Misty stepped onto the terra-cotta tile of an enclosed breezeway. Pots of red poinsettia plants added vibrant color. The garden room extended across the house to another wall of glass with sliding doors. She could see a brick gazebo with one side built around the trunk of an ancient oak. Big Bertha. Now she could see how Twin Oaks got its name.
In typical Midcentury Modern fashion, organic outdoors moved indoors with red brick halfway up the walls to meet bright white above and green plants in terra-cotta pots below. A ceiling fan circulated air across a colorful poster of a woman on horseback framed in gray barn wood that read, “National Cowgirl Hall of Fame, Fort Worth, Texas.”
“Wildcat Bluff cowgirls make quite a showing there,” Ruby said, sounding quietly boastful.
“I’ve never been to the cowgirl museum.”
“Ought to go.” Ruby swiveled toward Trey. “Got to bring this gal up to speed. You up for a trip to Fort Worth?”
“Ask the cows.” He set down Misty’s luggage.
“Hah! Ornery critters. They keep you hog-tied. You got to bust loose every now and again.”
“Thought I’d bring barbeque over tonight with a mess of curly fries and fried jalape?os,” Trey said in a dry tone. “Wild enough for you?”
“Take my pickup and go home, mouthy cuss.”
“Need me to bring anything back from town?” Trey gave Ruby an aw-shucks look as if he were completely innocent.
Misty wanted to laugh out loud, but instead she just shook her head at their friendly banter.
“Thanks, but I’m all set.” Ruby put her hands on her narrow hips. “Only two other folks are staying here. Real nice couple from Houston. They own a string of antique stores in Texas, so they’re scouting around for merchandise.”
“Nobody’s asking about water rights? Gas? Coal? Timber?” Trey asked.
“So far, all’s quiet on that front.”
Misty cringed. She’d met nothing but nice people in Wildcat Bluff. She wished she wasn’t with them on false pretenses. Still, she’d been warned not to trust anybody, so she wouldn’t. Besides, nice and polite could cover up a lot of sins. She’d just have to make sure they never learned about her association with Texas Timber, or at least not till after she’d completed her investigation.
“Misty, glad you could join us,” Ruby said. “Vacationers are always good company.”
“I’ll try not to get in your way.”
“Not a word of it. You’re my guest and I want you to enjoy the place. Daddy built it for fun, so see if you can get stodgy Trey to let loose.”
“I’ve been called a lot of things, but never stodgy.” Trey put his large hand across his heart as if hurt. “Just for that crack, I’m only bringing tasty barbeque for two.”
“At least you like to live dangerously.” Ruby snorted, obviously trying to hold in her laughter.
Trey glanced at Misty, something hot glimmering in his eyes, then quickly snapped the sliding doors shut behind him.
“Wonder who put a burr under his saddle?” Ruby cocked her head at Misty. “Doubt it was me.”
Chapter 6
Misty took a deep breath as she watched Trey walk away. With a backside like that, he hardly needed anything else going for him. Instead, he had plenty of everything that could set a gal ablaze.
When he reached the dark green pickup with TOB&B painted in white on its side, he turned and started back.
Misty opened the sliding door, wondering what he wanted to say.
Ruby leaned out. “Keys are on the driver’s side floorboard!”
“Thanks. I’ll get them,” he said when he reached the open door. “Now, ladies, don’t go starting fires—of any kind—without me.” He mischievously winked. “Misty, your half-naked firefighter will be back with grub real soon.”
“What about me?” Ruby asked, humor bubbling in her voice.
“What do naughty gals get?” He tried to look stern, but his eyes were twinkling too much for it to be effective.
“Naughty guys, I hope. And a rack of ribs.”
Trey laughed hard, shook his head, then sauntered back to the truck, got inside, and drove away.
“Hot, ain’t he?” Ruby said in her raspy voice. “That Duval clan and their cousins, the Steele family, are notorious for attracting more fire than they can put out.”
“No opinion, one way or the other.” Misty tried to sound businesslike, or at least prim and proper.
“Hah!” Ruby pointed at the tail end of the pickup as it sped down the road. “No point fooling yourself right off the bat. Love ’em or hate ’em, there’s not a woman ever lived who didn’t have an opinion on the Duval and Steele males.”
“I met his cousin Kent.”
“Now there’s a heartbreaker if ever there was one.”
“Do any of them actually get married?”
“Guess you mean, why settle for one cow when you can milk the herd?”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“’Course it is.” Ruby leaned near and lowered her voice. “Truth is, when those guys fall, they fall hard. It takes a real special woman to bring them to their knees with a diamond ring in their hands.”
Misty sighed as she closed the door, realizing she’d appeared too interested in the local cowboys.
“Kent and Trey haven’t been roped and hog-tied.”
Misty chuckled at the image. “Maybe they ought to be.”
“If you held the rope, I doubt they’d complain.”