COWBOY FOR SALE--A Second-Chances Spicy Romance (10 page)

“I need music.” Lacey reached past Kandy to switch on a portable CD player she'd bought for the salon. She didn't want to talk about Hank anymore, didn't want to think about him anymore. She knew thinking about it would darken her mood, and even if she had lost all enthusiasm for the Bachelor Auction, she really didn't want to spoil it for Kandy. She and her cowboy were doing just fine.

Kandy bounced to the oldies music and they silently worked their way through the cartons of inventory. When the music paused for an hourly news break, Lacey reached to change the station.

“Breaking news…at a local country music hot spot called the Rockin' Ranch—”

Lacey's hand stopped in midair.

“—local resident, Hank Erickson, was arrested without incident for suspected credit card fraud. A part-time employee at the club, he allegedly used customer's credit card accounts to purchase a three-day cruise to Ensenada, as well as fund a shopping spree at a men's store at a nearby mall. Now, here's Dave with the weekend forecast…”

Lacey snapped off the radio.

“So what if we're short one cowboy,” Kandy said. “They’ll get over it, right?”

Lacey felt the weight of the world lift from her shoulders. It was always easier dealing with a known versus an unknown. Now she knew Hank would not be at the rehearsal and hopefully there wouldn't be too much hassle if the event was minus one cowboy bachelor.

***

“I'm your sister, Jared, talk to me.”

Jo glared at him from across the kitchen table, her voice calm but insistent. His sister was known more for her tendency to bulldoze her way through life than for her ability to “wait patiently and see,” and he knew she wouldn’t give up.

“Jared, I know you better than you know yourself. Something's eating at you. The last time I saw you like this you were deciding whether or not to propose marriage to that—”

Jared's scowl stopped his sister from finishing the sentence. He watched as her eyes widened.

“Okay, fess up. Who is she?”

“Why do you assume it's about a woman?

“It is, isn't it?” Joann's face brightened with a huge grin. “Okay, let me see. Someone at that club? Waitress? Fan?”

“Stop it. Can you be serious?”

Joann nodded, her grin disappearing instantly. “Jared, just tell me about it. We can do this, you know. Talk. People do it all the time.”

“I'm sorry Jo. I'm just not used to feeling like this.”

“Like what?”

Jared closed his eyes for a moment, then stared out the window to avoid his sister's scrutiny. “At the club, I met the woman who cut Jamie's hair.”

“You met Lacey? Really? This is getting interesting already—paths crossing paths, and all. She sure had Jamie wrapped around her little finger that day.”

Jared sighed. Why was it so hard to just talk about it? He proceeded with his explanation, choosing his words carefully. He knew his sister was right, the whole business of Lacey and Hank was consuming him. “She was interested in this jerk from the club. I found out she’d asked him to be in some charity bachelor auction at the mall where she works and I decided to warn her about him and—”

“—she's a little pissed at you for interfering, I’m guessing?”

“Maybe.” Jared nodded. Maybe it’s a girl-thing, he thought. “The kicker is, I don't understand why I had to… I don’t want to be interested in her, Jo. I like things just the way they are, but—”

“Things could be better.”

He glared his response.

“Think about it. Wouldn’t it be great for Jamaica to have a woman around—at least a role model other than her wonderful auntie, you know. What's wrong with at least entertaining the idea? What are you afraid of?”

“Jamie and I are doing fine.”

“Yes, you are. So, I’m wondering what exactly is the
real
problem?” She paused, seemingly lost in thought. “There's more, isn't there?”

“I drove her home the other night and we left things a little awkward.”

“So, go apologize.”

“But I didn't
do
anything—”

“Doesn't matter. If something's bothering you, it sounds like you at least need to clear the air. You don't have to show up with flowers or anything—just go to the mall and buy her a cup of coffee. Talk. Make nice.”

Jared groaned. She was right. More than anything he hated the lingering feeling of unresolved conflict and he'd vowed to never live like that again. His marriage had been one unresolved conflict after another and if he hadn't learned anything else, he'd learned that.

“Look, little brother, I'll stay with Jamaica and you go down the mountain and get it over with. You might as well,” she teased, “because you're going to stew about it anyway. Go on…”

Jared's chair scraped loudly against the wood floor as he pushed himself away from the table. He leaned down to plant a kiss on his sister's cheek before he strolled out the door. He hated when she was right, but had to admit he was starting to feel better already.

He should go and make sure she was all right. Just be friendly. Make sure Hank was no longer a problem in her life. Made perfect sense.

***

Lacey's head was bowed over a stack of client receipts as she added the week's totals a third time. The computer system was down…again…due to trouble with the latest supposed software upgrade, and she had resorted to paper receipts, which was a pain in the neck.
Why am I having so much trouble?
She glanced at the clock—still an hour before closing time.

After the last two clients of the evening had canceled, she had generously let everyone else go home a little early figuring she could handle whoever walked through the door. Foot traffic in the mall was slow tonight, and it didn't look like there would be a last-minute Friday night walk-in after all.

Consciously she slowed down her fingers, preventing them from flying over the keys of the calculator. She felt uneasy, distracted.

The bachelor auction rehearsal had gone well the night before and Luke had been a hit, all decked out in a dazzling rodeo-style shirt, tight jeans and black boots. His rugged good looks had drawn several young women closer and Kandy had stuck to him like glue the entire evening. The mall marketing director had listened sympathetically to Lacey’s manufactured tale of woe about her missing cowboy—though she had very strongly implied she really wished Lacey would try to find a last minute replacement. Lacey had winced, then smiled and said she’d try, even knowing the odds were astronomical against it. Well, impossible was more accurate.

