If either one or both dropped with a heart attack, would it be a sin to wait ten minutes to call 911?
“If you…” Dora June shook a chubby finger at Lizzy, “had been the woman we all thought you were, Mitch wouldn’t have needed to find someone else. It’s those demons on the Lucky Penny that’s causing you to misbehave, but we’re prayin’ hard that you overcome them.”
Ruby pursed her lips together so tightly it was a miracle that words could get past them, but she managed. “Yes, it is. Never thought I’d see the day that Katy would fly off to that city of pure sin for a weekend, either. Gambling and drinking and who knows what else?”
Lizzy shook her head sympathetically. “It is a cryin’ shame, ain’t it? She might even get laid while she’s there.”
Dora June gasped. “Don’t you get sassy with me. I don’t know why I keep tryin’ to set you on the right path.”
“It’s for Irene’s sake. She’s lost her mind so we have to step up.” Ruby sighed.
“Please step down,” Lizzy said.
“What did you say?” Ruby asked.
“I don’t need or want your advice. I’ve made that clear. I’m old enough to make my own decisions and live with the consequences. Y’all need something in my store, you are welcome to come in here and buy it. If you’re comin’ in to fuss at me, then stay out there on the sidewalk,” Lizzy said seriously.
“Well, I never!” Dora June huffed.
Ruby stuck her bony nose into the air. “You can’t help some people.”
“I’ll make a deal with you. When I want advice, I will ask for it,” Lizzy said. “But today I don’t need or want any, so can I help you with anything from the store?”
They marched out of the store without a backward glance. The cowbell announced their departure at the same time she heard the new garage door sliding up. She left Stormy protecting her kittens from the smell of skunk and went to check on what supplies she had left.
It took the guys fifteen minutes to unload the stock and be on their way to Deke’s place. Toby hit the button and the garage door slid into place, then he picked Lizzy up and kissed her long, hot, hard, and passionately.
Panting, giggling, and quivering with desire when he set her feet on the concrete floor, she wasn’t sure her knees would support her so she held on to him.
“Wow! Just wow!” she said.
“I know. Ain’t life wonderful, even when skunks are involved?” he said, and grinned.
Toby whistled as he drove up to the front of Audrey’s Place. Lizzy made him happy, plain and simple. There she was on the porch swing as usual. The night breeze picked up strands of her hair and blew it across her face. It was cute the way she tucked it behind her ear.
She waved, picked up her purse, and didn’t give him time to get out of the truck and open the door for her. “What song was playing on the radio? It looked like you knew every word.”
“Oh?” he asked.
“You were singing something. I could see your mouth moving with the words,” she said, then changed the subject. “At least we’re finally rid of the skunk smell. Did you go back out there and take care of the food?”
He leaned over the console separating them and kissed her on the cheek. “I sure did and brought the quilt back to the house. It went through three washings before I put it in the dryer. But I think all the skunk smell is gone. At least all we got was his passing-by aroma and not a full-fledged dose of what could have happened if he raised that tail.”
“Hangover. Tornado. Wreck. Skunk. What’s going to happen tonight?” she asked.
“Not one thing. It’s going to go smooth because we’ve eaten our toad frog and it’s time for us to get good luck on our side from now on.” He straightened the truck up and started down the lane.
“Toad frog?” she snarled.
“Ever seen a dog froth at the mouth when they eat a frog?”
She nodded. “That’s why I can’t imagine eating one.”
“My grandpa said that you get up every morning and eat a toad frog and nothing can faze you the rest of the day. I reckon what we’ve been through is our toad frog and now it’s happy sailing from here on in.” He turned right at the end of the lane and drove through town.
Lizzy hoped that Toby was right and that Madam Fate was through testing her. She felt as if the old witch had picked her up, set her on a spindly tree limb, and then stood back and hurled rocks at her from a catapult. She’d managed to hang on but enough was enough, especially after the skunk.
