Belonging to Bandera by Tina Leonard Read Free Book Online

Although some of them had become pretty good at executing. “What business will you do now?”
    “I haven’t decided, but,” she said, putting her purse away and pulling out the map again, “if that woman can run a motorcycle shop, I can do something beside plan weddings. I’m changing my whole life.”
    “Hmm.”
    She glanced up at him. “And you?”
    “My life is fine. But I really didn’t have an epiphany like you did. I just enjoyed the cat and the cookies.”
    “Yes, you did. Which surprised me. I didn’t see you being such a hearth and home kind of man. I thought cowboys were adventurers of the West.”
    He sighed. “I do not want to adventure. I want to find my brother and get him home. He’s the adventurer in the family, and it’s really getting me down. If he’d just stay in one place—”
    “Oh, broken hearts sometimes mean traveling feet. I’m a prime example.” She tapped the map. “All these squiggly lines on here represent destinations I’ve never been. So I’m going.”
    “But your heart’s not broken,” he said, hoping he was right. He really didn’t want her thinking about ol’ Chuck. The only reason Bandera could think about her ex with any degree of rationality was because he knew the poor sap hadn’t traveled to any of her physical destinations.
    Like that fanny he’d been examining earlier. It was virgin territory, so to speak—unclaimed, unconquered.
    He really, really liked thinking about her that way.
    “But it could have been broken,” she said, interrupting his spell. “I just got lucky that you came along.”
    “Lucky?”
    “Well, you’re so much more fun than Cousin Mike. I’d much rather travel with you.” She smiled at him, and dimples blossomed again beside her lips.
    Bandera’s heart jumped. Dimples and a sexy butt.
    Except she had him in the same traveling-companion category as Cousin Mike. That wasn’t good for his ego.
    “Look,” he said, “your cousin was okay, but I’m not your cousin. Or your friend. We’re strangers.”
    “True.” She began pulling the twinkly things and pins out of her hair. Strand by strand, her hair camedown. He gulped nervously. He’d never watched a woman take her hair down before. It was an awful lot like a prelude to taking off her clothes.
    He really wanted her to consider taking off her clothes for him.
    “But I feel safe with you,” she said. “Somehow you seem almost like family.”
    “You’re wrong,” he said. “Think of me more as the big bad wolf waylaying you on the way to Grandma’s house.”
    She reached to release another strand. “But you rescued me. I can’t envision you as the big bad anything.”
    Yeah, well, his mouth was dry from thinking about all the tempting charms she had under her top and shorts. She had sexy legs and—
    “You don’t look like you feel well,” she said, putting her hair doodads in her purse. “Your eyes are glassy.”
    He glanced away. “I’m all right.”
    “Do you want me to drive so you can rest?”
    “I’m fine!” he snapped. “At least I was until you got my mind off my responsibilities.”
    “Look at that!” she exclaimed, pointing up ahead. “Hot air balloons!”
    Two brightly colored hot air balloons floated over the highway. Bandera squinted up at them. “There must be a festival somewhere, because there’s another one over there.”
    “I want to ride in a hot air balloon,” she said softly. “I want to float for a while and gaze down on the beautiful earth.”
    He looked at her. He reminded himself of the task at hand, bringing Mason home. And he drove past the grounds where a steady stream of vehicles were turning in to the Berryland Hot Air Balloon Festival.
    Holly didn’t say a word. She just stared out the window at the balloons, the dogs on leashes and the casually dressed people enjoying a day at the fair.
    Bandera gripped the steering wheel. He estimated he was about an hour behind Mason. If he kept going, he could probably get to