Page 17 of Wrangling a Wild Texan

Desire. Definitely, desire . . . mixed with a heavy dose of anger.

“People can’t always control their bodily reactions,” he growled.

He had a good point. Sunny felt like she’d downed an entire bottle of tequila—all flushed and woozy. That was just from touching his chest. What would it feel like to run her hand up his strong neck and cradle that sexy stubbled jaw? To lean up on her toes and press her lips to the stern line of his?—

“Sunny!”

She stepped away from Reid just as Jesse appeared.

“Come on, sis!” Jesse took her hand that still tingled from Reid’s heat. “It’s time for presents.”

She gave those heated champagne eyes one more glance before she allowed Jesse to lead her away.

She expected her brother to lead her into the parlor or library to unwrap her presents and was confused when he led her up the stairs to the second floor. And even more confused when everyone at the party followed behind them with big smiles on their faces. When they got to the second floor, they walked past all the bedrooms that were named for the Holiday sisters: The Sweetheart Room, the Clover Room, the Liberty Room, the Belle Room, the Halloween Room, and the Noelle Room. At the very end of the hall was the door that led to the attic. Next to it was another nameplate.

Sunshine Room.

She turned to Jesse. “I get my own room?”

He laughed. “Of course you get your own room. You’re my sister.”

She squealed and hugged him tight before drawing back. “Is it ready? Can I see it?”

He opened the door and waved a hand to the narrow staircase. “Go right ahead.”

She didn’t need to be told twice. She raced up the stairs and let out another squeal when she saw her room. It was even bigger than the Holidays’ attic with six large dormer windows she knew would let in tons of light during the day.

Modern blinds were lowered below puffy canary-yellow valances. The walls were a lighter shade of lemon yellow and trimmed in white. The bed was big and shiny brass with a white duvet and pillow shams and a half dozen throw pillows in different prints: stripes, sunflowers, and cute buzzing bees. The same palette of yellows carried through to the en suite bathroom with the tiled shower and freestanding soaker tub.

“Oh my gosh,” she said as she peeked into the huge walk-in closet. “It’s awesome.”

“You haven’t seen the best part.” Jesse pulled her out of the closet and pointed to the other side of the room.

It had been turned into a painting studio. An easel was set up by the windows and empty canvases were lined up in a wooden holder on the back wall—along with a deep sink and long counter with plenty of shelves above for paints and supplies.

“Well?” Jesse said. “What do you think?”

She thought she needed to tell her family that she was a complete failure. But how could she do it when Jesse, Corbin, and all the Holidays were crowded into the room with huge smiles and love shining in their eyes?

“It’s perfect,” she whispered. “Just perfect.” She glanced at the studio. “But do you think the art studio was a good idea? I mean I’ll love it when I come to visit, but your guests might not.”

Jesse exchanged looks with Corbin. “I’m sure we’ll figure it out. For now, Corbin wants to give you your present and folks are dying to get a peek at the Sunshine Room.” He winked. “Who knows? Maybe the townsfolk have relatives who would love to stay in an artist’s loft.”

Something wasn’t right. Even if people wanted to stay in an artist loft, why the huge closet? People staying for a few nights or even a week didn’t need a walk-in closet. Or all the space. Jesse could have made two rooms out of the attic and they both would have been plenty big. Even she knew that would have made more business sense. Jesse was a businessman who hadn’t made a bad investment decision in his life.

What was going on?

As it turned out, she didn’t have to wait long to find out.

As soon as Corbin led her out back to the carriage house, all the pieces fell into place.

When Jesse had first bought the house, he’d renovated the carriage house for Belle and Liberty’s event-planning business, Holiday Sisters Events. The upper floor housed their offices and the lower half was storage for their event supplies. But the storage warehouse was so large that Liberty and Belle had only filled half of it with catering supplies and decorations. The other half had been empty space.

Until now.

Now it had been turned into a storefront with a huge picture window and glass door. Through that window and door, Sunny could see the beautifully lit space inside . . . a gallery space with plenty of blank white walls for art. Before she even lifted her gaze to the sign above the door, she knew what she’d find.

S. B. Whitlock Gallery

---