up purchases.”
“I can do that, at least,” Sara replied cheerfully.
It was just before closing time when Harley Fowler turned up. Dee had gone to the bank with the day’s receipts while Sara waited for her to come back and lock up.
“Hi, Harley,” Sara greeted.
He smiled. “You look lots better,” he said. He grimaced. “I know I got you in trouble with Cameron by just walking in to see you. I’m really sorry.”
She was stunned. “How did you find out about that?”
“Mrs. Lewis is kin to one of our cowboys. She heard Tony talking about it. I never thought Mr. Cameron would mind. I guess I should have asked first.”
“He’s an outsider, Harley,” she said gently. “He doesn’t know how people behave in small towns. Nobody else would have had a problem.”
“I sort of wondered …” he began, and then stopped.
“Wondered?” she prompted.
“If Mr. Cameron might be jealous,” he said.
She laughed. “Oh, that would be the day,” she chuckled. “A big time rancher jealous of a piddly little clerk in a bookstore. He’s got this gorgeous attorney, named Max,” she added, trying to sound lighthearted. “She’s educated and beautiful and crazy about him.”
Harley sighed. “It must be nice to have a little money. I wouldn’t know.” He leaned on the counter with his forearms. “The Parks are having a barbecue at the ranch Saturday. Lisa said you might want to sketch the pups one more time before they’re old enough to adopt. She says they’re growing like weeds.”
“A barbecue?” she echoed, smiling. “I love barbecue.”
“I know,” he returned, grinning. “Suppose I come and pick you up about eleven Saturday morning? I know you’re still sore and all. I can drive you home whenever you need to go.”
“I’d love to go, Harley,” she said with genuine affection.
He smiled. She wasn’t beautiful, but he liked being with her. “That’s a date, then.”
“Will there be dancing?” she asked.
“Oh, yes. They hired a Mariachi band to play. I understand there’s going to be a major competition between the Caldwells and Cash Grier and his wife. A tango.”
“Wow,” Sara breathed. “Matt and Leslie were our champions hands down until Cash Grier got out on the dance floor with Christabel Gaines—I mean, Christabel Dunn, but that was before she married Judd. Can Tippy Grier do a tango?”
“Apparently. It’s going to be a night to remember.” He hesitated. “Your adopted family’s invited, too.”
“Mr. Cameron?” she asked warily.
“Yes, and the hit man, too.”
“Tony is not a hit man,” she said, laughing when she realized that it was her own description of him that was making the rounds in town. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
“He does sort of remind me of a hit man,” he replied dryly. “He’s big and slow-looking, though. He can’t be that good a bodyguard.”
Sara had doubts about how slow-moving Tony was. She had the distinct impression that he was quick as lightning and sly like a fox, hiding his light under a barrel. But she didn’t say so.
“Saturday at eleven,” he repeated.
“Yes.” She grinned at him as he waved and went out the door.
Sara pictured the band and Jared Cameron. She wondered if he’d ask her to dance. She wondered if he could dance. It was thrilling to consider.
Harley came for her exactly at eleven. She was wearing a full skirt with a simple white cotton peasant blouse and silver jewelry. She looked like a pixie.
He was in jeans and a clean plaid cotton shirt, Western cut, with polished black boots and a cowboy hat to match.
“You look nice, Sara,” he told her. “Are you feeling okay?”
She nodded. “The stitches catch a little when I walk too fast, but I feel fine.”
“Can you climb up by yourself?” he added when they reached his pickup truck. It had a running board, but it was higher than a car.
“Sure, I can,” she said. She held on to the inside handle over the door facing, put one foot on the running board and pulled herself up and into the passenger seat. It hurt a little, but she didn’t let that show. “Piece of cake,” she told him, smiling while she fastened her seat belt.
He grinned back. “Then we’re off!”
Cy Parks’s ranch was huge, even by Texas standards. The yard was full of tent pavilions complete with oilcloth-covered long tables and benches for people to sit on. The cowboys had barbecued a steer and their wives had prepared huge tubs of baked beans and coleslaw, and there were baking sheets full of homemade rolls and fresh butter. For dessert, there was everything from cakes to pies to soft-serve ice cream. Cy had really pulled out the stops. Across the fences, his Santa Gertrudis cattle grazed peacefully and stared at the crowds of people who’d come to enjoy the food.
All the powerful people in the county had shown up for Parks’s legendary barbecue. Even the children were invited. It resembled, more than anything, a family reunion.
“Is that the Coltrains’ little boy, Joshua?” Sara exclaimed, indicating a blond-headed little boy in jeans and cotton shirt and boots running from another small boy with dark hair and eyes.
“Yes, and that’s J.D. and Fay Langley’s little boy, Jon, chasing him.”
“They’ve grown so fast!” she exclaimed.
“They have,” he added, smiling at their antics. “Children must be a lot of fun. Their parents seem to dote on them.”
“I imagine they do.”
She was staring after the little boys when she spotted a familiar face. Jared Cameron was standing by one of the long tables talking to Cy Parks. With him were Tony the Dancer … and the female attorney, Max, standing with Jared’s arm around her.
Sara felt as if she’d just walked into a nightmare.
Seven
At the same time Sara spotted him, Jared glanced her way and saw her with Harley Fowler. His green eyes, even at the distance, were blazing.
She averted her eyes and kept walking with Harley to where Lisa was sitting with Gil on her lap. She didn’t dare look the way she felt. Jared Cameron had every right to hang out with his gorgeous attorney. It shouldn’t have made Sara feel betrayed. But it did. The realization shocked her.
Lisa smiled as they joined her. “Have a seat. I could have left Gil in his playpen,
