Page 2 of Sweet Temptation (Honeysuckle, Texas #3)

“Where are you off to all dolled up?” Garret’s sister Jillian paused in the hall by his bedroom door.

“Bronco Lounge.”

“In Millers Creek?”

Buttoning his dress shirt, his fingers stilled and he turned to face his sister. “Is there another one I don’t know of?”

“No.” She shook her head. “But why are you going all the way to Millers Creek when the Whiskey Moon here in town is perfectly good for dancing and a drink.”

“It is.” He went back to buttoning his shirt. “But we already know everyone in town, and I don’t know everyone in Millers Creek.”

“And…?” Jillian’s brows furrowed, waiting for more.

He tucked his shirt into his pressed jeans. “And I have to find a wife somewhere. Internet isn’t working. In town wouldn’t fly. So, I’m off to the Bronco Lounge.”

“Yeah. I know what you mean.” Jillian’s head bobbed. “Maybe I should come too. Maybe there’s some nice unattached man who isn’t looking to get lucky.”

“While there might be, going out with a woman might not be the best way for me to attract a potential bride.”

“Of course.” She blew out a deep sigh. “What do you think it would take to get as lucky as Carson and Preston?”

“A lifelong neighbor or a surprise baby?” He shrugged at her. “Sorry. This is just so much harder than it sounded when this idea first came up.”

“At the time,” Jillian leaned back against a dresser, “I thought Rachel was nuts, but it’s worked out so far, it’s just harder than I would have imagined to find cooperating males.”

“Females too.” He took a step back. “Okay. Ready or not. Unsuspecting bride, here I come.”

Looking in the mirror one more time, Jackie ran her hands down the sides of her favorite dress.

The color matched her eyes, and the fabric clung to curves in all the right places without looking too eager.

Not that she needed spiffing up to get Brad’s attention, but reminding him of what he was missing couldn’t hurt.

Her purse in hand, she put the motel room key inside and spun about just for the heck of it.

Today was going to be a great day. No matter what anyone said, she knew that the minute Brad saw her he’d remember all the good things, realize how much he missed her, and how easily they could make all their dreams a reality.

Tomorrow, she’d move her bags to Brad’s and start her happily ever after. Now, it was off to Brad’s.

The clerk at the desk had told her that Millers Creek was once a key town in the cattle drive north.

He’d claimed that the streets went every which way because that’s where the cattle trails were.

She had no idea if that was the truth or not, but she was very grateful for her GPS or she’d have never figured out what street went which way.

Double-checking the house number and street name, she climbed into her car.

Finding one of the change of address cards that Brad had filled out when he left Houston after losing his job and somehow accidentally wound up in her kitchen, was one of the things that had spurred her into action.

With no real reason for the card to have gotten mingled with her mail, she took it as a sign.

After adjusting the rearview mirror, she started the car, and hit go on the GPS.

A nice thing about small towns is even though Brad lived across town, it only took about fifteen minutes to get there.

To her delight, the address wasn’t an apartment, but a house.

A cute little house with shutters and flower boxes and pretty red flowers.

Who knew Brad had a domestic side? A sign that she was right.

Brad would love family life once they were married.

Slinging her purse over her shoulder, she hopped out of the car, eager to see the look on Brad’s face. Trying not to run, she followed the path to the front of the house. Taking in a deep breath, she rang the doorbell. Excitement effervesced inside her.

The door swung open, a long-haired blonde stood in the doorway, and confusion immediately stamped out her excitement.

“Yes?” the woman said.

“I’m sorry.” Jackie did her best not to squirm. “I was looking for Brad Peters.”

The woman smiled politely. “He’s not home right now, but if you’ll leave me your name, I’ll let my husband know you stopped by.”

Husband . Did she say husband? “I, uhm, that won’t be necessary. I’ll just give him a call another time.”

“If you’re sure?”

“I’m sure.” She’d already started backing up, silently telling herself not to turn and run but walk slowly, casually, as if she were nothing more than a door to door solicitor and Brad Peters was just a stranger.

Climbing into the car as fast as she could, she started the engine, and without her GPS, just drove.

How had this happened? How had she not realized there was another woman, never mind a wife?

Handsome and charming, she’d been flattered when he’d noticed her.

Later, he’d been so attentive, never looking at his phone when they were together.

She’d thought it showed how much he cared, but he was probably just worried his wife would call.

All those nights that he’d insisted they stay home, curled up on the sofa, watching old movies.

Again she’d thought he cared too much to share her with the world.

What a fool she’d been. She couldn’t call Katie, not to hear I told you so.

Tears pressing against her eyeballs threatened to overflow.

Swiping at the corners, a horn honked and a car flew past her.

Glancing up, she’d run a red light. Lord, wouldn’t that just be the perfect end to a horrible turn of events?

She had no job, no place to live, no one to turn to, and no money.

Turning into the first parking lot entrance she found, she pulled over and shutting off the engine, stared at the blinking neon light ahead. The tears came in earnest. Leaning on the steering wheel, Jackie let them flow. What the hell had she done to her life?

From Garret’s first sight of the blinking neon Bronco Lounge sign, he considered turning around.

He had to be insane coming to a pick-up joint to find a wife, even a temporary one.

