by LuAnn McLane
Daisy still looks confused. Cell phones remain a mystery to her. “Ring tone? Oh . . . right. The song that scares the bejesus outta you when your phone rings. Gotcha.”
“And hearin’ the song on the radio made him think about Macy,” Jamie Lee tells her mother.
“Oh . . .” Suddenly Daisy’s eyebrows rise. “And caused him to rethink his decision. Now I’m up to speed.”
“Am I allowed to speak here?” Luke asks with a smile in my direction. “Macy, this isn’t how I had things planned. I had no idea you would be here,” he says, and then turns to his family. “Actually, I tried your apartment in Nashville first. Listen, would y’all mind if I spoke with Macy in private?”
“Yes,” Daisy replies.
“Mama!” Jamie Lee shakes her head. “It was a rhetorical question.”
“Hey, he asked and I answered.”
Jamie Lee shrugs. “True. Okay yes we mind.”
“Griff, Dad, you gonna help me out here?”
His father shakes his head. “We both know how that will end up.”
Luke sighs. “Macy?”
“It’s okay, Luke.”
“They’re gonna eavesdrop anyway,” his daddy reminds him.
Daisy gasps and puts a delicate hand to her chest. “Why we certainly would not. Would we, Jamie Lee?”
Wide-eyed, Jamie Lee shakes her head. “Daddy, how could you say such a thing?” she protests, but has a really hard time keeping a straight face.
“Go on, Luke,” Daisy pleads.
Luke clears his throat. “It’s probably good that all of you hear this, anyway. You know this town made me out to be a hero because I could throw a football. For a long time it was all that I was, about to the point when I couldn’t perform . . . well y’all know the rest of that story.” Luke looks at Griff. “I can’t thank you enough for draggin’ my ass back here . . . sorry, Mama.”
Griff waves him off. “You woulda done the same thing. Don’t deny it.”
“All the same . . . you did that for me, Griff, and I’m grateful. And then coaching the Panthers gave me back my heart and saved my soul. But when we won the national championship, Hootertown made me out to be a hero once again.” He shakes his head. “I started to believe it there for minute. I won’t lie. I liked being the center of attention . . . in the limelight. Thought I had to move on and go to the big time.”
“Son, there’s nothing wrong with using your skills to better yourself. You’ve got a bright future in coaching ahead of you.”
Luke nods at his father. “Yeah, Dad, but the key word you used was yourself. It always had to be about what’s best for me.” Luke jams his thumb toward his chest. “But when you fall in love . . . suddenly someone else becomes more important.” He turns to me. “Macy, when that silly song started playin’, a lightbulb went off in my brain. It hit me like a quarterback sack that you mean more to me than any job ever would. I’d be miserable in Florida without you.”
“Luke, we already discussed how the timing was all wrong for us. We’re both going in different directions . . . finding our future. I don’t want to hold you back.” I feel a little weird that everyone is watching but this needs to be said.
“No, I was wrong.” Luke takes a step closer to me. “The timing is right. Had we both gone off to wherever . . . we might never end up together and I’d regret it for the rest of my life. The time to do something about it is now.”
I grip the back of the chair tighter. “So what are you going to do?” I ask, and everyone in the kitchen looks at him expectantly—even Cassie.
“I’m taking the assistant coaching position at Vanderbilt.”
“Luke . . . ,” I start to protest, but he shakes his head.
“Macy, I could be standing there winning the Super Bowl but without you in my life it would feel empty.”
“Awe . . . ,” Daisy sighs, but Jamie Lee shushes her.
Luke takes another step closer so that he is standing right in front of me. “Macy, I’ve known for a while that I was falling in love with you. It wasn’t until I faced the prospect of losing you that I realized just how much you really mean to me.”
“Awe . . .” This time it’s Jamie Lee who sighs and her mama in turn shushes her. “Hey, I’m pregnant and can’t control my emotions,” she protests.
“So I’m taking the job in Nashville,” Luke continues, and puts his hands on my shoulders. “To be with you and to be close to my family.” He arcs his hand through the air. “This is what matters most to me.”
“Well come on son, kiss the girl,” his daddy urges.
