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toward the backseat and spoke to her dogs. “Hang onto your ears, boys.” She whizzed into the parking lot and came to a heart-stopping halt right in front of the plate glass window of the store. Another three feet would have put them on the shelf with the Hershey bars and the Baby Ruths.
    Hallie pressed her horn, and The Eyes of Texas Are Upon You shattered the air. Raymond came out of the store, laughing.
    “I knew that was you the minute you turned in.” He grinned at Josh. “She beats all I ever saw. Hallie can stir up more excitement than a nest full of hornets.” With a gallant sweep, Raymond opened her door and helped her out. “What can I do for you this beautiful day, Miss Hallie?”
    “We’re going picnicking, Raymond. Got any food?”
    Raymond slapped his thigh and hooted. “Lord, she’s a sight,” he said to Josh. “Always clowning around. Got any food? Why, I got a store full of food. Special prices just for you and your young fellow. Come on inside.” Inside the store, he scrutinized Josh while Hallie rummaged around. “Say, are you the young fellow was in here the other day asking about the fishing up at Armadillo Cove?”
    “I’m the one.” Josh stuck out his hand and reintroduced himself. “Josh Butler.”
    Raymond scratched his head. “I’m gettin’ so old I can’t remember names anymore. Seems like I heard that name somewhere else though.”
    “You probably did. Butler is a pretty common name.” Raymond was still trying to remember, and Josh hurried on before he could say anything else. “The fish have been biting pretty well for Hallie, but I can’t seem to catch a thing. She tells me I’m using the wrong bait.” He didn’t want his cover blown with Hallie—not today, of all days.
    “I got a red and white spinner bait over here that the bass would kill each other to get to. Let me show you.”
    Josh grinned as they passed by Hallie. She was studying the selection of chips as if world peace hung on her choice.
    Raymond noticed too. “Better get plenty of corn chips, Hallie. If you don’t, Josh will have to be comin’ back for more.” He led them past the pickles to his rack of fishing plugs. “That woman’s a sight. Can eat her weight in corn chips and still not gain an ounce. Must be all that rodeoing she does.”
    “Hallie rodeos?”
    “Lord, yes. Wins prizes too. Why one time down in San Antone . . .”
    “Telling my secrets, Raymond?” Hallie appeared beside them, her arms loaded with bags of chips.
    “I was just fixin’ to tell about that rodeo down in San Antone.”
    “Don’t stop now. This is fascinating.” Josh took Hallie’s load of chips from her.
    Raymond quirked his eyebrows at Hallie. “I broke my big toe,” she said. “Not in the line of duty, but climbing over the fence. For embarrassment it ranked right up there with losing my fairy godmother skirt in the second grade play.”
    Both Raymond and Josh chuckled, then Raymond left them to their own devices.
    “Chips make great picnic fare, Hallie, but I hunger for something more substantial.”
    She didn’t know why she suddenly thought of kissing. It probably was because the white shirt he wore was unbuttoned at the top enough for her to see a good portion of his chest. She’d had a wicked urge to taste that golden skin ever since he’d shown up at her campsite with the bluebonnets.
    “Bread,” she said. “We need bread. Which do you prefer, white or brown?”
    “Wholewheat.” He lifted a loaf off the shelf. “It has more taste and body.”
    “My sentiments exactly.”
    Together they selected coldcuts and cheese and wine, then they got into her car and whizzed back to the lake. Hallie parked the car and the four of them set off afoot to find the bluebonnets.
    It was almost one-thirty by time they got to the meadow Hallie’s dogs immediately went off on another wild rabbit chase, while she and Josh spread their picnic among the thick carpet of flowers.
    Josh poured the wine into