Back in the Saddle : (Jessica Brodie #1)

Chapter 8

Showered, not changed because I didn't make a habit of carrying around a knapsack on a stick, and wearing borrowed makeup, since Candace apparently did carry one, I stepped down, out of the plush trailer and into the night. A circling of men and one woman were there to greet me, all turning at my entrance, the glow from the light behind me illuminating their faces.

As my feet crunched against the dirt, there was a moment of silence dotted with an occasional neigh and the distant drum of bass. I nearly asked what I'd done before Candace broke the silence.

"Oh my God Jessica, I love what you did with your eye makeup! You have to show me!"

"It's just a smoky eye," I muttered, shuffling toward the group.

"Okay, entrance made, let's get cracking," Ty said with a laugh, stepping out of the group and stopping with his arm out and elbow crooked, as if it was 1806. On cue, Candace stepped forward and daintily threaded her hand through his arm. It was too dark to tell, but I had a feeling her face was bright red under her intense layer of makeup.

All eyes turned to me. No one stepped forward. My confidence shrunk by the second.

"What are y'all gawkin' at?" Tom's voice wafted into the scene, followed a second later by his body, dapper and suave in plaid and cowboy boots. It was a country suit. "Ah, Jessica, you look lovely. May I escort you?" He held out his arm.

Grateful, I nearly fell into him. "Thank you."

"You look beautiful tonight, my dear," he said in gentleman tones. He had been pre-programmed by his wife from years of marriage to notice when a woman tried to look good, then comment to that effect. I was grateful to William's mom.

"Why thank you, Tom," I replied.

Tom patted my hand. "Nonsense. I didn't think any of the boys would get around to telling you, but they are surely all thinking it. When they get older they will learn to speak up." I could hear the gentle smile in his voice.

It was a short walk to the dance hall, which was a big tent beyond the rodeo. We got to the ticket booth, and as I reached for my purse, Tom tsked.

"Now, now. The gentleman always pays."

He took out money and paid for the whole party. Being that no one had reached for wallets but me, everyone was expecting that.

Inside the tent were flimsy round tables dotting the packed dirt floor. Streamers hung limply in blue and white, and the bar, to which Tom headed shortly after taking drink orders, was nothing more than plywood and alcohol. There was a stage, which was cool, but the country music they were playing was not. Thank God for beer.

We didn't even have time for the first topic of conversation before Georgie found me.

"Well, well. If it ain't the purty lady and her bodyguards..."

Georgie was cleaned up, wearing his own country suit, and confidently standing like I had already consented to go home with him. That slipped a fraction when he met my expression, but bounced back easily. "Well now, boys. You can't have her all night!"

I turned back to my beer, feeling eyes burning a hole in my head. William was looking at me with a vexed expression. His eyes quickly moving from mine back to Georgie as soon as I made contact.

If he was under the impression I was going to turn back around and suck up to his friends while they mercilessly hit on me, his silver spoon was shoved too far up his backside. With that thought, and also with stubbornness taking over every inch of my fiber, I continued to glare at him as I slowly took a sip of my beer. I waited until his eyes glanced back, then widened in surprise, before I casually looked away.