by Mary Leo
All she knew for certain was that she wanted to get out of there, fast.
“Are you all right?” Doc Blake asked from somewhere in the darkness. The crowd was still laughing.
“I’m fine,” she garbled, still spitting out the last bits of potato.
When she was finally able to see, she stared up at Blake as he stood at the edge of the pit, looking all proud and full of himself. “What a match!” he said, grinning.
“You people are nuts,” Maggie told him, brushing her dripping hair off her potato-covered face.
“Yeah, but we know how to have fun.”
“Tell me how this is fun?” she shot back, looking out through a tangle of potato stuck in her hair.
“Now, don’t be getting into a lather. Nobody knew Milo would be on the other end of that rope.”
Blake offered her his hand to help haul her out of the potato mash.
“But once you knew, you still put me first?”
His face lit up with mischief. “An oversight.”
“So, I’m an oversight?”
He shrugged, grinning. “You look good in potato. Now, come on, and let’s get you out of there.”
He leaned over a bit farther, extending his hand.
She stared up at him again, this time not wanting to move, not wanting to think about how she was going to get all this smelly goop off her body and out of her hair.
Then she took his hand, and something came over her. Maybe it was the continuous laughter from the crowd, or the feel of potato between her fingers and down the front of her T-shirt. Whatever it was, she grabbed his hand, and instead of allowing him to help her up, she pulled him down, hard and fast. He tumbled in right next to her.
As he fell forward a look of pure surprise replaced the snarky smirk on his face. “You little—”
But he never had the opportunity to finish the sentence. As he fell, Maggie leaned to her right and he brushed by her, doing a perfect bellyflop in the potato pit.
The audience roared with laughter. Even his brothers joined in the fun, along with Dodge, who was chuckling so hard he held his belly.
“Oops!” Maggie said when Blake turned toward her, eyes stuck shut due to all the potatoes covering his face. “An oversight, I’m sure.”
“This is not over,” he said, eyes beginning to open.
“Oh, yes it is,” Maggie vowed, and made a grab for his splattered hat. She stuck it on her head, stood up, bowed toward the crowd and trudged from the pit, leaving the town’s heartthrob in the middle of the spud tub, with Milo Banks now plowing in after him.
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.
He caught it in one hand and immediately set it on his head. “Much obliged, fine lady. You need to rustle up one of your own.”
Maggie reached down to the seat next to her and produced a velvety black cowgirl hat, complete with a gold ribbon and a tiny cream feather, and settled it into place. She looked mighty fine. Mighty fine.
“How do I look?” she shouted.
“Like you belong.”
A big smile stretched across her face, lighting up her eyes.
“Ooo-ah, you better watch yourself, Maggie,” Colt warned. “That man’s got trouble written all over him.”
“Have you forgotten what happened just this afternoon? If I can handle a pit of potatoes, I can certainly handle your big brother.”
“You may have met your match, Doc,” Travis called.
“That’s yet to be determined,” he shouted.
The group hollered and whistled, as Scout slid off her chair and ran over to him. She looked adorable wearing a bright yellow dress. A pretty yellow and pink flower attached to a thin band held her hair off her face, while her favorite pink cowgirl boots adorned her tiny feet. Blake couldn’t believe his little tomboy could look so girly.
“Daddy, where were you? We’ve been waiting here for a really long time,” Scout admonished. He knelt as she went in for a hug.
“I was getting all those potatoes off me, sweetpea. But look at you. How’d you get all prettied up like this?”
“Maggie said she bought me this dress and hair band at the fair. Yellow’s my favorite color. Maggie wouldn’t let anyone spray her with a hose, so Cori took us to her house and she cleaned up there. Dodge said it was okay for me to go home with Cori and Maggie. We had fun. Maggie taught me how to fix my hair. Don’t I look pretty, Daddy?”
She twirled. His sweet daughter was about as happy as a puppy with two tails. Her cheeks glowed from the rush of elation. She could barely contain herself.
“You always look pretty,
baby.”
