I am a strong woman. I can do this. I will not fall into bed with him. It will be totally pretend. Her chin went up a notch higher with each silent statement.
Finally, she nodded. “We can give it a shot. But ground rules must be laid down. I will sit beside you in church. I will go to dinner with you, but this will be in name only and not for real.”
“Will you go honky-tonkin’ with me?” he asked.
“Hell, yeah! That’s what dating couples in this part of the world do, and then they go to church on Sunday to beg for forgiveness for what they did all weekend. But one beer is my limit and if you flirt with another woman while we are there, well, my fake temper is something no one wants to reckon with,” she said.
Deke sighed. “I’ve lost my wingman until the middle of the summer. Anyone for a game of Monopoly?”
Lizzy shook her empty beer bottle at him again and shook her head emphatically. “God, I hated playing that boring game every Sunday with Mitch and his cousin Grady. I’d rather clean house than play Monopoly, and everyone knows how much I hate cleaning.”
Allie kicked her on the hip. “You hypocrite. You made me play with y’all and acted like you loved every minute of it. What else did you hate?”
“Don’t get me started. Get out the cards and let’s play poker. I’m a bad girl, remember?” Lizzy grinned.
“Strip poker?” Toby asked.
“Not in your wildest dreams, cowboy.”
Chapter Four
Sweat poured off Toby as he raised the post driver and slammed it down on the metal fence post. Blake wasn’t far behind him with the barbed wire, stretching it as tight as fiddle strings. Toby was amazed at how much land Blake had cleared since he’d arrived at the Lucky Penny back in January. Forty acres was planted in alfalfa for winter hay and forty had beautiful grass growing for the cattle that Toby had brought with him when he moved to Dry Creek.
Now there was another forty cleared off and they were busy getting the new fence up around that. Herman Hudson and his sons’ chain saws sounded in the distance as they cleaned up the piles of mesquite to get the lumber for their wood yard. A hot summer breeze fluttered the leaves on the mesquite forest still covering the almost twelve hundred acres of the Lucky Penny.
“You’ve been pretty quiet. Thinkin’ about that deal you made with Lizzy?” Blake asked when they stopped for a break at noon on Monday. “Or were you picturing what it would’ve been like if Lizzy agreed to strip poker after all?”
“The way those girls played, they would’ve had us naked in no time.” Toby chuckled.
“No kidding,” Blake said. “Think you’ll be able to handle her as a girlfriend?”
Sitting in the shade of the pickup truck and eating from a bag of barbecued potato chips, Toby shook his head. “It’s only pretend. Just until I get Sharlene off my back.”
“Oh, yeah?” Blake hooked a finger in the tab on top of a can of soda, ripped it open, and handed it to his brother. “She’s tall, blond, and itchin’ to get you into bed. So what’s the big deal?”
“That girl is nothing but trouble. Once she gets her claws in, she’s damn sure not going to let go.” Toby drank heavily from the soda and set it down beside the truck tire. “Besides, this will force me to settle down at least until I get my toe in the door with the people like you did. It will be the longest damn few weeks of my life, but I’m a tough old cowboy. I can do the job.”
“It’s a hell of a long time, especially for you,” Blake said.
“You don’t think I can do it, do you?”
Blake removed the tab from another can and turned it up. “You haven’t been celibate that long since you were sixteen.”
“Guess we’ll see what happens. You want to put some money on the deal?” Toby asked.
Blake shook his head. “Not on your life. If you don’t keep the stray women out of your bed, Allie is going to shoot you for making her sister the laughingstock of the town again. If you do stay celibate, you’re going to be an old bear and drive me insane. So, no, sir! I do not want to bet either way.”
Toby finished the chips and tossed the empty bag into the back of the truck. “Are you happy? Really, really happy? Six months ago, you were the guy who was never going to settle down.”
“And party every weekend until we got too old to two-step or drink whiskey or beer.” Blake laughed. “Yes, Toby, I’m happy. I love Allie and I’m excited about the baby and this ranch. We’re making a real home here. I can only hope someday you are as content as I am.”
