Hot Cowboy Nights (Lucky Penny Ranch #2)(6)

The line went dead and Lizzy put the receiver back on the old black base. At first she giggled, then it grew to a side-splitting laughter that echoed off the walls of the feed store so loudly that she didn’t even hear the cowbell ringing. She wasn’t aware of a presence until she looked across the counter into Toby’s steely blue eyes.

Her first thought was that she wished she’d put off having hot sex with him one more day, because a quickie in the office with the shades all pulled down would have been one sweet way to celebrate the whole morning. She blinked and looked away as the laughter dried up.

I have gone, she glanced at the clock on the counter, fifteen hours and thirty minutes without sex with Toby Dawson. They say the first twenty-four hours are the hardest, so if I can resist that hot cowboy eight hours and thirty more minutes, the tough part will be behind me.



“What’s so funny?” he asked.

“You would have had to been here,” she said. “God bless the women of Dry Creek.”

“Oh, yeah?” Toby propped a hip on the counter. “I could use a good story this morning.”

“It all started when this old guy said he wasn’t going to take Lucy’s produce to the farmers’ market.” Lizzy went on to tell the whole tale.

By the time she finished Toby was laughing even harder than she had.

“You should take these stories and do a gig as a comedian. You have a way with words and telling things that is a hell of a lot funnier than a lot of stand-up comedians I’ve heard,” he said.

“Well!” She rolled her eyes and threw open her arms. “Some people can tell a joke and some people can’t.”

The expression on her face made him laugh even harder.

“You, darlin’, are a hoot.”

“Too damn bad I’m not your type.” She smiled.

“And too damn bad I’m not yours because I do like the way you make me laugh,” Toby said. “But to get on with why I’m here, I need about a hundred fence posts and a couple of rolls of barbed wire delivered out to the Lucky Penny.”

“Want to start a charge?” she asked.

One eyebrow slid up slightly. “I thought we had to pay cash if we were from the Lucky Penny.”

“You did until my sister married your brother. Now if you and Blake want a charge account, I can set it up for you. Payment’s due on the first of every month with a two percent finance charge if it’s not paid by the tenth,” she said.

He shook his head. “Why the change of heart?”

“Truman O’Dell made me mad this morning,” she said honestly.

“Truman?” Toby asked.

Was he an old boyfriend? Or maybe a friend of her ex? Suddenly, Toby’s curiosity was piqued beyond keeping quiet.

“Truman of the story I just told you,” she answered. “He’s the old guy. Not much taller than me and goes around looking like he kissed the south end of a northbound heifer.”

Toby chuckled. The woman did have a way with words.

“Oh, that Truman. I understand now.”

“So do you want credit or not?” she asked.

“No, thank you. We like to use our business credit card. Keeps things simpler for our accountant at tax time. You do have our farm tax number, though, don’t you?”

She nodded. “Blake gave it to me. So a hundred fence posts and two rolls of wire. You aren’t working Allie too hard out there are you?”

“You kidding? Hard to keep her down. She’s bedding and taping the Sheetrock that Blake and I hung in the kitchen today. But this evening we’re running her out of the house while we paint it because the fumes aren’t good for the baby. So she’ll be over at your place until bedtime. Don’t worry your pretty head about us doing anything that would harm Allie.” He leaned over the counter to flirt and then remembered that the fling was over and straightened up quickly.

“Forgot there, didn’t you? Once a bad boy, always a bad boy,” Lizzy said.

The door opened and Sharlene Tucker pushed her way inside. If her skinny jeans had been any tighter they would have burst at the seams. Her blond hair was thrown up in a ratty ponytail, and her cowboy boots were scuffed at the toes.

Sharlene eyed Toby like a coyote going after a one-legged chicken. “I’m Sharlene Tucker. Got time for a cup of coffee down at Nadine’s?”

Blake and Deke both had warned him about Sharlene and Mary Jo, but the strongest tip had been about Sharlene. She had been bragging that she would bed and wed Toby Dawson before the year was out since she’d missed out on doing the same thing with his brother, Blake.

“Thank you, but not today, Miz Sharlene, but it was nice meeting you. Good day, Lizzy. I’ll look for that order sometime this afternoon, right?”

“Soon as my part-time guy gets here.” She ran the card, rang up the bill, and pushed the receipt across the counter for him to sign.

Sharlene tilted her head to one side. “How about Sunday dinner? I’ve been out of pocket the last few weekends, but I’ll be in church this week. Nadine makes a mean chicken fried steak on Sundays.”

He shook his head and took a step back. “Got plans but thanks for the offer.”

“With Deke? You can bring him along.”

Deke was a lifelong friend of all the Logan women. He was Allie’s right-hand man when it came to construction jobs, and his ranch was right next door to the Lucky Penny. Plus, he’d become Blake’s friend the first week that he’d moved to the Lucky Penny and he was always, always ready for a good time. His taste in tall, loose-legged blondes ran the same as Toby’s.