Red's Hot Cowboy Page 17

  “Whoa!” she said. The m-word set her mind going in circles.

  “What did I do?”

  “You drank milk. That set my mind to thinking of… well, it set me off on a merry-go-round of thoughts. I’m going to bed. I think I can sleep now.”

  He wiggled his heavy black eyebrows. “Sure you don’t want to cuddle up next to me?”

  She stood up, rinsed her glass, and put it in the dishwasher. “Too dangerous.”

  “Then good night.” He stretched and yawned.

  She refused to let him carry her up the steps and barely even muttered good night to him before tumbling into the bed again. She didn’t have to count sheep or count backwards when she slipped between the sheets the second time. She shut her eyes and dreamed of Wil. He was standing in a cemetery with a bouquet of red roses. His face was a study in misery and the tombstone had one word on it… Red.

  She sat up gasping for air and shivering to her toes even though she was toasty warm under the down comforter. Was the dream telling her how he would have felt if she’d broken her neck and died in the fall?

  “Are you all right?” Wil asked from the bedroom door.

  “Bad, bad dream. Must have been the fall messing with my head,” she said.

  He crossed the room in a few easy strides, sat down on the bed, and wrapped her in his arms. “You scared me when you yelled out like that.”

  She could hear his heart thumping like the drums in a country band when she laid her cheek on his broad chest. “I’m fine. It was just a dream, but you can call me Red anytime you want to, and would you just lie down with me for a little while?”

  Pearl felt the tenseness leave her body when he slipped beneath the covers and wrapped her up in his arms. She threw one arm over his wide chest and dreamed again of him, but that time he wasn’t standing in a cemetery. They were leaning on a corral fence and he was showing her a brand new bull calf born that morning. Spring was everywhere in minty green buds on the pecan trees, yellow daffodils up against the fence row, and purple irises showing off next to the back porch.

  She told him that she had to get back in the house because she was canning plum jelly that day and he kissed her long, hard, and passionately. “I’m a lucky man to have you, Red.”

  And she woke up to the sound of the door into the bedroom opening.

  “Good evening, sleepyhead.” Wil carried a wooden tray into the room. It was laden with omelets, steaming hot biscuits, bacon, coffee, juice, and even a silk daffodil in a bud vase.

  She sat up. “Do you have a harem or is that all for me?”

  “It can be, but I thought we’d share and no, there is no harem. One woman, namely you, Red, has brought enough chaos in my life these past few days to scare the hell right out of me.” He set the tray over her lap.

  Coming out of his mouth, the nickname didn’t sound bad at all. She picked up the coffee first and sipped.

  He kissed her soundly then crawled up beside her on the bed.

  She looked up into his eyes and said, “I don’t believe I’ve got the power to scare the hell out of you, cowboy. Mostly because I don’t see any wings or a halo, so you’ve not got the whole hell scared out of you yet.”

  “Don’t underestimate yourself.”

  She picked up a piece of bacon, crammed it inside a biscuit, and bit off a chunk. “This tastes like heaven. What time is it?”

  He looked toward the window. “Five thirty.”

  “You are shittin’ me.”

  He swallowed quickly to keep from spewing coffee. He slung an arm around her shoulder and squeezed. “Feelin’ better?”

  “Yes. Headache is gone and I’m hungry,” she answered.

  She looked up and their eyes met across the short distance. He leaned and she shifted and their lips locked with so much passion that it staggered Pearl. What amazed her even more was the feeling that she belonged right where she was—in his house, in his bed, and in his arms. Right there on that ranch with him forever.

  The kiss deepened and Wil moved the tray to one side. He stretched out beside her, drawing her so close that her body molded to his. He rested his chin on her tousled hair and sighed. “This feels so good.”

  Wil Marshall was a mystery, soft and gentle, demanding and rough. All the qualities of both a good guy and a bad boy combined to keep a woman guessing. Did he have any idea how complex he was?

  She sat up and pulled the T-shirt over her head. He eased her underpants off, the brush of his fingertips on her hips and thighs flaming hot embers that seemed to be ready all the time for his touch.

