His gaze locked with hers, the heat melting the cold all around her. She’d never had a man look at her and create such an intense reaction. One part of her, the emotional side, wanted to dive into those green eyes and see what lay beneath that flirting nature—down deeper than his wild cowboy ways and into the very man. The other side, that sensible side, told her to run from him as fast as she could.
“I’m going to cut up as much as I can this afternoon and stack it up behind the house. I can probably save enough on my heating bill to pay for the ceiling and the paint that way,” he said.
She looked down at her nail gun and snapped another shingle in place. “Price of fuel these days you just might.”
“Thought I’d check on the progress before I take the chainsaw out to the brush pile. This roof is lookin’ really good. I guess you really will get it done by the weekend.” He took a step back down the ladder.
Allie looked up from the nail gun and nodded. “If the weather holds for us, we will. I told you in the beginning I thought we could get it done by quittin’ time on Friday.”
Now that her mother and sister kept going on about how sexy Blake was, it was all she could think about as she pulled the trigger on the gun and moved down the roof to the next spot.
Blake nodded. “See y’all at noon. I’ll be in a little early today. Allie, you want me to heat up the leftover chili?”
“Yes and thank you,” Allie said.
“Will do,” Blake said.
“Now what’s got your panties in a twist?” Deke asked as soon as Blake disappeared.
“That’s not something a guy friend says.” Allie snapped another nail in place. “You’d best get to unrolling the next length.”
“Not until you tell me what Lizzy’s done now. Only she can put a look on your face that would melt the North Pole.” Deke expertly rolled a length of paper out and cut the end with a box cutter.
“Mama and Lizzy are trying to fix me up with Mitch’s cousin Grady.”
Deke went back to the other end of the roof and started rolling out more paper. “You don’t want to get tangled up with that guy. I know him and believe me when I tell you his hat ain’t coverin’ up a halo but horns.”
She snapped a couple of nails in the paper to hold it down so the wind wouldn’t whip it off the roof before she answered. “Lizzy and Mama think he’s a saint because he’s a youth minister.”
“Yep, but that don’t make him any less of a devil when it comes to women. I’ve played poker with him and Mitch a few times and he ain’t a bit better than your ex, so steer clear of him,” Deke said.
“Talk, Deke. I want to know about Mitch.” She flipped the safety on the gun and rolled back on her butt. “Is my sister making a big mistake?”
Deke positioned half a dozen more shingles, then sat down beside her. “Well, Mitch and Grady were really players, but in the last couple of years they’ve had a come to Jesus experience and now they’re ready to get married. They’ve been bragging about how it’s their biblical right to have someone cook and clean and do everything they say.”
“Shit!” Allie hissed. “I knew that Mitch was a snake. You should tell Mama.”
Deke reached for the nail gun. “Hell, no! She wouldn’t believe me, and Lizzy would bury my body back in the mesquite so far that even the coyotes couldn’t find me. I’m not sure where Katy stands where Grady is concerned, so I’m not sayin’ a word. I damn sure don’t want to be on either of their bad sides since I run a bill at both of their stores. But honey, you steer clear of Grady.”
Chapter Seven
Blake brought a load of wood to the house just before eleven that morning but didn’t take time to stack it. The steady sound of hammering up on the roof let him know Allie and Deke were hard at work as he hurried into the house. Blake threw a couple of logs on the fire so there would be a welcoming blaze, put on a pot of coffee, and slid the Mexican casserole in the freezer.
Several vehicles pulled up in front of his house at exactly eleven o’clock, but he waited until someone knocked on the door to open it.
“Welcome to Dry Creek!” one of the dozen ladies standing on his porch said cheerfully. “We brought food so you’d have something to eat until you can get settled in.”
Sharlene winked from back behind the woman.
Mary Jo smiled at him from the sidelines.
“Thank you all so much,” Blake said. “Please come right in and excuse the mess. I’m not nearly unpacked yet. Can I get you ladies a cup of coffee?”
Sharlene ran her forefinger down his arm and locked it around his pinky. “I’ve been waiting for your call,” she whispered.
Mary Jo pushed between Sharlene and Blake to hug him. “Welcome to Dry Creek. We’re a friendly bunch and we hope you do better on this ranch than the other folks have.”
“I’m Dora June. This is Lucy.” The woman with three chins made so many introductions so fast that he’d never remember all their names. “And now for the food! You’ll have to freeze some of it, but I reckon you’ll want to have my fried chicken for dinner since it’s still hot.”
“Why, Miz Dora June, how did you know fried chicken was my favorite food in the whole wide world? My mouth is already watering,” he said.