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  Irene waggled a finger at him. “No and that is final. We ain’t interested in your leaky roof and I’m not talking about Walter even if you put me in my room and give me nothing but bread and water for a month.” She pulled free from Allie’s hand and stormed out of the house into the rain.

  Allie watched as she marched straight to the van, stomping right through the mud puddles. The bottom of her robe was soaked by the time she slung the passenger’s door open and crawled inside.

  Blake chuckled. “And to think thirty minutes ago she was trying to talk me into running away to California with her to pick fruit. Someone named Walter must have lived on this ranch and she loved him at one time.”

  “Sorry that you had to be Walter, whoever he is, today,” Allie said.

  “I wasn’t going to argue with her. Besides I got to meet you. Like Mama says, dark clouds can have silver linings.” He shot her a wicked grin that zinged right through her. “You will check that calendar and have your carpenter give me a call. I’ll get you my number.” He hurried over to the sofa, wrote the number on the bottom edge of a magazine page, and handed it to her.

  His fingertips grazed hers and there was definitely a tingle. Sweet Jesus! She had to remind herself that this was the Lucky Penny. Folks came and went on it and no one ever lasted, especially not any sexier than hell cowboys. She straightened herself and put some steel in her spine.

  “I’ll call when I check the calendar. And I’ll keep a better eye on Granny. Thanks for calling the feed store.”

  “You could call about other things, too…if you wanted,” he drawled.

  The glint in his eyes promised some temptation beyond imagining, and the gravel in his voice had an underlying tone of making all her dreams come true. She came close to promising to build him a brand-new house for free from the ground up. Lord, have mercy! He was flirting. Flirting with Allie when she looked like shit in her work clothes with her hair up in a messy ponytail. He was a player for sure, one of those wicked, wild cowboys who got what they wanted with a slow drawl and a sexy strut. He flirted, not because he was interested in Allie, but because it was a way to get a roof on his house.

  “I should be going. She’s going to be a handful the rest of the day. Her mind is like a dozen jigsaw puzzles in one box. Who knows what pieces go with what time frame? It’s all a muddle. Thanks again for taking care of her.” Allie opened the screen door and took a step out onto the porch.

  Blake leaned against the doorjamb, his arms crossed—the perfect pose to show off those long legs and broad shoulders. Just the sight had her almost forgetting about her grandmother altogether.

  “Well, you’re both welcome here anytime. Pleased to meet you, Allie,” he said.

  “Good-bye, Blake.” She jogged through the rain to the van but she could feel the heat of his eyes on her back the whole way.

  Chapter Three

  Shooter gave Blake a wistful look with his big brown eyes and wagged his tail.

  “What?” Blake said. “She has pretty brown eyes, and I need a roof on the house.”

  Shooter yipped as if arguing with him.

  His mama said that good looks and hard work would get a cowboy far in life but charm would get him anything he wanted. So far she’d been one hundred percent right. Hopefully, the charm would work one more time and then he’d settle down to being a stable rancher.

  Shooter growled and gazed at the window.

  “What is it, boy? That poor old lady back to yell at me some more?” Blake rushed to the window to memorize the phone number on the side of the van. The first six numbers were the same as the one on the calendar, which meant Logan Construction was a local company. The last four were 2200. His birthday plus two zeroes. He went straight to the kitchen and wrote it on the bottom of the old calendar right below the feed store number. He wasn’t going to take any chances on not being able to reach Allie again.

  His phone rang and he grabbed it from the cabinet beside the sink, checked the ID, and said, “Hey, Toby.”

  “How are things going down there? Are you getting unpacked?” his brother asked.

  “It’s raining and there’s a leak in the living room ceiling, but I’ve got a trash can under it. Just found out there’s a carpenter next door, so if he’s not busy…” Blake went on to tell his brother what had happened that morning, conveniently leaving out any mention of the old lady’s offer to fool around.

  “What a welcoming committee!” Toby laughed. “I wish I’d been there to see that. You say she even put old Shooter out?”

