Flirting with Texas (Deep in the Heart of Texas) (21 page)

“Would you quit sneaking around, Starlet!” He sat up and tested his sore shoulder.

“I-I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I w-was just coming out to see if you wanted some more sweet tea, and when I saw you sleeping, you looked so… beautiful,” she swallowed hard, “that I—”

Feeling like the biggest jerk, Beau pressed a finger to her lips. “I’m the one who should be apologizing, Starlet. I didn’t mean to yell. You just startled me, is all.”

Her eyes turned hopeful. “So you’re not mad at me for kissing you?”

“Of course, I’m not mad at you. But I don’t think we should do it again.”

Her face fell. “Because I’m fat.”

If Beau had a nickel for every time a woman brought up her weight, he’d be a lot richer than he was. Fortunately, all the practice had given him a pat answer.

“You’re not fat,” he said. “And it would be a pretty boring world if people only came in one size. That’s what I
like about traveling. I get to see women of all different shapes and sizes. And each and every one of them is beautiful in their own way.” He flashed a smile. “You’re beautiful, Starlet, and don’t you let anyone tell you differently.”

She no longer looked crestfallen, and he took that as a good sign… until she spoke.

“I love you, Beau,” she blurted out. “And I know you want to keep traveling. But I could travel with you and take care of you. And if you don’t want me to do that, I’ll be waiting right here for you when you get back. Just like I was last time.”

“You were waiting for me?”

She nodded and smiled shyly.

Holy shit. What was he supposed to do now? He didn’t want to break her heart, but he couldn’t let this infatuation with him continue. Not when he had no intention of staying at Miss Hattie’s longer than it took to make sure Minnie was okay.

“I can’t be your boyfriend, Starlet,” he said. She dropped her head to study her hands, and he reached out and tipped up her chin. Her sad eyes broke his heart. But it was either break her heart now or break her heart even worse later. “It’s not because I don’t think you’re beautiful and sweet. It’s because…”

“You love Jenna Jay,” she whispered.

It was the furthest thing from the truth, but Beau dove on the excuse like a wrangler on a steer.

“Yes,” he said. “I love Jenna—”

The back door slammed, and Beau glanced over his shoulder. As if he had conjured the woman up with his words, Jenna Jay came striding down the path, her cowboy hat pulled low and her blond hair whipping in the
breeze. He should’ve felt annoyed. If she hadn’t shown up, he could’ve played the role of smitten suitor much easier. But the funny thing about it was, now that she was here, he felt a little smitten. His heart did a little back flip at the sight of those mile-long legs, the small breasts that jiggled with every arrogant step, and the determined tilt of her stubborn chin as she looked around the garden.

With her hat shading half her face, he couldn’t see her eyes. Yet, he knew the exact moment that they settled on him. He flashed a smile, and the words that came out of his mouth didn’t feel in the least like a lie.

“Hey, Blondie. I’ve missed you.”

J
EALOUSY WAS NOTHING NEW TO
J
ENNA
. She had been jealous of her sisters’ and brother’s ability to get through their homework in under an hour. Jealous that Hope and Tessa could always find jeans that didn’t come up to their ankles once they were washed. Jealous that Dallas could bench press a good two hundred pounds more than she could. But she had never been jealous of men. Probably because she hadn’t dated all that many, and the ones she had dated no other woman seemed to be interested in. So it took her a moment to identify the green-eyed monster that reared its ugly head.

Once she did, she tried to ignore it and pin on a smile as bright as Beau’s. “You and Starlet playin’ a little spin the bottle without the bottle?”

As if he’d just remembered Starlet, Beau glanced over at the girl who was looking at Jenna as if she wanted to shove hot coals in her eyes. Or maybe that was what Jenna wanted to do to Starlet. Especially when Beau caressed her cheek before dropping his hand.

“Actually,” he rolled to his feet, feet that were long
and bare and made a tingle skitter along the center seam of Jenna’s jeans. “We were just talking about you.” He ducked underneath the ropes that held the hammock and encircled Jenna’s waist, pulling her close to his chest. “I thought you were going to stay in Bramble for a few days, sweetheart, and visit your friends.”

With him pressed against her, it was hard to think, much less talk. In just a few hours, she’d forgotten how handsome he was, and virile, and hot—he flashed his bright smile and winked—and arrogant.

