Page 27 of The Texas Cowboy's Proposal

What if they fell in love and everything just continued perfectly fine? Too much of a fairy-tale ending? Her life wasn’t the typical fairy tale.

The what-ifs were too many. And love was out—he had made it clear and she had agreed.Only use the brain, no feelings allowed.

She had started this mess. And others were trying their best to make it work out. And she was grateful for that. But Tallie was right: Sammi Jo needed to deal in reality and have a plan for the day the wrong answer came along. When did she never have a Plan B? Her grandfather had taught her that, not her grandmother. It was probably the best lesson of all. She stood and managed a smile.

“Now that I feel so much better, I need to get back to work. Thanks for being here.” They shared a heartfelt hug. It was only as she was leaving that she saw Jaxson sitting with a couple of other ranchers, having an early lunch. They nodded across the room, and she continued on her way. No Hawkes could help her out of this mess.

Chapter Twelve

“The local newspaper’sLet’s Gossipcolumnist has dubbed you the no-show Hawkes brother, and I’m the ‘less desirable than a fire ant’ brother. We’ve certainly done ourselves proud.”

Beaudry sat on his horse, hat pushed back off his forehead, and one leg hooked over the pommel of his saddle as he idly watched a group of cattle added to the pens below their vantage point late in the afternoon. It was one of those ‘hotter than a cast-iron skillet on full burn’ sort of Texas late-September days.

Jaxson’s expression often boded nothing good for anyone trying to poke the bear into anything resembling a better mood. But Beaudry never was one to not take an opportunity to needle his older brother, particularly when they both seemed to be in the same boat that was taking on water.

Jaxson slowly turned his head. “This is a good time to point out the fact that it isyouwho has gotusinto this mess. Your boot-dragging in making a decision about this marriage business has landed us both in the manure pile in ways neither of us wants.”

“And your point would be?”

“Fix it. Either marry the woman and suck it up for thirty-six months or don’t. We’ll do just fine as we always have done without an extra three million sitting in the bank. Lacy won’t go to Harvard or some big hoorah school like that, but she’ll go to Texas Tech and learn just as much, if not more, about what she needs to know. If you don’t know by now that Sammi Jo will continue to be there for your daughter even if you bow out, then you are just as dumb as I always gave you credit for. And you won’t always be known as lesser than a bug—except by me.”

“Interesting perspective. And how does that take care of your claim to fame as a no-show?”

“I’ve already dealt with that for myself. I was only reminded of it when you had to go all high and mighty and bring Laurel Burkitt back into the picture, no pun intended. I’ve put that woman in the past, where you need to either do the same with Sammi Jo or marry her. Just get on with it before you make the problem worse.”

“The problem? Which one would that be?”

“The one where you’ve already fallen for the woman. Only you are too stubborn to own up to that too. Either way, let’s get those cows moving before the price of beef goes in the dumpster too.” He didn’t wait for Beaudry to follow. Which was just as well.

Settling his hat back down over his brow, he tapped his mount’s sides into action. But it wasn’t as easy to get thoughts of Sammi Jo and their situation from his brain. It kept pace with everything he did, hounding his sanity. The question screaming the loudest wasn’t that his brother was right—at least not when it came to the fact that he needed to make his decision and get it over for everyone’s sake.

But falling for Sammi Jo—that was the grenade his brother had tossed out and then left to do its damage in his wake.

It should have been easy to brush aside.It should have been. But it was like ripping off the proverbial Band-Aid from a scratch. While it was covered and safe from harm, you tended to forget about it. Until the time came to face it again in the light of day and take it off. And the fact hurt no less. He had done the one thing he had warned others about: don’t involve feelings, only your brain. The joke was on him. The man who said he was done with letting one woman rule both his head and heart. It wasn’t worth it.

But he hadn’t taken the blindfold off and really looked at the woman before. He had let her last name taint his whole view of her—and, to a lesser extent, her family. Money changed people, some for the better and some for the worse. And he might even have to think a little kindlier toward the old lady. If she hadn’t started the nightmare train they were on in motion, he might never have known Sammi Jo for the woman she really was.

