One Hot Cowboy Wedding (32 page)

Jasmine watched his nipples perk right up when the water hit his chest. Ace gave her a lopsided grin and Mallory squeezed the trigger. “Keep looking at Jasmine.

Yes, like that. The twinkle in your eyes is priceless when you are looking at her. I like this time of day. It puts OneHotCowboyWedding.indd 278

10/5/11 10:41 AM

One Hot Cowboy Wedding

279

your face in half shadow and the wind is picking up the curls on your collar.”

She squeezed as she talked and in five minutes, she shaded her eyes with the back of her hand and looked at the images on the back of her digital camera. “Got plenty of really good ones to choose from. Dalton, let’s take you on down toward the creek. I saw an old dead tree down there that would make a great prop.”

“That’s it?” Jasmine asked.

Mallory nodded. “Unless you want some pictures with Ace. I could take some for y’all and you could come by next week to pick out a package. I’m reasonable on prices and you do look like a modern- day Daisy Mae in that getup. It would be perfect out here in this setting.” Jasmine shook her head. “No thank you.”

“Okay, maybe another time. I think you’d be very photogenic, Jasmine. Hey, Dalton, help me take down this flag and we’ll move this operation on down to the creek. There’s a container of wipes in the passenger seat, Acey, darlin’. That oil will ruin your shirt if you don’t get it off,” Mallory said.

Dalton hurried to help, but the sidelong glance he gave the long- legged woman in tight jeans and a black knit tank top that hugged her curves like a glove did not escape Jasmine.

“See you next year?” Mallory asked as Jasmine and Ace started toward the truck.

“This is my last year. Give my Mr. July spot to some other rancher. Creed might be interested,” Ace said.

“Take good care of him, Jasmine. He’s a keeper,” Mallory said.

“I think he might be.” Jasmine nodded. “Maybe we OneHotCowboyWedding.indd 279

10/5/11 10:41 AM

Carolyn Brown

280

could hire you to come around next week on Sunday afternoon and take some pictures of our reception.

Momma wants a picture to go above the mantel and she hates my wedding picture.”

Mallory raised an eyebrow. “I loved that dress and the hat and veil. Saw it on the news that night. It was different and I’d love to take pictures of you out by the barn if we could sneak away for a few minutes. I have tons of pictures of brides in big dresses in a church setting, but that would be something different for my portfolio.”

“Sounds like fun. Can you be here then on Sunday?” Jasmine asked.

“I’ve got a christening that morning, but I could be here at one thirty.”

“Good. Bring a date and have a good time after you take a few pictures.”

“Thank you. I’ll do it,” Mallory said.

Ace wiped the oil from his chest, buttoned his shirt, and grabbed Jasmine’s hand again. “I did not see that coming.”

“You aren’t the only one with surprises, Ace.” He pulled her close to his side. “No Acey darlin’?”

“You kept your end of the bargain. I’ll keep mine.” OneHotCowboyWedding.indd 280

10/5/11 10:41 AM

“We’re goin’ fishin’?”

She knew a fishing boat when she saw one, and that wasn’t a cabin cruiser hitched up to the back end of his truck.

He opened the passenger- side door for her and kissed her on the forehead.

“Kind of,” he answered. “Things are about to get crazy on the ranch. These next two weeks are going to be hectic and then we’ve got the party week. We are going to get away for a day of quiet and peace before it all kicks off.”

“Party week?”

“Oh, yeah, the Sunday before our party, we have a church picnic, then July 4th is at Momma’s, and if you’re a Riley and you ain’t in the hospital or funeral home, your presence is required; the next Sunday is our party, but today is for us to be alone.”

She could think of a dozen things she’d rather be doing than fishing on her day of quiet and peace. If she’d been given some notice she would have at least brought along that thick romance book by Amelia Gray that she’d been reading in snips when she had time.

“Where?” she asked.

“Red River. Maybe we’ll catch a big catfish for our supper.”

“If we don’t?”

OneHotCowboyWedding.indd 281

10/5/11 10:41 AM

Carolyn Brown

282

“Then I guess we’l have sex on empty stomachs.” He grinned.

“Who says I’m ready to have sex with a man that shaved his chest?”