Her head cleared as her eyes narrowed. “I realize you love to race around and make all the girls giddy with your sexy smile and your twangy ‘sweetheart,’ but in case you’ve forgotten, I’m planning on getting back with Dav—”

Beau’s lips silenced her. It wasn’t a soft, gentle kiss. More of a hard, thorough, controlling one. It left Jenna as weak as a day-old kitten—the runt of the litter. When he finally released her, she swayed on her feet.

“Damn,” Beau breathed.

Jenna might’ve repeated the word if he hadn’t been looking at the empty spot where Starlet had been sitting.

“I don’t understand women,” Beau said, once the back door had slammed. “How can you love someone you don’t even know?”

Jenna released her breath and flopped down in the hammock before her knees gave out. “We don’t have to know you. You just have to fit in the illusion we have of the perfect man.”

“Are you telling me that Davy is your illusion of a perfect man?”

It was a good question. When had her illusion of the perfect man become a longhaired rocker? Since she
couldn’t come up with an answer, she ignored the question. “So am I to assume that your little display was to throw Starlet off your scent?”

Beau sat down next to her. “Your timing was perfect, by the way.”

“I hate to tell you this, but Starlet isn’t going to give up that easily.”

“Sort of like someone else I know. So did you call him?” He lay back on the hammock, and his shirt spread open, exposing his hard chest and ripped abs. Starting at the little hollow at his throat, her gaze wandered down his smooth, tanned skin. The man cleavage between his hard pectoral muscles. The angled bones of his rib cage. His corrugated stomach. And the dark slit of his belly button right above the waistband of his jeans.

Perfect.

The word popped into her head, and her brow knotted.

Beau cracked open one eye. “So you didn’t talk to him?”

“Who?”

He tipped his head up and looked at her as if she’d gone loco. “Davy?”

She shook her head, trying to clear out any confusing, wayward words. “No, not yet. I was too busy looking for clues about my birth mother. Which is one of the reasons I’m here. Why are you here? I thought you were leaving.”

He tucked a hand behind his head. “I was, but then Moses told me that Minnie has been seeing Doc Mathers, and I wanted to stay and make sure she was okay.”

The information was so contrary to the fun-loving, self-centered Beau that Jenna knew, she didn’t know how to reply. She knew that he loved the old woman. She just hadn’t known how much.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “But it’s probably a good thing that you stayed. Especially after what I heard in town this afternoon.”

“Let me guess,” Beau said. “Rachel Dean has bunions? Twyla is still trying to get Kenny Gene to set a date? Sheriff Winslow is afraid of his wife? And Bear is gay?”

Jenna laughed. “None of the above.” Her gaze drifted down to his chest and the small tattoo that peeked out from the edge of his shirt. “Is that Japanese? What does it say?”

Beau opened his eyes. “Life force. Now what did you hear in town?”

It was hard to pull her gaze away from the tattoo. Or maybe it wasn’t the tattoo as much as the hard pectoral muscle it was inked on. “Only the name of the man who ratted out Miss Hattie’s to Sheriff Hicks.”

“Who? I’d like to whup his ass.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she said. “It’s Pastor Robbins.”

Beau’s eyebrows shot up. “Pastor Robbins?”

Jenna nodded and took off her hat to wipe the sweat from her brow. “According to Rachel Dean who heard it from Rye Pickett who heard it from Mayor Sutter who heard it from Moses Tate, Pastor Robbins was propositioned by a hen.”

“Jesus H. Christ!” Beau sat up so quickly that it bounced Jenna up and sprawled her over his chest, knocking him back to the hammock. “What hen?” he asked, seemingly unaware of their bodies smashed together.

“I don’t know, but I find it hard to believe that the pastor would raise such a ruckus over the older hens doing it.” She tried to sit back up. Unfortunately, their combined weight had caused the hammock to dip in the middle, and it was easier said than done.

“So you think it was Starlet?” he asked.

“Who else could it be?”

After only a moment, Beau answered. “Marcy Henderson.”

“Marcy Henderson? The Marcy Henderson I grew up with?”

“I guess Minnie hired her to help the hens with some of the house cleaning and cooking,” Beau said. “No doubt, she made a pass at the pastor, and he thought it had to do with her working here. If that’s the case, it should be easy enough to resolve. The few times I’ve met Pastor Robbins, he seemed like a reasonable man.”

