Just Shoot Me (Cowboy Way, #1) (3 page)

Lori was driving them both crazy. And Tina
still hadn’t had an opportunity to talk to her, but she was going
to pin her down soon. Laney needed a mother, and Tina hadn’t
birthed her, so her sister needed to live up to her own
responsibilities. She glanced at Laney sleeping peacefully in the
seat beside her and her heart squeezed. The kid deserved so much
better. Tina was going to make sure she got that. Like a home she
could call her own, somewhere to put down roots, just as soon as
she got this promotion. A kid needed that. Something she and her
sister had never had. They had seen the country, too much of it.
Tina had finally planted in Dallas after their parents divorced,
but her younger sister was still a tumbleweed.

Narrowing her eyes, Tina watched the road
closer. The trees broke and wide pastures covered by a thick
blanket of fog appeared. Her turn should be coming up soon,
according to the GPS on her dash. A few miles later, she saw the
rutted gravel drive at the last minute. She made a quick right then
gritted her teeth as her compact car bounced over a cattle guard.
The front wheels cleared that to immediately take plunge into a
deep pothole. She glanced at Laney, and her little body bounced and
she moaned, but didn’t wake up. The ground leveled out, and Tina
sighed.

In the distance, she saw a big house at the
end of the long driveway. As she neared, she also saw another
thinner, longer building off to the left. That must be the
bunkhouse where Hope and Cord were living. There weren’t any lights
on inside. Probably because it was just now six a.m. and Tina was
four hours early. In the distance, an eerie yellow light cut
through the thick fog and caught her attention. Tina squinted, the
fog rolled, and she could see it was coming through the door of a
huge barn. Someone must be up after all, she thought as she drove
past the bunkhouse toward the barn. Maybe it was Cord. If it
wasn’t, Tina would just park there and take a cat nap for an hour
or so until the residents at the ranch woke up.

The models she’d scheduled for the test shoot
wouldn’t be there until ten. Or at least she hoped they would. You
never knew if they would show or not. Work ethic in the modelling
industry was notoriously bad. Tina had encountered it many times
from the female models she had worked with at Texas Tomboy. Often,
if they weren’t late, they didn’t show at all. If they did show
when they were running late, they were usually in a bad mood and
turned into whiny divas.

She hoped working with male models would be
easier, but she wasn’t holding her breath. Good looking single men
liked to go out on Friday nights. The two male models she was
expecting today were definitely good looking. But if they showed up
looking hungover or had bad attitudes, she would send them right
back to Dallas. She wasn’t paying them to take photos she couldn’t
use. And she wasn’t going to coddle them. That had always been her
mode of operation with models. She hired them to do a job, and they
were going to do it or she would find someone else who would. She
might cut them a little slack though, because she had incentive to
get this shoot done today.

Stopping outside the wide barn door, she
killed her engine. Laney didn’t stir when Tina opened door and
paused to slip on her high heels before she swung her legs outside.
In hindsight, the stilettos probably weren’t the best shoes she
could have chosen for a trip to the country, but she didn’t have
much choice. She’d worn out her last pair of sneakers at the gym,
when she actually had time to go to the gym. These days between
taking care of Laney, and all the hours she put in at the office,
Tina just didn’t have time for anything anymore.

Besides she liked high heels. Vertically
challenged at just a little over five feet, they added height and
that boosted her confidence. Made her feel on more even footing
with the world. When she wore them, people seemed to take her more
seriously.

At least she had found a ruffled blue jean
skirt in the back of her closet to wear. That was as close to
casual as she could get. Nothing in her closet fit anymore, because
she was a little curvier than she had been when she had time for
the gym. And she didn’t have time to shop for clothes that fit
better either. It was a vicious cycle that wasn’t likely to change
soon. Her job as Assistant Marketing Director at Texas Tomboy was
demanding. Once she got her new promotion, it would only get worse.
Unless she made her sister step up and be a mother.

Tina stood and quietly closed the car door.
The heels of her shoes immediately sank into the dewy earth. She
moved her weight to the toes of her shoes to tiptoe toward the barn
door. A horse whinnied loudly inside, then she heard a loud bang as
if the animal kicked the stall. A throaty growl, followed by a loud
curse told her someone was definitely awake and inside the
barn.

