Free Texas Pride by Bárbara McCauley Page A

beside the barn, while the other two followed Dylan back to the hotel to work on the wiring. Jessica kept busy salvaging a good portion of what the men were tossing out, determined that not one original nail or screw be thrown away.
    Dylan had reappeared at the noon break, but when she offered to make him a sandwich, he frowned and waved her off, telling her he had to go into town for supplies and wouldn’t be back until much later in the day, after he had dinner in town, he added dryly. She felt a twinge of guilt, but was too tired and too busy to discuss the issue. Be that way, she said silently as she watched him drive away in her pickup. She had more things on her mind right now than a hot-tempered cantankerous male.
    But now that the crew had all left and the sun had begun its slow descent, Jessica sank into the back church pews that had been salvaged and found she couldn’t do anything but think about that hot-tempered cantankerous male and wonder when he’d return.
    Closing her eyes, she settled back on the hard oak seat and sighed. Hannibal curled beside her and sighed, too. After a long busy day investigating all the strangers, the dog was as exhausted as his mistress.
    Jessica was used to being alone in Makeshift. She’d never wanted anyone else here. So why, then, did she feel such a strange sense of loneliness, and how could she suddenly be anxious for someone to be here with her?
    And it wasn’t just anyone, she acknowledged reluctantly. It was Dylan.
    It was crazy. She barely knew the man. And what she knew of him should make her not want to know him, at least not beyond anything of a professional nature. Settling down wasn’t in the man’s profile.
    She thought of the kiss they’d shared and couldn’t stop the shiver that passed through her. No one had ever kissed her like that before, or at least she’d never responded to anyone like that before, not even to Bob, her one and only love affair after she’d graduated from college. He’d been another counselor at the Dallas-based youth center where she worked. It hadn’t taken Jessica long to realize that Bob had more problems than the kids, only he wasn’t looking for help; he was looking for a live-in maid.
    Sort of like Dylan, she thought with a frown.
    She couldn’t stop smiling as she remembered the expression on his face when she’d served him that horrible breakfast. She’d felt almost sorry for him. Almost.
    Eyes still closed, she forced Dylan from her mind and focused on the church. Makeshift was the most important thing to her. Bringing her dream to life was all that mattered.
    She ran her fingers over the smooth worn wood of the pew, wondering how many people had sat right here where she was. Her ancestors, all the townspeople, what it must have looked like on a Sunday morning...
    She could almost hear the steady clang-clang of the church bell, a choir singing “Amazing Grace,” greetings exchanged between the patrons and the whine of a child as his mother tugged his ear to sit still. The loving exchange between a couple about to be married...
    â€œOne week, my love. In this very church we’ll say our vows and you’ll be my wife forever.”
    â€œAnd you my husband. Forever.”
    Jessica smiled as she watched the man and woman in her daydream steal a kiss. They were so clear in her mind, as were the sights and sounds.
    And the smells. A delicious aroma wafted through her senses, so real it made her stomach growl and her mouth water. So real she breathed in deeply to capture the heavenly scent of—
    Hamburgers.
    Her eyes flew open. Dylan stood beside her, his gaze intent as he watched her. He carried a brown paper bag in his hand.
    â€œDid I wake you?” he asked.
    â€œOf course not,” she said curtly, irritated that he’d managed to sneak up on her like that. She glanced at Hannibal and frowned. Her watchdog was turning into a