Belonging to Bandera (11 page)

“What worries me,” Holly said to Mimi as they drove down the tree-lined highway, “is how much I like Bandera. I’ve never been so incredibly attracted to someone. The second I met him, I wanted to change everything about myself.”

“Really?” Mimi asked. “I think Bandera likes you just the way you are.”

“That’s the problem. He doesn’t know who I am. I wanted to be sexy around him. Free-spirited. And that’s just not me at all.” She sighed. “I even threw my garter through the truck window at him.”

Mimi laughed. “Trust me, he loved that.”

“And I…gave him my panties on a bet,” she whispered. “And the worst part,” she added, looking at Mimi, who was trying hard not to giggle, “is that I didn’t do it for the money. I gave him my thong just to be a little…”

“Wild.” Mimi laughed. “Trust me, Bandera was
very happy that you did. Women always leave lacy calling cards for the Jefferson men. Helga—their housekeeper—is forever muttering about getting some unmentionable in the mail or left at the front door. One enterprising young lady left her white satin nightgown hooked to the stall of one of their horses. That night, the nightgown spooked the horse. Luckily, we were nearby when it went nuts in its stall.”

“What became of the girl?”

“Oh, Mason got the gown and the phone number she’d left inside it. It was one of the younger brothers’ school friends. Mason called her parents.”

“Which brother was the gown intended for?”

“Crockett.” Mimi grinned. “He didn’t dare ask that girl out after Mason had his fit. Mason said the girl was dumb as a rock and careless to boot, and Crockett knew better than to disagree. It was a pretty nightie, though.” She sighed. “They gave it to the church rummage sale, with a lot of other stuff, and I heard Widow—hey, what’s that?”

Holly turned to see what Mimi was looking at in her rearview mirror. “It’s Bandera!”

“Your voice is so excited when you say his name,” Mimi said with a grin.

“I’m just surprised.” Holly put her head out the window, waving at him.

“Do you want me to pull over?” Mimi asked. “We
can say we thought he was going back home and wanted to caravan.”

Holly pulled her head back inside, straightening her hair with a careless hand. “Isn’t he?”

“Unless I miss my guess, he’s come after you,” Mimi said. “So if you’ve decided to be brave, now’s the time to do it. If you’re still feeling anguished—and that’s understandable—we’ll just keep going, without him.”

Holly folded her hands tightly in her lap. Almost every instinct told her to stay with Mimi. Here she was safe. Bandera made her feel things she wasn’t ready to feel. Though she now knew she hadn’t loved her ex-fiancé, the whole matter had hurt.

“Just keep going,” she said. “It’s better for both of us.”

Mimi looked at her. “Are you sure?”

Holly nodded.

“Wow, this may be a record. The first time a woman has determined she’s definitely not giving in to a Jefferson male.”

“You didn’t give in,” Holly said. “Bandera said you and Mason never get your stuff figured out.”

“Bandera should mind his own business. Actually, Mason… I love Mason.”

“I know,” Holly said. “But you still didn’t give in and start chasing him.”

“Actually, I do chase him every once in a while,” Mimi said with a sigh. “And sometimes I think he’s
chasing me. Then we both get nervous and back off. I don’t really know. I’ve got to get it figured out soon.” She laughed. “Bandera’s flashing his lights at us. He wants me to pull over.”

“This is precisely what I mean,” Holly said nervously. “Bandera said he had a lot of stamina for chasing me, or something like that.”

“Oh. He said that?” Mimi looked pensive. “You know, sometimes I get tired of cocky Jefferson attitude. Even though I find it attractive and sexy as hell, every once in a while, I think
What the hell, buddy?
”

Holly smiled. “I can understand that.”

“So, if you’re sure you don’t want to swap seats and ride with him—”

“I’m fine for now,” she said hurriedly. “Thanks.”

“Then you and I are going to ignore him and his flashing lights.” Mimi jumped when her cell phone rang, quickly checking the screen. “Ah. It’s probably for you,” she said. “Bandera.”

Holly took the phone. “Hello?”

“Hey. Come ride with me,” he said. “You and I need to plan our business.”

“I’m happy with Mimi,” Holly said stubbornly.

“Yeah, but she listens to bad music on the radio. And I’m much more interesting.”

“We’re having girl chat,” Holly said.

“Is that why my ears are burning?” he asked. “Talking about me, are you?”

“We were talking about Mason, actually,” she said.

“Oh. Mason always gets to be the object of affection,” he complained. “And conversation. Unless one of us does something really crazy.”

