Page 62 of Roping Her In

Hailey nudged him in an over-exaggerated way. “Who doesn’t?”

“She actually thinks she won’t get a job,” Jake said, reaching over to shake Clay’s hand as he arrived with a pretty woman in old-fashioned western-wear, from the long denim skirt that brushed the floor, to a fringed vest and her hair in two braids that fell over her shoulders.

“This is Harriet,” Clay said. “Isn’t she beautiful?”

“She is,” Hailey said, and she smiled at the woman. “You don’t work here, do you?”

“Oh, no,” she said. “I just live in town and work for the Parks Department.”

“We just started dating,” Clay said.

“You don’t say,” Jake said dryly, and Hailey squeezed his hand.

“This is my boss,” a man said, and their circle widened as Hartford arrived with his girlfriend. Hailey hadn’t met her either, and she smiled when she found another woman in a dress.

“This is Wendy,” he said. “We’re seein’ each other.” More handshakes went around.

“I love your dress,” Hailey said when it was her turn to greet Hartford’s girlfriend. Wendy’s dress fell into what Hailey would call pale purple, and it seemed made of gauzy fabric over silk, with butterflies caught in the outer part. It almost felt like something a younger woman would wear, but Hailey liked it nonetheless.

“Well, we’re off to get something to drink before Rusty starts callin’ the dances.” Jake tugged on her hand, and Hailey nodded to everyone and went with him. “Hot or cold?” he asked as they arrived at the beverage table.

Hailey looked around, and she felt certain this barn would heat up quickly once the dancing started. She saw Henry and Angel, Paul and his wife Brielle, Finn and Edith, and Alex and Nikki.

She knew all of them from around town, as well as Libby and Rusty, Pete and Chelsea, and Squire and Kelly—Libby’s parents.

Then she pulled in a breath and crowded into Jake’s side as he held a cup under the pink lemonade dispenser. “Are those your parents?”

Jake dang near dumped his drink onto the ground he jerked so hard. He didn’t glance around to find them, and Hailey knew Garth and Juliette Ahlstrom anyway. The hazards of living in a small town.

Hailey tracked them as they moved through the crowd, disappearing a moment later, though their destination had been clear—the older couples against the other wall. Pete, Squire, and even Beau had gathered there.

Another familiar face caught her eye—and a not-so-familiar one. Then she gasped as she realized she did know that woman. “And your brother,” she breathed out, curling her fingers around Jake’s forearm until they were tight, tight, tight. “With Denise Walker.”

“You’re squeezing my arm off,” Jake said, and Hailey yanked her hand back as if he’d caught fire. “What’s the big deal with Denise Walker and Carson?”

Hailey pulled him away from the refreshments and into the semi-shadows at the end of the table, away from the DJ station. She felt time slipping away from her, because as soon as the dancing started, Jake would insist they get out on the tiles that had been laid over the barn floor.

“Denise is my age,” Hailey said. “At least we graduated the same year, and she left town like, the very next day. She hasn’t been back since, at least that I’m aware of.” And she would know, because her family was very close with the Walker family, and she’d actually heard her parents talk with Cactus and Willa, whose adopted children had also left town very soon after their own graduations.

“She and her younger sister were adopted by Liam and Callie when they were little girls.” Hailey lost sight of Denise and Carson, but she prayed she’d have a chance to speak with them tonight. “It’s just—wow.”

“I thought you hated gossip,” Jake murmured in her ear, his breath wafting over her earlobe and sending shivers across her skin.

Hailey jumped at the nearness of him and then curled into his side. “I do. I wasn’t gossiping. I was giving you relevant backstory."

“Sounded like gossip.”

“Okay, well, then why don’t you tell me the facts about your parents?” She gave him a glare she hoped he’d feel down in his gut. “You jumped about a mile when I said they were here. Were you not expecting them?”

“I don’t know that I was, no,” he said, and she found him searching the crowd, a hint of trepidation in his gaze.

“You haven’t told them about me,” she said.

“Not specifically.” He looked at the half-full cup of lemonade in his hand and threw the whole thing back like it was a shot.

Hailey blinked and then started to laugh.

“Stop it,” he said as several people looked their way. Most smiled and waved, as Jake literally knew and worked with everyone on the ranch. “Have you told your parents about me?”