“You need a boyfriend,” he repeated, puzzled. “I thought a girl like you could have your pick of the county.”
She tucked her hands in her pockets and surprised him when she nodded in agreement. “I probably could, in all honesty. But I need a special boyfriend, and I think you’re my man.”
“You’re wrong.”
Her eyes flashed, and her shoulders stiffened. “You really know how to hurt a girl.” She laid a hand over her heart in mock despair.
Pace didn’t say anything. Instead, he headed back to work.
“Look,” she said, falling into step beside him.
“Would you please hear me out?”
“Lady,” he said, not breaking step, not trusting himself at the moment. “I’m not interested. Now, if you don’t mind I’d like to get back to work.”
“You know, I totally understand why you lived in the backwoods all alone,” she said, halting behind him.
“You have the manners of a goat.”
Pace stopped walking and shot her a look of scorn. “You ever thought it might be nosy busybodies like you who drive a man to the woods?”
Her eyes got all squinty and flashed fire again.
“Good riddance is the only comeback I can come up with,” she snapped. “You need to go back to the woods and stay.”
“Then you won’t mind if I get back to work and you go on your way.” He could feel the darts of her scorn hitting his back as he walked away from her.
The last thing he heard was an exasperated huff and the sound of her boots retreating across the rock drive.
As he took the reins of Cinder, the name he’d given the mare that had tossed him, he couldn’t help chuckling.
Sheri Marsh did have a way about her, a way he’d do well to stay clear of and stop thinking about.
Still, he was curious as to why she’d come in his direction looking for a boyfriend. He was sure it was only a matter of time before he’d find out.
What had she been thinking? Sheri fumed all the way home. The man irritated her through and through. They’d had only one semidecent conversation to date and that had ended with him riding off into the sunset leaving her with her mouth hanging open.
The man was a buzzard!
Trespassing, her foot. Hadn’t the Neanderthal ever heard of being neighborly? Evidently not.
There was no reason whatsoever that he had to be the man for the posse plan. He was right; there were plenty of cowboys around Mule Hollow who would step up for the job. Of course, none of them made her pulse skip as it did when Pace was around. But maybe that was a good thing. She wasn’t even going to think about how messed up her head had gotten when he pulled her into his arms. Nope, she wasn’t going there.
Boiling with anger she whipped the Jeep into the driveway and slammed on the brakes when she saw Esther Mae’s car sitting next to her house. Esther Mae was poking around in the flower beds near the birdbath.
Groaning, Sheri pulled the car into the carport and hopped out. “Esther Mae, what brings you all the way out here?” She tried to force her tone to sound cheerful.
Esther Mae dusted her hands off and smiled. “I brought you some of my iris bulbs. I thinned mine this morning and remembered you said you like them.”
“Oh, thank you,” Sheri said, spying the bucket filled with bulbs. She hated being wary of Esther Mae and the other ladies, but she wasn’t buying this. Normally she really enjoyed visiting with them, but with them stuck on fixing her “broken” heart she just couldn’t let her guard down for a moment. Pace said she was nosy. He should just wait. It was only a matter of time before the posse zeroed in on him. Then he’d head for the hills. Good riddance.
“I think this would be a great place for them,” Esther Mae was saying.
“Sure,” Sheri agreed, still on her guard, waiting to hear the real reason Esther Mae had driven all the way out to see her. She could have left the iris bulbs at the salon on Monday.
“Honey, are you okay?” Esther Mae said, startling Sheri by laying a hand across her forehead. “You look a tad flushed. Why, your cheeks look like the cherry cobbler I just took out of the oven. Are you feeling all right?”
“Yes. I’m fine. I’ll cool off in a few moments.” But Pace waltzed across her memory, and she felt her temperature rising.
“I’m singing in the church service tomorrow,” Esther Mae said, clapping her palms together, eyes bright.
“You are?”
“Yes. Now I know you haven’t been coming to church lately, so I just wanted to come by and invite you to come give me your moral support.”