  “I opened the door but he didn’t waste any time scootin’ his butt outside. At the time, I wished I could follow him. Even that cold wind and rain would’ve been better than having coffee with our neighbor.”

  “Good you’re getting to know the neighbors—even if they are crazy. Most small towns are alike. Friendly folks who make newcomers pretty welcome. I saw a church when we moved you down there. Did you go yesterday?”

  “No, I was too busy just trying to make the place habitable. It’s a mess, bro. And now we need a whole new roof on top of everything else.” Blake leaned his head back and stared at the rusty rings on the ceiling. “I’ve cleared land, plowed land, worked with cattle, even ridden a few bulls in the rodeo, but redoing a whole roof by myself is beyond me. I just hope that the neighbor has a slot on the calendar with enough time to fix it.”

  “Oh, come on, now,” Toby said seriously. “Surely you can sweet talk that woman into getting her family to work for you.”

  “It’s against my rules to play in a sandbox that close to home. It’ll get you in trouble every time. And I’m trying to leave that player reputation behind me and start a new life here,” Blake said.

  “I’ll believe it when I see it,” Toby said. “I’ll drive up in a week or so for the weekend to see what I can do to help out—even if it’s sweet-talking the neighbor myself.”

  Blake tensed at the thought of his brother trying to charm Allie. He practically had to restrain the growl that rose in his throat. “I’ll take care of it,” he said curtly, rolling his neck to get the kinks out.

  Toby just laughed. “I’ll see you either this weekend or the next. Soon as I can get away.”

  “From what? Your ranch or the bars?” Blake asked.

  “Both. Got to get these new folks comfortable with the place before I leave them with it and I’ll get my time at the bars while I can, especially since the Lucky Penny is in a dry county.”

  “Yeah, you keep playing while I do all the dirty work,” Blake grumbled.

  “Just remember the end game,” Toby said. “I’ll be there in the spring and Jud before the end of the year. In five years we’ll have the Lucky Penny solidly established, maybe even with a decent barn built to have our own cattle sale if we work hard at it. Suck it up, brother. This is only the first week.”

  Blake inhaled deeply and let it out slowly. “Think you and Jud will be able to survive with no bars in the whole county?”

  “If you can, I can. I’m tougher than you and now I’ve got to go.” The call ended before Blake could reply.

  He went to the kitchen, poured another cup of coffee, and stared at all those boxes stacked everywhere. Saturday seemed like years ago. The excitement of finally moving onto the ranch had been replaced with doubts as big as Longhorn bulls’ horns.

  “My first challenge after getting this damn roof fixed is to work my way into the community.” He looked up again at the dripping ceiling. “Look on the bright side, Shooter. At least it’s dripping in the hallway and not right on top of my bed or on your lazy old hide. And I’ll be damned if I let Toby and Jud think I can’t manage my end of this bargain.”

  The dog answered with a couple of tail thumps but he didn’t open his eyes.

  Blake picked up a notepad from the end table where he’d started a grocery list and carried it with him through the house. Roof first and then if there was money left in the repair budget for the house he’d see how far he could stretch it
. He started in the living room, checking everything and writing down what needed to be fixed, putting a star beside the things that were most important in each room. Two hallways split off from the living room. The one to the north led to three bedrooms with a bathroom at the end. A huge country kitchen and a dining room opened up from the southern hall. The small table with four chairs around it looked even tinier in the huge kitchen, surrounded on three sides with cabinet space. An archway on the other end led into the dining room, which was every bit as big as the kitchen but empty except for boxes.

  Whoever built the house either had or intended to have a huge family. Lots of room in the huge living room for children to play, in the dining room for an enormous table to seat lots of people, and the kitchen for family to gather around at mealtimes. He shut his eyes and imagined a day in the future when there would be laughter as well as arguments in the old ramshackle house. It would look different then because it would be a home filled with love, not a house where one lonesome old wild cowboy lived with his dog.

  As he went from one room to the next, writing what it would take to restore the house to some kind of livable conditions, his mood sunk. The place hadn’t seemed nearly so dilapidated back when they came to Dry Creek and looked at the ranch. But then back in the summer, they’d been a whole lot more interested in the ranching part of the deal and not the house.

