His Cowgirl Bride by Debra Clopton Page B

you today, Brent?”
    Brent grabbed the next bag, noting that he had four to go. “I’m fine, Norma Sue. How are you?”
    â€œFine. Just fine. So, is y’all’s chunker finished yet?”
    Pete was standing off to the side of Norma Sue, so she couldn’t see his face as he raised his brows atBrent and grinned real big. Brent started to answer when he heard what sounded like a herd of cattle rumbling along the sidewalk behind him. Norma Sue’s eyes widened, and he turned to see Applegate and Stanley thundering toward them.
    â€œNorma Sue,” Applegate boomed as he came to a halt. “Sam said Adela said y’all got yer machine almost ready to test.”
    â€œWell, why would she go and tell him a thing like that?”
    â€œMaybe,” Stanley drawled, situating his bag of sunflower seeds more securely in the crook of his arm, “because he’s her husband.”
    Brent glanced across toward the salon and saw Lacy and Tacy watching from the window. He could see them grinning even from this distance.
    â€œWell, I was just asking Brent here if y’all got yours ready to test.”
    Brent shot her a look but was smart enough to keep his mouth shut. He didn’t want to get in the middle of this. He had horses to train and other more important things on his mind.
    â€œYou didn’t tell her nothin’, did you?” App asked, sharp eyes squinting at the cowboy.
    Brent scowled. “No. But I’m not sure I see why it would hurt anything to admit it.”
    â€œOh, so you admit that it’s finished.” Norma Sue beamed triumphantly while Applegate and Stanley scowled like he was a traitor.
    â€œWell, no, ma’am, I didn’t say that—”
    â€œYes, you did,” she said. “So when are y’all testing it?”
    â€œYou didn’t have to go and tell our secrets,” App accused. “We got you on this team ’cause we thought you could keep yer mouth shut.”
    â€œYeah, that’s right,” Stanley agreed, spitting a sunflower seed at Brent’s feet.
    Pete chuckled. Brent glared at him. This was getting entirely out of hand. “What is the big deal?” he snapped. “And for the record, I said no such thing.”
    â€œIt don’t rightly matter,” App said. “Cat’s out of the bag now.”
    Brent grabbed two bags of feed and tossed them into the truck. “Look, I thought this was a friendly competition.”
    â€œWell, it is,” Norma Sue said. “Whatever gave you the idea it wasn’t?”
    Huh? He looked from her to his teammates. “Are you telling me this is friendly?”
    Stanley scratched his bald spot and grinned. “We tend to get a bit carried away.”
    Brent tossed his last two bags of feed into the truck. “Yeah, you do.”
    They all stared at him. “What?” he asked, feeling ill-tempered.
    â€œAre you mad?” Norma Sue asked.
    â€œAin’t no call to be mad,” Applegate said.
    â€œShore not,” Stanley agreed and tossed a few more seeds into his mouth. “We’s jest havin’ some fun.”
    â€œFun?” Brent said and found himself staring at the salon with anger in his eyes. Maybe if Tacy didn’t have him all tied in knots he’d see some humor in all this, but as it was he wasn’t laughing yet. He yanked open his truck door and climbed in.
    â€œYou comin’ to the Thanksgiving dinner at church?” Norma Sue asked, walking over to stand by his window. “It might help you get over your bad temper.”
    At this point he wasn’t sure anything would help. “Fine, I’ll be there,” he said, feeling a touch of remorse at having lost his temper.
    She gave him a wide grin and tipped her red hat at him. “Good. You take care now.”
    What had just happened? Here he thought he was going to have to step in and stop a real fight, and he’d ended up