Hot Cowboy Nights (Lucky Penny Ranch #2)(74)

“No, you would not,” Sharlene said seriously. “Your steaks are nearly done. Nadine don’t cook nothing ahead of time. Might make it easier to throw it in the microwave to reheat, but she says it softens the crispy outside. Y’all hear that Deke is lookin’ for a buyer for his place?”

“We did. I’m surprised that you haven’t gone after Deke,” Lizzy said.

Sharlene giggled. “Honey, that boy is fun for a night or two, but it’ll take someone hotter’n me to run him to ground and I’m pretty damn spicy. Far as the ranch goes…” She lowered her voice. “He might as well wish in one hand and spit in the other. Nobody in town can afford to buy a ranch but Truman. He might buy it, and then if the Lucky Penny fails again he could swoop in and get it for a song and have a nice big place. But if the Lucky Penny doesn’t fail, then there he’d be with a section of land in the middle of two places he can’t stand. You know he and Herman Hudson are on the outs, don’t you? I hear the bell, which means your dinner is ready. Be back in a second.”

“She put it about right,” Lizzy said.

“Toby and Blake don’t want to make the Lucky Penny another section bigger?” Katy asked.

Sharlene set the plates in front of them. “I heard Toby would love to have the place, but the Dawsons have tied up all their money in the Lucky Penny. Of course, that’s fodder for the gossip mill. Folks are saying that if they don’t have the capital to keep things going at least five years that they’ll throw up their hands and move within a year. Truman is just waiting for his turn to latch on to it and yell ‘I told you so.’ Oh, crap, there’s Dora June and Ruby. Don’t worry, I’ll head them off at the pass and make them sit somewhere else.”

“Now tell me more about your trip. I thought you might come home saying that you were sick of Janie and Trudy and you were never going anywhere with them again,” Lizzy said.

Katy picked up her knife and fork, cut into the steak, and popped a bite into her mouth. “Not in the least,” she said when she’d swallowed and taken a drink of her tea. “We’re planning a trip to Florida after Thanksgiving if I can find someone to mind the store. I wish I had the nerve to move to Wichita Falls to be closer to them and your grandmother, both. But as long as I have a store to run, it will have to be a retirement dream.”



Deke was leaning on the door to the feed store when Lizzy returned. He held up a flyer but his expression didn’t have much hope.

“Come on in.” Lizzy stuck the key in the lock and gave it a twist. “Let’s talk about this deal before you put up the flyer.”

Deke flipped on the lights and stopped to pet Stormy when she came to meet them. “Why? Do you have someone who is interested in buying my place?”

“I do but they need a couple of days to think about it. Think you could hold off that long?” she asked.

He picked up the cat and held her close to his chest. “Darlin’, Lizzy, you’ve given me some light on a moonless midnight.”

“Don’t get too excited. They don’t know for sure but they did want a few days to think things through. It’s a big decision.” She picked up the little black kitten from the basket. “Oh, look, Deke, his eyes are open. The other three have all been open for a couple of days.”

“It’s an omen, Lizzy. His eyes are open so my potential buyers will come at this with an open mind. They won’t care if the ranch is in Dry Creek or right next door to the Lucky Penny.” Deke set Stormy on the floor and hopped up to sit on the counter. “I’ve told everyone I could get to stand still about this, Lizzy. I suppose it’s all right to say that I have a prospect and that I’m holding off for a few days until they make up their minds.”

“I don’t see why not. That might even help if there are others who are sitting on the fence about it,” she said. “So how quick can you be moved if it does sell?”

“Three days. My cousin and his wife are champing at the bit to get moved to Dallas. He’s going to be sorry as hell. He might not like the ranch, but the culture shock from going from Dry Creek to Dallas is going to turn his world upside down. He says they are packed and they can be gone in three days when a buyer shows up with the money,” Deke answered.

“Wow! That’s fast.” She put her black kitten in the basket with Stormy.

“Three days is how long the moving company said it would take to get a truck in here and get them loaded up and gone. He’s selling the equipment and cattle with his ranch.”

“And you?”

“No way. I’m taking my stuff with me. All I got to do is move it across the road, and I can do that in the three days they’re waiting to get out of the house,” he answered.

“But what about paper signing and deeds and all that?”

“He says they’ll come back up here and take care of the paperwork later. I’m going to Nadine’s for a piece of pie. Want to join me?” he asked.

She shook her head. “Just came from there. Had Nadine’s special for dinner. I don’t need anything else until supper.”



Lizzy turned up the radio when the DJ said that the next song was “Wild Child.” She tapped her thumb on the steering wheel to the beat. Like the lyrics said, Toby was a wild child and Lizzy wouldn’t ever be the same since he came into her life.