Laredo's Sassy Sweetheart (12 page)

“It is,” Laredo said defensively. “It is if you intend for it to be forever.”

Ranger put his hands behind his head. “Do we know anyone who’s been married forever? Without any fooling around or trial separations? Just unending bliss?”

Tex shoved his hat back on his head. “I don’t think we personally know of a documented case, but maybe they’re out there. And Union Junction is so small that it’s not really a representative sampling of the population.”

Laredo rubbed his brow tiredly, just above where his head was throbbing. “We do know someone who’s happily married. Think about it.”

“Well, there’s the Jenkins,” Ranger offered.

“Only because the missus doesn’t let the mister talk. Heaven knows what he would say if he could get a word in edgewise.”

“Probably, ‘Help! Help!”’ Tex said. “What about the Smyths?”

“You can’t count them,” Ranger stated. “Mrs. Smyth was married to two men at the same time.”

“She didn’t know it,” Laredo pointed out. “She thought one husband was dead in the war, and she remarried. But then she got divorced and married her first husband when he returned ten years later.”

“Which was weird enough,” Tex said with a grin, “except that then both the men remained in the house with her.”

“They’re wounded war vets,” Laredo reminded him. “They both needed some assistance. It was a suitable arrangement all around.” If a bit scandalous, he forbore to mention.

“I’ll say,” Tex agreed. “Maybe I’ll find a wife who’ll agree to let me have a second wife in the same house with us. I could dig being tended by two women.”

“You’ll be the walking wounded then,” Ranger told him. “Plus the expense would be far worse than having two Thoroughbred racehorses, and there’d no doubt be hellacious bitching going on. Just concentrate on fertilizing your roses, Tex.”

“So what about you and Hannah?” Laredo asked his brother.

“What about us?” Ranger’s tone was unyielding.

“I thought maybe you liked her. Although you did go off with Cissy for a while.”

Ranger shrugged. “I’m not going to like anyone. My life is fine the way it is. And I still say you should let your brains unscramble before you find yourself doing something stupid like getting married.”

That’s what it was, Laredo realized. He’d hit his head, and then Katy had mentioned posing nude, and he’d been attacked by paralyzing pain in his brain, and the word
marriage
had appeared as if Vanna White had turned the letters for him. The
thing was, he wasn’t the jealous type. Never had been. Nor had he been the possessive type. So, clearly, he
had
knocked something loose. “I think I’ll turn in,” he said suddenly. “The doctor said I needed forty-eight hours of good rest. And I believe her.”

Ranger laughed. “We’ve been meaning to ask you about that doctor, by the way. She had nice long legs and some other things. Did you suffer any amnesia? Because we want to know what kind of perfume she was wearing.”

Laredo grunted. The doctor in question had been a Whitney Houston look-alike, a major babe in every way. He’d never have enough amnesia to keep him from noticing a woman like her. Plus her hands had been soft and cool when she touched his head.

What he really needed a prescription for was how, despite the doctor’s beauty and soft touch, he’d kept thinking about Katy’s worried face peering at him as he’d lain on the arena floor.

He didn’t have amnesia. He had obsession, and best he could recall, there was no cure for that.

He jumped down from the truck bed and crawled inside the cab. Then he lay down, telling himself he’d be himself after a good night’s rest.

“Nighty-night,” he heard Ranger call, his voice all but grinning, if voices could. “Sweet dreams.”

“Shut up,” Laredo muttered to himself. If he was lucky, he wouldn’t dream about Katy in front of a photographer’s lens, showing her charms to the whole world. She was just bossy enough to do it.

“If you rematch, I pose,” she’d said.

The thought made him groan.

Sweet ’n’ sour Miss Katy Goodnight had two things she was about to learn: one, he never backed down from a challenge.

He
was
going to rematch.

Second, he never backed down from a challenge.

She had to be protected from herself. And he was just the bad-ass-in-the-flesh cowboy to do it.

