Chapter 11
“If I’d known how grumpy you were going to be, I’d have given another man the pleasure of escorting me.”
Corbin pulled out of his thoughts and glanced over at Mrs. Stokes, who was sitting in the folding camp chair she had him put in the back of his truck when he and Sunny had picked her up for the Memorial Day picnic.
She wore a dress that hit her mid-calf, hose, and low-heeled dress shoes. In honor of Memorial Day, or possibly due to the heat, she had forgone her mink stole and instead had a red, white, and blue scarf tied around her shoulders. Her dyed red hair was styled in a huge bubble around her wrinkled face.
A scowling face.
He couldn’t blame her for being mad. He hadn’t been the best of escorts. His mind kept wandering back to Belle’s kiss. What really pissed him off was that he’d been in this exact position before. After Belle had kissed him the first time, it had taken him months to stop thinking about it. Yes, he’d been hurt and angry over the twin switch, but his hurt and anger had been mixed with something else.
A heavy dose of lust.
He had thought it had to do with him being a randy teenager.
He realized now that wasn’t the case.
It was Belle.
Belle bewitched him with her kisses.
“So you want to tell me why the glum face?” Mrs. Stokes asked. “As far as I can tell, you have everything a Texas man could want. Loads of money. A ranch. And two stunning women on a date.”
Sunny leaned over from where she sat on the quilt and socked him hard in the leg. “Yeah, Cory, what more could you want?”
Damned if an image of Belle didn’t pop into his head, which made him scowl even more.
Mrs. Stokes snorted and set down her paper plate that had once been piled high with fried chicken, potato salad, deviled eggs, and homemade sweet pickles, but now just held bones. “Come on, Sunny, let’s go find ourselves some pleasant men who will let a woman take a smoke if she damn well wants to.”
“Don’t you dare.” Corbin pointed a finger at her. “You gave me your word.”
“That was when I thought I was going to be with a man who knew how to entertain me with his business knowledge and dry wit. But you’ve been as boring as that clown over there trying to juggle three Hula-Hoops.”
Sunny set down her own plate and got to her feet. “You’re right, Fiona. Let’s go find ourselves some entertaining cowboys who know how to have a little fun.” She sent him a sassy smirk as she pulled Mrs. Stokes away.
“No smoking!” he yelled after them. “You either, Sunny.” He spotted Tay diving at Mrs. Stokes’ plate of leftover chicken bones. “No!” But of course, no female in his life listened to him and he had to wrestle the chicken wing away from the kitten.
“Good you got that away from her. Cooked bones aren’t good for animals.”
He glanced up to see Mimi standing there, her wide-brimmed hat casting a shadow over him and Tay. “Hey, Mimi. Enjoying the picnic?”
She sat down in Mrs. Stokes’ chair and patted her leg. Tay forgot the chicken bone and jumped into her lap. “It’s not as good as last year’s. Of course, that’s probably due to Sweetie and Cloe not ever hosting a big event like this before. Liberty and Belle were supposed to be in charge, but Liberty ran off to Houston and Belle is hiding out in your trailer.” She glanced around. “I thought she’d come today. She never has been able to resist a celebration. It looks like she still needs some time alone.”
Corbin wished he had left her alone. When he’d discovered her in his trailer, he should have turned tail and run for his life. He shouldn’t have joined her in her junk-eating-movie-watching. He shouldn’t have taken her for tacos. And he definitely shouldn’t have kissed her.
Not that he had kissed her. She was the one who had kissed him. But he hadn’t stopped her. At least, not soon enough to keep him from having dreams about the gentle pull of her lips and wet heat of her mouth.
“You hot? You look a little flushed.”
Mimi’s question pulled him out of his thoughts. “I’m fine.” He picked up his bottle of water and took a big slug. When he lowered the bottle, he noticed Mimi watching him with a smile on her face. “What?”
“Nothing. I was just thinking about you as a kid. You were always so focused. So intense. I thought maybe the ranch would help you relax a little.” She laughed. “Of course, it didn’t help my son relax either. The stress of ranching was what caused his heart attack.”
