Shotgun Vows

When everyone was secure, Dawson saddled a horse for himself and one for Mattie. He led them into the corral, where she watched and instructed as the four rode slowly around the perimeter. She and Dawson mounted up.

“All right, kids. I think you’re ready. We’re going to see how you do out in the open. This is going to be an adventure.”

“Truer words have never been spoken,” Dawson muttered, watching her trim back as he followed her out of the corral.

“Jillian, I can’t thank you enough for coming with me.”

“It’s my pleasure to show you the sights of San Antonio.” Jillian tucked a strand of straight blond hair behind her ear.

Mattie smiled at her soon-to-be sister-in-law across the table. It was hard to believe just that morning she’d been teaching kids to ride in the wide-open spaces of Texas. And now, eight hours later, she was taking in the newest “in club” in San Antonio. She turned her head from side to side, trying to see everything at once.

She noticed the sawdust-covered floor, saloon-style bar, and old-fashioned Western lanterns sitting on the round tables. Anticipation hummed through her. The most impressive sight was the multitude of men bellied up to the bar, boots hooked on the stools.

“So this is the famous Watering Hole, bar and nightspot extraordinaire,” she said.

“This is it.” Jillian shifted uncomfortably on the wooden, barrel-backed chair. “This is where single women come to meet single men—cowboys hang out here in…droves, so to speak.”

“I already noticed the cowboys. It’s so exciting. And about time, thanks to my brothers. I feel as if I’ve missed out on so much. Maybe I can see a little big-city nightlife without my shadow hovering over me.”

“You shouldn’t be so hard on Griff, Mattie. He loves you and is trying to protect you.”

“I know he means well. They all do. But there are so many of them. I thought when I came to Texas, I would have the freedom of a single woman. But every time I turn around, I trip over one of the Fortune boys. Why can’t they just let me live my life?”

“Maybe if I’d had a big brother watching over me, I wouldn’t have made so many mistakes.” Jillian sighed, a big, gusty, sad sound.

Mattie felt guilty and ungrateful for complaining. Truthfully, she didn’t know what she would do if anything happened to one of her brothers. Impulsively, she reached across the table and squeezed the other woman’s hand. She envied Jillian Hart Tanner’s petite, pretty, blond good looks. Next to her, Mattie felt like a galumphing elephant. But she genuinely liked Jillian, and envied her happiness and the baby that would soon arrive for her and Brody.

“Things will be fine for you, Jillian. God knows why you want him—” she grinned “—but you’ve got my brother now. Soon you’ll be married, and he’ll take good care of you and the baby.” Her gaze dropped to the other woman’s gently rounded abdomen, and a sigh escaped. “I envy you so. I’d like to have children. If only I could find someone to care about me the way Brody does you.”

“I’ve loved him for so many years.” Jillian’s blue-green eyes always sparkled, but never more than when she mentioned her man. “I truly hope you find someone and are as happy as I am.”

“Me, too.” She glanced around the room again, checking out the men. She did a double take as she saw a man who looked an awful lot like her brother crossing the room. The man was wearing Brody’s frown. Behind him was none other than Dawson Prescott’s twin. At least, she hoped it was. She couldn’t be so unlucky that the two of them would show up here.

“I don’t believe it,” she muttered. “How could they have found me here?”

Jillian looked uneasy. “I hope you don’t mind. When I went to the ladies’ room—the place I spend so much time in these days,” she said ruefully, “I called Brody. The corporate office is practically around the corner. I missed him and just wanted to say hello. He was in a meeting with Dawson. I told him where we were and asked him to meet us if he could.”

“Imagine that.” Mattie wondered which of the gods she had offended. Why was she being punished?

“I thought they would be at the office much longer,” Jillian continued. “He must have dropped everything. For me.” She smiled, the expression of a woman in love. “Isn’t he wonderful?”

