie Lane Page 0,63

faces. “I suppose you hid that too.”

Lucas nodded. “Along with all the phones in the house.”

It was hard to keep his cool. He wanted to yell at the two stubborn cowboys in a bad way. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it. “Fine. I’ll take Angel and ride into town and get battery cables.”

“That’s a mighty long ride,” Chester said. “Especially when while you’re gone, I’ll just take something else from the engine. Not that I need to take anything with how that old truck runs.”

“You can’t keep me here forever.”

“No, we can’t. But we can keep you until the boys get here.”

Sawyer glared at the two old men. “They won’t change my mind about returning to bronc riding.”

“This inter . . . convention, or whatever you call it, isn’t just about you, Sawyer,” Lucas said. “It’s about your friends doing as much as they possibly can to save someone they love. Let them have their say and get all their fears out. And then if you still decide to go back to bronc riding, they won’t blame themselves.”

“Why should I do anything for them when they’ve spent the last few weeks keeping secrets from me? And not just any secret, but the secret that Maisy wasn’t pregnant because there was no way she could be pregnant.”

“I wasn’t keeping that a secret. I didn’t know.”

Sawyer turned to see Lincoln standing on the front porch. Now here was someone Sawyer could take his anger out on. He strode to the screen door and shoved it open, then stepped out on the porch and let it slam behind him.

“Don’t lie, Linc. If Dixie knew, you knew.”

“That should be the case, but I discovered my wife still keeps secrets from me. She knew if I knew about Maisy’s lie, I’d tell you. While I’m not really happy about Dixie keeping secrets from me, I understand why she did.”

“Yeah, I know. She wanted you and the boys to talk me out of going back to bronc riding.”

Lincoln nodded. “That was one reason.”

“There was another?”

Lincoln hesitated for a few seconds before he spoke. “Dixie is a romantic. She was hoping you’d fall in love with Maisy and both of you would decide to stay right here in Simple.” A few weeks ago, Sawyer would’ve laughed at Dixie’s plan. But he wasn’t laughing now. “But no matter how good my wife’s intentions were, it was still wrong,” Lincoln continued. “I’m sorry. I know the last few weeks have been stressful for you.”

They should have been. But he realized now that they hadn’t been all that stressful. There had been a few tense moments, but the rest of the time had been . . . fun. In fact, spending time with Maisy had been the most fun he’d had in a long time. With Lauren, the time they spent together had always felt forced—it was work pretending to have a good time. With Maisy, he hadn’t had to pretend anything.

But she had.

Maisy had only been going along with her best friend’s wishes. Like Sawyer had gone along with Lincoln’s wishes to stay away from Maisy.

“I hope you won’t hold this against Dixie,” Lincoln said. “She meant well.”

“I’m not mad at Dixie. It was Maisy who kept the secret first. She should’ve told me what happened the morning I found her in my room.”

Lincoln took off his hat and ran a hand through his hair. “Dixie claims that Maisy lied because you made her feel like she was the last woman you wanted to find in your room.” He sighed. “I reckon that’s my fault. I shouldn’t have warned you to keep away from her. You two are adults who can make your own choices on who you want to sleep with.” He paused. “And who you want to fall in love with.”

“I was wrong,” he lied. “It wasn’t love. The entire baby thing screwed with my head, is all. I didn’t even choose to have sex with Maisy.” At least not the first time. “It was the tequila.”

Lincoln squinted at him. “Alcohol only gives you the excuse to do what you want to do but don’t have the guts to. I should know. It took me getting a little drunk before I finally made love to Dixie. And don’t tell me you were never sexually attracted to Maisy. It was more than obvious at my wedding.”

“Your wedding? Nothing happened at your wedding.”

“It would’ve if I hadn’t stepped in. Every time I saw you two, you were