Loving a Lawman (9 page)

Sadie trotted along behind him as he made his way toward his bedroom door. There weren't many dividers in the apartment. Just the walls that blocked off the kitchen from the living room, the living room from the bedroom, and the tiny bathroom from everything else.

He made his way to the shower, stripping down as he went. He needed to clean himself up, but he was loath to wash the scent of her from his clothes. To say that he had handled the situation badly was an understatement. He hadn't even said anything to her on the way home.

But what was there to say? Nothing at all. More than he could voice.

He stepped beneath the cool spray and let the water run over him as it warmed. He needed time, time to think, time to get a handle on everything. His anger, his confusion, and the many questions he wanted to ask her but was afraid of the answers.

It had been her first time.

How could that be?

He had been so caught up in the thoughts that his brother had been there first, and yet he still wanted her more than his next breath. Then to find out that she had never been with Chase.

He scrubbed his hands over his face and did his best to wash away the hurt and longing.

Just because she didn't belong to Chase didn't mean that she was Seth's. He had taken something precious from her. A girl didn't “accidentally” stay a virgin until twenty-five in this day and age. And Seth had snatched it away with the snap of his fingers.

He turned off the water and stepped from the shower, wrapping a towel around his middle even as his hair dripped down his back.

Tomorrow, he promised as he made his way to the kitchen, a second towel slung across his shoulder. Tonight he would get his thoughts in order, give Jessie time to let everything sink in, and tomorrow he would head over to her house and they would talk this out, face-to-face.

He dumped the contents of the can of cat food onto a saucer as the baby felines braced their paws on his bare legs. Their claws were like needles as he gently shook them
loose in order to put their food on the plastic place mat next to the fridge. Tomorrow, he promised. Right after he took the cats out to the Diamond.

*   *   *

B
y Monday at lunch, Jessie knew Seth had to be avoiding her. And she'd be damned before she would go to him. A girl had to have her pride.

But having off all day Sunday and waiting for him to call or come by had been nothing short of hell.

“Jessie.”

She knew he was there the second before he spoke. She whirled around, a rolled bundle of silverware in her hand. “Hi, Seth.” Talk about awkward. But she didn't want it to be. Why did it have to be?

“Can we talk?”

It was two o'clock and the Chuck Wagon had definitely slowed down from the lunch crowd. Only a couple of diners still hung around, finishing up the last of their meals.

“Please?” he asked. “I wanted to come by yesterday, but Amos and Chester were at it again and . . .”

She wanted to tell him no, make him sweat it a bit, but Sheridan came out of the back and ruined any ready excuse she had about not being able to leave the restaurant.

“Hey, Sheriff.”

“Sheridan, do you mind if Jessie takes a break? I need to talk to her a minute.”

“Sure thing.” Her dark brown gaze fell on first one of them and then the other as if somehow she could tell that things had changed between them. But had they?

“I really shouldn't leave,” Jessie started. She didn't want to have this conversation. Why couldn't things go back to the way they were before she had kissed Seth?

“Too bad.” He wrapped his fingers around her upper arm and steered her from the Chuck Wagon. Once on the street, he looked one way, then the other, as if unsure as to where
they should go. In the end, he led her into the small alley between the restaurant and the dry cleaner next door.

Once they were alone, she pulled away from his grasp and crossed her arms. “What's this about, Seth?”

He stared blankly at her. “You know damn well what this is about.”

She lifted her chin and met his gaze. His eyes were darker than Chase's, more like the pastures that surrounded the ranch just after a spring rain. So much alike and yet so different. In Seth's eyes she could see some of the life that he had lived. Eight years away from his home and family. She steeled her heart and her resolve. “And?”

He looked from side to side as if making sure that they were well and truly alone. “Saturday . . .” He shook his head. “I didn't use any protection and—”

“Don't worry about it.”

His questioning gaze swung back to her. “Does that mean you are on the pill?”

Was that what this was all about?

What did you think, dummy? That he was going to declare his undying love for you?

“It's all taken care of,” she muttered.

