Wild Cowboy Ways (Lucky Penny Ranch #1)(13)

Allie filled her bowl to the brim and carried it carefully to the table. She sat down and dipped her spoon deep into the chili, keeping her eyes on the food instead of looking at either Deke or Blake. “Mmm. Mary Jo’s chili is the best in the world.”

Deke set his second bowl on the table. “If you hadn’t come back I really was going to give you hell about it.”

Blake pushed back his chair and went to refill his bowl. “Sometime I’ll make a pot of chili and let y’all be the judge if it’s this good. My mama had four old ornery boys and she said that we had to learn our way around the kitchen. So every fourth day one of us had kitchen duty. We hated it but I can make a pretty good pot of chili and I know how to grill a steak. And sharing it with a pretty lady and a friend makes everything better.”

“Allie still hates the kitchen. Only thing she hates worse than cooking is cleaning. She’s pretty good at both but that don’t mean she enjoys it,” Deke said between bites.

“I’m sitting right here,” Allie said bluntly. “You aren’t supposed to talk about me when I’m close enough to smack the shit out of you.” Allie reached for a piece of cheese and then cut it up in cubes on top of her chili. “I’m surprised you didn’t buy this place, Deke.”

“I started to. Went to the bank and asked for a loan and then changed my mind. It’s not what I really want.”

“And that would be?” Blake asked.

One of Deke’s shoulders raised a couple of inches in a shrug. “I want the place my cousin has across the road from mine. He’ll get tired of his bitchin’ city wife within the year and put it up for sale. Besides, this place ain’t nothing but mesquite and cow tongue cactus. Only thing it’s got going for it is those three spring-fed ponds so you don’t have to carry water to the cattle in the hot summertime.”

“Mesquite can be removed right along with cactus, and the ranch was cheap.” Blake changed the subject. “Got a wife and kids, Deke?”

Deke slapped his forehead. “I forgot the beer. Not that this sweet tea isn’t good, but I said I’d contribute the beer to our dinner. Sorry about that.”

“He doesn’t have a wife or kids.” Allie answered the question for him.

“And you, Allie? Got a husband or kids?” Blake asked.

“No.” Her answer was tight and left no room for discussion.

Deke went on. “I got a little spread of about three hundred acres and I run some cattle, grow some hay, and do odd jobs with Allie when she needs a tough cowboy. It butts up to your place on the west side. Other than that, I’m a rodeo junkie. I ride a few bulls and broncs and even play at rodeo clown when they need me. No wife. No kids and ain’t interested in neither one right now.”

“That’s because no sane woman could live with you. He’s so set in his ways that you’d think he was eighty-five rather than twenty-five.” Allie pushed back her chair and took her bowl to the cabinet for a refill. Lizzy could scream that she’d sold her soul but the chili was worth every bit of her sister’s bitching.

When she returned she reached for a piece of cornbread at the same time Blake did, and a shiver ran from her fingers to her gut. Dammit! She was not giving in to her hormones. She had to keep things in perspective.

“You look like you are getting in that mood again,” Deke said.

“She might be fighting with the voices in her head. My brother gets that look on his face when he is doing that,” Blake said. “Most of the time it involves which woman he’s taking home from a bar. You thinkin’ about a fellow, Allie?”

“Hell, no! That’s the last thing on my mind. Do you ever fight with yourself, Blake?” Allie asked.

One of Blake’s shoulders hitched up a few inches. “I do it all the time.”

Deke made circles with his forefinger up next to his ear. “I swear she’ll be loony by the time she’s thirty. Maybe I should leave the beer in the truck. She can’t hold her liquor worth a damn.”

“What are you talkin’ about? Just because you are big and mean and tough don’t mean I can’t drink you under the table,” she protested.

Deke held up a finger and swallowed. “They say that liquor kills brain cells and you’ve been talking to the voices in your head. I rest my case.”

Allie shook her fist at Deke. “Enough. Eat your dinner and stop being a clown. We’ve got to get at least half the shingles kicked off today and new felt put down if there’s not rotting boards.”

“Y’all get in a bind, holler at me. I can leave what I’m doing and help any way I can,” Blake said.

“We might do just that if it starts to get dark. Days don’t last nearly as long in January as they do in July.” Deke polished off the last of his chili. “Is it all right if I get the chocolate pie out and slice it up?”

Blake refilled his glass with sweet tea. “Help yourself to the pie. There’s a Mexican casserole in the refrigerator and lots of leftover chili. Y’all might as well join me at noon while you’re workin’ on the roof. I hate to see good food go to waste.”

Deke said. “Count me in. Is that Sharlene’s Mexican casserole?”

Blake nodded.

“Thanks for the offer, but you don’t have to feed us every day.” Allie met Blake’s steely gaze down the length of the table.