Page 4 of Seaside Cowboy's Fairy Tale

Tex stumbled and stopped giving chase after the most fascinating woman he’d ever met decided to disappear just like Cinderella had.

Was that a tire blowout, or gunfire?

Every cell in his body went on high alert. Maybe he should call security, but worry for the beautiful stranger won. Besides, security would hear the gunfire.

He didn’t even know her name, so before rounding the corner he called out the name he’d started calling her in his mind for lack of a better—or a true—one, “Cinderella, are you okay?”

“Down!” came the answer.

His heart dropped to the asphalt as he peeked around the corner. Was she down? Was she hurt?

Thwack!He was knocked from his feet to the unforgiving asphalt.

His arm nearly shot out to strike back before he looked up into the hazel eyes that had mesmerized him minutes ago. If she’d stolen his breath away when she’d danced in his arms beneath gleaming chandeliers, she literally knocked the breath out of him now in the dim lantern light.

How had she even managed that? He must outweigh her twice.

What in the world?

Okay, the more imperative question was who was shooting and why.

“Are you trying to get shot?” Her eyes blazing with amber fire, she rolled off him, then hid behind the nearest tree and the row of bushes. The scents of damp earth and grass filled his nostrils rather than that faint whiff of her sophisticated perfume.

“No!” He gave an honest answer as he followed her behind the generous vegetation while mentally thanking the gardener. Still, Tex tried to shield her though he had no clue what direction the shots had come from.

Chills pulsed in his veins. Concern for her slammed into him with the same force this slim beauty had slammed into him seconds ago. “What’s happening? Are you all right? You’re not wounded, are you?”

“I’m all right. You don’t have a gun on you, do you?”

“No. We have a security team on the premises for any safety issues. That, and a gun wouldn’t go well with this tuxedo.” He grasped some twigs. It would’ve been useful to have a gun in this situation. The best he could do here was find a large branch, but one couldn’t come out swinging at a sniper. “What’s going on?”

At least, the gunshots had stopped coming, though a door slammed and tires squealed in the distance, a different direction from the music drifting from the venue. He froze, listening intently. Had the shooter left? Or was that one of the guests leaving? Well, the shooter and the guest could be the same person, so there was that.

She looked from around the tree, her gorgeous lavender-silk gown carrying specks of grass and soil and her updo disheveled, but that made her more attractive. His heart skipped a beat.

He nearly slapped himself. In this intense moment, he shouldn’t be thinking about how she made him feel. Yet he did.

“I saw a bearded man in a gray suit with a mask over his eyes steal a necklace as he passed a woman while exiting the building. I ran after the thief,” she whispered.

“I thought you were the thief. Um, of the heart,” he blurted out.

Seriously? What happened to his quick-thinking, suave-talking ways? And what was taking the security team so long? They should’ve been here by now.

Once he was sure Cinderella was relatively safe, he called the police and explained the situation in clipped words. Then he called Security. One of the team members had left to pursue the cars that had departed while others were calming down the commotion at the party. Tex commandeered a security team member to keep the theft victim distracted and in place until the police arrived. The guys in the camera room assured him that the CCTV didn’t show an active shooter on the premises.

He could look for the bullet casings on the ground, but he’d best leave that to the police.

She got up to her full height and peeked from around the tree. “All fun and games aside, you distracted me. The real thief—of diamonds—got away. By the time we get to a vehicle to chase, it’ll be too late anyway.”

His eyes widened as he got up, as well. She spoke like she’d meant to catch a criminal while unarmed herself. His protective instincts went on high alert. She started walking back to the brightly lit building, limping in one shoe. She must’ve lost the other one on her way here.

He joined her, grateful he did distract her since she didn’t seem to realize what kind of danger she’d put herself in. “We have cameras. I know it’s a masquerade, so we won’t get the perpetrator’s face. But still better than nothing.”

“True.” Stalking off one step ahead of him, she waved over her shoulder, not pausing to respond. Then her shoulders inched up. She took off the shoe and stopped limping. Her toes were painted to match her gown, and so were her long fingernails.

Those fingernails moved close as she reached toward him. “You have a leaf in your hair.”

He probably had grass stains on his tuxedo, but considering he could have had bullet holes in the tuxedo as well as his body, he’d take a leaf in his hair. “Well, that’s one accessory I didn’t mean to put there.”

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