Big Sky Cowboy. Jennifer Mikels

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      The possibility existed that Tessa Madison, too, had what people called sixth sense. Whatever was necessary had to be done to scare her off.

      Her car stayed on Main Street, then turned into the parking lot adjacent to Joe’s Bar. It looked packed with the expected Friday-night crowd. Did she know she was being followed? That was good. If she was scared, she’d back off.

      She’d better.

      Chapter Three

      Her heart pounding, Tessa rushed from her car with keys in one hand and her umbrella in the other. At the door of Joe’s Bar, she glanced at the street. The car drove by. Had she imagined she was being followed? No, don’t doubt yourself. She knew what she’d felt. She knew when to be afraid. And like it or not, she felt shaky. She needed to stay off the street until she’d calmed down.

      Inside, the smell of stale tobacco and alcohol hung in the air. The dog greeted Tessa first. A black rottweiler named Joe who liked women. Tessa had gone to the bar with its rustic, dark wood decor only once before with Marla.

      Wet from the run in the rain, Tessa dropped to her haunches to pet Joe. As she ran a hand over his silky black coat and patted his head, she scanned the noisy and crowded dimly lit room. She gave the dog a final pat, then weaved her way around tables toward an empty one near a dartboard and the pool table.

      “Do you play?”

      Instantly relief rushed through her. At the sound of Colby’s voice behind her, she stopped midstride. Until that moment, she hadn’t realized how much she’d needed some one familiar, a friendly face.

      He flashed a smile at her. The rodeo champion smile, the smile that must have curled dozens of women’s toes. At the bar, two men whispered. Tessa raised her chin a notch when the buzz of voices increased. Wherever she went in town that happened. She hoped with time that people would get used to seeing her and the whispers would stop.

      In a fluid move, Colby passed the end of the bar and elbowed the stomach of a dark-haired cowboy who was perched on a bar stool. He wore the usual garb, a black Stetson, Western work shirt and jeans, but instead of boots, he had on black sneakers with purple stripes. In response to Colby’s good-natured jab, his friend grunted instead of finishing what he’d started to say to his buddy.

      “So do you play?” Colby asked again, bringing her attention to him.

      Smiling over his friend’s look of surprise, Tessa nodded. She liked the unpredictable and never turned down a reasonable dare. Striding by, she slid the pool stick from Colby’s hand, then leaned over the green felt table. “Are we playing for something?”

      Colby racked up the balls. “Beer and a pizza.” To her delight, his voice trailed off as she made the break and sunk a ball into a corner pocket. Two more dropped into a side pocket.

      Bent forward over the table, Tessa angled a smile over her shoulder at him. His gaze lingered on her backside in the tight jeans. “If I lose, I pay?” she asked.

      He was slow to answer, slow to meet her stare. A woman knew when she was presenting her best side to someone. “No, if I win, I pay,” he finally said.

      Tessa couldn’t help smiling even though she missed sinking the next ball. “And if I win?”

      “I pay.”

      She laughed. “That’s not too logical.”

      “Who said I have to be?”

      You, she thought, but kept the seriousness at bay. She played to win, and lost only because she was distracted by a waitress and the smell of pizza on a tray. As the aroma of tomatoes and basil and sausage permeated the air, her stomach growled with hunger. “Is that our pizza?”

      “You’re drooling,” he teased. “And yes, it’s ours.”

      “You won, then.” Tessa was already trailing the waitress to a corner table.

      Behind her, she heard his chuckle. “I think you let me.”

      He had a nice laugh. A great smile. “How could I do that?” She decided she was definitely in trouble.

      Lightly he placed a hand at the small of her back to urge her toward the table. “You didn’t distract me.”

      Tessa stifled a pleased grin. “How could I distract you?”

      “You moved.”

      “That’s your excuse?” With a tsk, she settled on a chair. “What kind of pizza?”

      “Cheese and sausage.”

      “In Billings, there’s a place that makes tofu pizza.”

      He straddled a chair beside hers. “Save me.”

      “I guess you don’t like dim sum.”

      His brows angled. “I’m a cowboy.”

      She couldn’t help laughing.

      “Bet you like arty-far—those foreign movies with subtitles, too?”

      “Romantic comedies. Sci-fi.”

      He made a face. If he’d been trying to find common ground, she thought he’d be wasting his time.

      “You’re not what I expected, you know. I thought you’d be—”

      “Wearing a turban, chanting mumbo jumbo to the air?” she asked, cradling a slice of pizza with the tips of her fingers.

      “You make it all sound stupid. But yeah, I guess that’s what I expected. You tried to convince me that was true.”

      She’d thought he’d go away.

      “Someone said you were born in Rumor. Where did you live after you left here?”

      “We did a lot of traveling.”

      “A Gypsy fortune-teller’s life?”

      “How exotic sounding.”

      Picking up a slice of pizza, he shifted his body toward hers. “It wasn’t like that?”

      She smiled wide. “In some ways, it was a really normal life. For a while, my mother worked in a bank to earn a living for the two of us.” She paused, glanced away as a cowboy in a black Stetson settled on a bar stool next to a fellow in a baseball cap. “She moved us away from Rumor when I was an infant.”

      “Now hometown girl returns. Why?”

      “Why not? I never knew any place as home. You were right about one thing. We lived like vagabonds, always moving someplace new.” Tessa saw no point in explaining how difficult her mother’s life had been. Alone with an infant, viewed as strange, her mother had constantly searched for new beginnings. Every move had been about starting over. After her death, Tessa had vowed no more. She’d chosen Rumor because her mother had once been a part of this town. She planned to stay, and nothing Leone Burton or anyone СКАЧАТЬ