Spring Texas Bride (The Brides 0f Bliss Tx. Book 1) Read online

  “It’s no problem,” Ryker said. “Mrs. Crawley gave me the best room in the house.”

  Dirk hooted with laughter. “Lucky number 7 with the vibrating bed?”

  Ryker smiled. His smile was shy and hesitant, like he was afraid to let it get to wide or bright. “That’s the one. Although the vibrating mechanism doesn’t seem to work. Neither does the coffeemaker.”

  “The bed’s temperamental. It only works when it wants to. And don’t worry about coffee. I’ll stop by in the morning and take you to breakfast at the diner. You haven’t lived until you tasted Ms. Marble’s cinnamon swirl muffins.”

  “I appreciate the offer, but I probably should head back to Dallas bright and early.” He glanced at his watch. “In fact, I think I’ll call it a night.”

  Summer wasn’t about to let him get away that easily. “You don’t have to leave yet,” she said. “It’s not even ten-thirty. And you haven’t danced one dance. In fact, why don’t we remedy that right now?” She tried to hook her arm through his, but he jumped back like he was dodging a rattlesnake strike.

  “Sorry, but I don’t dance.”

  She scrambled for another way to keep him there. “Cake! Did you get a piece of cake? Ms. Marble is Bliss’s resident baker.” She pointed to Ms. Marble who was talking to Joanna Daily. “She’s the little old woman in the wide-brimmed hat, and she made Spring’s wedding cake. Four tiers of pure heaven, I tell you. You just can’t leave without getting a piece.”

  “Thank you, but I’m not much of a sweet eater.” He shook Dirk’s hand. “It was a beautiful wedding. Tell your sister congratulations and thank her and Waylon for the invitation.”

  “Why don’t you tell her yourself?” Summer said. “I mean it would be rude to leave without—”

  “That’s enough, Summer Lynn.” Granny Bon cut her off, then hugged Ryker. “We’re all glad you could come, Ryker. You have a safe trip home.”

  “Thank you, ma’am.”

  “I’ll walk you out, Rye,” Dirk said. They headed for the open door of the barn, and there was nothing Summer could do about it. Not unless she wanted a lecture from Granny Bon. Of course, she got that anyway.

  “What has gotten into you? First, you leave that poor man to deal with three crying babies and then you call him rude right to his face.”

  “Well, he was rude. He should’ve told Waylon and Spring congratulations before he left.”

  “Dirk says that Ryker has always been a little socially awkward,” Gracie said. “But he certainly made up for it with the wedding gift he gave Waylon and Spring.”

  “What did he give them?”

  “Shares of Headhunters stock.”

  Summer was so mad she wanted to pitch a fit right there. Ryker gave her sister stock and he wouldn’t even give her the time of day? That just wasn’t right. And she wasn’t about to let it slide.

  “If you’ll excuse me,” she said. “I think I’ll go find my cowboy admirer and see if he wants to dance.”

  But she didn’t head for the dance floor. Instead, she headed straight for the bar where she flirted a bottle of tequila from the bartender. She hid it in the folds of her dress and slipped out the open door of the barn.

  The May night was a little chilly, but Summer had always been hot natured so the cool breeze was a relief. She spotted Dirk walking back to the barn. And not wanting to be interrogated by her little brother, she ducked around the side and waited for him to go back to the reception before she headed to the garage where she’d parked her red mustang.

  She was just backing up when Autumn appeared in the red glow of the taillights. Summer slammed on the brakes, then rolled down the side window to yell at her sister. “Holy crap, Audie! I could’ve hit you.”

  Autumn walked up to the window. “Where are you going?”

  “For a drive. The barn is way too hot and I need to cool off.”

  Spring would’ve called her an out-and-out liar. But Autumn was the more diplomatic of the sisters. The one who didn’t have to say a word to make you feel guilty. All she had to do was look at you with those trusting blue eyes to get you to confess to anything.

  “Fine,” Summer said. “I’m going after Ryker.”

  Autumn released a sigh. “Can’t you ever just give in, Summer? Do you always have to beat a dead horse?”

  “I’m not beating a dead horse. I’m brow beating a computer nerd. Two totally different things.”

  Autumn shook her head. “Even if you could talk Ryker into helping us, it’s too late. We don’t even have enough money to pay this month’s bills. And with Spring married and living in Bliss, we’ve lost even more sales. You and I aren’t exactly salespeople. Which is why we need to listen to Dirk. We need to sell the inventory we have left, pay our bills, close the store, and cut our losses.”

  It made sense. But Summer had never been sensible. Especially when it came to accepting defeat. “Quitting is what losers do. Success rarely happens the first time you try something. Success takes hard work and dedication. I’m a perfect example. Remember the first time I tried out for cheerleading? I scored the lowest of any girl trying out. But did that stop me from trying out the next year? Or the year after? Or the one after that? And finally, my senior year, I made the team.”

  “I think it was because Ms. Polk was tired of you harassing her about it.”

  “I didn’t harass her. I just wanted to know what I did wrong and how I could improve. That’s all I want to know from Ryker. I want him to point out any flaws in my new business plan and what I can do to improve it. But he refuses to even talk to me. I’ve had to resort to texting him numerous times a day to try and get his attention.”

  Autumn covered her eyes with her hand and groaned. “Good Lord. No wonder the poor man raced out of here like his tail was on fire.”

  “Well, I’m not letting him get away that easily.”

  Autumn lowered her hand. Her face held a resigned look. “Of course you’re not. And I guess I’ll have to cover for you. Granny Bon would throw a fit if she knew what you were doing. And Dirk wouldn’t be too happy either.”

  “Of course you have to cover for me. That’s what sisters are for.”

  “What should I tell them?”

  “Tell them that after seeing my little sister happily wed I got a wild hare to go to the little white chapel and make a wish for my own wonderful Prince Charming.”

