Page 14 of Texas Daze (Texas Montgomery Mavericks)

Marti smiled and nodded to her. She turned to Eli, “A breath of fresh air sounds perfectrightnow.”

Eli’s face was a mask of fury. She tugged on his arm to get him away from the Roths before a more public confrontation occurred. “Let’sgo.”

The ballroom had doors leading to an exterior terrace littered with tables and chairs and benches. They were not the first to escape the overheated room, so obviously she wasn’t the only one overheated. He laced his fingers through hers and led her off to a solo bench in the shadows. Once there, he put his finger under her chin and liftedherface.

“I don’t know what that was all about, but I think that man needs to see a psychiatrist,” he said and then pressed his mouth to hers. The kiss was a light touch of lips. Nothing over the top or too intense, perfect for calming her embarrassment of the situation. “I am proud to be seen with you, regardless of what that ass said. Thank you for coming with metonight.”

Marti rested her head on his hard chest. “I am so sorry for Teddy Roth. I didn’t expect him to be here this year. He’s done a pretty good job of avoiding anything that has to do with myfamily.”

“Whatever his beef is, that outburst wasinappropriate.”

She looked at Eli’s beautiful face and then sighed. She sat on the bench and pulled him down nexttoher.

“Last fall, I was engaged to be married to Theodore Roth, their son. Obviously, the wedding didn’thappen.”

“You don’t have to explain,” Eli said. “I’m not here to passjudgement.”

“No, I want to. Really.” Her hands squeezed into fists. He lifted the hand closest to him, uncurled the fingers and kissed the palm. Butterflies flittered in her stomach. This man was much too polished for a rough cowgirl like her. She wanted to jerk away, sure her work-roughed hands would be a turn-off for him. She didn’t but she swore to do more hand care treatment in thefuture.

“Take your time, or say never mind. It’s totally uptoyou.”

“About a week before the wedding, I went to Theodore’s condo in town to drop off some presents. He wasn’t expecting me, but I had a key, so no big deal. I thought I’d let myself in and lock up when I was done.” Shepaused.

“Let me guess,” Eli said. “He wasn’talone.”

She nodded slowly. “He wasn’t, but the person he was with wasn’t who Iexpected.”

“Your best friend,” heguessed.

“Close. His best friend Scott. They were making love. Theodore was horrified that I’d found out. Scott was glad I’d found out. They’d been lovers since freshman year of college. They were deeply in love with each other, but Theodore knew his parents would never accept Scott.” She drew in a deep breath. “I was furious at both of them. I was not interested in being Theodore’sbeard.”

She turned to look at Eli. “I should have been more upset to find out that Theodore had been unfaithful, but what I felt was anger that I’d be duped. Theodore begged me to go through with the wedding. The Roths are quite wealthy, well, maybe filthy rich would be a better way to put it. He promised me complete control of his trust fund to marry him. I don’t even know how many millions that might have been. He said he would give me all that money and he would find a job somewhere else, so we would be married in name only, me being a very rich wife with a missing husband whose job required him to live elsewhere. I, of course, would have to stay in Whispering Springs because of the ranch. Getting thepicture?”

“I am,” he replied in a very deepvoice.

“That plan was insane. I would never marry for money. Never! Our ranch gets by. We aren’t rich by any stretch of the imagination, but I don’t have to eat Ramen Noodles for dinner everynight.”

“Ah, yes. The good old college days. Ramen Noodles when the allowance ranshort.”

She grinned. “So youunderstandthat?”

With a chuckle, henodded.

“Anyway, the three of us—Theodore, Scott and me—talked the rest of the day and into the night. They’d been together for years. Scott wanted to marry Theodore, who was, and probably still is, terrified of his parents’ reaction to the news that he loved a man. I believe Theodore loved me, but not like he loved Scott. I could see it when he looked at the other man. The love simply poured from his eyes. It broke my heart. I wanted a man to look at me the way Theodore was looking at Scott. I couldn’t hate Theodore for being in love with someone else. Hell, I’m surprised Scott didn’t hate me for trying to break them up, not that I knew there was anything to break up,” she added inarush.

“Anyway,” she continued, “I realized I wouldn’t be marrying Theodore and then the awareness came to me that I wasn’tthatupset. I should have been, but I wasn’t. I think I was getting married because I was twenty-nine, almost thirty, and so many of my childhood friends were married and having babies. I loved Theodore, but I wasn’t in love with him. I was in love with being married. Does that makesense?”

Eli nodded. “That must have been adifficultday.”

“You have no idea. Theodore begged me not to tell his folks, or anyone for that matter.” She looked at Eli. “I’m only telling you because first, you got sucked into Teddy Roth’s vitriolic wrath tonight and second, you’ll be leaving Whispering Springs. I trust you’ll keep this underyourhat.”

“Of course.” He put an arm around her and hugged. “They did me a great favor,youknow.”

“Theydid?”

He pressed a soft kiss to her mouth. “You are free toseeme.”

She smiled. “I like how youthink.”

---