“Thank you.” Her soft words pulled him from thoughts of kisses in the moonlight.
“That was . . . scary.” She looked down at her ruined gown, tugging at the shimmery cloth. “No, on second thought, this is scary.” The dress stretched out like a sweater on her slim figure and puddled in the sand. She half gasped, half laughed, then her head shot up, alarm on her face. “My cousin’s wedding rehearsal party. Aunt E, I’m going to be late. I have to go change. Can you explain things to Tiffany before I get there? But don’t alarm her,” she warned.
Esther Mae’s mouth dropped open. “I wouldn’t dare,” she said.
Her last name finally clicked with him and Brent’s pulse kicked into high gear. “Your cousin is Tiffany? Steven’s Tiffany?”
Esther Mae brightened—if that was possible. “Yes, do you know my other niece, Tiffany, and her fiancé, Steven? Are you here for the wedding?”
This day couldn’t get any better. Brent went to tip his hat, then realized it was floating out to sea. “We rodeoed together in college. I’m one of his groomsmen, Brent Corbin. I missed rehearsal earlier.”
“You are,” Esther Mae said with emphasis. “Did y’all hear that? Brent, here, is in the wedding party!”
He still had one hand on Kelsey’s left arm and felt her stiffen.
“Rodeo?” She took a step back. Her gaze swept down him, only now taking in his dripping shirt, dress jeans, and finally his ruined ostrich skin boots. “You’re a . . . a cowboy,” she gasped. “With boots.”
His heart tightened at the way her kissable pink bottom lip dropped and her expression filled with hurt and anger snarled together like thorns and blossoms in berry vines.
It cut to his core as if she’d just accused him of using his boots to kick Millie. What has a cowboy done to her? Because Brent knew without a doubt that she’d been hurt and hurt deeply. Nothing else explained that pain in her incredible eyes.
Distinct groans echoed from the threesome beside him.
“Yeah, I am. I own the Sandbar Ranch, right down the road from Corpus.”
“Sandbar. I do love the name of your ranch.” Adela’s interjection smoothed the tension. She picked up his discarded suit jacket and began brushing it off, then offered it to him with a smile.
“Yes,” Esther Mae jumped in, glancing at Kelsey. “It’s a perfect name, since it’s close to the ocean, right, Kelsey?”
He could feel Kelsey withdrawing. She rubbed her hands on her arms, and he noticed goose bumps.
“The ranch has a long strip of secluded beach. That’s how my dad and mom came up with the name.” He leaned forward and dropped his jacket over her shoulders, wanting to hug her, but instead drew away and gave her space.
Norma Sue slapped him between the shoulders. “There you go, Brent. Ain’t he a gentleman, Kelsey?”
“Yes, thanks,” Kelsey said, swaying toward him, then drawing back she clutched the jacket around her. “I . . . I have to go.” She turned and started down the beach, dress dragging in the sand.
Brent was speechless.
Esther Mae shot him an apologetic glance, then hustled after his mermaid, her yellow tent of a dress shaking.
Norma Sue slapped him on the back again. “Well, that didn’t go over so well. One no-count cowboy breaks her heart and she locks it away.”
So that explained it. Brent couldn’t take his gaze off of Kelsey as she hurried along the edge of the water where it licked the sand. His interest had been caught from the first moment he’d touched her.
And she didn’t like cowboys.
Just his luck.
Esther Mae came tromping back in the last of the fading light, looking flustered.
“Ladies, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go change into something dry . . .”
“We have to do something,” Esther Mae told her friends.
They were all studying him. “Is something wrong?”
“Are you seeing anyone?” Esther Mae asked.
“No, ma’am. Not at the moment.”
“Perfect.” She clapped her hands together and her face lit up. “You might be just the cowboy to help my Kelsey jump back in the saddle.”
Norma Sue started nodding. “I do believe she’s right.”
Not at all sure what to make of the sudden turn of events, and still reeling from his reaction to Kelsey—and her reaction to him—he smiled with caution.
“Ladies, I’m thinkin’ that’s somethin’ Kelsey’s gonna have to decide,” he drawled, only to watch all three of them wilt before him. “Look, I get that y’all care for Kelsey. And she’s a lucky woman to have y’all on her side. Especially after the bad hand I gather she’s been dealt. But she looks strong. She’ll find her way.” Promising to see them at the party, he headed toward the hotel to change.
His boots sloshed with water and his sandy clothes scratched as they clung to him, but his heart felt lighter than it had in a very long time. The weekend he’d been dreading for months had just taken an unexpected turn for the better.
Kelsey Wilcox—the most beautiful mermaid he’d never dreamed of—had splashed into his life, and she would be at the wedding.
And that changed everything.
He smiled as he climbed the stairs to the Castle. What other unexpected treasures would the night bring?
The story continues in An August Bride
by Debra Clopton
Kissed by a Cowboy Page 26