A car horn tooted in the background. “That’ll be Cody. Go tell him I said to keep his boots on. We’ll be there in a minute.”
Bethany saw no way to refuse this request. When the horn sounded again, Erika laughed. “Never keep a cowboy waiting,” she advised. “Especially not those named Dillard.” She shooed Bethany toward the front door as she busied herself clearing the table.
The man was even better looking in broad daylight than he’d been the night before. He was standing next to an oversize pickup truck and was just reaching inside the cab to give another blast of the horn when Bethany opened the front door and stepped out onto the porch. “She’s coming.”
Cody grinned. He folded his arms across his chest and tapped one booted toe. He was wearing jeans and a denim shirt with the sleeves rolled back, revealing tanned and definitely sinewy forearms.
“Not good enough,” he said. “I was promised the pleasure of squiring two good-looking women today.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” Bethany replied and prepared to return to the house.
“Hey, Taft,” he called.
She glanced back at him.
“I brought you something.” He reached inside the cab and brought out a narrow-brimmed Stetson. He tossed it her way like a Frisbee with a flick of his wrist. The hat made a soft landing at her feet. “The desert sun can be brutal, and sunglasses aren’t always enough.”
Bethany bent and picked up the hat, surprised at its softness. “Thanks,” she said.
“Try it on,” he suggested, pushing himself away from the truck and making the short journey to the porch in less than half a dozen long strides.
She quickly perched the hat on her head. She had the oddest sensation that he might actually touch her and for reasons she could not fathom that was most unsettling. “It’s great. Thanks. I’ll get Erika,” she babbled.
He reached toward her and adjusted the hat to an angle. “There,” he said as he took half a step back to admire his handiwork. “Much better. I thought Erika said you knew something about fashion.” The grin mitigated any insult she might have heard.
“I do,” she replied with a sassy smile she hadn’t used in months. “For example, you might want to…how did you put it…rethink those boots.”
“Do you have any idea how long it takes to break in a decent pair of boots? These are just getting to the point of being ripe.”
“I’ll bet,” Bethany said, unable to stop herself from laughing at the potential for double meaning in terms of ripe.
“Erika!” he called. “Your niece is picking on me.”
Bethany could hear the rattle of china and a rush of water. Erika was just finishing the dishes.
“Some help I am,” Bethany said, rushing to dry the last plate.
“Nonsense,” Erika replied. “You’re our guest, isn’t she, Cody?”
Bethany wasn’t even aware that Cody had followed her inside.
“Yeah, we pretty much give you a free pass for the first day. Tomorrow now, you’ll be expected to be up at dawn and help with the chores.” This last was delivered in the same Western twang Ian had fallen into the night before.
No wonder Erika loves him, Bethany thought. Ian, she mentally corrected herself. “I’ll just get my sunglasses,” she said and hurried off to the bedroom.
Cody dropped Erika at the beauty salon and promised to return in two hours. “Two hours? It only takes me twenty minutes to get my hair done,” he teased.
“There’s more involved than hair,” Erika retorted and laughed when Cody held up his hands in surrender.
“I don’t want to know,” he said. “See you in two hours.”
On the ride into town Erika had insisted that Bethany sit in the middle. Erika wasn’t exactly being subtle in her attempts at matchmaking. Bethany couldn’t help but wonder if Cody had noticed. When Bethany had suggested that perhaps she should go to the salon with her aunt, Erika had declined.
“For what? You look as if you just stepped out of the pages of Vanity Fair.”
“We could talk some more about the wedding plans,” Bethany said and hoped the hint of hysteria that she heard in her voice wasn’t noticeable to Erika or Cody.
“Nope. Salon time is my time. You’re stuck with Cody, poor girl.”
After waving goodbye to Erika, Cody pulled back into the slow traffic. “Looks like you are indeed stuck with me,” he said, “but I applaud the effort you made to avoid that.”
“Not at all,” Bethany protested.
Cody glanced her way and lifted one eyebrow.
The man had a way of making her feel flustered and her response these days was to become more than a little defensive. “Well, don’t pretend like you were looking forward to spending your morning shepherding me around,” she said.
“No need to get snippy.”
“I am not getting ‘snippy’—I don’t even know what that means.”
Cody drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “Look, the way I see it we have arrived at a point of having to figure out how to best fill two hours without annoying each other—something we seem to be getting good at doing. Then in two hours we need to be back here to meet Erika. It would be nice if we weren’t snapping at each other like a couple of ornery junkyard dogs.”
Bethany considered and rejected several retorts. The man had a point even if his choice for illustrating that point might have been more flattering. “Look, I expect you see as well as I do what Erika is trying to do,” she said.
“Erika is fabulous but subtlety is not her strong suit. She’s harmless, though, and you have to admit that romance is something near and dear to her heart right now.”
“Nevertheless, if you could just drop me at the nearest library or museum—whichever is closest—I can do some research.”
“And what exactly am I supposed to do?” he asked as he pulled into traffic.
“That is entirely up to you. I’m sure you have better things to do than chauffeur me around. Besides, I’d really rather not feed into Erika’s fantasy any further.”
Cody observed her for a long moment—long enough for her to feel uncomfortable—and then he asked, “Have you always been this uptight, or are you just nervous about taking on this wedding thing?”
It wasn’t a reprimand or sarcasm. It was more like idle curiosity. But what really set her off was the way he seemed to assume that she had always been uptight. If she cared about his opinion for one second, she would have him know that never in her life had she been described as uptight.
“Have you always been this rude?” she shot back and forestalled the answer he started to give. “It’s a rhetorical question. And fascinating as this little point-counterpoint discussion may be I have work to do so please—”
Bethany grabbed for the dashboard to brace herself in spite of the fact she was wearing her seat belt as he pulled across three lanes of traffic and up to a curb. He reached across her and pushed open the passenger door. “Museum—right up those steps,” he said. “I’ll be back for you in ninety minutes. I’d appreciate it if you’d be out front here.”
As soon as she was out of the truck, Cody pulled away.
“Of all the insufferable, arrogant, obnoxious,