A Knight In Cowboy Boots (16 page)

She was right, Maddie realized. It should have been obvious, but she’d just assumed … Her heart twisted again. A dozen roses was a standard apology. Two dozen meant he’d actually thought about it.

Damn him
, Maddie thought again. If it only were just about him not being more clear about his plans.

*

Zach didn’t actually think the roses would soften Maddie’s heart enough to forgive him, but he couldn’t quash the glimmer of hope that he might be spared having to make the next move. With nothing particular to do while he waited, he met Jake for lunch. Jake checked his arm, pronounced that it was healing nicely, and put on a fresh bandage for Zach. Afterward, he gave Zach a tour of the campus, which killed the rest of Friday.

He managed to make it to Saturday afternoon before Rachel discovered he was back in Galveston. Crossing the hotel lobby, Zach heard her voice.

“Zachariah!”

He grimaced at Rachel’s use of his complete first name, but he turned it into a smile as he pivoted on his heel. “Hey, Rach.”

“I didn’t know you were coming back so soon,” Rachel said. “Why didn’t you let me know?”

“It was kind of a spur of the moment decision. I was just gonna see if you were around somewhere.”

Rachel’s eyes narrowed, but whatever she thought, she didn’t voice it. “Rosa, we’ve got a room to spare for my brother, don’t we?”

Rosa, the checkin clerk Zach hadn’t known the day before, hit a short string of keys on the computer keyboard. Zach shot her a pleading look over Rachel’s head.

Except for the sudden flush apparent even under her naturally dark skin, the girl covered for him beautifully. “Of course, Ms. McKnight.” She dropped her eyes to the screen as she punched numbers into the reservation keyboard. “Is room good?”

“Thank you, Rosa,” Zach said before Rachel could. He stepped past his sister to take the key card, flashing Rosa a grateful smile that had the girl ducking her head to hide an even deeper blush.

“Sweet girl,” he said, turning back toward Rachel.

“Don’t you dare.”

“What?”

Rachel grabbed his arm, forcing him to walk away with her. “I’m not that crazy about you sniffing after the new bartender, but if you think you can start working your way through the staff, you just think again. I won’t put up with you creating that sort of havoc in my hotel.”

“Jeez, you’re touchy. All I said was she seemed sweet.”

Rachel spun toward him, dropping his arm to point a threatening finger at him. “No!”

Zach set his jaw. “I’m getting a little tired of being told ‘no’ by the women around here like I’m a puppy who’s just piddled on the carpet. I got no interest in working my way through your staff, but if I did, you couldn’t stop me.”

Rachel dropped her finger. “Really?” Her voice dripped wicked speculation.

Zach’s body instinctively tried to suck his balls inside.

“Just who else has told you no lately? Could it be your pistol-packing sweetheart?”

Zach felt his own color rise. He hadn’t meant to give Rachel any more ammunition to use against him.

“You know,” Rachel continued, “I might just have judged her too quickly.”

“Rach, stay out of my business,” Zach warned, but he was already afraid he’d lost control of things around him. Then again, he wasn’t actually sure he’d ever had it.

“Hey, Zach. Thought you were gonna meet me out … front … ” Jake’s voice trailed off as Rachel turned. His sudden guilty flush a testament to how much of their mamma was in Rachel, Zach thought, particularly since Jake had nothing to feel guilty about.

Rachel squared up with Zach to greet their brother, but not without giving Zach a sideways glare. “Just coming to find me, were you?”

Zach didn’t even bother to defend himself.

“You know, it’s actually right nice you’re both here.” Rachel’s voice suddenly sounded down-home. “I looked for you last Sunday morning, Zach. Figured you might be of a mind to go to church with me, but you musta gone on your own.”

Having woken up last Sunday in Maddie’s bed, Zach’s blush wasn’t nearly as blameless as Jake’s.

Rachel pretended not to notice. “I think this week we should make it family thing—you, me, and Jake.”

“Uhh—” Zach met Jake’s eyes, hoping he’d have a way out of being trapped in a church with their overly-zealous sister. The resignation he saw there took the fight out of him. “Sure. Sounds like a great family outing,” he said, knowing his voice lacked the appropriate amount of enthusiasm.

Rachel affected not to notice. “Good. I’ll meet you boys here in the lobby at :. You did bring some Sunday go-to-meeting clothes, didn’t you, Zachariah?” She patted him on his wounded arm as she left, a self-satisfied smile on her face.

“If being manipulative was a sin,” Jake said as they watched her walk away, “Rachel’d be riding the fast train to hell.”

“Don’t even think that. She learned it from Mamma.”

“That’s a mamma-exempt sin. Rachel ain’t nobody’s mamma.”

“What pisses me off,” Zach said, “is how much she enjoys it.”

“Yeah, me, too.

*

As low bartender on the totem pole, Maddie expected to get the low-tipping shifts. The early shift on Saturday in The Gull’s bar was so slow, she wondered why they bothered opening.
Maybe it isn’t always like this.
The weather outside was perfect, warm with a mild breeze. Later in the year, when it was hotter during the day, people would be more likely to seek out a cool, air-conditioned bar.

Once the clean-up from the night before was done, boredom set in. Maddie started praying for customers—as long as none of them were Zach. She realized her mistake in forgetting to stipulate his sister, too, when Rachel walked in with Claudia.

