his attention to Maria, his stepmother, mentor and crusader for the truth, and sometimes intruder into conversations. “So he didn’t tell you, either?”
Dallas’s jaw tightened and his eyes narrowed. “I’d forgotten I’d talked to her day before yesterday. Besides, it’s not that big a deal. A drought is a big deal.”
“It’s a big deal to your little brother, mijo,” Maria said as she tightened the band at the end of her long braid. “Austin and Georgia have a special relationship.”
Obviously the family was intent on throwing the past up in his face like prairie dirt. “Had a relationship. That was a long time ago.”
Dallas smirked. “You’d take her back as your girlfriend in a New York minute.”
“You have a girlfriend, sugar?”
Enter the blonde, bouncy second stepmom. The woman Austin’s dad had married without divorcing Maria. Jenny was a good-hearted gossip and that alone made him want to walk right back out the door. Doing so would only prolong the conversation, unfortunately. “No, Jen, I don’t have a girlfriend.”
“He used to have a girlfriend,” Maria added. “Georgia and Austin were real close in high school.”
Jenny laid a dramatic palm on her chest below the string of pearls. “I just love Georgia. Atlanta in the springtime is...”
“Focus, woman,” Maria scolded. “We’re talkin’ about a girl, not a state.”
Jenny lifted her chin. “I know that, Maria. You’re telling me about Austin being joined at the hip to his high school sweetheart, who happens to be named Georgia.”
Dallas chuckled. “You’ve got that ‘joined at the hip’ thing right, Jen, but Austin chased her for years before that joining.”
Austin needed to set this part of the record straight. “I damn sure didn’t chase her.” Much. “She hung around all of us when we were kids. I never paid her any mind back then.”
“Not until she came back from camp that summer after she turned fourteen,” Dallas said.
Man, he hadn’t thought about that in years. She’d returned with a lot of curves that would make many a hormone-ridden guy stand up and take notice. Every part of him. She still had a body that wouldn’t quit, something he’d noticed earlier. Something he wouldn’t soon forget. “Yep, she’d definitely blossomed that summer.”
“You mean she got her boobies,” Jenny chimed in. “Mine came in at twelve. That’s when the boys started chasing me like Louisiana mosquitoes.”
Maria waved a dismissive hand at Jen. “No one wants to know when you reached puberty and how many times you got a love bite.”
Austin didn’t want to continue this bizarre conversation. Luckily Paris showed up to end the weird exchange. “Dinner will be ready in about five minutes.”
Jenny turned her attention to Austin. “Maybe you should invite your special friend to dinner.”
Of all of the stupid ideas—subjecting Georgie to an ongoing conversation about puberty. Then again, he wouldn’t mind sitting across a table from her. He wouldn’t mind her sitting in his lap, either. “It’s late and I’m sure she’s busy.”
Paris perked up like a hound coming upon a rabbit’s scent. “She? So that’s what you were discussing in my absence.”
Dallas pushed off the sofa. “Yeah, and boobies and mosquitoes.”
“Don’t ask, Paris,” Maria stated. “Now you boys wash up while we put the food on the table.”
No way would he subject himself to more talk about his history with Georgie. “I’m not staying for dinner.”
“Suit yourself,” Dallas said. “But you’ll be missing out on Jen’s chicken-fried steak.”
Any other time he would reconsider, but not today. “I’m sure it’ll be great. Before I take off, Dallas, we need to finish our conversation.”
His brother shrugged. “I’m listening.”
When Austin noticed the women still hovering, he added, “In private. Outside.”
Dallas sighed. “Fine. Just make it quick. I’m starving.”
He had every intention of making it quick while getting his point across.
After they walked out the door onto the porch, Austin faced his brother. “Look, I would’ve appreciated you consulting all the brothers before you hired Georgie as the ranch vet.”
Dallas streaked a hand over his jaw. “Actually, I did. Houston doesn’t have a problem with it, and neither does Tyler. Worth doesn’t know about it but he trusts my judgment, unlike you.”
Austin’s ire returned with the force of a tornado. “You consulted them but you didn’t bother to ask me?”
“Majority rules, and I figured you weren’t going to be too keen on the idea after the way you two ended it.”
“What the hell does it matter what happened when we were in high school?”
“I meant six years ago, after the reading of Dad’s will.”
“How did you know we hooked up then?”
“Georgie called me a few months later and asked how she could get in touch with you. By that time you’d already married Abby. When I told her about that, she was upset. In other words, you broke her heart. Again.”
Yeah, he probably had, and he’d never been proud of it. “It was just one night, Dallas, and I didn’t marry Abby until four months later, so I wasn’t cheating on either Georgie or Abby. Besides, I married Abby on a whim.”
“A whim involving a woman you barely knew.”
Only a partial truth. “Not so. I’d known Abby for years. I just didn’t date her on a regular basis.”
“But you did date Georgie at one time, and she’s not the kind of woman to take sex lightly.”
He was inclined to agree but decided not to give Dallas the pleasure of knowing he was right. “Georgie and I agreed no promises, no expectations, the last time we were together.”
“Maybe you didn’t have any expectations, but I suspect she did. She’s always loved you, brother. I wouldn’t be surprised if she still did, although I don’t get why she would after the way you’ve treated her.”
He didn’t welcome his brother’s counsel or condemnation. “You’re a fine one to talk, Dallas. You left a trail of broken hearts all over the country.”
“Yeah, but it only took one woman to set me straight.”
“A woman you married because you wanted to keep control of the ranch.”
Dallas leaned against the porch railing. “In the beginning, that was true. But it didn’t
