Redeemed Cowboy (Whiskey Valley Bryant Brothers)

Nat just smiles and puts her hand in Brent’s. “Nice to meet you.”

Nat still doesn’t have a clue who the man is, but I know there’s no way he would be welcome at the dinner table at the house. Heck, they’d probably try to shoot him off the property. I turn to Brent. “Actually, you know what? How about we do go out for dinner? You want to just pick me up out at the ranch later?”

He nods his head. “Six o'clock. Does that sound good?”

I nod. “Yes, six is perfect. See you later.” I pull Nat out the door as Brent tells us both goodbye and tips his cowboy hat.

Natalie's mouth is hanging open as she looks at me. “Who was that?”

I thread my arm through hers as we walk on out into the parking lot. “Oh, Nat, you have no idea.”

She looks at me, surprised. “What do you mean?”

“That's Brent McCoy.”

She shrugs because the name doesn't mean anything to her. I forget sometimes that she’s not from here and hasn’t been in Whiskey Valley long. I stop walking and look at her to explain. “Brent McCoy... his family owns the ranch next to the Double B.”

She still looks like she doesn’t have a clue. "You know, the McCoys that King and all the brothers don't get along with, the longstanding feud between the two families," I prompt her.

Finally, it registers. Her eyes get wide, and her mouth drops open. "Oh my God. I had no idea.

And I invited him to the ranch for dinner.” She slaps her hand across her forehead. “King is going to kill me.”

I can't help but laugh at that. “Please, there's nothing that you can do that will upset King. It will be fine. Brent’s not coming to the ranch to have dinner. He'll just pick me up, and we’ll leave. It's not that big of a deal.” I try to calm her because I don’t want her worried, but I’m definitely a little nervous about how it’s all going to play out. The feud is a little ridiculous now, but I don’t think it’s anything that the McCoys or the Bryants have forgotten about. At least not enough to break bread together anyway.

She looks at me skeptically. “I don't know, Mia. If there's that big of a feud, they're not going to want you to go out with him.”

I shrug my shoulders. “It's not like that with Brent. We've been friends since I came to town. He's a good guy. It's going to be fine.”

I look at my watch. We don’t have much time before Brent is coming to pick me up. We drive back to the ranch and carry in our packages from the car. Ryan is standing in the living room, pacing back and forth when he sees us come in.

He walks toward me and stops suddenly. His gaze goes from the top of my head down my body and then back again. His jaw tightens. “What did you do?”

I stumble on my feet, and Nat reaches out to grab me. She gives Ryan a dirty look. “You mean she looks beautiful, right?”

Nat, who never has a mean thing to say to anybody, gives her brother-in-law a dirty look. Ryan’s mouth compresses into a hard line. “Right. You do, I mean, you look ... great.” He looks me up and down, and I’m glad I kept on the fitted jeans and new blouse I tried on. It’s definitely better than the worn-out jeans and tattered shirt from before.

I’m about to fluff my hair when it all starts to come back to me. No flirting, Mia. Don’t do it. Instead, I mutter, “Thanks.”

I keep walking when Ryan steps out in front of me. “Hey, Mia, can I talk to you for a minute?”

Natalie walks by, taking some of my things to my room, and I stop, my arms loaded down, with Ryan in front of me. He tries to grab for the packages to help, but I stop him. “I got it. What can I do for you, Ryan?”

"Look, I just want to apologize," he starts.

But I don't let him finish. “There's nothing to apologize for. And you know what? I thought about some of the things you said, and you're right, I was starting to dress frumpy. I hadn’t been shopping in forever.” Who am I kidding? I can’t remember ever going shopping for clothes. I’ve always just picked up jeans and shirts at the co-op. “And you're right, I probably need to get out more. So look, no harm done. If you think about it, you were just helping me out.”

He opens his mouth to say something, and Pauline walks into the room. “Dinner will be ready in a half hour.” She looks at me and puts her hands to her mouth. “Oh wow, Mia, you look beautiful. I love what you did to your hair.”

“Thank you, Pauline!” I turn to go, smiling at the sweet woman that’s giving me a thumbs up. "I won't be here for dinner. I'm going out. I have a date."

As I walk out of the room, Ryan stares at me with his mouth hanging open.

Chapter 7

Ryan

When Mia walks out of the room, Nat comes back down the hallway from Mia’s room. "Why does she look like that? And what does she mean she has a date?" I ask her.