Cowboy Crazy

chapter 25



Sarah sat up and clutched her knees to her chest. The faint flush of pink lighting the cabin’s windows told her the sun would be up soon. She’d been dreaming of Lane, and…

Wait a minute. That wasn’t a dream. She’d gone and done it again.

She’d planned to work a while by the toasty warmth of the fire, then climb the ladder to bed. Instead she’d—what had she done?

She didn’t want to think about it. Sitting up, she smelled coffee wafting from the kitchen. Lane was probably waiting there for her. She pondered a few casual greetings that might be appropriate for a man she only really knew in the biblical sense. Would a simple “good morning” be enough? “Hello, sleepyhead” hardly seemed appropriate. Maybe “thanks for the memories” would be best. Then she could walk out the door and get on with her life—if only she had a place to live it.

In any case, she needed to be dressed before she tackled the job. Climbing the steps to the loft, she rummaged through her overnight bag. Pulling out a double-breasted navy blazer, she gave it a longing look, then tossed it over the footboard. It would reveal nothing of her body, but she’d stand out like a princess in a pigpen if she wore that into Two Shot. She unfolded a simple white shirt and a pair of “relaxed fit” jeans. The baggy cut might not be professional, but it would get her past Lane and she’d probably look like every other woman in Two Shot: relaxed, casual, and a little on the frumpy side.

Sliding her feet into her old boots, she grabbed her purse in case she needed to make a quick exit and started down the steps. Lane was probably sitting in the rustic breakfast nook, waiting to ambush her with some witty comment. She pictured the two of them sitting across the table from each other, eye to eye over steaming mugs of coffee. What would she say? Worse yet, what would he say?

She paused, one hand on the wrought iron railing, the other hooked into the strap of her purse. She had a lot to face this morning. Lane was the least of her problems.

Luckily, she’d thought out a plan before Lane had turned up and hijacked her brain. She was going to start her pro-drilling campaign at Suze’s Diner with a hearty breakfast and, hopefully, some friendly conversation with the natives. She’d never been the type to ease her way into cold water a toe at a time. If she had to face the folks she’d been so eager to leave behind—the folks she’d spurned in high school and pretty much ignored since she left for college—she wouldn’t do it one person at a time. She was a jump-in-the-deep-end kind of girl.

But facing down the people of Two Shot was a day in the kiddie pool compared to facing Lane. That situation was a product of gut thinking and bad, bad decision-making. He had a way of making her forget all her resolutions and revert to instinct. Hell, he had a way of making her rip her clothes off and have sex with him. The man was like a mind-altering drug—or maybe a mind-erasing one.

The whole situation was crazy, and one of her rock-solid rules in life was to steer clear of crazy and stay in the right-thinking, rational world. Just because she’d jumped the track last night didn’t mean she couldn’t get right back on the rails.

Lane was probably banking on a companionable morning cuppa Joe, the kind where you shared the milk and passed the sugar bowl. It was sort of flattering. He could have slipped out before she woke up, but apparently he wanted to share the morning-after warmth. But she’d shared too much already. Way too much.

She gave the scent of coffee one last longing sniff and dodged out the door to find the Malibu parked in the turnout all by its solitary self. Lane wasn’t waiting for her. He’d left before she was even awake. He must have left the coffeepot warming for her, but that was the extent of his morning-after efforts.

Unlocking the Malibu, she climbed inside. She didn’t care that he’d left. She hadn’t wanted to explore their emotions, or talk about the relationship they didn’t have.

The last thing she needed was a cowboy hanging around. Even if he outgrew or survived his determination to test himself on the backs of bucking horses and bulls, ranching was damn near as risky a business as rodeo. Your livelihood depended on the sun and stars, the rain and the hail, the freeze and the thaw—all elements nobody but God could control. There was no regular paycheck, only sporadic flushes and equally frequent dry spells when the crops didn’t grow, the animals got sick, and cattle prices dropped to nothing despite the impossibility of keeping the damned things alive.

She’d loved that life, ridden the ups and downs with all the enthusiasm of a drama-addicted teenager, but the steady grind of corporate life fit her better now that she’d grown up.

Starting up the Malibu, she swept down the drive, almost bottoming out in a washout. Turning toward town, she breathed a sigh of relief as civilized blacktop hummed under her wheels. It was time to quit thinking about her personal life and start thinking about work.

