Read Online Belonging to Bandera by Tina Leonard - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Tina Leonard
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more beverage and less plastic decorations in my cup.”
She smiled. “We were serving wine, mainly. Champagne, water, tea.”
“Was there a petting zoo for the children?”
“It was a wedding, Bandera.”
“Well, at least a pony for pony rides,” he amended.
“Look,” she said, “you seem awfully fixated on children. Do you have any?”
“No,” he said thoughtfully, staring at his beer bottle, “but I’m getting real envious of my brothers who do.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. I just realized it as we were strategizing about what went wrong with your wedding.”
“The only thing that went wrong was the groom.”
“No, the planning was all wrong. It was too sterile.”
“Elegant.”
“It lacked pizzazz and fire. Smokin’ hot lads and passionate smart ladies.” He sighed. “You’re hung up on the wrong things in life.”
She waved a hand at him. “Go on. I’m dying to hear.”
“A woman makes a man feel like a man by noticing how he looks, even when he’s wearing his boxers and reading the newspaper in bed. She tells him he’s handsome and she gets him a cup of coffee. In public, she holds his arm and occasionally smiles sweetly up at him. This can be the best part of a man’s day.”
Holly blinked, and he saw a frown begin to gather between her brows. It made him smile. Baiting her was so easy.
“That sounds so…chauvinistic,” she protested.
“But I like it,” he said. “Go ahead. Try it.”
“No, thank you.”
He laughed, pushing his hat down over his face and leaning back to relax. “Wake me when you get to Wichita. We’ll need to turn around there.”
“Turn around? You’re not making me drive all the way there just to turn around while you sleep!”
“Turn around there,” he said slowly. “Somewhere around there, we’ll need to get on the road to Hawk’s.”
“Oh. Well, why don’t you speak more clearly?”
“I’ve been trying,” he said. “It seems we don’t fit together anywhere but our lips.”
A ND THAT WAS THAT , Holly realized as he dozed off. As a wedding planner, she’d recoiled from everything he’d suggested for such an event. The way he saw his nuptials wasn’t her kind of happily-ever-after.
Willie, Waylon and the boys? She shivered. No woman wanted that.
She’d wanted the traditional fairy tale, complete with white gown and moon-white roses. The dream come true. “I tried too hard,” she muttered.
“S’okay,” he muttered in his sleep.
She sighed. It wasn’t okay. She was going to have to grow and change if she wasn’t going to make more dumb mistakes in her life. “Wedding planning is not my forte,” she said. “I’m going to change my life.”
“S’okay,” he repeated.
She wanted to reach over and smack him out of his peaceful snoozing. It was not okay to discover that everything you thought was, wasn’t.
Funny how this cowboy was making her old life seem so predictable—and maybe just a bit empty.
“It’s not okay, and I can’t dream those dreams any longer,” she said, but this time he didn’t answer.
M IMI TOOK A DEEP BREATH as she stared at the phone. Bandera had been uncomfortable. She knew the Jeffersons too well. There were very few secrets between people who had grown up together. And he’d definitely been unwilling to get into a long conversation about Mason’s whereabouts.
From Last, Mimi had learned that Mason was on another road trip to find out about his past. She understood his drive. Much of her behavior today was influenced by her mom, who’d chosen a search for the bright lights of Hollywood over being married to a small-town sheriff and raising a daughter.
Mimi intended to be a very different kind of mother. She looked at her daughter, smiling as she slept in her new bed. When they’d made the move away from the ranch to the small town house in Union Junction, Mimi had bought Nanette a big-girl bed. Mason had hauled it to the house and put it together for her.
She smiled. “We were serving wine, mainly. Champagne, water, tea.”
“Was there a petting zoo for the children?”
“It was a wedding, Bandera.”
“Well, at least a pony for pony rides,” he amended.
“Look,” she said, “you seem awfully fixated on children. Do you have any?”
“No,” he said thoughtfully, staring at his beer bottle, “but I’m getting real envious of my brothers who do.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. I just realized it as we were strategizing about what went wrong with your wedding.”
“The only thing that went wrong was the groom.”
“No, the planning was all wrong. It was too sterile.”
“Elegant.”
“It lacked pizzazz and fire. Smokin’ hot lads and passionate smart ladies.” He sighed. “You’re hung up on the wrong things in life.”
She waved a hand at him. “Go on. I’m dying to hear.”
“A woman makes a man feel like a man by noticing how he looks, even when he’s wearing his boxers and reading the newspaper in bed. She tells him he’s handsome and she gets him a cup of coffee. In public, she holds his arm and occasionally smiles sweetly up at him. This can be the best part of a man’s day.”
Holly blinked, and he saw a frown begin to gather between her brows. It made him smile. Baiting her was so easy.
“That sounds so…chauvinistic,” she protested.
“But I like it,” he said. “Go ahead. Try it.”
“No, thank you.”
He laughed, pushing his hat down over his face and leaning back to relax. “Wake me when you get to Wichita. We’ll need to turn around there.”
“Turn around? You’re not making me drive all the way there just to turn around while you sleep!”
“Turn around there,” he said slowly. “Somewhere around there, we’ll need to get on the road to Hawk’s.”
“Oh. Well, why don’t you speak more clearly?”
“I’ve been trying,” he said. “It seems we don’t fit together anywhere but our lips.”
A ND THAT WAS THAT , Holly realized as he dozed off. As a wedding planner, she’d recoiled from everything he’d suggested for such an event. The way he saw his nuptials wasn’t her kind of happily-ever-after.
Willie, Waylon and the boys? She shivered. No woman wanted that.
She’d wanted the traditional fairy tale, complete with white gown and moon-white roses. The dream come true. “I tried too hard,” she muttered.
“S’okay,” he muttered in his sleep.
She sighed. It wasn’t okay. She was going to have to grow and change if she wasn’t going to make more dumb mistakes in her life. “Wedding planning is not my forte,” she said. “I’m going to change my life.”
“S’okay,” he repeated.
She wanted to reach over and smack him out of his peaceful snoozing. It was not okay to discover that everything you thought was, wasn’t.
Funny how this cowboy was making her old life seem so predictable—and maybe just a bit empty.
“It’s not okay, and I can’t dream those dreams any longer,” she said, but this time he didn’t answer.
M IMI TOOK A DEEP BREATH as she stared at the phone. Bandera had been uncomfortable. She knew the Jeffersons too well. There were very few secrets between people who had grown up together. And he’d definitely been unwilling to get into a long conversation about Mason’s whereabouts.
From Last, Mimi had learned that Mason was on another road trip to find out about his past. She understood his drive. Much of her behavior today was influenced by her mom, who’d chosen a search for the bright lights of Hollywood over being married to a small-town sheriff and raising a daughter.
Mimi intended to be a very different kind of mother. She looked at her daughter, smiling as she slept in her new bed. When they’d made the move away from the ranch to the small town house in Union Junction, Mimi had bought Nanette a big-girl bed. Mason had hauled it to the house and put it together for her.
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