Free One Hot Cowboy Wedding by Carolyn Brown Page B

Pearl whispered.
    “Yes, ma’am,” Jasmine said.
    “I love a party. Do I get to come?” Gemma asked.
    “Me too. Who is Marcella?” Liz asked.
    “Momma’s cousin who fancies herself a wedding planner. I swear she has every wedding magazine sub-scription for the past five decades and if there is anything newfangled she wil fit it into the wedding. You can bet we’l have a unity candle; we’l scat er sand with our parents to blend two families together; we will have a fancy prayer bench to kneel on while the preacher OneHotCowboyWedding.indd 69
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    blesses the rings; you name it and we wil have it. It will take two hours to marry us and five hours worth of reception if Marcella has her way. She says anything as expensive as a wedding should be memorable.”
    “Jesus!” Ace said.
    “He can’t help you, honey. But if you want Marcella to invite Him, she will and Momma will demand that God let Him attend,” Jasmine said.
    Gemma threw her hand over her head. “Girl, I’m pretty good at stayin’ on a bronc’s back long enough to win, but I’m not so sure about dodgin’ lightnin’ bolts.” Jasmine could vouch for the fact that God was takin’
    care of heavier matters than weddings and blasphemy that day. “You and Austin are bridesmaids, and I may need to get out the phone book to have enough women beside me to make Momma happy. She will insist that all of Ace’s brothers serve as groomsmen and then there is Rye and Wil, so I’l need lots of bridesmaids. And Momma loves taffeta!”
    Pearl shuddered. “Please not apricot- colored.”
    “That’s Momma’s favorite.” Jasmine shouldn’t have taken pleasure in tormenting Pearl when she was nine months pregnant, but she damn sure couldn’t share the real story with her. And it was the first time anything happened in Jasmine’s entire life that she couldn’t share, so Pearl could just be miserable with her over the color of the dresses. It was a small price for a friend to pay.
    Ace squeezed her waist. “How many? Did you say all my brothers? I was thinking maybe just Wil and Rye.”
    “Momma may decide we need a dozen of each. It ain’t legal unless it’s registered in the great state of Texas and has enough bridesmaids and groomsmen to OneHotCowboyWedding.indd 70
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    fill up the whole front of the church. And it’s a big wide church, let me tell you. Momma ain’t havin’ grandkids that are results of a questionable marriage license. It could be they might want to run for president and a Las Vegas marriage license wouldn’t be worth the paper it’s written on.”
    “For real? Are you kiddin’?” Gemma asked.
    Jasmine pointed at Pearl. “It’s the pure unadulterated God’s honest truth. You better have those twins next week.”
    Rye clapped a hand on Ace’s shoulder. “We had no idea you two were even seeing each other.”
    “Or that you were thinkin’ about getting married.
    Was it a big surprise, real y a surprise, when you won that package deal at the chapel?” Austin asked.
    Rye and Austin had only been married a couple of years. She’d inherited a watermelon farm over in Terral, just five miles from Ringgold, across the Red River into Oklahoma. She’d intended to come to southern Oklahoma and sell the place, but Rye lived across the road and she fel in love with him and the watermelon farm.
    All of the O’Donnell men— Rye, Dewar, and Raylen—
    were tall, dark- haired cowboys that had a swagger in their walk and a drawl in their talk. Handsome beyond description, they were. But not a one of them made Jasmine’s pulse race like Ace did when he took her hand in his.
    Raylen patted Ace on the back. “Ace has always been the sneaky one of the bunch.”
    “You got a lot of room saying that,” Dewar said.
    Raylen grinned. “Guess I do. Me and Liz pulled off a sneaky wedding too, didn’t we?”
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    Carolyn