Read Online A Cowboy Christmas Miracle (Burnt Boot, Texas Book 4) by Carolyn Brown - Free Book Online
Authors: Carolyn Brown
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of folks she’d fight to keep, and crawled in beside him.
“We still going to do this, or have you chickened out?” he asked.
“We are doing it,” she said.
He wiggled his eyebrows. “Oh, really?”
“Get your mind out of the gutter, Declan. Is that all you think about?”
“Sometimes I do think about food, but that could be simply because I need it as fuel so I can chase women,” he said.
“You and Tanner are probably related somewhere in the pre-feud days.”
“Hey, now, them are fightin’ words, and we’ve called a truce until we get this Christmas crap done.”
“Have we?” She shot a long look toward him.
He parked behind the church and turned to meet her gaze. “If we’re going to work together, we should agree not to insult each other.”
“Why? What we’re doing is business, not personal.”
“And it can end right here before it ever starts,” he said.
Betsy flashed her sweetest smile. “Little touchy tonight, are we?”
“Not a little—a whole lot, so all kidding aside, let’s get into the church where it’s warm and decide our next step. I want Gladys and Polly, and since they won’t be able to keep their mouths shut to Sawyer and Jill, I’ll take them too.”
She opened the truck door and dashed across the narrow distance to the porch and fished the key from her purse. “Then I get Rosalie and Verdie and the family at Salt Draw.”
He followed her into the church. She flipped on a hallway light and entered the first available room. He sat down in a rocking chair in the nursery and remembered the warm and fuzzy feeling at Fiddle Creek earlier in the day, when he’d dragged a rocker up to the fire. “And since Leah is my sister, I get her and Rhett.”
She pulled her list from her purse and sat down in the other rocking chair. “Where’s your list?”
He tapped his forehead. “Right here. I’ve got the Brennans and the ones I just mentioned and the man at the feed store in Gainesville.”
Dammit! Why hadn’t she thought of him?
“Then I’m taking the staff at the western wear store.” She wrote the store name on her paper.
“I get Billy Bob’s Barbecue and anyone who comes into the bar.”
“Oh, no, not in a million years. You can have Billy Bob’s, but we’re sharing the bar. I get three nights a week and you can have three.”
“Then I want Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.”
“In your dreams, cowboy. You can have Thursday and Friday and your choice of the other days. I get Saturday and the other two days you don’t want. That’s fair since Fridays and Saturdays are the busiest nights.”
He grinned. “You drive a hard bargain, Gallagher.”
“I drive a fair bargain, Brennan,” she said, smarting off.
“We can start in the morning, then, and bring our goods here on Thursday nights, right?”
“That would be the plan. Is the meeting adjourned?”
“I do believe it is. Nice doin’ business with you.” He stood up and waited beside the door to the hallway for her to go out first.
“You don’t have to act like a gentleman. This is business, not personal. I’m not your date,” she said.
“Heaven forbid.” He grinned.
* * *
The next morning at breakfast, Declan had poured a cup of coffee and was in the process of loading his plate from the sideboard in the dining room when his grandmother breezed into the room. Her jet-black hair accentuated every single wrinkle in her eighty-plus-year-old round face.
“I hear that wild hussy Betsy Gallagher drove the ranch work truck into town last night and parked behind the bar. She got into another truck, but no one knows who she was with or where they went. And someone was in the church last night. Kyle has gone home to Oklahoma to be with his fiancée for the holidays, so it wasn’t him. I’m wondering if Betsy is having a fling with one of the deacons,” Mavis said. “If I find out that it’s true, I swear I’ll have him thrown out of the church.”
“Granny, the deacons, all
“We still going to do this, or have you chickened out?” he asked.
“We are doing it,” she said.
He wiggled his eyebrows. “Oh, really?”
“Get your mind out of the gutter, Declan. Is that all you think about?”
“Sometimes I do think about food, but that could be simply because I need it as fuel so I can chase women,” he said.
“You and Tanner are probably related somewhere in the pre-feud days.”
“Hey, now, them are fightin’ words, and we’ve called a truce until we get this Christmas crap done.”
“Have we?” She shot a long look toward him.
He parked behind the church and turned to meet her gaze. “If we’re going to work together, we should agree not to insult each other.”
“Why? What we’re doing is business, not personal.”
“And it can end right here before it ever starts,” he said.
Betsy flashed her sweetest smile. “Little touchy tonight, are we?”
“Not a little—a whole lot, so all kidding aside, let’s get into the church where it’s warm and decide our next step. I want Gladys and Polly, and since they won’t be able to keep their mouths shut to Sawyer and Jill, I’ll take them too.”
She opened the truck door and dashed across the narrow distance to the porch and fished the key from her purse. “Then I get Rosalie and Verdie and the family at Salt Draw.”
He followed her into the church. She flipped on a hallway light and entered the first available room. He sat down in a rocking chair in the nursery and remembered the warm and fuzzy feeling at Fiddle Creek earlier in the day, when he’d dragged a rocker up to the fire. “And since Leah is my sister, I get her and Rhett.”
She pulled her list from her purse and sat down in the other rocking chair. “Where’s your list?”
He tapped his forehead. “Right here. I’ve got the Brennans and the ones I just mentioned and the man at the feed store in Gainesville.”
Dammit! Why hadn’t she thought of him?
“Then I’m taking the staff at the western wear store.” She wrote the store name on her paper.
“I get Billy Bob’s Barbecue and anyone who comes into the bar.”
“Oh, no, not in a million years. You can have Billy Bob’s, but we’re sharing the bar. I get three nights a week and you can have three.”
“Then I want Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.”
“In your dreams, cowboy. You can have Thursday and Friday and your choice of the other days. I get Saturday and the other two days you don’t want. That’s fair since Fridays and Saturdays are the busiest nights.”
He grinned. “You drive a hard bargain, Gallagher.”
“I drive a fair bargain, Brennan,” she said, smarting off.
“We can start in the morning, then, and bring our goods here on Thursday nights, right?”
“That would be the plan. Is the meeting adjourned?”
“I do believe it is. Nice doin’ business with you.” He stood up and waited beside the door to the hallway for her to go out first.
“You don’t have to act like a gentleman. This is business, not personal. I’m not your date,” she said.
“Heaven forbid.” He grinned.
* * *
The next morning at breakfast, Declan had poured a cup of coffee and was in the process of loading his plate from the sideboard in the dining room when his grandmother breezed into the room. Her jet-black hair accentuated every single wrinkle in her eighty-plus-year-old round face.
“I hear that wild hussy Betsy Gallagher drove the ranch work truck into town last night and parked behind the bar. She got into another truck, but no one knows who she was with or where they went. And someone was in the church last night. Kyle has gone home to Oklahoma to be with his fiancée for the holidays, so it wasn’t him. I’m wondering if Betsy is having a fling with one of the deacons,” Mavis said. “If I find out that it’s true, I swear I’ll have him thrown out of the church.”
“Granny, the deacons, all
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