Hot Cowboy Nights (Lucky Penny Ranch #2)(11)

“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.