Merry Cowboy Christmas (Lucky Penny Ranch #3)(74)

“Come on now,” Blake said. “I never did tattle on you, not one time.”

“You got to promise me you won’t breathe a word,” Truman leaned in and whispered.

“Promise,” they said in unison.

“I’m tired of arguing with God. He wins. Dora June has stood beside me for fifty years, and I think she was serious about seeing the whole United States in an RV. So I’m thinkin’ about buyin’ her one for Christmas as a surprise.”

Jud came close to spewing tea across the table. “And you’re going to live in it on your property until you get things sold?”

“Hell no! This is where I need you boys. I ain’t got the time to get rid of my livestock, and that’s all I got left on my place. I’m not even sure I want to sell the ranch until we see if we want to keep livin’ like hoboes or if we want to come back home and rebuild.” He paused.

The silence at the table was so pronounced that it reverberated in Jud’s ears. “When are you going to buy this thing?”

“One day next week when me and you is doin’ our chores. She saw one up in Wichita, so we could go up that way and pick out a real nice one and pay for it. Then if one of y’all would help me, I’d—”

“Hey, y’all mind if I sit with you?” Deke asked.

“Drag up a chair,” Blake said.

“I reckon he’ll have to know now,” Truman sighed.

“Know what?” Deke motioned for Sharlene to bring him a glass of sweet tea. “And I want the turkey and dressing special,” he said.

She nodded and brought the tea right over to the table.

“You want to tell him?” Blake asked.

Truman brought him up to speed.

Deke’s eyes were about to pop out of his head when the old guy stopped talking. “You serious? If you are selling, I want first chance at your cattle.”

“Get in line behind these boys. You want my goats?” Truman asked.

“If you’ll let me have first choice of the cattle, I’ll take all those goats.”

“What do y’all think?” Truman asked the other three. “You want the goats to get the cattle?”

Blake shook his head. “Allie will want to bring every kid in the house in the springtime. I’ll stand back and let Deke have the cattle if he’ll take the goats.”

“I’ll make you a deal on the whole lot of them and throw in all the hay in my barn as a bonus,” Truman said.

“You be sure about this before we shake on it, Truman,” Deke said. “I’ll give you a couple of days to think about it.”

“I’ll think about it until I go look at them RV things. If it don’t seem right, then all bets are off. Since we got five of us, why don’t we play poker this afternoon, instead of dominoes?”

“You as good at poker as you are at dominoes?” Jud asked.

“You’ll have to play a few games to find out,” Truman answered.

“I’m in if it’s poker. What time are we playin’?” Deke asked.

“Right after we get through eatin’. You got enough energy to play after chasin’ women all night?” Truman asked.

“It’s chasin’ them women that has my blood pumpin’, Truman. This might be the day that goes down in the history books as the day Deke Sullivan whipped Truman,” Deke answered.

“When pigs fly,” Truman growled.

“You better be duckin’ because there’s a possibility they’ve sprouted wings. Look around the table at who you are having Sunday dinner with. Bet you never thought that was possible, did you?”

“I was right about one thing. All y’all ain’t nothing but a bunch of smartass kids,” Truman said.





Chapter Twenty



Laden with shopping bags, Fiona climbed the stairs, hoping that Jud would appear anytime and take part of the weight from her. She set all four bags on the floor in front of the credenza and plopped down in a wingback chair and kicked off her boots. Flipping around and throwing her legs over the chair arm, she sighed and wished that Jud were there to massage her aching feet.

She snuggled down into the curve of the chair back and shut her eyes, just to rest them for a couple of minutes. She fell asleep and dreamed of building a huge snowman with Jud. Two big yellow dogs and half a dozen kids, with hair that went from blond to every shade of red, romped in the snow around them.

In the dream, Jud leaned around the snowman and kissed her. She awoke with a start to find that in reality he was leaning around the edge of the chair and she could actually feel the heat from his lips as they came down on hers.

Visions of tangled sheets, his arms around her, and afterglow danced through her head as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Somewhere in the background she could hear Truman fussing about all the stuff Dora June brought home, but nothing mattered except Jud Dawson.

“I’ve missed you,” he said when the kiss ended, and he straightened up.

“Me too,” she said softly.

He was dressed in a long-sleeved thermal knit shirt, the three undone buttons at the neck revealing soft brown chest hair and a pair of red and green plaid pajama pants. He held out a hand and she was tempted—Lord help her but she was tempted—to forget what she’d figured out and go with him to the bedroom where the drawer full of glow-in-the-dark condoms awaited.