Crazy Little Thing Called Love (17 page)

“Why, Bluebell Montgomery Carter, I never
thought I’d see the day.” A loud male voice caught the attention of
everyone around them and she cringed.

Zach froze. His head turned and his gaze
found her in an instant. He stared at her for a long second, so
long that she forgot somebody had yelled her name and squealed in
surprise as two big strong arms picked her up from her chair and
spun her in a circle.

“Austin?” She desperately hoped her dress was
still around her thighs and not up around her waist, “Austin Wayne
Evans you put me down this instant.”

Oh she sounded just like his mother when she
said shit like that. It was a side effect of the fact Arlene had
practically raised her. Still, it was one thing to sound like
somebody else’s mother; it was another to scold them in that same
tone of voice.

“You sound just like my mama when you say
that.” He laughed and lifted her higher so she could get a good
look at his face.

Austin Evans had never worked at Montgomery
Oaks like his mother and older sister. He’d been too busy playing
football and working an after school job at the mechanic’s shop.
Still, he was only two years older than her so he’d been a
surrogate big brother for her in a way, right up until they hit
their teenager years and things had gotten more awkward than if
they’d been kissing cousins.

“Put me down Austin. People are staring.”

“Darlin’ if you haven’t figured out by now
that people always stare at you then you ain’t as bright as I
thought you were.” He winked playfully but let her slip back to the
ground. “How’s your daddy?”

“Doing okay.”

“Mama said you were staying with him, didn’t
think I’d ever see you out here at the Roadhouse though.”

“Yeah, I’m just having some drinks with a
couple of old friends.”

“Needed to get out of the house for a
while?”

“Yeah, something like that.”

She got distracted by the sight of a familiar
broad chest over Austin’s shoulder. Zach was heading back to the
dance floor. This time he had a redhead on his arm. Seemed she’d
been right when she figured the man could get any woman in town he
wanted. He spun away from them across the floor and she was treated
to his ass cupped in dark denim. No big surprise with a body like
that she supposed.

“Blue?”

“Huh?” She pulled her eyes away.

“I said we should catch up while you’re in
town. I’m headed out, early day tomorrow and all but we can get
dinner, catch a movie. Do it up right.”

“Oh um… yeah, let’s get a drink and catch
up.” She changed the plans so they sounded less like a date.

Austin wasn’t stupid though, he grinned, “I
always did have a crush on you Bluebell and you’re just as pretty
as ever. I’ll be seeing you around town. You can bet on it.”

She watched Austin Evans walk away and
silently kicked herself. He was a nice looking guy and yeah, she’d
known he had a crush on her since they were kids. Why couldn’t she
go to dinner with him? It’s not like there was anybody keeping her
from dating while she was in Fate.

Zach turned the corner nearby with his new
dance partner and she blew out a heavy sigh. Yep, definitely nobody
keeping her from dating, nobody but herself. Not that she could
date Austin. She wasn’t staying in Fate permanently and if she
started something up with him Arlene would be planning their
wedding before the sun rose.

“Bluebell.” Jenny Sue’s voice pulled her back
to reality, “Come say hello to my brother Jimmy. You remember him
from high school don’t you?”

If she’d known she was going to a high school
reunion she’d have started drinking earlier. She took a deep breath
and turned back to their table. She was surprised by the man
standing next to her friend and had to do a double take.

She did remember Jimmy from high school but
that gangly kid couldn’t have been any different from the man in
front of her now. He’d grown up. He was a couple of years younger
than them, two or was it three? She couldn’t remember but now he
was taller, broader, not big or bulky though, lean. He’d grown into
his smile too, which was slightly lopsided in an endearing sort of
way. That was new too, as was that slightly predatory glint in his
dark brown eyes. He definitely hadn’t had the game to pull off that
look when she’d seen him last.

“Nice to see you again Bluebell.”

“You too Jimmy.”

“How’s your daddy doing? I’d heard he had a
stay in the hospital.”

“He’s back home now. Thanks for asking.”

