Page 12 of The Texas Cowboy's Proposal

Sammi Jo didn’t expect that to be his reply but bring it on. “Sorry to disappoint. There’s no man I would care about enough to make me into a jealous-minded fool. But we are twenty-seven days away from making one huge leap off a cliff, and I intend to make certain it is worth giving up three years of my life for. In that three years, there will be no one else involved—no playdates behind the barn, no business trips with extra luggage, nothing. If you can’t handle that, we should not waste any more of our time. Do I make it clear enough even for a Hawkes?”

Beaudry returned her gaze head on. “No sex... except with each other. If I so choose. Got it.”

She had not expected the response.

“Youso choose? We have sex ifweso choose mister.” His eyebrows lifted, and she saw a gleam lit in those jade eyes. “And I won’t be choosing. So don’t bother with a typically male comeback. So there.”

And add a good stomp of foot for measure. She’d just made a silly fool of herself. Beaudry was saved literally by the ringing of a bell. The art auction was about to begin. Lacy came running back to the table and sat in the chair next to Sammi Jo, her body alive with anticipation. Sammi Jo would be fine—she’d just ignore the man beside her for the rest of the evening and leave as soon as she possibly could.

Chapter Six

“Lacy, you nevermentioned how good an artist you are,” Sammi Jo said, admiring the drawing she held in her hands. When it had come up for bid, Sammi Jo couldn’t believe her eyes. The hummingbird could have been a photograph. A fact she had to verify more than once. “Are you sure this is hand-drawn? The detailing is incredible.”

“You really like it that much?”

“I don’t just like it, I love it. And I am so glad that I outbid everyone for it.” Sammi Jo had been determined to not let the little drawing go home with anyone else. Although when the art committee announced that hers had been the highest bid ever made in their auction,ever,she’d had a moment of anxiety. She had always hated it whenever her grandmother made a spectacle of having the largest bank account in the room and flaunting it. Now, here she had been pushed to do much the same. Granted, it was on a little smaller scale and stage, but it was still a few hundred above the next highest bid. She couldn’t help herself.

“Have you ever thought you might want to be an artist when you grow up? You have such talent right now, it would be a shame not to keep refining it.” They had walked ahead of Beaudry, who had stopped to talk to a fellow rancher. They stopped next to Sammi Jo’s SUV.

“I’d like to learn how to paint next, not just draw. But I don’t really have anyone to teach me how to do that. They only teach that when you get into art in high school. And besides, artists don’t make a lot of money, and it wouldn’t help my dad and uncle on the ranch. I can use my math skills to help them more.”

“I see. You’ve given this some thought. Do you think your dad and uncle need your help?” Sammi Jo suspected that the child was a lot smarter than many around her gave her credit for.

“I hear them talking about how hard the drought is on things and the prices are not good at the markets and all. It’s hard being a rancher. Some of my friends had to move away because they lost their ranches. I don’t want us to lose ours. I can help by using my math.”

“You are a very wise young lady.”

Beaudry had joined them. With her drawing tucked safely in its folder in the seat beside her, Sammi Jo climbed into the driver’s seat. Through her open window, she gave Lacy a smile and a good night. Beaudry stepped closer, and Sammi Jo stayed still. To the passersby on the sidewalk, it would seem that they were sharing a nice good-night. After all, they were on display, right?

“I heard that you all have begun clearing along Sandy Creek. I might stop by tomorrow and check it out.” Beaudry lowered his voice as he spoke.

“Check it out? Why would you do that? Do you think we don’t know what we’re doing?”

“Calm down, Sammi Jo. Your ranch hands know exactly what they’re doing. I just was letting you know that I might be coming onto Burkitt land. I didn’t want to be met with a shotgun.”

There was that Beaudry teasing glint for the second time. It might be attractive if she took him seriously, but it wasn’t ever a good thing to take a man like him seriously. “That Beaudry could charm the pants right off every female between here and Dallas if he put his mind to it. Beware of men like him.”Those had been her own grandmother’s words on more than one occasion. Then why did she up and stick the pair of them together? Her perverse sense of humor on a bad day?

“Come ahead at your own risk.” She put the vehicle in gear, gave a brief wave to Lacy, and not another look at the man with an amused grin on his face.

*

“Welcome to Coffeeand a Chat!” The greeting was loud and happy, the usual sort of greeting one could always expect from Tallie Mayhew and her crew. It was a pleasant pick-one-up if the day was already heading downhill.

Tallie was the owner of the coffee shop. She was the sister of Tucker Mayhew, owner of the Pizza Pie Pantry on the opposite side of the square in town. And Tucker was the significant other to Dawson Hambrick, the Aussie owner of Dawson’s Gastronomic Eatery and Saloon. So between the three of them, they had the east, west, and north sides of the courthouse square sown up, food-wise. Since the jail and sheriff’s office sat on the south side, they didn’t need to worry about any competition.

“It’s about time you got yourself in here. I’ve got the usual coffee and one of my cinnamon rolls warmed and on the table in the back. Let’s go, girlfriend.” Tallie was already leading the way. They slid into opposite sides of the high-backed wooden booth with its bright blue-and-yellow-checked cushion seat covers.

Sammi managed to get a sip of coffee down and swallow one bite of cinnamon roll with all its gooey goodness before the inquisition began.

“You and Beaudry Hawkes? Did the world come to an end and no one told me?”

“What are you talking about? What end of the world?”

“The one you said would happen when someone mentioned you and Beaudry together in the same sentence back a few years ago. So, spill it. What changed?”

Sammi Jo took another bite and then another sip. Tallie was as patient as a red-tailed hawk sitting on a phone pole, watching and waiting for a tiny field mouse to make that one fatal mistake, and then it would pounce on its prey with expert precision. She watched with keen eyes born out of some fifteen years of friendship. They would walk through fire for the other if needed, and literally had, when the old Gastronomic Eatery had lost its kitchen and they were bent on retrieving the photo of Dawson’s parents on their wedding day—the only one in existence. That had earned them a good tongue-lashing from the fire chief, and Tallie had some singed hair, but all was well that ended well.

“It isn’t what you think, first of all,” Sammi Jo began in a soft voice. There were only three other tables with patrons at mid-morning and they were up front. The back table had more or less always been reserved for Sammi Jo and Laurel and their coffee chats. “It was some of my grandmother’s chicanery with her will. Seems Laurel and I have to sell the ranch lock, stock, and barrel. But if I choose to try to save it and hang on to it, I have to have a partner beside me, one Beaudry Hawkes, for the next three years in a wedded state of matrimonial non-bliss.”

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