Texas CHAOS (Texas Heroes Book 2) (9 page)

“What are you talking about?” Chris asked innocently as he buffed the gleaming red surface of one of the engine’s fenders with a rag.

“There’s a bachelorette auction at the Luckenbach Saloon Friday night. There’s flyers all over town with pictures of some of the girls on them. I found this one on the bulletin board and there’s several in the kitchen.” He read the information again. “All proceeds go to charity.” He groaned a little. “God, look at this little darling. I’m feeling real charitable about now. I think I need to make a special donation just to her.”

“Let me see.” Brodie grabbed the sheet from the younger guy’s hand. He stared at it, then whacked Ronan on the back of the head. “Chief would kill you. That girl you’re drooling over is part of his family.”

“What?” Logan wheeled around so fast, he knocked a whole set of wrenches off a portable stand. The clatter sounded like they were being attacked. “Give me that,” he snatched the flyer from Brodie and almost swallowed his tongue. Jenna. His Jenna had been captured in a seductive pose, one finger in her mouth like she was sucking it and the other hand spread across her middle with the fingertips curved downward over her…female area. “What the hell?”

Quickly he scanned the information under the photos. Apparently she had volunteered to go out on a date with the highest bidder for a good cause. He gritted his teeth as he saw the girls would be dancing and displaying their charms to increase the amount men were willing to offer. “Why in the hell is she doing this?” Jenna wasn’t shy, but she’d always been busy around the ranch or with school. She’d never been one to want to party – not that he would’ve allowed it.

“I don’t know, but I have a little money saved up. Maybe it will be enough to walk out with her on my arm.” Ronan muttered, still gazing at the photo with longing.

“You will not!” Logan roared. “I’ll break the hand of any man who thinks he can buy Jenna Travis. Hell, she's barely eighteen. I should call the cops on the owners.”

The men were taken aback. Chris recovered first. “I wouldn’t do that, Chief. It would cause a lot of hard feelings in the community. I’m sure everything is on the up and up. As long as they don't serve her alcohol, they haven't done anything wrong. Besides, Jenna might even get into trouble for the fake ID. It might be best if you just went and bid on her yourself.” Or at least that was the recommendation from the hot blonde he’d met outside named Dixie who’d thrust a handful of the flyers at him, begging him to help her get them into the fire hall. Subtle, she was not.

Logan grumbled something unintelligible and stalked to his office. The men were left staring at one another. “I didn’t know who she was,” Ronan whispered. “I’m sorry.”

“I think she belongs to the Chief,” Brodie murmured. “I’m just not sure in what capacity.”

Logan was as confused as they were. He knew he had made quite a spectacle of himself. The emotions coursing through him ranged from fear to jealousy, to a longing so intense that his chest ached with it. Sitting in his chair, he stared at the picture. The very idea of another man having the privilege of kissing those lips or caressing her skin made him crazy.

Again, he picked up his phone and hit her name in his contact list. The number rang several times with no response. “Damn,” he tossed the cell to one side. “I guess Chris is right. The only way I can protect her is to make sure the man she walks out of that auction with is me.”

About an hour east, Jenna finished unpacking the last box. Louisa and Earl had dropped her belongings off for her. No matter what her relationship with Logan was like, she couldn’t and wouldn’t ignore them. She just needed some time to get her emotions in check. They were still taking care of Stormy until she could make alternative plans, for which she was eternally grateful. The beloved older couple begged her to come home, but she couldn’t. She hadn’t divulged the reason for her departure, she’d only said it was time. But she had agreed to meet Louisa in Fredericksburg for lunch on Sunday and that seemed to make her feel better.

The one thing they hadn’t agreed on was her truck. Jenna had handed Earl the keys and begged him to drive it back to Gray Wolf. She’d explained that it wasn’t right for her to keep it and that she planned to buy something else on her own. Logan’s father had flatly refused and said if she wanted to give back Logan’s gift, she’d have to do it in person. Louisa had agreed. They loved her, there was no doubt about it. A painful sense of loss swept over her. She missed her mom and dad. She also missed the Gray’s and the loving home they’d given her. Even more, she missed Logan. He’d been her rock. When Jenna had been in his arms, there was nothing in the world that could harm her.

But she’d blown all of that sky-high with her foolish dreams and silly expectations. While his motivation had been benevolence, hers had skated right past kindness to a wedding ring and the marriage bed.

Oh well, he’d set her straight quickly enough.

“Jenna? Are you ready?” Dixie came barreling in. “The shopping mall will not come to us. We’ve got to find two kick-ass outfits for the auction.”

“Yea, I’m just finishing up. Let me get my purse.” Jenna was halfway out the door before she took a really good look at Dixie. “What did you do?”

