Mummy and the Maverick

Anne laughed. “Exactly.”

Marissa found herself staring at the gorgeous stranger again. She had to hand it to her daughter—the girl had amazing taste. Marissa loved the way his blond hair swooped up and back like a Hemsworth brother’s. The few crinkles at the edges of his blue eyes suggested he was a bit older than her. Early thirties, she’d say. And those shoulders. Those arms. The way his waist narrowed down to those delicious jeans, which—

Oh my God.

He raised his beer glass at her and winked.

He’d caught her staring!

Mortifying!

“Can the floor open up and swallow me?” Marissa said, wishing the woman at the table in front of her had bigger hair so she could block Marissa and her cheeks, which had to be bright red.

“And miss the start of The Great Roundup?” Anne said with an evil grin. “Go talk to him! Hurry. You only have a few minutes.”

“What? Talk to that? That absolute gorgeous specimen of man? He barely looks real he’s so hot.”

Anne laughed. “The waitresses are so busy we’ll never get served before the show starts. Go get us two drafts and order a platter of something yummy. Perfect excuse to meet His Hotness. I heard Lindsay mention that her brother-in-law Autry was due in town this week and that Autry has been to just about every country in the world. How exciting is that? The man is a jet-setter. And gorgeous. Go get him.”

A tiny bit of Marissa, who was trying to be more “in the moment,” per a magazine article, wanted to do just that.

But come on. Marissa was a widowed mother of three young daughters and living with her parents. She might seem attractive across a room when he knew nothing about her, but she had no doubt that the man would run all the way back to Tulsa, where she’d heard the Jones brothers hailed from, the moment he discovered what her life was.

“I can just see that very expensive-looking man plucking green beans out of Kiera’s ears,” Marissa said. “Not. He’s nice to look at, but come on. I’m going to be on my own until Kaylee’s out of high school.” Which was only, gulp, fifteen more years.

“Marissa Fuller!” Anne chastised her with a smile. “What did Brenna and Travis’s crazy whirlwind romance teach us? That you just never know. If you’re open to it, if you’re there, love just might show up.”

Marisa was so touched by how positive Anne always was—and Anne was the divorcee who’d never, ever gotten over her first love, Daniel Stockton. She wrapped her friend in a hug. “Maybe we’ll both find love again,” Marissa said.

“Well, if I were you, I’d march over to the bar before some other single woman does.”

But Marissa stayed put, an eye on Abby and her thoughts back home. Yes, a night out was sorely needed, but Marissa missed putting her little ones to bed and wishing them sweet dreams. That was her life. Not hot men in thousand-dollar cowboy boots.

But this particular one sure was nice to fantasize about.

Chapter Two

Autry watched the brunette with the dark eyes try to snag the waitress’s attention at least five times. She wasn’t having any luck. Which gave him his perfect in. He asked the bartender for two of the finest craft beers and got an eye roll and two drafts on tap.

“I keep telling you, Autry,” his brother Walker said. “This is Rust Creek Falls. And a dive bar in Rust Creek Falls. We don’t do twelve-dollar bottles of beer here.” His brother’s wedding band glinted in the dim lighting.

“And two beers?” Hudson asked with a grin. “You got here, what? Five minutes ago? And you already have your eye on someone?”

Autry smiled. “I’m in town for three weeks. That’s a long time. And you two have wives now and lives outside Jones Holdings. I need something to fill the hours.”

“Careful, brother,” Walker said, running a hand through his dirty-blond hair. “There’s something in the water here. It got me. It got Hudson. It’s gonna get you.”

“Not a chance,” Autry said, his gaze on the luscious brunette beauty. Had a woman in jean shorts and a yellow T-shirt ever been so stunning? “End of August, I’ll be in Paris. As single as ever.”

“If you say so,” Hudson said, raising his beer glass at Autry.

Autry caught the smirk Hudson gave Walker. No matter what, it sure was nice to see Walker and Hudson together. Joking, laughing, sharing a beer. Once, back when they were all kids, Walker and Hudson had been close. But they hadn’t been for years. Looked like being neighbors had changed that some.

A woman standing next to them with a baby in her arms turned to Walker. “Hey, Walker, will you hold Jackson for me for a moment while I go hug my aunt and uncle?”

“You bet, Candace,” Walker said, taking the baby as if he did this sort of thing all the time.

Walker Jones. The Third. With a baby in his arms. Bouncing it a bit and making baby talk. “Who’s a cute one?” Walker said, nuzzling his nose at the tiny tot.

Good Lord. What planet was Autry on? Was Rust Creek Falls in another dimension?

And there really were babies everywhere. Even in bars. Though, granted, tonight was a special occasion. From the looks of the place, the entire town had turned up to watch The Great Roundup. With all the buzz Autry had heard about the show in the ten minutes he’d been in the Ace in the Hole, he was excited to watch. Cowboys competing for a million bucks? Hell yeah. That was his kind of TV. The Jones family might be millionaires, but they were cowboys at heart. Autry’s first memory was of being on the back of a horse. And the first gift he’d ever gotten? A “piggy” bank in the shape of a stallion. Money and horses were two hallmarks of the Jones family.