  He jerked his shirt over his head and tossed it toward the door and swiftly removed his sweatpants. They flew through the open door and landed in the hallway. Her skin was like an aphrodisiac to him. Just touching her ribs and brushing the back of his hands over her breasts brought him to full hardness. He was ready.

  She liked the gentle sex as much or more than what they’d had at the motel when their hands couldn’t touch fast and furious enough. When Wil began a slow rhythm, she looked up into his eyes and got lost in the depths. What would it be like to wake up every morning to sweet love like that?

  “What are you thinking?” he whispered.

  “That I like this kind of sex as well as the hot stuff,” she said.

  “It’s all hot.” He chuckled.

  “You got that right.” She smiled.

  He brought her up to the very edge of a climax then backed off and let her cool down a bit before repeating the performance. When they both reached the apex at the same time, he could see it in her eyes and gave way to the aching desire in his body. With one last thrust they both found a sweet release.

  “Wow!” she said when she finally found her voice.

  “Yes, ma’am,” he whispered hoarsely.

  The ringtone on her phone started playing “Georgia on My Mind” and she gasped. “That’ll be Momma. I bet she’s already called a dozen times.”

  Wil moved quickly off the bed, found her purse, and brought the phone back to her. She flipped it open to find that it had been her mother calling, that there were eleven text messages from her and two from Aunt Kate and one from Jasmine. That meant the whole family had heard about the unfortunate incident. Pearl pushed the right buttons and called her mother.

  Tess didn’t even say hello but started in on a tirade. “Pearl Richland, what in the hell is goin’ on over there? I told your daddy that you didn’t have a bit of business runnin’ that motel. And now I find out that you’ve nearly got yourself killed in a strange man’s house. Speak to me! Don’t just sit there like a deaf and dumb donkey. I swear if I’d have known your daddy had an aunt like Pearlita I wouldn’t have married the man. I could’ve had a good southern boy but oh, no, that damned Texas drawl and his swagger in those cowboy boots put me in heat. Now I’ve got to pay for it with a daughter who is just like him and acts like his brazen aunt. You should’ve been raised in Georgia. You haven’t said a word since I picked up this phone. Speak to me, I said.” Tess Landry Richland had kept her southern accent even though she’d been in Texas for years, and when she was angry or worried, it surfaced with more power than a class five tornado. Pearl had inherited her short height and her big boobs from her mother, but the rest of Pearl was pure Richland. Tess had blond hair, blue eyes, and at near sixty, a person would have to use a magnifying glass to find more than a few wrinkles. And Tess wouldn’t have been caught taking out the trash without her makeup and being dressed to the nines.

  “Momma, you haven’t shut up long enough to let me work a word in edgewise. I’m fine. I was not hurt. I just tumbled down the stairs and got a couple of bruises on my leg and a minor concussion, which is already gone…”

  “And what were you doing in a strange man’s house anyway? It’s the Texan blood in you. The Landrys are a respectable bunch of southern people. It’s the Richlands who are renegades.”

  Pearl rolled her eyes.

  Wil grinned and gathered up his shirt and sweat bottoms.


  “Momma, can we do this later? I really need to get dressed and go home now,” Pearl said.

  “Well, just where are you? And how undressed are you?” Tess demanded.

  “I’m at Wil’s. We were up most of the night because I wasn’t supposed to go to sleep for a few hours and then I took a long nap, then we had wild passionate sex right here in this bed.” Pearl figured that was enough to set her mother off into a tirade that would give her enough time to snag another biscuit and another few bites of omelet.

