I smiled at him, but lifted a brow. “How’d you really do that? What’s the trick?”
“No trick. I just didn’t bother mentioning that I’ve been working with that colt for months now.” He stared deep into my eyes and his mouth twisted with a smirk. “In case you haven’t noticed, I can be a very patient man when I need to be.”
The next evening, I squirmed in the chair, feeling a little like I’d been raked over the coals as Emily finished up my makeup. It reminded me of all my fears and struggles in high school. If I’d known they’d hatched a subversive plan to give me a makeover, I would’ve forfeited the whole night.
“Stop touching your face,” Emily chastised. “You’re going to mess it up.”
I’d vowed to stick it out, but I felt self-conscious and started to waver on that decision. “Do I really have to do this?”
After finding another threatening note in my mailbox earlier in the day, I didn’t have the patience to take any more abuse…no matter the form.
Bobbie Jo sipped her wine. “I told you she wasn’t going to go along with this willingly.”
Emily frowned. “Don’t be such a stick in the mud, Anna. You’re ruining all our fun.”
Ruining their fun? I’d just spent the last hour being poked and prodded. Where was the fun in that?
Bobbie Jo started to say something else, but her cell phone rang. She held up one finger as she answered it. “Hey, what’s up?” She listened for a few seconds, then said, “How late are you going to be, Cowboy?”
Hearing his name, I looked over at her. He’d mentioned dropping by my house last night, but he never showed. That’s what I got for getting my hopes up.
“We’re at Anna’s getting ready. Do you just want to meet us there?” Bobbie Jo paused a beat, then raised one eyebrow. “Okay, hold on.” She passed her cell phone to me. “He wants to talk to you.”
Emily smirked at me. “Nothing going on, huh?”
All eyes in the room were on me as I lifted the phone to my ear. “Hello?”
“Howdy, darlin’. Whatcha wearin’?”
“Um, well, I’m wearing a dark blue tunic top with a pair of black leggings and—”
Emily quickly covered the phone with her hand and gawked at me. “Are you telling him what you’re actually wearing?” She removed her hand and keeled over with laughter.
“Oh…” I cringed. Damn it. That was obviously not what he had meant. God, I was such an idiot. “And nothing underneath,” I said hastily into the phone while blushing at Emily’s nod of approval and watching Bobbie Jo shake her head.
Cowboy chuckled. “Works for me.” There was a slight pause on his end of the line. “Sorry I didn’t make it to your place last night. Huge structure fire in a nearby county kept me busy the rest of the evening. I didn’t get back to the station until late last night.”
I didn’t respond, afraid the disappointment I’d felt over him not showing up would register in my voice. Then he would know that he was getting to me.
“I’m running late tonight because I had a fire call. Gas leak on the other side of town. Still have to go home and shower, but I’ll be there later. Save me a dance?”
“Um, sure.”
“Sounds good. See you then.”
I clicked off the phone and handed it back to Bobbie Jo. Both women in the room were gawking at me. “What?”
“Girl, you have it bad for that man,” Emily said, smiling.
“No, I don’t,” I protested. “We’re just friends, that’s all. He asked me to save him a dance.”
“Well, I didn’t see him asking to dance with me,” she said.
Bobbie Jo laughed. “That’s because the last time you danced with him, Jake threatened to lop off a certain part of Cowboy’s anatomy.”
“He did not,” Emily replied, rolling her eyes. “Besides, that was my fault. I was trying to make Jake jealous.”