T
EX WATCHED
through the back truck window as Laredo settled down in the cab. “Do we hang around for the final showdown or do we bail?”

Ranger shrugged and swigged some beer. “You’re in it up to your hips, I’d say. Mason says he can give us a few more days off, especially if we come home in the middle of the week to lend a hand. Besides, you’ve got to ride again.”

“Uh-uh. Not me. I only ride against my brother once.”

Ranger stared at him. “You didn’t ride against Laredo. He rode against himself. You were just a practice partner.”

“Are you suggesting I should ride again?”

“Did Laredo ask you not to?”

“No.” Tex rolled his shoulders and neck uneasily. “But I should think it would be obvious that family sticks together. And we’re all behind the Lonely Hearts ladies.” He shook his head. “I didn’t mind subbing when the rodeo was too close to be
called off. But they’ve got time to find another cowboy now.”

“Thing is, Laredo needs to beat you just as much as he needs to beat that bull,” Ranger whispered. “Otherwise, he’ll never know.”

“Never know what?” Tex whispered back.

Ranger sighed. “Well, think it through. You heard all that bull Laredo gave Katy about Mason not letting him ride rodeo, didn’t you?”

“Yeah.” Tex scratched his forehead.

“Well, think about why he didn’t just tell her the truth.”

“That Mason was less keen on Laredo riding than any of us, simply because he knew he’d never come home?”

“That’s just it,” Ranger said. “He didn’t tell Katy that. And he didn’t tell her that he loved playing soccer. He didn’t tell her that while the rest of us were getting our heads cracked open, Mason was running him from field to field. He didn’t tell her that he’d actually won a scholarship and gone to college full-ride. And he sure as hell didn’t tell her the real truth: that he hated rodeo with a passion, and that bulls and broncs held no appeal for him whatsoever.”

“Truth be known, he was always a little bit astonished by our interest,” Tex agreed. “Couldn’t understand why we enjoyed getting thrown off. And we couldn’t understand why he enjoyed hanging about with a bunch of sweaty lads pouring Gatorade over each other and eating oranges.”

“There you have it,” Ranger said. “You see what I’m trying to tell you.”

“Not really.”

“He did the one thing he really had no interest in, and was even maybe a little scared of. It’s his Big Thing. But he did it for Katy.”

“Ohh,” Tex said.

“So you have to ride. You’re just about the best of the best, and if he can beat you this time—and his fear—then he’s set himself up as a worthy knight for Katy.”

Tex squinted at him. “How many beers have you drunk?”

“I don’t know. Why?”

“Because you sound like you’ve drunk a case, yet somehow I’m hearing your reasoning clearly. Maybe
I’ve
drunk the case.”

Ranger grinned at him. “Faint heart never won fair lady. Didn’t you ever hear that?”

“I don’t think so…. I’ve heard that you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.”

Ranger raised his brows at him. “Are you saying Laredo can’t do it?”

Tex sighed. “I’ve got a lot of experience, Ranger. We can’t hang around here forever riding a bull once a week so that Laredo can finally catch up and beat me to impress Katy.”

“I know that. I don’t think it’ll take another week.”

“And it’s a really stupid, caveman, macho-guy way to woo a woman, anyway. That bodacious doc
said Laredo wasn’t to risk another head injury or he could really do damage. And then he’ll end up at home with Helga, and then we’ll have to keep him doped on smuggled prescriptions.”

“He’s not wooing the woman by riding the bull. He’s wooing himself. He’s got to do a Big Thing.”

“You said he was doing it for Katy.”

“I said he was doing what he didn’t want to do for her. The choice of weapon is for her but the battle itself, that’s all his.”

Tex sighed. “For crying out loud. And say he wins. Then what?”

Ranger got off the barrel and lay down with his head against the side. Crossing his boots, he pulled his hat down low. “I only do analysis. To predict the future would make me a mind reader, and I’d have to be able to factor in Katy’s mind set.”

“No one can predict what a woman will do,” Tex pointed out.

