months.
Creed will be gone in a week or two and Dalton and Blake will be packed up and gone the first of September and then it’ll just be me and you in the house at night and you can have all three of those rooms for the rest of the year, I promise,” he said.
Dalton pulled in on one side of Jasmine’s truck and Ace parked on the other side. She didn’t wait for him to be the gentleman and open the door for her but scuttled out of the truck and headed toward the house.
Ace’s ring tone said his father was cal ing him before he could open his door.
He stopped in his tracks and answered it.
“Son,” Adam’s deep voice said.
“What do you need, Dad?”
“I got a call from Cole that disturbs me. I didn’t share it with your momma or brothers. Figure that it would just stir up trouble that you don’t need. Is it true?” Ace’s scalp tingled. “What?”
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“That you married that girl to keep Cole from getting the ranch? Gramps never told me that he put that in the will. I thought the ranch was yours with no strings attached.”
“I didn’t ask her to do it, Dad. She offered and I accepted. Can we keep this between us?”
“Got to stay with it a year, do you?” Adam asked.
“Yes, sir, I do.”
“You’l do it right, won’t you? No cheating on her with other women. It’s a big undertakin’ that she did.
She must be a hell of a good friend,” Adam said.
“She is.”
“Well, then we’ll see what the year brings before we go worryin’ your momma about the whole thing.
And I told Cole if he goes spreadin’ around a bunch of rumors that they’ll just make him look stupid after that trouble with Megan all those years ago, so he’ll keep his mouth shut.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
“One more thing, Ace. You going to go through with this wedding here in Texas?”
“Guess I am. Don’t see any way out of it.”
“I guess you are right. Like I said, a year can make a big difference the way folks see things. I liked Jasmine.
She’s got spunk. It’ll take that kind to keep you on your toes. Goodnight, son.”
“Goodnight, Dad.”
Jasmine stopped inside the front door. Ace’s house was nothing like the Riley ranch house. Theirs was much newer and had wide open spaces. Ace’s front door opened into a wide hal way that ran the width of the house from the front door to the back door. Two OneHotCowboyWedding.indd 92
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doors opened off to the right: one into the living room; one into the enormous country- style kitchen/dining room combination. On the left a long hallway split off leading to the bedroom wing. Straight across from the kitchen door one opened into an office/den type room.
Hardwood floors shined like new money, and not a speck of dust rested on the foyer table.
Ace walked inside the house and answered the question on her face before she asked it. “Gramps said that he built it like this because he wanted to catch the evening breezes. It was built before air conditioning and that was important. That’s why the windows are so tall.
When the weather is nice we can get breezes all through the house.”
“You ain’t never been here before?” Blake asked.
“Of course, but I’ve never had the grand tour,” Jasmine said. She wasn’t lying. She had been in the house long enough for Ace to drop her bags and to look at four bedroom doors.
Blake pointed. “The living room is right through that door with the kitchen behind it. Big dining room is on this side of the hall, and back there at the back is Ace’s office. Down the hall are four bedrooms because Granny and Gramps planned for this big family but they only got Daddy out of the deal, and then Gramps got Ace most of the time after Granny died. At the end of the hall is the bathroom. Back when he built the house, multi-bathrooms was unheard of,” Blake explained.
Blake was over six feet tall, maybe an inch or two
Creed will be gone in a week or two and Dalton and Blake will be packed up and gone the first of September and then it’ll just be me and you in the house at night and you can have all three of those rooms for the rest of the year, I promise,” he said.
Dalton pulled in on one side of Jasmine’s truck and Ace parked on the other side. She didn’t wait for him to be the gentleman and open the door for her but scuttled out of the truck and headed toward the house.
Ace’s ring tone said his father was cal ing him before he could open his door.
He stopped in his tracks and answered it.
“Son,” Adam’s deep voice said.
“What do you need, Dad?”
“I got a call from Cole that disturbs me. I didn’t share it with your momma or brothers. Figure that it would just stir up trouble that you don’t need. Is it true?” Ace’s scalp tingled. “What?”
OneHotCowboyWedding.indd 91
10/5/11 10:40 AM
Carolyn Brown
92
“That you married that girl to keep Cole from getting the ranch? Gramps never told me that he put that in the will. I thought the ranch was yours with no strings attached.”
“I didn’t ask her to do it, Dad. She offered and I accepted. Can we keep this between us?”
“Got to stay with it a year, do you?” Adam asked.
“Yes, sir, I do.”
“You’l do it right, won’t you? No cheating on her with other women. It’s a big undertakin’ that she did.
She must be a hell of a good friend,” Adam said.
“She is.”
“Well, then we’ll see what the year brings before we go worryin’ your momma about the whole thing.
And I told Cole if he goes spreadin’ around a bunch of rumors that they’ll just make him look stupid after that trouble with Megan all those years ago, so he’ll keep his mouth shut.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
“One more thing, Ace. You going to go through with this wedding here in Texas?”
“Guess I am. Don’t see any way out of it.”
“I guess you are right. Like I said, a year can make a big difference the way folks see things. I liked Jasmine.
She’s got spunk. It’ll take that kind to keep you on your toes. Goodnight, son.”
“Goodnight, Dad.”
Jasmine stopped inside the front door. Ace’s house was nothing like the Riley ranch house. Theirs was much newer and had wide open spaces. Ace’s front door opened into a wide hal way that ran the width of the house from the front door to the back door. Two OneHotCowboyWedding.indd 92
10/5/11 10:40 AM
One Hot Cowboy Wedding
93
doors opened off to the right: one into the living room; one into the enormous country- style kitchen/dining room combination. On the left a long hallway split off leading to the bedroom wing. Straight across from the kitchen door one opened into an office/den type room.
Hardwood floors shined like new money, and not a speck of dust rested on the foyer table.
Ace walked inside the house and answered the question on her face before she asked it. “Gramps said that he built it like this because he wanted to catch the evening breezes. It was built before air conditioning and that was important. That’s why the windows are so tall.
When the weather is nice we can get breezes all through the house.”
“You ain’t never been here before?” Blake asked.
“Of course, but I’ve never had the grand tour,” Jasmine said. She wasn’t lying. She had been in the house long enough for Ace to drop her bags and to look at four bedroom doors.
Blake pointed. “The living room is right through that door with the kitchen behind it. Big dining room is on this side of the hall, and back there at the back is Ace’s office. Down the hall are four bedrooms because Granny and Gramps planned for this big family but they only got Daddy out of the deal, and then Gramps got Ace most of the time after Granny died. At the end of the hall is the bathroom. Back when he built the house, multi-bathrooms was unheard of,” Blake explained.
Blake was over six feet tall, maybe an inch or two
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