Page 10 of Love Me, Cowboy

“Where’s Georgia?” she asked, glancing around with squinted eyes that probably couldn’t see much.

“I don’t know,” Tyler said, “but this party is over.”

“No,” Mary Catherine argued, “I want to stay.”

Before Tyler could answer, his sibling froze, eyes locked on something behind him. Tyler turned to see Jax Tipton, owner of the ranch next door to the Double H, being adored by a couple of buckle bunnies.

In a slurred voice, Mary Catherine said, “I think it’s time to leave.”

Bug and Jax had a history, as the whole town knew since their high school days, but Tyler never did get the details about why they’d ended way back then. Being sixteen meant Tyler wasn’t all that interested in his sister’s love life, and she’d never been willing to talk about it since. At least not with him.

From the look on Bug’s face, whatever had happened between them might not be totally over. Which didn’t bode well when she was set to marry someone else in two weeks.

“Okay, but we need to find Claire and Georgia first.”

“Yes. I need the girls.” Mary Catherine glanced down to her phone. “According to this text, Claire left a while ago. Where the hell is Georgia?”

Disappointed that Claire would leave without saying goodbye, Tyler followed his sister through the Thirsty Cowboy in search of her friend. As they rounded the end of the bar, their target stormed through the front entrance.

“Whoa,” Georgia said, nearly running into them. “What’s going on?”

“We’re leaving,” Bug said, grabbing the tall brunette by the wrist.

Georgia shot Tyler a look, but all he could do was shrug. “Says she’s ready to go.”

Before she could respond, Mary Catherine pushed through the door, dragging Georgia with her. Tyler followed on their heels.

“I’ll drive,” he said, but his sister charged on, rambling about something to do with fittings and flowers.

Over her shoulder, Georgia said, “Looks like we’re walking to the hotel. Let your parents know where she is.”

With a tip of his hat, Tyler strode to his truck. There wasn’t much point in going back inside the bar, since the person he wanted to dance with was already gone anyway.

Chapter Four

Clair bit her tongue. Hard.

Watching Mary Catherine look miserable in a dress that she never would have picked for herself was almost too much to bear. And there was nothing Claire could do to help her friend now. If nothing else, Claire understood why the bride-to-be had allowed herself to be bulldozed by her stepmother.

A bulldozing parental unit was something with which Claire was more than familiar. She was practically an expert on the subject. And as she’d yet to stand up to her own mother, Claire couldn’t exactly demand Mary Catherine stand up to hers.

Even if hers was little more than an attention-seeking stepmother.

So Claire held her peace and stepped into her fitting room, dreading the task ahead of her. Hanging like an impending blow to her self-esteem was a gorgeous, floor-length, deep-purple dress. As she ran a finger along the sweetheart neckline, lamenting the lack of straps, someone tapped on the wall outside her dressing room.

“Are you ready to be zipped up, ma’am?”

“Um... Not yet. Give me a minute.”

“All right. I’ll wait here until you open the curtain.”

As if this wasn’t awkward enough, now Claire had to peel off her sweater and jeans with a woman listening from three feet away. You’d think a bridal salon would have bigger dressing rooms. She’d come prepared, at least. The strapless bra felt weird under her sweater, but Claire had no intention of prancing around the salon with wide, extra-support beige bra straps showing above the dress.

Shimmying and prepared to tug, Claire nearly smacked herself in the nose when the dress shot up her body. She’d expected the thing to get stuck around her hips, the way most things once did. Pulling the top over her breasts, Claire tucked the silky material under her arms and turned her back to the curtain.

“Okay. I’m ready.”

The curtain whooshed open seconds before cold fingers touched the small of Claire’s back, making her jerk forward.

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