Riding on a road that she’d traveled so many times that she knew every single landmark from the church in Elbert where they turned on Highway 79 to the old rotting log at the corner edge of the bridge crossing over the Brazos, things went past in a blur that evening. She didn’t remember shifting positions to get the setting sun out of her eyes or the time when Toby adjusted the sun visor to keep it from pouring into the truck cab.
“You are awfully quiet.” Toby picked up her hand and held it on top of the console separating them.
“I like that we are comfortable enough with each other that we don’t have to fill the space with lots of words,” she said.
He squeezed her hand. “Me, too.”
Lizzy recognized the place when Toby made a left-hand turn, crossed over a cattle guard and under a big sign welcoming them to the Dickson Ranch. The red barn’s doors were open on both ends with several stalls on each side of the concrete center aisle. Lizzy had been in that barn before. She’d ridden one of those horses when she dated Terry Dickson a couple of years ago.
A very pregnant woman with red hair must’ve heard the vehicle approaching because she left a horse stall and waved. Toby rolled down the window and stuck a hand out, but Lizzy let herself out of the truck and started toward the woman.
“Hey, Lizzy Logan.” Melanie Dickson smiled. “What are you buying donkeys for?”
“Not me,” Lizzy said. “The buyer is Toby Dawson from the Lucky Penny.”
“And you are with him?” Melanie’s green eyes widened. “I thought you were about to marry a preacher.”
“That’s old history. I didn’t know about the baby. Congratulations.” Maybe baby talk would steer the conversation away from Toby.
“I heard that the ranch over there had sold to some really sexy cowboys.” Her eyes got even bigger and she didn’t blink. “They weren’t exaggerating,” Melanie whispered. “I wouldn’t blame you for throwing out a preacher and taking him on.”
“It didn’t happen like that,” Lizzy said.
“Hello,” Melanie said. “I’m Melanie Dickson. Terry isn’t here but I’ve got your donkeys in a couple of stalls, and I know what the deal was between y’all.”
Toby stuck out his hand. “I’m pleased to meet you, Mrs. Dickson. I’ve got the check ready right here in my pocket. Could I look at the animals before I give it over to you?”
“Why, sure. Right this way,” she answered.
Toby tucked Lizzy’s hand inside his own and followed Melanie into the barn. The donkeys were housed in the first two stalls. One was a little plain old gray fellow, and the other one reminded Lizzy of a Dalmatian dog with his multiple black spots. Toby petted both and neither offered to take a chunk out of his hand.
“They look like good stock,” he said.
“We probably wouldn’t sell them, but we’re thinning the herd this summer. The gray one is a real pet, but he can get noisy when he doesn’t get breakfast on time. The spotted one is bashful and likes his apple in the evening. He’s not real partial to the tart kind, though,” Melanie said.
Toby handed her the check and opened the first stall door. “Come on, feller.” The donkey lowered his head and followed Toby like a puppy.
“He’s got a way with animals,” Melanie said. “I bet he’s got a way with the women, too? What can you tell me?”
“That the stories are probably right,” Lizzy whispered.
The donkey hopped up into the trailer without a bit of a problem, and
Toby came back for the second one. That time was a different story. The plain donkey had to be coaxed all the way to the trailer where he sat down and refused to get inside. No sir, he was not going to do one thing but sit there on his butt and bray like he was being slaughtered by coyotes.
Lizzy bit back a giggle.
That scene was symbolic of Toby’s life up to that time. The fancy donkey was like the bar bunnies who couldn’t wait to go home with Toby, to jump through hoops to do what he wanted and do anything to please the hot cowboy. The plain donkey was Lizzy. She knew who he was, what he was, and worried that what he had been would never change. She was the one sitting on the ground fretting that he could never really stay with someone as plain as Lizzy Logan.
Finally, Toby pulled the donkey’s ear straight up and whispered something in it. The little gray feller got to his feet and without another peep, hopped up into the trailer beside the spotted one.
“What did he say?” Melanie asked.
“I’m not sure I want to know. Do they have names?”
