“That’s easy,” he said without missing a beat. “I had a dispute on my account, and you were the one to help me.”
She laughed, and Colt enjoyed the sound of it.
“But for real, don’t get overwhelmed by the number of people,” he said. “I told you I’ve got a lot of friends, because we have that ranch owners group.”
“Yes, I remember,” she said, but she still eyed the door warily.
“If you get overwhelmed, we can just leave,” he said. “Heck, they’re my friends, and I get overwhelmed.”
She grinned at him, her dark hazel eyes sparkling with joy. “It’s a birthday party. We’ll dance, we’ll drink apple cider, and eat birthday cake. It’ll be a good time.”
Colt nodded, and he stepped through the door and into the barn, where music filled the space up to the rafters and talking and laughter accompanied it.
“Oh, I have a gift,” she said, and she reached into her purse and pulled out an envelope.
Colt blinked at her. “You brought a gift for a man you don’t know?”
“He’s yourfriend.” She elbowed him playfully and stepped over to the gift table to put the envelope on it.
Colt moved further out of the way, because he hated people who lingered in doorways and blocked the entrance. He looked around, and wouldn’t he know it? His eyes landed on Elaine, because she stood only feet from him, over on the right, at the back corner of the gift table.
“Howdy, Colt,” she said, her voice bright and chipper as always. It followed him into his dreams, especially when she said his name like that.
Colt managed to smile at her. “Hi, Elaine.”
He turned toward Sariah as she eased to his left side and laced her arm through his. He looked back to Elaine just in time to see her gaze switch from his face to Sariah’s.
For a brief moment, Colt thought he saw surprise on Elaine’s face, but ever the sophisticated one, she smoothed it away and stepped forward. “Introduce me,” she said, her smile so beautiful.
Colt hated being ordered around, but he recognized that Elaine was teasing him, so he said, “Elaine, this is my date,Sariah Long. Sariah, this is Elaine Walker. She’s from one of the prominent families in town. They own Seven Sons Ranch.”
“Oh, of course,” Sariah said, snapping her fingers. “Our bank handles your accounts.”
“So you work at the bank?” Elaine glanced at Colt and then looked back at Sariah.
Sariah leaned in and gave her a quick hug, her hands barely touching Elaine’s shoulders before she fell back to Colt’s side and linked her arm through his again. “Yes,” she said. “I just transferred here a few months ago. I’m the account specialist over some of our—” She cut a quick look at Colt and cleared her throat. “—larger accounts.”
Elaine glanced at Colt, her eyes holding fast. “Is that how you two met?”
“Yeah,” Colt said. “I got an erroneous letter in the mail with false accusations.” He grinned at Sariah, who rolled her eyes.
“He’s never going to let me live that down.”
Elaine looked back and forth between the two of them, and Colt had no idea what she saw. He didn’t know what he wanted her to see. He knew she’d been talking about him, and not necessarily in a bad way, but in a way that told him she’d noticed his odd behavior around her, and that was the last thing he wanted.
Perhaps having a girlfriend would get him off Elaine’s radar, and maybe the weirdness that had gone on between them could be chalked up to stress or the summer heat.
“Ah, your date did make it,” Trap said as he arrived next to Elaine. He smiled at Sariah too. “I’m Trap Walker.”
“Another Walker.” Sariah looked at Colt and then back to Trap. She leaned in and gave him the same hug, and he swept a kiss across her cheek too, as he was one of the most proper Texas boys Colt had ever met.
“You must be the Sariah Colt’s been talking about.”
“Oh, brother,” Colt said. “I didnottalk to him about you.”
“Mm, he knows my name,” Sariah said, and she grinned with all the customer service personality that she possessed.
“This is my girlfriend, Lila Mae,” Trap said, beaming over to the blonde beauty at his side.