He chuckled. “You like it. You’re just mad because I did it for a calendar and not just for you.” Jasmine couldn’t keep the grin off her face. “For the calendar?”

“Hell, yeah! I wouldn’t shave my chest for anyone, not even you. Itches like hell when it’s coming back in, but the Volunteer Fire Department gets a percent-age of all the sales on that calendar.” He pulled out on Highway 81 and turned north.

“Okay, confession! I like it, but I like it better with hair,” she said.

“Oh, yeah?” He drove about six miles and pulled off on a dirt road leading down to the river.

“I like your chest. I like your abs. I like everything about you, Ace,” she said.

“Why, thank you, ma’am,” he drawled. The bridge was on their right and the muddy waters of the Red right ahead when he backed the truck as close to the water as he could and shut off the engine.

She crawled out, kicked off her shoes, and tossed them into the boat and waded out into the cool water. It was shallow, barely reaching her knees, when he reached out, slipped his hands under her arms, and picked her up like she was a feather pillow and set her on one of the swivel padded seats at the back of the boat.

He’d taken off his boots and rolled his jeans up before he unhooked the boat and raised the trailer to let it slide into the water. He slung a leg over the edge of OneHotCowboyWedding.indd 282

10/5/11 10:41 AM

One Hot Cowboy Wedding

283

the boat, opened the bench seat in front of them, and pulled out a bottle of sunblock lotion with a rubber band stretched around it.

“What is that?”

“Band is to get your hair off your neck. Sunblock is to keep you from burning. You put up your hair and I’ll lather you up good with the lotion before I start the motor and we get on down the river. There’s a deep hole about three miles from here where the catfish might be biting.”

She finger combed her hair up into a ponytail and secured it with the rubber band. “You think of everything?”

“When I’m taking a beautiful woman out on a date, I do my best. When it’s my wife, I do even better.” His touch was light when he applied lotion to her back and arms. He handed her the bottle and said, “You’d better do your legs. I get that close to your underpants, I’ll have to fight the desire to take them off.”

“You are a rogue.” She giggled.

“No, I’m just an old cowboy who’s married a beautiful woman with the sexiest legs in Texas. No, wait— in Texas and Oklahoma, because we are officially in Oklahoma when we are floating in the river.” He pulled a cord and the engine roared to life. He kept it at a slow, steady speed for twenty minutes before he killed it and let the waves float the boat back toward the bridge at a lazy pace.

“Now what?” she asked.

“Now we fish.” He raised the bench lid, took out a container of worms, picked out one, and threaded it on a hook. “You want me to bait your hook?”

“I’m a big girl. I’ve been fishing a couple of times OneHotCowboyWedding.indd 283

10/5/11 10:41 AM

Carolyn Brown

284

in my life so I know how to lace a worm on a hook.” She picked up the second rod, unwound the line from around the rod, and took a fat earthworm from the black dirt in the container. She laced the worm onto the hook, held the button down on the reel, and snapped the rod forward, letting the lead weight carry the red and white bobble out into the water.

“Not bad,” he said.

She wasn’t a bit squeamish about handling the worm.

She’d even had her own special way of baiting the hook that impressed him.

He flipped his hook out into the water on the opposite side of the boat. “Who took you fishin’?”

“Pearl’s dad likes to fish. He took us out a few times.

He made us bait our own hooks and told us if we caught a fish we had to learn to clean it. We were bored to death and after the first time we took a book to read,” she said.

“Is it ever going to rain? For June, it’s damn hot.” Ace put the rod in a holder attached to the boat and opened the bench seat again. He brought out a worn straw hat and settled it on his head and a bright pink cap for Jasmine. She flipped the ponytail out the hole in the back and crammed it down until the sweatband was across her forehead.

“Thanks,” she said. “What all do you have in that bench?”

“Everything we need,” he answered.

She nodded and watched the red and white bobble dancing on the water. In the quietness, her thoughts went to Ace and she questioned things like why hadn’t she gone out with Ace when he asked her the first time they met?

OneHotCowboyWedding.indd 284

10/5/11 10:41 AM

One Hot Cowboy Wedding

285

Because
I
thought
he
was
teasing.

Why hadn’t she made a first move?

Because
I
didn’t know how his kisses and touch
would affect me.

