Hot Cowboy Nights (Lucky Penny Ranch #2)(50)

Blue’s tail thumped against the ground and a coyote howled in the distance. The dog backed his ears and growled down deep in his throat, warning those varmints to keep their distance.

Toby made up his mind that the next day he would buy a donkey. A pack of coyotes could bring down a heifer. One or two could drag off a newborn calf. He should have brought his old donkey, Lucifer, with him to the Lucky Penny, but Toby couldn’t bear to take him away from his surroundings. Even with his advanced age, Lucifer could stomp a coyote to death if he thought for one second the varmint was coming after a calf in his pasture.

Toby set the tea down on the ground and started walking slowly, thinking about all the changes he wanted to make to the place, the cattle he planned to breed and raise there, and the future for him, his cousin, and his brother. He came to the fence separating the Lucky Penny from the property on Audrey’s Place and sat down on a flat rock. Blue plopped down on the ground and tucked his nose under his paw. The high wind that had accompanied the tornado had blown some of the petals from the red roses from the tangled mass on the barbed wire. But there were enough blossoms left to permeate the air with their scent.

All thoughts of a donkey vanished. The roses reminded him of Lizzy. She was beautiful and yet tough enough to endure a tornado, just like those beautiful roses. His eyes shifted to all the wildflowers dotting the distance from him to the fence, and that made him think of the fierceness of her feelings for her family and loved ones. Wind, rain, hot broiling sun, or drought couldn’t kill out those wildflowers any more than anything could ever get between Lizzy and someone that she truly loved.



Lizzy paced the floor after she finished talking to Fiona. The room got smaller and smaller and the walls began to move toward the center. She jerked on her work boots and started outside, meeting her mother halfway down the stairs.

“Where are you off to?” Katy asked.

“I can’t remember if I fed Stormy, so I’m going to take a drive, feed the cat, and clear my head,” she answered.

“Got something stuck in there like Toby Dawson?” Katy asked.

One of Lizzy’s shoulders lifted in a shrug. “Maybe so.”

Katy patted her on the shoulder. “Pet Stormy for me. She’s a good cat. Now that your grandmother isn’t living here we could bring her home if you want. She was so allergic to anything that had to do with cats and she didn’t like dogs, so you kids couldn’t have pets in the house.”

“If she doesn’t adapt to the store we will.” She had to get out of the house, away from the confinement so she could think. Once she was outside in the fresh air with no walls around her, she took a deep breath and sat down on the swing. A coyote howled off to the south and another one answered from somewhere over near the old well on the other side of the Lucky Penny. Hopefully, they weren’t planning to meet in the middle and have one of Toby’s new calves for supper that night.

He needed a couple of donkeys to keep the cattle safe. Coyotes and wild animals had ruled the Lucky Penny for years. They had no idea that whatever was on the ranch wasn’t fair game. But a donkey or a couple of them would keep the coyotes at bay for sure. She should tell him tonight before he lost a baby calf.

She popped up off the swing with a purpose and jogged out across the yard, jumped the rail fence by putting a hand on the top rail and bailing over it like a kid, and then slowed her pace to a fast walk toward the fence separating the two places.

The waning moon gave enough light that she could see well enough without a flashlight. Good thing since she’d left her purse sitting on the swing and the tiny light attached to her key chain was the only one she owned. The coyote sounded closer that time so she hurried.

“You cannot pull a donkey out of thin air just by putting some extra giddy-up in your step. Blue won’t let a coyote get a calf tonight and neither will Shooter.” She fussed out loud.

“No they won’t,” Toby said from the other side of the fence.

Her hand flew to her chest and her lungs deflated. It took a full five seconds before she remembered to inhale and when she did, all she could smell was roses. “Dammit! You startled me so bad my heart nearly stopped.”

“Maybe it was trying to pull a donkey out of thin air,” Toby teased.

“What are you doing over there anyway?” She leaned on a crooked wooden fence post.

“Thinkin’ about asking Herman or Deke where I could buy a couple of donkeys to keep those pesky coyotes away from my cattle,” he answered.

She sat down on the green grass. “Herman has donkeys for sale sometimes. When he or his kids get too many they sell a few off. You’d have to ask him, but if he’s not getting rid of any, then Deke will know someone. The coyotes aren’t the only predators on your ranch, Toby. We’ve seen bobcats although I don’t think they’d bother your cattle but the mountain lions might.”

“Maybe I’d better buy more than two then,” he said. “I’m glad you thought of donkeys when you heard the coyotes singing tonight, Lizzy. I wanted to talk to you but I didn’t have the courage to climb over this fence and knock on your door.”

“Why?” Lizzy asked. Less than a foot of space and a barbed wire fence separated them but with the fence between them it seemed like a mile.

“It involves a whole new scene for me. I don’t know how to date so I’m not sure how to go about any of this,” he said.