Laredo's Sassy Sweetheart (6 page)

Laredo stared at the beautiful woman in front of him. “Lied to me? Why?”

Cissy gave him a sweet smile. “All’s fair in love and war. At least that’s what I always heard. But now I don’t think that’s right anymore. I want to be on
your
side, Laredo.”

He wasn’t buying this act for a second. “Why?”

“I like you,” she said, her tone innocent and shy.

Hmm. Still telling lies, but at least the kind he liked to hear. “Thought you liked my brother Ranger.”

“I like him, too,” she said earnestly.

Double hmm. “You just like men in general.”

“You might say that.” She curled a finger down the buttons of his shirt. “But I like you
best.
”

This girl was a bad’un, and he wasn’t in the mood for a reform fantasy. “Listen, this is serious, Cissy, for a lot of people. I can’t play games with you. I have to beat your salon’s bull, and I aim to do it.”

She pursed her lips at him. “You need me on
your side, Laredo, giving you inside info, if you know what I mean.”

“You’d rat out your own salon?”

“If there was something in it for me,” she said silkily.

Uh, yeah. Economics 101—there was no such thing as a free lunch. Laredo shrugged. “What’s the something?”

“A ride out of town.”

He stared at her. “Bus, plane, train. They’re all transporting, I hear. Especially trains, since this town is still a working station.”

“I’d rather someone I know take me where I want to go.”

There was a trap being laid here. Laredo just hadn’t sprung it right. “Where do you want to go?”

“Anywhere, as long as you’re taking me.”

He stepped back from her shirt-roving hand. “Cissy, I wouldn’t dream of driving off with you. People would be looking for my body for months.”

She laughed. “We’re not
that
determined to win.”

“No, but you’re working me for some reason. I suspect you’re supposed to lure me out of town and then knock me out until the rodeo’s over.”

“You’re so suspicious!” She smiled at him. “Are you always like this?”

Since he’d met her? “Yes.”

“Oh, piffle. You’re just letting that crazy Katy Goodnight make you nuts.”

“Crazy?”

“Sure.” She blinked at him. “Everybody knows she wouldn’t let her ex-fiancé kiss her. So he dumped her. Big surprise, huh? I mean, virginity shouldn’t be a remote-control trap, should it?”

Whoa! His mouth instantly dried out. “Virginity?”

“Well, if she won’t let her fiancé kiss her, she sure wasn’t going to get to normal relations.”

“How do you know this?” He couldn’t see Katy confiding in Cissy.

She laughed. “Laredo, this is a very small town. And we make it our business to know each other’s business. Delilah and her girls act like unblemished southern ladies, but they keep tight tabs on us just like we do them.” Cissy stepped between his legs so she could stare up at him with big eyes and a sultry mouth. “Depriving a man is cruel, Laredo. A man could lose his mind that way.”

Wind blew through his brain in tunnel-like fashion. Cissy was standing too darn close to him. There was nothing remote-control about her trap. She was all about hands-on ambush. “Thanks for the tip on Bloodthirsty,” he said, turning to head in the opposite direction. “If you’ll excuse me, Miss Cissy, I’ve got to go.”

If indeed Cissy was telling the truth this time, he had to tell his brothers. They had some major strategy revising to work on.

After that, he had to move out of Katy’s room. A virgin? His tongue felt as if it had turned into a dry sponge. The first thought he’d ever had about Katy
was that a man could spend many good nights with a girl like her!

He’d been way off the mark. No wonder he’d had trouble sleeping—he’d been in a virgin’s bed. And he had two more nights to go!

He’d never make it. Sleep was going to be a thing of his past until he left Lonely Hearts Station, or until he vacated Katy’s room. Every time he looked at Katy he thought about sex. Now, if he
could
get to sleep, he’d probably be dreaming about making love to her.

Being the first man in a woman’s life was a load of responsibility.

It would also be a rush of major proportions. He’d never let that little gal out of his sight if he were her first….

That would not fit the doing-something-big plan.

Glancing up and down the street, he saw he had two choices for lodging: his truck and Miss Delilah’s. As their champion, they felt it proper to put him up. He’d kissed Katy—and she’d virtually run away. Without sleep, he’d be mush by Saturday, and they’d have to pour him onto Bloodthirsty, and that bull would throw him to kingdom come. He’d wind up sleeping in a hospital.

