Rex glared at everyone doling out the criticism. “Thanks to Bode we’ve already broken all records—for an inaugural outing—of a chili cook-off. At least in Texas!” he said.
To the point, Lily knew, they’d nearly run out of food twice and were seriously short on facilities.
“Who cares about that?” Cady, the Laramie Chamber of Commerce marketing exec, fumed. “We’ve got bigger problems on our hands! Starting with the fact that we revised all the contest rules to allow for an extra judge, and now Bode Daniels has gone off to Baltimore on some private jet!” She huffed out a breath. “The first round of chili judging is supposed to start in fifteen minutes—and we can’t begin until we have a full panel!”
Lily put on her lawyer hat and held up a hand. “The contest rules allow for an emergency replacement of any—or even all—judges. All we need to do is appoint someone.”
“Who?” Lulu Sanderson asked.
Lily turned to the red-faced Realtor who had been a thorn in her side for months now. “I say we ask our former mayor,” Lily said.
Rex blinked in astonishment. “You want me to do it?”
The more Lily thought about it, the more she knew it was the right way to go. And not just because she was tired of being undermined at every step, tired of her and Rex being enemies. For the good of the town, they needed to spend a lot less time fighting against each other and a lot more time working together.
“You’ve labored hard to make this a success. And since you were responsible for bringing Bode into this, and hence, upping attendance levels dramatically, I think it’s appropriate that you step in, in Bode’s place, Rex.”
To her relief, the quintessential good old boy looked pleased. “So unless anyone else has a better suggestion...” Lily continued affably.
No one did.
“...all in favor of the replacement, say aye.”
A chorus of relieved ayes followed. The tension that had been in the room when she’d arrived suddenly faded.
Lily shook Rex’s hand. “Congratulations. You and Gannon will now share the head judging duties. And now,” she finished firmly, “unless anyone else has a problem, I have another really important matter to attend to.”
* * *
GANNON AND LUCAS were nearly to the fairground building when Lily emerged, feeling a lot less hassled than she had when they had last seen her. As always, Gannon appeared to read her mind.
“Success?” he grinned.
She noted how content Lucas and Gannon looked together, and Lily nodded affably. Trying not to think about what it was going to be like for them when Gannon was no longer around every day, Lily told him about the change in judges. “Think you can handle that?” she asked flirtatiously before she could stop herself.
He looped an arm about her waist and brought her in for a family-style hug. “Anything to make your life easier,” he murmured.
Which wasn’t surprising, Lily thought, given that Gannon was the most chivalrous and good-natured man she had ever met.
Wishing they could stay like that forever, Lily knelt down to talk to her son. “Did you have fun this morning?”
Lucas nodded vigorously. “I sure did, Mommy.” He beamed adoringly up at Gannon. “Mr. Montgummy and Mr. McDonalds—”
Gannon hunkered down to join them. “McCulloch,” he interpreted helpfully.
Ah, yes, Clint. The former rodeo cowboy who had come to his senses and returned to Laramie County for good, just as she secretly hoped Gannon one day would.
“—let me take some of the tickets!” Lucas finished, clapping his hands in delight.
“How nice!” Lily enthused.
“And I got to wave at some of the kids taking their pony rides, too.”
“Amazing.”
An announcement sounded for all cook-off judges to report. The adults straightened reluctantly, their tête-à-tête at an end. Gannon high-fived Lucas and, knowing how she felt about PDAs while on the job, gave Lily a long lingering look instead of the embrace she secretly coveted. “See you later?”
Her heartbeat accelerating, Lily nodded.
“Mommy, did you know that both Mr. Montgummy and Mr. McDonalds get to ride great big horses?” Lucas stood on tiptoe and used his arms to demonstrate unimaginable height and breadth.
“Yes, I did. They both used to be rodeo cowboys when I was growing up. And Aunt Rose and Aunt Violet and I used to go to the competitions right here at the fairgrounds to see them compete.”
“Compe— What’s that?”
“Where you all do something and everybody tries to be the winner.”
Lucas absorbed that. “Oh. Did they win?”
“Most of the time.” Clint more than Gannon. But then “Clint was born on the back of the horse” was how the joke usually went. Gannon came to the party later...and to the boon of grateful clients, left sooner, too.
To Lily’s relief, Lucas was so happy about being able to have such an important role in the pony rides—courtesy of Gannon and Clint—that he seemed to have completely forgotten about the morning’s hullabaloo with Bode when she took him for a quick lunch with her sister Violet in the covered outdoor pavilion. From there, he went with her parents to spend yet another day and night at their house.
Which was, Lily noted on a beleaguered sigh, something her son was getting far too used to doing, too.
The rest of her day was busy but eventful.
The governor and his wife—and their phalanx of security—arrived in time for the final chili cook-off round and the awarding of the bragging rights and cash prizes for the top three entries.
“You know, Lily,” the governor told her when they finished up with the awards, “I’m really impressed by all you’ve done here in a short amount of time.” He paused solemnly. “I could use you on my leadership council.”
Lily smiled to let him know she was flattered. “Thank you, Governor, but I’m pretty busy here.”