The baby’s mother returned and held out her arms for little Jackson. “You’re a peach,” she said to Walker.

Walker, a peach? Autry couldn’t help himself. He laughed.

Hudson grinned. “Trust me. If peachhood got Walker and me, you’re next. You’re here.”

“I’m immune,” Autry said.

“Sure, bro,” Hudson said with a knowing nod. He glanced toward the tables. “Bella’s waving us over to our seats. Our rib platters arrived.”

Autry glanced at their table—two entire tables away from the brunette beauty. Way too far.

“Let’s all go sit down,” Walker said, nodding at his wife, Lindsay, who sat next to Bella. “I’m really glad you’re here, Autry. We barely got to talk at the weddings. After the show we’ll all head over to Maverick Manor for a nightcap.” Walker clapped Autry on the shoulder, then followed Hudson across the room.

The bartender placed the two beers Autry had ordered on the bar. “Be right there,” Autry called.

Beers in hand, he wove his way through tables and the standing room–only crowd. There was no way in hell he could resist meeting this woman. Just as there was no chance in that same hell they’d have anything other than a few amazing weeks together before he jetted off to Paris. If she was game, what was the harm in letting something happen between them for twenty-one delicious days? And something would happen. The closer he got to her table, the more her brown eyes and her unenhanced pink-red lips drew him in. He had to know her. Well, on a superficial level.

“Hello,” he said, nodding at the brunette and the blonde beside her. “Here you go,” he said, handing a beer to each woman. “Autry Jones, at your service.”

“I knew you had to be a Jones brother,” the brunette said. “I’m Marissa Fuller and this is my friend Anne Lattimore. Thanks for the beers. That was very thoughtful.” She smiled and took a sip, then set down the glass and looked around. Not at him.

Huh. Where was the flirtatiousness? Where was the fawning? Where was the sidling up to him and pressing herself against him like most women did?

“Are you in town visiting your brothers?” Marissa asked, taking another sip of beer.

He nodded. “For three weeks. I’m used to Tulsa, so Rust Creek Falls is a nice change.”

“Are you staying with Walker or Hudson?” Marissa asked. “I’ll admit, sometimes I drive by Walker’s house just to look at it. It’s amazing. A mansion made entirely out of logs.”

He smiled. “A log mansion for Walker and a beautiful ranch for Hudson. I visited both homes after their weddings back in May and June. But I’m staying at Maverick Manor.”

Surprise crossed her pretty features. “For three weeks?”

“I like room service,” he said. The truth was that he wasn’t close enough with either brother to feel comfortable staying with them that long. And he did like room service. Besides, Autry had gotten so used to luxury hotels that anything too homespun would feel...wrong and claustrophobic.

She laughed. “Don’t we all.”

Her smile had him so captivated he almost forgot where he was. But then the lights dimmed and he noticed Walker waving him over. “Autry, I’m gonna eat your share of the ribs,” his brother called.

Marissa glanced at Walker and laughed. “Better get over there before there’s nothing but a plate of bones.”

“Nice to meet you, Autry,” Anne said. “And thanks for the beer.”

He. Could. Not. Make. His. Legs. Move. Away.

“Uh, buddy, you’re blocking my view of the TV,” a man said, and Autry snapped back to attention.

“Sorry,” 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 through the crowd to congratulate Brenna or be tapped on the shoulder by that inhumanly hot Autry Jones and asked out on a date.

Not five minutes after the episode officially ended and the television channels were changed to sports analyses, Marissa’s mother had called. Kiera was convinced there was a monster in her closet and a half hour of trying to make the five-year-old believe otherwise had only exhausted Marissa’s parents. She’d said goodbye to Anne, who was ready to leave herself anyway, and headed home with Abby, who’d talked nonstop on the way about how dreamy Travis was and wasn’t it amazing that he was as dreamy on TV as he was in person and it only proved that Lyle from 2LOVEU was probably a regular nice guy in real life just like Travis was.

Marissa was grateful for the chatterbox beside her as they headed into the house. The more Abby talked and required nods and “Oh yes, I agree” from her mother, the less Marissa could think about a certain six-foot-plus, muscular, gorgeous blond man.

She hadn’t been able to catch his eye as she’d left. All for the best.

And so Marissa had gone upstairs with her monster-blaster super sprayer, which doubled as her spray bottle of water for fixing her hair and ironing clothes. Roberta Rafferty had tried the monster blaster, but apparently only Mommy had the superpower of vanquishing the monster in the closet.

Armed with the spray bottle, Marissa burst into her daughters’ room, tiptoeing so as not to wake Kaylee, who’d managed to sleep through Kiera’s tears and Grandma and Grandpa’s attempts to prove there was no monster.

“Mommy! The monster is going to get me,” Kiera said, holding her pillow in front of her as a shield between herself and the closet on the other side of the room.

Marissa sat down on her middle daughter’s bed. “Sweets, I’m your mother and I’ll always tell you the truth, no matter what. I promise you that even though you believe there’s a monster in the closet, there really isn’t. Sometimes our minds tell us something and scare us, even though it’s not true.”