The two men stopped at their table and looked down. Fresh from the office, they were wearing slacks and dress shirts. They stood out like Rockettes with broken legs. Worse, she was disturbed that Dawson looked as good, if not better, than he had just that morning when she’d seen him in jeans and boots. She was afraid even a burlap bag wouldn’t hide his muscular frame and the masculinity that made her senses sit up and take notice.

Mattie squirmed under her brother’s stare, not so much because she knew he was angry, but because Dawson was there to witness the chewing out she knew was coming. “Hi, bro,” she said. “What’s going on?”

“That’s what I’d like to know, Matilda.”

She winced, then glanced at Dawson and didn’t miss the expression on his face. He was grinning. Not with his mouth, but she could see it in his eyes. On the inside, he was smiling from ear to ear. Maybe she didn’t hate her name as much as the fact that when someone called her Matilda she was usually in trouble. Why, oh, why did Dawson have to be here? He already treated her as if she were twelve years old. Now he was witness to her brother treating her like a twelve-year-old delinquent.

She looked up—way up—and met Brody’s gray-eyed gaze. That black hair of his and the stern look on his handsome face might intimidate some people. But not her. Caught she might be, but cornered—never.

She lifted her chin. “I’m checking out San Antonio nightlife, Brody. Your fiancée very kindly agreed to accompany me, since she knows the area.”

Brody smiled at Jillian, and a person would have to be blind not to see all the love in his expression. But when he glanced her way again, Mattie squirmed. The grim look was back.

“She’s pregnant, Mattie,” he said. “What in the world possessed you to drag her to a place like this?”

Jillian put her hand on his arm. “She didn’t drag me, Brody. She couldn’t. I’m the size of a beached whale—it would take a crane to move me anywhere these days. Don’t be so hard on her.” Jillian linked her fingers with his. “There’s nothing wrong with this place. Besides, I’m pregnant, not sick. Being here won’t hurt me.” She leaned forward and said, “Hi, Dawson.”

He smiled. “Hi, yourself. How are you?”

“Fine, now that you guys are here. I was missing Brody a bunch.”

“Can I get you ladies something to drink?” he asked.

When he met her gaze, Mattie noticed that same glint in his eyes, the one that pegged her as an amusing child. How she would love to wipe that look off his face and show him a thing or two about the woman she was.

But now wasn’t the time. And since he was here, Mattie decided, he might as well make himself useful. “I’d like a glass of wine,” she said.

“Sparkling water for me,” Jill chimed in.

Brody glared at Mattie. “Make it two waters,” he said to Dawson.

“Sweetheart,” Jillian said to him, “why don’t you go along with Dawson and help him carry the drinks?”

He bent over to kiss her cheek. “Whatever you say.”

When the two men were gone, Mattie didn’t miss the pitying look Jillian sent her way. “I’m sorry, Mattie,” she said. “I wouldn’t have called him if I’d known he would act that way.”

“Don’t worry about it. At least you’re with the man you love and he makes you happy. It’s just my bad luck that he acts like a mother hen.” What bothered her more was Dawson’s presence. He would see her big brother treating her like a kid when she was doing her best to show him she was a grown woman.

Jillian glanced over to the bar where the two men were talking while waiting for the drink order. “Your brother’s intentions are good, Mattie.”

“Maybe. But you know what they say about the road to hell.” Dejectedly, Mattie rested her chin in her hand.

“Just you leave him to me when they come back.”

Mattie watched several cowboys move around on a small dais in the corner of the room. Three picked up a couple of guitars and a fiddle, while one sat at a keyboard and another tested the microphone. Then they began to play a slow, country and western song. The words were sad, about love gone bad. Mattie had only one experience with love. Adolescent love—definitely gone bad. But she was willing to give romance another try. How else was she going to find her soul mate and have the family she wanted so badly?

She glanced around the room, attempting to catch the eye of one of the unattached men present. Trying to look available and pleasant, she plastered a smile on her face. No one gave her a second look.