Sheri had not been born yesterday. “Well, I don’t know—”
“Sheri, I don’t want to hear excuses. We have missed you at church on Sunday mornings. It is just not right looking out there from the choir loft and not seeing you sitting there.”
“I—”
“No. I will not take excuses. I am singing tomorrow, and I will take it as a direct insult if you do not show up to hear me. I am your friend, right?”
“Yes, but—”
“No buts. Friends support friends.”
Sheri groaned. How did she get out of this one? They were not fighting fair at all. “Okay,” she said. “I’ll come.”
What a pushover she was.
Sheri arrived at church the next day feeling unsettled and preoccupied. She realized that Pace, in all probability, would also be there.
In fact, the second she parked she spotted Pace. The man was just too good-looking, and he was surrounded by the women of the church’s greeting committee, including the posse.
She noticed with a wicked bit of satisfaction that he looked dazed and uncomfortable. Had the posse already started in on him?
“You came!” Esther Mae exclaimed the moment Sheri reached the grass lawn.
“I said I would. Besides, really, how could I miss a solo by you?” She smiled. It was hard not to with Esther Mae wearing her grape-laden straw hat. Sheri was actually glad she came when she saw the way Esther Mae was beaming back at her.
“You’ve met Pace, haven’t you?” Esther asked. Not wasting any time to get things started, she swung her head toward Pace causing her hat to slide forward.
Sheri had to remind herself where she was as she forced herself to shoot Pace a smile. “Yes, I’ve met him,” she managed, suddenly blindsided by the memory of being caught in his arms the day before.
“Well, we’ve known Pace since he was a ten-year-old buckaroo,” Norma Sue said, slapping him soundly on the back.
Sheri coughed, covering a chuckle. “I see,” she said, biting the inside of her lip. “Has he always been so talkative?” Or so rude?
“Always,” Adela said, patting his arm affectionately.
“I have to go. The piano is calling my name right now, but, Pace, I’m going to be listening for your beautiful tenor voice! So sing out.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said quietly.
Sheri blinked in surprise as his tanned neck deepened to a charming rose color around the top of his collar.
The man was blushing. Who’d a thunk it? This just got better and better. Sheri wrapped a finger around a stray wisp of hair and watched him with complete, unabashed interest. Almost as if he realized what she was seeing, his gaze met hers, then slid quickly back to Adela. The older woman patted his arm once more, then walked toward the church. Pace followed Adela with his gaze. Sheri knew he was choosing to ignore her. There was just something about making a man squirm that was fun, especially since he was such a grouch.
“Hey, Sheri,” Norma Sue said, yanking on the waist-line of her horizontally striped dress, making the lines slope to one side. “I was just inviting Pace out to the house for the Bible study and homemade ice cream tomorrow evening. You’re still planning on coming out, aren’t you?”
Sheri started to remind Norma Sue that she’d only agreed to think about going to the Bible study, but Norma Sue kept right on talking.
“I invited Simon, too,” she f
inished, smiling smugly.
“Norma,” Esther Mae gasped. “Why’d you do that? Did you tell Putts you were inviting Sheri? If that poor man knows she’s coming, he’ll probably stay home out of sheer terror. If you don’t believe it, then watch him this morning. He’ll sit clean across the sanctuary from Sheri. And still turn white if she glances his way.”
Here we go again! Sheri thought in horror. She couldn’t help catching the twitch at the corner of Pace’s lips.
“Norrrma!” she hissed. “I told you to leave me and Simon Putts alone.” She hoped no one passing by could hear this conversation. The last thing she wanted was for rumors to get started about her and Simon. She wasn’t happy about the whole situation. The poor man had the personality of a doorstop, and there was no sense in letting any of the other cowboys in on this pathetic matchmaking idea. They’d kid him to death if they knew what the posse was up to. Obviously, Norma Sue and Esther Mae couldn’t see that Sheri and Simon were about as compatible as milk and vinegar.