Toby stood and stretched, working the kinks from his back. “Don’t put your hopes on the impossible, brother. Now, it’s your turn to work up a sweat pounding those posts into the ground.”
Blake popped him on the upper arm. “That’s it. You ask a question and then change the subject to fencing?”
“I’m happy for you but I don’t think there’s a woman out there who could make me feel like you do. I’ll just be the old uncle who spoils your kids. They’ll love me more than you, especially the boys. I’ll teach them to chase women and drink beer.” Toby chuckled.
“Remember when you get a wild idea like that, just exactly who their mama is.” Blake picked up the post setter and headed toward the fence. “I love ranchin’. I’m so glad we bought this place.”
“You love everything, brother. You’re still on the honeymoon high,” Toby said as he pulled on his tough leather gloves and got ready to string barbed wire.
Toby tried arguing with the voice in his head, but the damn thing always had a comeback so finally he let it have the last word. But all afternoon, he wondered about whether he was really wanting to have a fake relationship with Lizzy because of Sharlene, or if it was because he had been more than a little jealous when Deke said that about her needing a boyfriend.
By evening the parcel of land was cleared, plowed, and ready to plant. Blake had a heart like that now. Cleared of all the past right along with his wild ways. It was plowed and ready to raise children, be a good husband, and love Allie forever.
Toby thought about never flirting with a woman at a bar again and his heart almost stopped. No, sir! He was not ready to throw in the towel and sign his name on the dotted line of a marriage license. He was more than willing to give up his lifestyle for a little while, but knowing they were still there waiting for him—well, now that was another story altogether.
Then his mind drifted over to Lizzy. Her firm body next to his, her soft hands roaming over his chest, her lips on his, and suddenly the pressure behind his zipper started to increase. What in the hell was it about that woman that turned him on anyway? He’d been honest when he told her he wasn’t the settling-down type, and she damn sure wouldn’t want a womanizer like him. If she weren’t so stubborn, he might’ve held out hope that he could get her to fall back into bed with him. But once she set her mind, wild bulls couldn’t change it. That much he’d already figured out about her.
He sighed.
Deke was right. It was going to be one hell of a dry spell.
Of all the jobs that Lizzy did in her ranch supply store, cleaning was the one she hated the most. But there came a time when the store shelves had to be dusted or else a simple sneeze could turn the whole store into a fog. So that Wednesday afternoon, she set out to put things right. Armed with a dust rag, a can of sweet-smelling spray, and determination, she started at the back of the store with the notion of working her way to the front.
She’d gotten the bottom shelf of the first of six racks done when the cowbell rang. Rolling her eyes toward the ceiling, she mouthed, “Thank you!” to whatever deity sent someone to give her an excuse for a break.
“Lizzy, where are you?” a feminine voice called out.
“Be right there.” Lizzy popped up on her feet from a sitting position and brushed the dust from the butt of her jeans with the palm of her hand. Leaving the cleaning behind, she hurried to the front of the store.
“Good morning,” Mary Jo said as she waved. “Lucy told me tha
t this sale rack of hooded sweatshirts was going on a bigger sale this week and I came by to see what was left.”
“Seventy-five percent off for today only. Sizes are limited though. How are things coming along for the festival?” Lizzy hopped up to sit on the checkout counter and crossed her legs.
“It’s gathering momentum. Everyone is talking about it, which is good because they’ll spread the news and more people will attend. You’ve got all the sizes I need for my dad and brothers.” She stopped and sucked in a lungful of air before she went on. “What was that all about Sunday? You got in the backseat of Blake’s truck and his brother Toby was sitting beside you. Are y’all flirtin’ or datin’? I heard he was a player. You might want to be careful with that one, Lizzy. Besides Sharlene has let it be known that she’s got him staked out and you don’t want to mess with her.”
The cowbell rang and a blast of fresh air preceded Lucy Hudson into the store. “I came back for more of those jackets, Lizzy. I swear to God, Herman can wear one out every two weeks out there in the fields cuttin’ wood so I’m going to stock up for winter. Mary Jo, you’d best not have bought the biggest ones or I’ll have to fight you for them.”
