Page 47 of Steers and Stowaways
“Then you figured wrong.” Tucker curled his upper lip at her. “If you want the real deal, it needs to be in a church.”
Chip inquired hesitantly, “Do I have to dress up?”
“No,” Mallory assured.
“Yes,” Tucker said at the same time. “Do you own a suit?”
“I have a blazer,” he admitted.
“That’ll do.” Tucker winked at his new fiancée. “I think that’s a yes.”
“Yeah, count me in,” Chip muttered, not sounding too thrilled about it.
She made a comical face at Tucker. “Doyouown a suit?”
“Yup. Do you own a dress?”
She looked like she was thinking hard. “I think so.”
Tucker held in a chuckle as he reached over to flick a finger against the tip of her nose. “Honestly? I’m surprised to hear it.”
She swatted his hand away. “I’m full of surprises, mister, so you’d better buckle up for the ride of your life.”
“I can’t wait.” The look he gave her made Chip start gagging again.
Chapter 9: Upgraded Partnership
“Wanna ride back to the ranch in my truck, babe?” As Tucker drove around the lake that the town was named after, he pulled off his wig and spat his veneers into his hand. There was no point in remaining in disguise now that Chip was in on the gig.
“Babe?” Mallory, who’d been using the mirror on the sun visor to remove her green contacts, burst out laughing.
He grinned. “Just practicing. I’m still new to this relationship stuff.”
“Practice all you want.” Her laugh was the most beautiful sound in the world to him. “As for hitching a ride with you, I drove my Jeep to a friend’s house, remember?” She put air quotes around the wordfriend.
“I see. Where’d you really stash it?” He was dying to know.
She gave him an incredulous look. “Where do you think?”
“Ah!” He shook his head in bemusement as they neared the tractor supply store that handledWestern Overland Trucking rentals. He’d left his Chevy Colorado parked there. It was apparently where she’d parked, as well.
She looked gleeful. “Remember that stack of raised garden bed containers that toppled over?”
He rolled his eyes, unable to forget the loud crash of metal hitting the pavement. “That was you?” Talk about a distraction! It had worked, too.
She snickered. “Didn’t want you to notice me hightailing it around the other side of the cattle trailer.”
“Your stowaway skills aren’t too shabby.” It amused him to learn she’d been inside the cattle trailer when he’d driven to her ranch to load up her steers.
“Pretty clever, huh?” She sounded enormously proud of herself.
“Yep.” Her stunt was impressive. He braked as they approached a stop sign.
“Coming from you, that’s a pretty big compliment.” She glanced his way, giving him the full blast of her sparkling eyes, which were back to their normal coffee-brew color.
“There you are,” he crowed as he hung a right.
She pretended to pout. “Are you saying my eyes didn’t look good in green,babe?”
