Crazy Little Thing Called Love (2 page)

The last time she’d been home with her
ringless finger she’d gotten looks of horror followed by pitying
condolences.

“There’s still time.”

“Bless your heart, you’ll find some nice boy
someday.”

“There’s someone for everyone, just you wait
and see.”

She could have walked into town dying of some
deadly disease and she couldn’t have been more of a leper. Nothing
said loser like being in your late twenties and not having a man
according to small-town philosophy. And that had been three years
ago when she’d still been young enough to be a catch. No doubt
they’d be calling her an old maid this time around.

Nobody was calling Molly an old maid though,
not anymore. No, Molly had the foresight to stay gone until she got
that ring on her finger but now that it was she planned to throw a
big ol’ party in Fate and show off her husband with pride. Blue
would have been a lot happier for her if she’d chosen to get
married in Lubbock or Dallas or anywhere but their small hometown
but since her father was the mayor that wasn’t possible.

Still, Molly was a good friend and she hadn’t
been able to say no. She hadn’t wanted to say no either until Molly
said it was happening at the Fate First Baptist Church. Then she’d
thought about calling it all off.

She’d considered rescinding her answer for
the past two months. Like when the bridal shower invitation arrived
and her name showed up next to Molly’s cousins who were all a few
years younger than her and who all had new last names. Like when
the bridesmaid dress arrived and turned out to be a tangerine
colored monstrosity with a sweetheart hemline and huge bow that
made her butt look double the size while also managing to show more
cleavage than could ever be church appropriate. She’d hit the road
for Fate with the express reasoning that it was still a fifty-fifty
shot that she be in the wedding or kill Molly on sight for the
humiliation alone.

Oh and it would be humiliating. The tangerine
color against her blonde hair gave her a sickly glow. Add in the
cleavage and the bow and the thing was pure hell on earth. But none
of that would be the worst part. The worst part would be that she
would have to walk down the aisle with every one of Fate’s gossips
watching and she’d have to do it alone.

Alone. No husband, no boyfriend to speak of,
and no date for the wedding. She’d be all alone and they’d give her
those pitying stares and condolences and she’d be lucky to make it
out of town with any semblance of dignity.

She hated that she knew it was coming and was
driving straight into her nightmare anyway but that’s what she’d
been born to do. Cowgirls didn’t cry, they didn’t back down and
they didn’t give up. Her daddy had taught her right so Blue sucked
it up and kept right on moving.

She kept moving right up until something loud
popped and the steering wheel jerked out of her hands. She let out
a squeal of terror before she managed to regain control. Heart
racing she eased the little sports car to the side of the highway
and cursed.

She’d blown a tire. Less than ten miles from
the turnoff to the Montgomery Oaks Ranch and she’d blown a tire.
This was not a good start to her visit.

She contemplated getting out and kicking the
stupid car but instead she did the mature thing. She leaned her
forehead against the steering wheel, squeezed her eyes shut tight
and cursed some more. After throwing her temper tantrum, she slid
through her options.

Fixing the tire wasn’t a possibility even if
she knew how. She’d bought the car on impulse, thinking it might
help her confidence to show up in Fate with a flashy,
ultra-expensive ride. It hadn’t but worse, she hadn’t bothered to
take her emergency kit out of the old car.

She could call her father but what were the
odds he was in the house at this hour? He’d probably just be
stalking in from a long day working the ranch. He might be in the
bunkhouse having dinner with the other ranch hands but even if she
reached him he’d only grumble she should be better prepared and
send one of the other guys to come get her. After three years away
that’s not how she wanted to see him for the first time.

There was the tow company in town but she
didn’t have the number. She called information and wasn’t surprised
when the woman on the other end gave her the number for Bert’s Auto
Shop. Bert was the only mechanic in town and he did everything from
oil changes and tire rotation to towing and collision repair.

Bert had been old even when she was a kid.
His son, Bert Jr. had been in her class in school. B.J. had worked
for his dad during summers and then full time once he graduated.
She wondered if Bert was still working or if B.J. had taken over
for the older man as the phone rang.

