Falling for the Cowboy by Mary Leo

Author:Mary Leo
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2012-10-10T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Blake couldn’t seem to let it go that Maggie had not only the nerve to pull him into the pit, she’d sashayed away from the tug with his new hat, the spunky little filly.

Not that he didn’t deserve to be publicly humiliated. After all, he’d deliberately placed her in the worst position on the rope line, and against Milo Gump, no less, whom he’d secretly known was going to participate. And she’d gotten the town folk to applaud her shenanigans with gusto, to boot.

“Dang traitors,” Blake said aloud as he pulled his rig into a slot in front of Sammy’s Smoke House.

Not only did he have to endure getting hosed off by his brothers, who took great joy in squirting him with the icy water, but he’d had to change in a portable outhouse. Fine for a kid, not so fine for a grown man.

He turned off the engine and stepped out of his truck, thankful that Dodge had thought to bring him a change of clothes or he’d still be drenched from the hose attack.

The smokehouse sat on the edge of town, under a cluster of now-golden aspens that shaded the parking lot from the low-hanging sun. Normally, by six-thirty on any given night, the place was hopping. Not tonight. Not with the fair in full swing. Tonight, except for his brothers, Cori and a few other die-hard patrons, the place was almost deserted, just the way Blake liked it. His group would get special treatment from the staff, and the way he was feeling, he needed it.

He hadn’t seen Maggie since that afternoon, and for all he knew, she could be halfway back to California by now, and good riddance.

Except she had his hat.

He swung open the heavy wooden door and immediately spotted the little thief, still wearing his hat, sitting next to Scout, surrounded by the rest of his fickle family, along with Cori and her boys. Maggie turned his way and the moment she spotted him, her face lit up. Blake’s heart melted. The woman had a power over him that was strong enough to derail a freight train.

“The man of the hour,” Maggie bellowed.

Everyone turned and applauded as he walked up to the long wooden table.

“That was sure some show out there today, big brother,” Colt said.

“Never thought I’d ever see you covered in Idaho’s finest. I’d’a paid good money to see that, and all I had to do was wait for Maggie here to do us proud,” Travis chimed in, gesturing to Maggie.

Travis let out a whoop, and everyone joined in on the fun.

Maggie stood and took a couple of short bows, then she picked up a longneck bottle of beer and held it up for a toast. “To the great equalizer…the Idaho spud.”

Dang if Blake didn’t feel his face heat up, probably turning some nice shade of beet-red.

Everyone clinked glasses and bottles, and even the kids made sure they touched all the glasses on the table.

“And here’s your hat, Doc,” Maggie said, and flung it in his direction with such precision he was astonished at her aim.

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