“What can I get you?” Maddie asked when they sat at the bar.

“She makes a mean Bloody Mary, Rachel,” Claudia bragged. “I made sure before I hired her.”

“Sounds great,” Rachel said.

Maddie kept her face passive. Somehow, she would have pegged Zach’s sister as being more the Virgin Mary type. She gave the women space, moving down to the far end of the bar so they’d have privacy. They were still the only customers Maddie had when they flagged her for a second round.

As she picked up their empty glasses, Rachel addressed her.

“Claudia says you just moved here from Oregon.”

Maddie tried not to stiffen. “Yes, ma’am.”
They’d been talking about her?
She wondered if Claudia knew she’d shot Rachel’s brother.

“You found a church you like yet?” Rachel asked.

“Uh, no. Not yet.”

“You’ll come check out my church tomorrow morning then. You can meet me in the lobby here, or I can pick you up at your place if that’s more convenient.”

Maddie’s mouth was suddenly dry as cotton. She couldn’t imagine a more nerve wracking experience. “Here—I’ll meet you here.”

“: then.” Rachel took a sip of her Bloody Mary.

“I— I’ve got to … restock … ” Maddie said, stumbling over her words. Rachel smiled sweetly as Maddie turned and walked away. She grabbed a case of beer from the back and started stuffing them into the already full cooler.

Was she really going to church with Zach’s sister? Rachel didn’t even like her. Too late, Maddie thought of several excuses she could have used. She’d have given her first week’s check if she’d thought of just one sooner.

Frankly, Zach’s sister scared the hell out of her.

*

“What are we waiting for?” Zach asked, glancing at Rachel who was talking casually to the checkin clerk.

Jake shook his head and shrugged at Zach’s muttered question.

Rachel was as punctual as an atomic clock, but she seemed in no hurry, though it was already :. Jake’s sudden grip on his arm brought his attention around to the front of the lobby.

In the middle of the automatic doors, Maddie had just stepped out of one of her black pumps. With Jesse in one arm and the diaper bag hanging from her other shoulder, she was in danger of overbalancing as her foot sought to line up with the wayward shoe. She wore a dress the color of burgundy wine that had large buttons up the front of the bodice and a full skirt. Zach realized that he’d never appreciated how good a woman’s legs looked below a skirt like that.

He didn’t remember sprinting toward her. When he swept Jesse out of her arms, Maddie’s suddenly empty hand grabbed his arm to keep herself from toppling. A second later, her face registered that she was hanging onto him.

“Get your shoe,” Zach said.

She swallowed, then still holding onto his arm, she looked down, fished her shoe around, and slid her foot into it. The little piece of her face he could see flushed as red as Jesse’s hair.

Zach wondered what she was doing there so early. And with Jesse, too. Only when she reached for the baby did it occur to him to wonder why she was so dressed up. He shot a shocked glance at Rachel.

His sister looked almost as surprised as he was. Obviously, no one had told her Maddie was a package deal. Maddie was still waiting for him to release Jesse.

“I’ve got him.” Zach hiked the boy up against his shoulder. For her ears only, he said, “C’mon. Let’s go beard the manipulative bitch in her den.”

Maddie swallowed hard but said nothing as she followed him.

“Well, I guess we’re all here, Rachel,” Zach said, his voice an accusation.

His sister had the grace to look abashed. Typical of Rachel, however, it didn’t last more than a second. She glanced at her watch. “If we don’t want to be late, we’d better load up.”

“It’ll probably work out best if I follow you,” Maddie said. “I mean, Jesse has to ride in a car seat so … ”

“You’re right, of course,” Rachel said, recovered from her surprise. “Zach, why don’t you ride with her? Make sure she doesn’t get lost on her way to church.”

Zach ground his teeth and thought some un-Christian thoughts. It didn’t take a wizard to figure out what Rachel was up to. She wasn’t just throwing him and Maddie together. This whole “let’s everyone go to church” was her way of checking Maddie out to decide if she approved.

Well, Zach didn’t need her approval. “Let’s skip church,” he said when he and Maddie were in the car, with Jesse in the back.

“Is that your plan? Get me alone in a car so you can convince me to take you home with me?”

“You think this was my idea?” Zach wasn’t very successful at keeping the anger from his voice. “Rachel’s manipulating both of us. She doesn’t deserve to get away with it.”

“Why would she throw us together like this? She doesn’t even like me.”

“She’s doesn’t like anybody unless she can make them dance to her tune.” In his anger, Zach didn’t feel the need to be fair.

Maddie’s jaw set. “Which way is the church?”

Knowing he’d lost the round, Zach pointed.

They pulled into the church parking lot with just a few minutes to spare. Rachel and Jake were waiting outside. From the look on Jake’s face, Rachel had not been waiting patiently. Rachel ushered them in ahead of her, but true to her bossy nature, pointed to a pew that would keep them from having to split up.

Jesse in her arms, Maddie entered the pew first. Determined to at least provide a buffer between Maddie and Rachel, Zach made sure he went next. Appropriate, he thought. Trapped between two women who didn’t seem to like him at all at the moment. Zach hoped God was paying attention. He should get divine points for this.