Cowboy Seeks Bride (20 page)

They followed the river all day Sunday, made good time, and camped early. Coosie had pulled up right at the river’s edge where there wasn’t a tree in sight, so the quilt wouldn’t leave the wagon that night.

“Dammit!” she grouched as she removed Apache’s saddle and turned him loose in the narrow fenced pasture. Coosie couldn’t get to sleep the night before and had carried on about leg cramps until she and Dewar finally gave up on taking their nightly trip back into the trees and now there were no trees so tonight was going to be another lonely one.

“What’s your problem?” Finn asked.

“Ready to call in that bet we made at the first of this trip?” Sawyer asked. “You can give me the hundred dollars, and I’ll ride over to the phone for you.”

“Oh, hush, Sawyer. That’s my hundred-dollar bill, and it’ll teach you not to bet with girls. Finn, I was looking out over the land and now I understand why a tornado could pick Dorothy up in this place and carry her all the way to Oz,” she said.

“Never did understand the fascination with that story. My sister loved it, but us boys hated it when it was her turn to choose the movie on Saturday night,” he said.

“Saturday night?” she asked.

“Momma and Dad’s date night. They got a cousin to watch us and they went out. They still do, only now they don’t have to hire a babysitter. Sometimes it’s a movie and dinner. Sometimes it’s a rodeo or just a stroll on the River Walk.”

“You live in the San Antonio area?”

Finn nodded. “Little town down south of there. They usually drive into town on Saturday night. But I hated it when we had to watch the Dorothy movie.”

“I loved it, but I always wondered how a tornado could carry a girl so far. Now I know. It’s this flat land. A good gust of wind can blow a tumbleweed from here to the gulf,” she said.

“Where’s a tumbleweed?” Dewar asked.

“Nowhere. I’m just bitchin’ about this flat land.”

“Ain’t it great! We make really good time when it’s flat like this. I can imagine how much the cattle drivers loved it,” Sawyer said. “And just think about those folks who were riding in a covered wagon going to California during the gold rush days. I bet they were so happy to see flat land.”

“Stop being so happy. I’m grouchy as hell and I’ve grown rather fond of my mood the past two days,” Haley said.

“What put you in a cranky mood?” Dewar asked.

She shot him a dirty look.

Sawyer grabbed his chest. “That mean look bypassed him and shot me right through the heart. I may not live to get my hundred bucks, guys. If I die, you can have it, Rhett, to pay for your haircut and get another tat.”

“You are not funny,” Haley said.

“I thought he was doing a pretty good job of it,” Coosie said.

Dewar raised an eyebrow.

She shook her head.

She couldn’t tell him that she’d been in a funk since the night they went into Spivey for supplies. Nothing had gone wrong on the way back to camp that evening except that Coosie couldn’t sleep. They’d had the whole evening together, so that wasn’t really the problem. But then Sunday stretched out forever and today wasn’t a helluva lot better, not when they’d stopped at a site with only one blackberry bush up next to the river for her to squat behind.

If she was totally honest, it was the end of the trip looming up ahead that scared her senseless and put her in the grumpy mood, but she didn’t want to think about that. So she blamed it on the weather, on the boredom, or on the fact that she hadn’t gotten to make out with Dewar in two nights.

“Poker or dominoes?” Coosie asked as he set up the fire for cooking.

“Poker and whoever loses the most money has to buy the first round in Dodge,” Finn said. “You playing, Haley?”

She was kneeling beside her bed, getting the plastic tarp under it straightened out just right and sleeping bag stretched out perfect. Never before in her life had she slept on the same sheets for a whole month, but then never before had she slept fully clothed for weeks on end, either. She cut her eyes around at Finn.

“Well?” Finn asked.

“Real money?”

“No, not real money. But whoever loses the most virtual money has to buy the first round in Dodge,” Coosie answered.

“I’d rather be playing strip poker,” Dewar whispered from his bed site.

“You’d lose then, too,” she said.

“You talking to me?” Finn asked.

“Blackjack or Texas Hold’em?” she asked.

“Name your poison. Since you are the girl, you get to choose. But don’t be thinkin’ that we’ll cut you any slack just because you are a girl,” Rhett said.

“Blackjack, then. Granny taught me both, but I like blackjack better. Get ready to lose your shirts and your money, boys.”

