Page 108 of The Honorable Texan
The door, ajar, was pushed completely open, and Leo came in with a tray.On it were a china cup and saucer, with a silver coffeepot, a silver cream and sugar service and a napkin and spoon.On a china plate were some dainty little chicken salad sandwiches.
“I thought you might be hungry,” Leo said with a gentle smile as he put the tray on her lap.It had legs, so it would stand alone over her lap.“Mrs.Lewis came over to fix supper, and I had her make you these.”
“Thank you!”she exclaimed.“And thank Mrs.Lewis, too.I was just starting to feel empty!”
Rey made an odd sound and she reached for a tinysandwich very quickly, not daring to glance at him after the enthusiastic and unwise remark she’d just made.
Leo turned his eyes toward his brother.“Something wrong with you?”he asked curiously.
“Stomach cramp,” Rey said without turning.“I had chili and salsa for lunch.Heartburn’s killing me!”
“You should go and take an antacid tablet,” Leo advised.“And drink some milk.”
“I guess I’d better.”Rey took a long breath and turned around, feeling more normal, finally.He glanced at Meredith.“I’m glad you’re okay.”
“I’ll be fine.Thanks for the conversation,” she said, and wouldn’t meet his eyes.But she smiled shyly.
He just looked at her.Suddenly his dark eyes began to burn.He studied her intently, as if something had just happened that shocked him.
“Are you all right?”she asked impulsively.
He took a slow breath.He was still staring at her, to his brother’s covert amusement.With her hair around her shoulders like that, sitting up in bed, smiling at him, he felt as if his whole life had just shifted five degrees.She was uncommonly pretty with her hair down.She had a warm, kind heart.She’d put her life on the line for a total stranger.Why hadn’t that occurred to him in Houston, when they first told him that she’d saved his brother from attackers?
“Leo probably owes you his life,” Rey said carefully.“But it bothers me that you risked your own to save him.”
“Wouldn’t you have done that same thing, even for a total stranger?”she mused.
He hesitated.“Yes,” he said after deliberating for a few seconds.“I suppose I would have.”
“See?You have all sorts of potential as a prospective husband,” she added with a wicked smile, which got wider when he reacted.“You’re sexy, you’re rich, you drive a nice car, and besides all that, you like animals.”She began nodding her head.“Definite potential.”
His high cheekbones flushed and he glared at her.“I don’t want to get married.”
“Don’t worry about it,” she said soothingly.“It’s perfectly natural for a bachelor to resist matrimony.But you’ll come around.”She wiggled both eyebrows.“If you get me a ring, I’ll let you see my collection of used chewing-gum wrappers and bottle caps.”
He was still glaring.
Leo chuckled.“I’d love to see your used chewing-gum wrappers, Meredith,” he said enthusiastically.“In fact, I may start collecting right now!”
Rey stared a hole through his brother while, inside him, something froze.
“I’ll even consider marrying you,” Leo added wickedly.
She laughed, not taking him seriously.“Sorry.It’s Rey or nobody.My heart’s set on him.”She frowned.“Pity I couldn’t trade you something for him,” she murmured to Leo.
Rey was getting angrier by the second, and uncomfortable at the idea that Leo was trying to cut him out.
“Make me an offer,” Leo told her.“But he can’t cook, and he has a temper worse than a sunburned rattler.Besides that, you can’t domesticate him.He wears his spurs to the dinner table.”
“So do you!”Rey accused.
“I sit more daintily than you do,” Leo said imperturbably.
Rey rammed his hands into the pockets of his jeans and glared at Meredith again.“You can’t give people away.”
“I’m not trying to give you away,” Leo said calmly.“I want to make a profit.”He scowled suddenly and his eyes widened as he looked at his brother’s boots.
Meredith was staring at them, too.She pursed her lips and exchanged a look with Leo.