“I agree. Get some sleep. We’re going to be very busy tomorrow.”

“I’d rather sleep in a bed.”

Ranger sighed. “Me, too. But Laredo’s not sleeping inside, and that tells me something’s not going all that well in the land of romance. So we gotta sleep out here and keep an eye on him.”

“He won’t sleepwalk.”

“No, but someone might walk on him in his sleep.”

Tex straightened. “Hey, the Cut-N-Gurls won’t
shanghai him. They’re not that way. I think everybody’s got them all wrong.”

“Do you like Cissy Kisserton?”

“No,” he denied. “Do you?”

“If I did, you’d never have had a shot at her. By the way, I was pretty impressed that you pulled an 89 after being up all night.”

Tex stared at his brother’s lowered hat suspiciously. “Who said I was up all night?”

“Just a hunch.”

“Keep your hunches to yourself. I’m not interested. And,” Tex said, hunkering down next to his brother, “don’t even get started, because if I ever do have a grand romance, you’re going to be the last to know about it!”

“I hope so,” Ranger said mildly.

“So do I.” Tex studied the stars for a moment. “Want to know a secret?”

“Not really.”

“Marvella’s bull isn’t as mean as Bloodthirsty. In fact, he was a downright creampuff.”

Ranger’s hat moved back as he pushed it so that he could stare at Tex. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that there are bulls born to make a rider look good, and there are bulls born to make a rider look bad. Bad-Ass Blue made me look good. I really didn’t have to do anything except hold on for eight. No trick shots, no low punches.”

“Not a marquee bull?”

Tex shrugged. “Maybe Blue was having an off day. That bull’s supposed to be meaner than mean.”

“Says who?”

“Says everyone. Besides, the judges can tell when you’re getting a good ride. He looks good. He looks mean. And he sure can run and kick with the best of them. But he doesn’t have the lust for kill that Bloodthirsty has. Sure, he’s mad and all. But he’s lacking the fundamental tricks to be a nasty ride. Bloodthirsty’s not a ride at all. He’s a one-way suicide ticket.”

“We could switch you,” Ranger said quickly. “No one was the wiser when they announced the wrong riders this time. No one would notice next time.”

“Nope. No way. Laredo would never allow it. You said it yourself, this is his Big Thing. Fact is, this is a holy war between Laredo and the same thing we’re all grappling with.”

Silence met that comment as they thought about growing up without parents most of the time. For some of the brothers it had been just about all of the time. It hadn’t been terrible, but Mason was outnumbered and outmanned. He deserved a Purple Heart. Laredo had been the go-to guy when Mason had been funky.

Of course, the downside of this was that if Laredo was blowing a fuse now, then Mason was way overdue.

Tex sighed. “Nope, my twin’s got himself set square on the horns of his own dilemma, and there are only two things I can see happening here. One, he wins. Two, he loses. Both are out of our control.”

But with a trick bull and a woman who’d sent him to his truck for the night, it seemed Laredo was in it up to his ears.

Tex was relieved he wasn’t in his twin’s boots.

Delilah was more worried about the rematch than she let on. The calls from surrounding city papers had been gratifying. They’d even had a few offers of corporate sponsorship from some big-city restaurants. Bloodthirsty, it seemed, was garnering quite the reputation. For that matter, bookings for haircuts in her salon were up by twenty percent, and all from city folk interested in having their hair done by one of Lonely Hearts Station’s infamous salons.

There was only one way to beat Marvella at her own game, and that was all that was on Delilah’s mind today. It was past time she and her sister had a little chat. She could send someone in her place; Delilah being a town councilwoman, and it being town business, someone else on the council
could
talk to Marvella.

But this had become personal, now that Laredo had gotten hurt, and as far as she was concerned, the buck stopped with her. “I’m going to see Mar
vella,” she told Jerry, who was sitting in the kitchen icing some cookies for her.

He never paused in what he was doing. “I’ll send out the rescue squad if you’re not back in an hour, but there’s two things you should know.”

