Hell, Yeah / Outlaw Cowboy

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Hell, Yeah copyright © 2010 by Carolyn Brown

Outlaw Cowboy copyright © 2016 by Nicole Helm

Cover and internal design © 2016 by Sourcebooks, Inc.

Hell, Yeah cover illustration by Aleta Rafton

Outlaw Cowboy cover art by Blake Morrow

Sourcebooks and the colophon are registered trademarks of Sourcebooks, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from its publisher, Sourcebooks, Inc.

Hell, Yeah was originally published individually in 2010 by Sourcebooks Casablanca.

Outlaw Cowboy was originally published individually in 2016 by Sourcebooks Casablanca.

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

Published by Sourcebooks Casablanca, an imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc.

P.O. Box 4410, Naperville, Illinois 60567-4410

(630) 961-3900

FAX: (630) 961-2168

www.sourcebooks.com

Contents

Front Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Hell, Yeah

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

About the Author

Outlaw Cowboy

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

An Excerpt from True-Blue Cowboy Christmas

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Acknowledgments

About the Author

This book is for Joe and Ken Gray with much love!

Chapter 1

Ten, hell yeah!

The women yelled with Gretchen Wilson as she sang Redneck Woman and asked the redneck girls to give her a big hell yeah as the New Year’s countdown began.

Nine, hell yeah.

Eight, hell yeah.

Everyone held up their plastic flutes of champagne.

Seven, hell yeah!

The men in the Honky Tonk beer joint joined in with the women.

Six, hell yeah!

Five, hell yeah!

Cathy O’Dell was halfway across the dance floor headed for the bar when she stopped to look at everyone who’d be kissing someone in four more seconds. She remembered the previous year when she’d had someone to kiss. Even if he did turn out to be a first-rate son-of-a-bitch, she missed the excitement of bringing in a brand new year with a kiss.

Four, hell yeah!

She looked up to see a cowboy coming right at her. She blinked several times. It wasn’t possible. Her imagination was playing tricks like it had for twelve years.

Three, hell yeah!

Watching him cross the floor in those long strides made goose bumps the size of mountains rise up on her arms.

Two, hell yeah!

Was he deranged or just drunk? If he didn’t stop soon he would plow right into her.

One! Hell yeah! The noise shook the rafters.

He stopped with the toes of his scuffed up boots barely an inch from her feet and wrapped his strong arms around her, tilted her chin with the flat part of his fist, and kissed her hard and passionately.

Hell yeah! the whole crowd roared when their kisses ended.

Hell, no! Cathy mumbled. She wiped the back of her hand across her mouth, but it didn’t take the red-hot sting from her lips.

He was exactly what she liked in a man. Tight jeans, denim jacket over a knit shirt, blond hair, and dear lord, were those blue eyes? He looked so much like a grown-up version of her first love that, after the kiss and when time and noise at last stood still, she wondered why he didn’t wear contact lenses. Eyes the color of a Texas summer sky stared down into hers from behind wire-rimmed glasses. A wide grin split his face, showing off perfectly even and white teeth. No one had teeth that perfect. No one except Bobby Cole, and that was water under a bridge that had been burned years and years ago. Evidently a million-dollar smile hadn’t left much for haircuts, though, because blond curls touched his shirt collar.

Happy New Year. He was surprised that he could speak a coherent sentence. He only meant to kiss the woman for New Year’s. He didn’t mean for it to glue his boots to the hardwood dance floor and put a shit-eating grin on his face. If he’d had to wipe the smile from his face or eat dirt, he’d have had to open up his mouth and shovel in a spoonful. Hot damn, but that woman had the softest, sexiest lips he’d ever kissed.

Who the hell are you? Cathy asked.

I’m Travis Henry. I’m supposed to meet Merle and Angel Avery here. I am at the Honky Tonk, aren’t I?

Cathy pointed to the pool tables. His name was Travis Henry but he damn sure reminded her of Bobby Cole with those pretty blue eyes. On second look, Travis had darker blond hair and wore it a lot longer than Bobby’s crew cut. After a third look she decided Travis Henry was a hell of a lot sexier.

Angel, darlin’, Travis yelled and left Cathy standing there with a bar rag thrown over her shoulder, a tray in her hand, a burning mouth, and a gushy warm feeling down deep in her gut.

