She glanced over at the Brennan side and locked gazes with Quaid. There were no daggers, but he was not smiling. His jaw was set firmly, and the look in his pretty eyes said that he still had a lot of fight in him. A cold chill chased down her spine. Surely the two families wouldn’t do anything to take Sawyer out of the picture.

Sawyer’s hand covered hers in the narrow space between them and squeezed gently. Could he read her mind? Was he assuring her that he could take care of whatever the Brennans threw at them?

She tried to listen to the sermon, but starting in the middle didn’t work so well, so she looked at the Gallagher side of the church. Be damned if Betsy wasn’t eyeballing Sawyer like she had something pornographic in mind. Before Jill could blink, Betsy caught her eye and smiled. She made a pistol with her thumb and forefinger, aimed it at Jill, and snapped it as if she’d pulled the trigger. Then her eyes shifted to Sawyer, and she blew him a kiss off the tips of her fingers.

Holy freakin’ shit! The Gallaghers are going to shoot me, and the Brennans are going to do away with Sawyer.

Gladys poked her on the arm. “What’s goin’ on?”

Jill shrugged. “Just my overactive imagination, I’m sure.”

She kept her eyes straight ahead until the preacher finally asked them to stand for the benediction that Quaid Brennan would deliver. Sawyer did not drop her hand when they were on their feet but held it firmly for the whole congregation to see.

Immediately Finn and Callie turned toward them, and Callie asked, “Hey, y’all want to try again for dinner at Salt Draw with us today? And while I’m thinking about it, you want to go to the antique show in Gainesville next Sunday?”

Sawyer held up her hand. “We have a date, so we’ll have to take another rain check.”

“And, yes, for next Sunday,” Jill told Callie.

“Maybe we can invite these cowboys and make it a double date next Sunday,” Callie suggested.

“Shopping?” Finn raked his hands through his dark hair. “The only way I’ll agree is if Sawyer does. Otherwise, it’s going to be a long Sunday afternoon nap for me.”

“I’ll go,” Sawyer said quickly.

Gladys raised an eyebrow. “Two dates in as many weeks?”

“It would be three,” Jill said, “but we’ll have to work the bar on Friday night. If we didn’t, I might ask Sawyer to go with me to the Valentine’s party.”

“And I’d refuse,” Sawyer said seriously.

Jill cocked her head to one side. “Why?”

“Because I don’t want none of that speed-dating shit that Quaid and Kinsey have come up with. I don’t trust them. I’d rather sling burgers behind the bar with you all evening as do that stuff. Let’s have a Valentine’s party of our own at the bar on Saturday night. We’ll talk to Polly about it.”

“You’re going on a real date?” Callie’s daughter, Olivia, asked.

“Yes, we are.” Sawyer grinned.

“Is Jill going to wear a fancy dress like Mama did when she went on a real date with Daddy?” Olivia’s eyes glittered at the memory.

“How fancy was it?” Jill asked.

“It was the Christmas parties at Wild Horse and at River Bend,” Callie explained.

“I don’t think I’ll get that dressed up for a dinner date,” Jill said.

“When you do go to a party like that, will you come over to Salt Draw and let me see you? Mama looked like a princess,” Olivia said.

“I will, and I bet your mama did look beautiful,” Jill said.

“She was the queen, not just a princess,” Adam said shyly.

“Yes, she was.” Finn grinned.

It was the smile that said Finn and Sawyer were related. Jill wondered as they moved along with the congregation to the front of the church if maybe it hadn’t been the smile that had captured Callie’s heart in the very beginning. It certainly had been that quality that she first noticed.

No, it wasn’t. It was the way he filled out those jeans, and those dark eyes that bored right into your soul, her inner voice argued.

She let the sassy voice have the last word, because she couldn’t very well do battle with the truth. Besides, today was going to be perfect. No Gallaghers. No Brennans. No feud. Not even the faintest whiff of a pig war. It was the first date with Sawyer, and first dates were always exciting.

Even when you’ve already had sex?

She smiled and thought, So, I got things backwards. Maybe that’s what it takes to make something work. God only knows, I did it all the right way before, and it didn’t last.

She refused to listen to any more doubts and fears. “So where are we going for dinner?”

“You like Tex-Mex, American, or barbecue better?” he asked.

“Tex-Mex sounds really good,” she said.

“Then Chili’s it is.” He grinned. “Need anything from the bunkhouse before we go?”

“Not a single thing.” She smiled up at him.

“I thought we might catch a matinee afterwards. You’ve got a choice of six. I’ll even promise to stay awake in a chick flick if that’s what you choose.” He guided her toward the pickup with a hand on her back.

She wore a chocolate-brown corduroy skirt that morning with a matching jacket. She’d chosen it because it reminded her of the color of Sawyer’s eyes. The pointed-toed, heavily detailed cowboy boots were stitched in turquoise that matched the turtleneck sweater she wore under a jacket.

“Have I told you today that you look mighty fetchin’ in that outfit?” he said as he opened the door for her.

“Only three times,” she answered.

“Well, then make it four.”

After he shut the door, he rounded the front of the truck, climbed inside, and started the engine. “So what is it that you like in the Mexican line of food?”

“All of it, from enchiladas to tacos and everything in between. I don’t think I told you before, but my mama is half Latino. My grandmother was a Torres from just over the border in Mexico.”

“Does she make good tamales?” he asked.

“Oh, yes, she did, but she passed away. Haven’t had decent ones since.”

“My mama makes all the Mexican food, but I’m real fond of her tamales. I don’t eat them in restaurants, because they can’t begin to compare to hers,” he said. “They’re coming up here in the spring to see Fiddle Creek, so maybe we’ll talk her into making tamales for us while she is here.”

Jill’s gut clenched up in a knot. “This is our first date, Sawyer. It’s too early to talk about taking me home to meet Mama.”

“I’m not. She’s not coming to Burnt Boot to meet you, Jill. She’s coming to see me.” He grinned. “We are too busy with all that’s on our plate, so the family is coming to Burnt Boot for Easter weekend. We might even have an Easter egg hunt out in the pasture behind the bunkhouse. Depends on whether Finn’s folks all make the trip too.”

“Where are they all going to stay? We don’t have a single two-bit motel in Burnt Boot,” she asked.

“They have RVs. Remember, we’re a rodeo family, so we have trailers and RVs. All they’ll need is an electricity outlet, and they’re set to go,” he answered. “Don’t get your little Irish knickers in a wad, darlin’. They’ll love you. Now tell me something more about this double date you and Callie have cooked up for next Sunday.”

“The antique stores and a lot of the little downtown places have a romance weekend planned, with sales and sidewalk sales if the weather permits,” she said.

“So you like antiques?”

“Old things, like old people, have such personality. Someday when I have a home, I want to furnish all of it in either handmade furniture or those with stories behind them. Imagine telling your child that the chair in the corner was the one that your grandma sat in when she read her Bible in the evenings by a kerosene lamp.”

He nosed into a parking spot in the crowded lot beside Chili’s and turned to face her. “I like that idea, Jill. Mama has an old buffet in the dining room that her grandpa made. It’s pretty rustic, but there’s something settling and homey about the old thing. But what I like even better is that we’re going out today as a couple.”