Page 52 of The Cowboy's Downfall
The tension went out of his body. “That’s good. That’s really good. Because there’s something I want to tell you, but I don’t want you to take it the wrong way.”
“I am not into threesomes,” she said.
Nix chuckled softly. “There goes my big surprise.” He shifted, drawing her onto his lap. She put her arms around his neck. “I love you,” he said. “For now, I’m happy for us to spend time together. But you have to be happy with that arrangement, too. Is it enough? That I love you?”
“I’m happy,” she said. Relief rippled through her in waves, followed by pleasure, warm and intense. “It’s enough. We’ll take things one day at a time. I love you, too.”
A cell phone went off. It wasn’t her ringtone, and Taryn wouldn’t be caught dead without her phone on her, so it had to be Nix’s. He’d left his coat draped over the back of a kitchen chair. Since she was sitting on him, she scrambled to get it.
“Leave it,” he said. “This is my weekend off. Whatever it is, they can find someone else.”
But Shauna already had the phone in her hand. It continued to ring.
“Why don’t you have voicemail set up?” She tossed it to him. “You might as well answer. They’ll keep calling back.”
She could tell by the expression on his face as soon as he answered that it wasn’t the ranch.
His mouth hardened. His eyes lost their warmth. “Who gave you this number?”
The mystery was explained. Shauna held out her hand. “Give me the phone,” she mouthed to him.
He passed it over.
“Shauna Morris,” she said crisply. “Mr. McCray’s lawyer. May I ask who’s calling?”
A few seconds of silence stretched for a long beat. Then, “Put Nix back on the line.”
A woman. She sounded impatient. Controlled. Maybe annoyed, as if she still had a right.
What a bitch.
Shauna disliked her based on her tone alone.
“Mr. McCray is no longer available at this number,” she said. “If you have a message for him, I’d be happy to relay it for you.”
The call disconnected. Shauna set the phone on a side table. Amusement warmed Nix’s eyes when she turned. Thank heavens. She hadn’t been sure how he’d react, but she’d been sure of one thing. His ex-wife knew how to play him as surely as Taryn knew how to play her.
She rejoined him on the sofa. “It’s not that I don’t believe you can handle your own baggage,” she began, a little anxious that she might have overstepped a boundary again. “It’s just that I already told you I’m not into threesomes, and I thought she should know.”
“Too Good,” he drawled, going hot Texas cowboy on her. “You can handle my baggage any day of the week. For what it’s worth, I’m not a big fan of threesomes either.”
He hadn’t stopped smiling, so she smiled in return. She touched his lips with hers. “There’s a small matter of the fee for my legal services. I’m afraid I can’t accept cash.”
His hand stroked her cheek. “Oh no. Whatever am I going to do now? I should have read the fine print.” He kissed her. His voice deepened and he dropped the Southern drawl. “Love you, Too Good.”
“Love you, too,” she said, liking the way the words felt leaving her mouth. “I might be too good to be true, but I’ll never be too good for a cowboy.”
Epilogue
Nix
“I’m not worried,”Nix said. “They love me. You’re the one who’s going to have to prove herself to them.”
They were enroute to Abilene, Texas, for the Christmas holidays. Nix borrowed an SUV from Ryan O’Connell for the trip. Ryan had offered to loan him a sports car, but driving through Montana on winter roads had made the SUV the wiser decision.
Taryn was spending Christmas and New Year’s Eve in LA with her parents. She’d decided to stay in Grand for the remainder of the school year, but she’d move in with Freda and Ian McKillop when she returned, at Freda’s invitation. Freda—and Natalie—thought it would give Shauna and Taryn a better chance to get to know each other as sisters. Taryn hoped to ride in the Endeavour’s pro rodeo in February, and she was already making a name for herself in local competitions, although Nix didn’t believe she’d ever go professional. She lost interest too quickly and didn’t have enough drive, but she was learning self-discipline, something she badly needed.
If Shauna was nervous about meeting his parents, she didn’t let on.
