All Chapters of LOVE IN TEXAS : Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

She narrowed hers. “I asked first.”He shook his head. “Mostly I don’t get it.”“Well, that’s all right. You’re not who they’re aiming for, anyway.”He gave her a half smile. “The rap music industry isn’t aiming for an audience of old has-beens?”Shannon tilted her head and studied him. “That’s not really how you see yourself, is it?”“Is that an interview question?”She groaned and barely stopped herself from stomping her foot. “There you go again, answering a question with a question.”“You answer a question with a complaint.” She laughed at him, and he made a face at her. “Carlucci, how’s it going?”Shannon nearly swallowed her tongue when she recognized the man who came and sat sideways, facing them, on the next bench down.“Pretty good. How about yourself?” Nick shook the man’s hand.“No complaints. I’m being nosy. Maybe it’s the newspaperman in me, but I believe I know your friend. It’s Malloy, isn’t it? Shannon Malloy?”Now she really was speechless. She had met Wade Harrison o

“Wade gave me a heads-up, so I lay low while they were here.”“How do you lay low in a town this size? What did you do, stay home?”He gave a wry laugh. “The first time, it was summer, so, yeah, I kept pretty close to home. But for the monument and the wedding, I had to be at school every day. We were shorthanded, and I had to spend some time at the elementary school, where Dixie’s boys go, so don’t think I wasn’t worried. But I kept out of everyone’s way. Drove instead of walked. If I had to walk, I stuck to back alleys.”Shannon shook her head. “All that trouble, and now here you are, a few weeks later.”“Huh. It’s one thing for the town to learn who I am. Most of them won’t care. But with that other group, the media and whatnot, I would have been plastered all over the place again. Just like last time.”“Just what did happen with the media? Oh—no. Don’t answer that.That’s an interview question. We’ll get to it tomorrow. Except you’ve got an appointment tomorrow.”He looked away an

The nursing-home inspection was not the ordeal Nick had feared. The inspection team consisted of Lon, a couple of town council members and a representative from the state’s fire safety board. And Nick, for whatever that was worth. The owner of the facility was there, as well, and the twostaff members designated as fire-safety staffers.Then, of course, there was the local media. The safety of the nursing- home residents warranted one reporter/photographer from the Tribute Banner—and Shannon. She came sidling up to Nick where he stood at the back of the group while the owner gave his spiel about how much he appreciated the city working to make the patients and building safe.As if she thought Nick didn’t realize she had entered the building and was standing beside him—not know? How could he not know when she walked into a room? He could be dead and he would know. Shannon nudged his arm with her shoulder.“What are you doing here?” he asked, keeping his voice low. “I’m thinking of an e

“You were wrong,” Shannon told her quietly.Shannon was still smiling over Deedra’s stunned silence followed by another endless stream of questions and demands about Nick, about her, about Nick and her, when the man in question knocked on her door.“Oh, my,” she said when she got a good look at him. The man cleaned up real nice, as her dad would have said. His dark gray suit accented the width of his shoulders, the length of his legs. The crisp white shirtcontrasted beautifully with his dark olive complexion, and the tie added the perfect touch of panache. “You look fabulous.”Nick goggled. “You took the words right out of my mouth.” Except, he thought, fabulous was way too poor a word for the vision of her. Her dress was plain, unadorned, unruffled black, long sleeved, high necked, ending just above her beautiful knees, and hugged every curve of her shapely body. Black three-inch heels made her legs look a mile and a half long.He knew he was staring, he just couldn’t seem to help h

“Why stunned? You have to know I’ve fallen in love with you.”“You have to know you’re not alone there, right? I’ve fallen just as far for you.”She trailed her fingers lightly over his cheek. “Well, then? Shouldn’t we do something about that?”“I can’t go back to New York.” “Will you tell me why?”He pulled back and eyed her critically. “Are you going to put this in your book?”“Not if you don’t want me to.”He thought about it a minute, then gave a single nod. “It’s hard to admit.Where I come from a guy does not talk about his feelings. A real man doesn’t have feelings.”Shannon nodded sadly. “I know exactly what you mean. I’m just luckier, because girls are expected to have feelings and it’s perfectly acceptable to let them out whenever and wherever. Usually.”“Not us. We were big, macho men. Firefighters, all three of us. It wasn’t just what we did, it was who we were. We were the job. Like you. You’re not a writer only when you’re actually writing, or sitting at your desk. You a