Melanie shook her head. “Terry won’t let me name them. If I do, then I get attached and cry when he sells them. It’s worse since I got pregnant, the weeping that is.”
“That’s what Allie tells me.”
“She’s pregnant?”
Lizzy nodded. “And so happy. She thought she couldn’t have children.”
“I’ve got to get back over to Dry Creek and catch up on everything.”
“Nadine has a café between my store and Mama’s. Come on over and we’ll have lunch. I might even get Allie to join us.” Lizzy smiled.
“And you’ll tell me more about Mr. Sexy out there?” Melanie grinned.
“Never know. Did you hear about the town reunion? It’s next week, the Saturday before Independence Day. Some folks call it a big town reunion; others are sayin’ it’s a festival. You should come over then,” Lizzy said.
Melanie laid a hand on Lizzy’s shoulder. “I was so glad to move from Dry Creek to Wichita Falls when I was in the seventh grade that I never wanted to see that town again. But lately, I miss the folks, so I just might come over part of the day.”
Toby fastened the doors of the cattle trailer and swaggered over to the barn. “Thank you so much. If you’re ready, Lizzy, I reckon we’d best get these fellers on home before dark. Thank goodness I’ve got a couple of apples so they won’t hate me for uprooting them too badly.”
“I’m ready. Nice seeing you again, Melanie. Let me know if you are coming over for the festival,” Lizzy said.
“I sure will.” Melanie waved until they were out of sight.
“So you know her?” Toby asked.
“Went to school with her until we were in the seventh grade. Then her folks moved to Wichita Falls. She and Terry have been married about a year,” Lizzy answered.
“What are you going to name the new livestock?” Toby asked.
“They’re your donkeys, not mine.”
“If they were yours what would you name them?”
“Hey, I’ve got four kittens without names,” she reminded him.
“I’ll help you name them if you’ll help me with the donkeys.”
“Do you name all your cows?” she asked.
“No, but that’s different. Cattle might stay with me for years but it might go to the sale barn or eventually when we get things running good, we might have our own ranch sale. But the donkeys will be with us until they die, and they can live a long time so they need names.” They crossed the river bridge, entered Throckmorton County, and left Young County behind.
“I’ll have to think about it. We could each make a list of kitten names and donkey names and choose from it.”
“Deal!” he said.
An hour later the donkeys were in the pasture, had been given an apple each, and were checking out their new abode. The spotted one stayed close to the cattle, but the gray one circled the fence line, his ears perking up every time a coyote howled in the distance.
What would she name those critters? Their personalities were so different, but she had no doubt they would protect the herd.
Toby slipped an arm around her waist and drew her close to his side. “Some folks get a dog when they begin a serious relationship. Do you think it says something about us that we got two donkeys?”
Serious relationship?
First her blood ran cold and then it hit a simmering boil. The knee-jerk reaction was to hop over that fence, tear out across the pasture, and not stop until she was behind locked doors at her house. Once that settled, the next thought was that if this was serious, then what the hell were they doing watching a herd of cows and two donkeys when his trailer had a really nice bed?
Toby had studied women. He’d learned from the time he’d had his first sexual experience what it took to make a woman happy. He could read their faces and their body language and knew when they were faking and when they were truly satisfied.
But that night, standing there by an old barbed wire fence with sounds of a late spring night around him, he knew true fear. He’d proven that he and Lizzy could make each other very, very happy. But that was sex, and what he wanted now was to make love to this woman. To figure out what drove two people into a place that they wanted to never leave; that was the goal, and he had no idea where to start.
“Got any beer in that trailer?” she asked.
“The four that we left out at the well are in the fridge. I don’t think they smell much like skunk,” he answered.
She slipped her hand in his. “Let’s go talk baby names and find out.”
“Baby names? Are you telling me something?” If any other woman had said that to him, he would have cleared the fence in one leap and been halfway to Muenster before he stopped for breath.
