Page 50 of The Cowboy Who Came Home

The dance ended, and she stepped back from Mitch so she could talk to him. “So you live here?” she asked.

He nodded and said, For most of my life. He took her hand and led her toward the edge of the dance floor. He picked up a cup of punch and offered it to her.

“Sure,” she said and took it.

He turned back to get another one for himself, and then he grinned at her with those straight, white teeth. He was good-looking in that cowboy hat and that bright shirt that seemed to match his personality.

Misty smiled back at him and took a sip of her punch. She didn’t want to ask if he’d been born deaf or had lost his hearing over time, so she kept her hands still as she looked out onto the dance floor again.

The music had picked up, and it seemed more groups of people danced together than couples. The vibe in this town had been totally different than she’d expected, that was for sure.

Yeah, because you judged them as Podunk cowboys before meeting a single one.

Regret pulled through Misty, and she glanced over to Mitch. “Do you come to the dances a lot?”

If I can, he said. I work a bit south of town, and it’s a big ranch.

“Plus,” another man said, and Misty looked over to see Link stepping off the floor. “He just got back to town.” He smiled at her. “We work at the same ranch.”

“Being cousins and all,” she said.

“Right.” Link made the third side of their triangle, and Mitch started signing.

Where did Izzy go?

Link cleared his throat. “She got asked to dance by someone else.” Even in the yellow lights, Misty saw the ruddy quality of his face. “It’s fine.” He waved off the beginning of Mitch’s condolences. “She wants me to take her out, and I’m just not feeling it.”

Part of Misty rejoiced that he and Izzy weren’t an item, but she had no idea why. She was only here for a limited time, and she had a job to do. Several of them. Finding a cowboy boyfriend in the first few weeks wasn’t on her agenda.

“Well.” She remembered to sign as she spoke. “I have to get back to my—my—” Her hands stalled as her mind went on the fritz. She couldn’t believe she was going to tell a little white lie to these two fine cowboys. “Boyfriend,” she finished quickly, and she flubbed the sign. Maybe they’d think she hadn’t known it—which she really hadn’t—and that was why she’d paused before saying it.

“He’s around here somewhere.”

Link didn’t say anything, but Mitch said, You’ve got a boyfriend? He glanced over to Link. Too bad.

Link said nothing, and in fact, some pretty hefty shutters had gone right over his expression, making it impossible for Misty to know what he was thinking or feeling. She didn’t possess that ability, so she turned her face away from him lest he could see her little white lie showing plainly on her face.

Now, if Ralf would emerge from the gyrating bodies on the dance floor to give validity to her words, that would be great. She’d be working with him for the next couple of years, as he was the project manager for the restoration here in Three Rivers.

Lord, she prayed. But everything felt false about praying mere moments after lying to two men. Two good-looking, kind cowboys.

She huffed out a sigh and turned back to them, but Mitch had his hand in that of another woman’s as they got swallowed by the crowd.

“He’s pretty easy-going,” Link said, and Misty jolted toward him. “He said you sure were pretty.” He smiled, his chin down so the brim of his cowboy hat obscured his eyes. “I don’t think you saw him sign that.”

She reached out as if she’d lift his face higher. He did it naturally, and she let her hand drop back to her side. “Listen, I lied. I don’t have a boyfriend. Would you tell him?”

Link blinked those dark blue eyes at her, and oh, the tea lights glimmering in them made him seem soft and strong and sexy all at the same time. Misty’s stomach swooped, but she told it emphatically that she was not in town to date.

“And to you,” she said. “I’m sorry I said that. I don’t know why I did.”

“You don’t?”

Misty didn’t know how to answer him, so she raised her plastic cup to her lips and took a sip of punch.

“Do you like things like this?” Link asked next, and she turned to stand beside him, both of them facing the dance floor.

“They’re okay,” she said.

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