And trying to describe her should have been his first clue that he was on his way to being a goner.

He could say no to his part of it all. But then Sammi Jo would have to give up her dream, her heart’s reason for beating each day. Could he live with himself after that? But there was also Lacy involved. True, Jaxson was probably correct—from the interaction and concern Sammi Jo had shown so far with Lacy, Beaudry couldn’t see her not staying a big part of the girl’s life, no matter what happened after the three years. Building on the attraction that was already definitely there, could it be parlayed into something lasting, as in the forever that some people managed to find with that one person? He knew he was still hesitant in putting his faith in forever, given his first marriage nightmare.

But Sammi Jo was as different from his ex as day was to night. And he knew that to be true in his heart. A heart that had managed to blindside his brain, after all. One way or another, he had to get his head out of his backside and take care of the situation once and for all. It was time. Forget the words. It was time for action. He and Sammi Jo needed to lay their cards on the table.

*

Sammi Jo wasgetting no place fast. She had read and reread the same ledger reports four times and still had no clue what she should take away from it. Her mind was not on the pages on her computer screen, nor inside the office in the barn. It was bouncing back and forth from the kiss and the feelings that had been laid bare in that moment to the realization that she was asking so much from so many other people. It might have been her grandmother’s last wish, but it wasshe, Sammi Jo, who was actually having to move the lives around this big chessboard in her brain. And her brain was refusing to function in the way she needed.

Switching off the computer screen, she grabbed her purse and keys.

She would go pick up the box of new tiles she needed to replace some older chipped ones in one of the bathrooms in the main house. Then she would stop by the vet and get a refill on the new meds for one of the mares who had tussled with a nasty piece of broken fencing wire and developed an infection that still needed another couple of days to heal. These were items she could take off the plates of the ranch hands who had bigger items to contend with. People truly did not realize that a ranch the size of Aces High had to function like a business with many different components, often working twenty-four hours a day. No matter the weather, no matter whether people or the animals were having bad days, the Goliath known as Aces High continued, and they’d all better stay in front of it and anticipate. And then Mother Nature would toss in a curve ball or two to spice things up. But it was her life and she might lose it all: the land, the people she cared about, and the heritage that was hers to protect. And that brought her mood even more down than before.

Luckily, she found a parking spot between the mercantile and the vet. She ran to the vet’s office first. That took not even five minutes. With meds in hand, she opened the door and stepped right in front of a rattlesnake. Well, not an actual reptile one, although that might have been preferable in the long run. It was the human variety named Sandy. And the woman had trouble on her mind.

“Well, lookee here. If it isn’t my ex’s little pot of gold. Nice move getting chummy with my kid and using her to make sure Beaudry is a done deal. I saw that photo of you all in those fancy duds and you flashing your money around. That blinded Beaudry for a bit. But I don’t think he’ll put up with all that stuff for too long. My money would be on the schoolteacher. She’s more his speed, and she knows how to take care of a kid.”

Sammi Jo was in no mood for this woman and her riddles. Her rope was already a short one and getting shorter by the minute. “You have me confused with your conniving ways. And there is certainly no competition between me and anyone else. You are yesterday’s old news.”

“But she isn’t, is she? I don’t think so.” Sandy nodded her head to a place over Sammi Jo’s left shoulder. In a quick reaction, Sammi Jo half turned and her gaze caught sight of Beaudry and Lacy across the street, a little ways down in front of the pizza place. They were in animated conversation with none other than Miss Crawford, Lacy’s teacher. There were a lot of smiles and laughing going on by all three. Just a simple little tableau on a sunny afternoon. Then Beaudry reached for the door handle and Lacy headed inside the restaurant, followed by the teacher. Beaudry bent his head toward her to catch something she was saying, and it looked almost intimate. If someone didn’t know better, it would certainly look like the two of them were enjoying each other’s company. A sharp pain jabbed into Sammi Jo’s middle. Could the day go any more wrong? Of course, it just did. But Sandy Lou was not going to have the pleasure of gloating. Sammi Jo gave a shrug and looked back at the woman who was waiting to enjoy the meltdown that wasn’t coming.

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