Page 16 of Texas Scandal

Thinking about work only depressed her.

Melody shifted her thoughts to what she knew so far about the case. Someone had tried to get her far away from the area at around the time the body was found. Everyone was a suspect and she needed to keep them at arm’s length at least for a few days until the news cycle shifted and attention moved to something else. There was always a new, bigger story in Texas these days. Could she outlast the interest?

She fluffed the pillow as a bare-chested Tiernan walked into the room. It dawned on her that she knew very little about the man. Since she figured sleep was about as close as rayon to silk, she decided asking a few questions couldn’t hurt.

“Mind if I ask what you do for a living?” she asked, motioning toward the laptop on the floor.

He walked over and sat down as she forced her gaze away from ripples of lean muscle and droplets of water rolling down olive skin. Jeans hung low on his hips. The man was billboard-worthy hotness that had her throat drying up at the sight of him.

“I make custom saddles,” he supplied.

“For horses?” she asked, realizing there weren’t many other kinds. “Never mind. Stupid question.”

“There are no stupid questions,” he said with a warm smile that had a way of lowering her defenses while putting her at ease. A sharp contrast to butterflies going wild in her chest every time she looked into those disarmingly blue eyes of his. Dark hair and stunning eyes got her every time.

“What kinds of saddles? Like, for a major chain or feed stores?” she asked.

“Mine are custom,” he said with a raised eyebrow. “You really don’t know who I am, do you?”

The question got her attention but the amusement in his eyes piqued her interest even more. “Not really. Not personally, despite knowing you have a big last name. Why? Is that bad?”

He laughed. The deep timbre sent a trill of awareness skittering across her skin.

“That’s a good thing in my book,” he said.

“I’m afraid you’re going to have to tell me if you don’t want me to do a Google search later,” she said.

“Don’t do that,” he said, like it was a major warning. She doubted there were any skeletons in his closet.

“Then you might as well tell me. That way, I’ll hear your version,” she said. She had no plans to discontinue this line of questioning until she got to the bottom of why she should know him. “Or would you rather the internet be the one to educate me?”

Chapter Seven

“First of all, don’t believe anything you read about me on the internet.” Tiernan was afraid of what Corinne Moore had printed about him in the society section of newspapers and blogs. Plus, he figured telling Melody something personal about himself might help her relax enough to get at least some sleep. She might not think she needed it or even be able to but he would do what he could to assist. “I used to be on the rodeo circuit.”

“And now you have your own line of saddles?” she asked as her eyes widened. “Well, now I really am curious about your background. You must have been good at it considering sponsorships only go to the best.”

“It’s not a line, exactly,” he said. “I have a workshop out back behind the house where I make custom saddles for individuals.”

“As in one at a time?” she asked before her jaw fell slack.

“That’s the deal,” he said.

“They must cost a fortune,” she said under her breath.

“Not exactly,” he teased. “But close.”

“Then, you must really be somebody for people to be willing to pay extra to have you make a saddle,” she said with no hint of awe in her voice. She said the words as though she were reading the ingredients on a soup can.

That really made him laugh. He mainly dealt with rodeo folks who idolized him and treated him like something different than human. Like he didn’t put his pants on one leg at a time like everybody else. Melody was a breath of fresh air.

“I did okay back in the day,” he said.

“What does that mean? You aren’t that old,” she countered.

“I’m thirty-three,” he said. “Pretty old in my world. Besides, I’m a little beat up. I decided to quit while I was still on top.”

“Is that how you were able to hire John Prescott and have him show up on a moment’s notice?” she asked. “Your fame?”

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