“What?”

“Don't worry about it,” she said, lifting her chin from its resting place on her chest. “It's all taken care of.”

He mulled over her words for a minute, then gave a quick nod. “Listen, Jess, I'm—”

She punched him on the arm. “I swear, Seth Langston, so help me God, if you say you're sorry . . .” She didn't have the words to continue, but “sorry” was the one thing she couldn't bear to hear.

Without finishing, she pushed past him and back down the alley. She listened for his footsteps to sound behind her, but all was quiet except the purr of an engine as a truck rolled past.

All she could think about was how Seth made her feel.
He made her . . .
burn
. Chase had never done that. All these years she had saved herself. Saved herself for the man she would one day marry. But once she'd had Seth's lips on hers, that whole “saving herself for marriage” thing didn't seem quite so important any longer. All she could think about was more. More kissing, more touching . . .
more
.

But that was something she would never have. Not if he was sorry.

Without looking behind her, Jessie opened the door to the Chuck Wagon and ducked inside.

S
omehow Jessie managed to avoid Seth for the rest of the week. Everywhere she went, people were still whispering about her. It was ridiculous to think that they knew what had happened between her and Seth, but it felt as if they did, all the same.

She went to the store to pick up a few things to cook for supper at home, and the cashier stared at her as if she could read all Jessie's secrets. The trip to the drugstore to pick up Meemaw's medication rendered the same results. She needed out of this town, if only for the day, but that wasn't happening.

Thursday came with no break in sight. It was opening day at Cattle Days, and Chuck had scheduled her to work in the food tent. She didn't mind, not really. She needed the money to make up for all that she had spent on Chase's truck.

Still, cooking hamburgers over an open flame in late June in Texas was not a pleasant place to be. She wiped her forehead on the wet towel she had hanging around her
neck. It had been nice and cool when she placed it there, but after the first hour the thing was letting off steam.

“Jessie?”

She whirled around at the sound of her name. “Seth,” she breathed, pressing one hand to her heart. “What are you doing here?”

He smiled and glanced around the small blue tent. “I believe it's a law that everyone in Page County has to attend Cattle Days.”

Despite the nearly one hundred degree temperatures and the fact that she had been cooking hamburgers for nearly six hours straight, she felt the heat rise from her neck to the roots of her hair.

She had managed the entire week without seeing Seth. Now to run into him when she was dripping with sweat and smelling like grease was more than she wanted to contemplate.

Not that she cared. She wasn't out here to impress Seth. And even if she wanted to, it wasn't like she was hanging around Cattle Creek for long. As soon as she had the money, she was gone. Maybe even as early as next year . . .

But she hated that she looked like a chambermaid while he looked like the quintessential Texas man. Faded jeans, well worn and hip hugging; cowboy boots, broken in and a bit dusty from the lack of rain; burnt orange Texas Longhorns shirt, stretched out at the neck and around the tail, but still a fine shirt; and straw cowboy hat, molded to fit the man underneath.

Not that she had been looking or anything.

“Where's Millie?” she asked. “Didn't you bring her here?”

He studied her for a moment. “Why? Are you jealous?

Jessie scoffed. “Of course not.”

He gave her another hard look as if he were trying to see past all her defenses. And that was something she couldn't have.

She turned back to her grill as Seth finally answered, “She and Layla went home with Mr. Evans.”

“Sounds like you were a great date.” She hated the sharp tone of her words. If he noticed it too, she didn't know. She mopped her face again and flipped a couple more of the burgers.

“It wasn't a date.”

Jessie might have been stuck in the food tent most of the day, but she knew a date when she saw one. Seth and Millie had walked by with sweet little Layla at least five times that she had noticed. Once Seth had even swung the little girl into his arms the way a good father would do. From her place in the tent it looked like more than a date. It looked like a perfect little family.

But what did she care? She was leaving soon, and she would do well to remember that.

“Uh-huh.”

Seth just shook his head. “Are you almost done here?”