  “I will make this work,” he mumbled.

  Shooter’s tail thumped against the worn leather sofa.

  Blake gulped down the last of the coffee and set the cup on the coffee table. “Are you agreeing with me or telling me I’m an idiot?”

  Shooter’s eyes snapped shut and he snored.

  Since it was raining and he couldn’t do any outside work, Blake decided to tackle everything his mama had marked “kitchen” when she helped pack boxes. He ripped the tape from a box and started the job. Dishes in the upper cabinets. Food in the pantry right off the utility room. Pots and pans in the lower cabinets. During the whole process, he thought about Allie.

  She was a pretty girl and he could sink into her dark brown eyes and drown—not exactly his usual type, but there was something about her he couldn’t get out of his head. He and Toby tended to go for the tall willowy blondes with blue eyes. It was Jud who liked petite brunettes. Blake didn’t like the thought of befriending Allie just to have Jud swoop in and steal her heart.

  When the rain finally stopped, he carried an armload of flattened boxes out to his truck and threw them into the back. Later, when he figured out where his burn pile would be, he’d take care of them. He heard a vehicle coming down the lane and parking in the front yard and hoped that Allie had returned to tell him that the Logan Construction Company would fix the roof. He jogged through the kitchen and dining room, and threw open the door the minute she knocked.

  A tall blonde holding a casserole dish smiled at him from the other side of the screen door. “Welcome to Dry Creek. I’m Sharlene Tucker.” She batted long lashes and tilted her head to one side.

  He picked up on all the take-me-home-tonight signs and instinctively moved in to close the deal. “Come right in, darlin’. It’s shapin’ up to be a fine day when a pretty woman brings food to my door.”

  A brighter smile and a definite extra wiggle under those skintight pants said that she was there for more than food and talk.

  “Let me take that for you and then I’ll help you with your coat.” He lowered his voice an octave and whispered softly.

  “I’ll just come in and put this in the refrigerator for you and be on my way. I work at the bank in Olney and I’m already a little late, but thank you for the offer. Maybe I’ll take a rain check.” That deliberate brush of her breasts across his chest as she walked by said that she’d be glad to come back around anytime.

  “The church ladies will be coming around in a day or two with food, but I wanted to welcome you personally, Mr. Dawson.” She bent over to put the casserole on the bottom shelf of the fridge, giving him a perfect view of a rounded butt stretching the seams of her black pants.

  She straightened, turned around, and tipped her head up, moistening her lips seductively. “Don’t you tell that I came a little early.” She tapped a manicured nail against his chin. “This is just to hold you over until they get here. Got to run. Call me if you need anything, Mr. Dawson.” A pen appeared out of her jacket pocket and she wrote her name and number on the outdated calendar. “We’ll have to see about getting you a new calendar. Bye now and enjoy the casserole.”

  He followed her to the door and opened it for her. “Thank you so much for the food and I’m Blake, not Mr. Dawson.”

  “Right nice to meet you, Blake. I’ll be waiting for you to call.”

  Katy Logan popped her hands on her hips. That gesture usually brought her three girls to attention, but since Fiona was in Houston, only Lizzy and Allie sat up straighter in their chairs. “I heard the new cowboy next door is pretty damn handsome. Sure you’re not planning to do any more than fix his roof?”

  Allie took down four plates from the cabinet, put the silverware in the top one, and started setting the table for breakfast. “For God’s sake, Mama. I’m not going to marry the man. I’m going to put a roof on his house and that’s it.”

  Katy pushed her dark hair, with streaks of white starting to show, behind her ears. “Your grandmother said he looked at you like he could eat you up yesterday when you were over there.”

  “Hell’s bells, Mama. Granny was so busy talking about Walter that she didn’t know who she was or where she was. And I smelled like pine oil and ammonia. I don’t think he wanted to bite into that. He just wanted to get me to say yes to helping him out. His kind isn’t interested in women like me.”