“Y’all don’t have a conniption,” Norma Sue said. “The man is not a baby. But, Sheri, the poor milquetoast needs a strong woman such as yourself to give him some kick.”
She’d like to kick something! Instead she slammed her mouth shut, sucking air through her nose so she wouldn’t hyperventilate.
“No,” she managed. “I have plans already tomorrow evening.”
“What plans?” Norma Sue asked.
Sheri was not fooled. Norma Sue was completely aware of what she was doing. If they only knew what kind of plans she had. Plans that were obviously never going to see the light of day at the rate she was going. Talk about being a wimp—the chant “wimpy, wimpy, wimpy” was ricocheting inside her head. “I’m defrosting my freezer, if you must know.”
Oh, that was a good one. Wimp.
Humiliated, Sheri spun and marched away. She caught the glint in Pace’s eyes as she turned, adding to her embarrassment. Why, the man was practically hysterical, he was laughing at her so hard. Ohhhh! Of all the ridiculous things to have happen this morning. This was not what she’d expected.
Church was filled to the brim as she bumped her way down the aisle. She waved vaguely to friends Lilly and Cort Wells who were sitting in the back with their baby, Joshua, ready for escape if Joshua got rowdy. She made it halfway down the aisle, then decided to go back and sit beside Lilly. That is, until she turned and saw that Pace had slipped into their pew, blocking her way. She’d have to either scoot past him or go around to Lilly’s end of the pew, and with the way she was fuming she didn’t think sitting anywhere near him was a good idea. She turned away and ran smack into the one-and-only Simon Putts.
So much for the Lord doing her any favors for having come to church. Not that she’d expected Him to do her any favors. His ignoring her was about par for the course, she thought angrily as she looked into the alarmed eyes of Simon Putts.
Of all people—the nervous cowboy almost shriveled up and died right there in the center of the church sanctuary. Sheri was relieved that Adela started playing the piano, signaling that it was time to take a seat. Simon was trembling like a leaf and just stood there blinking at her. He was positively terrified of her. What in the world had Norma Sue and Esther Mae said to this man?
“Simon, relax,” she urged. How could they think she was a match for this dude? He was like gelatin. Wiggly gelatin.
“Relax?” he hissed, leaning toward her. “Look, Sheri Marsh, I know there is no way in this world that you and me would ever be a couple. I tried and tried to tell Esther Mae and Norma Sue that very thing. But they won’t listen! Said I just needed to give it a chance. Do you know what the fellas will do if they get a whiff of this? I’m the one they’ll be laughing at, so don’t tell me to relax.”
Sheri wondered if he realized that all the hissing he was doing in her ear was drawing everyone’s attention. She placed her hand on his arm to calm him, almost choking on the heavy aftershave radiating from him.
“Simon, you don’t have to try and date me just because Esther Mae and Norma Sue said you should. Really. Stand down, cowboy.”
Determination cemented her decision, and she zeroed in on Pace. There was no time like the present to get things rolling after all. Milquetoast or Neanderthal? She’d take Neanderthal any ole day.
At least she wouldn’t be bored.
Chapter Six
The first thing Sheri noticed as she slunk into the pew beside Pace, bumping into him in her haste, was that he was not a gelatin man. No way, shape, or lack of form.
“I decided it wouldn’t be right for me to let you sit all alone on your first visit to our church.” She caught Lilly’s smile from the end of the pew and lifted her hand in greeting.
“Well isn’t that neighborly of you?” he drawled, drawing her attention to his impassive expression. “What did you do to that poor cowboy?”
The choir leader asked them to stand and sing. Sheri looked at Pace as they stood up and she raised an eyebrow. “I set him free, if you must know. Now I’m looking for my next victim. Are you up for it, cowboy?”
“Hardly. Too much drama surrounds you,” he drawled, then locked his gaze on the front of the church.
That was it. All he said. After that, the man completely ignored her again. To Sheri’s dismay the preacher certainly didn’t.
