Page 21 of The Texas Cowboy's Proposal

He needed to get his mind on other things besides what Sammi Jo had looked like when he had goaded her with the Texas princess moniker. What had gotten into him? He had no idea. At least nothing he wanted to think about at the start of this day. She had been disturbed. Even hurt? That thought kept niggling at him well into the early morning hours, keeping him awake when he should have been getting some sleep for the road. That was why he would gladly let Jaxson take the wheel first when they pulled out. Maybe he could catch a little nap—if those darned blue eyes that accused him of all sorts of things would stay out of his brain.Blasted woman.She caused a disturbance in him, even when she wasn’t around.

“Let’s move it. Daylight will be wasted already when it does come up.” Jaxson’s words were a grumble into his chest as he fastened the final slide of metal on the rear of the trailer. He slid behind the wheel of the heavy-duty truck as Beaudry settled Lacy into the back seat, buckled her in, and bundled a pillow beside her cheek. He took his place up front, and they were soon moving their cargo of six horses down the long road toward the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex.

Jaxson spoke up after they had gotten to the main highway, the sun finally waking up in layers of brilliant hues of purples and pinks, then oranges and yellows, as the sapphire sky lightened into an azure blue. Another Texas day was beginning in a blaze of welcome.

“This is the best part of the day. How many people get to see this from the back of a horse, breathe in clear, clean air to fill your lungs, and listen to the sounds of mourning doves and a hawk here and there as they dive for their breakfast?”

Beaudry opened one eye that he’d closed in hopeful need of sleep. He shot a glance at his brother. “Since when have you been so chipper so early in the day?”

“I’m always this way. You’re just not around to see it. Sunrise and sunset—best parts of the day, little brother. You should enjoy each one. But I guess you did have a late night and all, dining in the great house with your fiancée. Think you’ll like being the lord of the manor?”

“Sh-hhh.” Beaudry shot a quick look over his shoulder at the sleeping Lacy. “Lower your voice and no talk about that subject. Remember, nothing has been decided yet, and Lacy doesn’t need to know anything about it.”

“Well, it’s all over the county, and there will be talk at the show we’re headed to for the next three days, so I don’t know how you’re going to avoid it, but that’s your business. Are things not going well?”

“Just drop this ‘lord of the manor’ stuff. Even if things go okay and we decide to do this thing, that is far from what I plan to be. You should know that.”

“I see.”

“Now do not start that ‘I see’ business of yours. Or I’ll get out and ride in back with the horses.”

“I see.” A hand shot up, and Jaxson shook his head. “Sorry. Just habit.”

“What is it that you do think you see, Mr. Know-it-all?”

“Are you sure you want to know?”

“I asked, didn’t I? Or is that just a way to get me riled up, and you don’t reallyseeanything at all?”

“I see a lot. I just don’t spew it out like vomit like others who really don’t know to keep their thoughts to themselves.”

“It’s a bit early to reference such things as vomit in a sentence when we have Seraphina’s burritos to enjoy.”

Jaxson gave a soft chuckle. “Sorry. But it seemed a fitting metaphor to the way you look this morning. You not get any sleep last night? I know Lacy went with you to the big house, so it couldn’t be you had a late night with your possible intended. So what’s the deal?”

“Your mind needs a good cleaning.” Beaudry shifted his weight to a better position in the seat, his tall frame ill at ease. He swept his Stetson off his head, tossed it on the dashboard in front of him, and raked his hand through the thick hair on his head. He had a feeling that the restlessness was not going away anytime soon.

“Have you even kissed her yet? You know, to see if there is any compatibility, at least on that score?”

“Are you serious? I say again that your mind is a terrible thing to see or hear.”

“I see.”

“Stop this truck,” Beaudry ground out.

“So, you have kissed her! If you hadn’t, you would have flat out said so in a heartbeat. I knowyou,my brother, better than anyone else, remember? Better than you know yourself sometimes too. Youhavedone it. Well? Think you can stick it out three years now?”

“You think you’re so smart. But I didn’t kiss her—not like you’re thinking. It was a casual peck on the forehead, and that is that. No sweeping her off her feet and carrying her up the grand staircase to one of the twelve bedrooms or whatever. So wipe that smile off your face.”

“The forehead? A beautiful woman, ready to say ‘I do’ to you, and possibly ‘Iwill’ to one of those dozen beds, and all you manage is a peck. I am seriously considering checking the family bloodline and seeing if we are indeed related. You let down all the Hawkes men. Three years is an awful long time to survive on ‘pecks’—that’s all I’m saying.”

“Do you recall this is all about a business deal? And that I’ve been down that so-called romance road once before and that it was a train wreck and one I don’t plan to ever repeat?”

Jaxson’s grin faded and he nodded. “You had one really bad ride out of the chute on the first go-around. But you know that you pick yourself up, dust off the bad stuff, and get right back onboard. I’m not being rude about it, but I’m saying don’t let someone like your first, who shall remain nameless,”—Jaxson glanced swiftly in the rearview mirror—“blind you to something good that could end up right in front of you. Sammi Jo Burkitt is strong-willed and smart. And she does have a soft spot in her chest the size of Texas, as her granddad often said to me.

“But she also has this armor-coated shell that she changes into in a blink of the eye when she has to step up and do the hard things. I’ve seen her sit in a corner of a stall with her horse, Dancer’s, head resting in her lap, talking to him, and holding him while the vet put him down last year. Then she got up and walked out with nary a tear in her eye. But I came upon her sitting behind the old stone wall when I had to get some tools from the side shed. I don’t think she ever realized I was there. Her whole body was shaking with sobs, but she had buried her face, so little noise could be heard. The point being, she’s someone who will do whatever it takes to hang onto what is her family’s, fight to the end for it. Then if she has to walk away from it, she will, with her head still up. Inside, I think it will rip her heart to shreds, but she won’t let anyone see or pity her for it. I think that was instilled in her by her grandmother. Some people survive by keeping things separate and private. It doesn’t mean they don’t ever feel them.”

There was silence in the cab. Beaudry was struck by his brother’s words. Why hadn’t he seen the connection before? Jaxson had always been much the same type of person. Tough as nails on the exterior, but don’t ever think he didn’t have a heart beating the same as anyone else on the inside. He felt things deeply and kept it inside. He had certainly done so when first their mom died and then their father’s mind went, leaving them to care for each other and keep him comfortable in a home the last dozen years before he finally did not wake up one morning.

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