An answering machine picked up and she
growled as she glanced at the clock on the dash. It was
twenty-seven minutes after five which meant it was long past beer
thirty. No doubt B.J. and the rest of the mechanics were already
down at the bar sipping a Shiner and commiserating about their
workday.

Blue drummed her freshly manicured nails
against the steering wheel as her other options faded away. She’d
just have to call her father and deal with his grumpiness. She
hated the idea of asking for his help without even setting foot in
the house yet but she picked up the phone to dial.

806-55… She was five numbers in when a large
black truck rumbled past. She squealed as she tossed the phone down
and hit the horn on instinct. A stranger was a better option than
calling home. The truck’s brake lights lit up and she swallowed
hard.

Or was it? That wasn’t the smartest thing
she’d ever done. She was a lone woman on a deserted highway in the
middle of nowhere Texas and she’d just flagged down a truck that
could be driven by a serial killer.

The truck pulled over to the shoulder slowly
and then reversed until it was a half car length ahead of her
sports car. She chewed her bottom lip and tried to figure out the
best course of action now that she had the attention of the
stranger. Should she get out? Yeah, probably. She’d just reached
for the door handle when the cab of the truck swung open and she
froze.

It was a man and he was big, really big. She
thought about hitting the locks but worried he’d hear it as he
moved closer. Yeah that was why she was frozen. It had nothing to
do with the fact she was practically drooling in her lap.

He looked like the type of man that Blue
shunned, the kind that made her a little uncomfortable in all the
right places. He looked like the kind of man that drank beer and
swore and kept women around just long enough to make them fall for
him before he moved on to the next. He looked like the kind of man
that she always, always avoided because he looked a little dark, a
little dangerous and a lot sexy.

Well-worn blue jeans clung to long legs. A
tight gray t-shirt stretched across a broad chest, the sleeve rode
up on one side giving just a glimpse of black ink curled around the
muscular bicep below. His face was shaded by the brim of a dusty
baseball cap but she could just make out the dark five o’clock
shadow gracing his square jaw.

“Need some help ma’am?” His voice was like
gravel, deep and kind of scratchy, in the way only a complete bad
boy could pull off.

“I um… I blew a tire.”

“I can see that.” One corner of his mouth
twitched up, “You need help fixin’ it?”

“No. I mean yes, I mean…” She sighed heavily,
“The thing is, I don’t have the tools to fix it so while I do need
help, I doubt there’s much you can do unless you have superman
strength and can lift a car with your bare hands.”

“No ma’am.” He chuckled lightly, “This things
pretty small but I doubt I can lift it.”

“I figured.”

“I have some tools in my truck if you’d like
the help though.” He shrugged and a smile tugged at his lips again,
“Course you’ll have to get out of the car.”

She looked him over again. So he’d noticed
she hadn’t made a move to get out of the car or even roll the
window down. And he was right, if she wanted his help she’d have to
get out of the car. She was out of other options so she’d take the
help but that didn’t mean she was dumb.

“Can I see your driver’s license please?”

He snorted and shook his head like she was
crazy but pulled his wallet from his back pocket. The movement
pulled her eyes down from that impressive chest and she
automatically noticed the bulge at the front of his blue jeans. And
she’d thought the chest was impressive?

She pulled her eyes away feeling like a
pervert even if it did happen to be at eye level through her
window. The man was a remarkable specimen. Tall and broad and
thick, he looked like the kind of guy she wished she’d had sitting
in the passenger seat to show off to the people of Fate. She’d
proudly parade a guy like him around if he was her date to the
wedding.

“Here you go.” He held the card against the
window and broke into her daydream, “I ain’t an ax murderer
ma’am.”

“Isn’t that exactly what an ax murderer would
say?” She smiled sweetly as she punched the remaining number into
her phone and listened to it ring.

“Good point.” He chuckled again and the sound
roused the butterflies that had been dormant in her stomach for
years.