An hour later the bobble blurred and her chin hit her chest. Ace let out a whoop that scared her awake.

She jerked her head up so fast that she almost fell out of the chair.

“Jazzy, you’ve got a bite.”

The rod was easing out of her hands as the fish swam away taking the rod and reel with it. She grabbed it and held on so tight her knuckles turned white. “What do I do, Ace? I never caught a fish.”

“Thought you’d been fishin’.”

“Been fishin’. Never caught a damn thing because I didn’t want to learn to clean it. Help me.” He put his arms around her and reeled the fish in then let it have a few inches of line before he reeled some more. “It’s a big boy. Don’t know if it’s something for supper or a big old gar, but you’ve got to reel it almost in and if it’s still fightin’ you then you got to give it some line to play it out, and then reel it all the way in.”

He let her have control of the reel but he kept his arms around her. She reeled the fish up nearly to the boat and looked at its big head swishing back and forth.

“Look, Ace, it’s not a gar!”

“I can see that. Looks like a big old blue cat to me.

Easy, now. Don’t lose him. That’s enough for supper and another meal at home.”

“You do it!” she squealed.

“It’s your fish. You either catch it or lose it,” he said.

OneHotCowboyWedding.indd 285

10/5/11 10:41 AM

Carolyn Brown

286

“Get that net back there. I’ll bring it up close and you catch it in the net,” she said.

“You sure you don’t want to flip him up in the boat like a real fisherman?”

“No, I want to eat, not play,” she said.

Ace grabbed the net, reached down, and scooped up a five- pound catfish. “Yep, you are definitely bringing home the bacon tonight, Jazzy. And since you are supplying the food, I’ll do the cooking.”

“Does that mean the date is over and we’re going home? I’m not ready to go home, Ace. It’s not dark.

Can’t we fish some more?” she asked.

“Darlin’, it means the date is barely starting.” She drew her bare feet up in the chair to keep the fish from flopping on her. “Then we are going to fish some more?”

“Nope, now we go to shore and tie up the boat and I cook,” he said.

“Out here?”

“Best fish in the world is what is cooked on the banks of the river,” he answered.

He jerked the rope and started the engine again, steered the boat up the river a mile or so and then back to the shore where he hopped out and tied it to an old tree stump. She stepped out over the side into ankle- deep water and looked back at the fish.

“How do we get that thing to shore without losing him?”

“In the net. You carry this blanket and get comfortable up under that willow tree and leave the rest to me.

Take a nap and when you wake up supper wil be ready.”

“Are you teasing?” she asked.

“No, ma’am. I won’t eat all your fish. I’ll wake you OneHotCowboyWedding.indd 286

10/5/11 10:41 AM

One Hot Cowboy Wedding

287

when it’s done. You were played out just before you got that fish. You worked hard all morning. Let me pamper you the rest of today,” Ace said.

“That is so sweet,” she said.

“That’s me. Good- timin’, sweet cowboy,” he said.

“Yes, you are.” She carried the blanket to the shade where she flipped it out and sat down. He made one trip from boat to shore to bring the cooler and a strange-looking black pot; another trip to bring the second blanket and a jug of oil; and a third to tote in the big fish.

Jasmine sat on the blanket and watched. She was tired but she couldn’t sleep. Watching him working so hard to pamper her real y was so sweet. He started a small fire with twigs that he’d gathered near the site, set up a rigging that the black pot hung from, and poured it full of oil. While that heated he cleaned the fish, rolled the fillets in a corn meal mixture he brought out of the cooler, and laid them on a paper plate.

She pointed at the cooler. “You got a beer in there?” He pulled out an icy cold one and carried it to her.

“You were supposed to be sleeping. How can Prince Charming awake Sleeping Beauty if she’s wide awake?”

“Honey, this is not a fairy tale,” she said.

Ace sat down beside her. “Peaceful, ain’t it?” She nodded and handed him the beer. “Have some.

It’s peaceful, but it’s stil hot as the devil’s pitchfork.

Cold beer tastes really good.”

“Not as good as that fish is going to taste,” he said.

She slung a leg over him and sat in his lap, drew his face down to hers, and kissed him hard. “Ace, this is a wonderful date.”

He chuckled, picked her up, and set her down beside OneHotCowboyWedding.indd 287