“What?” She turned to him with a waiting expression on her face.

“One, it’s a volunteer rescue squad. We don’t pay folks around here like the big city pays its emergency workers.”

“Fair enough. Second?”

“Being that it’s volunteer, the squad will most likely consist of me and those Jefferson boys asleep in Laredo’s truck out there. I’m fixing to run them out some of these cookies.”

“For breakfast?”

“They’re just like doughnuts in my opinion,” Jerry said cheerfully, “and they’ll sit right fine on guts full of beer.”

Delilah shuddered. “If you change your mind and decide to make breakfast for our champions, there are eggs and biscuits in the fridge.”

“Delilah?”

“Yes?”

“How did you feel about Tex riding for the opposing team?”

“I felt rotten about it when I thought Laredo was on their bull, for Katy’s sake. When I realized it was Tex, I felt fine. The Jefferson brothers are bringing business to my salon, Jerry, and to this town that I love. I can’t complain about that.”

Jerry grinned. “They sure are bringing in the women from far and away. Most of the reservations we took today were from women new to town, and all wanting to look beautiful for the rodeo. And all wanting to know who was riding this weekend.”

“Ah.” Delilah smiled and closed the door. She was a smart businesswoman. There was opportunity in a situation that had been out of her hands for too long.

It was time to start taking it back.

“Marvella,” she called, throwing open the Never Lonely Cut-N-Gurls Salon door. About twenty employees and that many customers stopped everything they were doing, which, as far as she could see, was mainly inhabit a Jacuzzi and enjoy some masseuse attention. She was pretty certain all she had to do was send out a zoning committee to check her sister’s permits—that Jacuzzi was not on any record she remembered seeing. No one could prove that Marvella’s business was shady, but as a councilwoman, Delilah felt it was of the utmost importance to see that Lonely Hearts Station retained its promising reputation as a safe, wonderful haven for tourists with a yen for small-town appeal. “Sister, dearest, it’s time you and I had a little heart-to-heart, so to speak.”

K
ATY POKED HER HEAD
in the kitchen, watching Jerry frost cookies for a minute. “Good morning,” she finally said. “Would you like help?”

“No. Yes,” Jerry said suddenly. “Take a dozen of these out to Laredo’s truck, if you don’t mind.”

“Why?” She didn’t mind, but why were cookies being sent out to Laredo’s truck? Was he leaving?

“I’m sure he’ll need breakfast eventually. Plus, you can make certain he’s still breathing.”

“Did he sleep out there all night?”

“And his brothers. I thought they might tie one on, but it was actually pretty quiet.” He handed her a plate of cookies.

She looked at the plate in her hands. With a pretty blue napkin on the plate, it looked like a peace offering. That might be a good thing. “Thanks, Jerry.”

“No problem.” He went back to frosting, his face innocent of intention. After she and Laredo had argued, sugar frosting was likely a good idea.

“Here. Take these bottles of water, too. They can’t drink beer with their cookies. Well, they could, knowing them,” Jerry said, “but we want to get a reputation for wonderful hospitality. Miss Delilah’s thinking about leasing out the spot next door and opening up a bed and breakfast.”

“Is she really?” That seemed like a wonderful plan.

“Yeah, but don’t let the cat out of the bag. We wouldn’t want Marvella messing her up in any way. Delilah got the idea because she’s been putting up so many guests lately.” He grinned at Katy. “People can’t sleep in their trucks forever. And we’re
having all this interest in the rodeo. I do believe some ideas are blossoming in Delilah’s brain.”

“I’ll be certain not to say a word.” She went outside to Laredo’s truck. Two cowboys were in the truck bed, snoozing like dogs on a lawn. One cowboy, the one she was interested in, was facedown in the back seat, with all the windows ventilating him.

“Laredo,” she said through the window. “Laredo! Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” he said without looking up. “Go away.”

“I’ve got frosted cookies.”

He sat up. “Don’t go away.”