Halfway through the service, Sheri felt that Pastor Allen had been reading her mind before he started the sermon. He chose to preach on attitudes. Bad attitudes. As if she needed to hear a sermon on the subject. Due to the fact that her attitude of late had been solely proportionate to what was being doled out to her, she’d have to conclude that she was maintaining a pretty decent one.
Especially now. Evidently, she had inadvertently taken Applegate Thornton’s seat. Not that the pew seats were labeled or anything, but everyone knew that the first spot on the last pew of the left side of the church was Applegate’s spot. It was where he parked himself immediately after handing out the bulletins. And did he care that she’d taken his seat?
You betcha. Did he sit somewhere else? No way! Instead, she now found herself sandwiched between Pace and Applegate, with Applegate’s shoulder and elbow digging into her arm on one side and the feel of Pace’s powerful arm muscles on the other. It was downright distracting, but clearly not to Pace. He acted as if she wasn’t even there through the entire service.
Why, as far as she could tell by her covert glances, the man never took his eyes off the pastor. There was a moment when she wanted to pinch him just to see if maybe he’d gone to sleep with his eyes open.
But she didn’t. She just sat quietly ensconced between Pace’s bicep and Applegate’s chicken wing and took everything Pastor Allen threw at her. By the time she stood up, the Lord had hammered her toes to the ground. Forget stepping on them—oh no, He’d shown no mercy. That was her relationship with Him in a nutshell. Sheri couldn’t get out of the church fast enough. Since she had felt as if God had been ignoring her for so long, suddenly feeling that she’d been scolded didn’t sit well at all. She didn’t need this.
It wouldn’t hurt so much if the Lord got more involved in her everyday situation. She’d accepted for some time that God didn’t seem to speak to her on the same level as He did others. Lacy, for instance. After the thing with J.P., well, it hurt that He didn’t seem to care at all. It just seemed that if God loved her as He said he did then he’d have been there for her at some point.
But He hadn’t been. He hadn’t made any effort that she could see. So why should she?
She wasn’t thinking about Pace or the posse by the time the pastor closed in prayer. All she could think about was how cold her heart felt. She wanted out. She wouldn’t beg anyone for attention…and that included God.
Pace pulled into the driveway of Sheri’s house feeling like a royal jerk. From the moment he’d first met his neighbor he’d been nothing but ill-tempered.
He didn’t have to agree with what she did, how she lived or the odd ideas she see
med to have. But he did have to stop judging her, and he needed to get his attitude under control. He’d come to Mule Hollow reaching for a new life. He was striving to stretch beyond his limitations to find God’s purpose for his life but he felt he was failing miserably.
The pastor had preached on attitude. Pace felt as if the Lord was standing over him during the service tapping him on the shoulder saying, “Listen up, son.”
Pace had, despite the distraction he’d felt every time Sheri’s arm brushed against his. The woman got under his skin as no one ever had. The fact that she was beautiful and funny, in a snappy sort of way, was beside the point. She was not the kind of woman he wanted to be attracted to anymore. But was that her fault? No.
He needed to get past this issue and behave like a Christian man. That meant asking her to forgive his bad behavior, something he wasn’t certain he’d ever get accustomed to doing because of his pride. His pride was going to be his downfall if he didn’t watch himself. Thankfully, God had patience and infinite grace.
Pace focused his thoughts on Sheri. He couldn’t ignore the fact that something had been wrong with her. Something other than the fact that she was mad at him. There was no mistaking that she’d been white-knuckling the pew in front of them during the last prayer. He’d noticed that she stiffened during the service. When they’d stood and bowed their heads he noticed her hands. She was hanging on to that pew as though it were a life raft, and she was being torn from it by a raging torrent. When the prayer ended she’d almost knocked Applegate over getting out of the church.
No. Pace might not understand her; he might not agree with her lifestyle; but he couldn’t in good conscience ignore the fact that he’d noticed something was wrong. His faith demanded that he search her out and make an effort to reach out to her. That is, if he even had any credibility left with her since his behavior had been so reprehensible.
Meeting Her Match Page 6