Merry Cowboy Christmas (Lucky Penny Ranch #3)(45)

“I’m buying the first round of beers to get us loosened up for dancin’.” Deke motioned for the bartender to bring them five beers.

“Thank you,” Fiona said.

Sharlene claimed the first one set on the bar. “Nothing better than a good cold beer drawn up in an icy mug.”

Mary Jo reached for the second one. “Unless it’s a single cowboy who’d like some company.”

Fiona cut her eyes around to Mary Jo, but neither she nor Sharlene were giving Jud a come-hither-and-sleep-with-me look. Deke downed part of his beer and zeroed in on a tall blonde across the room. By the time the band started the next song, he was hugged up so close to her that they looked like one person with two heads.

A short red-haired cowboy with freckles across his nose and a winning smile sidled up to Mary Jo and she wasted no time wrapping her arms around his neck and swaying to the slow country song the band played.

“See that lonesome cowboy in the corner? The one with the red and black plaid shirt? He looks like he needs to unburden his soul and I’m just the woman to listen to him.” Sharlene turned up her mug and drained it.

“You have a boyfriend,” Fiona reminded her.

“Won’t hurt to listen to troubles and have a few dances with him. I’m making you the guardian of my soul, Fiona. If I get drunk, carry me out, throw me in the truck, and take me home but don’t let me go home with that boy or anyone else.”

“I don’t want that job,” Fiona said.

Sharlene patted her on the cheek. “You don’t have to like it. You just have to do it or else you’ll suffer the consequences.”

“Which are?”

“I won’t have a boyfriend tomorrow and then I’ll go after yours,” Sharlene said just loud enough for Fiona’s ears.

“I don’t have one for you to go after,” Fiona said tersely.

“Bullshit!” Sharlene motioned for the bartender to bring her four shots of tequila and she expertly wove in and around the dancers until she reached her destination. The cowboy grabbed a shot in each hand and threw them back one after the other before he pulled out a chair for Sharlene.

Jud held out a hand. “Guess that leaves you and me. How ’bout a dance?”

“That’s what I came here to do.” She put her hand in his, much like she did most nights when he walked her across the landing. But tonight the excitement in the place, the loud music, the warmth in her belly from the beer all combined to make the vibes between them even hotter and wilder.

He led her to the edge of the floor, pulled her arms up around his neck, and then dropped his hands to the lower part of her back. The female singer in the band sang “Breathe” and every lyric in the song felt as if it were written especially for Fiona and Jud for that night.

When the song ended, a male singer took the microphone, and Jud buried his face in her hair and sang the lyrics to “Amazed,” along with the lead singer. Lord have mercy! Was every song going to be a love song? Was that all the band knew how to play and sing?

“I am amazed by you,” Jud whispered.

“Why?”

“Hell if I know, but like the man says, everything that you do amazes me more than the last thing you did,” he answered.

“Is that your best pickup line?”

“No, but wait.” He pulled her even closer and swayed to the next song. “This one is talking about a wild child with a whole lot of gypsy.” Then as the tempo picked up, he swung her out and brought her back to him in a twirl as the words said that she drove him wild. “That would be my pickup line if I was trying to talk you into going home with me. I’d ask you if you were a wild child with that gorgeous red hair and green eyes.”

Fiona laughed. “Where do you get this stuff?”

“Had lots of practice and tutoring from my older two cousins. They are the pros at women. Me, I just listened and learned, but they were the ones who were never going to settle down. I’ve always wanted to fall in love with the right woman.”

Fiona wasn’t sure how to answer that comment. Thankfully the female singer in the band stepped up to the microphone.

“Hey, you ladies, this one is for you. You cowboys plant your boots, stand still, and let the ladies strut their stuff.” The first guitar strands introduced “Any Man of Mine,” and the singer did a fine job of sounding like Shania Twain.

Fiona got lost in tormenting Jud with her dance. He folded his arms over his broad chest and he flirted with her with his eyes the whole time she twirled around him, gyrating to the beat, touching his cheek and running her hands across his wide shoulders. She was so involved in the dance that she didn’t notice when the rest of the dancers dropped out of the crowded circle one by one.



Shake a little more red in her hair and she could be Shania’s kid sister. The angles in her face were basically the same, but her smile was unique to Fiona Logan and she had far more curves than Shania did.

Jud couldn’t have taken his eyes off her if he’d wanted while she expertly moved to every word the singer belted out. Every time she touched him, he wanted to throw her over his shoulder and drag her back home. He didn’t want any of the cowboys in the place getting any ideas about her dancing like that for any of them. When she moistened those sexy red lips and ran her forefinger down his jawbone, he was so involved with her that he didn’t notice they were the only ones on the dance floor until the song ended and the applause started.