Holly tried not to let him lure her. “Don’t do anything crazy,” she said. “We’re enjoying talking about Mason.”

He sighed. “I’m coming on too strong for you, aren’t I?”

“Yeah.” She nodded to emphasize her point, even though he couldn’t see. “You’re too strong, and I’m too weak right now.”

“I hate this,” Bandera said softly.

“I just don’t want to be dishonest.”

“All right,” he murmured. “I understand.”

“Do you?” She wanted him to.

“Yeah. So I’ll just follow you back to Malfunction Junction, and you just pretend I’m not here.”

“Malfunction what?”

“Junction. Our ranch.”

Holly blinked. “Your ranch is named Malfunction Junction?”

“Well, that’s what folks in town call it, and it stuck. We decided we like it. Sometimes, anyway.”

“Now that would be interesting on wedding invitations,” she said thoughtfully. “Formal wedding reception at Malfunction Junction—”

“See?” he said happily. “Let’s do it.”

He nearly made her smile with his spontaneity. “Nobody leaves one man and accepts another in two days. Particularly not a proposal over a cell phone from a man she doesn’t know that well.”

“Getting to know me is the fun part,” Bandera said. “Help me not end up like Mason. Old and curmudgeonly.”

She laughed. “Mason’s not old and curmudgeonly.”

“He can be a bit ornery,” Mimi said, putting her two cents in.

“You kissed me like you knew me,” Bandera reminded Holly, “and I enjoyed it.”

Holly blushed and was glad he couldn’t see. “That was the wild in me surfacing. I’ve calmed down now.”

“Mimi’s a bad influence,” he griped. “Tell her no more calming. I like you wild. I’m trying to liberate you. In ways you can’t even imagine. You can be my really wild Barbie doll.”

Her eyes went wide. “Is that how you see me? As a Barbie doll?”

Mimi snorted.

“Much more individual, but cute and leggy, yeah,” he said. “Not so much boobs. Definitely more flexible—”

“Bandera, you are living in an era of chauvinism long past.”

“And you find it appealing,” he said. “Tell Mimi to stop the truck so you can slap me.”

“No.” He was so going to seduce her if she wasn’t careful. Her willpower was starting to slip. “Bad boy wants good girl isn’t going to work.”

“Huh. It always works.”

“Not this time.”

He sighed. “All right. Here’s a new role—good girl wants good man. And you should.”

“Bandera!”

“Dang it,” Mimi said. “My truck’s overheating.”

“Oh, no!” Holly looked at the gauge. “Are you sure?”

“I am so sure, hot lady,” Bandera said. “I am not the kind of man who changes his mind.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Holly said hastily. “Mimi’s truck is overheating.”

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“That’s what I just said!”

“Sorry,” he replied. “I was trying to elaborate my position.”

“And you have. Succinctly. What should we do?”

“About me and you? Or the truck?”

“There is no me and you, because I am not going to be a woman on the rebound. ‘Rebound bride’ has a terrible ring to it.”

“Hmm. You have a point. Although I would never call you that. It’s my personal opinion that the wedding you ran from was only a dress rehearsal for the real, genuine big day in your life.
Tell Mimi to pull over, well off the road, on the shoulder.”

Holly hung up and handed the phone back to Mimi. “Bandera says to pull over.”

“It’s amazing how the Jefferson men always end up with everything going their way,” Mimi complained. “My poor old truck.”

Carefully, she slowed down and pulled off the road to park. “At least Nanette wasn’t in the car when this happened. She doesn’t have much interest in being stranded, or sitting still.”

Holly got out of the truck. Bandera had already pulled up behind them. Climbing out, he walked past Holly and gestured for Mimi to pop the hood.

Holly stood beside him, peering at whatever he was looking at. “Does it need water?”

“I don’t know. But steam is not a good sign.”

Puffs of air were escaping from under the radiator cap. Holly frowned. “I don’t think you should touch it.”

“I won’t.” He grinned, rubbing her back. “Guess what? You get to ride with me.”

She tried not to melt. She refused to look into his eyes. She pulled away. “I’ve been thinking,” she said.

“You mean you’ve been talking to Mimi,” he said. “Mimi’s like my sister, and you know how little sisters always talk about their brothers. They’re not the most reliable, objective source of information.”

Holly grabbed her purse from inside Mimi’s truck. “Mimi, can I help you carry anything?”

“No, thank you. I’ve got everything.”