Luke smiles down at me. “Excellent idea.”
In that moment when Luke’s lips touch mine a peaceful feeling washes over me. I let it seep into my bones and let all my worries drain away. I just know my mama is looking down on me and is smiling. I can feel it.
When the kiss ends everybody cheers and Cassie joins in with a bark. We laugh and hug until Jamie Lee says, “Hey, let’s eat.”
“Can I call my daddy first?” I ask.
“There’s no need,” Daisy says. “He’s on his way.”
I raise my eyebrows. “When did you call him?”
Daisy holds up her cell phone. “A minute ago in the midst of all the commotion. Hey, I’m learnin’. I’ve got him on speed dial,” she says proudly. “I’ve got to stay young for this new grandbaby of mine.”
“Mama, I’ll help you set the table,” Jamie Lee offers, and then shoos her hands at Luke and me. “You two go on outside and have a much-deserved moment alone.”
“Good idea,” Luke says, and draws me outside onto the porch.
After a sweet and tender kiss I put my hands on his cheeks and say, “Are you sure you want to take the job in Nashville?”
“Macy, I’ve never been more sure about anything in my life. It took me a while but there you were under my nose the whole time and I was too blind to see it.”
“It’s because I’m so doggone short,” I joke. “I flew under your radar.”
Luke smiles but shakes his head. “No, Macy, I was just focused on the wrong things. And by the way, you’re not too short. You’re perfect.”
When I open my mouth to protest my perfection, Luke puts a finger to my lips. “You’re perfect. Don’t even try to argue.”
I look up and see my reflection in his blue eyes that are gazing down at me with such adoration. Perfection isn’t about dress size or hair color or throwing a touchdown pass. The only perfect thing in this world is love.
“I’d be silly to argue with that,” I tease, but then tell him, “You make me so happy.”
“Good and I aim to keep it that way.”
He kisses me again and we laugh when we hear Jamie Lee and her mama arguing over something. Griff and Luke’s daddy are whooping it up over a baseball game on television and a moment later my daddy pulls into the backyard. I wave to him from the porch and laugh when Cassie bounds over to greet him.
When Luke puts his arm around my shoulders I loop my own arm around his waist and hug him close. When my daddy sees this he stops in his tracks and looks up to the sky and smiles. He might have been gone a lot as I was growing up and didn’t always know the right things to say to a young girl, but in that moment I realize how much he must have worried and how much he truly loves me.
As if reading my thoughts Luke kisses me on top of the head. “Go on.”
I slip from Luke’s embrace and run out to greet my daddy. He pulls me into his arms, lifts me up, and spins me around like he used to do when I was little, and I laugh from the sheer joy of it all.
“I love you, Macy. I haven’t told you that nearly enough.”
“Oh Daddy, some things you just know.”
He smiles as if relieved, and I hug him close. Then, grabbing his hand, I say, “Come on inside. There’s a lot to tell.”
I meet Luke’s gaze from across the lawn, and he smiles. He was right. Family. Friends. This is and will forever be what matters most.
Jolie R
ussell is a genuine redneck hillbilly, but when she becomes a millionaire overnight, her beer-drinking, music-blasting ways just don’t cut it in her new social circle. Southern gentleman Cody Dean steps up to be her Prince Charming and gives the modern-day Cinderella a crash course in country clubs, cocktail parties, and a little bit of romance. Class lines are no match for the sparks between them, and together they learn that sometimes the best of both worlds truly is the best.
Turn the page for a sneak preview
of LuAnn McLane’s next sexy,
clever romance,
Redneck Cinderella
In stores March 2009.
“I’ll get it, Daddy,” I shout from where I’m washing the supper dishes.
“Okay, Jolie,” he calls back from his workshop just off the kitchen. He’s busy whittling Christmas ornaments for a craft show and I don’t want to interrupt him. This year’s drought hurt our tobacco crop, so what started out as a therapeutic hobby brings in much-needed income. Another sharp rap at the front door has me grabbing a towel and hurrying through the living room to see who might be coming our way on a cold night such as this.