Dixie laughed, turning all the way around. Her hair was no longer blonde, it was pink. “How do you like it?”

Jenna stood with hand on hip, trying to decide. “You know what? I do like it. You look daring and sexy.”

As they started out the door, Dixie stopped, picking up an envelope off the floor. “What’s this?”

“I don’t know, it must have fallen out of one of the boxes.” She removed a letter from the envelope and lifted it to read. “Oh, my God, Logan. What have you done?” A fist-size lump rose in her throat. He’d done it again.

“What is it?” Dixie crowded close to her. “Let me see that,” she grabbed the letter. “You have a college fund. You can go to school!”

“He’s got to stop trying to take care of me,” Jenna fretted. “I’m not comfortable with it anymore.” She took the paper from Dixie’s hand and returned it to the envelope. “I won’t be accepting this.” She’d return it to Logan when she returned the pickup. “Now, where were we?”

“Heading out the door.” Dixie swung her purse and playfully bumped Jenna’s knee. “You, my friend, have lots of options. Whether you want to admit it or not, people care about you. School, the Wildflower Farm, and don’t forget the Cowgirl Angels. Heck, you could even start riding bulls.”

She knew Dixie was teasing, but her words settled on Jenna’s heart “I know, and I’ll make a decision soon.” It was hard and seemed so final. “I have to admit, the idea of riding with the Cowgirl Angels is intriguing.”

“Beats the heck out of a nine to five job. Why do you think I barrel race?” Dixie laughed, as she crawled in the Jeep.

Jenna joined her, groaning. “I’d die if I have to sit in an office cubicle all day long. I’d rather ride and eat peanut butter for the rest of my life.”

As Dixie backed out, she turned to confess. “I don’t mean to butt into your business, but I did a little research. The Angels train up in Oklahoma at the Bar X Ranch near the town of Moore. That’s a long way away from Stonewall.”

“Yea, it is.” Jenna added in a whisper. Fingering a strand of her own hair, she muttered almost defiantly. “Maybe I should dye mine purple or burgundy.”

“Logan Gray would die.” Dixie blurted out with a giggle.

Jenna wilted before Dixie’s eyes and she immediately felt contrite for bringing up his name.

“Logan doesn’t get a vote. Not anymore.”

CHAPTER FOUR

“Are you listening to me, Ronan?” Logan got right in his face. “I have to go out on this call, I don't have a choice. So, you go to that auction and make damn sure to outbid everybody. I don’t care how much it costs. Do not let another man end up with Jenna or I’ll seriously hurt you.”

He could see the Captain was dead serious. “Yes, sir. I won’t let you down, Sir.”

Climbing onto the fire engine, he gave his proxy one last instruction. “I’ll be there by the time the auction is over to pay the bid. And if I’m not, you keep her there until I arrive. Got it?”

Ronan nodded as the bay doors began to open.

“And don’t tell her you’re bidding for me!” Logan yelled as the engine pulled out into the street.

Dry-scrubbing his face, Ronan groaned. “Geez, that woman is gonna skin me.”

“What’s going on?” Chris asked, flopping down on a bench. He was just coming on duty and Ronan was heading out.

“Chief asked me to buy Jenna Travis at the bachelorette auction.” He checked his watch. “It starts in a half hour. I guess I’d better head out there.”

“I don’t envy you.” Chris laughed. “What if some high roller comes in and outbids you? How much did he say to spend?”

“He said he didn’t care how much it cost.” Ronan looked worried. “I have an uneasy feeling about this.”

“I don’t blame you. Sounds like a touchy situation to me.” 

Grabbing his duffle, Ronan headed out. “I hope they take credit cards.”

Over at the Luckenbach saloon, Jenna was shaking like a leaf. “I need a drink,” she told Dixie as she smoothed her barely there skirt down over her thighs. “Why did I agree to do this? What kind of man bids on a woman he doesn’t know, anyway?”

Dixie stared at herself in the mirror. “Quit worrying, you look beautiful. Sexy. Your boobs look two sizes bigger and your legs are a mile long. Red is your color, girl.”

“I don’t know.” Jenna fretted. “These heels are gonna kill me. I’ll fall off the table and land in some strange guy’s lap.”

Laughing, Dixie turned to Jenna. “Come here. Let me fix your eyeshadow.” She took a brush and began applying a little glitter. “This is supposed to be fun. It’s your first step into the world of men, sans Logan.” Dixie put a hand behind her back with fingers crossed. Jenna didn’t know she’d personally taken some flyers about the auction to the fire station. There was no way Logan didn’t know what Jenna was up to.

Jenna took a deep breath. “Okay, I’m ready. I can’t let him ruin my whole life. I gotta get out there and…shake my booty!” She ended on a happy note, albeit a forced one.