Corbin was surprised. He hadn’t heard that piece of gossip. “He had a heart attack? When?”
“Around five months ago.”
Five months ago? Corbin knew Hank’s stress hadn’t been about the ranch, but about the loan he couldn’t pay back. Guilt settled over him. “He’s okay now, right?”
“Yeah, but he still needs to keep his stress level down. Which is why I pushed him to take a little trip. We’re leaving tomorrow to go see Hallie in Austin for a few days and then up to Dallas to see Noelle.”
He stared at her. “Who will take care of the ranch?”
“Well, you and Sunny, of course. I figure it will be good practice for when we leave at the end of next month.”
Corbin should be happy Mimi was so ready to leave. And he was. He was also more than a little nervous about having the entire responsibility of running the ranch on his shoulders. He had learned a lot in the last week about caring for the cattle and horses, but not nearly enough. But before he could voice his concerns, Sweetie came weaving her way through the blankets of families covering the town park.
“Did Belle show up?”
“Nope,” Mimi said. “And if she hasn’t by now, I don’t think she’s going to. Why?”
“Because everything has gone to hell in a handcart. When Liberty left Cloe and me in charge of the picnic festivities, we thought it would just involve putting up a few flags and decorations and making sure there were plenty of popsicles for the kids. We didn’t realize we’d have to deal with finding a replacement for a sick clown, the face painters running out of paint, the band not showing up, and the veterans—who should be getting ready to be honored at this very second—getting into an argument over what war was the toughest.” She threw up her hands. “And it’s just more stress than two expecting women should have to handle!”
Mimi held out Tay. “Here. Animals always take the stress away and calm people down.” For once, Tay didn’t nip or scratch. She just settled into Sweetie’s arm as if she knew she had a job to do. “Now take a deep breath,” Mimi continued. “I’m sure we can figure this out.”
“I don’t know how.” Sweetie stroked Tay. “I wouldn’t be surprised if the veterans aren’t pulling out weapons about now.”
“Then they need a voice of reason.” Mimi looked at Corbin. “Cory, you go help Sweetie get this figured out.” He started to argue that this wasn’t his problem, but she shut him down. “I mean it. Go on now.”
Sweetie wasn’t far off about the veterans being ready to draw weapons. By the time he and Sweetie arrived behind the gazebo where the veterans were waiting to be called on stage, there was definite hostility brewing. The Vietnam vets were ranting about Desert Storm not being a war while one really old guy was banishing his cane at another old guy and yelling about remembering the Alamo.
Corbin wasn’t sure what to do, but after a few minutes of watching the chaos, he decided to treat the situation like any business meeting that had gotten completely off track.
“Silence!” he yelled. When everyone stopped arguing and turned to him, he cleared his throat. “Now I’m sure we can settle this without raising our voices.”
The old guy shook his cane. “Pistols at dawn!”
Corbin blinked. “That wasn’t quite what I was thinking. I was thinking we would calmly—”
“Why would we care what you’re thinking?” The big-bellied guy in the biker vest cut him off. “Aren’t you the asshole who stole the Holiday Ranch? If we meet anyone at dawn, it should be you, you thieving bastard!”
That seemed to consolidate the vets. They all circled around Corbin and started yelling their agreement. Before he could calm them—or decide to get the hell out of there—Mickey Gilley showed up. The large dog came bounding out of nowhere into the group, barking and jumping on everyone with excited tail wagging.
Following the dog was Belle.
It annoyed the hell out of Corbin that his heart did a little jump in his chest at just the sight of her. The sides of her hair were pulled up in tiny clips with rhinestone butterflies and the rest of it fell around her shoulders in ebony curls. She wore a pretty blue gingham sundress that matched the flush in her cheeks.
“Gilley!” She tried to grab the dog’s dangling leash, but Gilley dodged her and darted around the circle of vets . . . until he spotted Tay in Sweetie’s arms. Then his eyes lit up and he raced straight for Sweetie with tongue lolling.
