Page 4 of Wrangling a Texas Hometown Hero

“So where are the lucky grooms?” she asked.

“According to the text I just got from Jesse, they’re hanging out behind the barn with Daddy and the groomsmen,” Liberty said. “I hope you didn’t give them some of your homemade elderberry wine, Mimi.”

Mimi smiled slyly. “Now would I do that?”

“Yes!” came the unanimous reply.

Hallie was about to slip out of the door to join the party behind the barn when Sunny Whitlock, Corbin’s sister, sailed into the room. She looked like a long-legged runway model in the short red bridesmaid’s dress. At five feet two inches, Hallie had always envied tall women. And it had nothing to do with looking better in clothes or attracting more men. It had to do with being looked at as a cute little country gal who needed someone to take care of her. Because of her petite size, Hallie had had to fight for respect all her life. But once she got her brewery, things would be different. People, including her family, would stop thinking her beer brewing was a hobby and start seeing it as a profitable business. Here was her chance to score some points with Corbin. Corbin adored his baby sister.

She pinned on a bright smile. “Hey, Sunny. You look amazing . . . if not a little thirsty. Do you like beer? Because I have some of my homebrewed—”

“Oh, no!” Liberty turned on the vanity bench she sat on. “Last time you brought out your beer for folks to taste at a wedding, the preacher got drunk and could hardly get through the ceremony. No beer tasting until after the ceremony is over. Now go keep a watch for Daddy’s signal like Belle asked you to.”

Realizing she wasn’t going to get to brownnose Sunny or her soon-to-be brothers-in-law until later, Hallie sent Liberty an annoyed look and headed to the window.

A few moments later, Daddy stepped around the side of the huge red barn. If the big smile on his face was any indication, Mimi’s elderberry wine had been consumed. Hank Holiday wasn’t normally a smiler. He was a somber, tough cowboy through and through. He could wrangle a steer with his bare hands, rope a cow with his eyes closed, and tame the wildest mustang without breaking a sweat. As a kid, Hallie had worshipped the ground he walked on. The only thing she’d wanted to do was follow in his footsteps and become a rancher. Everything she did was to impress her daddy. And he was impressed. She remembered him bragging to all his friends.

“You should see my little Hallie ride.”

“You should see my little Hallie rope.”

“You should see my little Hallie dribble a basketball . . . throw a football . . . spike a volleyball.”

“I tell you what. She’s pretty damn good . . . for a girl.”

It was the last part that always put a tiny little tear in Hallie’s heart. And by the time she was a junior in college, she had stopped trying to impress her daddy. She’d stopped wanting to follow in his footsteps and become a rancher. She’d stopped living in his huge shadow. She still loved the hell out of him. Even now, her heart swelled at just the sight of him. She just wished he saw her as something more than a girl.

He glanced toward the house. When he saw her standing in the window, he started to lift his hand and wave when something caught his attention.

A cowboy appeared. A tall cowboy with a swagger that made Hallie’s breath catch. It hung in her lungs like a trapped rabbit as the man swept off his hat and held out a hand to her father. Sunlight reflected off his golden locks like a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow . . . or at the end of a bad nightmare.

“Jace?” The name squeaked out of her tight vocal cords like air released from a balloon.

Noelle joined her at the window, confirming her worst fears. “Lord have mercy, it is Jace Carson. I thought he was living in Galveston with his mama after leaving that Canadian football team. All I can say is no wonder he had a fan club that called themselves Jace’s Junkies. The man is sex in a Stetson.”

Hallie had never been a fainter, but she felt like she might faint now. Her knees had turned to water and her vision was blurred as she continued to stare out the window in stunned shock.

What was he doing here?

“I remember hearing about Jace Carson.” Sunny joined Noelle and Hallie at the window. “Is he the guy talking to your daddy?” She fanned a hand in front of her face. “He is scorching hot.”

Noelle sighed. “Too bad he’s covered by the Secret Sister oath.”

Hallie started choking and Belle hurried over to thump her on the back. “Are you okay, Hal?”

Hallie was anything but. “I’m fine. Just fine.”

“The Secret Sister oath?” Sunny asked. “What’s that?”

“It’s an oath we all took when we were younger,” Noelle explained. “No dating or hooking up with other sisters’ boyfriends—past or present.”

The conversation continued, but Hallie no longer listened. Her mind was too consumed with guilt and the man talking with her daddy. What was Jace doing here? What was he saying to her daddy? It must not have been anything bad because her daddy was still smiling. He thumped Jace on the shoulder, then turned to the window. Jace followed his gaze and Hallie found herself jumping out of view like a crushing schoolgirl.

Which ticked her off.

She wasn’t crushing on Jace Carson. What happened between them was nothing but a drunken mistake . . . one she’d hoped wouldn’t come back to bite her in the butt. Before she had teeth marks on her behind, she intended to find out what Jace was doing there.

Unfortunately, Belle saw Daddy’s signal and started issuing orders for the bridal party to line up. Hallie had no choice but to postpone her talk with Jace until after the wedding.

---