“Hold your horses,” I grumble. Our farm is miles from town, so it’s not like we have many visitors dropping in for social calls. After wiping my wet hands I toss the dish towel over my shoulder and open the door. Oh, wow, rings in my head but doesn’t reach my mouth. Now, I’m not one to be rendered speechless but when I see who is on my doorstep I get tongue-tied and flustered.
“Jolie Russell?”
“Ughaaaa.” Forgetting about my tongue-tied situation, I try to respond and make a weird noise that I disguise as a sneeze.
“God bless you.”
This time I’m smart enough to merely nod and rub my finger beneath my nose like I really did sneeze.
“Cody Dean.” He extends his hand my way and I give him a firm handshake, just like my daddy taught me. Of course, like everybody else in Cottonwood, Kentucky, I’m already well aware of who he is. Cody, the oldest son of Carl Dean, is back from his fancy Ivy League college to take over his daddy’s company. The Dean family is like royalty here in Cottonwood, with Cody being the prince. I also know that Dean Development has been buying up farmland for subdivisions all over Cottonwood, and I suddenly get light-headed at the prospect of why Cody is on my doorstep and I’m pretty sure it isn’t to ask me out on a date.
No, I’m certain he isn’t here to take little old me out to dinner. To say that he’s out of my league would be the understatement of the year, which leaves me to wonder if he’s going to make us an offer to buy our acreage. My heart starts beating wildly and I blink at him like an idiot.
“Sorry to have stopped by unannounced, but may I come in?”
“Oh . . . why, sure. Where the hell are my manners?” I blurt out, and then wish my tongue had remained tied. “I mean, um, please, come on in,” I amend softly, since I tend to shout when I get jittery, even when it’s not necessary. With a nervous smile I step aside for him to enter. As he passes me I get a whiff of expensive-smelling aftershave that makes me want to pant after him like a lovesick puppy. He’s wearing a slick leather bomber jacket and fancy-looking black jeans, and don’t ask me why, but I have a sudden, silly urge to take the dish towel from my shoulder, roll it up tightly, and slap him on the butt. “Take a load off,” I offer, and gesture toward the sofa. “Um, I mean, have a seat.” God, I suck at this.
“Thank you,” Cody says in his polite, refined tone, but the hint of amusement in his blue eyes has my chin coming up a notch. Did he know that I was ogling his backside? I make a mental note to keep my eyes on his face. Admittedly, I’m a bit lacking in social graces, having lost my mama at the tender age of seven. I’m more at home fishing and four-wheeling with guys than dressed up for a dinner date, not that shaking Cody’s hand didn’t give me a hot little tingle that traveled all the way to my toes. I might be a little rough around the edges but I still have all my girl parts, and Cody Dean is making all of those parts stand up and take notice.
But when his gaze sweeps the room, pride stiffens my backbone. We might not have much and although everything is old and outdated, it’s clean and as neat as a pin.
“What brings you here?” My blunt question has a little more bite than intended.
Cody’s dark eyebrows shoot up at my tone. “A business proposition,” he answers smoothly. “Is your father home, Jolie?”
Oh, holy crap. I tamp down my don’t-mess-with-me attitude, which tends to land me in hot water, and I put a smile on my face. “Why, yes, he is. I’ll get him.” I head out of the room, but then pause and turn back to him. “Um, make yourself at home.”
“Thanks.” He nods his neatly cropped head and sits down on the ancient sofa. I hope he thinks it’s an expensive antique instead of an old hand-me-down.
I walk toward the doorway, but then stop and turn around again. “Would you like something to drink? Sweet tea?” I’m about to add crumpets just for fun but I’m not sure what a crumpet is and I’m quite sure we don’t have any. About the best I could do is Oreos and that’s if Daddy hasn’t eaten them all. I’m trying really hard to remember the finer points of Southern hospitality but in truth we rarely have visitors except for outdoor activities like four-wheeling, fishing, and such.
“No, thank you,” he says, but then adds, “On second thought, a bottle of water would be nice.”
Well, la-di-da. “Um, all I have is plain old tap water.” My daddy thinks that buying bottled water is the dumbest damn thing ever imposed upon the American public. When Cody hesitates, I add, “We’ve had city water since last June.”
