Texas Heroes_ Volume 1(30)
Her smile reached full wattage. “Then thank you. I’d love to go.”
“We’ll pick you up at seven. You like barbecue?”
“You bet.” Maddie hesitated. “Well, I guess I’d better get to work in the garden. Thank you, Jim.” She pointedly ignored Boone.
“Thank you for the bread. We’ll see you this evenin’.”
When Maddie was out of sight, Jim turned on him. “You’re a damn fool, Boone Gallagher.”
Boone shot him a quick glance, then headed to saddle up Slow Dance. “I didn’t ask you.”
“You hurt that little gal’s feelings. How hard is it to take her to the dance?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“She could be the best thing that ever happened to you.”
“She won’t stay.”
“How do you know?”
“I know.”
“Because she’s from the city, like Helen? You didn’t cause Helen’s problems.”
“She’d be alive if not for me.” And so would my baby.
“Maddie isn’t Helen.”
Boone rounded on him. “She’s on a vacation, Jim. Anything can be fun for a little while. She’s got restaurants in New York begging for her to come back up there. Why would she want to be stuck on a ranch in Morning Star?”
“Nobody said you had to marry her. Just enjoy her while she’s here.”
Boone’s temper spiked. “Don’t you go talking like Maddie is only good for a quick roll in the hay. She deserves better than that.”
Then Jim smiled and shook his head. “I never said she didn’t. So give her better.”
“I’m not condemning another woman to a life she would hate.”
“Damn, but I’m going to be glad when she leaves, even though I’ll miss her. You’re like a lion with a thorn in his paw, and it ain’t gonna get any better until you do something about it.”
“There’s nothing to do, Jim, except wait. She’ll be gone soon enough. And so will you if you don’t get back to work.”
Jim snorted. “Like you think you could run this place without me.” His grin didn’t fade.
“Go away and leave me alone. I’ve got work to do.”
Jim started to turn, then hesitated. “If you got any sense in that head of yours, you’ll be at that dance tonight. I can’t keep watch over Maddie and Velda both, and you and I both know Maddie’s going to be a powerful temptation to those cowboys.”
Boone curled his lip. “It’s not my business. She said it herself—she’s a big girl.”
Jim watched him for a minute, then he started chuckling. “You know, this is gonna be fun to watch, is all I got to say. That is, if we don’t kill you first.”
Boone shot him a glare. “I only wish I could believe that was all you had to say. The day you quit jawin’ at me is the day we put you in the ground. Now go away.”
Jim tipped his hat and walked away, whistling.
Maddie paused in pulling weeds in the garden when she saw Boone and Slow Dance leave the barn. When they moved into a gallop across the pasture, it was a sight that she knew she’d never forget.
Golden man and golden horse. The two moved together as if formed from one flesh. It was a ballet of rugged strength, smooth and sinuous, Boone’s strong thighs and the horse’s muscled flanks making the breath catch in her throat. She felt like she’d stepped back in time, like Boone and the horse and the land were part of one another. The sight stirred her at a deep, primal level, and she watched them until she could see them no more.
Then she rolled off her heels and sat back on the ground, smelling the tang of the tomato vines where she’d brushed them, reaching for weeds.
Around her she heard the soft call of cattle, the occasional nicker of a horse in the barn. Birds in the live oak trees around the house sang hello to the morning.
But even with all that, it was so quiet compared to what she’d known. Maddie felt the warm earth beneath her, the wind ruffling her hair, and she knew a moment of contentment so peaceful and deep that it almost seemed holy.
She closed her eyes and let the sun warm her face, the breeze kiss her lips, and in that moment, Maddie thought she knew why her father had never told her about this place. It must have torn a hole in his heart the size of Texas to grow up belonging here—and then to become a pariah.
All the anger and confusion Maddie had felt toward her father evaporated like the morning’s dew in the face of the sun. She understood now why he’d done it. To speak of this place and know he could never return would have been torture.
I understand, Daddy. And I’m so very sorry.