“I can't leave until Debbie Ann comes in. That's when my shift is over.” And since Manny never called to offer her job back, then her evening was free—but she wasn't going to tell him that. “Why?”

“I thought I might buy you a pronto pup. Maybe we can talk.”

“There's nothing to talk about,” she said, her heart pumping heavily in her chest.

“I think there might be.”

She braced her hands on her hips and shot him the hardest stink eye she could muster. “I disagree.”

“Fine, then you can eat and I'll talk.”

“It may be a while. You know how Debbie Ann is.” And with any luck Debbie Ann would be her late-as-usual self.

He nodded.

“Maybe we should postpone this until later.”
Coward.

“I've got time.” He crossed his arms in front of that broad chest. Jessie ignored the way his biceps bulged with
the motion. Well, she
tried
to ignore it, but she could still feel the warmth of his skin and the firmness of his muscles beneath her fingers. The memory was intoxicating. She needed to keep as far away from Seth Langston as she could, regardless that every atom in her body wanted to run to him.

She opened her mouth to protest, but Debbie Ann came rushing in. Today she was only ten minutes late instead of fifteen, so Jessie considered that an improvement. Jessie hadn't come into work late a day in her life, but since Debbie Ann was Chuck's niece, there was nothing anyone but him could say on the matter.

“Sorry, Jessie,” Debbie Ann gushed. “Let me get an apron and you can get out of here.”

Five minutes later, Jessie was out of excuses as to why she couldn't grab a quick bite with Seth.

But that didn't mean she was done trying. “I—” she started.

He shook his head. “This is a pronto pup we're talking about. You won't have another chance for one until fall. Are you really going to pass this up?”

“Fine.” She relented and allowed him to walk her over to the football boosters' food truck.

“You sure you don't want any fries to go with that?” Seth nodded toward the golden brown corn dog she held in one hand.

All the stands had their own strengths, and while Chuck's had the best hamburgers, no one could beat the football team's pronto pups.

“This is enough.” She had done nothing but cook all day. She wasn't even all that hungry.

They took their food over to one of the picnic tables set up in the empty lot at the corner of Main and Tenth. The spot had been a car lot once upon a time, but the business had moved out closer to the highway, leaving the lot empty for years.

Jessie took a bite of her corn dog, licking the excess
mustard from the corner of her mouth. Working behind the grill all day and smelling the burgers as they cooked had curbed her appetite. But now that she was away from all that, she discovered that she was starving. Maybe she should have gotten those fries after all.

“What did you want to talk about?” she asked between bites. Best get this over with as soon as possible, even if she wanted to just sit and enjoy her food.

“I think we should date.”

“Are you kidding?” She swung her gaze back to his, but his green eyes were serious and steady. “I can't date you.”

“If this is about Chase, I'll talk to him. We'll figure something out.”

Jessie shook her head. “This has nothing to do with Chase.” And it didn't. She would talk to Chase when the time came. Or maybe not. With the rate at which he came home when the circuit was in full swing, she might not see him again until after the finals in November. And by then she hoped she could forget all about her and Seth and what had happened in the cab of his truck on one hot summer day.

“Then let's go out.”

“No.” Dating Seth Langston was something she could not do. He was too honorable, too noble to want to date her for any other reason. The last thing she wanted to be was his charity case.

God, she had made such a fool of herself over Chase. She would not do the same thing with Seth.

“You feel guilty, don't you?” She didn't need his pity.

He ducked his head closer to her so that no one else could hear. “You were a virgin, and I took that from you.”

Jessie straightened, pride stiffening her backbone. “Listen, cowboy, you didn't
take
anything. I
gave
it to you— willingly, knowingly. Big difference.”

“But—” he started.

She shook her head.

“Do you have to work tomorrow?” he asked.

She wanted to lie and tell him yes, but he would surely be at Cattle Days the entire weekend. He would know if she was absent. “No.”

“Then come walk around here with me. The pie-eating contest is tomorrow. And the talent show. It'll be fun.”