  Tess gasped so loud that Pearl was afraid she’d caused her to have an acute cardiac infarction right there in her posh Sherman, Texas, home. “Pearl, that’s no way for a lady to talk to her momma. And you know I hate it when you tease about things like that and are crude like the Richlands! Dammit to hell and back! I should have never moved to Texas. I hope Mr. Marshall wasn’t where he could hear such talk. Did I tell you that Jasmine has broken up with that fellow she’s been keeping company with the past five years? I swear to God, I do hate to be right, but why buy the cow when you can get the milk free? And you remember I said that if you are taking milk right to that cowboy’s house! Jasmine has been practically livin’ with him for at least two years.” Tess changed the subject and went on like she’d never heard a word about S-E-X. “Well, her poor, poor momma is mortified and fit to be tied. And it wasn’t even like Jasmine caught him with another woman. She just told her poor momma, bless her heart, that they had grown apart. Now what in the hell does that mean? Tell me, what kind of woman gives that for an excuse when her momma had the whole wedding planned out for more than two years?”

  Pearl swallowed quickly. “Eddie Jay has always been an asshole. He was born one and just got bigger with age. I’m glad Jasmine finally woke up. I’ve been telling her for years that he’s a no good sumbitch. She deserves something a hell of a lot better than Eddie Jay Chandler. Got to go, Momma. Got a motel to run and rooms to clean.”

  “What did I do to deserve this? You’re as bad as Jasmine. We should have never let you be friends with that girl,” Tess said with a sigh.

  “Jasmine is a decent person. She just attracts men that are worse than swamp scum. And the reason you let me be friends with her is because her momma is your very best friend.”

  “Good-bye, Pearl,” Tess said and hung up the phone.

  Pearl flipped her phone shut.

  “So?” Wil asked.

  “Momma says that my friend, Jasmine, has kicked out her slimy boyfriend and that I’m just a notch above causing the ruination of a fine old southern family because I spent the night in your house. I told her we’d had passionate sex but she thought I was teasing. I always have figured if you tell the truth, they’ll never believe it. If she did, she’d commit me to a convent.”

  “That’s all? You were on there a long time.”

  “Momma’s from Georgia. Why use five words when you can spit out five hundred?”

  Wil chuckled deep in his chest and his brown eyes glittered. “My momma is from Bowie, Texas. Born on a ranch. Married a cowboy and raised one. She’s the same way. I think it’s a mother thing instead of a regional one.”

  “You are probably right. Thanks for breakfast and for getting the phone for me. Would you please drive me home now?”

  He wiggled his eyebrows. “Naked?”

  She playfully slapped him on the arm and got a brand new set of red-hot tingles down in her gut for it. “No, I’ve got clothes in the bedroom.”

  He moved across the bed and kissed her on the cheek. Now that they were rested and fed, he was ready to spend the night in bed with her. Whether they had hot passionate sex, sweet sex, or no sex, he’d like to wake up with her beside him the next day.

  She slid out of bed, snatched the last piece of bacon, and carried it with her on the way across the landing. When the phone rang again she’d just fastened the last button on her shirt. It wasn’t her mother coming up to bat again because it wasn’t her ringtone. She sat down on the little velvet and brass stool in front of the vanity.

  “Hello,” she said cautiously.

  “Hi, girl, this is Jasmine. I heard this morning that you tried to fly without wings. I could have told you that you never were an angel. Not a party girl like you. Thought I’d best call and make sure you are all right.”

  “Momma called,” Pearl said.

  “Then I guess you know the dirt from this area of the swamp.”

  “I’m fine and Momma said you finally got rid of Eddie Jay. Good for you. I told you he was a worthless asshole.”

  “But he is a pretty and rich worthless asshole.”

  “Pretty and rich ain’t so important now is it?”

  Jasmine didn’t hesitate for a minute. “You got it, girlfriend.”

  Pearl sat down on the edge of the bed. “Quit your fancy job and move over here close to me. You always wanted to own a café and there’s one for sale over in Ringgold. It’s even got a little apartment up above it. Come stay in one of my motel rooms and buy a café.”

  “Momma’s already wrung out a dozen hankies with worry over what people might say. I might come over for a few days, but honey, Momma would hide in the cellar and not even go offer up Sunday morning prayers if I was a cook in a café, even if I did own it,” Jasmine said.

  “Well, at least come see me. I’ve got twenty-four extra bedrooms. You can take your choice. Are you still working at Texas Instruments?”

