Hot Cowboy Nights (Lucky Penny Ranch #2)(14)

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.

“What? Do I have chili on my shirt?” he asked.

“You were fighting with yourself and you agreed with something,” Deke said.

“It happens. I do it all the time.” Allie smiled. “But back to this Lizzy thing. It’s a good plan, but don’t let it get plumb out of hand. I heard that Sharlene bragged that she’s not giving up and that she’ll knock Lizzy right out of the saddle before the festival.”

Blake laid a hand over Allie’s. “Darlin’, you don’t have to worry about Toby. He’ll never settle down to one woman. If you have to fret, do it about Lizzy, not Toby. And he’s handled overbearing Sharlene-types before.”

“In those days he could love ’em and leave ’em, though. He didn’t have to live in the same town with the woman,” Deke said.

Toby was already tired of talking this situation to death. He wanted to finish his supper, take a shower, and go get Lizzy for their ice cream date. At least this business of a pseudo-girlfriend gave him an escape.

Deke pushed back his chair and carried his bowl to the sink. “Thanks for supper, guys. I’ve still got laundry to do over at my place and some chores to get done. I’ll be gone for a couple of days starting tomorrow. Rodeos are getting geared up.”

“Don’t worry about anything. I’ll take care of your livestock and pets,” Allie told him. “You’ll be back Sunday with no hickeys, right?”

One corner of Deke’s mouth curled in half a smile. “I’ll be home real late Saturday night, maybe even up near daylight on Sunday. I’ll see y’all in church but I don’t make promises about hickeys. How ’bout you, Toby?”

Toby tightened his grip on the spoon to keep from touching the last fading mark Lizzy had put on his shoulder. Thank goodness his shirt covered it.



It wasn’t a real date, but it felt so good that Lizzy put extra care into getting ready for it. It was the first time she’d been out since Mitch broke up with her almost five months ago, on the telephone for God’s sake and on the day of her sister’s wedding and on Valentine’s Day to boot.

She showered, shaved her legs, washed her hair, and applied the whole regiment of makeup. She flipped through the hangers in her closet and chose her best pair of skinny jeans, topped off with an orange tank top. She thought about cowboy boots but the temperature was still in the nineties when she left work, so she picked out a strappy pair of sandals with a small heel.

Too antsy to sit in the living room and wait for the doorbell to ring, she opted to wait on the front porch swing. It had been painted four or five different colors down through the years, but Allie had stripped it down to the original oak wood the year before and applied several coats of varnish. The squeaky chains competed with sounds of singing birds, chirping crickets, and howling coyotes. Occasionally she heard a cow bawling from over on the Lucky Penny. The latter sounded out of place since there hadn’t been livestock over there in at least two or three decades.

The noise of an approaching truck’s engine filled the hot June night long before it appeared in the lane leading from the road up to Audrey’s Place. The sinking sun cast its glow on the shiny black club cab truck as Toby parked outside the yard fence. He stepped out and shook the legs of his creased jeans over the tops of black boots that were almost as shiny as the truck. Every pearl snap on the plaid western shirt sparkled.

He looked so different from the dirty, sweaty cowboy who had appeared in her store earlier that day and yet, both versions were sexy as the devil. His jeans were low slung on his hips and hugged his butt just right. The shirt was a basic navy button down, worn loose over a Luke Bryan concert T-shirt. She couldn’t see his eyes because of the sunglasses and the way his straw hat sat low on his forehead, but she could feel them assessing her from a distance—just like they did when he was propped up on an elbow after a bout of steamy sex on a twin-size bed. That sent a burst of desire surging through her body. She’d have to be very careful or she’d wind up losing control of her better judgment for sure.

He waved. “You aren’t going to keep me waiting. I like that.”

She stood up. “You aren’t keeping me waiting, either. I like that.”

“You’ll have to show me the way to the ice cream place. I haven’t been to Olney yet.” He escorted her from porch to truck with his hand on her lower back. “We’d better make this look real in case there’s anyone sitting in one of those scrub oak trees with binoculars.”

“That was pretty slick of you to ask me right in front of Mary Jo and Lucy,” she said.

“Did I do good?” He grinned.

“Oh, yeah. They’re the best gossip spreaders in the whole town. I imagine that someone has already called Mitch by now, and I heard that Sharlene might put a contract out on me.”