Page 14 of The Texas Cowboy's Proposal

“Well, if you want to get the rest of this work done today before the rains hit later this week, I will say you are wasting daylight by being stubborn. I can finish this in nothing flat, and your ranch hands can get back to work. Or we can stand here and argue. It’s your decision, boss lady.” He folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the dozer, seemingly content to do nothing.

“You are a most infuriating man, but then you already know that. Here, knock yourself out. And I will buy you another shirt.” She held out the part to him.

“Wise decision. But perhaps you should work a bit on your gratefulness. A shirt would be good, but lunch might sweeten the deal.”

“You want me to feed you too?”

He simply returned her gaze for a few long seconds before saying, “Clock is ticking. Tick, tock.”

“Okay, lunch. When you’re done, come to the foaling barn if you want something to eat.” She didn’t wait for his response. It would be something equally sarcastic, she was sure. She could feel his eyes on her as she walked with purpose in her stride back to her pickup. But she didn’t turn and look back.

And as soon as she took the bend in the road and was out of his sight, she floored the vehicle. She had a sink full of dishes from two meals and lots of picking up to do if he was going to walk into her apartment. Why had she given in to his request for lunch? It was a moment of sheer lunacy, but what else could she say? He had done her a favor, and she had to begrudgingly admit he had saved her time.So, get over it and the sooner he is fed, the sooner he leaves.

Twenty minutes later, she heard the sound of a truck’s engine outside and then a slamming door. Boots sounded on the concrete flooring in the stable hallway below.

“Hello? Anyone here? I smell food. Is this Sammi Jo’s Diner?”

“Up here,” she called down.

The boots next sounded on the staircase that led to the loft apartment, then stopped once he reached the landing.

“Sorry if you expected to dine in the great hall at the main house. I moved over here after we buried Grandmother. The main house just seemed twice as big with both her and Laurel gone. I’ve always liked this space, and it’s enough for me right now. The bathroom is through that door beside you. I put out fresh towels. Lunch will be on the table in another ten minutes or so. Tea? Coffee? Water?”

“Tea is fine—with a lot of ice is even better.” He stepped into the bath area and closed the door. Sammi Jo tried to keep her mind on what she needed to do to be a good hostess. She wasn’t that used to entertaining on a one-on-one scale. If they entertained, it was usually stock buyers or local politicians or some such, and the staff at the main house made everything perfect.

She set two places at the small dining table she had refinished herself after she found it in the attic at the house. The same with the chairs. She had set it all up in the small alcove off the kitchen area. Across from it was the larger, more open space with an L-shaped couch and a rocking chair with a table and lamp. The TV was hung above the stone-faced fireplace. Sammi Jo had tried to make the room feel homey and had hung some landscapes of Texas wildflowers and the Hill Country. Through another archway sat the queen-sized bed with the white draping she had hung on its canopy cover that matched the curtains at the wide window fitted where the hay loft door had been. She loved to lay in her bed and watch the moonrise on star-filled nights after the sun had set in a blazing glory of color. It might not be the magnificence of the main house, but it was her own corner of the ranch right now, and it fit her.

She was just setting the tea glasses on the table when the door opened and Beaudry stepped out, the grease noticeably gone from his face and hands. Hands that were still buttoning his shirt across a chest that was definitely a perfect specimen of tanned male muscles in rock-solid display. A smattering of dark hair was evident just before the last button filled its hole. Sammi Jo felt a little niggle of disappointment. Then she wanted to kick herself for even noticing.

“Perfect timing. Food is on the table. Hope you like beef enchiladas, salad, and cornbread.”

Beaudry had a strange expression on his face as he sat down opposite her. He placed the napkin across his lap and then took a sip of the tea. “This is quite a surprise. First the fact that you are living up here. And then the fact that you cooked this food, which looks and smells great.” He stopped and took a forkful in his mouth. She waited for the verdict.

“And it tastes as good as it smells. I am impressed. Or did you have it brought over from the main kitchen?”

“You should have stopped while you were ahead,” she responded with a sharp look as she handed him the breadbasket. “I do know how to cook, and I cooked all of this.”

He set the fork full of food down on the side of his plate. “That was rude of me. I’m sorry. I really am. It’s just I had no idea that this side of you existed. I am surprised yet again.”

“Apology accepted. Thanks to a patient cook at the main house who didn’t mind being bothered by a kid with lots of questions following along in her footsteps, I did manage to learn a thing or two about cooking in my teen years. Grandmother thought it a waste of time, but Grandpa would just shush her and say that it might get me a husband one day.” She caught herself. “Guess he might have been wrong. Leave it to Grandmother to throw money at the problem instead. That was always her answer to everything.”

“Your grandfather was a good man. He had the patience of Job to have been married so long to your grandmother. I never figured out how such a pair made a go of it for more than sixty years. And I hope you know I don’t mean that in an unkind way.”

“You’re just stating truth. None of us ever understood it. But whatever it was, it worked for them.”

“Do you think a marriage can last that long today?”

Sammi Jo gave it some consideration before she spoke. “I would hope so. It takes a certain type of person, I think. You can’t go in thinking, ‘Well, if I don’t like it, I can always get a divorce and move on.’ Too many people think that way these days, so there’s no will or want to tough it out and make it better. At least that’s my thinking. Of course, there are people who should never have thought of marrying in the first place. I wouldn’t want to be in a position like that.”

“Like my history?”

“Your business is yours. I’m sure you started out attracted to Sandy Lou’s looks. What red-blooded male wouldn’t do that? But looks fade. Sex isn’t enough to keep a relationship going over the long haul. So what’s left? You better have thought things through before that reality hits you up the side of the head one morning. Too often that’s when males decide to go in search of greener pastures. I’m just saying there needs to be something more to a relationship than looks and hot sex, because neither of those things last.”

“You think that’s what happened in my case? I wanted just the hot sex and great-looking body to interest me?”

“What your interests are along those lines is not my business. But I didn’t necessarily mean you. I’m sure that you had your reasons. I’m not judging, so...”

“It’s okay, Sammi Jo. I know what you meant. But when two people go into it with two far different reasons and expectations, well, there will be trouble from the start. And when one wants to live the single life at the same time, a husband and child can get in the way. But I don’t make any excuses, and what is done is done.”

---