“All it would require is one day a week in Austin.”
And travel there and back. And more demands on my time. And more time away from my son and anyone else—like Gannon—whom I’d like to see a whole lot more of...
The governor clamped a congratulatory hand on her shoulder. “You’re a talented politician, Lily. You need experience like what I’m offering to get you ready for higher office.”
She should be ecstatic, Lily noted, as Gannon approached them.
But deep down she wasn’t. “Just consider it and let me know. And again, Mayor—congratulations!” The governor strode off into the crowd to join his wife.
“Wow,” Gannon said, ambitious enough to understand the worth of the offer and what it could mean for her future in politics. “You must be thrilled.”
Lily nodded, her emotions a mess. “If I had aspirations to hold a higher office, I would be.”
He studied her, his own expression inscrutable. “You don’t.”
Lily threw up her hands. “To be honest, I don’t even think I want to run for mayor of Laramie again.”
The words were out before Lily could stop herself.
Gannon gave her a surprised look. “Seriously? I had no idea...”
This was a conversation that should not be overheard, so Lily took Gannon by the hand and slipped behind the row of cooking booths, and from there to an even more secluded spot. Her whole body weary from the hours and hours spent running all over the place, she leaned against the backside of a travel trailer.
Gannon stood beside her, one arm propped over her head. The intent way he was listening to her prompted her to continue, “Although we don’t yet have term limits in Laramie County, I think one term in any elected office is all anyone needs.”
Gannon chuckled and ran a hand over her cheek. “Don’t let Rex Carter hear you say that,” he teas
ed.
Lily stubbornly held her ground. “As you’ve seen with me, new blood, new ideas is a very good thing.”
Adoration gleamed in his eyes. “You are indeed a very good thing.” He bent his head and found her lips.
And that was when the flashbulb went off.
Chapter Fifteen
Two hours later, while the band warmed up and Gannon went off to help Clint with another round of pre-music pony rides before shutting down that event for the day, Lily convened with three of her sisters in the fairgrounds office.
“Nice picture, sis.” Rose leered at the photo that had already made it to the website for an internet tabloid that focused on professional athletes and their many travails.
The photo array included shots of Bode making the announcement that he was moving to the Baltimore Hawks, Lucas crying at all the commotion, Gannon rushing in to rescue Lucas from the ruckus—and finally, Gannon making out with Lily behind the scenes. The caption read, “QB’s son cries over departing daddy, but the baby mama loses no time finding a replacement lover...”
Rose shook her head at Lily and giggled. “Making out behind the scenes,” she scolded facetiously. “My goodness, Mayor. I’m shocked, I tell you. Shocked!”
Lily rolled her eyes. Leave it to Rose—the feistiest of them all—to make a joke out of it.
Poppy, an interior decorator and the only single-birth daughter among the siblings, said, “Does it matter if Gannon was one of the judges?”
“I don’t think so,” Rose retorted, waggling her brows at Lily. “It’s not as if our sis entered any hot tamales for him to consider...”
The idealistic Violet got into the spirit and tapped her index finger playfully against her chin. “Wonder if this will up Lily’s stock in the governor’s estimation—or lower it?”
An unamused Lily muttered, “Stop it, you all.”
Her three sisters burst into merry laughter. “Sorry,” Poppy, the eldest, said finally. “Some things are too good to resist.”
“Speaking of someone too good to resist...” Rose murmured as Gannon appeared just outside the glass window next to the office door.
Violet sighed wistfully and pretended to fan herself, even though they all knew after the death of her fiancé she had no interest of ever finding love again. “Oh...my...” she said, mugging.
“My guess is that this cowboy needs a moment alone with his lady.” Sensitive as ever to the needs of others, Violet hopped up and headed for the door.
Rose and Poppy followed. “Do you think he’s seen the photo?” Poppy asked.
“What photo?” Gannon strolled in.
Obviously not, Lily thought, taking in the happy look on his suntanned face. Handsome as ever in a red judging T-shirt, nice-fitting jeans and Stetson, he had a denim jacket slung over his shoulder, a mixture of mischief and lust in his midnight-blue eyes.
Her sisters exited on a laugh. “Good luck with that,” they teased over their shoulders.
The door shut and all was silent. He sauntered closer. Lily’s heart pounded like a wild thing in her chest.
He caught her by the wrist and pulled her in. Then wrapped her in a welcoming hug that felt as warm and strong as he did. “The band is about to start. If I recall, you owe me a dance.”
She nodded, resting her head against his muscular chest. If only they could stay the way they had been whenever they were alone together, the two of them shutting out the rest of the world.
But that wasn’t going to be possible, Lily knew.
Still stinging from the way the celebrity gossip site had depicted her, Lily extricated herself from his compelling embrace and pointed to the website photos that were already an internet sensation. “Do you really think that’s wise—for us to be seen together here tonight—after this?” she asked. “I mean, for all we know, whoever took those photos of us earlier is still here.”
Gannon squinted at her and shrugged. “Everyone knows we’re a couple, Lily.”