She got out a dozen Mason jars for the next rush to the bar for beer. Her crowd might toast with champagne, but it wouldn’t be long until they’d be lined up wanting something to take that sweet taste out of their mouths. Besides, she needed something to focus on other than the tall cowboy who reminded her of the boy who’d set her hormones into overdrive when she was sixteen. He’d been so damn pretty and was the star of the football team. He’d been the one to kiss her the first time and then the next day he asked Alice James to the prom. He and Alice married right out of high school and he ran a service station in Mena, Arkansas. Alice worked as a teller at the bank and they had two kids in grade school.

Who kissed you? You been holdin’ out on me. That is one fine lookin’ cowboy. If I was twenty years younger he’d be goin’ to bed with me tonight. Give me a Miller, darlin’. Gawd Almighty, but that champagne shit is horrible, Jezzy said as she set her empty champagne flute on the bar and slid onto a stool.

He just plowed through the door, came across the floor, and kissed me when the countdown hit one, Cathy said.

Looks like he’s big buds with Angel Avery. Guess he didn’t kiss her because Garrett had a lip lock on her. Wonder if Garrett’s kiss is powerful enough to throw her off her pool game. Handsome as that Garrett McElroy is, it would damn sure make me think about something other than racking up wooden balls if I was thirty years younger.

Cathy drew up a quart of Miller and set it in front of Jezzy. "Who were you kissin’?"

See that big old biker back there with the Celtic cross tat on his arm?

Cathy looked across the room at a middle-aged biker with a Mohawk haircut, a braided goatee, and a leather vest with enough chains to rope in a forty-acre farm. She quickly scanned the rest of the room and didn’t see another tattooed cross.

She couldn’t take her eyes from the biker. Are you serious?

Not him. That cute little feller next to him in the red sweater. Couldn’t you just take him home and eat him up for a midnight snack? Jezzy fanned her face with her hands.

Cathy sized up the man. Tall, lanky, middle-aged with a few wrinkles. Definitely not sexy and absolutely not Jezzy’s type.

Jezzy laughed so hard that she lost her breath. When she finally got control, she wiped her eyes with a paper napkin then held up her finger and thumb like a gun. Bang. You’ve been had. I really did have you goin’, didn’t I? I kissed the biker, Cathy. That man next to him is married. His wife is in the bathroom. Can’t you see the cottontail expression on his face?

I’ll get even, Cathy said. And what is a cottontail expression?

Little wifey is in the bathroom. He’s imagining that all the cute little things with perky boobs and barely enough on top to cover them are honing in their sights on him. He’s gettin’ ready to run faster than a cottontail with a coyote hot after his cute little white tail.

Why?

"Because if the wife comes out of the bathroom she’ll think he encouraged the women to make a play for him and he won’t get anything but a cold shoulder tonight. And he only gets laid once a year on New Year’s when she’s about half plastered," Jezzy explained.

You should write a book, Cathy said.

Not me. I’m no writer. I’m a plain old beer-drinkin’, good-timin’ woman who’s going to learn the difference in bull balls and cow udders if it kills me. Don’t be oversleepin’ tomorrow mornin’. Dinner is at noon. Come late and you might find yourself goin’ hungry. Jezzy picked up her beer, slid off the stool, and carried it over to the table where her friends, Leroy and his daughter, Sally, waited.

Cathy made her way down the bar, refilling pint and quart Mason jars of beer, making an occasional mixed drink, and wiping the spills. When she reached the end toward the pool tables, Travis waited with a bill in his hand.

One of them big jars of Coors and not that damned light stuff either. And Angel wants a margarita, he said.

She reached for the bill and he dropped it. They both grabbed at the same time and their hands touched, sending sparks flashing around them like a meteorite shower. It didn’t surprise him since he’d always been drawn to tall blond girls. Besides, she was downright hot. Cheap whiskey hitting an empty stomach wouldn’t be a bit hotter than that kiss. He got a sudden visual of those long legs stretched out beside him on a bed with her hair spread out on a pillow right beside him. It put another idiot grin on his face.

Patron or Jose? she asked.

Patron. Only the best for the Angel. He liked the bartender’s voice. Just enough husky to go with that deep southern accent.

