Hot Cowboy Nights (Lucky Penny Ranch #2)(71)

“We’re okay, Deke,” Toby said.

“I know that. If you weren’t you wouldn’t be sitting here making eyes at each other,” he answered.

“Then what’s your problem?” Toby asked.

“I’ve got the opportunity of a lifetime right in front of me and I can’t do it unless I sell my ranch,” he said. “Don’t suppose you want to buy it do you?”

“No!” Lizzy said so loud that Blue yipped and scampered up under the trailer. “You can’t sell out and move. Allie would be devastated and so would I. You are the pesky brother we never had.”

“I didn’t say anything about leaving. The ranch across the road is going up for sale in sixty days. The one that belongs to my cousin, Lake, and his wife, Gloria. He should have realized that she was a city girl when he married her, but then he never much liked ranchin’, either.” Deke eyed the grill. “I hope you made enough for an extra mouth at the table tonight. I’m hungry.”

“Always,” Toby said. “Keep tellin’ us about this big opportunity.”

“I’ve always wanted that ranch, but my grandparents left that to him and the one I have to me. He’s let it run down in the past five years so I could buy it for what I could get out of mine if I could find a buyer in sixty days,” Deke answered.

“Let’s take this food inside so we don’t have to fight the ants and flies for it.” Toby closed the lid to the grill and picked up the platter. He led the way and Lizzy and Deke followed him.

Lizzy set about getting the rest of the food out of the refrigerator and the cabinets while Toby filled three glasses with ice and sweet tea. “Why would you buy a rundown ranch when yours is in good condition?”

“It’s the place that actually belonged to my grandparents. It’s got more land than mine, and I could run more cattle and I’ve always wanted to have rodeo stock. I could start small with only a few wild bulls and a half dozen good broncs and build up from there. I’m never going to be a world-class rider on either one, but if I had some good stock I could enjoy the rodeos and make some money with it right up until I was too damned old to get around without a walker,” he said.

Toby motioned for Deke to make himself a burger or a hot dog. “I’d love to buy it since it adjoins this ranch, but we’re stretched as thin as we can go. If it was five years down the road, I’d snap it up in a minute.”

“So exactly how big is your spread? I don’t think I ever asked.” Lizzy set about making a hot dog with chili, cheese, mustard, and relish. She would have loved to have a big spoonful of chopped onions on it, but those low-riding bikini underpants reminded her that there could be something special later on that evening. And onions should not be a part of it. Still when Deke spread a full inch-thick layer of onions on his burger, she envied him.

“It’s a section of land. Butts right up to the Lucky Penny, acre for acre. Runs from the road back as far as this place. Guess I’ll fix up a flyer and put it in your store and down at your mama’s place. If it’s meant to be, then it will sell. If not, then someone else will get the one I’ve always wanted.” Deke bit into the burger. “Man, this is good. I’m glad I came over here.”

Lizzy’s mind ran in circles as she ate her hot dog. What with Fiona divorced and barely getting by, maybe she could talk her into moving back to Dry Creek. Fiona could be the one who inherited Audrey’s Place and kept it in the family name. True, Deke’s ranch was not built around the old well, but it already had a house on it and lots of property. If Lizzy couldn’t find time to run cattle, she could lease it back to Deke or even to Toby.

That is the most asinine thing you’ve ever let play out in your head. Think about makeup sex. Think about anything but buying a damn ranch that will make you old before your time. You are a feed store woman, not a ranchin’ woman.

“Hush!” she said.

“Which one of us,” Toby asked.

“She’s fighting with voices in her head. I know these Logan women. I only hope they don’t end up like Granny Irene. So who are you thinkin’ might be interested in my place?” Deke talked between bites.

“I heard that Dora June and Truman’s oldest daughter was hunting a place,” Lizzy answered.

“Hell, no! I wouldn’t put that hussy next to my worst enemy. She’s just like her mama and they’d both be stickin’ their noses in where it don’t belong over here on the Lucky Penny,” Deke said tersely. “It’s damn sure not for sale to them.”

“Bring your flyer into the store tomorrow and we’ll see what happens,” she said.

“Okay.” He sighed.

There was something about a pouting friend, be it male or female, that put Lizzy into her fix-it mode. Middle children were doomed to be blessed with that problem and it couldn’t be helped.

“It’ll sell,” she said.

“From your lips to a buyer’s ears.”

“Trouble is that no one wants to buy something right next to the Lucky Penny, right?” Toby asked.

“There is that and the fact that Dry Creek might have a café and a school and there’s a possibility of a day care place and a beauty shop, but there’s not much more here to draw new folks. Thanks for supper. What time do Allie and Blake get home?”