Kiera tilted her head. “But I saw him! He opened the door and made a mean face at me! He had three eyes!”

“Well, let’s see,” Marissa said. With Kiera biting her lip and looking nervous, holding out her shield-pillow, Marissa walked over the closet. She opened the door. No monster. Just a lot of pink and purple clothing. “There’s no monster, Kiera. I promise.”

“Can you spray inside just to be safe?”

Marissa pumped the water bottle, the fine mist landing on the girls’ suitcases.

Marissa closed the door and walked back over to Kiera’s bed. “There will never be a monster in that closet. You can count on that.”

“I feel better now, Mommy.”

Three seconds later, Kiera was snoring, her arm wrapped around her stuffed orange monkey. Meanwhile, her mother was completely exhausted.

“You’re such a great mom,” came a little whisper.

Marissa whirled around.

Her nine-year-old daughter stood in the doorway, looking like she might cry.

“Abby? Are you all right?”

“Yeah. I’m just—”

“What?” Marissa asked, her heart squeezing.

“I’m really glad you’re our mom. You always know what to say and do.”

Marissa held out her arms and Abby rushed over. Sometimes she forgot that Abby was just nine, right in the middle of kidhood. She was the eldest Fuller girl and took her role as big sister seriously.

“Thank you, Abby,” Marissa said. “I love you to the moon and back.”

“Me, too, Mom.” With that, Abby got into bed. She said good-night to her poster of 2LOVEU above her bed, then grabbed her own favorite stuffed teddy bear that her father had given her when she was born. Within five minutes, Abby was fast asleep.

Marissa watched her daughter’s chest rise and fall and pulled up the pink comforter, then kissed her cheek and tiptoed over to Kiera to do the same. Kaylee was on her tummy in her big-girl toddler bed. Marissa bent over to kiss her forehead, then sat down on Abby’s desk chair and looked at her girls.

This was her life. And this was everything. Yeah, it might be nice to fantasize about having the attention of a handsome man. A hot man. A gazillionaire, no less. Pure fantasy.

Marissa Fuller had everything she needed and wanted right in this room. Her heart was full and her life was blessed, despite the hardships.

Her head screwed on straight, she got up, said good-night to her parents and thanked them both again for watching the girls while she’d enjoyed a night out with Abby, then went into her bedroom and changed into a T-shirt and yoga pants and finally slid into bed.

Where she immediately thought of Autry Jones. What it would be like to kiss him. To feel his hands on her.

She smiled. Just a fantasy. Nothing wrong with that, right? Their paths would likely not cross while he was in town. Her life was here and work and grocery shopping and taking the girls to the doughnut shop for an occasional treat.

But again, no reason she couldn’t dream about a TV-style romance with Autry Jones in the privacy of her own bedroom.

Chapter Three

“Kaylee, no!” Marissa called, but it was too late. Her three-year-old had pushed her little doll stroller, with a yellow rabbit tucked safely inside, into a huge display of cereal boxes in Crawford’s General Store. They came tumbling down, narrowly missing her.

“Oopsies,” Kaylee said, her face crumbling. “Sorry.” The girl hung her head, tears dripping down her cheeks.

Oh God, Marissa thought, shaking her head. After waking up twice during the night to comfort Kaylee, who had a tooth coming in, she’d had a crazed morning looking for Kiera’s other red light-up sneaker and then Abby’s favorite shirt, which had “disappeared” from the folded-laundry basket—it turned out it was never put in the hamper. That was followed by a three-hour shift at the reception desk of the sheriff’s office, ending with getting yelled at by Anne Lattimore’s neighbor for not sending an officer to deal with the dog-being-allowed-to-walk-on-the-edge-of-my-lawn-issue. Marissa didn’t need one more thing. But here it was. And it was only eleven in the morning.

“Kaylee, it’s—”

She swallowed her okay as the girl ran sobbing down the aisle, running so fast that Marissa had to abandon her cart and leap over the boxes of Oat Yummies littering the floor.

“Ah!” Kaylee said. “A giant!”

Marissa dodged a few more cereal boxes and glanced up into the amazing blue eyes of Autry Jones.

The man she’d been unable to stop thinking about. After soothing Kaylee back to sleep last night, Marissa had been so tired she’d squeezed beside her on the toddler bed, imagining Autry’s long, lean, muscular physique beside her before she’d finally drifted off to sleep.

“Oh, thank God,” Marissa said. “She sure is fast. A human roadblock was just what was needed.”

Autry laughed. “Should we find the runaway train’s mother before another display of cereal boxes comes tumbling down, this time on top of us?”

Marissa tilted her head. Was it strange that he didn’t assume the little getaway artist was hers? “You’re looking at her. She pushed her doll stroller a smidge too far and that was that. This is Kaylee. She’s three going on ready for the Olympics.”

Kaylee continued to stare up at “the giant.” Marissa was five feet six and a huge supporter of comfy flat shoes, and Autry towered over her at at least six foot two, so she could understand why Kaylee thought she was dealing with a fairy-tale giant. He was much better looking than giants usually were, though.