You from Alabama or Georgia? he asked.

Neither. I’m from Arkansas. She filled the beer first and slid it toward him.

He reached out, stopped the motion, and brought it to his mouth for a long draw. He’d grown up in Fort Smith and he didn’t have that much of a Southern accent. She must be from way down south toward Louisiana.

Anger rose from Cathy’s boots all the way to the top of her blond hair. Travis had kissed her and minutes later ordered an expensive drink for another woman. Something damn sure wasn’t right with that picture other than it was a hell of a way to start the New Year!

Someone plugged coins into the jukebox and Gretchen’s voice singing Redneck Woman once again had dancers on the floor with the women yelling hell yeah every time Gretchen asked for it.

Travis scanned the crowd, but there was no way to know which woman owned the place. With a name like Cathy, he’d imagined her to be about fifty. She could be that redhead over there sitting with the dark-haired man and younger girl. Or perhaps she was the gray-haired woman sitting in the back corner with a table of other middle-aged women. He’d ask Merle or Angel to point her out before they left. He sure didn’t want to get on her bad side. Not when he’d be living right there in Mingus.

Gretchen sang that folks might think she was trashy and a little too hardcore but that she was a redneck woman and not a high-class broad. Travis eyed the bartender up and down and decided that she was the poster child for the song. She might look the part of the Barbie doll with all that height, blond ponytail, and flawless complexion, but she was a redneck woman for sure. Her jeans stretched tight across her rounded bottom and cinched into her small waist with a tooled leather belt laced on the edges with silver. A bright blue T-shirt, tight enough to hug every curve, was tucked into the jeans. Heavy lashes framed her steely blue eyes. Her face was angular but soft, and those full ripe lips begged to be kissed again. She definitely brought in the customers and was damned efficient behind the bar. Other than the bouncer sitting beside the door making the Terminator look like a pansy, she was alone and nothing appeared to rile her.

He touched his lips where her kiss was still warm. He’d never done anything so impulsive in his life, but when he walked in the Honky Tonk door and the countdown had begun, well, he wanted to bring in the New Year with a kiss. And there she was in the middle of the floor looking around like she was lost. He hadn’t realized she was the bartender until after a jolt of desire shook up his insides and had his heart pumping like a field mouse with a buzzard zeroed in on him.

Too bad, he muttered.

Leroy perched on the stool next to him. What’s too bad?

Nothing, Travis said. Hey, what part of Arkansas are you from? he yelled at Cathy above the noise of a full house and the music from the jukebox.

Why? Cathy said.

Ever been to Fort Smith? That’s where I grew up, he said.

I know where it is, Cathy said. She touched her lips. They hadn’t burned completely off her face but they were still pretty damn warm.

Leroy signaled for another beer. He was Jezzy’s best friend and lived with her out on the ranch. A heavy sprinkling of gray salted his dark hair. His face was a study in angles and planes and his eyes didn’t miss a thing, including the puzzled look on Travis’s face. His green eyes were set in a face that had more secrets than the government. He’d spent twenty-five years in the marines and had seen four stints in two separate wars.

I’m Leroy Folsom, and you are…? He bumped Travis on the shoulder.

Travis peeled his eyes off Cathy. I’m Travis Henry. Pleased to meet you. Is that lady you are sitting with the owner of this place?

Hell, no! Jezzy owns a spread between here and Gordon. She don’t know jack shit about cows or ranching. I came down to these parts to teach her. Haven’t seen you around before. What are you doing in Mingus?

Then who’s the owner?

That’d be…

Here’s your beer, margarita, and change. Angel likes them stout with a double shot of Patron, if you’re wondering why it’s so expensive. What can I get you, Leroy? Something to get that champagne out of your mouth? Cathy asked.

Leroy nodded. I need an icy cold Coors. Damn champagne tastes like warm piss.

How would you know what warm piss tastes like? Cathy asked.

Leroy leaned across the bar. I’d tell you but then I’d have to kill you.

That line is so old it’s threadbare. Cathy handed him the beer, took his money, and headed down the bar where someone waved to get her attention.

You know Cathy? Leroy asked.

Nope, Travis answered.

Then why’d you kiss her?

It was just a New Year’s Eve kiss, Travis said.