When she finally stepped inside, she squinted
against the bright lights until her eyes adjusted. Two horses swung
their heads in her direction to look at her curiously over the top
of their stalls. One of them nickered and tossed his head as if he
was saying hello. Tina laughed then looked around. The rich earthy
smells assaulted her nostrils and she wrinkled her nose. Other than
the horses though, she didn’t see a soul inside the barn. Walking a
little further inside, she stopped on a concrete pad where she
could ease onto her heels.

Cupping her hands around her mouth, Tina
shouted, “Hello!” 

The only reply she received were agitated
snorts from the horses.  She scanned along the walls from
stall to stall hoping to see one open, but they were all closed
tight.  Noticing a light at the back of the building
coming from a darkened hallway, she headed that way.  The barn
was so big, she knew yelling probably wasn't going to do
anything except stir up the horses more. She held onto the
rail and made her way toward the back.  

At the end a narrow hallway, she noticed a
door was opened a crack and a light was on inside the room. The
person she heard must be in there, she thought as she walked
there.  At the door, she stopped, took a deep breath then
pasted on a smile, before she pushed the door inward. Her smile
turned to a surprised gasp when her eyes landed on a cowboy
sitting in a chair beside a scarred wooden desk. The man
wore nothing but tight, white underwear, a t-shirt and his black
cowboy hat. His jeans were around his ankles, and he was massaging
his thigh.

His stormy blue eyes swung to hers, but he
didn’t make a move to pull up his pants. His body tensed, and one
dark eyebrow lifted beneath the brim of his hat.  “Who the
hell are you?” he demanded, and his deep, honeyed drawl crawled
along her nerve endings, exciting each one.

The man looked somewhat like Cord Dixon, but
he definitely wasn’t.  His face was squarer and more rugged,
his jaw firmer, than Mr. Laramie.  Cord’s eyes were more of a
sky blue, but this man’s eyes almost looked like the sky when
warning a summer thunderstorm was about to erupt.  They
perfectly matched his prickly attitude.

Those sexy, insolent eyes left fire behind as
they made a quick pass down to her toes. They moved a little slower
back up her body, before settling on hers again. He sat there
staring at her when she didn’t answer. Tina gathered her senses,
licked her lips and found her voice.  “Um, I thought Cord
might be out here,” she stuttered.

His eyes narrowed and his jaw
tightened.  “If you’re here to pick up something with my
brother, you’re wasting your time.  He’s married now, and his
wife is knocked up.  Best thing you can do is get your pretty
little ass out of here, before Hope sees you.”

“
I’m here to see Hope too,” Tina
clarified.  When he flinched, her eyes fell to the hand on his
thigh, he moved it and Tina saw a dark purple bruise beneath his
fingers.  Against her will, her eyes darted to the impressive
goods those tight white underwear of his was trying to
contain. 

He cleared his throat, her eyes flew back to
his and her cheeks heated.  One side of his firm mouth
kicked up into a cocky smile.  “See something you like,
buttercup?”

Tina saw a lot she liked, and that was the
problem.  She had to fight to keep her eyes from going back
there for a second look.  “Um, did you hurt yourself?” Tina
asked, trying to cover the fact that she had been staring at his
package.  It was obvious from his widening grin that she
hadn’t fooled anyone. 

He snorted and grabbed a rolled up Ace bandage
off of the desk.  “It’s nothing,” he grumbled as he wrapped it
around his thigh.  “Damned horse kicked me.”

“
It looks pretty bad," Tina said,
moving in for a closer look. 

He stopped wrapping and his eyes flew up to
hers again.  There was a warning there and Tina stopped in her
tracks.  “What the hell do you want here?” he
demanded.

“
I’m here for a photo shoot. 
I’m Tina Montgomery with Texas Tomboy.  Hope said I could do a
photo shoot here today.”

Blue fire sparked in his eyes.  “Well,
Hope
failed to ask if that was okay with me.”