“Ooooh, I’m shakin’ in my boots,” Sawyer teased.

“That your Cajun grandm-m-mother?” Buddy asked.

Haley nodded.

Buddy grinned and stammered that he’d put his money on Haley to win.

“Thank you, Buddy. Aren’t you playing?”

“No, he’s the dealer,” Coosie said.

“Why didn’t you bring out the cards before now?” Haley asked.

Coosie put a bowlful of potatoes into the pot where he was making beef stew. “Y’all need something to get you through the tail end of this drive. Remember that when you’re doing the show. Save a few tricks like cards till the end.”

“So we’re really on the tail end?” Rhett asked.

“Six more days,” Dewar answered.

“You beat me, woman, and I’ll buy you a cute little heart tat with initials in the middle,” Rhett said.

“You beat me and I’ll buy you two drinks of your choice,” Sawyer said.

“I drink expensive and if I beat you”—she pointed at Rhett—“then you shut up about another tat.”

His eyes widened. “Another? You’ve got a tat. For real!”

“Another?” Dewar asked.

“Where is it?” Sawyer asked.

“I didn’t say another tat on me, did I?” Haley asked.

“No, but it slipped out and that’s what you meant,” Finn said.

“Dewar, did you know this woman has a tat?”

“I’m pleading the fifth.” He grinned.

“Then she does?” Rhett asked.

“Truthfully, if she’s got a tat it’s hidden in a place I’ve never seen,” Dewar said.

“Well, that don’t mean jack shit. There ain’t no way you’ve seen all of her. Not on this trip,” Rhett said. “But you got a deal. You win, I won’t tease you about a tat. That don’t mean I won’t still try to get you to spike your red hair though.”

“You’re on,” she said. “Before or after supper?”

“Oh, you’re eating first,” Coosie said. “Hungry stomachs cause fights, and like I said, you’re already a bunch of bitchy little girls today.”

“Come on, Dexter.” Finn rolled his eyes.

“Truth is truth. Don’t matter if you roll it in chocolate or cow shit. And you owe me a dollar for calling me by Dexter instead of Coosie,” he said.

Haley stretched out on the bed, propped her head on the saddle, and tried to remember everything about blackjack that her grandmother had taught her. It wasn’t a difficult game and it had been a helluva long time since she’d learned the tricks of counting cards, but she had a knack for it. And by damn, she didn’t intend to buy a single drink. The sore loser was going to pay for at least two top-shelf margaritas made with Patrón Silver instead of Jose Cuervo.

She licked her lips thinking of the taste of the salt around the rim of the drinks. The last time she had a margarita was the night that she and Joel broke up. He had taken her out to dinner and afterwards she’d broken the engagement. It was time for another margarita now because she was one hundred percent sure she’d made the right decision that night.

She turned her head slightly to see Dewar propped up on an elbow staring at her.

“What?” she asked.

“What were you thinking about? Your expressions changed from smiles to scowls in seconds.”

“She’s thinking about losing after bragging like that,” Finn said.

“Dream on, brother,” she said without blinking.

Dewar smiled. “This should be interesting.”

When supper was over, Coosie broke out the cards and handed them to Buddy. He sat down on his bed and motioned for the players to gather round. Haley chose the spot beside him with the other four making a circle.

“Coosie?” she asked.

“Oh, no! I’m keeping my money. I’ll buy my drinks but I’m not contributing to the delinquency of you young’uns,” he said.

Buddy dealt the cards and just like riding a bicycle, Haley remembered her grandmother’s tricks. They used dry beans for money with each bean representing one dollar. At the end of the night, Haley had a pile of beans in front of her big enough to make supper for them all. Rhett had two beans left. Sawyer had none, and Finn had ten. Dewar might have had a hundred.

“I like Patrón Silver in my margaritas,” she said as she pushed the beans back into the middle of Buddy’s bedroll. “Y’all just tell me where we’re going to celebrate.”

“Okay, how’d you do it? I thought when you messed with your ear it was your tell,” Rhett said.

“I meant for you to think that,” she said.

“And when you twisted your braids?” Finn groaned.

“I don’t have a tell. I used to do both, but Granny made me wash dishes if I lost, so I learned real quick.” She laughed. “Oh, I forgot to tell y’all that she bought her bright red Caddy with what she won in one weekend up in Mississippi.”