  Autumn snorted. “As if they’d believe that. Everyone knows that you’re not a princess waiting for her prince. You’re the evil queen who is trying to figure out how to take over the world.”

  Some women might take offense to that. Summer wasn’t one of them. She didn’t mind being a little evil. And she certainly didn’t mind being the queen in charge.

  “Then just tell them that I went to the chapel to repent all my sins.” Before Autumn could delay her any longer, she backed up and took off down the dirt road. She usually drove fast. Speed gave her a feeling of power and control. But tonight she drove the speed limit. She didn’t want to beat Ryker back to town. Not that Bliss, Texas, would qualify as a town. It was no more than a grease spot on the highway.

  Still, as she drove onto Main Street, Summer had to admit that it was a cute grease spot. Trees lined the sidewalk and planters of bright-colored flowers hung from each lamppost. There were the usual businesses named after the town. Bliss Grocery Mart, Bliss Feed Store, Bliss Pharmacy, Bliss Motor Lodge. Then there were businesses with original names like the Watering Hole Bar, Lucy’s Place Diner, Home Sweet Home Décor, and Emmett’s Gas Station. But the one business that made Bliss different from every other small town was The Tender Heart Museum.

  Tender Heart was a series of fictional books written by Summer’s great-grandmother in the 1960’s. Lucy Arrington based the stories on the mail-order brides who had come to Bliss in the early eighteen hundreds to marry the cowboys who worked the famous Arrington Ranch.

  Summer cared nothing about the history. And she especially didn’t care about Lucy Arr
ington, the woman who had placed her only child, Granny Bon, in an orphanage because she didn’t have enough guts to stand up to her family and raise Granny on her own.

  She might not care about Lucy Arrington or the history of Bliss, but what she did care about were the books Lucy had written. Or not all the books as much as the final book in the series that had just recently been found. Once the book was published, the royalties would be divided between Lucy Arrington’s living family members. Which included Summer and her family. The money would help her implement her plan to start an online business. But first she needed to get her ducks in a row.

  She had made a mistake by jumping into the retail clothing business without putting much thought into it, and she wasn’t about to make the same mistake. She had spent hours researching other online clothing companies, and she knew there was tons of money to be made. All she needed was a little help from someone who had been successful starting an online company. She’d tried getting her brother to help, but he’d refused. He had fronted them the money to open Seasons’ clothing store, and he claimed the store had caused nothing but fights between his sisters. True, she and her sisters had fought about how to run the store. But they fought about everything. That was what sisters did.

  The sign for Bliss Motor Lodge appeared, and she slowed and pulled into the parking lot. The rooms at the motel were set up in twos with a carport on either side. The carports now held vending and ice machines while the occupants’ cars were parked in front of the rooms. A slick gray sports car was parked in front of room seven. The kind of car that went from zero to sixty in seconds. The exact type of car she planned on buying when she made her first million.

  Not wanting to alert Ryker, she parked a few rooms down. She was halfway around the front of her mustang when she remembered the tequila. She went back and got the bottle. She hoped a little alcohol would loosen Ryker up. That’s if she could get him to let her inside long enough to pour him a glass.

  Her plan was to hold up the bottle of tequila and say something like “Since you left the party, I decided to bring the party to you.” But when Ryker opened the door, her brain got short circuited by a pair of defined pectoral muscles and a ripped stomach that Granny Bon could’ve scrubbed clothes on.

  “Holy crap,” she said. “You’ve got muscles.”

  Dear Reader,

  Thank you so much for reading Spring Texas Bride. I hope you enjoyed Waylon and Spring’s story as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you did, please help other readers find this book by telling a friend or writing a review. Your support is greatly appreciated.

  Love,

  Katie

  Also by Katie Lane

  Be sure to check out all the books in Katie Lane’s

  The Brides of Bliss Texas series!

  Shop Now! http://www.katielanebooks.com/category/books/

  * * *

  Spring Texas Bride (April 2018)

  Coming soon….

  Summer Texas Bride (June 2018)

  Autumn Texas Bride (September 2018)

  Christmas Texas Bride (November 2018)

  * * *

  Other series by Katie Lane

  * * *

  Tender Heart Texas:

  Falling for Tender Heart

  Falling Head Over Boots

  Falling for a Texas Hellion

  Falling for a Cowboy’s Smile

  Falling for a Christmas Cowboy

  * * *

  Deep in the Heart of Texas:

  Going Cowboy Crazy

  Make Mine a Bad Boy

  Catch Me a Cowboy

  Trouble in Texas

  Flirting with Texas

  A Match Made in Texas

  The Last Cowboy in Texas

  My Big Fat Texas Wedding (novella)

  * * *

  Overnight Billionaires:

  A Billionaire Between the Sheets

  A Billionaire After Dark

  Waking up with a Billionaire

  * * *

  Hunk for the Holidays:

  Hunk for the Holidays

  Ring in the Holidays

  Unwrapped

  * * *

  Anthologies:

  Small Town Christmas (Jill Shalvis, Hope Ramsay, Katie Lane)

  All I Want for Christmas is a Cowboy (Jennifer Ryan, Emma Cane, Katie Lane)

  About the Author

  Katie Lane is a USA Today Bestselling author of the Deep in the Heart of Texas, Hunk for the Holidays, Overnight Billionaires, Tender Heart Texas, and The Brides of Bliss Texas series. She lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with her cute cairn terrier Roo and her even cuter husband Jimmy.

  * * *

  For more on her writing life or just to chat, check out Katie here:

  Facebook www.facebook.com/katielaneauthor

  Instagram www.instagram.com/katielanebooks.

  And for information on upcoming releases and great giveaways, be sure to sign up for her mailing list at www.katielanebooks.com!