“That’s right.” Dixie laughed.

“Hey!” A voice called from the door of the small make-shift dressing room. “You two are up next. Let’s go!”

A sense of panic hit Jenna, but she didn’t get a chance to back out. Dixie grabbed her by the hand and the next thing she knew, she was being led through a crowd of people, then helped to climb up on the bar to dance. It took Jenna a moment to get her footing. The music was loud and the lights were blinding. She had a sinking feeling that this was a big mistake.

Out in front, Ronan watched the line-up of beauties with his mouth open. “Land-sakes-a-goshen,” as his mother always said. The only place he’d ever seen more beautiful skin was on the beach. Jenna was in the middle, undoubtedly one of the prettiest girls there. She’d been shy at first, but someone had handed her a drink. After downing it in a couple of gulps, she was loosening up. He was glad the Chief wasn’t there, men were lined up at her feet and their hands weren’t being shy.

When the bidding started, it went fast. When it came to Jenna, he had competition, but the Chief had given him orders and he was going to do his dead level best not to let him down.

Jenna faltered when the bidding started, but a man behind her urged her to on. “Keep dancing honey, shake those tits. The more you move, the more money we’ll make.”

Closing her eyes, she tried to do as he said. But when the attention was centered on her and she could hear money amounts being bandied about, her heart started pounding in time to the beat of the music. The crowd was almost manic, the band was blaring and the ceiling fans weren’t doing a lot of good. She felt hot and a little dizzy.

One voice was persistent in his bids and Jenna strained to see who it was. A handsome young man kept raising his hand. He looked vaguely familiar…

Meanwhile, Logan pulled up to the packed parking lot in front of the saloon. He was bushed, but there was no way he was missing this. There were so many people, they were jammed up by the front door. He had to shoulder his way in. And when he did – his jaw dropped to the floor and a growl came from his chest that made two or three people round him move away quickly.

Ronan saw the Captain. “Chief! It’s done.”

“It'd better be.” Yes, the
C
hief
H
ad
A
rrived
O
n
S
cene and he was pissed! Logan cut a look toward Ronan, and would have said something more if confusion from the front hadn’t drawn his attention. “
Fuck, fuck, fuck
.” Jenna was dancing, if you could call it that. Her beautiful body was moving in ways that made his blood sing and his cock swell. Her arms were over her head, her hips swaying, and her breasts were bouncing enough to make his hands itch to cup them. There were several assholes at her feet, one ran his hand past her knee toward her thigh. She drew back and frowned, Logan pushed harder. He was almost to the front and would have jerked her from the stage if someone hadn’t held up his hand and cut the music.

“I believe the bids are complete.”

Jenna stopped and stood next to Dixie. The idea that some man had paid to spend time with her was scary. She looked out into the crowd but there were so many people crammed together and moving about that she couldn’t seem to focus her eyes.

“I am pleased to announce the winners of tonight’s auction.”

As the names were called, Jenna quivered. Chill bumps covered her arms. What would the man expect for his money? Dinner? Next to her Dixie squealed when a big handsome cowboy came to claim her. The next name that was called was, “Ronan Greer, you have purchased an evening with Jenna Travis for three thousand dollars!”

The amount was almost twice as much as the next closest and Ronan glanced nervously at the Chief, but he didn’t blink an eye. “Go after her,” Logan instructed stepping up beside him, handing the young man a check.

Jenna was looking in the opposite direction when a hand touched her arm. She whirled back to find a handsome young man. “Ma’am, I’m Ronan.”

A bit of relief filled her mind. He had a nice face. “You’re a firefighter, aren’t you?”

“Yes, ma’am.” He helped her down.

“I recognize you. You work with Logan.”

She looked over to say something to Dixie, but she had her arms around her bidder’s neck and they were already swaying to the music.

“Come this way, ma’am.” Ronan took her arm.

Jenna allowed herself to be led, thinking it could have been worse. At least the man who had prevailed in her bidding war seemed to be kind. As he guided her through the crowd, she was at a disadvantage. At only five foot three, most everyone else towered over her. The heels she wore didn’t add enough to her height so she could see where she was going.

Nearing the door, someone stepped in front of her and she walked right into a massive chest. “Excuse me,” she voiced, placing her hands on the rock hard slabs of muscle – which seemed very familiar…

“You’re not excused. I should spank your sweet ass for this and have the managers of this joint arrested for letting an underage girl in the bar and giving her a drink, much less letting you take part in this debacle. Do you realize you could’ve been hurt...or worse?” Logan enclosed her wrist in his strong hand and started pulling her through the door.