“Does she play the ponies too?” Dewar asked.

“No, just poker, but she is very good at it. She won’t even touch a slot machine. She’s been tossed out of most of the casinos in Las Vegas so she doesn’t go there anymore.”

“Well, you won fair and square so I’ll foot the bill for two of them fancy drinks,” Rhett said.

Coosie yawned. “Bedtime, children.”

The night was warm so Haley lay on top of her sleeping bag instead of getting inside it. A mosquito sounded like a jet airplane as it buzzed around her ears and she swatted at it twice before she smashed it on her cheek. Not a single cowboy sat up or asked why she’d slapped herself. It wasn’t one damned bit fair to be camped by the river in a spot without a single tree when they were all passed out as cold as a bunch of drunks.

She looked over at Dewar and he nodded toward the river. She slipped her boots on and he held out a hand. She took it and he pulled her up and led her into the semidarkness outside the camp.

“I missed dancing with you on Friday, but we were too tired to get out the guitar after that day. Then Saturday we went to the store,” he said.

“Me too,” she whispered.

He sang “The Sweetest Thing” quiet enough that only she could hear it as he two-stepped with her on the banks of the river. When the song ended, he pulled her down to the sandy bank to sit beside him.

“You are so pretty in the moonlight. It’s even better than candles. Half your face is in shadow and half lit up. That’s you, Haley. Part open as a book. Part a secret that I want to figure out,” he said.

She moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue and wrapped her arms around his neck, tangled her fingers in his hair, and brought his lips to hers. He lay back in the sand, taking her with him. She snuggled up close to his side and threw a leg over his. She wanted him so badly that her insides were a quivering mass of liquid desire. She’d never been so turned on without any prospect of satisfaction.

“Mmmm,” she mumbled.

“I know,” he nuzzled her neck. “I feel like a sophomore out behind the barn after a dance.”

“I never been behind a barn after a dance, and I don’t even want to go if it feels like this. I’ll never get to sleep,” she moaned.

He unzipped her pants, ran his hand down inside, and she arched against him.

“That’s not fair, Dewar. I’m already on fire.”

“We could take care of your problem.” His fingers were magic but she wanted the whole ball of wax, not just a sample.

She wiggled away from his hands. “No, not like that. It’s not fair to you. I’m going to roll over, butt to belly, and we are going to get a quickie. They’re asleep and the frogs and crickets don’t give a damn what we’re doing.” She undid his pants for him.

“Oh, God, that feels good,” she said.

He kissed her on the neck and whispered sweet words into her ears with every thrust. The wild ride ended with both of them stuffing their fists over their mouths to keep from screaming out.

“Lord, Haley!”

“No, just plain old Haley. I don’t deserve that kind of title.” She giggled.

She righted her jeans, not even caring that she’d have sand in her underpants all the next day. The satisfaction was well worth whatever she had to pay for it. He tucked things away and zipped his pants.

“I am so looking forward to a hotel with a door and a lock,” he said.

“And a shower afterwards and sheets instead of sand. But I will miss the stars. There’s something sexy about looking up over your shoulder at the stars twinkling up there like diamonds on a black velvet cushion,” she said.

He sat up and pulled her over into his lap. “Or seeing them reflected in your pretty eyes during sex.”

“I’m hungry,” she said.

Dewar laughed out loud.

She clamped a hand over his mouth. “It’s sex. I’m always hungry afterward.”

He leaned back. “Always?”

“I wasn’t a virgin, Dewar. I’ve never had sex like it is with you and it takes a helluva lot out of me. I’m hungry afterwards but I never mentioned it before because it sounds crazy.”

“And when it wasn’t me?” he asked.

“Never was hungry.”

His chuckle came out like his voice, in a deep Texas drawl. “Then I suggest we go raid the wagon, but we’ll have to be very quiet. Coosie will wake up at the softest whisper of canvas being lifted.”

She stood up and followed him back to the campfire. He raised the canvas flap at the back of the wagon and felt around until he had a flashlight in his hand. Keeping it inside the wagon, he turned it on and she stuck her head inside with his.

“Crackers and—dammit!”

“What?” Dewar quickly turned the light toward her.

“Oreos! He’s got chocolate back here and he didn’t tell us. I may eat the whole package,” she declared.

She left the crackers and brought out the cookies. “Now let’s go back to the river and have a feast.”