Page 65 of The Cowboy Who Worked Late

“Okay,” she said.

Henry sighed. “I don’t think the 3D horseshoes are going to work.”

“No?” She took off his cowboy hat and set it on the top of the couch, then she brushed her fingers through his hair.

Henry closed his eyes and enjoyed the sensation of her touch. “No,” he said. “Everyone I’ve called says it can’t be done. I even asked my daddy for help with Gilligan’s shoes. He’s got a master ironsmith who does custom shoes for horses, and I’m going to meet with him next time I go to Three Rivers.”

“When is that going to be?” Angel asked.

“I don’t know,” Henry said. “My brother’s graduating from Baylor at the end of the month, so probably then.”

“You’re graduating in May too,” she said.

“Yeah,” he said. “Six or seven more weeks. I just got the packet today. Momma’s got it on her calendar. Everyone will come.”

“You don’t sound happy about that,” she said.

“I am,” he said. “My family’s just…my family. You’ve got one. You know how they are.”

“Yeah,” she said. “They’re awesome, but they’re a little complicated sometimes.”

“Exactly.” He touched his mouth to her jaw and then her neck. “You sure smell good.”

“Hm mm.”

Henry smiled at her adoption of his humming. “I didn’t get an ‘I need a cowboy hug’ before I came over.”

“Maybe I didn’t need one,” she said.

Henry opened his eyes and looked at Angel, the moment sobering and lengthening. “What if we fall in love, but I don’t want to live here? Then what?”

Angel’s eyes widened and she blinked rapidly. “What do you mean?”

“What if we want to get married?” he asked. “I know it’s real early. I don’t need you to be thinking about that. But what if we do?” He took a big breath. “I think it would be great if you lived off-site,” he said. “It would give you more distance from Lone Star, and we could commute in.”

“You want to buy somewhere else and commute in?”

“Yeah,” he said. “It’s something I’ve been thinking about. I might talk to my cousin Finn about finding a place. He’s got a one-man operation.”

“You want to buy aranch?” she asked, incredulity in her voice. “Henry, baby, if we get married, Lone Starisour ranch.”

“It’syourranch.”

“But if you’re with me, it’s your ranch too,” she said.

“But that doesn’t mean we have to live here.” He brushed her hair back, noting that she still wore her wig. “Can I take this off?”

Panic paraded across her face, then everything relaxed, and she said, “Okay, I’ll do it.” She reached up and pressed something, and when she brushed her hair back, the wig cameright off. She wore a wig cap underneath. Henry had seen those because his momma had used them in the past.

“I just don’t have very much hair,” she said. “It grows in real thin, and I look bald in some places.”

“Hm.” He reached up and pushed the wig cap back, loosening her hair. He brushed his fingers through it. It was silky and soft, like corn silk, and she was right. There wasn’t a whole lot of it.

“Medical condition?” he asked.

“I got pneumonia when I was eighteen or nineteen,” she said. “My hair never grew right after that.”

He pulled her head down and kissed her on her forehead and then kissed her on the top of her head. “You’re beautiful no matter what.”

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