Slowly he walked back into the Lonely Hearts Salon and climbed the stairs to Katy’s room, where he knew he’d find her.

K
ATY TURNED
as Laredo walked into her room. He looked different, worried. “What’s wrong?”

Silent for a moment, he finally said, “I’m sorry I kissed you.”

She only kept her lips from parting in surprised disappointment by the greatest effort. “Sorry?”

“I shouldn’t have forced myself on you.” Laredo rubbed his chin and then the back of his neck. “You were right to…reject my advance.”

“Oh,” she murmured. How much could words hurt a heart? Hannah said the heart was only a symbol, but it sure felt like her symbol was breaking. She’d been wishing she wasn’t such a chicken when it came to Laredo; she’d been envying Cissy, who could throw herself at men with such confident ease.

Yet Laredo was sorry he’d kissed her. And Stanley hadn’t liked to.

There
was
something wrong with her. It was some kind of weird spinsteritis. Men sensed it as soon as they touched her.

She had hoped it would be different with Laredo. She had hoped
she
would be different. “It’s all right,” she murmured. “Kissing’s not that big a deal.”

Of course, it was to her, but she wasn’t going to make Laredo feel bad over her lack of sex appeal.

He looked surprised at her statement. “It’s not?”

She shrugged. “Not really.”

“Well…I’m surprised to hear you say that. You practically set a record running away from me.”

A blush burned across her cheeks. “I was caught off guard.”

“You said you weren’t the girl for me. But I’m not looking for a girl for me.”

She blinked. “What are you looking for?”

“Adventure. And that’s just about it.”

Kissing with no strings attached. That certainly took all the pressure off. “I like to be adventurous.”

He grinned at her, knowing at once that she was fibbing, she supposed. “Well, I’d like to be adventurous,” she added.

“I don’t have any plans tonight,” he said.

“Are you asking me out?” After she’d run away from him like a scared rabbit, why would he?

“Friends can go out, can’t they?”

“Friends?”

He nodded. “I promise not to kiss you again.”

Her heart sank. “Okay,” she said, trying to be a good sport.

“If that’s what you want.”

“Oh, yeah, yeah, sure. It’s what I want.” Well, not really, but she was in a bit deep here, and he was standing in her bedroom. Laredo didn’t really stand, he lounged, or maybe it was
loomed,
because he towered over her. She’d never been alone with him like this, and never in such close proximity to a bed, and if they started kissing again like they had just a few hours ago, the virgin part of her might unfreeze and she’d jump him and then where would they be?

In bed.

She wasn’t certain that would be such a bad thing.

On the other hand, he’d just said he wouldn’t kiss
her again. That didn’t sound like a man who could be jumped.

Strange. She’d never thought about jumping Stanley.

“What kind of friendly date did you have in mind?” she asked.

“Tell me what’s in this town.”

“Um, lots of unmarried women.”

“One woman per date, I always say.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “We could go riding.”

“We could go for a walk and see what kind of trouble we could find,” he suggested. “Seems there’s always something brewing here.”

“We could go lay pennies on the train track. The eight-thirty will come through tonight.”

“Katy,” he said suddenly, “what kind of dates have you been on lately?” He went around the fiancé issue, not wanting Katy to know that he had been filled in on her broken heart.

Or maybe not-so-broken heart. She didn’t look all that broken-up to him.

She way-too-casually studied her fingernails. “Oh, you know, the usual.”

He thought about that for a minute. “I haven’t dated in a while. I’m rusty. What’s the usual?”

“Mostly watching TV at my folks’ house.”

“I’ve got an idea,” Laredo said. “Let’s go for a drive.”

“Where?”

“Nowhere. Out in the country, with some blan
kets and some beer. We’ll lie in the truck bed and count the stars.”

Her eyes got round. “That almost sounds…romantic.”

No way was he going to let her get scared off again. If he knew anything about Katy Goodnight now, it was that she didn’t know what a really good night was.

And he wasn’t going to be the one to show her.

“Nah,” he said, “it’s the cheap man’s entertainment. Beer and a truck bed for stargazing.”

“All right,” Katy said. “We can drive down to the creek. Let me change into some jeans and grab my blanket. You get the beer.”

