“Not a thing.”
About then, off-key singing drifted from the paddock. The words to the Willie Nelson song were all wrong, but just hearing Maisy’s singing made Sawyer smile. The smile deepened when he noticed the saddle on Angel.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” he said. “She does speak horse.”
“I think the horse is just stunned,” Lucas said. “I like that little gal, but she has the worst voice this side of the Pecos.”
Sawyer laughed, but his laughter faded when Maisy hooked a foot in one stirrup. “Damn that stubborn woman!” He started down the porch steps, but Chester grabbed his arm.
“Now don’t go running in there with your pants on fire or you’ll spook that horse and he will throw her.”
“But she can’t handle him. Especially with her injury.”
“It looks like she’s handling him pretty well to me,” Lucas said.
She was. Even with only one hand on the reins, it was obvious she had control of the horse. She started Angel at a walk and then moved him into a trot. It was mesmerizing to watch how attuned she was with Angel.
Sawyer’s cellphone pinged with an incoming message. He took out his phone and read it.
Lauren wanted me to make sure you know you can bring a date. But I told her few women can handle wild Sawyer Dawson.
Sawyer glanced back at the corral and the woman riding the big black stallion and singing at the top of her lungs.
“My heroines have always been cowgirls . . .”
He smiled as he texted Mattie back.
I think I can find someone who can.
Chapter Fourteen
“Why are you so nervous?” Maisy shot a glance over at Sawyer—something she’d been doing a lot of since he’d met her in the lobby of the fancy Dallas hotel dressed in a dark western suit that hugged his broad shoulders and a black Stetson that cast his blue eyes in tummy-tingling shadow.
Sawyer stared out the windshield. “I’m not nervous.”
She looked down at his knee bouncing up and down. “Really?”
He finally glanced over and noticed where she was looking and stopped bouncing his knee. “That’s just a twitch.”
“Funny, but you’ve had that twitch ever since we left Simple.”
“My leg wouldn’t be twitching if you’d let me drive. I feel antsy when I’m sitting in the passenger’s seat.”
“Hey, it’s not my fault your old truck wouldn’t start and we had to take mine. My truck. I drive.”
He snorted, and his leg went back to bouncing. It bounced faster and faster the closer they got to the church where his brother’s wedding was being held. Finally, she couldn’t take it anymore and reached over and placed her hand on his knee. He stilled immediately and looked at her. The same raw and needy thing Maisy had been fighting ever since their kiss at the Double Diamond flared up inside her. It took a real effort to pull her hand away and concentrate her attention on the road.
“You should have your sling on,” he said after a few minutes.
“The doc said I could take it off after four weeks. Besides, I didn’t want to take away from the new dress Dixie helped me pick out.”
“You look nice, by the way.”
She glanced over at him and found him studying her. “Thanks. Although nice isn’t really a compliment for a woman. It’s like saying they look okay.”
“What compliments do women prefer?”
“Gorgeous. Stunning. Beautiful. Ravishing.”
He grinned. “You look ravishing.”
“Well, you can’t say it now. Not when I had to spoon-feed it to you. You have to come up with your own or it doesn’t count.”
He laughed, and she noticed that his knee had stopped bouncing. “Okay. How about hot?” She looked over and caught him studying her lap where her dress had ridden high on her thighs.
She tugged the hem down as her body heated up like a teakettle ready to whistle. Her obsession with Sawyer had gotten completely out of hand. And she knew why. Before, she had admired his good looks and saddle bronc riding ability from a distance. Now, she got to admire him up close and personal. She’d become obsessed by everything about him.
The way his eyes crinkled when he smiled. And the way he ate a slice of bacon in three bites. And the way he treated her like an equal—like he respected her ideas and thoughts. He didn’t seem to mind when she got too cocky and wanted to take control. Even when they were training Angel, he let her take charge. Although she had relinquished Angel’s training the first time she watched Sawyer put the horse through his paces.
The man could sit a saddle. He rode with a confidence that let Angel know he was in charge, but at the same, he didn’t try to stifle the horse’s nature. If Angel acted up a little, Sawyer kept a tight rein and talked soothingly. “I know you want to show those mares what a wild stud you are, but women prefer well-behaved gentlemen to bad boys.”
Maisy didn’t agree. She wanted a bad boy. She wanted him in a bad way. Sawyer just didn’t want her. Since the kiss, he’d made no other moves on her. Which led her to believe the kiss had just been something that happened because they were both relieved to get to keep Angel.
The voice on the GPS announced that they had reached their destination and Maisy turned into the parking lot of the huge Baptist church. She was surprised it was so packed.
“I thought we were early.”
“Actually, we’re late.”
Maisy shot a glance over at him. “You’re late to your own brother’s wedding?” When he only shrugged, she pulled into a parking space and turned off the engine. “Okay, what’s going on between you and your brother? If I’m going to walk into a hornet’s nest, I want to be prepared.”
Sawyer slouched down in the seat and stared out the side window for a few moments before he finally spoke. “Mattie is marrying a girl I used to date.”
The pieces started to fall into place, but there were still a few missing. “Date or love?” she asked. When Sawyer only swallowed hard, she had her answer. She didn’t know why she felt like she’d ran smack dab into a wall, but that’s exactly how she felt. She felt stunned and like she was going to pass out. She rested her head on the steering wheel and took deep breaths.
“Maisy?” Sawyer placed a hand on her shoulder. “You okay?”
“Yeah. It’s just hot in here.”
He opened his door and got out. A few seconds later, he opened hers. “Come on. Let’s get you inside where’s it cool.” He took her hand and helped her out, and continued to hold it as they walked through the parking lot to the double doors of the church.
They were late. When they stepped inside, the ceremony had already started. They slipped into a back pew as the pastor recited the vows for the couple standing at the front of the church to repeat. Next to the pastor was a woman doing sign language. Maisy assumed it was for the hearing impaired people in attendance. But she realized her mistake when the groom repeated his vows using sign language. She glanced at Sawyer. His attention was centered completely on his brother. The look of love and admiration in his eyes was easy to read. Obviously, he had forgiven his brother for stealing the woman he loved.