“You’re looking good. Wherever you’ve been
hiding yourself seems to agree with you.” His eyes flashed with
that dark edge as they lingered on her breasts before returning to
her eyes.

“I’m in Denver.” She ignored the look.

“Really? I have a friend that lives up there.
How about you do me the pleasure of a dance and we can find out if
you know each other? Small world and all that?”

He was already wrapping an arm around her
waist to lead her to the dance floor. She’d have had a hard time
coming up with a reason to say no. After all, this was Texas,
dancing wasn’t an option, it was a lifestyle. As was flirting, that
thought immediately had her eyes wandering the floor.

She didn’t have to look hard to find the big
hard body. Normally she wouldn’t have flirted back with Jimmy. She
wasn’t interested, not really. But she didn’t like the idea of
being a wallflower while the only guy in the room she actually
wanted to dance with paraded a string of women around the floor.
Still, she didn’t want to give Jimmy any ideas so she kept her body
firmly away from his when he tried to pull her close and she
insisted on talking about his friend over the George Strait song as
they two-stepped.

Even with the loud music, even with Jimmy
talking, she could make out Zach’s rumbling voice behind her every
few turns. He was close enough she could make out his voice but not
what he said. All she heard was the answering giggles of the
brunette that was back in his arms.

She wondered if he was dating one of the
women in the parade. After all, it had been nearly a month since
their catastrophe in the parking lot at Molly’s wedding. That was
plenty of time to fall in love and plan forever with a woman in
Fate. She’d seen it happen before, dozens of times.

“Guess you don’t know Steve then.” Jimmy
yelled to be heard.

“Guess not. It’s a big city though, lots of
strangers.”

The song came to an end and she turned to
head back to her table before Jimmy could make the mistake of
asking for another dance. One song had been more than enough for
her feet which would no doubt be black and blue from him stepping
on them for the past three and a half minutes. She’d forgotten that
everybody in Texas danced; they all just didn’t do it well.

In her rush to get off the dance floor she
turned and ran smack into a big, broad chest. Hadn’t she just heard
Zach’s voice on the other side of the floor? How on earth did she
keep running into him? She cursed and kept her eyes averted.

“Sorry.”

“No problem.” His big hands released her
shoulders and she stepped back.

“Blue!” A woman shrieked forcing her to tip
her eyes up far enough to see the face of the brunette on Zach’s
arm.

By the time her brain processed recognition
she was already engulfed in a tight hug that sent her stumbling
backwards two paces. This time Jimmy was forced to catch them and
he laughed as he steadied the two women. They were now sandwiched
between the two men and she wished with all her old Dorothy from
the Wizard of Oz rerun memories that she could simply click her red
boot heels and go home.

“Blue! Oh! My Lord!” The brunette drawled,
“It has absolutely been forever if it’s even been a day.”

“Victoria. Hi. It’s nice to see you.”

Nice wouldn’t have been the word teenager
Bluebell would have used but she drew on every ounce of her charm
school training and manners. Victoria Sands had been public enemy
number one at Fate High School and she’d used all of her power and
authority to make Blue’s life a living hell. She’d made fun of her
clothes and her hair and occasionally the fact that she didn’t have
a mother.

That had lasted right up until tenth grade
when Blue had enough and punched her in the face. Things had gotten
a lot easier after that. Still, her warm greeting was classic Fate.
Nobody remembered the past if it was dirty and nobody held a
grudge. Nobody it seemed but Blue so she bit her tongue and played
along.

“You too, though I heard about your daddy
dying.”

“He has cancer but he’s holding strong for
now actually.”

“Oh well, bless your heart. You’ve only had
him for so long and now to think you might lose him too. We’ve been
praying for him at the First Baptist.”

A deep breath later Blue smiled politely,
“Thank you for that Victoria.” She tilted her chin up, “Hello again
Zach.”

“Bluebell.”

“You two know each other?” Victoria’s head
tilted suspiciously.

