Allie picked up the long knife with a lovely cut glass handle. “The mamas went all out, didn’t they?”
“Mamas are like that.” Blake kissed her again and the whole crowd applauded. “Don’t worry, I chose the song.”
“You knew?” Allie asked.
“Not until late last night. Let’s get this cake cut and dance so we can go home, Mrs. Dawson.”
When the first strands of music started, Allie’s eyes widened out as big as saucers. “Is that what I think it is?”
“Not the conventional wedding music, but it’s our music and the words remind me of…” Blake said.
Allie put her fingers over his lips and blushed. Blake twirled her out on the area cleared out for a dance floor and danced with her just like they’d done at Frankie’s place while Etta James sang “Something’s Got a Hold on Me.”
“And now for my choice.” Allie put her arms around Blake’s neck and swayed with him to “I Cross My Heart” by George Strait. “And yes, I knew last night, too. Lizzy told me.”
She glanced over at her sister sitting in a folding chair, a smile plastered on her face even though it didn’t reach her eyes. That’s when Toby stood up and shook the legs of his jeans down over his boot tops and held his hand out to Lizzy.
Allie could have kissed her new brother-in-law as he drew Lizzy into his arms. Lizzy frantically looked across the room to her sister.
Allie nodded and winked. She and her sister might fight. They would definitely argue, but as sisters, they still had the ability to comfort and convey messages with a glance.
Lizzy relaxed in Toby’s arms and followed his expert steps around the room as the rest of the floor filled up with folks dancing to the next song on George Strait’s CD, “I Swear.”
“I do swear to love you with every beat of my heart until death parts us just like George is singing,” Blake whispered.
Allie rolled up on her toes and kissed him and hoped that someday her sister found a man just like Blake Dawson. One who, like George Strait sang about, would love her with every beat of his heart.
It was mid-afternoon when Blake picked up Allie for the second time that day and carried her across the threshold into the ranch house. He didn’t stop at the bedroom but took her straight to the bathroom before he set her down. “I love you, Allie Dawson, but I can’t wait any longer.”
She followed the directions on the paper and laid the stick on a paper towel on the counter. With a hand on either side of her face, Blake looked deeply into her eyes. “Neither of us will look until the time is up.”
The seconds dragged but finally she covered her hands with his. “Okay, here goes. Oh, Blake, it’s positive. Three weeks. Must have happened that first time.” She’d wondered all week how she’d feel if she was really pregnant or how he’d feel. And now the answer was there. She was going to be a mother. She was carrying Blake’s child. And she was filled with an indescribable mixture of awe and happiness. And his face registered absolute pride and joy.
“Lord, help us if this baby gets your wild cowboy ways and my temper,” she whispered.
“Now wouldn’t that set Dry Creek on its ear.” He chuckled. “Darlin’, you have given me the best wedding gift a man could ask for.” He picked her up and started toward the bedroom.
“I’m not sure who gave who that gift, but right now I want you to kick that door shut so Shooter stays in the living room and then I want you to make love to me.”
“Your wish, Mrs. Dawson, will always be my desire.” He closed the door with the heel of his boot, set her firmly on the floor, and slowly unzipped the back of her dress.
Rough-and-ready cowboy Toby Dawson
has no problem pretending to be Lizzy’s
boyfriend if it will help heal her bruised
heart. But what happens when he wants to
turn their fake affair into a true romance?
Please see the next page
for a preview of
Hot Cowboy Nights
Lizzy’s plan was to sneak inside the house, up the stairs and into her room. She could already feel the cool water from the shower, washing away the hot sex still lingering on her body.
Her plan did not work.
She hadn’t even kicked her boots off in front of the hall tree when her sister Allie shot out of the kitchen, grabbed her by the hand and tugged her into the table, where the man she’d been in bed with not thirty minutes ago gave her a sly wink. Oh my God, how could her mother—standing right there—not notice the sparks bouncing around the room. She was sure Allie’s husband, Blake, also at the table, was picking up on something.