“Oh, Daddy, you’re so silly. I can’t always look pretty, especially when I’m all dirty and my hair’s messed up.”
“Even then, sweetpea. Especially then.”
She hugged him tighter and giggled in his ear. He knew this would be one of those moments they would both remember, and he had Maggie Daniels to thank for it.
He looked over at her as Scout slipped from his arms and skipped back to her seat, holding on to the end of her dress, pulling on it as she spun in tight little circles.
Maggie was busy talking and laughing with Colt, oblivious to the moment she had created. At some point during the night he’d have to find a way to thank her for giving him his little girl back.
* * *
AFTER AN AMAZING dinner of some of the best barbeque Maggie had ever tasted, along with some fun conversation with the Grangers, the kids and Nurse Cori, Maggie found herself in the arms of Doc Blake, two-stepping to Luke Bryan’s “Country Girl, Shake It For Me.”
“Are you sure you haven’t done this before?” Doc asked as he twirled Maggie on the dance floor. She wasn’t quite sure herself yet, but she could hold her own.
“I may have kicked up my boots a time or two,” Maggie teased. The truth was, the last time she had danced on a worn-out wooden floor to the sound of country music, she couldn’t have been more than eight years old.
“Darlin’, it’s as if you’ve been shakin’ it your entire life.”
Maggie chucked and stomped her boot heels in time with the music along with everyone else. She was having the time of her life, and it felt better than she could have imagined. She loved to dance, something she rarely got the chance to do. Normally, she was too busy, and her last boyfriend never wanted to do anything other than dinner and the occasional concert. Nor would he have considered dancing to country music. Way too chaotic for him or even for her. She’d forgotten how much she had once enjoyed it. Now, it was as if she had given herself permission to have fun again, embrace everything country, and for a little while, she would hold on tight.
She let out a whoop, as Blake twirled her a couple of times then pulled her in tight against his body. His chest felt oh-so-good up against hers, not to mention his strong thighs, his confident arms.
Reason and a job offer both told her to hold back, to stop enjoying this man, while her inner voice told her to enjoy the long looks, the warmth…the passion.
“You sure know how to handle a girl in your arms.”
His eyes narrowed with tiny creases forming around the edges. She’d never seen him look so striking. “Sweetheart, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”
If Maggie could have swooned, she would have. Blake quickly pulled her in closer. She relaxed and bent backward as he spun her around. He sang some of the lyrics to “Country Girl, Shake It for Me” and Maggie joined in on the chorus.
Suddenly, everyone made a circle around them, clapping, whistling and whooping it up as if Maggie and Doc Blake were the main attraction. Even the kids joined in on the fun.
“This is crazy!” Maggie yelled over the drum of the song. “Everybody’s watching.”
“Just your typical night in Briggs.”
They were dancing side by side now, pounding their heels into the floor with the beat. “What if I fall?”
“Impossible,” Blake yelled and he waved his hand for everybody to join them. Within seconds, the entire room had joined them on the dance floor, including the waitstaff.
Maggie no longer had time to think about anything but following the sometimes complicated steps, and before long she was laughing and singing along with everyone else. Her entire body tingled with the music as she twirled to each note.
The song ended in a thunder of applause and hoots. Maggie added several of her whistles to the mayhem and the kids instantly wanted lessons.
She collapsed onto the floor, and proceeded to play whistle teacher to the delight of each child. Scout got the hang of it first and her proud whistles echoed through the restaurant.
“You’ve created a monster,” Blake chided after his daughter went off to teach little Joey, who couldn’t seem to get it. Doc had squatted down right next to Maggie, close enough that she could feel the heat of him.
“Anything I can do to make your life easier,” she shot back with a sinister smile.
“I’ll get you for this.”
“Is that a promise?”
“Ms. Daniels, are you flirting with your boss?”
Reality came crashing through with a vengeance. She stood, and the boys sitting in front of her groaned and asked her to stay.
“Sorry, guys, but Scout will have to help you. It’s late, and I really have to go home now.”
She turned to Blake. He was frowning in confusion. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Just tired, and worried about Kitty. I don’t like leaving her alone for too long.”