The arrogance in his tone made Tina
angry.  As far as she knew, this was Hope’s home now
too.  If she wanted to invite a friend here, who was this guy
to say she had to ask his permission?  Tina folded her arms
over her chest, and snapped, “She lives here.  Is married to
one of the owners.  Why would she have to ask you if she could
have someone out here?”

“
One of the owners, huh?” he said
in a low lethal tone, as he clipped off the top of the bandage and
leaned back in the chair to cross his arms over his broad
chest.

“
Yes, Cord Dixon is her husband.
He’s one of the owner’s sons.” 

“
Well I’m Dean Dixon, the owner’s
other
son.  The one who has been busting his ass here,
taking care of this family, while my brother chased skirts like you
all over Dallas.  And unlike my brother, my name happens to be
on the deed to this ranch.”

Dean Dixon.  Cord’s brother.  
Hell, she didn’t even know he had a brother, but then again she
didn’t know much about Cord Dixon other than he was Mr. Laramie and
looked better than any man she’d ever seen in a pair of
jeans.  Her eyes dropped to the jeans around Dean’s ankles and
noticed they were Laramie jeans.  She wondered how his
muscular thighs would look in those jeans.  Probably better
than his brother’s.   Tina dragged her eyes away. 
“You think you could put your pants on so we can finish this
conversation?”

“
It’s finished as far as I’m
concerned,” he said as he stood and bent to drag his jeans up his
legs.  His zipped them angrily, then shoved his belt through
the loops.  “You can get back in your car and get the hell out
of here.  I don’t have time to deal with this shit.  The
only thing my brother and I are going to be doing today is getting
these horses ready, so we can get them to the auction on
Monday.”

“
I won’t get in your way, and I’m
not here to shoot with Cord.  I have models coming,” Tina
informed him.

Dean finished buckling his belt, then put his
hands on his hips.  “I don’t think so.  Call them and
tell them to stay in Dallas then head back there yourself. 
This ranch is not a photo studio.”  He limped past her to the
door, and shoved it open, causing it to bounce off the
wall.   He put a hand on the wall and made his way down
the hallway to the arena. 

Tina strode behind him, but even injured the
man’s long-legged stride was hard for her to keep up with in heels.
“But Hope said—“ Tina started, but she made a step into the arena,
her heel caught on the edge of the concrete pad and her ankle
twisted painfully.  With a yelp, she felt herself flying
forward. She threw her hands out to catch herself, but her palms
hit Dean Dixon in the middle of his back and he went flying
too.  They landed in a heap on the dusty floor with her on top
of him.  Dean immediately rolled to his back, and Tina
scrambled up to straddle him. 

Before she could stand, his hands gripped her
hips in a steel hold. 
“The best thing you
can do is leave,” he ground out angrily.  “There won’t be
anything shot here today, except you if you don’t get the hell off
my ranch.”

As hard as his eyes were right then, Tina
could almost believe he meant those words. The last thing she
needed was a confrontation with Cord’s brother, or to cause
problems for Hope.

“
I’ll just stop by the
bunk—“

“
You’re not going to shoot anyone,
Dean,” Cord interrupted angrily, as he stopped beside his brother
to stare down at them with his hands on his hips. “I just talked to
daddy and he’s fine with it. Texas Tomboy is paying us to use the
ranch for their shoot location, and we need that damned
money.”

Dean’s eyes narrowed. “Well I run this place,
and you didn’t talk to me,” Dean replied through tight lips. Tina
tried to stand again, but his fingers tightened on her
hips.

Cord didn’t blink. He faced his brother’s
glare head on. “If you had let me talk last night, I would have
told you. Maybe if you’d shut up long enough to listen now and
again, you would know,” he spat as he extended his hand to help her
up.

Tina took his hand and tried to stand, but a
sharp pain shot through her ankle and she moaned. Dean’s arms
closed around her waist, and it was like the brothers were having a
tug-of-war with her. “Let her go,” Dean grumbled. “She hurt her
damned ankle in those stupid heels.” His eyes moved to hers and
Tina saw disgust there. “What woman in their right mind wears high
heels into a barn?”