On the other hand, looking for a temporary wife could be considered insane in and of itself, so maybe looking for one here wasn’t as crazy as it felt.

At least he was going to keep telling himself that.

Taking a deep breath, he yanked the bar door open and the heat of bodies jammed together in the small club slapped him in the face. One foot in front of the other, he pushed forward, reminding himself of the six-digit number that they still needed to save the ranch.

The dance floor was completely packed. With every table and booth filled, the bar was standing room only.

Maybe it wasn’t the best idea coming here.

Determined to at least give this a try, he squeezed in at the bar, waiting for the bartender to have a free moment.

While waiting, a man paid his tab and walked away, and Garret swiftly grabbed the seat.

From where he sat, he had a perfect view of almost the whole place.

Slowly sipping his beer, he took note of the people coming and going, particularly the female ones.

A pretty brunette caught his eye. Unlike most of the women, she wasn’t all gussied up, just seemed to be herself.

Unfortunately for him, a cowboy came into the place, and the way the brunette lit up and threw her arms around his neck, Garret was going to have to keep looking.

A lovely blonde sitting alone in the corner, nursing a drink, with two empty glasses beside her, caught his interest. She seemed to not just be alone, but lonely.

Not once had he noticed her look up, she just stared down at the drink, swirling the straw around.

A redhead came up to him and smiling wryly, she offered to buy him a drink.

As tempted as he was to say yes, something told him she wasn’t what he was looking for.

Apologizing, he flirted with the truth, telling her he was waiting for someone.

No reason to let her know he had no idea who that was or if she would turn up.

Looking to the corner, the blonde was gone.

The door opened and closed, more people strolling in, mostly couples walking out, though he had his doubts many of them had arrived together.

Laughter from the dance floor had him looking the other way.

The blonde’s mood had shifted, probably with the help of the three, or more, drinks she’s consumed.

She was dancing around, bouncing back and forth like a pinball, not quite dancing with anyone in particular.

Though one man seemed to be especially interested in her… moves.

“Lonely, cowboy?” a petite gal in skin-tight jeans asked.

He thought he’d scoped out every female in the place, he must have missed this one. Knowing he couldn’t say no to everyone, he smiled, said something simple and spent the next thirty minutes wishing he’d told her he was waiting for someone.

She swallowed the last sip of her wine and grinned at him. “Wanna dance?”

No was probably not the right answer. “Sure.”

Every time she reached for his hand, or arm, or whatever, Garret spun in the other direction. Who knew having learned to maneuver on the football field would help on the dance floor? Just as he swung around the opposite direction of the redhead, his hip bumped into someone.

To his surprise, the blonde stumbled back, almost falling over. Garret reached out, taking hold of her arms until she was balanced on her own, sort of.

“Sorry.” She paused a long moment and leveled her gaze with his. Despite the smile on her face, her eyes told a totally different story.

He hadn’t seen that kind of pain in a woman’s eyes since his dad died. Never would he forget the look in his mom’s eyes when Doc Conroy told her she had lost her husband.

A new tune he didn’t recognize played overhead and throwing her arms up in the air, the blonde began singing at the top of her lungs, shimmying about the floor as if she were the only person here.

Not sure what to make of it, he turned to the redhead and to his delight, noticed she’d grown interested in another guy.

About to offer to buy the blonde something a little sobering, like a cup of coffee, she bumped into another guy who didn’t hesitate to grab her and twirl her into a close dance move. Maybe she knew the guy.

Time to go back to his observation post, except now, his seat at the bar was gone.

Opting to just stand by the corner, he soon grew tired of watching the people coming and going in hopes of finding a potential prospect for an absurd bargain.

Instead, he opted to watch the pretty blonde, dancing with yet another man.

If he were placing bets, there’d be two choices, a bachelorette having a little too much fun, except there were no bridesmaids about and the sadness he’d seen in her eyes told him the other choice was more likely.

A break-up. And from the way she was dancing, spilling the drink she held high in the air, he’d venture it was a bad break up.

A real lulu. What he didn’t know was if she knew anyone here at all.

Most likely, since seeing her at the table a few hours ago all by herself, probably not.

A new guy appeared at the blonde’s side.

Apparently, Garret wasn’t the only one watching the woman.

This guy looked slick, and cool, and like he had only one thing on his mind.

Sure enough, dancing with her, he pulled the clip from her hair, and when she laughed, shaking out long blonde locks that fell past her shoulders, the guy dared to tug at her strap and expose a soft, shoulder that hadn’t seen sunshine in a long time.

Acid churned in his stomach. Sure people came into places like this looking for companionship, especially the kind that didn’t include names or staying for breakfast, but there were rules about girls who’d had too much to drink, and this girl—this woman—definitely fell into that category.

Any idiot could see she’d lost control of her good sense a long time ago.

Part of him tried to tell himself that she wasn’t his responsibility, he wasn’t her keeper. Then the other part of him asked, what if that were Jillian or Rachel, would he want someone to step in and save her from herself?

As he continued silently debating, another guy came up to the blonde. Now the two guys were after her—at the same time—and then, for just a second he saw a flash of, was it fear, before she let out a nervous laugh and danced with both men.

That was it. Saving her from herself, from throwing her life away, was his responsibility, at least tonight.