  “Yes, but I’ve got some vacation time coming. Is there really a little café for sale over there in your part of the woods?”

  “It’s called Chicken Fried and it’s got an apartment above it. Life’s too short to put up with sumbitches in bed or at work.”

  Wil poked his head in the open door. “Need any help?”

  She shook her head and pointed at the phone.

  “Who do I hear? Would that be the cowboy who ruined your name last night? It’s a damn good thing your momma don’t know what I know, isn’t it?” Jasmine giggled. “Is he really sexy?”

  “All of the above, but it’s time for me to go back to my motel mansion so I cannot talk right now.”

  Wil crossed the floor and kissed her, teased her mouth open, and tasted coffee, bacon, and juice.

  “Is that sexy cowboy in the room right now? I swear I can hear you panting,” Jasmine teased.

  Pearl pushed Wil back and tried to give him a dirty look, but it came out with a giggle. “He is but he’s leaving. Talk.”

  “Your momma called my momma. She called your cell phone and when you didn’t answer she called the motel phone. Someone named Lucy said for them not to worry, you were fine and staying at Wil’s because you had to be wakened up every hour to make sure the concussion wasn’t getting any worse and that you’d probably be home later today. Your momma called the Henrietta hospital and got the whole medical story. You know she could weasel a confession out of the devil’s minions. And then she called Momma and they commiserated together about their wayward daughters. And to answer your question quickly, I’ve really been thinkin’ about quittin’ my job so if you aren’t serious, don’t offer me a room in your motel,” Jasmine said.

  “I’m not telling you about the café or offering to give you a room at my motel lightly. Come on over here to Montague County. I’d love to have you close by.”

  “When can you talk about the cowboy?”

  “Much later.”

  “Then I’ll call much later and if you don’t answer I’ll call your momma.”

  “Don’t you dare,” Pearl said and hung up.

  “Relatives again?” Wil asked.

  “Better than relatives. That was my best friend from high school, Jasmine.”

  Wil brushed back his black hair and strolled past her, taking time to stop and brush a soft kiss on her neck. “Either get dressed or I’m going to undress you and make wild passionate love to you all night long. Your choice.”

  Pearl’s better judgment won the battle of choices and she got dressed but she grumbled
the whole time.

  Chapter 13

  The NO VACANCY sign was flashing brightly in the semi-dusk when Wil pulled into the Longhorn Inn parking lot, but there wasn’t a single car or truck in the lot. The lobby lights were on and she could see the top of Lucy’s head behind the counter.

  Wil was so involved with his own thoughts that he didn’t even notice the VACANCY sign. His world had been flipped on its back like a turtle. No amount of waving his legs would get him back on course. He’d realized while he was driving to the motel that Pearl was the only one who could pick him up, turn him over, set him back down, and let him get on with life. And he wasn’t sure about her. Not sure at all. The indecision drove him crazy. The idea of not seeing her again wasn’t even a possibility.

  “You’ve been pretty quiet since we left your ranch,” Pearl said.

  “Are you sure you are up to going back to work so soon? That fall was a trauma. Why don’t you let Lucy run the motel and spend a couple of days with me?”

  “I’m not leaving Lucy in charge. Besides, we haven’t even had a date. Lots of good sex but no dates, Wil?”

  He reached across the seat and touched her cheek. “You want to date, darlin’?”

  “I do.” She grinned.

  “Well, then we will date. Tonight we will—”

  “Oh, no! Not starting tonight. Lucy needs some time off. This is Wednesday. I could be free tomorrow. What have you got in mind?”

  “What’s your bowling game like?”

  “Oh, honey, I’m as good with a bowling ball as I am with shots.”

  “I’ll pick you up tomorrow night at seven and we’ll go bowling, have a beer and a hamburger at the alley, and I’ll get Cinderella home by midnight,” he said.

  She laid a hand on his leg. “I’ll be ready, and Wil, thanks for everything. Taking care of me, loaning me a T-shirt, staying up with me all night, all of it.”