“Stop!” She pulled back, trying to get away from him. “I am not leaving with you, Logan. Another man, a younger…”

She saw him absorb her words. Younger. She’d swear to God he winced. Well, good. If he did, it was his fault for pushing her aside.

“You’re coming with me!”

“No!” She balked, grabbing on to Ronan. “Don’t let him take me.”

Ronan Greer held up his hands. “The chief has arrived on scene and my job is done.”

“What do you mean?” Jenna looked from one to the other. Then, it dawned on her. “You? You're the one who paid for me?”

“Exactly. Let’s go.”

If things had been different, Logan sweeping her to his truck, picking her up and depositing her in his seat would have thrilled Jenna. Not anymore. This was just another way for him to hurt her. “Why would you do this? You don’t want me. You don’t want to be with me.”

Right before he pulled his door shut, while the overhead lights were still on, Logan turned to her and Jenna would swear on a stack of Bibles that she saw pain and regret on his face. “You have no idea what I want.”

Jenna didn’t know what to say, so she just asked. “Where are we going?”

“I’m taking you home – with me. We need to talk.”

* * *

“Logan, this is so stupid.” Jenna hugged herself. He had the A/C turned on high, as usual.

“Cold?” He turned the arctic blast down. “What’s stupid?”

Jenna looked out the window, anywhere but at him. The illumination of street lamps made a crisscross pattern through the darkness of the truck’s interior as they sped down the highway. “All of this.” She was almost in shock. This was the most unexpected ending to the evening she could imagine. Her heart hurt. “Why would you pay three thousand dollars to spend time with me? It just doesn’t make any sense.”

Her tone was accusatory. Logan weighed his words carefully. “I’d pay a lot more to keep you from making a big mistake.”

Jenna closed her eyes in pain. “Well, that explains it.”
Hell, hell, hell
. Deep inside, she’d held on to a very tiny sliver of hope that he’d changed his mind, that he was charging in like a knight in shining armor to prevent any other man from claiming her. But that wasn’t even close to the truth. Logan was still in protector mode. “Look, I’m an adult now. You are absolved from any responsibility of me.” She folded her arms across her chest. “I can take care of myself.”

Logan snorted. “Yea, I can see that. If I hadn’t heard about this auction, there’s no telling what kind of idiot you might have gone home with.”

“That was the plan,” she whispered.

Logan put on his blinker as he turned toward Gray Wolf Ranch. “I thought so. We’re about to have a lengthy discussion. I don’t like the way we left things the other day. Your moving out to do God knows what, with God knows who, isn’t going to work.”

His superior high-handed attitude was making her angry. “Logan, I don’t think you know what you want. You’re a dog in the manger. You don’t want me, but you don’t want anyone else to have me either.”

Hell no, he didn’t want anyone else to have her. “There are better ways to meet men than selling one’s self to the highest bidder, Jenna.”

“Oh, really, do you have any suggestions? Perhaps you could set me up with someone. Any ideas? How about Ronan or Chris?”

The idea of either of those men, hell any man, touching and taking Jenna made Logan’s blood boil. “What’s the damn rush? You’re eighteen years old!” he exploded.

“Rush? What rush?” Jenna shot back at him. “I am the only girl my age that I know who’s never been on a real date.” Jenna turned as far sideways as she could in order to see him while she spoke. “My folks were super strict, church going people. I wasn’t allowed to date until I was sixteen, and my birthday was only days before the fire. From the moment I met you, I didn’t want to see anyone else.” Logan looked ready to speak, but Jenna never gave him the chance. “I’m a virgin, Logan. The only kiss I’ve ever shared is with you. You were very quick to point out how lacking I am in the characteristics that would make me desirable to a man. And one of those things was experience, you said so yourself! So, how is that rushing things, may I ask?”

Logan managed to hold her gaze for a second. She was so beautiful, he felt weak with desire. The idea that she thought she wanted him, had saved herself for him was incomprehensible. “So, your plan was to just offer yourself to a stranger tonight?”

“Of course not, it was just supposed to be a date.” She tried to forget the conversation she’d had with Dixie. “For charity.”

Logan snorted. “Even you can’t be that naïve, Jenna.”

“Even me?” Jenna knew her voice was growing a little shrill. As he began to slow down, she looked up to see they’d arrived at his domain, the foreman’s cabin. The very place she’d stood in front of just the other night and dreamed of sharing with him. Over the years, she’d only been inside a half dozen times or so. “We’re here,” she whispered, more to herself than anything. “At least we can discuss you taking the pickup back and stopping that damn school loan.”

“I don’t think so. Stay.” He demanded.

His voice was so authoritative that she complied. At first she thought he’d changed his mind about her going in, but then she realized he was coming around to open the door for her. “Thank you,” she murmured as he helped her to the ground. “I really don’t think this is a good idea.”