  Her youngest sister, Lizzy, whipped her dishwater-blond hair up into a ponytail and went to the pantry to get several bottles of syrup. “This new guy sounds like a player. Why can’t you find a good decent man like my Mitch? He wouldn’t have to be a preacher but he needs to be a godly man.”

  Allie rolled her eyes. “Yes, we all know Mitch is a paragon of men. But I had a man. A husband! I gave him my heart and he broke it. So no, thank you, not just to godly men but to any man. I’m going to the Lucky Penny to put a roof on the house, not have a fling,” Allie said.

  Lizzy plopped the syrup on the table and went to the refrigerator for the butter dish. “If you go over to the Lucky Penny, you can bet you’ll be in the gossip spotlight even worse than when you left Riley. Besides every unmarried woman in Throckmorton County probably is layin’ out plans to get to know Brian. I heard that Sharlene was making a Mexican casserole to take to him. You know what that means.”

  Allie popped Lizzy on the arm. “His name is Blake and I did not leave Riley. He left me and that was seven years ago. And yes, I know that Sharlene expects something hot in return for her hot Mexican casserole.”

  “Mama, she hit me,” Lizzy said.

  “I barely touched you,” Allie protested. Sisters might grow up in body but in spirit they stayed children. Some habits weren’t breakable, like Allie’s instinct to slap Lizzy for being a smartass.

  “Don’t get all pissy with me,” Lizzy said. “I’m trying to make you see that this is a bad idea. You can’t stop gossip and it’s been a long dry spell in town for good rumors.”

  Allie brought out butter and a bowl of fruit. “A roofing job will only last a week. What can happen in a week?”

  “Stop your bickering. You know it upsets your grandmother.” Katy piled the pancakes on a platter, slathering each layer with the butter she had melted earlier. “Who did you say she kept calling the new guy? Walter? I remember some folks who lived there years ago and tried to make a go of that place. An elderly woman and her son. I think his name was Walter, but that was about the time I married your father so I didn’t pay a lot of attention in those days.”

  “Maybe she knew him but was married to Grandpa at that time. I can’t see her falling in love with a man when she’d been married more tha
n twenty years,” Allie said.

  “She’s got it all mixed up. I bet she liked some guy from over there back when she was a young girl and her mama refused to let her get mixed up with him because she knew no one ever lasted over there,” Lizzy said.

  Allie peeled paper towels off the roll to use for napkins. “I’m going to take this job. I don’t give a shit what people say. We’re lucky that the weather is going to be decent the next few days.”

  “You’ll call Deke?” Katy sighed. “Promise me you’ll call Deke. At least you’ll have a chaperone as well as someone to help you. Maybe folks won’t talk so much that way.”

  “I don’t need a chaperone, Mama. But I called Deke this morning and he’s free the rest of this week.” Allie nodded. “One of you will have to take Granny to work with you today so I can make a trip to Wichita Falls for supplies. If the weather holds we can get started today and have the job done by Friday.”

  Lizzy pushed a strand of wayward hair behind her ears. “Mitch is supposed to come by today. You know how Granny hates him so you’d best take her today, Mama, and I’ll babysit tomorrow.”

  “I still don’t like it,” Katy said. “That new man didn’t even come to church on Sunday. If he wanted to fit in with the community, he’d come to church.”

  “He was settling in on Sunday, Mama, and his name is Blake,” Allie said.

  “I hear Granny rustlin’ up the hallway. Best stop talkin’ about the Lucky Penny. Seems like that sets her off into a tizz.” Lizzy put a finger to her lips. “And, Allie, there ain’t no need to remember his name anyway. He won’t be here past spring. Besides, Brian could have come to church for one hour just to show the community that he is a God-fearin’ man.”

  “Blake as in Blake Shelton, your favorite country singer,” Allie said.

  “Okay, okay! I’ll remember. Why is it so damn important to you anyway? You said you weren’t going to marry him. Is he handsome?” Lizzy slapped a hand over her mouth. “He is, isn’t he? Mama, he’s sexy and she’s going to make a fool out of herself again.”