Page 10 of The Texas Cowboy's Proposal

“No thanks. I lost my driver’s license for heavy machinery, dear sister. You take care and let me know how the romance progresses. Be sure to send me the invite to the wedding!” The line went dead before Sammi Jo could come back with a stinging response.

Romance, indeed! Her sister had written too many chick flicks with happy-ever-after involved. She took the stairs two at a time, pulling on the work gloves she had tucked into her back jeans pocket when she had paused to take her sister’s phone call. There was nothing romantic about pulling up cedar trees by the roots, scattering a few rattlesnakes along the way, and sweating through your jeans and cotton shirt in the first five minutes. If she hurried, she might get the newer dozer with the fan in the cab! Such a tiny but important thing to make her smile. She could pity the poor girls who counted themselves lucky if they found the right shade of lipstick for a new outfit. This was the life for her. She’d worry about lipstick later.

*

“She’ll come, right?”Lacy’s head was on a swivel, keeping a watch out for a particular person in the growing number of people entering through the doors of McNamara Elementary School.

“That is the sixth time you have asked that question since we left the house. My answer has not and will not change. She said she was coming, and she has not called to change that answer. I do believe she’ll be here. She’s a Burkitt if nothing else. Find another question.”

Lacy was silent for just a few heartbeats. She stopped and checked out the group of people coming in through the side door just ahead of them. She shook her head. “What if she doesn’t come? And what does that mean? That she’s a Burkitt?”

Beaudry let a long, low breath escape his pursed lips. Little pitchers and big ears…remember that and think before speaking in front of your daughter. “When I said find another question, perhaps I wasn’t specific enough. Do not be concerned that—”

“She’s here! I knew she’d come.” Lacy was dragging him along in her wake as she had taken off in the direction where Sammi Jo Burkitt stood in a moment of hesitation. At least he thought it was her. This person had legs. Legs that were long and very nice looking, that ended in a pair of beige high heels. His gaze went upward over the same length of tanned legs and found a denim skirt, the edge of which was a sedate length of a couple inches above the knee. The blouse was a scarlet color with a collared vee front and long sleeves cuffed at the wrists. A brown leather-and-silver concho link belt kept the Western flavor at her waist. This time, her long hair had been caught back into some sort of fancy braiding. And she had makeup on—light, but quite a change from her normal fresh-faced routine. The red lipstick brought his attention front and center until he realized that she was aware of his stare and waiting for him to gain some control. She had caught him out, gauging by the slight upturn of a corner of that mouth.

“I hope I’m dressed appropriately. I’ve never been to one of these, at least since the third grade or so.”

“You’re pretty,” Lacy piped up at the same time he responded with, “You’ll do fine.” Both females looked at him as his words seemed to fall a bit flat. He didn’t care for how a look from those blue eyes could knock him off-kilter. Nor did he care for being off-kilter at any time and certainly not aroundher...or rather,a Burkitt.He was glad he had taken time to switch into a pair of dark-blue starched jeans and a freshly ironed navy-and-white striped, Western cut, long-sleeved shirt. His boots had a shine, and his cream straw hat had been dusted off. To any onlooker, as they walked up the steps of the school to the main floor with Lacy between them, they were any other young couple following the age-old routine at the beginning of another school year in the small country town.

Exceptthiscouple was the focal point for quite a few stares and whispers. One of the Burkitt girls was in their midst, in a dress and heels—and not the fancy dresser from California, either. This was from many of the females in attendance. But the males were just as mystified, only more along the lines of male appreciation in discovering the very nice curves and long legs they had not seen before now on display.

Sammi Jo Burkitt and Beaudry Hawkes. Smiling. At each other.Imagine that.

*

“I had noidea that this was such a big deal, that so many people would be here.” Sammi Jo was trying to keep her balance in the heels and maintain a pleasant smile on her face, and not make too much eye contact with so many gazes so full of speculation. At that moment, she felt a small palm slide into hers as they moved along with the flow of people. She glanced down and met the smile on Lacy’s face beside her.

“Don’t worry. We won’t let you get lost. We’ll go to my classroom first, then we can go to the cafeteria where they have lots of things to eat and drink. And there is an art auction later too. It’s how we raise money for things like gym stuff and the playground and things like that.”

Sammi Jo was surprised to hear that part. For some reason, she had supposed that her grandmother was a benefactress of the school, which her McNamara parents had built for the town. The building held their name above its doorway. It gave her something to file away in her mind to ask her attorneys about later. Perhaps she should do something for the school too.

It felt nice to be included in Lacy’s world. And the fact that now the three of them were joined by hands made the idea of becoming a real family unit one day all the more real. That pitched a funny hitch in her pulse, and she raised her gaze, only to be caught by a like one from Beaudry. Sammi Jo was surprised by her own reaction to such a simple act and even more so about how natural, evennice,it felt. Surely, those thoughts wouldn’t be invading his mind too?

“There you two are,” the female voice greeted them as they stepped into a brightly colored room with several people milling about inside.

The woman’s gaze seemed to be caught on the connection of hands between Lacy and Sammi. That gaze swiftly lifted to the man standing behind Lacy at the moment, a question not being asked but definitely present.

“Miss Carpenter, may I present Sammi Jo Burkitt? She’s a close friend of ours.” Beaudry was smooth in his introduction, almost as if he had practiced it a few times. Sammi Jo met the woman’s smile that she was certain had come with much practice in greeting parents and families.

“Welcome, Miss Burkitt. I am so pleased you were able to come along and see what our little Miss Lacy has been doing so far. She is such a bright and very helpful addition to our class. Please enjoy your visit with us tonight. A friend of Beaudry’s is always welcome here.”

And could theKeep Your Hands Offsign be any bigger? Sammi Jo recognized the warning through the thinly veiled smiles that didn’t quite reach anything close to lukewarm in the gaze. So was this something her grandmother’s idiotic will was throwing a wrench into? Not that her grandmother would have cared had she known. But Sammi did. She cared far more than she thought she might. And she didn’t like how that felt. Of course, Beaudry had been married. And he was one of those eligible bachelors that females in town flocked around. She had seen that in person at the rodeos and horse shows where she had competed against him.

But he was always much more circumspect after his divorce. He didn’t flaunt his adventures with the opposite sex like so many of the single males in town. Perhaps the schoolteacher had set her sights on him? Lacy certainly seemed to like her well enough. She had experience with children, being a teacher and all.

Sammi Jo felt her stomach roll over, and not in a good way.

“Do you feel okay?” Beaudry whispered beside her. The whiff of woodsy cologne sidetracked her response for just a moment... then she remembered where they were. She gave more effort into her smile.

“I’m fine.” She turned to Lacy. “Now, show me all the great things you are doing in this classroom.” And for the next few minutes, she was treated to papers and drawings and award certificates that Beaudry dutifully gathered as his daughter instructed.

“Lacy, I am amazed at the grades on these papers. You’re an excellent student. I can certainly see how much you love math too. You are so good at it.”

“Thank you, Miss Sammi Jo. I try to do good in all my work. But science is the hardest.”

“But you have eighties on what I have seen on those. That is still a good grade.”

“Did you make good grades in school?”

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