Page 32 of The Undercover Cowboy

“I’ll go.” Dolly hesitated. “How well do you know Taylor Keating?”

Reba shrugged. “He’s a nice guy.”

“Is he?” Dolly wanted desperately to believe that.

“I think so. His father is great. And they’ve got a close relationship.” Reba fixed her with a stern look. “Don’t go mother-henning Loretta. She doesn’t need you to butt in on her life just because you’re roommates.”

“Anyone ever tell you that you’re a hypocrite?” Dolly crossed her arms over her chest.

“No one who wanted to live.” Reba reached down and grabbed some dirty hay from a bucket in the back.

“Don’t you dare,” Dolly shrieked, and hopped out of the slow-moving golf cart before Reba could even think about throwing the hay at her. Reba could give unsolicited advice to her about Nash, but it wasn’t okay for Dolly to be concerned about Loretta’s romance? That didn’t seem fair.

Dolly stalked over to where the vendors were gearing up for another busy day. The handcrafts section wasn’t that busy yet, so she was able to sit next to Loretta as she worked on a watercolor painting of Donnan.

“How’s it going?”

“Good,” Loretta said, swirling her brush into a honey-brown color.

“Sell anything?”

“A few paintings yesterday. A couple of kits. I’m not going to be rich anytime soon, but I’m paying the bills.”

“Good.” Dolly wasn’t sure how to broach the subject. Luckily, Loretta beat her to it.

“Taylor and I are just having fun.”

“It’s none of my business,” Dolly said.

“When has that ever stopped anyone in this family?”

That was true. “Does he work with Jackson Blevins directly?” Dolly asked.

“As much as you do, I guess.”

Huh, that didn’t answer any of her burning questions. Dolly tried another tactic. “I hear that he’s going to be handling the new shipment of Mexican bulls that are coming to Laredo next week.”

“That’s his job.” Loretta shrugged. “Bullfighting, bull riding and bull handling.”

“As long as he’s not bullshitting.”

“Yeah.” Loretta gave a half laugh, but concentrated on mixing colors on her palette.

“What does he think of Blevins?”

“We haven’t talked about it. Why?”

“I was just wondering.”

“You were wondering if he was working with Blevins doing something illegal.”

“Shh,” Dolly said. She wasn’t surprised that Loretta knew. She figured Reba had filled her in. “You can’t say anything like that aloud. You could ruin everything.”

Loretta gestured with her paintbrush. “There is no one around.”

“Still, you can’t be too careful.”

“Here’s what I know. Taylor loves bulls. He sometimes rides them. He sometimes takes care of them. Most of the time, he’s in the arena keeping the bull riders safe. When it’s over, he either hangs with his father, with his friends, or lately with me. If there’s something weird going on, I haven’t seen it.”

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