Betting on Texas. Amanda Renee

have pancakes and sausage.” Jesse scowled, daring her to challenge him.

      “You got it. They’ll be out in a few.” Bridgett winked at Jesse again as she walked toward the kitchen.

      “I could have ordered for myself.” Miranda grabbed a napkin from the dispenser and wiped the table. “I’m on a diet.”

      “You look fine.” Jesse snatched the napkin from her hands. “And you’re going to need a big breakfast to get through today.”

      Miranda slumped backward in the booth. Every so often, someone would turn and stare at her.

      “What are they all looking at?” Miranda said between clenched teeth.

      “The person who stole my ranch. I told you. All of Ramblewood was behind me on this.”

      While Jesse appreciated the support he received from the townsfolk, he wasn’t prepared for all the glaring and whispering he was seeing before him. Maybe coming here wasn’t such a good idea after all.

      “Well, they don’t have to be so rude about it.” Miranda’s voice rose.

      “Would you pipe down?” He reached for her hands across the top of the table.

      “I will not pipe down!” she shouted. “Who do you think you are bossing me around every ten seconds? I’m really getting tired of it.”

      Embarrassed, Jesse squeezed Miranda’s hands in his and tried to soothe her.

      “I’m sorry. Please, calm down.”

      Jesse wanted nothing more than to leave the luncheonette. He had more than his fill of this mouthy northerner for one morning. Bringing her here was a mistake.

      “Is it true you bought Double Trouble so you could turn it into a housing development?”

      Jesse hung his head. This couldn’t have come at a worse time. Why had he ever told Charlotte Hargrove what he thought the new owner’s plans were?

      Because you know she has a big mouth and would tell the whole town.

      Miranda slowly scanned the prim woman standing before her. Jesse held his breath sensing a major blowout was about to take place.

      “What did you ask me?” Miranda released herself from Jesse’s grasp.

      Miranda’s words were slow and deliberate. Jesse watched the heat rise in her face and her pupils dilate. Ready to do battle.

      “The way I hear it, you’re turning Double Trouble into a housing development.”

      The entire room grew quiet. All eyes focused on Miranda.

      “Look, I don’t know who you are—”

      “Charlotte,” Jesse interrupted. “I don’t think now is the time to discuss this.”

      “No! I want to hear what she has to say.” Miranda eyed Jesse warily. “Tell me...Charlotte, is it? What else have you heard?”

      “You’re going to ruin a century’s worth of history by tearing apart Double Trouble.”

      “Now, I wonder where you could have heard that from.” Miranda slid out of the booth.

      “Miranda, please sit down.” Jesse tried to grab her hand but she snatched it away.

      “May I have your attention please?” Miranda addressed the luncheonette. “As if I don’t already.”

      Jesse crossed his arms in front of him on the table and lowered his head. His plan backfired. Breakfast was supposed to relax her. To prepare her for the day ahead. He even wanted to learn a little more about her. It wasn’t supposed to be a free-for-all in the middle of town.

      “Not that my plans are any of your concern, but I would like to set the record straight.”

      Brace yourself. This is going to be a doozy.

      Everyone in The Magpie hung on Miranda’s every word.

      “I didn’t buy Double Trouble to build a housing development. I bought it to live on,” Miranda said in a calm, steady voice. “And if any of you have a problem with that, deal with it!”

      So much for calm.

      Jesse glared at Miranda when she sat down. He couldn’t believe what he had just witnessed. The entire town would catch wind of it in a half hour flat.

      “I hope you realize you succeeded in making a first-class fool of yourself.”

      “Me?” Miranda snarled. “You, sir, succeeded in making a fool out of me long before I came to town.”

      Bridgett approached with plates of food. She stood at the edge of the table, uncertain whether to place them down or retreat to the kitchen.

      “Regardless, you could have handled the situation with tact instead of acting like a spoiled rotten child.”

      “Spoiled? You know nothing about me.”

      “I know enough to see you blew into town and knocked me right off a ranch I had worked hard for.”

      “Once and for all, it was not my fault. You should have bid higher.”

      “I didn’t have the money!” Jesse stood up, threw some bills on the table. Bridgett stepped aside to avoid toppling her plates. “I don’t need this.”

      Miranda stood, causing Bridgett to step in the opposite direction, almost dropping everything this time.

      “Where do you think you’re going?” Miranda chased after him as he walked through the door.

      “Away from you!” Jesse yelled over his shoulder as he threw her the truck keys. “Have fun finding your way back to the ranch.”

      On the sidewalk, Miranda turned to see everyone in the luncheonette watching her through the window.

      “What are you looking at?” she yelled, and motioned them away with her arms. “You’ll pay for this, Mr. Langtry!”

      Chapter Four

      Clouds of dust rose behind Miranda’s pickup truck as she barreled down the ranch road full throttle. She skidded to a stop beside the back porch, just in time to hear her furniture slide forward with an incredible bang.

      “Shoot!”

      When the dust settled, three stunned faces appeared on the porch stairs. Mable, Beau Bradley and someone else Miranda assumed to be Aaron stood midstep, with her new buffet in hand.

      Wonderful! Another audience.

      She had no intention of making a scene after the one she’d made at The Magpie. While keeping a calm and level head was never her forte, the least she could do was smile pretty and be a gracious host to her guests. Especially when they were kind enough to drop off the remainder of her wares from the yard sale.

      “Howdy, folks!” Miranda waved as she hopped down from the truck. “Don’t mind me. I was just antiquing the furniture here. I want it to have an old, worn look to it.”

      As if frozen in time, they continued to stare, jaws dropped. Mable was the first to break the ice brigade.

      “I heard you had quite a morning at The Magpie.”

      Oh, geez! It wasn’t even a half hour ago! “Where’d you hear that?”

      “Beau told me.” Pity filled Mable’s eyes. “Word travels fast in these parts, dear. Ever heard the phrase, ‘faster than small town gossip’?”

      It seems The Magpie lived up to its name, Miranda thought.

      “But... Oh, who cares.” She climbed the stairs so she could hold the door open for them. “Those people don’t mean a thing to me. Let them think whatever they want.”

      Miranda stopped shy