Mummy and the Maverick. Meg Maxwell

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СКАЧАТЬ he said to the guy. He smiled at Marissa and her friend and headed over to his seat.

      Autry glanced back at Marissa shortly after, but instead of ogling him with a sexy look on her face, letting him know she was up for meeting later, she was chatting with her friend.

      Well, well, he thought, biting into a succulent rib with the best barbecue sauce he’d had in years. A challenge had just presented itself. And challenge was Autry Jones’s middle name.

      * * *

      Hmm, Marissa thought as the credits began rolling on the two big-screen TVs. The man was in town for three weeks. Might be nice to go out to dinner or a movie with a very good-looking man, a nice change of pace from watching ET and Frozen for the thirtieth time in her parents’ family room, then cleaning up errant popcorn kernels.

      “There’s Travis!” Anne said, as the cowboy’s handsome face filled the screen. They were showing a promo video he’d shot last month in Rust Creek Falls, talking about his love of horses and his fiancée. Then there was Travis and Brenna on horseback, riding along with the other contestants to the “canteen” where the host, Jasper Ridge, a middle-aged cowboy all in black with a black handlebar mustache, awaited. The Ace in the Hole erupted in cheers.

      Jasper explained the rules—the last cowboy or cowgirl standing would win one million dollars. Whoa boy. That was a lot of money. The contestants would be paired for some challenges, but each was competing on his or her own. So alliances could be made, but it might not get the contestants anywhere but tricked and eliminated. Marissa watched as the twenty-two contestants were introduced in little snippets. There was the Franklin family—widowed Fred and his twin sons, Rob and Joey. A grizzled cowboy named Wally Wilson in his late sixties. A fortysomething divorcée named Roberta and a handsome former soldier, Steve, with a prosthetic leg. Marissa’s attention was snagged by one contestant in particular—a sexy blonde rodeo star named Summer Knight.

      From just the first five minutes it was clear to Marissa that Summer had a huge crush on Travis. She kept trying to sidle up to him, but Brenna, never one to sit quietly by, sidled right up between them, nudging Summer away. Marissa had to smile. And it was clear that the divorcée, Roberta, was very interested in the war hero, who was at least a decade younger. From the way Steve looked at Roberta, the man was smitten with her, too.

      The host, Jasper, explained how the main challenges would work—contestants would be paired in teams and the events would involve everything from building a lean-to to cow roping to hay-bale racing. The winning contestant in each challenge would receive immunity for the next one, and after the day, one contestant would be eliminated.

      Marissa sipped her beer while the contestants made “immunity” bracelets of braided leather and beads and put them in a carved wooden box with much ceremony. Then the group set up a tent camp and built a community fire in front. Finally it was time for the first challenge, freeze branding cattle, and Travis and Brenna were paired together. When neither was eliminated at the end of the episode, everyone cheered.

      Suddenly an even bigger cheer erupted in the bar, folks standing and clapping. The Ace in the Hole was so crowded that Marissa couldn’t see what was going on. She turned to Anne. “What are we missing?”

      Anne shrugged, and they both glanced around. A crowd had formed by the door. Marissa craned her neck. She could just make out a pink cowboy hat. Marissa knew of only one woman who wore a pink hat.

      “It’s Brenna and Travis!” someone shouted.

      As word spread across the Ace in the Hole that the hometown stars had shown up, everyone started clapping and wolf whistling.

      “Hot wings and a round for everyone!” Travis called out. “On me.”

      “Lemonade for the kids!” Brenna added with a grin.

      The cheers got even louder as the waitresses headed into the kitchen to make good on Travis’s generosity.

      “Thank you all so much for coming to cheer us on,” Travis said, lifting his Stetson.

      “Ya’ll were cheering for us, right?” Brenna added with a grin.

      Marissa didn’t have a good view of the pair, but she could see Brenna’s long red hair in a loose braid under the pink cowboy hat. Handsome Travis was in jeans and boots, his arm slung over Brenna’s shoulder.

      And glinting on Brenna’s finger was a diamond engagement ring.

      As Brenna and Travis answered questions about the episode, careful not to give away anything about episode two, Marissa couldn’t help but notice the way the pair looked at each other as each spoke. They were truly in love. Travis gazed at Brenna with such warmth and respect in his eyes. And Brenna had never looked so happy.

      Good for them, Marissa thought. Feeling just slightly jealous. In a good way. Maybe being a little envious meant that one day she’d want that for herself.

      Of course, she couldn’t imagine having some big romance. She was a widowed mother of three young children. That was her life. That was her full-time job, despite her part-time job at the sheriff’s office. How on earth could she even have time for a hot love affair?

      “Love is in the air in Rust Creek Falls,” Anne whispered. “If it happened to them, it could happen to us.”

      Marissa watched as Travis dipped Brenna for a dramatic kiss, covering their faces with his cowboy hat. Sigh. Had she ever been kissed like that? Even in the brief window when she and Mike had been just a couple and not parents?

      “Please,” Marissa said. “They’re TV stars. I’m just regular old me in my jean shorts.”

      “Well, someone who’s anyone but ‘regular old me’ sure seems to like those jean shorts,” Anne said, wiggling her eyebrows with a sneaky grin.

      “What?” Marissa asked but her gaze slid over toward where Autry Jones was sitting.

      He was looking right at her, his expression a mix of warm, friendly and downright...flirtatious.

      He raised his glass to her and she smiled, then turned back to the TV. She took another peek, and Autry was deep in conversation with his brother Hudson.

      Well, here’s your chance to be a little more adventurous, Marissa told herself, admiring the way his hunter green shirt fit over his broad shoulders. If the man asks you out, you will say yes. It’s just a date. He doesn’t have to want to marry you. He doesn’t have to want to be father to your kids. You’re not looking to get married again, anyway. It’s just dinner and a stroll or a movie, culminating, hopefully, in an amazing kiss. Times twenty-one days, she added. Yes. She decided it right then and there. If Autry asked her out, she’d accept.

      But then she glanced up at the sight of Brenna on TV in an ad for next week’s episode, her diamond engagement ring sparkling, talking about how gallant and romantic Travis was even while freeze branding cattle. There was no way a man like Autry—single, as far as she knew; childless, as far as she knew; jet-setter, as far as Anne knew—would want to date a widow with three kids, a demanding part-time job, and parents with eagle eyes and a comment about everything.

      Sure was nice to think about, though.

      * * *

      Well, so much for sticking around the Ace in the Hole to squeeze СКАЧАТЬ