“If it was just him,” Jenna said, “I’d say you were right. But the entire town is talking about it. The townsfolk are convinced that there are all kinds of naughty things going on out here.” She made another attempt to get off Beau’s chest, but his arms came around her and halted her efforts. She glanced up to find him watching her with hot, blue eyes.

“Like what kind of naughty things?”

Just that quick, the tingle returned to the spot between her legs, and her breath caught in her lungs. “Just things.”

His eyelashes lowered to half-mast as he studied her mouth. “So why didn’t you call Davy? One phone call wouldn’t have taken that much time.”

It was a struggle to get words out, especially when she didn’t know why she hadn’t called Davy. And she certainly couldn’t think of a reason now. Not with Beau stuck to her like a Velcro tab.

She had always thought that Beau was uncommonly handsome, but up close, with the last rays of the sun slanting over his face, he could only be described as perfect.
From the silver hair that dipped over his forehead to the dark stubble that shadowed his chin, the planes and angles of his face melded together to form a masculine beauty that would make any woman mindless.

“Maybe Moses was right,” he said, his voice barely a whisper. “Maybe you don’t like people telling you what you want. Maybe you like making up your own mind.” He dipped his head until his lips were inches from hers. “So what do you want, Jenna?”

At the moment, she wanted him to kiss her. To press those lips against hers like he had only moments earlier and sweep her into the heated haze that only Beau could generate. Licking her lips, she closed her eyes and leaned closer. But instead of feeling the heat of his mouth, she felt his hands tighten on her waist as he lifted her off him and got to his feet. Without his weight to balance the hammock, it flipped over, spilling her to the ground.

She landed facedown with an
oomph
, and it took a moment before she could catch her breath and roll to her back. Beau stood over her wearing a cocky grin.

“No need to answer now, Blondie.” He leaned down to scoop up her cowboy hat. “We’ve got all night.”

Spitting out a clump of grass, Jenna sat up and tried to figure out what had just happened. “I’m not staying the night.”

“Of course you’re staying.” Beau pulled her to her feet and placed her hat on her head, pulling it down until her ears bent. “Where else would my girlfriend stay, but with me?”

Jenna stayed for dinner. Not because of Beau’s harebrained scheme to dissuade Starlet, but because of the
picture that was burning a hole in her back pocket. She wanted to check the photo albums in The Jungle Room and see if she could find the same woman. That, and she had a weakness for pot roast, which was what Baby made for dinner.

“I swear,” Minnie said, “you two eat more than the entire Texas A&M football team put together. After their bus pulled out, our cupboards were barer than Moses Tate’s head.” She smiled, slyly. “But it was worth it to take those boys away from The Chicken Ranch.”

“About that.” Beau finished placing the last slice of cherry pie on his plate—the same piece Jenna had been eyeballing. “It seems that the henhouse is the topic of gossip in Bramble.”

“Well, that’s nice to hear,” Minnie said as she rolled away from the table and took her dirty plate to the sink. The other hens had left the table only moments before to clean up after the guests who had eaten in the dining room. “Gossip is always good for business.”

“Not this gossip.” Beau cut into his pie and lifted a perfect-sized bite. Jenna couldn’t seem to stop herself from grabbing his fork and redirecting the bite to her mouth. He shot her an annoyed look before he continued. “It seems that Pastor Robbins thinks that Miss Hattie’s is back in the business of prostitution.”

The sound of shattering glass had Jenna almost choking on her pie. She looked up to see Marcy standing in the doorway of the kitchen, a couple broken plates at her feet. If the dropped plates weren’t enough to confirm Beau’s suspicions, her guilty face was. Although Jenna had to hand it to her; she recovered quickly.

“I guess I tried to handle too many at once,” she said
in a belligerent tone. She looked at Beau. “You can take it out of my paycheck.”

Jenna jumped up from the table. “Of course he’s not going to take it out of your paycheck,” she said. “It was an accident. I make those all the time at Herbs and Spices.” She leaned down and picked up the larger pieces of broken china.

“I don’t need Scroggs’s charity,” Marcy hissed under her breath as she knelt next to Jenna. “I thought I got that across to your mama years ago.”

Jenna didn’t realize that her mother had offered Marcy charity. But now that she thought about it, her mother had always had a soft spot for Marcy. She invited her to every one of Hope’s birthday parties, even though Marcy never attended. And once Dallas had gotten a hard smack for referring to her as a slut.