Corbin stepped in his path and pointed a finger. “Sit!”
Surprisingly, Gilley sat. At least long enough for Belle to grab his leash and praise the dog as if he hadn’t just been racing out of control.
“What a good boy.” She lavished him with ear scratches and kisses on his furry head. Corbin ignored the stab of jealousy. “What a good, good boy.”
Sweetie peeked around Corbin. “Where in the world did you get that huge beast, Belly?”
“Gilley’s not a beast. He’s a sweetheart.” Belle giggled as the dog gave her a big sloppy lick of thanks. She straightened. “He’s mine. I adopted him from Melba this morning.” She glanced at Corbin and smiled a bright smile that made his stomach feel like he’d swallowed a tank of helium.
What the hell?
“But I thought big dogs scared you,” Sweetie said.
“Only when I was little.” She gave Gilley’s head a pat. “Turns out, now I love them.”
“And how does Liberty feel about you getting a big dog?”
Belle’s smile faded and she lifted her chin. “It doesn’t matter what Liberty thinks. It’s my choice. So tell me what’s going on. Mama called me and said you needed help in a bad way.”
“That’s an understatement,” Sweetie said as Corbin took Tay from her. “When I told Liberty I’d help her out, I didn’t realize how stressful event planning is. The band didn’t show up, the clown got sick and we had to find a fast replacement, and now the veterans are about to do battle. And I just can’t deal with it.”
Belle placed a hand on her sister’s shoulder. “You go sit down and have yourself a nice glass of sweet tea. I’ve got this.” As soon as Sweetie left, Belle moved right into the middle of the veterans and pinned on a bright smile. “Hey, y’all! For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Belle Holiday. I spoke to each and every one of you on the phone a few weeks back. I’m so pleased you agreed to be here today. Wilder is one lucky town to be blessed with so many honorable and courageous men and women who had served our country so proudly. And speaking of proud, I know everyone here is as proud of y’all as I am and can’t wait to honor you on this beautiful Memorial Day. Thank you for your patience and kindness to your fellow veterans and for reminding us of what true heroism is.”
The vets all exchanged guilty looks.
“Now let’s get this show on the road, shall we?” Belle handed Corbin the leash before she took the man with the cane’s arm. “As our oldest and most celebrated hero, you’ll go first, Mr. Wazowski.”
Corbin didn’t know how she did it, but she got all the veterans up on the stage and through the ceremony without one thrown punch. As soon as she stepped off the stage, Cloe was there with another Memorial Day disaster and Belle was off again to deal with it . . . leaving Corbin to handle her overgrown, misbehaving mutt.
If Gilley wasn’t trying to jump up and eat Tay—or more like lick her to death—he was tangling the leash around Corbin’s legs, or grabbing chicken off people’s plates, or stealing the pacifier right out of Tammy Sue’s toddler’s mouth, or lifting his leg on Mrs. Stokes’ camping chair.
Of course, Mrs. Stokes didn’t seem to care. Nor did any of the other folks. It was hard to get mad at a dog that looked like a huge fuzzy Muppet. Even Tay didn’t seem to mind Gilley. When the dog finally ran out of energy and flopped down on the quilt, placing his big head on Corbin’s leg right next to where Tay was sleeping, the kitten merely opened one eye for a second before she went back to sleep.
“I never took you for an animal person,” Mrs. Stokes said as she licked her red, white, and blue Popsicle.
“I’m not.”
She looked at Tay and Gilley. “You could’ve fooled me.”
He scowled. “Where’s Sunny?”
“She’s enjoying her day with Casey Remington.”
Corbin stiffened, causing Gilley to lift his head and look around for danger. “She’ll get involved with that country Casanova over my dead body.”
“Casey’s not that bad. And I don’t think you’ll have a choice if that’s what Sunny wants. She doesn’t strike me as the type of woman who lets other people tell her what to do. And speaking of women with minds of their own, Belle certainly has found her gumption.”