It had been three weeks since he gave her a
mind-blowing orgasm with nothing but the touch of his hand. That
time period allowed her the ability not to blush. Still, it had
only been a week since his threat of retribution and her stomach
flip-flopped with apprehension.

“It’s a small town. We all know each other
right?” She shrugged in what she hoped looked like
indifference.

“Some more so than others.” A smile curled at
one corner of Zach’s mouth, “So how do you two know each
other?”

“Oh we went to charm school together when we
were little girls.” Victoria practically beamed.

That was an interesting answer. Blue would
have gone with, “She liked to torture me for fun” but since
Victoria seemed set on flirting with Zach she could hardly be
expected to out her evil tendencies. Blue thought about doing it
for her and then she realized where the comment came from. Victoria
had always enjoyed pointing out her flaws in charm school. No doubt
she could expect more of the same.

“Charm school huh?” Zach’s gaze never left
Bluebell.

“Yeah, I suppose it stuck for one of us, not
so much the other.” She grinned despite herself and watched his
green eyes flash with recognition.

“Oh Blue, don’t be so hard on yourself. There
was a lot to learn and you didn’t have a mama to go home and
practice cutlery with.”

“Yes Vicky, I’m sure my downfall was the
cutlery.” She tried not to laugh at the ridiculousness of a
statement like that.

Victoria hated being called Vicky. She smiled
primly as though she didn’t know that fact. She was all about
letting bygones be bygones but even a charm school graduate could
only take so much.

“It was really great seeing you Vicky. Zach.”
She glanced up quickly and then back down, “We should get together
and catch up again soon but I should probably get back to my
friends. Jimmy?”

As expected he slid an arm around her
shoulder, “Yes ma’am.”

“Bye bye now.” She waved.

“See you Bluebell.” Zach simply slid his own
arm around Victoria and headed the opposite direction.

Once she got rid of Victoria and Zach she
distanced herself from Jimmy with the excuse of using the little
girl’s room. She didn’t like giving him mixed signals but she’d
been desperate to get out of that situation.

Coming out of the bathroom she made a hard
right and slipped out the back to the nearly deserted patio. It was
a cool night and it had been misting rain earlier around sunset.
She wiped off part of a fencepost that edged close to the river
below and leaned against it.

Funny she’d left the ranch looking to put an
end to being lonely and yet within a couple of hours she was
seeking solace on an empty patio. She twisted her diamond middle
finger ring and stared out at the darkness. The thing was, even in
the middle of that bar, even surrounded by people she’d felt
alone.

She was used to the feeling. She’d grown up
with it. Living on a ranch there had never been a shortage of
people coming and going. But she’d always been alone. Her father
was always out in the bunkhouse eating with the hands or out in the
barn working with an animal or out of town delivering cattle. It
was worse now, knowing he was just down the hall, sometimes in the
same room and still feeling the distance between them.

All her life she’d been surrounded by people
who knew her. It was a small town, everybody knew everybody. And
yet nobody really knew her. They knew the poor little girl that had
lost her mother. Some of them thought they knew the sad child
neglected by a grieving father. Others thought they knew the wild
child daughter more concerned with her inheritance than her
father’s well being. She didn’t know who any of those girls
were.

Being in that house with her father though,
being in Fate, it did something to her. It brought back that
scared, lost little girl and she hated that feeling. She didn’t
want to focus on that girl or all she’d lost, all she’d missed out
on because her mama died and her daddy never got over it. And she
definitely didn’t want to think of the adult she’d become and just
how lost she still felt.

She was tired of feeling alone so she turned
to go back into the bar but ran straight into a broad chest and big
familiar hands cupped her shoulders to hold her steady, “Jesus!
Stop doing that.”

“It’s Zach.” He frowned and released his hold
on her shoulders, “And you’re the one that keeps running into me
Bluebell.”

“You snuck up on me.”

“I said your name twice.” He looked at the
bottle of Shiner in her hand, “How much have you had to drink?”

“Not nearly enough.”

He frowned and took the bottle from her.

“Give that back.” She watched him take a long
draw off it and sighed when he didn’t hand it back.