She handed him the plate. “You’re supposed to share with your brothers.”

He bit into a cookie and hid the plate on the floor-board. “In my home, we learned quickly that it was every man for himself. By the way, I’ve been thinking about our standoff.”

“Our standoff?”

“Yeah.” He licked his fingers. “Me rematching and you posing. It’s not a fair threat, because I really want to do this and you really don’t want to get naked. What would your parents say? And your ex-fiancé?”

She felt her face go pale at the thought of Stanley staring at her nude body. Just that image alone caused every reasonable argument she could conduct with herself to disappear. Ugh. Never, never, never.

But Laredo didn’t have to know he’d just called
her bluff. “We can talk about this another time,” she said icily. “Please don’t try to prey on my mind, either. It’s beneath you.”

“Not really.” He snagged another cookie and stared at her newly shortened dress. “I like you in blue.”

“Thanks. I like you when your eyes aren’t red from sleeping in your truck.”

“I didn’t sleep well. Ranger bangs around like a bad drum in his sleep, and his boots kept crashing against the truck bed. I think Tex snores louder than Jerry.”

She examined her nails. “Are you complaining or hinting?”

“Both.”

She shrugged at him. “My bed is still available.” And her body, but Mr. Big Thing had to make the first move.

“I may take you up on it. By the way, I’ve had a new idea.”

Her brows went up.

“I’m going to call that nice doctor back, the one who treated me in the hospital, and I’m going to ask her to the rodeo this weekend.”

Katy’s blood pressure was going to need treatment if Laredo was going where she thought he was. “In case you hit your head again, you’ll have your own personal medical team on standby?” she guessed.

“Nah. I’m going to invite her to bring the hospitalized kids out, the ones who are long-term but
mobile enough to attend, to see the rodeo. They’d probably get a kick out of that.”

Katy’s mouth dropped open. “Laredo—”

“It’s a charity event, after all. We should include the ones who would enjoy it the most.”

She didn’t know what to say.

“The tickets can be on me.”

“I’m sure Delilah could wring one of her new sponsors for the tickets,” Katy murmured. “What made you think of this idea?”

“My ever-present headache. I was feeling sorry for myself, and then I remembered those kids in the hospital, and I realized rodeo is for kids. I’m just a big kid, you know.”

“I had figured as much,” she murmured, touched by his idea.

“I want to be more than just a one-time thing,” he said earnestly. “I want to be a gladiator. I want to matter. I want to do something with myself, something—”

“I know, I know,” she said, “something big.” Sighing, she gazed into his face. “Laredo, it’s a wonderful idea. You need to mention it to Delilah and see what she thinks, but I believe she’ll be delighted. And I’ll bet Jerry would love to offer his driving services for the kids.”

He perked up. “I hadn’t thought of that. You know, me and you, we’re an okay team.”

She backed away from the truck. “I don’t think so, actually. Just because a few of our ideas mesh doesn’t make us interlocking pieces.”

“Well, we haven’t gotten to that yet—”

“And we probably won’t,” she said, turning to race back inside. Her heart beating hard, she ran up to her room and closed the door behind her. “Oh, Rose,” she said to the mouse she’d rescued from Bloodthirsty’s hooves, “I think I just lost my heart for good.”

“L
AREDO’S MIND
revolves around doing something big,” Katy told Hannah an hour later as they sat in Katy’s room.

“And your mind revolves around him.”

“Precisely. I feel like I’m trying to stop him from being on a path to himself.”

Hannah shrugged. “All you want to do is hug him and kiss him and squeeze him a little. What’s wrong with that?”

Katy stared at her friend. “You make him sound like a teddy bear, which he most certainly is not.”

“So quit being such a chicken. He can take a break from being Sir Galahad long enough to rescue you from—what did you call it? The phallic tower you live in? And don’t forget, you have a goal, too. To be the greatest chemistry professor Duke has ever seen.”

She frowned. “I’m going from one tower to another.”