The answering machine picked up at the ranch
house just as she’d expected so she left a message, “Daddy it’s me.
I had some car trouble and a man stopped to help me. His name is…”
She squinted at the card and her stomach clenched tight, “Oh hell…
I mean, shit, I mean… sorry, Daddy, delete this message I’ll be
home soon.”

She slammed the phone down and took a deep
breath. How had she been stupid enough to think he was a stranger?
In Fate there was no such thing as strangers. Damn it.

“Well that wasn’t exactly the phone call I
thought I’d be hearing.” She heard his deep chuckle and steeled all
of her defenses against it.

“Yeah sorry, I um… I recognized your name.
You’re Zach West?”

“That’s what they’ve been tellin’ me all my
life.” He leaned down with his face close to the windshield, “Do I
know you?”

“Yes. No. I mean…” She let out a frustrated
breath, annoyed she was stuttering again when he looked so amused,
“I’m originally from Fate but I moved away a long time ago. I
recognize the West name, the Triple Star Ranch right?”

“Yes ma’am.” He nodded, “Seems you’ve got me
at the disadvantage. Want to tell me your name?”

She chewed her bottom lip; thankful her
Ray-Ban’s hid a good portion of her face. It was possible he
wouldn’t recognize her. She’d been gone a long time and it’s not
like they’d known each other back then. But the minute she said her
name he’d know exactly who she was.

“I’m not so sure I want to.”

His lips pursed, “And why’s that?”

“Maybe I’m afraid if I tell you who I am you
won’t want to help me anymore?”

She could see his head tilt out of the corner
of her eye but she refused to look up. He was studying her. She
could feel it, could feel him trying to figure out just who she was
and why she’d be reluctant to say her name. And then he stood to
his full height and she held her breath, waiting for him to state
the obvious and walk away.

“Don’t have much faith do ya ma’am?” He
snorted as he tucked his license and wallet back into his pocket.
“How about I get my tools and you go ahead and get out of the
car?”

She watched him walk back towards his truck
and didn’t mind watching in the least. Oh he had a nice ass to cap
it all off. Deep voice. Great chest. Big Package. Nice Ass. No
doubt her first suspicions had been accurate. He was too
good-looking not to be trouble with a capital T. She had no idea
how right she’d been when she came to that assumption.

Zach West. How was that even possible? Sure
Fate was a small town but that small?

The West ranch was the only ranch other than
the Montgomery Oaks in fifty miles. She’d grown up hearing the
stories of how Johnson Montgomery, her great granddaddy supposedly
stole acreage from Wayland West to start his own operation. A West
helping a Carter would be like a Barnes giving an olive branch to a
Ewing.

Her father and Ellis West had been bitter
rivals when the other man had been alive. Rumor said it had
something to do with her mother picking Lyle over Ellis. She had no
idea what the truth was.

As far as she was concerned the family feud
had ended with her parents. She had no problem with the West’s. She
hoped that was enough to earn her the help of one of them
today.

“Thanks for stopping.” She kept her Ray-Ban’s
firmly on her face as she stepped from the car, “Sorry about
thinking you might be an ax murderer.”

“No worries ma’am. It’s smart to be safe,
even in a small town like this, strangers are still strangers.” He
tossed a jack and a small tool box down near the front tire that
was shredded. “Then again, I still ain’t figured out just how much
a stranger you are.”

Strangers. Yes, he had a point there. It’d be
easier if she could remain a stranger at least until he finished
helping her. She chose to ignore the obvious question looming in
the air of her identity and changed the subject.

“Can I help?”

His grin was dazzling, “In those clothes? I
doubt it.”

Blue suddenly felt very self-conscious which
didn’t make a lick of sense. She was dressed in her favorite navy
blue silk shift dress with the little pink patent leather belt
cinching her waist and the matching Steve Madden pumps. Somehow
standing next to him in a t-shirt and blue jeans she felt
completely out of place. She frowned and he chuckled again.

“I’d hate for you to get all dirty for no
reason. You’re obviously going somewhere fancy.”

“I have to go to dinner tonight with some old
friends.”