Cathy Thacker - The Texas Rancher's Family

Aware that several ladies shopping nearby were listening intently, Erin propped her hands on her hips and looked him up and down. “You really want me to answer that?”

Sheer male confidence radiated from him as he stepped closer. “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t,” he retorted in the same low, droll tone.

Erin ignored the heat emanating from his tall, muscular frame. “Look—” she stepped back, until her spine came in contact with the nearby shelving “—I could put you in a pair of Wrangler jeans—”

Mac’s confused frown deepened. “Don’t you mean Levi’s?”

What a gringo! Erin shook her head at his ignorance, explaining, “Wranglers have the heavier rolled seam on the outside of the legs. Levi’s puts it on the inside. If you’re a real cowboy and you’re sitting in the saddle, you want the heavier seam where it’s not likely to rub.”

He seemed momentarily taken aback, apparently realizing that on his own he was likely to end up outfitted like a dude from the city instead of the real thing. “Oh.”

Erin lifted a staying hand. “Not that I expect you to be in the saddle anytime soon,” she quipped.

Amusement glimmered in his eyes. “You don’t think I can ride?”

Could he? Erin tilted her head. He was fit and athletic. Broad-shouldered and powerful-looking, with big, capable hands. In fact, now that she thought about it, if he lost the ultra-sophisticated wool suit, starched shirt and tie, and traded in the wing tips for boots, he would look like he belonged out on the range, instead of behind a desk.

But he wasn’t wearing jeans now.

And he hadn’t been—from all reports—on his first two trips to town, either.

Whether he knew it or not, that sort of sealed his fate.

The local constituency had decided who—and what—he was. And that meant they wouldn’t trust him to solve their highly problematic shortage of electricity.

“No,” Erin said finally, aware that he was still waiting for her response. “Although you’re a heck of a determined businessperson, I don’t think you can ride a horse.”

A slow smile tugged at the corners of his lips. “You might be wrong about that,” he taunted softly.

Aware that she hadn’t been so captivated by a man in ages, Erin widened her eyes. “Am I, now?” she goaded right back.

His grin widened. “You’d have to agree to make me a pair of custom boots to find out.”

“As I told you on the phone earlier, you’re going to need to make an appointment for that.”

He nodded, repeating dutifully, “And the first appointment is in six months.”

“Correct. But if you like,” Erin conceded, “my brother, Nicholas, could sell you off-the-rack whatever you think you need, including a pair of ready-made boots.”

Nicholas waved from behind the counter. Mac acknowledged the sixteen-year-old with a genial nod, then turned back to her. “But you don’t recommend I start dressing like a West Texan, do you?”

She wouldn’t lie. “If there’s one thing the residents of Laramie County want,” she advised kindly, “it’s a person to be genuine. They won’t see anything honorable in pretending to be something you’re not.”

Mac rubbed his closely shaved jaw and peered at her. “So you really think I’d be better off talking to people as a misplaced Yankee in a suit?”

Erin stood her ground. “Don’t you?”

A contemplative silence fell between them.

“As I’m sure you’ve heard, that hasn’t been working so far,” Mac said ruefully.

People had been polite, Erin knew, but not at all on board with what he was trying to sell.

She squinted. “So your plan is...”

He shrugged. “To do what I always do and try and ‘speak the language’ of whatever region I find myself in. And right now, experience tells me I won’t ever be successful around here unless I can ‘speak Texan.’”

One of the eavesdropping customers hurried on over. “Then you’ll be needing one of these.” She placed a Texas dictionary in his hand. The semihumorous tome was filled with Lone Star State vernacular.

“Thanks.” Mac smiled.

“Maybe a hat,” another woman said eagerly, joining the conversation.

Her shopping buddy agreed. “Something dressy that would go with a suit.”

Erin tried to picture Mac in a Stetson or Resistol, and realized he would be sexy as all get-out in either.

“You can wear boots with a suit, too,” another shopper pointed out.

Mac turned back to Erin. Smiled. Suddenly, at least a few of the locals were on his side. Of course, Erin noted a little irritably, they were all female. And single, at that.

“Or you could pay triple, and get an appointment for custom boots right away, like that country-and-western star who came in last month,” Nicholas interjected as he stepped out from behind the counter.

At that, it was all Erin could do not to groan.

Her brother extended his hand to Mac and they shook. “By the way, I’m head of the environmental club at Laramie High School. We’ve all heard about what you’re doing here...and it sure would be great if we could get you to come and speak about wind farms.”

“I’ll check my calendar and see what I can do,” Mac promised.

A chime sounded as the front door opened, and Erin’s two sons walked in from school.

As usual, eight-year-old Sammy’s clothes were smudged with dirt. A fifth grader, ten-year-old Stevie was much more together.

“Hey, Mom!” they said in unison, stopping to give her a hug before circling around her to drop their backpacks on the shelf behind the sales counter.

Mac smiled at her boys with surprising warmth.

Surprised, because she hadn’t figured the sexy bachelor would want much to do with kids, Erin made introductions. The boys shook hands obediently, then took off to get a snack from the fridge in the break room.

Mac turned back to Erin, his expression resolute. “About that appointment... How about five tomorrow evening?”

“It’ll take at least two hours,” Erin hedged, “and the store closes at six.”

“So we’ll make it four o’clock,” Nicholas interjected practically.

Erin’s jaw dropped. Since when did her brother schedule things for her?

He shrugged at her look.

The tall interloper beamed. “I’d sure appreciate that.”

Erin gave up arguing about it. “It is going to cost you triple for a rush job,” she warned. “Which means the price would likely be closer to twelve thousand dollars for a pair of boots, if you want them by June first.”

So if that seemed utterly ridiculous to him...

To her frustration, it didn’t.

“No problem,” Mac said as he plucked his phone out of his suit jacket, checking the screen. “Sorry. I have to take this,” he murmured, then stepped outside into the May sunshine.

* * *

“A LITTLE HARD ON HIM, weren’t you, sis?” Nicholas asked, the moment Mac Wheeler was out of earshot.

Erin knew she hadn’t been as warm and welcoming as she normally would have been to a customer. Maybe because she was way too attracted to the sexy businessman. And these days, with all she had on her shoulders, lust was the last thing she needed to feel. “It annoys me when people insist on jumping line. I think they should wait their turn like everyone else, no matter how much of a hurry they’re in.” She slipped behind the counter, where another box of merchandise waited to be opened.

“That’s not the way the world works,” Nicholas countered as he moved to help her unpack it. “Besides, it’s not like we don’t need the money. With the electricity rates and the property taxes on the ranch both going sky-high, Bess and Bridget still in college, and me about to go next...”