You stole my kiss, Leroy told him.

Cathy had worked her way back down the bar and got in on the end of the conversation. She shook her finger at Leroy. He didn’t steal your kiss. You were locking lips with that cute little brunette out there on the dance floor and I wouldn’t have kissed you anyway, Leroy. You are old enough to be my father.

Hey, I’m only eighteen years older than you. That’s not even enough for a May December?

My father was only eighteen when I was born.

Leroy sighed. When I was wearing a uniform women didn’t hurt my feelings like that.

You are out of uniform now and you’re too damn tough for your feelings to be hurt, Cathy said.

Leroy chuckled, picked up his beer, and carried it back to the table where he and Jezzy put their heads together.

Cathy shook her head. That was an obvious fishin’ expedition.

What? Travis asked.

Nothing. You’d better get that drink over to Angel before it gets warm.

Guess so. Travis carried his beer and Angel’s margarita back to the tables.

Cathy had pegged Angel Avery and Garrett McElroy for a couple, but maybe she’d been wrong. They’d gotten on like wildfire from the moment they were introduced. They both loved eight ball and they looked so danged cute together; Angel with her kinky red hair and feisty attitude and Garrett with his dark brooding looks. Cathy could see their relationship going into one of those things that lasted right on past life and into eternity. At least until Travis Henry arrived. If he was the thing that kept them apart, she’d never forgive him.

Garrett had come to the area the previous fall to run the Double M Ranch between Huckabay and Morgan Mill. At that time he’d had a serious girlfriend, but she hadn’t been able to withstand a long-distance relationship. The first time he and Angel met across the pool table in the Honky Tonk, Cathy knew they’d found their soul mates and now fate had thrown Travis into the mix. Was it going to be one of those horrid love triangles?

Merle leaned on her custom-made cue stick and watched from the sidelines for a while, then put the stick in a hard case that looked like a gangster’s rifle case and headed for the bar. Merle and Ruby Lee had moved to Mingus together back in the sixties. Ruby built the Honky Tonk beer joint and Merle designed fancy western shirts that sold like hotcakes in Japan and other foreign countries. Both of them were rich enough to buy Palo Pinto County and plow it under when Ruby died.

The only thing blacker than Merle’s hair was road tar, and the only thing with more rats in it was the slums in a third world country. It was teased and sprayed into submission and stacked high on her head. She wore tight jeans and a purple western shirt with a multicolored butterfly appliquéd on the back yoke. To reach five feet she had to rely on cowboy boots with a heel. That night they were yellow and matched a western belt that closed with a big rhinestone buckle in the shape of a horseshoe.

So Travis kissed you? She hopped up on an empty barstool.

Why in the devil is everyone so intrigued with the fact that a cowboy kissed me? It’s New Year’s, for God’s sake. It was a kiss. I didn’t have sex with him on the dance floor.

Why?

Why what? Cathy asked.

Why didn’t you have sex with him on the dance floor? Might’ve done you some good. All you do is run this beer joint. You’re as big of a hermit as Daisy used to be.

Cathy shrugged. Anything wrong with that?

Merle set the beer bottle down after a long drink. You’re going to grow up to be just like me. Seventy years old. Enough money to buy Texas and couldn’t care less. Time to retire, but what the hell would you do if you did?

So? Cathy asked.

Merle laughed. Just remember I told you so. I’ll bring around all those tax papers in the next couple of days. I like to get that done early on so the good old government can have my money to buy fancy jets.

Bring it by anytime next week after noon. I’m a bear in the mornings.

So is Angel, but she has to get up and get to work come Monday morning. Merle looked out over the Honky Tonk. I miss the old crowd.

Me too, Cathy said.

I’ve seen ’em come and go for years, but that last one was sure a lot of fun. Who’d have thought Chigger’s momma would have really got old Joe Bob and Billy Bob Walker both married off in three months time?

Cathy shivered. You see that woman comin’, you yell right loud and I’ll light a shuck for higher country. I swear if she wasn’t religious she’d be sellin’ voodoo out of her back door. She might be anyway. The religion thing might just be a cover to keep them from stringin’ her up.

They don’t hang witches. They burn them at the stake. Merle laughed. Why are you so afraid of the woman?

