Page 2 of Wrangling a Wild Texan

to my insurance. You don’t need to call 911.” Especially when Sheriff Decker Carson was a friend of Corbin’s. While Corbin was a loving brother, he had a tendency to overreact. He would not be happy Sunny had driven from Houston to Wilder in an ice storm and gotten into an accident. Especially when he had informed her of the impending storm and told her not to come until the following day.

But some things were worth braving a storm.

Like loyalty to the Sisterhood.

Tonight, the Holiday Secret Sisterhood was having a meeting and Sunny had spent her entire life wanting a sister. After Corbin and Jesse had married the Holiday twins, Sunny now had six. Six sisters to drink Mimi’s homemade elderberry wine with and skinny-dip at Cooper Springs with and confide her deepest, darkest secrets to. Not that she had confided her deepest, darkest secrets yet. But she hoped to. She hoped sisters would understand her much better than her brothers did.

“Let us know if you do need help,” the operator said.

“Will do!” Once she hung up, Sunny turned to Sophie. “Get in out of the rain while I call roadside assistance.”

Sophie sat in the passenger seat and shivered while Sunny made the call. Unfortunately, it would be hours before roadside assistance could send someone out to tow her car. Since patience had never been her virtue, she decided to leave the car for the tow guy to deal with while she caught a ride to Corbin and Belle’s house with Sophie.

At least that was the plan until she glanced out the rain-splattered windshield and saw a dark blob approaching. With each swipe of the wipers, the blob grew more and more defined. Soon, she realized it was a horse and rider.

Since they were on the Holiday Ranch, it could be any number of people. Hank Holiday, the patriarch of the Holiday family. Darla, his wife. Mimi, his mama—or probably not since Mimi rarely rode anymore. One of the six Holiday sisters. Or one of the sisters’ husbands—Sunny’s brothers included.

But it turned out to be none of those people.

“Oh, shit! That’s Uncle Reid.” Sophie turned to Sunny. “Please don’t tell him about me texting and driving. He’ll be mad enough that I took his truck without permission. If he finds out I ran you off the road, he’ll put me on restriction for life.”

Sunny stared at Sophie. “You took your uncle’s truck without permission?”

Sophie sputtered. “U-U-Uhh . . . I wasn’t planning on being gone long. I was just gonna practice driving before the storm hit.”

“Practice driving? You don’t have your driver’s license?”

“Well, no, but that’s not my fault. In order to get my license, I need to have a ton of driving hours with a licensed driver and Uncle Reid just doesn’t have the time. So I’ve been?—”

“Driving by yourself and forging his name.” Damn, this teenage girl really did remind Sunny of herself. She’d forged her guardians’ names on more than one occasion. But that didn’t make it right. She blew out her breath. “Your uncleshouldput you on restriction for the rest of your life. That way you might stay alive.”

“So you’re gonna tell him?”

Sunny glanced out the windshield and watched as Reid rode up on the beautiful chestnut horse. He looked like he belonged in an old western . . . or a girl’s wet dream. His rain-dripping Stetson was pulled low and he wore a long duster that flapped around his muscled legs as he effortlessly swung down from the horse. He turned in the direction of his truck that was parked on the side of the road a few yards away before his head swiveled to them. Sunny couldn’t see his face, but she could feel the intensity of his gaze. He headed toward them in long ground-eating strides. When he pulled open Sophie’s door, his champagne eyes were filled with concern.

“Soph! Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine, Uncle Reid.”

His gaze snapped over to Sunny and she experienced the same feeling she always experienced when he looked at her—like she was sitting in front of a really hot principal who was about to discipline her. “Are you hurt, Ms. Whitlock?”

She held out her arms. “Right as rain.”

His gaze swept over her and her breathlessness grew. “So what happened?”

Sophie sent her a pleading look. As much as the teenager deserved to get into a whole mess of trouble, Sunny couldn’t bring herself to tattle. It wasn’t like teenagers didn’t do stupid things. Sunny had stolen more than one car, driven without a driver’s license, and texted while driving. So she couldn’t very well point fingers.

She pinned on a bright smile. “What happened was I got a little too big for my britches and thought I could drive much faster on a slick highway than I could.” That much was true. She had been going a little too fast. Of course, the truck coming straight at her hadn’t helped. “I hydroplaned and ran off the road. Sophie stopped to make sure I was okay.”

The concerned look left Reid’s eyes to be replaced with an emotion that was easy to read: anger. And someone being angry with her was not something Sunny was used to. People loved her. Or if not loved her, at least liked her. And why wouldn’t they? She was the life of every party. The beacon of light on the darkest days. The sweet little ol’ gal who made people smile. In fact, making people smile was what she did best.

Just not with Reid Mitchell.

His face seemed to be frozen in a perpetual frown whenever she was around. No matter how bright and funny she was, he always looked at her like she was an annoying pest he had repeatedly tried to exterminate without luck.

Today was no exception.

“Your recklessness could have killed someone,” he snapped.

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