Hot Cowboy Nights (Lucky Penny Ranch #2)(70)

Lizzy groaned when she remembered where she’d heard those two bimbos’ names. They’d been the cause of a major fight between Allie and Blake. Allie had gone over to the Lucky Penny to work and found those two women in the house.

“But there it is. Poor old gals didn’t have any idea that the playboy they’d had so much fun with was trying to force himself up out of the mold,” she said.

She got out of the truck and put the keys under the mat, walked up on the porch, and sat down in the swing. Five minutes later the sound of a truck engine got louder and louder until finally it was sitting in her front yard.

Both doors opened. Deke waved, went to his vehicle, and drove down the lane. Toby leaned against the fender of Blake’s truck. Arms folded tightly across that broad expanse of chest, he stared out across the pasture and didn’t even glance toward the porch. That he was angry was an understatement. That he had a right to be madder than a wet hen after a tornado hit was a guaranteed fact.

She’d had no right to turn on him in her fit of anger. Even less to demand that Deke hand over the keys to his truck so she could drive home alone. No doubt, he was trying to form the words to tell her to go straight to hell because he didn’t need to be in a relationship with anyone as immature as Lizzy Logan.

Planting her feet on the porch, she inhaled deeply and stopped. This was not Toby’s fault and he deserved an apology. The longest journey she’d ever made in her life was from the front porch, across the yard, and to the big black truck. Toby drew her to him like a magnet with his clear blue eyes.

With her eyes locked with his, she stopped three feet away. “I’m sorry. None of what happened today was your fault. I was upset about my grandmother, and I took it all out on you and that was unfair.”

He opened his arms and she walked into them. “Deke says that a fight doesn’t mean that the relationship is over.”

“I hope not.” She listened to his heartbeat. It represented something steady, true, and dependable.

“Then we are good?” he asked.

She nodded. “Yes, we are.”

He ran his knuckles down her jawline and tipped her face up. She barely had time to moisten her lips before his mouth closed over hers. The kiss was different from any they’d shared before. Words could never describe the raw hunger in it. She leaned into it, losing her heart and soul to him.

“After that kiss,” he said when he drew back, “this is about as unromantic as anything can be. But would you like to go with me to do chores and then we could fire up the grill and make some burgers?”

He could have asked her to go face off with the skunk again and she would have agreed. “Yes,” she said. “But I do need to go inside and change clothes.”

“I’ll be waiting on the swing.” He smiled.

That simple smile said they’d taken another baby step in their relationship.





Chapter Nineteen



Lizzy stripped out of her Sunday best and tossed it on the rocking chair. She pulled a faded army green tank top from the clean laundry basket and jerked it down over her head. When she opened the closet door to find a pair of faded jeans, she caught sight of her reflection and moaned.

White cotton panties looked downright dowdy.

She opened her underwear drawer to find another dozen pair of soft white hip huggers mixed up with bras and a slip that she hadn’t worn in years. After she’d tossed every one of them out one by one into the clean laundry basket she found one pair of silky bikini panties hiding in the back of the drawer. They were hot pink with black lace trim, and she had no idea how they got there or if they even belonged to her. Maybe Fiona had left them behind when she moved away from Dry Creek and Allie put them there as a joke. It didn’t matter where, what, or who. They were a helluva lot better than white cotton.

It was an important night that warranted something more than plain panties. She’d never had makeup sex before and she wanted it to be special. She removed her underpants and pulled on the sexier ones.

She flipped her hair up into a ponytail and sprayed a bit of perfume on her wrists. Her heart raced as she made her way down the stairs and out onto the porch. What if he wasn’t there? What if he changed his mind? What if that kiss had not affected him like it did her?

Her fears and questions disappeared when he smiled at her from the swing. “You should model for country magazines.”

“You are full of shit, Toby Dawson.”

“Not me, darlin’. I’m speakin’ the pure unadulterated truth here. Put you up next to a brand-new John Deere tractor in an advertisement and I bet the sales for that month would triple. You ready to go check on cows and then do some grillin’?” He settled his hat on his head and crooked his arm.

She slipped hers through it and was only slightly amazed at the quiver in her hormones. It was Toby Dawson, for God’s sake! If she didn’t feel a little something, it would mean she had died and this was a dream.



At dusk they were sitting in two old green folding lawn chairs behind the trailer. Blue had taken up the space between them, content if either or both of them scratched his ears every few minutes.

Toby was in the process of moving the hot dogs and burgers from the grill to a platter when Deke rounded the end of the trailer. He pulled a third chair along behind him, popped it open, and sat down with a sigh.