She shook her head, sorely tempted by his offer. But she wasn't about to be any man's pity date. She pushed to her feet. “Thanks for the offer, Seth, but I'm not ready to date again. And I don't know if I ever will be.”

*   *   *

S
aturday rolled around. The last day of the Cattle Days celebration. Even though the house was blocks from Main Street, Jessie could hear the music from the bandstand. The talent show was the best part of Cattle Days, aside from the Restaurant Wars, which was the highlight and pinnacle of the three-day celebration. The four main restaurant owners competed against each other every year, cooking a specified dish and serving it to the town on Saturday night. Everyone in attendance cast one vote for their favorite restaurant. Winner got a check for a thousand dollars and a plaque, but even more important, bragging rights for the next year.

Jessie managed to avoid the festivities all day Friday, but by Saturday she couldn't keep away any longer.

“I'll be back in a little while, Meemaw,” she said, around three in the afternoon. “Do you want me to bring you back anything? They're cooking chili.”

Her grandmother scoffed. “It's a hundred and hell outside, and they're cooking up hot peppers.”

Jessie shrugged. It was Texas after all. “I'll take that as a no.” She plopped her hat on her head. “You have everything you need before I leave?”

“Get on, girl. You're messing up my stories.”

Jessie rolled her eyes, careful not to let Meemaw see. “I'll be back around nine.”

Meemaw harrumphed, and Jessie started for the door.

She was shutting it behind her when her grandmother hollered, “Bring me some of Kora Mae's chili. Last time I ate at the Chuck Wagon, it about killed me.”

Jessie smiled and didn't bother to mention that it'd been fifteen years ago.

“Sure thing,” she said. Grin still in place, she made her way down the porch steps and into town.

As she walked through the crowd, Jessie enjoyed her time doing nothing. With so many people milling around, she didn't feel that everyone in town was looking and pointing quite so much. Well, they might have been, but they weren't looking and pointing at her. There were too many other sights at Cattle Days to see than the town's number-one troublemaker.

Tomorrow the cleanup would begin. Tonight was just about fun.

“I knew you couldn't stay away.”

Jessie turned to see Seth lounging against one of the thick metal poles holding up one of the voting tents.

He looked delicious in his crisp jeans and black polo shirt embroidered with the official crest of Page County.

“No date?”

He flashed her a quick smile. “You had your chance yesterday, remember?”

“Puh-lease.” She went to turn away, only to have him fall in step with her. “Are you here in an official capacity?”

“Don't say anything, but word around town is Kora Mae claims that Manny may have tried to steal her secret recipe, and she's gunning to sabotage his entry this year.”

“Sabotage how?”

Seth shrugged. “Who knows? But that's why I'm here.”

Jessie shook her head. “You don't really think . . .”

“No, but if I'm not here and Manny beats Kora Mae, or even the other way around, then things might get ugly.”

“Small towns.” Jessie sighed.

“What's wrong with small towns?”

“How long do you have?” she asked.

“Cattle Creek's not that bad. In fact, Cattle Creek is just about the best. Where else can you walk around on a Saturday night, shooting the bull with the sheriff and eating homemade chili out of foam coffee cups?” He handed her a cup of Kora Mae's special recipe.

“Thanks,” she said.

“I'd sure appreciate your vote, Sheriff,” Kora Mae called. She gave him a big wave.

He took a bite and gave her a thumbs-up. “You got it.”

She smiled and up-patted the back of her hair. “Thanks, hon.”

“How does she keep her hair like that?” Jessie wondered aloud. Kora Mae had moved to Cattle Creek aeons ago from Maryland. As far as Jessie knew, she was the only Texas “hon” ever to exist.

“Word at the drugstore is they order Aqua Net by the case just for her.”

Jessie laughed and took a bite of the chili. “It's good,” she said, then coughed as it scorched the back of her throat. “But hot. Hot. Hot.” She fanned her mouth as if that alone could take away the burn.

Seth grabbed her a shot of milk from one of the drink tables. Jessie downed it in a quick gulp but had a feeling her esophagus would never be the same.