And that was a relief, because her personal life was way too complicated.

She hadn’t driven more than a few hundred feet before her cell phone rang. Pulling onto the road’s narrow shoulder, she put the car in park and picked up her phone. Gloria, the screen said.

Great.

“Hello?”

“Sarah! I have a new boyfriend! And I owe it all to you.” She started a little singsong to the tune of “Glory Hallelujah.” “Thaank you, thank you, thank you, thaaaank you! Thaank you, thank you…”

Slumping her shoulders, Sarah suppressed a groan. She always felt like a killjoy dealing with Gloria’s peppy enthusiasm. “Eric?”

“Yup! It was great,” Gloria said. “I’m telling you, he’s just as wild as his brother once he’s out of that handsome suit. We…”

Sarah couldn’t help waving her hand in the air even thought Gloria couldn’t see her. “Stop,” she said. “I don’t want to know.”

She really didn’t. After seeing Eric scamper off in his birthday suit, the prospect of hearing about his and Gloria’s sexcapades was about as attractive as hearing about Kelsey’s trysts with Mike. Eric was kind of like a brother to her, she realized. There was really no sexual attraction there at all.

“Well, it was one heck of a night. And I was wondering…”

Sarah could hear Gloria breathing heavily, like she always did when she was nervous. She pictured her friend sitting at the back of the coffee shop, twisting the tie of her apron in her hands like a little kid confessing to robbing the candy jar.

“Wondering what?”

“If he could come over tonight.” Once the words started, they came out in a rush. “I thought maybe you could go out with Lane or something, because I said I’d make him dinner and he said no, we’d get takeout, and then he got all cute, like. He has this thing he does where he lifts one eyebrow and looks at my boobs and I’m telling you, it’s so sexy I…”

“Gloria, stop.” Sarah slumped over and thunked her head on the steering wheel.

“Oh.” All Gloria’s spunky enthusiasm was gone. “You’re mad.”

“Mad? I moved out, Gloria. Did you not notice my stuff was gone?”

Gloria sighed into the phone. “I knew it. I knew he was the one you wanted. But remember I said how Lane was right for you? Well, it’s true. I know you probably want Eric, but he says opposites attract and he doesn’t feel that way about you.”

Sarah rolled down the window, but she managed to resist the urge to throw the phone into the ditch. “I’m not mad about that. I’m…”

She paused, realizing there was no way to explain her feelings of betrayal to Gloria. As far as her roommate was concerned, it was open season on all men, all the time. Sarah’s insistence that she stay away from Eric had gone in one ear and out the other.

“I’m really happy, Sarah,” Gloria said in a little-girl voice. “I really like him. I think he might be The One. I’m sorry you’re mad.”

“I’m not mad,” Sarah said. “It’s just that my sister needs me to stay there.”

“Oh!” Judging from Gloria’s tone, the dim corner of Starbucks where the staff took their breaks had probably brightened considerably. That made Sarah feel a little better about the whopper she’d just told. Kelsey didn’t need her—not one bit. She had Mike back, and the last thing they needed was Sarah’s disapproving presence in the limited space of the trailer.

But she could hardly go back to the apartment and watch Eric and Gloria do whatever it was they were doing.

“Maybe we could double-date!” Gloria said.

“Um—right. Except I don’t think Lane and I are going to work out. But Gloria, can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.” Perky Gloria was back in full force. She lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “It’s huge.”

It took Sarah a minute to figure out what she was talking about, and then she had to thunk her head a couple times to get the image out of her head.

“No. No, no, no. I don’t want to know anything about Eric’s—you know. I just wondered—did you tell him anything about me?”

“No. I just checked to make sure you and him weren’t, like, doing it in the office. Because you’re like a sister to me, and that would be weird.”

Weird indeed. Sarah ran her fingers through her hair and rested one hand on the wheel. “You didn’t tell him I was from Two Shot?”

“Nope. Didn’t tell him a thing. I didn’t even tell him we were roommates, but he kind of figured that out.”

“Okay.” Sarah sucked in a deep breath. It came a little easier now that one worry had been eased. “Thanks. I have to go now. But hey—I’m glad you’re happy, okay?”

“Thanks!” Gloria giggled. “I sure am. And have fun with your sister!”

Sarah thought of Mike and sighed. “Yeah. Yeah, I’ll try.”