Page 23 of Auctioned to the Cowboys

She’s right. I don’t. I’ve made assumptions about a lot. We all have. We’ve assumed she’s running from something, and that’s why she entered that auction. We’re assuming her life wasn’t great. Maybe we’re wrong, but I don’t think so.

“You’re right. I don’t. But regardless, we want you to be happy.”

“Are you happy?” she asks, still focusing on the horizon. The question is spoken quietly as though she knows it’s presumptuous to ask but doesn’t care enough to keep the words inside the cavern of her mouth.

“Always. Can you tell?”

I turn to her and shoot my broadest grin. Jesse calls it my panty-dropper smile because it usually has that effect. She nods, but her smile doesn’t meet her eyes as though she doesn’t quite believe my words are authentic. She’s young, but she seems so much wiser than her years.

“So, did you and Jesse have a good time together yesterday?”

She eyes me and shrugs.

“Damn. Poor Jesse. I bet he gave you everything he’s got, and all he gets is a shrug!”

“You’re digging for information without asking direct questions.”

She has a point. “Did you sleep with Jesse after you baked the muffins from paradise?”

Taylor snorts and shifts in her seat. I reckon she wasn’t expecting me to be so direct, but she’ll learn. I’m not a man who enjoys beating around the bush.

“Yes, although I’m not sure it’s any of your business.”

“Of course, it’s my business. Everything at this ranch is.”

She remains silent but when I glance at her out of the corner of my eye, there’s a smile curling the corner of her pretty mouth.

“Did you like it?”

She huffs again. “Wow. Nosy and brazen.”

I laugh because she’s sassier than I imagined, and there’s nothing that turns me on more than a girl who can counter my one-liners.

“Nothing wrong with checking out the competition.”

“I thought you were all like brothers.”

“Sibling rivalry, then.”

“I don’t think any rivalry is necessary.”

She’s right, and it’s kind of thrilling to hear her say it. “Enough of you to go around?”

It’s cheeky but true. “I’m not sure about that part,” she says. “I’m still trying to get my head around everything that’s happened… that’s happening. What you want…” Her words drift away.

“There’s no rush, baby. Take your sweet, sweet time.”

I gulp a mouthful of coffee, grateful for the bitterness and heat. My muscles ache from digging out holes for replacement fence posts. My head aches from thinking too much. All I want is some time when I don’t have to take life seriously. I think this shopping trip is more exciting to me than it is to Taylor.

“Have you spoken to your family?” I ask. There wasn’t anyone with her at the auction but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. The fact that she didn’t go running home when she found out about the one husband and the two extras arrangement says a lot.

Taylor shakes her head but doesn’t elaborate, and I’m not going to push her. In time, I’m sure she’ll grow comfortable enough to confide all her truths. Until then, she deserves our patience.

I spend the rest of the journey encouraging her to talk more about baking because it’s something she really seems to love, and my stomach is more than happy to discover what future treats he can expect. I share a little about Jesse’s family and what good people they are and were. She doesn’t ask about my family, and it’s not a subject I plan to share much about. The past is best left dead and buried where the Clancys are concerned.

Main Street is busy, but I find a parking spot at the end before hurrying around the vehicle to help Taylor out the passenger door. She doesn’t wait for me—a sign her father was far from a gentleman—and I gently chastise her. “You’re going to make me look bad, little muffin. You gotta wait for a cowboy to help you out of any vehicle or off any horse, you understand?”

Taylor nods and she’s blushing by the time we’re walking side by side down the street.

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