Taming a Texas Rascal (Bad Boy Ranch #6) - Katie Lane Page 0,64
flirting like nobody’s business. Then there was the entire ‘I’m teaching Maisy a few bronc riding moves’ thing where you had your hands all over her. You laughed when I accused you of putting the moves on her and said she was just a kid. But you weren’t treating her like a kid, Sawyer. You were treating her like a woman you desired.”
Sawyer stared at his friend. Was Lincoln right? Had he desired Maisy even then? He thought back to the wedding. Until now, he’d only remembered how much fun he’d had with her. How they’d laughed and joked like friends. But now he tried to look past the teasing and remember the emotions he’d had.
Like how surprised he’d been when he’d first seen Maisy in the pretty bridesmaid’s dress. Until that point, he’d only seen her in jeans and t-shirts. The sight of her hair swept up on her head and the dress hugging her breasts and trim waist had left him feeling speechless . . . and physically attracted. An attraction he had pushed from his mind when Lincoln had confronted him at the wedding. But it had been there when she’d placed her hand on his arm as they walked down the aisle. It had been there when they’d talked all through dinner. It had been there when he had led her to a secluded spot in the Dixon’s Boardinghouse’s garden and taught her some new bronc riding moves. But it had all been a pretense to get to touch her and lean in close enough to take a deep breath of the sweet fresh-air scent that was solely Maisy’s.
Which meant on their tequila night, he’d only been doing what he wanted to do for a long time.
But the epiphany made no difference. Maisy was leaving.
“It looks like the boys are here,” Lincoln said.
Sawyer watched as Logan and Cru pulled up to the porch in Logan’s truck. Only seconds later, Holden and Val drove in behind them. All four of the men got out with determined looks on their faces and Sawyer knew he was in for one helluva fight. But he was ready for it. At least, he thought he was ready until two more people got out of the back seat of Holden’s truck. One was a middle-aged woman he didn’t know. And the other . . . was his brother.
Mattie smiled when he saw Sawyer standing on the porch and signed. Surprise.
“Shit,” Sawyer said.
Lincoln laughed. “Hey, you didn’t think we were going to make this easy, did you?”
Since Chester and Lucas’s living room wasn’t big enough to hold everyone, the intervention took place in the barn. Lincoln and Logan set hay bales in a circle for everyone to sit on. Mattie sat next to Sawyer. He glanced around the barn and then signed.
I see now why you love it here. You always did like the smell of horseshit.
Sawyer would’ve laughed if he hadn’t felt so tense.
Is that beautiful black stallion our horse? Mattie signed.
Your horse. Sawyer signed back. I’m giving him to you. I’m heading back to the rodeo.
Mattie grinned. We’ll see about that.
As always when they had a group meeting, Logan took charge. “I guess you know why we’re here, Sawyer.”
Sawyer signed for his brother so he would know what Logan had said—something he always did whenever he was with Mattie—then he signed as he spoke. “I do. And you might as well not waste your time.”
Cru snorted. “I told you we should’ve just hogtied him and beaten some sense into him. It would be much quicker.”
Lincoln glanced at the woman. “Cru is joking, Ms. Miller.” He looked back at Sawyer. “This is Darlene Miller. Tad Miller’s widow.”
Sawyer stared at the woman. Tad Miller had been one of the best bull riders on the circuit until he retired. He’d passed away a few years ago. Sawyer had a bad feeling about this. The feeling grew when Darlene turned her gaze to him.
“I believe you knew my late husband. He mentioned you more than a few times before his CTE got bad.” She paused. “Then he struggled to remember his own family.”
Sawyer wanted to stop her right there, but he couldn’t do that to a widow of a fellow roughstock rider and he figured his friends had known that. His brother thumped on his arm, and not only did Sawyer have to listen to what the woman said, he also had to sign it for Mattie.