Page 36 of Wrangling a Texas Hometown Hero

The hollow feeling in her stomach that she’d been trying to fill with tiny tea sandwiches returned full force and she struggled to keep all those sandwiches down.

“There’s that frown again,” Mrs. Stokes said. “And here I thought you’d be happy that Jace raved about your beer last night.”

Hallie blinked. “Last night? You saw him last night?”

Mrs. Stokes nodded. “He’s staying in my guesthouse while he coaches the high school football team.”

“What?” The word was spoken much louder than she intended and everyone glanced over. She lowered her voice and leaned in closer to Mrs. Stokes. “Jace is coaching the football team?”

“Isn’t that what I just said?”

“But why? He doesn’t want anything to do with football anymore.”

“That’s horse pucky. His pride is just still stinging from not being able to live up to his dreams.” Mrs. Stokes shook her head. “Or more like this town’s dreams. That’s one of the reasons he doesn’t want to live here. He thinks he let us down. But we were the ones who let him down. We pushed too hard for him to be the next Roger Staubach. We made him feel like he had to earn our love. I’m sure his daddy leaving him didn’t help his belief that love isn’t given freely. So I did what I did hoping to give us another chance to make Jace feel like he’s more than enough just the way he is.”

“What did you do?”

Mrs. Stokes shrugged. “What I had to. I blackmailed him with the secret I know.”

Before Hallie could get over her shock, Mrs. Stokes started coughing. Hallie was forced to wait until it stopped. While she waited, she tried to figure out what secret Mrs. Stokes could possibly have to blackmail Jace with.

Mrs. Stokes finished coughing and read her confused expression. “Yes. I know about your and Jace’s little dalliance.”

Hallie stared at her. “He told you?”

“Of course not. He’s not the type of man to kiss and tell. I overheard you and him talking at the wedding. And don’t look so scared. I’m not going to tell anyone . . . unless Jace doesn’t fulfill his end of our bargain.”

“Why that’s just plain . . .” She tried to think of a word nasty enough for what the old woman was doing. Mrs. Stokes helped her out.

“Ruthless.” Mrs. Stokes smiled. “Yes. Sometimes you need to be ruthless to get what you want.” She got to her feet and adjusted her ratty mink stole. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go get more of those little salmon-and-dill sandwiches. Tasty!” She walked away leaving Hallie feeling like she’d just been in a fight with a viper.

But underneath the shock and anger was another emotion.

A tiny little tingle of something that felt an awful lot like happiness.

The gossip of Jace becoming the new head football coach spread through the group of women like wildfire. Everyone was thrilled. Including Mimi. Although she was also more than a little curious.

“I wonder how Fiona did it. Corbin would have paid Jace twice the amount he’s getting to coach to be our foreman. Fiona must have something up her sleeve. The question is what?”

Before Hallie could think up a good way to get her grandmother’s mind off the track it was going down, her mama spoke. “Now, Mimi, Jace has always loved football more than ranching. We shouldn’t care why he’d staying, just that he is. Now come on and let’s say goodbye to our guests.”

Once all the guests had left, Hallie helped her sisters, Sunny, Mimi, and Mama clean up before Liberty took them upstairs and gave them a tour of the rooms that were being renovated. Each room was named after a sister and decorated for their holiday. Hallie’s would be decorated like a nightmare in black and orange. Thankfully, it held nothing but a bed and dresser at the moment.

But Noelle’s room was finished.

“It’s just perfect!” Noelle gushed when she saw the green-and-red decorated room with the little Christmas tree sitting on a table in front of the window. “Can I stay the night? My social media fans are going to just die when they see it.”

Hallie quickly slipped out of the room before Noelle talked her into filming or taking pictures. Since Noelle had come with her to the shower, that left Hallie to drive home alone.

That’s exactly where she should have gone.

Home.

She certainly shouldn’t have ended up at Mrs. Stokes’ house.

The house was a huge two-story Victorian-style brick home, although it was hard to see the red brick beneath the climbing ivy that covered the front. Mrs. Stokes’ Cadillac was parked in the gravel driveway. She bought a new one every three years, even though she never drove them and never would. She walked to the bank every day and had probably walked to the bed-and-breakfast for the shower. The woman could walk for miles without breaking a sweat, even in her ratty mink stole in hundred-degree weather.

Since Hallie had no desire to run into her coming back from the shower, she parked in the side alley where there was a gate that led to the guesthouse. Unfortunately, once she got out of her truck, she realized there was a padlock on the gate. She glanced at the top of the chain-link fence. It didn’t look that high.

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