The Accidental Bride by Denise Hunter

Wade’s wife.”
    He is not standing behind me . Shay turned and followed a long denim leg upward.
    Travis stood behind her with Wade. Towering over her. She stood, dusted off her rear end, and crossed her arms. She wasn’t going to look.
    â€œShay, I’m sure you know Travis,” Wade said. “Seeing as how you just got married and all.”
    â€œHa, ha,” Abigail said, a bit too animated. “Cute, honey.”
    â€œWe went to school together,” Shay said.
    â€œActually,” Travis said, “we were high school sweethearts.”
    She looked. He’d changed into a black T-shirt and faded jeans and wore his cowboy hat. Too bad the bolo tie was gone. She’d missed her chance.
    â€œActually”—Shay fixed her eyes on Travis—“we were engaged. He left me at the altar.”
    â€œOh, uh, I see.” Wade pocketed his hands, looked helplessly at Abigail.
    â€œNow, where’d Maddy and Olivia run off to?” Abigail said. “Those girls. Always running off somewhere.”
    â€œYou asked them to fetch you a lemonade.” Beau approached the group and handed Shay the Coke she’d requested. He looked between the three of them. “Did I interrupt something?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œNot a thing!” Abigail said.
    Travis nodded Beau’s way. “Meyers. Good to see you.”
    â€œMcCoy.” Beau gave him a reluctant nod and draped his arm around Shay’s shoulders.
    The action was ornery and gutsier than she would’ve given Beau credit for. Just because she could, Shay let his arm rest there. Her eyes flickered to Travis, but he’d turned to watch the Silver Spurs. A shadow flickered across his jaw.
    The moment drew out, none of them wanting to sit because doing so would be rude without issuing Travis an invitation. And no one wanted that kind of awkwardness.
    Abigail surrendered to the pressure first. “Travis, would you like to—”
    Shay cut her off with a sharp glance.
    â€œI should take off,” Travis said. “Promised Mrs. Teasley I’d judge the huckleberry pies.”
    â€œTough gig,” Wade said.
    Travis shrugged, backing away. “Somebody’s gotta do it. See y’all later.”
    His gaze swung to Shay one last time, that lazy grin tugging one side of his mouth.
    A big butterfly flopped over in her belly.
    Then he turned and walked away, fading into the darkness.
    â€œSome nerve,” Beau muttered.
    They sank down onto the blanket, and Shay put enough space between them to fit a pregnant hog.

9
    S hay got out of the truck and stepped out into the tall grass. Coming around the other side, Olivia wiped away the trickle of sweat that rolled down her temple.
    She only had a few more salt blocks to drop, then the cattle would be set on minerals for the week.
    â€œYou’re done, munchkin. Why don’t you run home and see if Maddy wants to come over?”
    Olivia hopped into the bed and pushed the heavy salt block toward the tailgate. “We’re not finished.”
    Her daughter had done nothing but work all day, all week. Some summer vacation. And soon they’d be booted off their property. Shay hadn’t broken the news to her yet, didn’t know what she was waiting for.
    She grabbed the fifty-pound salt block. “I’m almost done. Go do something fun.”
    It wouldn’t take her long to finish, and the smile on Olivia’s face as she wheeled away and jogged toward the house was worth it.
    Shay walked the block over to the cattle and set it on the ground. “Lick away, girls.”
    She’d forgotten how much Manny had done around here, but it was coming back to her in the form of sore muscles and calloused hands.
    Long as her hours were, they did nothing to alleviate the growing pile of bills. She’d put off her creditors as long as she dared, and still the foreclosure loomed. At this point, selling cattle was pointless,