One Night Rodeo (Blacktop Cowboys 4)

Kyle froze. Every bit of blood drained from his face. Then he aimed his focus on the carpet, listening to whatever his mother was saying without argument.

Celia watched his hand curl into a fist, his knuckles turning white. She had the strangest compulsion to open that tight fist and thread her fingers through his. To ease his tension. To let him know she was right there if he needed her.

“Yeah. I understand. I’m sure. No. I get it. Probably a few hours. Okay. Love you too. Bye.” Without another word he locked himself in the bathroom.

Great. What was she supposed to do now? Beat on the door and make him talk to her?

Use his distraction to push for an annulment?

Celia’s cell phone vibrated with a text message from Tanna. Good afternoon, Mrs. Gilchrist! Call me. I just hit the road for TX and wanna know your plans.

Tanna could shed light on what had happened last night. Celia put the security latch in the door to keep it from shutting and snuck into the hallway.

Tanna answered immediately, busted out “Single Ladies,” and then laughed. “But that doesn’t fit you anymore, does it, Mrs. Gilchrist?”

“Ha ha, T.”

“Can I just do my I-told-you-so dance? I knew it was only a matter of the right timing before you and Kyle publicly admitted your feelings for each other.”

The right timing? After way too many tequila shooters?

“Despite the fact you were both pretty hammered, it was romantic how he swept you off the dance floor and yelled, ‘I’m marryin’ this woman right now before any of you bastards try to take her away from me’ and then ran with you to the chapel.”

Oh no. Oh no, no, no. Kyle had yelled that? And they’d been dancing?

Tanna kept blathering on, as she was prone to do. “I couldn’t believe you guys already had the paperwork filled out and the rings chosen by the time I tracked Devin down and we showed up to be your witnesses. The whole thing, from Kyle’s declaration on the dance floor to the official pronunciation of man and wife, took twenty minutes tops. And I’m impressed you still had time to write your own wedding vows.”

She’d written her own wedding vows? She sank to the floor in the hallway, tempted to beat her head into her knees, until she remembered she had stitches in her forehead.

“Although your love and dove rhyme wasn’t particularly original, nor was Kyle’s use of ass and class appropriate, the rest was really sweet and heartfelt. Like you’d both been holding your feelings inside for a long time. And that kiss.” Tanna sighed. “It was beautiful, but surprisingly raunchy. I’ve never seen you so happy, Celia. God. You were giddy with joy.”

How was it she couldn’t remember anything? And was it lucky or unlucky that Tanna did?

“Cele? You there?”

“Ah. Yeah.” Celia changed the subject, lest Tanna figure out just how much she didn’t remember from her own damn wedding. “Just wondering what you and Devin did after Kyle and I took off?”

“Drank some. Then two fan-girl chicks horned in and offered to blow him, so the man-whore whisked them to his tour bus. For all I know they might be on their way to Portland with him right now.”

“As you can imagine, I’ve been out of it today. Did you call Lainie and tell her that me and Kyle…?”

“Yes! She’s so excited for you guys. But I made her promise to wait to tell Hank until she got the okay from you two. But I wouldn’t put it past Devin to blab far and wide, so if I were you, I’d start making calls.” She muttered something. “Sorry, C, gotta go. Traffic is a bitch on this road so I need to concentrate on my driving, bein’s I lost my traveling partner to the hottest bull rider on the circuit. Call me later.”

Celia studied the floral-patterned carpet, trying to force any memory at all to the surface. Maybe she was trying too hard. Maybe if she let it…jell, it’d all come back to her.

Her phone buzzed in her hand with a text message. From Lainie.

I can’t believe you and Kyle got married last night! I haven’t said a word to Hank, but this isn’t a secret that’ll keep for long. Be best for your brothers to find out from you. In person, not over the phone. I expect you’ll come home ASAP.

As much as Celia loved Tanna, she’d seriously f**ked up this situation by blabbing. Wait a second, Kyle had told his mother too. How many people had she told? How many people had Devin told? In the last thirty minutes Celia had lost any chance of getting a quiet annulment.

What was she supposed to do now? How could she tell Hank and Abe her marriage to Kyle was a drunken mistake? They already treated her like a flighty kid who couldn’t make up her mind. She rolled to her feet, returning to the room to find Kyle gazing out the window. His tension was obvious in the tight set of his shoulders.

“What did your mom say?”

He didn’t respond for the longest time. Then he said, “She told me my father’s name. I’ve been asking her since I was five years old and she finally told me today.” Another long pause. “Marshall Townsend is my father.”

“The name isn’t familiar to me. Do you know who he is?”

“Yeah. I’ve crossed paths with him a couple of times, but it’s not like I know him. The summer after your folks died, this rancher named Marshall Townsend called Hank out of the blue and hired us to hay for him. We both thought it was weird at the time, since he didn’t know Hank or me, but we figured he must’ve known your parents. Anyway, he wasn’t friendly at all. He was cheap. He paid us the bare minimum but promised us hunting rights for the fall. When we tried to collect on the hunting rights, he said he’d changed his mind and chased us off his land.”