“No, ma’am, my family takes the smaller sizes. I see there’s bigger sizes still here,” Mary Jo said. “And Lizzy, you didn’t answer me.”
“About what? The fact that she got into the backseat with Toby Dawson on Sunday?” Lucy asked. “Might as well ’fess up, girl. If the whole town wasn’t talkin’ about this reunion thing, you and that hot cowboy would take the top billing.”
Lizzy fidgeted with the mason jar of pens sitting on the counter. The door swung open again and she thought she’d been saved by the old proverbial bell. Then she looked up into Toby’s steady blue eyes. His faded plaid shirt hung open, revealing what used to be a white tank top under it, but now it was dirty and wet with sweat. That lovely dark chest hair that she’d run her fingers through so many times was plastered to his chest. And right then he was even more sexy than when he was all slicked up for church on Sunday mornings.
“Good mornin’, ladies.” He tipped his hat toward Mary Jo and Lucy. “Lizzy, I’ve got my truck backed up to the back door. I need about five bags of fertilizer. I’ll pay for them, get them loaded, and shut the big doors behind me when I leave.”
She spun around on the counter and slid off on the other side. “You did say five bags, right?”
“Yep, I think that will do for what we’re going to do today. Hey.” He turned his head and winked just for her benefit. “We should be done by six. Want to ride down to Throckmorton with me and get some ice cream tonight?”
The crucial moment had arrived. Swim? Drown? Let Mitch breeze back into Dry Creek with everyone congratulating him on all his newfound love and missionary work while they felt sorry for her. Or jump right into the deep water and let everyone know that she was seeing Toby Dawson.
“I’d love to.” She smiled, her hormones buzzing so loudly that she was amazed no one could hear them.
What I’d really like to do is find a hay barn between here and there and have another hot night with you. But that won’t happen, so ice cream might be the next best thing.
“We’ve got that women’s thing at the church tonight,” Mary Jo said.
“And we can take care of it without Lizzy, I’m sure,” Lucy said with a raised voice. “It’s only a discussion about the potluck dinner. Lizzy, you are bringing two chocolate sheet cakes and a cherry pie. There, that’s settled.”
Toby handed her his charge card. “Pick you up at six thirty?”
The electricity that skipped from his hand to hers put pictures of his naked body in her mind. Why, oh why, had she ever started something with him to begin with?
“I’ll be ready.” She tallied up the bill, laid a copy for him to sign and his card on the counter. “We could go to Olney. It’s closer.”
Lucy piled six orange jackets on the counter. “And the ride is more romantic.”
His eyes locked with hers. “You choose the road we take.”
“Can’t beat a deal like that, Lizzy.” Lucy laughed.
Toby leaned across the counter and kissed her on the tip of the nose. “See you tonight.”
She caught a whiff of the remnants of his shaving lotion from that morning, a touch of bacon and coffee that he’d eaten for breakfast, combined with all that manly sweat. It turned her on like a hot water faucet.
The farce was set in motion now and by tonight it would be like a giant boulder gathering speed as it rolled down the side of a steep mountain. She stole glances of Toby heading toward the back door as she wrote up Lucy’s ticket. That tight little swagger and knowing what it looked like without jeans covering his butt put two spots of high color in her cheeks.
“I’m worried about you, girl. Steam is going to come out Sharlene’s ears. If I was you, I’d steer clear of her until she settles down. She missed out on Blake and she’s had her heart set on Toby.” Mary Jo pushed back a wayward strand of burgundy hair and unloaded her jackets onto the counter. She was a beauty operator and changed the style and color of her hair even more often than she changed her under britches.
Lizzy sacked Lucy’s purchases. “Don’t worry about me. I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself.”
Liar, liar, pants on fire. Complete with an orchestra in the background, the lyrics of the old children’s song played on a continuous loop through her mind.
“Going for ice cream doesn’t mean she’s going to marry the man, Mary Jo. But she does need to get some distance between her and Mitch before he comes back for the reunion,” Lucy said.
