Page 5 of Heaven, Texas (Chicago Stars 2)

Creases had formed in Julie’s perfect forehead. “I’m concentrating.”

“Okay, sweetheart, now don’t disappoint me.” He tilted the beer to his lips, drained it, and set the bottle down. “Everybody knows the goalposts have to be eighteen feet, six inches wide. The top face of the crossbar—”

“Ten feet above the ground!” Julie shrieked.

“Aw, honey, I respect you too much to insult your intelligence with a question that easy. Wait till I finish, or you’re gonna end up with a two-question penalty.”

She looked so stricken that Gracie’s heart went out to her.

Bobby Tom crossed his arms over his chest. “The top face of the crossbar is ten feet above the ground. The vertical posts have to extend at least thirty feet above the crossbar. Now here’s your question, sweetheart, and before you answer, remember that you’re holding my heart in your hands.” Gracie waited expectantly. “For the chance to be Mrs. Bobby Tom Denton, give me the exact dimensions of the ribbon attached to the top of each upright.”

Julie shot up from the edge of the hot tub. “I know this, Bobby Tom! I know it!”

Bobby Tom went very still. “You do?”

A soft giggle slipped through Gracie’s lips. It would serve him right if Julie answered the question.

“Four inches by sixty inches!”

Bobby Tom punched his chest. “Aw, baby! You just ripped out my heart and stomped the sucker flat.”

Julie’s face crumpled.

“It’s four inches by forty-eight. Forty-eight inches, sweetheart. We were only twelve inches away from eternal marital bliss. I can’t remember the last time I was so depressed.”

Gracie watched him take Julie in his arms and kiss her quite thoroughly. This man might be the most blatant male chauvinist left in North America, but she had to admire his audacity. She watched with fascination as his hand, which was suntanned and exceptionally strong looking, curled over the bare globe of Julie’s glistening bottom. The muscles in her own bottom tightened unconsciously in response.

The guests began to mill and a few of the men stepped up on the platform to offer condolences to the beautiful loser.

“Let’s go.” Bruno took Gracie’s arm, and before she could stop him, he had pushed her forward.

She caught her breath in alarm. What had started as a simple misunderstanding had begun to get out of hand, and she hastily turned back to him. “Bruno, there’s something we need to talk about. It’s quite funny, really, and—”

“Hey, Bruno!” Another bruiser, this one with red hair, came up next to them. He ran his eyes over Gracie and regarded Bruno critically.

“She’s not wearing enough makeup. You know Bobby Tom likes his women with makeup. And I hope she’s got blond hair underneath that wig. Boobs, too. That jacket’s so loose it’s hard to tell. You got boobs, doll?”

Gracie didn’t know which was the more astonishing, being asked if she had boobs or being called “doll.” She was momentarily at a loss for words.

“Bruno, who you got there?”

Her stomach plummeted as she heard Bobby Tom’s voice. He had stepped to the edge of the hot tub platform, and was regarding her with great interest and something that seemed almost like speculation.

Bruno patted the boom box. “Me and the boys thought we’d surprise you with a little entertainment.”

Gracie watched with growing dread as a wide grin stretched over Bobby Tom’s face, revealing a set of straight white teeth. His eyes met hers, and she felt as if she were walking too fast on a moving sidewalk.

“Come on over here, honey, so ol’ Bobby Tom can take a look at you before you get started.” His soft Texas drawl licked her body and scrambled her customary good sense, which might have been why she said the first thing that came into her mind.

“I—uh—have to put on more makeup first.”

“Now don’t you worry about that.”

She let out a small gasp of dismay as Bruno pushed her the rest of the way forward. Before she could draw back, Bobby Tom’s big hand closed around her wrist. Numbly, she looked down at the long, tapered fingers that only moments before had been molded to Julie’s behind but were now pulling her up next to him on the platform.

“Let’s give the lady some room, girls.”

Alarmed, she watched the women leaving the hot tub so they could watch her. She tried to explain. “Mr. Denton, I need to tell you who—”

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