The Rancher and the Runaway Bride and The Bluest Eyes in Texas Part 24

"If they can't-or won't-accept you as you are, they won't be my friends for long."

Burr sighed. "It won't work, Blue Eyes. We're too different."

"We both want the same thing," Lindsey argued. "Someone to love...someone who'll love us back. We could have that together, Burr. Nothing else matters."

"Now I know you've been living in an ivory tower. We wouldn't have a s...o...b..ll's chance in h.e.l.l of surviving the rebuke that would be leveled against us from all directions. Me for stepping out of my place, and you for stooping down from yours. Think of the headlines-Bluest Eyes In Texas To Wed Former Gang Thug, or Texas Ranger Nabs Bluest Eyes In Texas."

"If you don't want me, just say so."

"Wanting you has nothing to do with it! I want you like h.e.l.l. I'm just trying to be realistic about the situation."

"If your mind's made up, I don't suppose I can change it," Lindsey said. "But I'm stating here and now for the record that I think you're wrong. If you decide you want me bad enough to fight for me, you know where to find me."

She was out of the car and running inside the mansion before he had a chance to stop her. Not that he would have known what to say to her if he had. She was wrong. There was no way they could have a life together. He wasn't Prince Charming. He was an ordinary man with a slightly crooked nose and a snake tattoo and a few scars he had earned along the way. When the governor's blue-eyed daughter had recovered from the trauma of being kidnapped, of being held captive by a Ranger against her will, of being made love to for the first time, she would be glad he had bowed gracefully out of her life.

Lindsey threw herself into her father's embrace and sobbed with relief as his arms tightened securely around her.

"Are you all right, Lindsey?" he asked. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine, Dad," she managed between gulps as she fought back her tears. "It's just...it was awful! There was so much blood and those two men dead, and Burr...Oh, Dad!"

"I know sweetheart. I know. You'll be fine now. Nothing bad is ever going to happen to you again. I'll see to that." Lindsey heard the remorse in her father's voice that she had been forced to suffer through the kidnapping and his determination to protect her from harm in the future. She could feel the walls closing in on her. It was a gilded cage her father wanted her to inhabit, but it was still a cage. If the governor got his way, she would never see Burr again, that was for sure. A brilliant idea popped into Lindsey's head, and she acted on it.

"If it hadn't been for Lieutenant Covington, I would have been brutalized and blinded before I was murdered. He saved me, Dad. Isn't there something we can do for him? Some way to thank him?"

"I don't know. I'll have to think about it."

"Could we have some sort of ceremony and give him a medal? We could invite him to dinner, too, couldn't we?"

The speculative look her father gave her brought a telltale blush to Lindsey's cheeks.

"You seem to have gotten along pretty well with this Covington fellow."

"He saved my life," Lindsey repeated.

"Hmm."

Lindsey held her breath.

"All right. I'll talk to Captain Rogers and see if a commendation of some sort is appropriate."

"And we'll invite him to dinner?"

"Sure. Why not?"

BURR SLIPPED A FINGER into the collar of his tuxedo s.h.i.+rt and tried to loosen it. He felt like a mustang running with a herd of high-priced Thoroughbreds. He was wearing black cordovan dress shoes instead of boots, and his hair had been trimmed so much it curled at his nape. There was no earring in his ear and the snake tattoo was far out of sight. Except for his broken nose, he looked like most of the other men in tuxedos who had been invited to the governor's mansion for dinner.

Only, he was a fraud. They looked comfortable in the clothes they wore. They smiled and nodded and chatted with ease. He knew the moment he opened his mouth the wrong thing was going to come out. This wasn't his milieu. He would always be more comfortable in alleys than on streets.

He had learned from the captain that this reception in his honor was all Lindsey's idea, supposedly a way to repay him for what he had done.

"I was only doing my job," Burr had protested.

The captain hadn't been willing to take no for an answer. "You're going to dine as the governor's guest, and I don't want to hear any more argument!"

SO HERE HE WAS, ALL DRESSED UP and fighting the bit to be somewhere else.

"h.e.l.lo, stranger."

Burr turned and his breath caught in his throat. He had forgotten how beautiful she was. She was wearing a dress similar in style to the one she had been kidnapped in, only this one was black. He wondered fleetingly if she was wearing a black merry widow beneath it.

She smiled at him as though divining the direction his thoughts had taken. The look in her eyes made him want to haul her off somewhere and kiss her silly. He settled for taking the hand she extended and holding it in his own.

His thumb caressed her wrist, and he felt her pulse leap beneath his fingertips. "It's been a while," he managed to force past his constricted throat.

"Three weeks and two days."

"You've been counting?"

"Haven't you?"

He grinned. "Three weeks, two days, and eight hours."

"I've missed you." Lindsey couldn't take her eyes off Burr. The crisp white s.h.i.+rt contrasted against his tanned skin, and the black tux jacket emphasized his broad shoulders. He looked distinguished, but no less dangerous. For the first time in her very social life, Lindsey was incredibly nervous. She didn't know how to act and took her cues from Burr.

Burr ignored her invitation to admit to feelings that were only trouble. The orchestra at the far end of the ballroom had just begun a waltz, so he asked, "Would you like to dance?"

"I'd love to dance."

He led her into the waltz, a dance he knew because it was popular in country bars. But the count was the same, and she was as light on her feet as he was, so they moved easily around the dance floor.

"I didn't know you could dance so well," she said.

"There are lots of things you don't know about me."

"I'd like to learn."

Burr took a deep breath and let it out. "There's no time like the present, is there? Let me introduce myself. My name is Burr Covington. I'm a Texas Ranger. I grew up in Houston, but I've been a.s.signed to the office in Austin for the past two years."

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Covington," Lindsey said with a shy smile.

"Please call me Burr."

"I'd be pleased to...Burr. My name is Lindsey Major. People claim I have the bluest eyes in Texas, but they're greatly mistaken. They aren't blue at all. They're-"

"Lavender," Burr finished for her. "And what have you been doing to keep yourself busy these past few weeks, Miss Major?"

"Oh, please, call me...Blue Eyes."

"Well, Blue Eyes?" Burr said, a tender smile teasing his lips.

"I've been talking to my father about going back to college. I never finished my degree in journalism, you know. I've decided to return to Baylor in the fall."

"Then you can be the one to do the writing, instead of being written about."

"That thought has crossed my mind," she said with a mischievous smile.

"I just might be transferring to that area of Texas," Burr said.

"As a Texas Ranger?"

"Yeah. One of my rewards for saving the governor's daughter was my choice of a.s.signments. And I got a raise. So I was thinking about settling down and finding me a wife."

"Oh?"

"Would you by any chance be interested in the job?"

"Why, I think I might be willing to consider such a position. So long as you don't mind getting up every morning to the bluest eyes in Texas."

"No," Burr said as he pulled her close and lowered his mouth to hers. "I don't think I'll mind that at all."

ISBN: 978-1-4268-4542-0.

end.