Hot Cowboy Nights (Lucky Penny Ranch #2)(54)

“Shit!” he groaned. “You weigh a ton already.”

“Fine-lookin’ calf there.” Blake laughed.

“You try carryin’ her to the chute and then tell me how fine she is.” Toby set her down and she took off like greased lightning toward the other end. Blake waited until she was almost to the end and opened the gate enough she could get her head through it, then clamped it shut.

“I’ll get both her shots while you go get another one. And Toby, you don’t have to carry them all like babies,” Blake teased.

Toby’s arms were aching by noon. He hadn’t had to carry another one, but wrestling calves all morning let him remember exactly how many times he’d been bucked off of two tons of raging bull and exactly what bones he’d landed on. They had half the herd done, which meant they should be done by suppertime.

When the hot broiling sun was straight up in the sky, they took a break to eat dinner. They grabbed a sack lunch out of Toby’s truck and sat down on the ground on the shady side of the pickup, two paper bags in their laps and a gallon of sweet tea between them.

“I’d about as soon have a nap as eat,” Toby said.

“It’s all that fake dating that’s wearing you out.” Blake laughed. “Settle down like I have and you’ll have more energy to use for ranchin’.”

“I ain’t ready for that.” Toby reached into the sack and pulled out a thick ham and cheese sandwich. “I might bitch and gripe when I have to manhandle calves, but I love this job, brother.”

“Me, too,” Blake said.

“You think that marriage has helped you understand womenfolk?” Toby asked.

“Hell no! Sometimes I wonder why God couldn’t have given Mama and Daddy a daughter. Boys need a sister so they’ll get some inkling of the way a female’s brain works.”

“You got that right. Maybe that’s why us Dawsons are so wild. We don’t have a lot of girls in the family. I could use a sister.”

“You can talk to Allie,” Blake said. “Or if it’s about Lizzy, maybe you’d better call up Josie, but then she’ll tell her brother and then Jud will tell me and I’ll have to tell Allie because we don’t keep secrets. So you might as well spit out what’s on your mind rather than going through all that shit.”

A mosquito made several buzzes around his ear before he located it and swatted it mid-air as it made a dive for Blue’s ear. With mosquitoes as big as buzzards, maybe he shouldn’t plan something outside for this big date with Lizzy, and yet the picture in his mind kept centering on a secluded area with just the two of them on a blanket on the ground with a picnic basket in front of them.

That’s when he remembered that his mother always lit citronella candles when they were outside in the summertime. Lizzy had them at the store but it would ruin the surprise if he walked in and asked for candles. He could make a trip to Throckmorton or maybe over to Olney or…he grinned…Deke could buy them for him and he could repay him.

The whole date started with candles so exactly how many did he need? Enough to outline a blanket on the ground? Only a couple? He decided on a dozen of the ones in pint-size mason jars.

He had a blanket and one dozen candles. Now what did he do with them and where did he put them?

“You got quiet all of a sudden,” Blake said.

“Just thinkin’ about how buyin’ this ranch turned our lives around,” Toby said.

“It sure did do that.” Blake nodded. “And since I love my wife so much, I’m right glad for the changes it’s brought about.”

Toby’s phone buzzed. He laid his sandwich to the side and read the sexy text from one of his previous women. Any other time he would have shot a message right back—and it would have been so hot that the woman on the other end would have been panting when she finished it. But not today.

“Sharlene?” Blake asked.

“No, she hasn’t called in…”

The phone buzzed again before he could even finish his sentence. Another woman and this time the text was accompanied by a picture of her in a sexy nightgown on satin sheets. She had a come-hither look in her eyes and was blowing kisses toward him.

“Holy hell, Toby, who is that?” Blake asked.

“One of those lovely ladies that I’ve made breakfast for in the past.” Toby smiled.

“Miss those days?”

“Not when I’m this tired.”



At quitting time on Thursday, Deke popped into the store. “Allie has gone home and the boys are cleaning up the rest of the mess back there. Y’all can haul your supplies back in from the Lucky Penny over the weekend. We’ve worked like termites, but it’s all done.”

“I can’t believe it.” Lizzy made her way to the back of the store. “It’s amazing what you and these guys have all accomplished. And Deke, thank you for all you did to make sure Allie…” she paused.

Deke laid a hand on her shoulder. “I love her, too. And I’ll take care of her. Don’t you worry your head none about that. You and Allie can settle up financially, but right now I’m taking all these boys out to the ranch so she can write them a paycheck. Oh, and I need a case of twelve of those citronella candles that keep the mosquitoes away.”

“They’re on the bottom shelf at the back. You plannin’ on sitting out a lot this summer, are you?” she asked.