The three of them scooted into the truck, with Mimi making certain she got to the back seat first. That left Holly to sit up front with Bandera, because if she got in the back it would be too obvious a move.

“All I ask is that you don’t touch my radio,” Bandera said in a lordly tone. “We’ll get along just fine.”

“This is Mason’s truck,” Mimi reminded him from the back seat. “Technically, she can touch—”

“This is what I’m talking about, the sisterly thing,” Bandera interrupted. “You see she gives me little to no respect.” He turned around to look at Mimi. “Quiet as a mouse, now.”

Mimi snorted. “Pipe down, brother.”

“There.” Bandera made certain Holly was buckled in securely, then drove off. “Everything’s back to normal.”

“It’s not normal. My truck’s overheated,” Mimi wailed.

“I called Shoeshine Johnson. He’ll head this way to look at it. Unless you want me to call Triple A or something.”

“No.” Mimi sighed. “Shoeshine’s fine. Nobody knows vehicles like him.”

“Shoeshine?” Holly said. “Is that his given name?”

“Yeah, given to him by everybody in town.” Bandera patted her knee. “Do you have a nickname?”

“No!”

He laughed. Mimi did, too. So Holly settled back into the seat, relaxing, because it was kind laughter. Playful. Something she hadn’t had…in nearly a year, she realized. She’d been so busy planning, planning for nothing, with no time for laughter or fun.

She’d gotten too tied up in details that weren’t important, and she’d forgotten about the good things. These people made her happy. She liked them all: Mimi, Bandera, Mason, Jellyfish, Hawk…and she’d only met a few members of the family.

Suddenly, she felt sad. She would probably never meet the rest of the brothers. Or Shoeshine and Helga. All the people Bandera spoke of so easily…They seemed like one big happy family, getting on each other’s nerves but loving each other, too.

“So how is my little niece?” Bandera asked. “I need to come get her for her next pony ride.”

“She’ll like that.”

Holly hadn’t thought of Bandera as being the “uncle” type, but the note of caring in his voice was unmistakable.

“She’s a special little thing,” Bandera told Holly. “Makes a man want to write poetry when she pats your face with those little fingers and says, ‘Pony, Uncle Bandera.’”

Holly smiled at him. “So you do have a gentle side.”

He shook his head. “No. Just for that little one. And Calhoun and Olivia’s kids. Now those two are a piece of work. They can keep you hopping all day if you let them.” A grin crossed his face. “Minnie and Kenny make you wish you had kids of your own.”

Mimi leaned forward, her arms crossed on the seat as she looked at Bandera. “I don’t remember you ever saying that before. You’re beginning to sound like a proud father.”

“Uncle!” he corrected. “I like the uncle role. I can’t really see myself as a father.”

The two women nodded.

“On the other hand,” he said crossly, “I can’t really see myself not being a father.”

Holly laughed. “You don’t know what you want.”

He stared at her. “Yes, I do.”

She turned quickly to look out the window, startled.

Mimi thumped him lightly on the shoulder. “Rein it in a bit, wild man. Put your club away.”

He sighed. “So, Mimi, how’s your dad?”

Bandera’s fingers touched Holly’s side, giving her a little pinch. For some reason, it felt like sort of an apology. An I-didn’t-mean-to-scare-you type of thing. Holly looked at him, wondering why he was so persistent, and why she was beginning to appreciate his attention so much.

“Well, I have to admit,” Mimi said, “the move to
town agrees with him. He’s got my little girl, which surely started him on the road to recovery—a miracle, the doctors said. He’s got Barley, who visits frequently, and widows dropping by with pies.”

“Mmm,” Holly said. “That would make me happy. Especially in the fall. No, even in the summer. Apple pie.”

“You’re making me hungry!” Bandera said. “Hawk and Jellyfish made up a breakfast of twigs and branches this morning, survival stuff. I’m not too sorry to be missing the trip to Alaska.”

“What made you change your mind, Bandera?” Mimi asked in a sisterly, mocking jest.

Holly’s eyes widened. Bandera’s fingers tweaked her forearm lightly, where Mimi couldn’t see.

“I knew Thelma and Louise would probably need my assistance,” he explained. “It seemed like a bad idea, two girls going off in a truck by themselves.”

“Whatever,” Mimi said, laughing.

“We would have been just fine,” Holly declared, joining in.

“Okay,” Bandera said. “Just suppose I buy that lie for now. Be good girls and say that the trip home is much better with a big, strong guy like me.”