LITMIR.BIZ

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Austin put in drily, “would be some gospel.”

      “Hush,” Paige told him, but the word was warmly spoken, nice to hear, like the way she’d said home a few minutes before.

      They reached Blue River High School, and Paige pulled into the teachers’ parking lot. Except for Julie’s car, an old pink Cadillac, and the fancy white pickup truck Garrett had bought soon after he and Julie got engaged, the lot was empty.

      Plenty of the kids in the drama club had cars, of course, but the students had their own parking area, on the other side of the school building.

      “Calvin and I won’t be long,” Paige told Austin, after popping the gearshift into Park and shutting off the motor. Then her cheeks went cotton-candy pink. “Unless, of course, you’d rather come inside with us.”

      “I believe Shep and I will just stretch our legs a little, out here in the parking lot,” he said, enjoying her discomfort.

      God, it was good to know he could still shake her up a little.

      Or a lot.

      Don’t go there, he reminded himself, but his brain was already partway down the trail to trouble.

      Mercifully, Paige and Calvin were out of the car and hotfooting it toward the entrance to the auditorium in no time.

      Austin adjusted his anatomy with a subtle motion of his hips, took off his seat belt and pushed open the passenger door. Shep didn’t have a collar or a leash yet, but he wasn’t likely to run off; he seemed too glad to have a home to try making a go of it on his own again.

      As predicted, Shep conducted himself like a gentleman, and he had just hopped back into Paige’s car when Garrett ambled out of the auditorium—he often visited Julie at play practice—wearing a stupid, drifty grin. He moved easily, as if all his hinges had just been greased.

      Seeing Austin, Brother Number Two grinned and readjusted his hat.

      “Well, now,” he said, evidently surprised to see Austin not only up and around but out and about. “If it isn’t the bull-riding wonder boy of Blue River, Texas.”

      “In the flesh,” Austin retorted, keeping his tone noncommittal, shutting the car door and approaching Garrett.

      Garrett took in Paige’s car, threw a quick glance back at the auditorium before facing Austin again. “You must be in better shape than Tate and I thought you were,” he drawled, folding his arms.

      Austin didn’t answer. He just waited for whatever was coming. And he had a pretty good idea what that “whatever” was.

      “As of New Year’s,” Garrett said, at some length, “Paige will be family. Keep that in mind, Austin.”

      Austin leaned into Garrett’s space. He hadn’t done anything wrong and, back trouble or no back trouble, he wasn’t about to retreat. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” he demanded under his breath.

      “Add it up, little brother,” Garrett replied tersely. “Paige is Julie’s sister. Julie loves her. I love Julie. Consequently, if you hurt Paige, that’s bound to hurt Julie, too, and I’m going to be one pissed-off Texas cowboy if that happens.”

      Austin knew the difference between a threat and a promise. This was a promise. And while he wasn’t afraid of Garrett, or of Tate, or of the two of them together, he got the message.

      “You think I’m out to take advantage of Paige?” He put the question evenly, in a steely tone void of inflection.

      “Going by past history?” Garrett retorted. “Yeah. That’s what I think, all right. She’s not one of your usual women, Austin.”

      Austin wanted to land a sucker punch in the middle of his brother’s handsome face, but Jim and Sally McKettrick hadn’t raised any fools. He was at a distinct disadvantage with that herniated disc, and Garrett wouldn’t fight because of it. So Austin waited out the rush of adrenaline that made his fists clench and his hackles rise.

      “What’s my ‘usual woman,’ Garrett?” he rasped.

      Before Garrett could reply to the loaded question, the auditorium doors sprang open and Paige reappeared, Calvin trailing behind her.

      “Can I ride home with you, Garrett?” the boy asked, full of delight.

      Garrett didn’t hesitate. “Sure,” he said gruffly, ruffling Calvin’s hair. “You can help me feed the horses.”

      “Is that okay, Aunt Paige?” Calvin asked, looking up at his aunt with such hope in his eyes that Austin didn’t see how she could have refused, without her heart turning to stone first. “I have a safety seat in Garrett’s truck and everything.”

      “Of course,” Paige said softly. “See you back at the ranch.”

      Calvin nodded and headed for the truck.

      Garrett smiled, spread his hands as if to say What can you do? and followed.

      “He’s so happy,” Paige murmured, watching them go. Her gaze followed the man and the boy, tender, alight with affection.

      Austin wanted to take her into his arms, then and there. Hold her tight, the way he used to do, way back when.

      When.

      When she loved him.

      When she would have trusted him not only with her heart, but with her life.

      When she still believed he felt the same way about her.

      “Who?” Austin asked, keeping his distance. “Garrett or Calvin?”

      She smiled, and the earth shifted under Austin’s feet.

      “Both of them, I guess,” Paige answered with a wistful look and a little shrug of her shoulders. “Calvin adores Garrett.”

      Austin wanted to spread his fingers, slip them into her hair. Rub the pads of his thumbs over her delicate cheekbones and then kiss her, but he didn’t do that.

      There were things he could have said, should have said, maybe. And still couldn’t.

       I was only eighteen, Paige. Things were happening too fast between us and the feelings were way too overwhelming and I didn’t know how else to put on the brakes, so I cheated and made sure you knew it.

      Even as a teenager, Paige had known exactly what she wanted. A career, first of all. Then marriage and a home and babies.

      Austin, confused and scared shitless by the emotions Paige could stir in him, seemingly without half trying, hadn’t wanted to go on to college, as his older brothers had, or stay home and learn to run the ranch, either.

      And love Paige though he did, he sure as hell hadn’t been ready to move into some off-campus apartment and play househusband while his bride attended nursing school. Rodeo had been his consuming passion for as long as he could remember, and its siren song was impossible to resist.

      Austin came back to the here and now with a jolt, and while he was able to shake off the memories, mostly anyway, the mood remained.

      Paige got behind the wheel of her car.

      Without Calvin there to serve as a buffer, the connection between Austin and Paige seemed even more intimate than before. It made Austin uncomfortable, in a not entirely unpleasant way.

      “Since Esperanza is away taking care of her niece for the next couple of weeks,” Paige said, as though she and Austin were mere acquaintances and not two people who had been able to turn each other inside out once upon a time, “Garrett’s making supper for Julie and Calvin tonight. Tate and Libby and the girls will be there, and we’re invited, too.”

      She wasn’t looking at him. No, she was too busy backing out, turning around, pushing her sunglasses back up her nose.

      “Just one big, happy

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