She had worked very hard to keep their relationship under wraps. “No, they don’t.”
He stepped behind her to massage the tense muscles in her back and shoulders. “Yes. They do. It doesn’t matter whether they see us kissing or not, all they have to do is look at our body language. Or consider that for the past few nights, my pickup truck has been parked in your driveway, nearly to dawn.”
“There are any number of reasons for that.”
“Mmm-hmm. The most likely of which is that the two of us have something going on.”
“I don’t think everyone would jump to that conclusion.”
He gave her a look that said she was being hopelessly naive yet again. “Then why,” he countered drily, “have I had people coming up to me all day long asking me what’s next for us?”
She swallowed. Something else she did not want to talk about. Throwing up her hands, she began to pace restlessly around the small utilitarian office. “Look, Gannon, I don’t expect you to know what it feels like to be depicted like some cheap floozy out for QB money in the tabloid press.” She aimed a thumb at her chest. “But I do...”
Expression grim, he ascertained, “We’re talking about what Bode and his personal legal/public relations team did to you when you first found out you were pregnant.”
Lily nodded, equal parts relieved—that he understood this much—and distressed to find it all happening again. “Before I had the DNA tests on my side. Not to mention what happened earlier in the week, when Bode publicly intimated to the Texas sports reporters and newspapers that I was the reason Lucas had not seen much of him. And did not carry his last name.” None of that had affected her as mayor of Laramie, but if the slanderous behavior continued, it would definitely have an impact on both her and her young son.
And that she could not have. No matter what she had to give up.
Taking heed of her defiant posture, Gannon remained where he was. His expression was as ticked off as she felt. “Yeah, I agree, your ex is a class-A jerk. I’m glad you’re finally realizing it.”
A distraught silence fell between them, and he looked at her long and hard.
“Instead of trying to make excuses for him and harboring false hopes that he’ll finally be the stand-up guy Lucas deserves to have for a father.”
Lily shoved her hands through her hair, aware she’d never felt so simultaneously weary and wired in her life.
And all because she did not want to fight. Not with Bode. And certainly not with Gannon.
Sighing, she reminded him, “I tried to be fair.” To Bode. Her son. Herself.
Gannon disagreed. “No. You overcompromised with him, as usual.”
Lily continued holding herself together with effort. Unable to bear the pitying look in his eyes, she whirled away from him. “Compromise saved the day on more than one occasion during this chili cook-off and festival.”
He clamped a hand on her shoulder and turned her back to him. “I’m not denying there’s a time and place for it.”
“Then what are you getting at?” she shot back, beginning to get as upset with him as he was with her.
His eyes darkened. Quietly, he asked, “I want to know. In your view—what is next for us, Lily?”
* * *
GANNON DID NOT think this was a hard question to answer. Or at least, given all the progress they had made in their relationship during the past eight days, it should not have been.
But Lily looked as if she had just been hit by a ball and plunged into the dunking booth on the midway. Staring back at him, she shoved the hair off her face and sputtered, “You’re leaving to go back to Fort Worth tomorrow.” Her voice had an accusatory ring.
He stood, legs braced apart, hands on his waist. “For the week, yes. When the weekend comes up again, I’ll be free to do as I please, as will you.”
&nbs
p; Sighing, she began to pace. “I don’t think so.”
He resisted the urge to take her in his arms and kiss some sense into her only because he didn’t want hot sex being the only thing binding them together. “What do you mean?”
She whirled to face him, the silky honey-blond waves of her hair swirling about her slender shoulders. She raked her teeth across the soft plumpness of her lower lip. “Gannon, I interned at one of those top-tier firms when I was in law school. I know the hours the attorneys kept. I saw for myself, on the Sunday afternoon we dropped by your firm, how many people were there, toiling away.”
He set his jaw, too. “So we work hard, so what?” That was par for the course in any top-tier firm when even the lowliest of associates were expected to bill in excess of twenty-five hundred hours a year. Just to keep their jobs!
She looked him in the eye. “So we need to be realistic here. What are the odds you’re going to be able to make the two-plus hour drive to Laramie to see me and Lucas very often, if at all? Especially given the fact you’re selling the Triple M Ranch to Rex’s company.”
“First of all, nothing’s set,” he reminded her, temper flaring.
“I know Rex. It will be.”
“Second of all, my mother is keeping the house and the land surrounding it,” he continued. “So I’ll have somewhere to stay when I’m in Laramie, even if you don’t want me bunking at your place.” He paused, studying the sudden shift in her mood. He understood that her emotions were all over the place. His were, too.
Her new calm, matter-of-fact expression was even more unsettling than her anger.
And suddenly he realized this was no spur-of-the-moment impulse generated by a tabloid photo, but a well-thought-out decision she hadn’t bothered to tell him about.
“But that’s not the issue, is it?” he realized out loud, suddenly feeling as if he had been sucker punched.
Sadness and regret filled her eyes. “You’re right,” she said quietly. “It isn’t.”
He waited for the next blow. It wasn’t long in coming.
“My life is here.”
Lone Star Valentine (McCabe Multiples) Page 19