Her small window of opportunity slammed shut when Brody and Dawson returned with the drinks. Her brother sat next to Jillian and possessively draped his arm across her shoulders. She snuggled into him with a contented sigh. Dawson was forced to take the empty chair at the table beside her, and content wasn’t exactly the word Mattie would use to describe his body language. In fact, he angled all of his very attractive muscles as far away from her as he could get and still remain in the same county.

But Mattie didn’t miss the glances he received from other women in the room. And the realization gave her the strangest feeling, like the weight of a stone sitting on her chest.

“Brody?” Jillian smiled sweetly.

“Hmm?”

“Would you dance with me?”

He gave her rounded belly a skeptical look. “Is it all right? Not too much exertion?”

“I had more exertion last night,” she said, smiling seductively at him. He grinned—a look of supreme male satisfaction that Mattie didn’t quite understand.

“Okay, lady. Let’s do it.” He held out his hand, and Jillian put her small one in his palm and let him help her to her feet.

They walked to the dance floor without a backward glance—as if they were the only two people in the world. Mattie watched Brody take Jillian in his arms, and she went willingly, resting her head against his chest. He brushed his cheek across her hair and rubbed his thumb across the back of her hand as they swayed to the music.

Mattie envied them. Would she ever have eyes for just one man and he for her? Would any man ever hold her as if she were the most precious person in his world? As if his life would be meaningless without her? She glanced around the room at all the men who kept to themselves. Not any time soon, she thought ruefully.

“You know Brody means well.” Dawson met her gaze.

“Jillian said the same thing to me.”

“She’s right.” He took a sip of his beer. “He cares about you.”

“She said that, too. And that if she’d had brothers to watch out for her maybe she wouldn’t have made mistakes in her life.”

“She could be right.” Dawson glanced at the couple on the dance floor.

“On the other hand, maybe those mistakes made her appreciate a good thing when she found it. How will I know unless I get a chance to live?” Mattie asked, not really expecting Dawson to answer.

“Patience, Mattie. He’ll be married soon. When the baby arrives, he won’t have time to keep track of you. And he’ll be too tired. I understand babies have this annoying habit of eating every two or three hours, day and night.”

“Annoying?” She studied him. “Don’t you like kids? After the way you handled them this morning, you could have fooled me.”

One corner of his mouth quirked. “Did you just pay me a compliment?”

“No way.” But she couldn’t help grinning back at him. “You just looked like you were having the time of your life, and the kids took to you like ducks to water. I figured you would want half a dozen.”

He shook his head. “It scares the hell out of me. I’m beginning to think stability is a myth. And I wouldn’t bring a baby boy into this world without a guarantee of that.”

She took a sip from her glass, secretly grateful that it was water. “When my little girl comes into this world, I will welcome her with open arms. Two o’clock feedings and all.”

He raised one eyebrow. “Little girl?”

“If you can have a boy, why can’t I have a girl?”

He shrugged. “No reason. Especially since the way you handled those schoolkids was damn close to miraculous. I was bowled over at how you sized up each one and picked just the right horse. The whole thing went a lot more smoothly than I would have guessed. Thanks to your expertise.”

“Did you just pay me a compliment?” she asked, joking because she didn’t know how else to act.

“No way,” he said, but the amusement in his eyes belied the words.

His praise made her glow from head to toe. Inside and out. She didn’t know nice words from a man could make her feel this way. If only it had been something about how desirable she was, instead of her ability with horses. Then she would see his indifference and raise him a flirtation or two.

“What I did isn’t a miracle,” she said. “I’ve always liked children. And I haven’t made a secret of the fact that I would like to have one. Soon.”

He leveled an appraising glance around the room, then met her gaze. “First you have to grow up, your ladyship.”

Four

“I don’t really look like a kid.” Mattie looked at Willa and Jillian for confirmation as she pushed her salad around her plate.

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