Linda Varner - Lone Star Bride

They entered the room laughing. Tony walked immediately to the sink and washed his hands. Mariah noted smears of chalk on his jeans and on his face. He didn’t know about the color on his cheek and chin so didn’t wash it off until she caught his eye and wordlessly tapped a finger to her own face. Then he shook his head, grinned and wiped off the smear before moving to the table.

“Wow,” he murmured, obviously impressed. “This looks like Sunday dinner at the Mason house. Mom cooks a huge roast every week and feeds anyone who shows up—usually a houseful since all my sisters and my dad’s five older sisters live within a mile of my parents’ cattle ranch.”

“How nice for your folks,” murmured Opal, pointing Tony to the chair opposite the one in which Mariah sat. She and Ruby took their usual places across from each other. “My children and grandchildren are scattered all over the United States.”

“Mine, too,” said Ruby, adding, “Would you say grace, Tony?”

He did without hesitation and so sweetly that Mariah felt yet another pang of guilt for judging him so harshly without really knowing him. In truth, he could claim one of the three qualities she admired most in a man—family ties. So when he murmured “amen” she squared her shoulders, opened her eyes and pasted a smile on her face.

He blinked in visible surprise and slowly smiled back. “It sure is great to be having dinner with the same nice folks I had breakfast with.”

So he also appreciated some elements of family living....

“Hard day at the shop?” he asked.

“Harder than expected,” Mariah answered. “But nothing I couldn’t handle.” She passed him the green beans.

“One of my sisters is a hairdresser,” Tony told her as he scooped out a spoonful. “She has a shop in her house. Do you have your own place or are you working on percentage?”

“I have my own, thanks to Emerald Pierson,” Mariah said, quickly explaining about the business loan the twins’ sister had given her. “She’s actually the reason I’m in Texas.”

“Her and the bluebonnets.” His sexy smile now teased.

Mariah blushed, remembering her evasive answer to him earlier, and changed the subject. “What’d you find out on your truck?”

Tony’s smile slipped. “Actually, Micah didn’t order the part until late this afternoon.”

Mariah frowned. “Why not?”

“Lisa had her baby last night,” interjected Opal by way of explanation for Micah’s uncharacteristic lapse of dependability. “Micah was at the hospital in Fort Stockton until after one o’clock this afternoon.

“Is everything okay?” Mariah loved Lisa Patterson, one of her longtime customers, who wasn’t due to deliver for another three weeks.

“Mother and baby are fine,” Ruby answered.

“I can’t believe no one told me at the shop today. Did she have a girl like they expected?”

“She had a boy,” Ruby said with a jubilant laugh.

“Lucky Lisa,” Mariah murmured, wishing she were the one with the new baby boy. She caught Tony’s eye. “Sorry about leaving you at the garage this morning. I never even noticed it wasn’t open. How’d you get back here?”

“I walked, and I enjoyed it. The place is really prettied up for Christmas, and what better way is there to get a look at a town than strolling the sidewalks?”

“None, I guess, though it’s unseasonably humid for much walking.” Mariah helped herself to potatoes, then passed the bowl. “Did Micah give you any idea when he’d get whatever it is you need?”

“He hopes by Friday or Saturday, but it could be as late as Monday if heavy holiday shipping delays things.”

“We told Tony not to worry about it,” Opal said. “He can stay here. We’ll be glad to have someone to visit with.”

Am I so boring? Mariah wondered with a stab of emotion very like jealousy. She immediately chided herself for her childish feelings, the depth of which surprised her. Opal and Ruby just wanted some excitement. And though Mariah didn’t, she couldn’t blame these dear women, who weren’t her property or even her family, though they certainly felt like the latter.

A woman on her own, Mariah appreciated how the twins had opened their hearts and let her be a surrogate daughter. She couldn’t resent their adopting Tony in the same way, just couldn’t...but apparently did. Perhaps because he had family of his own already. It also rankled that he wasn’t paying for his keep, something she’d always taken care to do.

Mariah shifted her attention to Opal. “You did a wonderful job on the roast.”

“Everything else is perfect, too,” added Tony. Opal positively glowed at the compliments.

“Opal has always been handy in the kitchen,” said Ruby, the next moment launching into a tale about the time she talked her twin sister into baking a cake for the football team, then told everyone she’d cooked it herself.

That story triggered the memory of another and then another example of sisterly feuding. Mariah let their words and laughter wash over her, grateful for the shift in focus from the issue of Tony’s housing. By the time the meal ended, she actually regained a little of her good humor.

“Now you ladies get out of this kitchen,” Mariah said, shooing them toward the door. “I’m washing up.”

“I’ll help,” Tony announced, an offer that disconcerted Mariah.

She waited until the twins were out of sight before answering. “This isn’t at all necessary.”

“Sure, it is.” He began to stack the plates.

“No, really. You go visit with the girls. They love having you around.”

“I’ve visited with them all day. It’s time to visit with you.”

Great. “I’m really not in a talkative mood.”

“Tired? Or upset with me for accepting the twins’ hospitality?” Tony asked. Mariah’s unguarded expression evidently told him all he needed to know. “I thought so, and since I intend to pay cash for the rest of my time here, I don’t understand why you feel that way.”

“You’re going to pay cash?”

He nodded. “If I don’t have enough after I pay for my truck repairs, I’ll get the money when I’m in Amarillo for Christmas and either drop it back by or mail it.”

Mariah wondered if he intended to borrow it from his parents or something.

“Meanwhile, Ruby and Opal have my IOU,” he continued, handing her another stack of dishes. “You know I have as much right to rent a room as you do, Mariah.”

“I realize that.”

“Then why don’t you lighten up? Smile? Get over it?”

Not trusting herself to answer without growling, Mariah turned her attention to filling the sink with water, setting the dishes in it, then washing them one by one. She breathed slowly and deeply, all the while reminding herself of her vow to give Tony a chance. Meanwhile Tony ran water over each piece she finished, then tucked them in the drainer as if he’d been helping out in the kitchen for years.

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