Hot Cowboy Nights (Lucky Penny Ranch #2)(26)

“Eggs and toast,” Katy said from the doorway. “What were you drinkin’?”

“Jack on the rocks. Deke said I couldn’t hold my liquor and I was showing him that I could. How’d you know to bring over this remedy stuff, Allie?” Lizzy asked. “And Allie, has Deke been in love with me forever?”

“Hell, no! What made you ask that stupid question? We are like sisters to him.” Allie patted her on the shoulder. “Toby left a note on the counter telling me you would need the hangover cure.”

“If it works, then God bless Toby. If it doesn’t and I puke I may need a sharpened shovel to bury him.” Lizzy snarled at the plate of eggs and toast. “Do I have to?”

“I can feed you,” Allie said.

Lizzy picked up the fork and forced the eggs and toast down, bite by bite. “What’s next? Greasy sausage gravy?”

“Hot coffee.” Katy put the cup in her hand and sat down on the other side of the bed. “At least you are dressed and in bed alone. That’s a good sign.”

It was on the tip of Lizzy’s tongue to say that it wasn’t her idea to come home fully dressed, but she filled her mouth with hot coffee so she’d keep quiet. She and Toby were friends, not lovers, not anymore.



Blake, Allie, Deke, and Toby were lined up on the pew when Katy and Lizzy arrived at church that morning. Toby moved out into the aisle and Katy settled in beside Deke. Lizzy sat down beside her mother and Toby took the end of the pew. The moment he sat down, he reached for her hand, holding it on his thigh.

“You might want to take off the sunglasses.” He knew exactly how she felt because he’d been there many times on Sunday morning. His grandpa used to say that he sowed his wild oats on Saturday night and attended church on Sunday morning to pray for a crop failure. Grandpa might have been making a joke, but in Toby’s case, it was the absolute gospel truth.

She whipped off the glasses and dropped them in her purse. Even with her eyes still glazed slightly, she was so damn cute that he wanted to kiss her right there on the back pew of the church. Settling down might not be in his future, but he did enjoy having a pretty woman beside him.

“Did the cure work?” he whispered.

“It’s much better. Sharlene is shooting dirty looks across the aisle at me, though,” Lizzy whispered.

“By the time services are over, you’ll feel almost normal, and darlin’, Sharlene Tucker can’t hold a candle to you when it comes to determination or beauty,” he said.

“I appreciate that but her looks would fry the wings off an angel. And is that business about a hangover the voice of experience?” she asked.

“Yes, ma’am.” He squeezed her hand gently.

The music director said the congregation would sing “I’ll Fly Away.” She tensed when the lady at the piano hit the keys for the prelude. Then tears started to flow and drip off her cheeks to spot the light brown shirt she wore with a pretty knee-length floral skirt.

“What is it?” He brought a snow-white handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her.

“Granny liked this song. She sang it real loud while we sang something altogether different more than one time,” she explained.

He put his arm around her shoulders and hugged her close to his side. “Why don’t we go up to Wichita Falls this afternoon and see her? Would that help?”

She nodded. “I’d like that.”

“What’s her favorite food? We’ll stop at a grocery store and take her something.”

She dabbed at her eyes. “White powdered doughnuts and cherry pie.”

Toby got that antsy, itchy feeling that said someone was staring at him. Without moving his head, he scanned the room, finally coming to rest on Dora June’s accusatory glare. He shot his sexiest wink all the way across the church at the woman. She whipped around in her seat so fast that she probably had trouble focusing for several minutes.

He didn’t listen to one thing the preacher said but rather sat there and let his thoughts wander. True, he’d never had a good friend like Lizzy. His friends and buddies had been guys. Some were fishing buddies; some were rodeo buddies; and some were party buddies. Maybe the protective feeling he had toward her was the way he would have felt toward a sister.

Whoa there, hoss! The voice in his head yelled so loud that it startled him. You don’t kiss your sister or dance with her plastered up to your body. And you damn sure don’t spend three weeks of scorching hot nights with her.

Okay, then. It had to be the friend thing since it definitely was not sister feelings. He’d have to ask Blake if he and Allie started off as friends. No, he couldn’t do that or Blake would know.

Know what? the voice asked in a soft whisper.

I don’t know, he argued. That’s what I’m trying to figure out.

“I’m going to ask Deke to deliver the benediction for us this morning,” the preacher said.

Toby was glad he’d been thinking with his eyes open. Poor old Deke wasn’t sure what was going on when Blake flipped him on the back of the head.

“Benediction,” Blake said in a loud whisper.

Deke hopped up to his feet, bowed his head, and managed to thank God for the day and the church service. Then everyone said, “Amen,” and the quiet disappeared into a buzz of conversation. Most of it, from the way everyone was looking toward the Logan pew, was centered around Lizzy and Toby.