“Do you want to invite Hannah along?” he asked, hoping she’d say no but wanting to make her more comfortable. It was so hard to be considerate when it was far more appealing to be alone with her!

“Oh,” she said, her tone surprised.

Belatedly he realized he’d given her the wrong impression. “No, I mean that—”

But she’d already gone to the door. “Hannah!” she called down the hall.

“What?” Her friend poked her head around the doorway.

“Do you want to go for a drive with Laredo and me?”

“Sure!”

Katy looked at him. “She wants to come.”

“Great,” he said. “Just great.”

I
N
L
AREDO’S TRUCK
Katy made certain Hannah sat between them. It had surprised her that Laredo had wanted Hannah along, but it made sense, along with his promise not to kiss her again.

She wasn’t about to show how hurt she was. This was almost an instant replay of Stanley and Becky. She always seemed drawn to men who wanted her best friends, she thought. She was definitely sending off the wrong signals.

She had to get this problem figured out.

Surely she wasn’t such a rotten kisser. If she was, she was looking at possibly being rotten in the lovemaking venue, as well—and that was a thought she could barely contemplate.

Maybe she had it all wrong! It wasn’t celibacy she needed. It was practice! Practice made perfect, she’d always heard—and from this moment forward, she would resolve to practice with enthusiasm. In fact, she was going to throw all caution to the wind and become a Cissy Kisserton type of girl! “I’ve made up my mind,” she told her two companions.

“What?” Laredo and Hannah said, both glancing her way as the truck bumped over tall weeds and rutted road to get to the side of the creek.

“I’m going to become free and uninhibited. A virtuoso mantrap.”

Laredo swerved on the road.
“What?”

Hannah stared at her. “Virtuoso? Aren’t you already?”

“No,” she said, with rolled eyeballs for Hannah’s
benefit. “That’s something else, which I aim not to be anymore.”

Laredo perked up. “As your very good, extremely fond friend, I hereby put my services forward in
any
way I can to help you.”

Katy blinked. “You don’t even know what kind of help I need.”

“Well, I…still resolve to help my very good friend,” he said, looking past Hannah at Katy.

The light in his eyes had changed from I’m driving to I’m driving toward something, and Katy was suspicious. “Since when am I your very good friend?”

“Since we kissed and agreed we weren’t going to do that anymore.”

“You two kissed?” Hannah said.

“Not very well,” Katy said.

“What?” Laredo looked outraged. “I didn’t hear you complaining!”

“You kissed me, actually. I didn’t kiss you back. And it was too short of a kiss to tell, really. Didn’t you think?” Katy stated earnestly.

“Well, I don’t know. I’ve never had a play-by-play called on my kissing skills.” Laredo scratched his head. “Possibly you weren’t engaged in the moment. But I can work on that, as I help you achieve mantrap status.”

“I don’t need a coach,” she snapped.

“No, no, no. I see myself more as a
partner.
”

“Why are you so anxious for our Katy to become a mantrap?” Hannah asked.

“I was wondering the same thing.” Katy gave him a suspicious glare. “You know, don’t you?”

“That you’re…you’re…special?” Laredo said, carefully choosing his words. “That you’re a discriminating female?”

“That I’m a virgin,” Katy said flatly. “Who told you?”

“If I tell you, it’s a breach of confidence,” he said, sidestepping.

“Hannah?” Katy stared at her friend.

“Not me.” Hannah raised her hands. “I only advise from the sidelines. I don’t coach from the middle of the field.”

“Who?” both women demanded, turning to stare at Laredo.

“Cissy Kisserton,” he said, his face pinkening a bit.

“Cissy! How does she know?” Katy demanded.

“She says everybody in town knows.” Laredo cleared his throat. “It’s not a CIA-encoded secret, apparently.”

Katy leaned back against the headrest. “I see. And so now you’re offering to help me achieve my goals because…”

“Because he wants to go where no man has gone before,” Hannah intoned.

“I’m just being a good friend,” Laredo insisted.

“Shut up,” both women said.

“What was in it for Cissy Kisserton? Why did she tell you this?” Katy asked. “Just so I can understand why she was discussing my personal busi
ness. This couldn’t have had anything to do with riding our bull this weekend.”

“I think it did,” Laredo said, confused. “Actually, I can’t remember how we got onto the subject. Something about you driving men crazy because you deprived them.”