“From a saint to a sinner.” Mary Jo sighed. “But I got to admit, I’d rather be a sinner as a saint when I compare Mitch and Toby.”
“I didn’t ever believe that Mitch was a saint. And that cowboy might have one wing in the fire but that don’t mean he’s all the way into hell. Lizzy might turn him around the way Allie did his brother.” Lucy signed the ticket and handed it to Lizzy. “I remember back nearly fifty years ago when I wanted to date a wild boy. His name was Herman Hudson and my mama almost had a heart attack over it. But I was in love with that blue-eyed boy and…” She hesitated and lowered her voice. “He might have gained sixty pounds and he might be old but them blue eyes can still make me want to haul him to the bedroom.”
“Lucy!” Mary Jo covered her cheeks with her hands.
“Darlin’, old don’t mean dead,” Lucy said. “And Lizzy, you have fun with that cowboy. He might not be settlin’-down material, but darlin’, I’d bet my checkbook that he’ll wash that sorry Mitch right out of your heart.”
“News flash,” Lizzy whispered. “Mitch is already gone from my heart.”
“You know that. We know that. Now it’s time for Mitch to know that.” Lucy picked up her bags. “I’m on my way to Nadine’s for a cup of coffee. You want me to hold off tellin’ her the news till you get there, Mary Jo?”
Mary Jo nodded. “Thanks, Lucy. I want to see her face when she hears this and Sharlene is there.” She pulled several bills from her purse and laid them on the counter. “You are playin’ with fire, Lizzy. And that means you could get burned.”
“Yep, but I reckon I’ve got whole shelves full of stuff that will cure burns on cattle, dogs, cats, and even hamsters in this store. It might work on a human,” Lizzy teased.
Mary Jo stuffed the change from her purchases back into her purse. “He’s only dating you because y’all are thrown together by family so much. He’s a bad boy and you, darlin’, are not a bad boy’s type. Sharlene is but you are definitely not.” She picked up her sack and left the store.
Chapter Five
Toby refilled his bowl with chili and added a layer of grated cheddar cheese on the top. Despite having known Lizzy in the most intimate ways possible during their hot and heavy fling, he was as nervous as he’d been on his first date back when he was sixteen.
Toby certainly had not expected to be tangled up in drama li
ke this when he came to Dry Creek almost a month before. If anyone had told him that he would be taking Allie’s sister on a fake date and he would not be chasing bar bunnies for at least five weeks, he would have had them committed. Yet here he was, doing just that.
“Are you sure about this? I’ve already had a dozen phone calls telling me that I’m insane for letting Lizzy go anywhere with you. After all, she was engaged and almost married to a preacher.” Allie passed the corn bread around the table.
Deke took the plate from her and handed it off to Toby. “Sorry son of a bitch wasn’t a preacher. He’s a gold digger with a god complex. And Allie, if Lizzy wanted to date Toby as in the real sense of the word, there wouldn’t be a damn thing anyone could do about it. She’s even more headstrong than you are and that’s saying a lot. So you ain’t lettin’ her do jack shit. She will do whatever she wants to do.”
Blake took two pieces of the warm bread and crumbled it into his chili. “I’m speaking from experience here, brother. Getting close to a woman, no matter if it’s real or not, can backfire.”
Allie slapped Blake on the arm. “I wasn’t pretending to like you.”
“Yes, you were.” Deke chuckled. “No, I take that back. You were pretending not to like him but we could all see that you did.”
Allie’s dark eyes sparkled when she looked at Blake. She was so damn much in love with Blake that it made Toby’s heart yearn to have the same thing.
Whoa, cowboy! His inner voice made a screeching sound in his head as it hauled up on the reins. You are not settlin’ down material. You are going to be the old uncle that spoils your brothers’ kids. The ones that are already here and Allie’s baby, too, are going to love you like a grandpa. Slap that shit out of your head about wanting a wife and kids. That boring life ain’t for you.
He dipped into the chili and let the idea fade as quickly as it had appeared, nodding his head in agreement the whole time. The room had gone quiet and he noticed everyone staring at him.
Hot Cowboy Nights Page 4
