Page 60 of Knox
She nodded, and he wove his fingers between hers, glancing over at Tate who was finishing off his beer and laughing at something Glo said. He led Kelsey through the bar all the way to the entrance.
The stars hung high, scattered pixie dust across the arc of the Montana sky. To the west, the Garnet Mountains rose in a dark, jagged outline. A breeze raked up the scent of the ranchland around them. Kelsey shivered.
Aw, shoot, maybe he should have…
“I saw a blanket in your truck,” she said, glancing up at him.
Right. “Yeah. Uh. Ma keeps it there in case…uh…the weather can be unpredictable in Montana…”
Way to go, Knox. Bring your mother into the conversation.
He headed for the truck, however, and pulled out the ancient fringed stadium blanket. Wrapped it around her shoulders. She leaned against the truck, looking at the stars, and almost on reflex he went around to the back and opened the tailgate. Then he climbed onto the back and held out his hand.
She cocked her head for a moment, then took his hand. He lifted her up, catching the blanket before it fell. She dropped the blanket on the bed and sat on it, leaning back on her hands.
He considered for a moment and then took a chance, settled down behind her, tucking her between his legs, his arms around her shoulders, and pulled her back against his chest.
She sighed and hung her hands on his forearms.
“Still cold?” he asked.
“Not so much.”
Oh, he wanted to kiss her. Could hardly believe, however, that he’d somehow ended up with her in his arms.
And then she started to hum. The vibration tunneled through him, the song light in the breeze. He recognized it.
But you don’t know if you don’t start
He heard the words in his head.
So wait…for one true heart…one true heart…
Her hair tangled in the wind, and he couldn’t help it—he caught it and pulled it away from her face, tucked it behind her ear. Which left her neck open for him to kiss.
He’d almost talked himself into it when she said, “Glo wrote that song.”
Huh? Oh. “Really?”
“Yeah. It was after her first—only—true love died overseas. He was a soldier. It hurts too much for her to sing it, so I do. But it was our first big hit. Our only big hit…”
“You’ll have more.”
“I wish I could write songs like Glo, or even Dixie. I guess it takes a sort of vulnerability and poetry I don’t have.”
“You have it onstage. There’s a poetry to the way you woo people. You’re a showman, for sure, but…you draw the crowd in. That takes a special kind of vulnerability.”
“People compare us to the Dixie Chicks, but I don’t want to wear their label. We need our own voice, something authentic…”
“I liked what I heard at the concert.”
She glanced up at him. “I nearly forgot the words when I saw you standing in the audience.”
“You saw me?”
“You’re hard to miss, Knox Marshall. All shining knight with a little Marshal Dillon thrown in.”
“You knowGunsmoke?”