“I’ve already named Stormy’s quadruplets. They are Fefe, Duke, Raylan, and Hoss after mine and Allie’s favorite cowboys, past and present. But the twins out there in the pasture need names if we’re going to keep them,” she said. “I’m not pregnant. I’m on the pill and I told you before I wouldn’t do that to you, Toby.”
She entered the trailer before him, went straight to the refrigerator, and started pulling things out. “We were going to eat in Olney but we were so wound up talking about the donkeys that we forgot so I’m making omelets. What do you want on yours?”
“All of it.” He reached around her and removed two beers, twisted the caps off both, and set hers on the cabinet. “I’ll make the toast while you whip up the eggs. I’m sorry that I didn’t make the turn and go on into town and get us something to eat.”
“No need to be sorry. I know how to cook and omelets are my specialty.”
The kitchen area was tiny so all he had to do was take two steps and he was behind her with his hands around her waist. She flipped around, slung her hip against the refrigerator door to shut it, and rolled up on her toes. Her hands cupped his face and then her lips were on his in a steamy kiss.
Pretty, brilliant sparks danced around the trailer and Lizzy’s knees went weak. She leaned into him and the second kiss was even more sensational. Hormones whined. Her heart thumped so hard that her chest hurt. Her hands were clammy and his hands on her back were like fire. She wanted him and nothing was going to fill the aching void but Toby.
He pushed back, questions in his blue eyes as they bored into hers.
“Omelets now or later?” she panted.
“Later than what?” he asked huskily.
“How hungry are you?”
“For what?”
She started unbuttoning his shirt at the top, stopping to admire and touch the soft hair on his chest on the way to the bottom. When she reached the last one, she tugged the tail out from behind his belt, slipped her arms around his body, and laid her cheek against his chest.
“Let’s make love and only use words when necessary,” she whispered.
“Is that a pickup line?” he asked hoarsely.
“I don’t know. I’ve never said it before but
it’s what I want to do right now. Is the door shut so Blue can’t disturb us?”
Little gold flecks sparkled in her brown eyes. How was it that he’d never noticed that before when they were having sex almost every night?
“You are so beautiful.” His tone said that he wanted her to believe him.
With a hop, her legs were suddenly wrapped around his waist, her body pressing against his zipper from the outside that made his erection ache. And yet, he couldn’t rush this. It had to be different from the sex they’d had before. Tonight had to be special, and tomorrow morning when she awoke, she had to realize the difference.
Their lips met again. The excitement of their tongues touching, the feel of her body heat, the tightness of her thighs against his side; the heat was hotter than anything he’d ever experienced.
“I’ve wanted to touch you all evening, but this is only our second official date. Is this the way normal people do this?” He buried his face in her hair and carried her to the bedroom.
“We’re not normal, Toby. Face it. You are wild and hot and sexy and I almost married a preacher.” The kisses grew in heat from a campfire to a blazing wildfire sweeping across the state, devouring everything in its path.
“A match made in heaven?” He chuckled.
“Probably not heaven but right now you can take me there and we’ll check it out.” She smiled. “Do I really make you hot?”
“Can’t you tell?” he groaned.
“I bet I can get out of my clothes faster than you can,” she teased.
It was a tie but they were both breathless when they fell back on the bed. He rolled on his right side and she flipped over on her left one, their faces only inches apart. He ran a hand down her back from her neck to cup her butt cheek.
“I like the way your eyes go all dreamy when you touch me,” she said.
“No words,” he reminded her.
She nodded and traced his lips with her fingers, letting them roam from there down his chest to his erection. Then suddenly she pushed him backward and flipped over on top of him. In an instant, ready or not, he was inside her and she’d taken over the whole game. They rocked together until she was panting so hard that she could scarcely breathe. He pulled her closer to him and with a fast roll he was on top, and the tempo increased until there was an explosion like he’d never felt before. The look in his eyes said that he was every bit as satisfied as she was. He tried to say her name, but a guttural moan was all he could force from his lungs.
Hot Cowboy Nights Page 19
