Somethin' Dirty: Country Fever, Book 4 (29 page)

Mona plunked her tray of empty beer bottles and mugs on the bar and gave Libby, the bartender, her order for the next round to be delivered.

Audrey Anderson, the owner of the Ugly Stick Saloon, slipped in beside her, carrying her own tray of empties. “Mona, thanks so much for helping out during rodeo week.”

“No, Audrey. I should be thanking you. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

“You really don’t think Old Man Spillman will extend the lease on your salon?”

“I’ve already asked. I have a thirty-day option to buy and Spillman is ready to sell. If I don’t agree to buy it in that thirty days, the old coot is going to take the first reasonable offer.”

“How much are you short?”

“I have to come up with at least another grand to add to my meager savings before the bank will even consider loaning me the money to buy the building.”

“I can spot you the money.”

Mona shook her head. “I can’t let you do that. You’ve already done so much for me and half the people in town. If I can’t find a way to earn the money, I don’t deserve to buy the salon.”

“I could use you all week, if that will help.”

“I’m all yours. I can come in after six every evening when I close the Shear Safari.”

“Make it at least by nine and stay until midnight. That’s when things are craziest and the men tip better.” Audrey emptied her tray and slid behind the counter to help Libby fill her next round of orders.

Libby loaded Mona’s tray and nodded. “You’re good to go.”

Mona lifted the heavy tray, balancing it carefully.

“Oh, and Mona,” Audrey called out, “if you’re interested in making more in a single night, I might have some exotic dancing gigs coming up. The rodeo winners usually hire some of the girls to dance at their parties.”

Mona bit her lip. She’d danced for Audrey before, but now that she had her own business as a hair stylist, she’d decided the dancing jobs might offend potential customers. But with her salon at risk of closing, a girl had to take risks she normally wouldn’t. “Let me know, and I’ll think about it.”

Audrey nodded. “I will. And no worries if you decide not to do it.”

“Thanks.” Mona turned and wove her way through the rowdy cowboys, some still wearing jeans and boots covered in rodeo dust. Others had taken the extra time to come showered, polished and dressed in their pearl-buttoned snap shirts, sporting their trophy belt buckles won that day or on the circuit.

Mona had her ass pinched more times than she could count. After a three-year sabbatical on dating, she’d about convinced herself she should try it again. Or rather Bunny Leigh’s experience with the date she’d bid on at the Annual Cowboy Auction had convinced Mona it was time to get over the cowboy she’d foolishly given her heart to, and move on.

But now wasn’t good. Not during the circus of Tri-County Rodeo week. She’d learned her lesson three years ago not to believe a rodeo cowboy any farther than she could throw him. She’d made the mistake of falling in love with a very handsome team roper. Like all the cry-in-your-beer songs played, he’d broken her heart.

Mona served the cowboys with a polite smile, enough to get a good tip, but not enough to encourage them to ask her out. She picked up the empty bottles from a table, setting them onto her empty tray.

“Have you seen the news?” one of the cowboys said to the other.

With the band playing loud enough to make the men shout to be heard, Mona couldn’t help overhearing their conversation.

“Nah, haven’t been near a television for two days. What’s up?”

“Raleigh’s competin’ on broncs, and he and the Indian are paired up for team ropin’.”

“Whatever happened between him and his team ropin’ partner Faulkner? Not that I’m sorry they busted up. Gives the rest of us a fighting chance to win.”

“Faulkner is riding bulls these days. He’s here too. Should be up on the bulls tomorrow.”

Mona’s hand shook. The bottle she’d just grabbed slipped from her fingers and bounced off the table.

The cowboy sitting in the seat beside her grabbed the bottle before it hit the floor and grinned up at her. “Careful there, pretty thing.” He set the bottle on her tray and winked. “Don’t suppose you’d dance with this old cowboy, wouldja?”

Her heart pounding against her ribs and her knees wobbling, Mona could only shake her head before she turned and hurried away.

She didn’t know how she’d gotten back to the bar with all the bottles and mugs intact. Tossing the empties in the trash, she slid her tray across the bar and leaned against the counter, afraid her knees would buckle and she’d fall flat on her face.

“Hey, sweetie, you look as if you’ve seen a ghost.” Bunny Leigh sat in the barstool beside her and frowned. “What’s wrong?”

“Oh, Bunny, I just heard
they’re
gonna be here.”

“Who?” Bunny glanced around the saloon. “Where?”

Mona turned her back to the bar and stared around the shadowy interior of the saloon, searching and thankfully not finding them. “Grant Raleigh and Dalton Faulkner. They’re competing in the rodeo!”

“Grant and Dalton?” Bunny’s brows rose. “As in the love-’em-and-cheat-’em cowboys who broke your heart three years ago?”

Letting out a long slow breath, Mona fought to steady her racing pulse. “They’re the ones.” Well, at least one of them broke her heart. Grant.

Somethin’ Dirty

Em Petrova

She’s headed for the big time…unless her heart gets stopped at the pass.

Country Fever, Book 4

Forty-two-year-old single father Griffin Turner couldn’t have made it through colic and calving season without his mother’s babysitting services. But just when he thinks he’s got the hardest part of the infant learning curve licked, he gets devastating news. Mom is sick. And Griffin is forced to hire a nanny.

With nothing but twenty dollars in her pocket and her voice, Nola Brady wants to leave small-town Wyoming to pursue her dreams in Nashville. She answers Griffin’s ad to keep body and soul together until her big chance arrives. Love isn’t even on her radar…until she unexpectedly falls for the rough-and-playful cowboy.

Between the sheets, they’re poetry. Outside the bedroom, he inspires her to be more woman than she ever dreamed possible, which scares her enough to put on the brakes…and hit the road.

But if she thought he’d just let her leave quietly, she was wrong. Because hell hath no fury like a cowboy in love…especially one with a baby on his hip. And a ring with her name on it.

Warning: This cowboy daddy is determined to make a May/September romance work—even if he has to lay down his palm or his mouth on a round ass cheek to do it.

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This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

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Cincinnati OH 45249

Somethin’ Dirty

Copyright © 2014 by Em Petrova

ISBN: 978-1-61921-833-8

Edited by Christa Soule

Cover by Lou Harper

All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

First
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
electronic publication: February 2014

www.samhainpublishing.com