Hot Cowboy Nights (Lucky Penny Ranch #2)(80)

“Good mornin’,” he said hoarsely.

Lizzy whipped around and smiled, lighting up the entire kitchen. Hell, maybe even the whole world. The twinkle in her eye sure put the rising sun to shame that morning.

“Good mornin’ to you,” Lizzy and Allie said at the same time.

Toby only heard Lizzy’s voice and he nodded. He wanted to hug her, kiss her, maybe even throw her over his shoulder and forget about breakfast. He could take her back to the trailer, lock the world outside, and make wild passionate love to her all day. But for all intents and purposes they were fake dating and he could do absolutely nothing except wink.



Lizzy had no illusions about why her sister left a text message on her phone the night before saying that she expected her to join them for breakfast. It had nothing to do with Toby and their fake/real relationship. It had everything to do with who was buying Deke’s ranch. Allie was good at finding out things. That had always been her job as oldest child, and she took it seriously.

“Smells good in here.” Toby brushed past her and squeezed her hand on the way.

“Bacon, fried eggs, hot biscuits, and hash browns with pancakes on the side.” Lizzy poured a cup of coffee and handed it to him, their hands brushing in the transfer.

“Where’s Deke? I thought he’d be here.” Toby carried the coffee to the table and sat down.

“He sent a text an hour ago to tell me that he was packing and was eating at home. I guess we are all going over there after work today to help move whatever he gets ready. His cousin has cleaned out a place in a bedroom for him to put his boxes until the end of the week,” Allie answered.

“He’s avoiding these women,” Blake said from the doorway. “He knows that Allie will pester the hell out of him until he tells who is buying the ranch if he knows and I’ll bet he does. I sure wish we would have had the finances to take on that place. We could haul half of the cattle we’ve still got down around Comfort up here if we had all that cleared land and good grazing pastures.”

Lizzy vowed that she would tell the whole world after the festival on Saturday but not until then. On that day she planned to tell Toby first and ask him to move in with her. If she’d read him wrong, he could bolt and run right out of their relationship. If he did, then she’d take her broken heart into her new house and get over it. She could live without Toby, but each day would only be breathing, working, eating, sleeping, and starting all over again the next morning. Toby gave her that breathless energy that made it all worth living, and she wanted him beside her through every moment of the rest of her life.

Today was the last Thursday in June. The festival was Saturday. She could hold out against Allie that long. It would break her record for keeping secrets from her sister because she’d only managed to hang on to something for three days in the past.

Oh, no! That voice in her head that sounded so much like Fiona’s came through loud and clear. You’ve had a real dating thing going on with Toby for longer than three days and she still thinks it’s a fake relationship. So you are getting stronger. It’s Toby who’s giving you so much strength. You’d better hang on to him.

Lizzy stole a glance across the room at Toby, only to find him staring at her again. If they didn’t get control of the sparks dancing around the room, Allie and Blake would realize that they’d gone from fake to real. She winked and turned around, but the heat of his gaze on her back only made the sparks even more brilliant.

“If I guess who bought the ranch will you at least nod?” Allie asked.

That much she could do because there was no way Lizzy would ever think to say her name. “I guess I wouldn’t be tellin’ then, would I?”

“It’s not Truman for sure?”

Lizzy nodded. “It is definitely not Truman. Deke said that he would never sell to any member of that family because it wouldn’t be right to put them next to the Lucky Penny.”

“Is it Herman Hudson or any of his family?” Allie put the last of the bacon on a platter with the eggs and carried them to the table.

Lizzy lined a bowl with a cloth napkin and filled it with hot biscuits straight from the oven. “That is more than one name.”

Blake picked up the plate of hash brown potatoes and carried them to the table. “Okay, then is it Herman?”

Lizzy shook her head.

“Sweet Jesus! He’s got half a dozen kids. Do we have to guess each one by name? I might have forgotten a couple of the ones that’s older than we are,” Allie said.

“Then is the game over?” Lizzy asked.

“You are wicked. I shouldn’t even let you eat breakfast with us since you won’t tell,” Allie said with a pout.

“Suck in that lower lip. It won’t work with me anymore.” Lizzy picked up a biscuit and filled it with eggs and bacon. “And if you don’t say the exact name, then I don’t have to nod.”

“That’s not fair, Lizzy Logan!” Allie said.

Lizzy came close to dropping her biscuit, but then she remembered that she’d said her sister had to come up with the exact name. It might be splitting hairs but the name on the deed would be Elizabeth Jane Logan, so she rationalized that she did not have to nod.

“Maybe not, but you made up the rules.” She slid a hash brown onto her plate and reached for another biscuit.