Cody waves a hand at me. “That’s okay. I’m fine. Don’t go to any trouble.”
I blink at him. Of course, I’m going to bring him a glass of tap water just to be ornery. I’m bad that way. “I’ll go and find Daddy.”
I walk slowly out of the room wishing I was wearing something better than worn jeans and a George Straight T-shirt, but when I get to the kitchen I scurry into the workshop. “Daddy!” I say in a whisper—for me; it is a normal tone for most folks. “Guess who is sittin’ on our very own sofa.” Daddy blows sawdust off an angel but when he opens his mouth to make a guess, I blurt, “Cody Dean!” I say the word Dean so high-pitched that our old mutt, Rufus, lifts his head and whines.
“Ya don’t say.” Daddy frowns and looks down at the angel with a critical eye.
“He wants to talk to you!”
When Daddy doesn’t move I reach over and tug him by his shirt. “Hurry,” I urge, and all but drag him from the room. While I love the farmhouse, I hate raising the very crop that’s responsible for the death of my mama. I pause to draw a glass of water from the faucet and make a mental bet with myself as to whether Cody will drink it.
When we enter the living room Cody politely stands up and shakes my daddy’s hand. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Russell. May I have a few minutes of your time?”
Daddy nods but I see the stubborn set of his jaw and my hope plummets. He eases down into the overstuffed easy chair while I march over and hand Cody the glass of water.
“Thank you,” he says, and while looking at me drains half the contents before setting it on the scarred coffee table. He gives me an I’m-on-to-you smile, and I can’t help but grin back at him. His smile deepens, causing a little dimple in his left cheek. I have to grab the back of Daddy’s chair for support. I hang out with guys all the time, and while I’ve been sweet on one or two of them, no one had ever turned me inside out with a mere smile.
“So, what brings you here?” Daddy asks, even though we all know what. Rufus, who must sense the excitement in the air, sits back on his haunches, and we all three look expectantly over at Cody.
After clearing his throat, Cody leans forward and rests his elbows on his knees. “There’s no reason to beat around the bush, Mr. Russell. I’d like to make you an offer for your land.”
“I’m not interested.”
“Daddy, hear him out.”
Cody shoots me a grateful glance. “I’m prepared to offer three million.”
When my knees give way I grab on to the back of the chair so hard that my fingernails dig into the nubby fabric.
“Sorry, Cody,” Daddy says.
What! A little whimper escapes me.
“Three and a half million,” Cody counters, and I breathe a sigh of relief. Who knew that Daddy could bargain like this?
“Money isn’t the issue, son. This here land is where I lived with my dear wife, Rosie. I’ll never leave it.”
Emotion clogs my throat. I can’t argue with his reasoning, but I also have to think that Mama somehow has a hand in this sudden windfall.
Cody steeples his fingers and for a long moment remains silent, but then says, “You don’t have to leave your land. I’ll set aside your plot and you can keep several of the wooded acres as well. Now, you would have to rebuild. Mr. Russell, this isn’t going to be your average subdivision. I’m proposing a gated community with upscale homes. I might add that this would bring in much-needed tax dollars to Cottonwood.”
Daddy shakes his head. “Who could afford homes like that around these parts?”
“Executives from nearby Nashville. Kentucky horse money. I’ve done my homework. These homes will sell quickly. Of course, we would build your house first.”
Daddy slowly runs a hand down his face and then looks back at me. “Jolie? What do you think?”
I kneel down beside the chair and put a hand on his arm. “Daddy, I know that Mama would want this for you. It seems like a good thing all around.” I squeeze his arm. “But if you don’t want this, I fully understand,” I assure him, and then hold my breath.
Daddy looks up as if he’s asking my mama for guidance, and then, as if getting his answer, nods slowly. He looks Cody Dean straight in the eye, extends his hand and says, “Son, you have a deal.”
Cody smiles and grasps Daddy’s hand. “Congratulations, Mr. Russell.” He looks at me and smiles. “Jolie. I’ll have the paperwork drawn up tomorrow, but I trust in your handshake.”