A Texas-Made Match

* * *

Ellie was trying her best to ignore the young man who’d been trailing after her for the past ten minutes. It wasn’t working. She turned and planted her hands on her hips as she eyed the dashing young blacksmith. “Rhett, if you insist on following me then you might as well make yourself useful.”

She pointed to the signs for the booths resting on the church stairs. The Founder’s Day activities had already started but the signs needed extra time to dry. Rhett really must have been desperate because he picked them up and began helping her hand them out to the booth workers. “Ellie, I’m sure I’m on your list. You’ve got to tell me. Jeff Bridger says you told him about Maddie and they are already engaged.”

She smiled as she handed Mrs. Redding the sign for her lemonade stand then moved on. “I know they’re engaged. I invited you to the party I’m having for them at the ranch. Don’t tell me you forgot about it already.”

“I didn’t forget and you aren’t going to distract me.” His muscles bulged as he shifted the remaining signs to his shoulder, which somehow made his pleading look seem all the more pitiful. “I’ve just got to know who you think my match is.”

She rolled her eyes. It had been two weeks since the fateful day she’d created the “Bachelor List.” The whole thing had turned into a disaster. Everyone in town knew about it. She’d had plenty of available men seeking her out after word got around. Unfortunately, they weren’t looking for her. They’d just wanted to know whose initials were next to their names on the list.

She could understand them wanting an answer. She’d wanted one, too, but Lettie and Kate never told her who the mystery suitor for her was. Try as she might to extricate the information from them, she’d gained little more for her efforts than a headache.

She sighed. “Well, Rhett, who do you want it to be?”

She followed his gaze as it trailed to where Amy Bradley stood with her sisters. He watched Amy for a full minute before Ellie shook her head and smiled. “Yep, that’s what I thought.”

His gaze jumped back to hers, and then he grinned. “Thank you.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

He nodded then set off toward Amy. She grabbed his massive arm and dug her heels into the ground to stop him. “Oh, no you don’t. You’re going to help me deliver all these signs because you’re so grateful. Isn’t that right?”

“Yeah, that’s right. I shouldn’t get ahead of myself.” He patted her hand in brotherly affection and began trailing her again but remained decidedly distracted. He seemed to grow less confident as they continued and when she finally set him free, he went in the opposite direction from where his thoughts had been taking him.

Now, what’s wrong with him? She pulled the new list from her pocket and crossed out the question mark beside Amy’s initials by his name. He was the only one besides Deputy Jeff Bridger who she’d officially paired a girl with so far. There were plenty of others still with question marks—for now.

She felt someone’s eyes on her and turned to find Donovan Turner watching her from near the gazebo. She tucked the list out of sight before barely managing to hide her grimace behind a polite smile and a nod. The man pulled the piece of hay from his mouth and tossed it to the ground before pacing toward her. Now, there was one man who made no effort to hide his opinion of her, which was definitely not brotherly. He always seemed to pop up at the most inopportune times—like when she was alone. If he caught her, he’d spend the next thirty minutes bending her ear about that pig farm of his. If he caught her; but she wasn’t going to let him.

She slipped into a group of people, dashed behind a booth and surfaced behind a tree. She thought she’d lost him, but to make sure, she scanned the crowd as she continued walking backward. She spotted the man scratching his head, glancing about. She was about to turn around when she backed right into someone. She gasped. “Oh, I’m so sorry!”

She tried to step away from the man but strong arms slipped around her waist and pulled her against a solid chest. She froze, then caught her breath as a warm, masculine voice filled her ear. “Hey there, beautiful.”

Her eyes narrowed. Slowly, she glanced over her shoulder to look at him. The way his lips curved made her cheeks warm but she forgot all about that when her gaze tangled with those unforgettable hazel eyes. Her breath caught in her throat then her lips blossomed into a smile. “Lawson Williams, as I live and breathe!”

He loosened his arms enough for her to turn around and throw herself back into them. He hugged her back just as tightly as she hugged him. She pushed away to look at his face. “I almost didn’t recognize you.”

He grinned that slow, steady grin of his that set every female heart in a fifty-mile radius beating wildly. He stepped back to survey her. “Look who’s talking. You sure have changed in the last few months.”

She laughed. “Last few months? Are you crazy? It’s been a year and no less! Of course I’ve changed. Did you get my letters?”

“I did.”

“You only wrote back twice.”

“I’m sorry.” He shrugged. “I was on assignment most of the time so it wasn’t easy to keep up with mail.”

She lifted her chin. “Well, how is a person to know whether you fell off your saddle and broke your head or got laid up sick for a week if you don’t write?”

He dipped his head to send her a suspicious look. “Were you worrying about me, Ellie?”

“Not me. Just...certain other people.”

“I see.” His eyes continued to tease her.

She pushed away from his arms, only belatedly remembering the reason she’d run into him in the first place. She glanced over her shoulder to look for Donovan Turner. He’d stopped to speak to someone and they pointed in the direction she’d dashed. She winced. It would only be a matter of time before he found her. Lawson’s voice drew her attention.

“I just got into town. I came here first since I figured everyone would be at the celebration. I wanted to surprise my parents, but I wasn’t counting on not being able to find them in this crowd.” He scanned the flurry of activity around the churchyard. “Have you seen them recently?”

“No.” She glanced over her shoulder and saw that Donovan had gotten closer but still hadn’t spotted her. She tugged Lawson’s arm in the opposite direction. “Let’s try this way and hurry up. I’m on the run.”

“From the law?”

“No, silly, a man.”

His gaze sharply honed in on hers. “What did you do—hit him with a mud pie?”

“No. I’m twenty-one, not twelve.”

He snorted. She jostled him lightly with her shoulder and he jostled her right back then caught her around the waist to keep her from stumbling. She rolled her eyes. Well, that was mature. Sometimes with Lawson, she couldn’t help reverting back to the mischievous ten-year-old she’d been when he’d come into her life.

Lawson glanced around at the crowded churchyard. “This event has gotten larger since I left.”

“More people have started coming from outside of Peppin to celebrate with us. Not much else has changed.” Satisfied they’d completely lost Donovan, she turned her attention to finding Lawson’s parents—or her family since they were probably close together. “Oh, actually, Sean started a new tradition last year when he got up on the podium and proposed to Lorelei in front of everyone. We’ve all been wondering who’ll continue it.”

“Naturally, it should be you.”

She stopped to stare at him. “Me?”

“Well, sure.” He tipped his hat up to stare right back at her. “You should try to keep it in the family. Besides, you have men chasing you all the time. That isn’t good. You need to pick one and settle down.”

“I do not have men chasing me. There is one man and I don’t want him. Everyone else thinks I’m their little sister.”

His hazel eyes sparkled with laughter as he stepped a bit closer and lowered his voice. “I bet all those men are just waiting for you to pick one of them so they can declare their feelings.”

She tilted her head. “Don’t you have that backward?”

“They just need a little encouragement.” At her scoff, he narrowed his eyes. “Oh, come on. Show me a little of that charm.”

“No.”

“I know you have it in you.”

“I do not.”

“Sure, you do.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. He gave her an encouraging little nod then took a step back as though giving her room to work. Her hand went to her hip. A quick glance around told her no one was watching. She stepped close to him and placed a hand on his chest before throwing her head back to stare at him. She batted her eyelashes as fast as she could. “Lawson, honey, it’s been you all this time. Tell me how you really feel.”