A Texas-Made Match. Noelle Marchand

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СКАЧАТЬ for compliments but he didn’t care. Mostly, he just wanted her to prove that her statement was true.

      She kicked a large dark blue-and-green rag rug to unroll it over the middle of the wooden floor. “Oh, I don’t know. It just hasn’t been the same since you left and Sean got married. The three of us used to be as thick as thieves—you, Sean and I. Nothing felt right without you here.”

      He believed her. He’d wanted to, anyway. It was a nice feeling—being missed by someone.

      She surveyed the room then must have been satisfied because she allowed herself to collapse onto a kitchen chair. “I bet you didn’t miss me.”

      “Of course I did.” He sat across from her.

      She shook her head. “You didn’t but that’s fine. You were busy bringing outlaws to justice. I wouldn’t have missed me, either.”

      “It wasn’t as exciting as you seem to think.”

      “What was it like, then?”

      “It was like everything I’ve tried to forget.”

      That quieted her for a moment before she smiled sympathetically. “Well, you’re home now. You can forget as much as you want.”

      Home. That one word sounded so sweet to his ear. He gave a solemn nod. “I was already planning on it.”

      “I’ve been wondering—” she fiddled with one of the flowers “—why do the Rangers call you Lawless?”

      Lawson stared at Ellie, then frowned. “Now, where did you hear that?”

      “Nathan sold a few horses to the Rangers. While he was in Austin, he asked about you. They told him you were one of the best Rangers on the force. They also told him you’d picked up the moniker Lawless. Why?”

      He averted his gaze from her questioning eyes. “They assigned me the worst criminals, Ellie. Sometimes that meant I had to take risks, be ruthless and do things I wouldn’t dream of in any other situation. I never broke protocol but I’ve certainly bent my fair share of rules.”

      She frowned. “They called you that because you bent a few rules?”

      He gave a slow nod. She narrowed her eyes. It was clear she knew he wasn’t letting her in on the whole truth. Well, that was too bad because he wasn’t about to tell her that almost the entire Ranger force thought he’d make a better outlaw than a Ranger, and loved to tease him about it. He didn’t find it particularly funny. Nor did he want his name to be associated with the term outlaw, especially if some of those foggy memories of his childhood were accurate. He figured it was time for a change of subject.

      “Now it’s my turn to ask a question. What was so important about me not being on that list of yours?” He asked the question before he could second-guess the wisdom of pursuing something that had upset her so much earlier.

      Ellie was quiet for a long moment as if debating whether or not to tell him before she surprised him again by glancing up with teasing eyes. “Now that really is a dangerous question. You’ll probably wish you hadn’t asked, but since you want to know so badly, I’ll tell you.”

      He gave her a nod. “I’ll take my chances.”

      She leaned forward. “The whole point of the list was to find out who my match might be, right?”

      “Right.”

      “Well, after I’d gone through the list without finding anyone, Ms. Lettie took the paper and looked it over. She told me I’d left someone off but she wouldn’t tell me who it was.”

      He found himself leaning forward, as well. “That was me, right? I was the one you left off because I wasn’t in town.”

      “Exactly.” She sat back as if that settled everything.

      Lawson stared at her. “You’ll have to explain this to me, Ellie, because I still don’t get it.”

      “You were the one.”

      “The one what?”

      Ellie laughed. “Lawson, really. Think about it. You were the only man left.”

      “So?”

      “So—” her voice took on a bit of exasperation “—Ms. Lettie and Kate, they think that you and I...well, that we would be...what did Kate say? Oh, that we could be very good...together.”

      Lawson stared at her for a long moment as understanding slowly dawned. “What?”

      She smirked. “That’s what I said.”

      He tried to wrap his mind around that thought. Honestly, it wasn’t as hard as it should have been. He swallowed. His thoughts raced back to his recent interactions with Ellie—from his impulsive act of catching her in his arms at first sight to his pretend proposal. If he was honest with himself, he’d have to admit that he hadn’t been treating Ellie like a sister. At least, not since he’d gotten back. In fact, if it were some other woman, he might have seen his behavior as flirtatious.

      He ducked his head to keep her from reading his thoughts. He was crazy. He had to be. There was no way he could be attracted to little Ellie. Of course, she wasn’t so little anymore. How old was she now? Twenty-one? She was pretty much a woman by now, wasn’t she? His voice came out a little strained. “Ma and Kate really said that about us being good together?”

      She sent him a curious glance. “It’s funny but you don’t seem nearly as shocked as I was. I thought they were completely ridiculous.”

      A wry grin lifted his lips. “I remember.”

      Her eyes widened. “Oh, that isn’t to cast any sort of disparagement on you. I didn’t mean that at all.”

      “I didn’t think so.”

      “Good. I mean I’m sure some gal would be lucky to have you. I just can’t imagine—” Her face twisted into a strange expression, as though she was desperately trying to conjure up some image of the two of them together.

      He tried not to let that bother him...but why was it so hard for her to imagine? He shook his head. They were friends—nearly family. So Ellie had grown up. That didn’t mean anything had to change between them or even that it should. He met her gaze with a grin. “It is pretty hard to imagine, isn’t it?”

      Her green eyes started dancing. “Well, since you won’t have me, either, I guess I’d better start waiting at the train station for some handsome stranger to disembark. That looks to be my best bet.”

      He laughed along with her though he had to admit it was a bit forced. The thought of some stranger sweeping into town and carrying Ellie off didn’t sit well with him. It was just his protective nature at work, he assured himself. That’s all it was and nothing more. He was here to work. He was here to start over.

      Most important, he was here to forget.

      Chapter Three

      Ellie thanked Mr. Johansen then tucked the small brown-paper-wrapped СКАЧАТЬ