Shotgun Vows

“Just you leave him to me when they come back.”

Mattie watched several cowboys move around on a small dais in the corner of the room. Three picked up a couple of guitars and a fiddle, while one sat at a keyboard and another tested the microphone. Then they began to play a slow, country and western song. The words were sad, about love gone bad. Mattie had only one experience with love. Adolescent love—definitely gone bad. But she was willing to give romance another try. How else was she going to find her soul mate and have the family she wanted so badly?

She glanced around the room, attempting to catch the eye of one of the unattached men present. Trying to look available and pleasant, she plastered a smile on her face. No one gave her a second look.

Her small window of opportunity slammed shut when Brody and Dawson returned with the drinks. Her brother sat next to Jillian and possessively draped his arm across her shoulders. She snuggled into him with a contented sigh. Dawson was forced to take the empty chair at the table beside her, and content wasn’t exactly the word Mattie would use to describe his body language. In fact, he angled all of his very attractive muscles as far away from her as he could get and still remain in the same county.

But Mattie didn’t miss the glances he received from other women in the room. And the realization gave her the strangest feeling, like the weight of a stone sitting on her chest.

“Brody?” Jillian smiled sweetly.

“Hmm?”

“Would you dance with me?”

He gave her rounded belly a skeptical look. “Is it all right? Not too much exertion?”

“I had more exertion last night,” she said, smiling seductively at him. He grinned—a look of supreme male satisfaction that Mattie didn’t quite understand.

“Okay, lady. Let’s do it.” He held out his hand, and Jillian put her small one in his palm and let him help her to her feet.

They walked to the dance floor without a backward glance—as if they were the only two people in the world. Mattie watched Brody take Jillian in his arms, and she went willingly, resting her head against his chest. He brushed his cheek across her hair and rubbed his thumb across the back of her hand as they swayed to the music.

Mattie envied them. Would she ever have eyes for just one man and he for her? Would any man ever hold her as if she were the most precious person in his world? As if his life would be meaningless without her? She glanced around the room at all the men who kept to themselves. Not any time soon, she thought ruefully.

“You know Brody means well.” Dawson met her gaze.

“Jillian said the same thing to me.”

“She’s right.” He took a sip of his beer. “He cares about you.”

“She said that, too. And that if she’d had brothers to watch out for her maybe she wouldn’t have made mistakes in her life.”

“She could be right.” Dawson glanced at the couple on the dance floor.

“On the other hand, maybe those mistakes made her appreciate a good thing when she found it. How will I know unless I get a chance to live?” Mattie asked, not really expecting Dawson to answer.

“Patience, Mattie. He’ll be married soon. When the baby arrives, he won’t have time to keep track of you. And he’ll be too tired. I understand babies have this annoying habit of eating every two or three hours, day and night.”

“Annoying?” She studied him. “Don’t you like kids? After the way you handled them this morning, you could have fooled me.”

One corner of his mouth quirked. “Did you just pay me a compliment?”

“No way.” But she couldn’t help grinning back at him. “You just looked like you were having the time of your life, and the kids took to you like ducks to water. I figured you would want half a dozen.”

He shook his head. “It scares the hell out of me. I’m beginning to think stability is a myth. And I wouldn’t bring a baby boy into this world without a guarantee of that.”

She took a sip from her glass, secretly grateful that it was water. “When my little girl comes into this world, I will welcome her with open arms. Two o’clock feedings and all.”

He raised one eyebrow. “Little girl?”

“If you can have a boy, why can’t I have a girl?”

He shrugged. “No reason. Especially since the way you handled those schoolkids was damn close to miraculous. I was bowled over at how you sized up each one and picked just the right horse. The whole thing went a lot more smoothly than I would have guessed. Thanks to your expertise.”

“Did you just pay me a compliment?” she asked, joking because she didn’t know how else to act.

“No way,” he said, but the amusement in his eyes belied the words.

His praise made her glow from head to toe. Inside and out. She didn’t know nice words from a man could make her feel this way. If only it had been something about how desirable she was, instead of her ability with horses. Then she would see his indifference and raise him a flirtation or two.

“What I did isn’t a miracle,” she said. “I’ve always liked children. And I haven’t made a secret of the fact that I would like to have one. Soon.”

He leveled an appraising glance around the room, then met her gaze. “First you have to grow up, your ladyship.”

Four

“I don’t really look like a kid.” Mattie looked at Willa and Jillian for confirmation as she pushed her salad around her plate.