Wild Cowboy Ways (Lucky Penny Ranch #1)(12)

“Hush. I’ll meet you on the roof in thirty minutes.” She marched out the back door, back straight and chin up.

So Allie wasn’t married. She wasn’t afraid of hard work. She liked chili better than anything in the world, and she had a temper to boot. His kind of woman if she’d been tall, blond, and had clear blue eyes.

“I’ve never been in this house. Looks like it needs more than a roof job,” Deke said.

Blake removed a block of cheese from the refrigerator along with a jar of hot dill pickles. “Yes, it does. You reckon you and Allie could do some patch jobs in here to get us through until we can start showing a profit on the ranch? It needs new drywall on the ceiling and maybe some paint on the walls. Don’t want to spend a lot until we start making money, but that shouldn’t make me have to take out a mortgage on the place.”

“If Allie’s got time to do some work for you, I reckon I could help her. But come spring, I’ll be busy with my own place and the rodeo rounds,” Deke answered.

“We don’t need three bowls, Deke. My dog, Shooter, he doesn’t like chili.”

Deke chuckled. “Allie will be back. She don’t turn down chili for nothing.”

And they called the cowboys who bought the Lucky Penny crazy? Hadn’t Deke seen the look on Allie’s face when she marched out of the house?

“How long has it been since a real family lived here?” Blake kept an eye on the door and an ear tuned to the sound of boots on the wooden porch.

“Maybe four years. Last bunch didn’t last a month. Moved in, came to church one time, and left. Guess they took one look at all that mesquite and cactus and threw up their hands in defeat before they even got started. Before that they came and went so fast the folks in Dry Creek didn’t even get a chance to get to know them. Do you really think you can make this work?” Deke asked.

“Hope so,” Blake said. “My brother and cousin and I’ve sunk a lot of money into the place. I was just wondering if the place had gone empty for seventeen years since the calendar on the wall is that old.”

“Be damned if it ain’t. Guess someone liked that picture of a barn on it,” Deke said.



Allie bit into a cold bologna and cheese sandwich and got madder each time she chewed. Chili—damn fine chili—Mary Jo’s chili, which was the best in the whole county, was in that house. What was wrong with this picture? She took her phone from her coat pocket and called her sister.

“I hope you are happy. Blake and Deke are eating chili and I’m sitting in a cold truck eating a soggy, cold sandwich, because I’m proving to you and Mama that this is just a job,” she blurted out before Lizzy could even answer.

“You get one star in your eternal crown for such a sacrifice,” Lizzy said sarcastically.

“I deserve two diamond stars because it’s my favorite food and Mary Jo made it and it smelled so good.”

“It’s not a social call,” Lizzy smarted off. “Eat your sandwich and do the job and forget about the chili. Folks are already gossiping. I’ll be glad to report to the next one that comes in the store that you didn’t succumb to the devil’s wiles because he offered you chili. Got customers. See you later this evening,” Lizzy said.

“Somebody’s Knockin’” started playing on the radio and Allie groaned.

She remembered the lyrics so well that said someone was knockin’ and she wondered if she should let him in; that she’d heard about the devil but who would have thought he’d be wearing blue jeans and have blue eyes when he came knocking on her door.

Allie squeezed the sandwich so hard that her fingers went through it. She wanted a bowl of that chili so bad she could taste it. And she was meaner than the devil and one bowl of chili did not mean it was a social call. It was food that would provide warmth for her to work on the roof in the bitter cold all afternoon.

Lizzy could fuss at her later that night, but she was going back into that house and eating chili at a table and maybe even a piece of chocolate pie afterward. Besides, Deke loved Mary Jo’s chili even more than she did and he’d tease her all afternoon about how good it was if she didn’t eat with them.

The house smelled scrumptious when she knocked on the back door and entered without waiting for an invitation. “I changed my mind and I don’t want to hear jack shit from you, Deke Sullivan.”

“I ain’t sayin’ nothing. I was about to walk on back to my ranch if you hadn’t come on back in here,” Deke said.

“Why did you change your mind?” Blake asked.

“Because the day she turns down chili, then I figure she’s gettin’ that stuff that her granny has and I ain’t workin’ with a woman who’s holdin’ a nail gun if her mind ain’t right. Why are you in a bad mood today anyway?” Deke asked.

Allie scowled at him. “I’m not in a mood. Where are the bowls?”

Blake pointed. “There’s a bowl beside the slow cooker. Help yourself.”

She removed her coat and hung it over the back of a chair.

Blake’s eyes caught with hers and sparks flew. “Well, whatever the reason, I’m glad you changed your mind. A dinner table is always nicer with a lovely woman sitting at it.”

Deke pushed back his chair and in a couple of long strides he was beside Allie. “You best not skimp on your helping because I’m having seconds. Mary Jo hasn’t made chili for me in more than a year.”