He followed Mrs. Stokes’ gaze to the woman he’d been trying to avoid looking at for the last hour—unsuccessfully. Belle was talking to the clown and no doubt giving him a pep talk like she had the veterans or a scolding like she had the band that had arrived late. He had never realized how good she was at managing people. Probably because Liberty had always monopolized people’s attention. Liberty got her way by being dynamic and strong willed. Belle got her way too. Just in a quieter, more subtle way.
Which explained a lot.
After watching her today, he was no longer confused about why she didn’t see him as the enemy. Once again, she had tricked him. Using her bright smiles, sweet words, and hot kisses, she had snuck under his defenses and bent him to her will. And her will was to get her family’s ranch back. She had made it perfectly clear only minutes before she had kissed him.
The kiss had only been part of her plan.
Well, it wasn’t going to work. He wasn’t going to be played by the Holiday sisters again. He intended to make that perfectly clear.
He got up and handed Tay to Mrs. Stokes. “Could you keep an eye on Tay. I’m going to take Belle her dog.”
Gilley was thrilled to get back to his master. He tugged on the leash and tried to move Corbin along faster to get to Belle who was still talking with the clown.
“I’m just amazed you’ve never clowned before, Josiah. And it was just so sweet of you to offer to help out when Twinkles caught a cold and couldn’t do it. But maybe instead of juggling Hula-Hoops, you could have a Hula-Hoop contest with the kids and give the winner a Hula-Hoop as a prize. That way the kids can all get involved, instead of just watching.”
The clown hesitated for a second before he nodded. “I guess I could do that.”
“Great!” She hurried back on stage and made the announcement that a Hula-Hoop contest was starting before she rejoined Corbin and took Gilley’s leash. “Sorry I left you with Gilley.” She leaned down and took the dog’s huge head in her hands. “Were you a good boy, Mickey Gilley?” She looked up at Corbin. “Was he?”
“He was fine.”
She straightened and smiled brightly. “See. Adopting him wasn’t a bad decision.”
Since he wasn’t there to talk about Gilley, he didn’t reply. “We need to talk.”
A blush stained her cheeks. “I guess this is about the kiss.”
Since she hadn’t spoken softly, he glanced around before he took her arm and led her behind the gazebo. Once there, he released her and crossed his arms over his chest.
“I know what you’re doing. You’re doing to me exactly what you’ve done to the veterans and that clown. You’re trying to manipulate me with your sweet talk and your bright smiles. But I’m not a clown, Bella. I was played by you and your sister once, but I won’t be played again.”
Her eyes widened. “Me kissing you had nothing to do with me trying to manipulate you.”
He snorted. “Oh, come on. Tell that bullshit to someone else because I’m not falling for it. You played me in high school and you’re playing me now. But I’m not a horny teenage kid anymore who will let you confuse him with hot kisses.”
She blinked and he realized what he’d said.
“Not that our kiss was hot. I’ve had much hotter.” I’ve had much hotter? He mentally rolled his eyes. What the hell? She had him reverting to teenage lingo.
She studied him for a long moment before she spoke. “Well, I haven’t.”
It was his turn to blink. “What?”
“I’ve never had a kiss as hot as yours. And maybe that’s why I couldn’t help kissing you again. You might think it had to do with manipulation, but that’s just not true. I would never think that giving you a kiss would change your mind about the ranch. I know you can’t be swayed that easily. I also know you’re not interested in me and never have been. You said yourself that you never settle for second best. And I’ve always been second best to Liberty. And even if you were actually interested in me, nothing good would come of us starting something. You’re taking my family’s ranch and I’m the girl who tricked you in high school.”
Her eyes softened. “But you need to know that kissing you wasn’t a trick, Corbin. Not on the porch of my family’s farmhouse and not at the trailer. Both times, I kissed you because I wanted to.” She tugged the leash. “Come on, Gilley.”
She walked away, leaving Corbin feeling like a clown juggling a bunch of Hula-Hoops.