Page 13 of Soldier Cowboy
“Sorry, I guess you scared her.”
“Well, no wonder. I don’t usually greet people with my rifle. I’m really sorry, ma’am.”
“That’s okay, we shouldn’t have surprised you like this.”
Colton led her to the couch, hand on her back. “Sean, meet Jennifer. My fiancée.”
Sean let out a hoot. “You got a fiancée? Damn it, I’m even sorrier about this now. Not a great way to meet my future sister-in-law.”
“I’m…hi, nice to meet you.” She stood and held out her hand.
Sean pulled her into a bear hug. “Oh, c’mon, we’re family. But tell me how you got this knucklehead to finally settle down.
“Oh, well. You know, he’s a knucklehead.”
“She threatened to cut me off.” Colton grinned again.
Oh. Wow. That smile changed the entire landscape of his face. She found that she was staring.
Sean broke out in hearty laughter. “That’ll do it.”
“We met through her father. He was my superior,” Colton said.
“My father,” Jennifer repeated inanely.
“When I came back stateside a couple of months ago, we happened to run into each other again. Kind of a whirlwind.”
“Whirlwind.” Jennifer nodded. It would be good if she could come up with words of her own at some point.
“Boy, I’ll say.” Sean grinned. “Not like Bonnie and me, finally getting married after nearly twenty years.”
“I had to say yes,” Jennifer said, feeling she wasn’t carrying her weight of their deception. “I love him, you know.”
“What’s not to love, right?” Sean clapped his brother on the back. “Man, I am so glad to see you.”
“Told you there’s no way I’d miss your wedding.”
Wedding? There’s a wedding?
“Oh, shitfire! Let me use the landline and call Bonnie. When she saw me get the rifle, she freaked out.”
Sounded like a kindred spirit.
With Sean in the kitchen on the phone, Colton sat next to Jennifer and draped a big and warm hand on her knee.
“Are you okay?”
“I-I thought I was going to die,” she said, trying to ignore the callused hand. “I thought it was Dan. That maybe he’d followed us from Nevada. I was stupid to think I could keep my phone.”
“He’s not going to hurt you while we’re here.”
“Colton, I have a confession to make. I hate guns.”
“Hatethem?” He narrowed his eyes.
“Well, I’m afraid of them.”
“That’s better.”
