Wild Cowboy Ways (Lucky Penny Ranch #1)(14)

“It’s no problem. The food is already here. We just have to heat it up and I sure like to have someone other than Shooter to talk to while I eat.” He smiled and went back to eating.

Deke reached under the table and squeezed her knee. She jumped like she’d been hit with a stun gun and shifted her gaze to him. He was warning her that he could and would go home before the first shingle was removed if she didn’t agree to Blake’s offer.

“Okay, then,” Allie said. “Thank you. It’s very generous of you to invite us.”



An hour later, Deke had unloaded shingles from the trailer onto a couple of pallets, and had repositioned the trailer to catch the old shingles as they threw them off the roof. The sound of the dozer tearing trees up by the roots could be heard in the distance as Deke set up a boom box on the roof and put in a Conway Twitty CD.

“I’m a pretty damn good judge of bulls, broncs, and cowboys,” Deke said, climbing back down the ladder and then toting two shingle remover tools up to the roof.

“So?” Allie scrambled up the ladder right behind him.

“So Blake Dawson is a good man.”

“And?” Allie picked up one of the bright orange tools with a long handle and slid it under the shingles at the peak of the roof.

Deke started on the next row, sending shingles sliding down the roof to land on the trailer.

“He won’t be our neighbor long. And besides I did my homework on this one.”

Deke’s eyes widened. “You investigated him?”

“Gossip works more than one way. I can find out things pretty easy, especially if it happened only a little more than a hundred miles from here. There are four of the Dawson boys. The older two are married and settled, but the younger ones have quite a reputation,” she said.

“For ranchin’?” Deke asked. “Or with the ladies?”

She expertly popped off a shingle and moved down to the next one. “Both. Rumor has it that they’re both crackerjack ranchers and their cousin Jud, who’s buying the Lucky Penny with them, is not only good with ranching but he can smell an oil well. How are you going to feel if they strike oil on the Lucky Penny and we’ve got all those trucks running through Dry Creek night and day?”

“Hell, Allie! That might be the kick start that Dry Creek needs to grow and maybe some of us other ranchers can talk Jud into sniffin’ around our land. Now, tell me about the part about him being a wild cowboy.”

Shingles started sliding down the slope of the roof and landing on the empty trailer. “Why? You afraid of the competition?”

“Hell, no! I’m the most eligible bachelor in the whole county. I can share. Come on, Allie. Tell me.”

“They call Blake the wild Dawson and his brother, Toby, the hot cowboy. They say that they can talk women out of their underpants in less than two hours of the time they meet them.”

Deke threw back his head and laughed. “So that is the reason you wouldn’t look at him at the dinner table. Don’t worry, darlin’, you can super-glue your under britches to your butt and you’ll be safe.”

Allie moved on down the roofline. “Maybe I want him to sweet-talk me.”

“What did you say?” Deke yelled.

“Nothing,” Allie replied from the other end of the roof.





Chapter Five



The squeaky sounds of rusty hinges told Blake that he had to start making sure his doors were locked. If Irene had arrived five minutes earlier she would have walked in on him strip-stark naked standing in front of the fireplace. Thank goodness when she eased the door open he was wearing flannel pajama pants and a long-sleeved thermal knit shirt. Before the door closed he grabbed his phone from the end table and hit the numbers to call Allie.

While he waited, he picked up the remote control, put the television on mute, sighed, and threw back the throw he’d tossed over his legs. Shooter’s ears popped up and he growled but he didn’t move a muscle.

“Gettin’ kind of slow there, old boy. I heard the hinges squeak before you did. And we thought that we were moving to a quiet place. Boy, were we wrong,” Blake said.

“Walter, darlin’.” Irene stopped and glared at Shooter. “When did you get a dog and what is it doing in the house? They have fur to keep them warm outside. They don’t belong in the house.” Irene crossed her thin arms across her chest. That night she wore purple sweat pants and cowboy boots that didn’t match on the wrong feet. Springs of gray hair poked out around her hot pink stocking hat. The stained work coat was three sizes too big and bright red lipstick had sunk into all the wrinkles around her mouth.

“Shhh! You’ll hurt my dog’s feelings, Miz Irene. Have a seat. I’m making a phone call,” he said.

“I didn’t come over here for you to shush me, Walter. Do you think it’s easy getting out of that house? Well, it’s not and besides it’s cold out there. I swear to God on the Bible, it’s going to snow before the end of the week.”

Allie answered on the fifth ring. “Hello.”

“Hi there. This is Walter,” Blake said.

“I’m on my way as soon as I can get my boots and coat on,” she said.

He returned the phone to the end table, flipped the lever on the side of his worn brown leather recliner, got to his feet, and dragged a wooden rocker up close to the fire. “Here, darlin’, you must be freezing. Sit right here and warm your hands while I make you a cup of hot chocolate. Can I take your coat?”