“Yeah, but college can’t really be considered a phallic symbol,” Hannah pointed out. “I mean, can it?”

“What I mean is that I’m going from one cloistered, safe existence to another.”

“I don’t know that academics can be considered safe. At some universities it may be more of a political lion’s den. Are you sure you know what you’re getting yourself into?”

Katy closed her eyes. “Safety. Stay the course.”

“That’s right,” Hannah soothed. “The well-proven path.”

Katy opened her eyes when a knock sounded at the door. “Come in,” she called.

Laredo walked in, and her breath tightened in her chest.

“Well, I must be going,” Hannah said, quickly getting up and exiting. “Bye, Laredo.”

“Bye,” he said as she left. “Katy, can we talk?”

“Sure.”

He closed the door behind him, which suddenly made her nervous, although she couldn’t say why. Laredo hadn’t made the remotest attempt to seduce her or even kiss her in days. Not since the day at the creek, in fact. And even that wasn’t a serious attempt, or it would have happened.

“Katy, I’ve been thinking about this
Playboy
problem.”

“Oh?” Not a good time to tell him it was no longer a problem, she supposed. Better to hear him out. Was it possible he was actually jealous of the thought of her being naked for other men?

“Have you called the photographer back yet?”

“Uh, no.”

“Okay. Well, when will you?”

She shrugged, her mind moving quickly. “Tomorrow?” she asked. “Does that sound like a good time? It’ll be Monday, after all.”

He nodded. “Perfect. Okay. Bye.”

And then he left.

She stared at the door he’d closed behind him. He’d sounded strangely as if he didn’t care anymore, as if he’d been gathering remote information for a file. Of course, he was basically saying, “I’m riding, so you’re posing. That’s the gauntlet you threw down, so go ahead and do your deal.”

And she had too much pride to tell him just thinking of Stanley had illustrated how stupid her idea to get wild in that manner had been.

It was enough to make her cry. She’d never been so confused in her life. Part of her was positive she had no business falling in love since she’d just been burned, but the problem was, since Laredo, she’d realized she wasn’t on the rebound.

She’d never loved Stanley. And Laredo had stolen her heart.

Yet he didn’t seem to want it.

“I
NEED Y’ALL
to do me a favor,” Laredo told his brothers when he went back out to the truck.

“Now what?” Tex demanded crustily.

“I need you to sleep in Katy’s bed tomorrow night. One of you, at least.”

Both of his brothers instantly raised their hands.

Laredo grimaced. “Not like that. I need you to be in her bed as a decoy.”

“Where will she be?” Tex asked with interest.

“I’m taking her to Malfunction Junction. She’ll be safe there,” Laredo replied.

“Is she in danger?” Ranger sat straight.

“Only from herself. But I’ll be there to protect her,” Laredo said with satisfaction.

“Oh, yeah, that’s great protection. She’ll be glad to hear it, I’m sure,” Tex said with a smirk.

“Actually, Katy isn’t going to hear it.” This was a detail Laredo had hoped to leave out, but it didn’t seem as if that would be possible.

His brothers raised their brows and waited in silence.

Laredo sighed. “She’s planning on posing for
Playboy Magazine.
”

Their jaws dropped in tandem.

“What month?” Tex demanded.

Not for the first time, Laredo thought about doing damage to his twin. “She’s not going to pose for
Playboy.
This is not the way she is going to become wild and crazy, which is her mission in life at this time.”

Ranger whistled. “You’re going to stop her?”

“Right. But I have to be careful about how I do this, because she’s trying to stop me from my mission in life, which is to do a Big Thing, which is to stay on Bloodthirsty Black until the horn. So that I can save Miss Delilah’s salon,” he finished with a verbal flourish.

“Oh, yeah, the one-man cavalry. We forgot about that.” Tex smirked. “Okay. Let us get this straight. You’re going to girlnap Katy from under Miss Delilah’s very wary nose and lock her into a tower at Malfunction Junction while you ride that bull until your heart’s content.”