“Mrs. Abernathy’s there.”
“She goes to bed early,” Maggie said, and went off looking for a ride to her car.
* * *
MAGGIE HADN’T MEANT to find herself in this situation. She really hadn’t planned for the evening to go this way. Sure, she’d needed a ride home after dinner, or at least a ride back to her car at the fairgrounds, but she was feeling a bit tipsy and allowing her to drive hadn’t been an option for Doc. He had insisted on driving her home.
The first kiss had simply happened, like a warm breeze on a summer’s day. Doc had parked his truck in the gravel driveway, leaned over and kissed Maggie good-night. An easy kiss. One that he might give to a good friend. Nothing personal. Just a kiss, so she’d kissed him back. A light kiss. Nothing personal.
She then opened the door of the cab, and slid out onto the brick sidewalk.
“You’re one surprising woman,” Doc Blake told her as he followed close behind as they made their way to Kitty’s front porch.
The second kiss, the one that was surely about to happen, could have been avoided if Maggie had said good-night—like that time before—while they were still in the truck.
But she hadn’t.
“Why’s that?” she asked as they walked together in the moonlight. The air felt cool against her face, cool and clean. She liked it.
“Because for someone who’s afraid of kids, you sure seem to know how to make them happy. What’s your secret?”
So there she was, on Kitty’s porch stairs with Doc Blake close at her side.
“I try to remember what it was like when I was a kid, and go from there.” They’d reached the front door and she turned to face him.
“I bet you were all about curls and frills.” He slowly pulled her toward him. She didn’t resist. Then, as if they’d done it a thousand times, he leaned in and gently kissed her neck, once, twice. A shiver cascaded through her. “I was a tomboy…” She sighed, knowing she should stop this. That she needed to stop this.
But she didn’t.
He pulled back. “You?”
She nodded, grinning. “I’ve never admitted this to anyone, but my favorite pair of shoes was my cousin Emma’s cowboy boots. They were two sizes too big. I wore them anyway.”
He went back to kissing her neck, brushing her hair out of the way with his hands. A rush of heat played on her skin. Her body tingled.
“You’re the most fascinating woman I’ve ever met,” he said, then brushed his lips on hers, not really kissing her, just tormenting her with his touch.
She pushed him back a few inches, thinking she was going to end this, right now, before they went any further. That this thing they were toying with couldn’t go anywhere. She had a solid job offer at Technix back in California and he lived… His face lit up with a wicked little smile.
She said, “Are you going to kiss me or what?”
He stared at her for a brief moment, the passion in his eyes burning straight through her. “Definitely, yes,” he said, and he kissed her, hard, his tongue touching hers, his mouth both soft and hungry against her lips. Tiny quivers sped along her nerve endings, twisting up inside her belly. Never had she been kissed like this. Never had she wanted a man more. She felt light-headed and dizzy with desire.
Maggie wrapped a leg around his as he ran his hand up her thigh and caressed her butt, bringing her in closer. She moved into him, wanting him, wanting him to take her, now, under the stars, on the porch, until there was nothing left of her but the memory of his incredible kiss.
The front door swung open. “Kitty’s water broke,” Mrs. Abernathy announced in a loud, clear voice.
Maggie’s world stopped.
* * *
TWENTY MINUTES LATER, Kitty was in a wheelchair being transported through the E.R., with Mrs. Abernathy on one side, and Nurse Cori on the other, while a male nurse rolled the expectant mother toward a private birthing room. Those babies were on their way and this time nothing was going to stop them.
“I’ll be right here, Kitty, waiting for Cori to come get me,” Maggie told her sister as she trotted next to the moving chair. “Everything’s going to be fine.”
But Maggie could tell Kitty was on the verge of a complete meltdown as she sucked in quick little breaths, trying with every ounce of concentration she had to remain focused on what she had been taught in all her natural childbirth classes.
“This isn’t how I pictured it,” Kitty said, blowing air from her puckered lips. “I wanted to be at home…in my little birthing tub…with my family around me…with Tim holding my hand.”