“So, Macy, has Billy gone home with Declan?”
Another couple had drawn up alongside. The guy who spoke was taller than Buster, his hair the color of copper, and he was giving Brad the same look. The woman had dark hair, great bone structure, and seemed a whole lot friendlier.
“Brad, meet Sheriff Hawker and Detective Katie McBride.”
“Hi.”
“You take care with our girl there, Brad. We don’t want anything to happen to her.”
“As we’re in a room filled with people who are her friends, I'm not sure how that's going to happen, Sheriff.”
“I know people, Brad, and what they can do.”
“Just ignore him,” Katie said, “he's like this with everyone new in town.”
“Must be hard, considering the amount of tourists.”
The sheriff grunted something and moved on.
When the third couple danced up, Brad decided he was no longer seeing the funny side. In fact, he was downright offended.
“You want to call off your protectors?”
“They're just looking out for me.” Macy sighed. “When my marriage ended, they all stepped forward to care for me, and they’ve never stepped back.”
“Maybe you should tell them to, because from where I'm standing you don't look like you need protecting. You look like a strong, competent lady.”
“Really?” She looked surprised. “That's just about the nicest thing anyone ever said to me.”
“In that case you need to move with different people.”
Her laugh brushed his neck and made a shiver travel the length of his spine.
“They care about me, and while I'm trying to move on, they still remember the woman I was after I left Brian.”
Brad hated Brian sight unseen, because anyone who hurt this woman must be an asshole and then some. What the hell did the guy do to her, if this was how her friends reacted?
“But just so we're clear, because I never got to answer, you are hot, Brad Gelderman, and I'm taking this chance to say it, because if I see you tomorrow I will have lost the nerve.”
He felt a tide of color rise in his face.
“Whatever.”
“You're Texan, you speak in that slow, sexy drawl that makes women swoon, and add to that you’re really good to look at.”
She was smiling.
“Are you laughing at me, Miss Macy?”
“Maybe a little, but I'm telling the truth.”
Brad knew women found him okay, but he didn't dress for effect, or because women liked it, he did it because it was the total opposite of the man his father had turned him into.
“You’re beautiful,” he said to her. “And just so we’re clear, if I see you tomorrow, I’d tell you again.”
Her eyes widened at his gruff words.
“Thank you, but you don't have to say that.”