She sucked in her cheeks, nervously chewing them as she pressed the total key one more time. Balanced at last.

Last minute replacement? What am I supposed to do, ask the next male customer who walks in the door if he’ll put on a cowboy hat and call it good?

***

“Hi, Lacey.”

He saw her jump—startled at his voice, he realized—then she looked up at him.

He had quietly walked into the reception area of the hair salon a couple minutes ago and stood watching Lacey’s bowed head while she worked, her hair a silky brown curtain on either side of her face.

What was it about her hair that so fascinated him?

He gazed back at her as her furrowed brow relaxed and her face slowly broke into a slight smile, almost as though he’d caught her thinking about something she shouldn’t have been thinking.

“Sorry if I interrupted you,” he began, “but I wondered if we could just talk for a minute.”

“About what?” Her brow furrowed again.

Jared swallowed hard. “I wanted to…apologize if I offended you the other night when I dropped you off at your place. It's really none of my business…it’s just that Hank—”

“Hank's in jail,” she interrupted.

Jared’s brain froze in mid-thought.
Jail?

“And, well, you have nothing to apologize for, Jared. I’ve decided to look at what happened as a gift, actually—something to learn from, like you said. So, no harm, no foul, right?”

Her voice still held a slight tinge of embarrassment, but, at least at first glance, to him it appeared as though she’d recovered emotionally and—he glanced down at her wrists—physically. She was a strong one, he reminded himself.

“What about the auction?” he asked. “He was supposed to be in it, right?”

“Missing one cowboy.” She shrugged one shoulder. But in her eyes he swore he saw…what?…disappointment, maybe? Guilt?

He felt his conscience tugging at him. He needed to finish what he’d started, do what he came to do, regardless of how in control Lacey looked. If he didn’t, well, he would go home with Jo’s thoughts nagging him along with his own.

“Look,” he began, “I just wanted to say that I think you might want to take time to know someone before you make all kinds of assumptions about them.”

“Are you talking about Hank or you?” she asked, tipping her head to one side.

There were definitely more questions simmering in her pretty hazel-green eyes.

Truth be told, he didn’t really know what he was trying to say, except that, like Jo had said, he had a feeling he needed to clear the air. Exactly how eluded him. Regardless, though, it didn’t feel like it was going well. And he had no idea why.

Then he watched her expression soften. “Jared, I'm sorry. I'm just feeling mad and disappointed. And I really don’t like not keeping a commitment. I promised two cowboys for the auction and Luke will be there, of course, but I hate not being able to keep a promise, you know?”

Jared nodded. Okay, maybe they were finally getting somewhere.

“And,” she continued, “well, I'm just stubborn enough to wish you weren't absolutely right about taking time to really know someone before…”

The sound of giggling interrupted them and he watched Lacey's demeanor change from friendly to professional. “Excuse me, it looks like I have some business.”

Jared glanced back at two teenage girls who huddled in the doorway behind him.

“Thanks for stopping by, Jared. Really. It was very sweet of you.” She smiled, then whispered, “I’m fine.”

Jared nodded and left the salon, retracing his steps back to his truck, breathing in the cool evening air as though he couldn't quite get enough oxygen in his lungs. He felt better having talked with Lacey, but not as though they’d resolved anything, not really. Well, maybe a little, he decided. So why was he feeling so unsettled still?

I'm way too old for this.

He shook his head, more than a little annoyed at the tightness in his jeans. How could he be so attracted to someone he couldn't even have a normal conversation with?

***

“So, you chickened out. I can tell by the look on your face,” Joann whispered harshly as she met Jared at the door, her fingers to her lips to quiet him. “I finally got Jamie to settle down after the third time reading “Cinderella.”

“It's her current favorite,” he whispered back, closing the door quietly behind him.

“You're home much too early.” This time her voice was gentle, with a degree of disappointment.

“Jo, I think it's time for you to stop being so darned helpful.”

Her eyes narrowed a little and she bit her lip as though preventing herself from commenting further. Then she let out a little frustrated sigh. “Don't forget that Jamie and I are still on for the weekend. I'll pick her up in the morning.” Her gaze softened. “One thing I will say. You're a good daddy to that little angel.”

Jared smiled, grabbing her for an impromptu bear hug.

“Hey, what was that for?”

“Two women in my life are plenty. Thanks, Jo. I'm gonna check on Jamie—see yourself out?”

“Sure thing.”

Jared tiptoed with amazing grace into his daughter's bedroom, careful not to step on the pile of Barbie dolls in the middle of the floor.

His daughter was definitely “all girl,” though she seemed equally as drawn to the outdoors, spending hours with the animals and collecting her “treasures.” The windowsill in her bedroom was lined with rocks and feathers and bits of odd-shaped twigs. Her “magic wands,” she called them. He’d even taken one particularly nice bit of manzanita branch and hand-sanded most of it to reveal a beautiful, rich red grain of the wood, then oiled it to a high sheen.

As he knelt by her bed, Jamie stirred in her sleep and he watched as her eyelids fluttered open.

“Where were you, Daddy?”

“Hey, you're s'posed to be asleep and dreaming already.” He brought her tiny hand to his lips for a soft kiss.

“Tell me what I should dream about,” she said as her eyes closed halfway.

Jared spoke slowly, his voice low and smooth. “Dream about being a princess in a castle on the top of a beautiful green mountain. You climb to the top of the castle tower and look at your lovely kingdom, filled with every animal—”

“Ponies?”

“Gray ponies and white ponies and even spotted ones.”