You remember back when Chigger and Jim Bob got married and Daisy and I went to her backyard dinner reception thing?

Merle nodded.

Well, Chigger’s momma said that she was findin’ a wife for Joe Bob and Billy Bob and a husband for me. I’m hopin’ she forgot about me, but she might sneak up on my blind side.

I’ll keep an eye out for you. I see her comin’ around with one of them little dolls that’s got pins stuck in it, we’ll both head for the hills. Merle carried her beer back to the pool tables. Angel was bent over the table and Garrett was looking at her like he could carry her back to his ranch and never let her out of his sight again.

It was love at first sight and those kinds of miracles were what made all women believe there was a knight in shining armor out there waiting for her. It was the pot of happy-ever-after gold at the end of the rainbow. Cathy swore she’d shoot Travis Henry between the eyes if he messed it up. Who was he anyway and what evil wind blew him into the Honky Tonk?

Travis had a hip propped on the side of the other pool table. Merle said something to him and he smiled. Heat vibrations started in the depth of Cathy’s heart and warmed her from the inside out. Between customers she stole glances that way and looked her fill of him. He was at least six feet three inches because he was slightly taller than she was. He had dishwater blond hair with that just-crawled-out-of-bed look. Light brown thick lashes and brows. Nice wide chest that narrowed to a tight, firm rear end. The whole picture set her hormones to singing one of Dolly’s old country tunes, Why’d You Come in Looking Like That?

By closing time the beer joint had thinned out to only a few pool players. Five minutes and the party is over, Tinker called out as he carried a cooler filled with empty Dr Pepper cans to the bar like he did every night. New Year’s Eve wasn’t one bit different than Wednesday night in the middle of the summer. Closing time was closing time and he always told the hangers-on that it was time to go at five minutes until the hour.

He was the size of a double-door refrigerator, shaved his big round head, and had eyes that could stop an armor piercing bullet with one glance. Folks might have the balls to start a fight in the Honky Tonk, but they didn’t keep them long enough to finish it. And no one argued with Tinker when he said the Honky Tonk was shutting the doors in five minutes.

I’ll get that money back next week, Garrett told Angel as he slung an arm around her shoulder and walked out with her.

Don’t hold your breath until you do, Angel said.

And don’t bet the ranch on it, Merle said. You’d do well to buy a table and do some practicin’ at home, boy.

Been thinkin’ on that very thing, he said.

Thanks for the kiss, Travis threw over his shoulder at Cathy as he followed them out.

"You are surely not welcome," Cathy hollered at him.

He stopped so fast that he almost pitched forward before he caught his balance. What did you say?

"I said you are not welcome. If you ever do that again, I intend to whip your sorry ass," she said.

Better bring your lunch and your best friend. It’ll be an all day affair, he smarted off.

Tinker took a step.

Cathy caught his eye and shook her head. I can take care of this.

Tinker sat down on a bar stool, folded his massive arms across his chest, and said, You don’t want to tangle with her, mister. Ever heard of an equalizer? Well, I’m her equalizer. She can’t take care of you then she nods at me, and believe me, I can. If the lady says she don’t want another kiss from you, I reckon you’d damn sure better not kiss her again.

Cathy was shocked. She had never heard that many words from Tinker all combined, much less at one time.

Travis shot her a dirty look and stormed out of the joint. He hadn’t gone into the beer joint with intentions of making anyone angry. He’d thought the kiss was a damn fine one. Why was she so angry? Was the good lookin’ redneck woman married? Shit, was she married to that bouncer? What in the hell had he done?

* * *

Cathy kicked off her sneakers and propped her feet on a table as she tilted up a longneck bottle of Coors and downed a fourth of it before coming up for air with a big healthy burp.

And that is proof positive that I’m a redneck woman. Happy New Year’s to me. She raised her bottle high and looked around at the mess. It would take most of the next morning to clean it, but that was the life of a bar owner. Daisy had taught her that in the beginning. Have a beer to relax and go to bed after closing. Get up the next morning to sweep up the mess and mop the floors, restock, and prepare for that night’s business.

The Honky Tonk phone sitting on the bar rang and she ran to answer it. Caller ID let her know it was Daisy calling from northern Oklahoma.

Daisy, I survived, she shouted excitedly into the phone. I made it through the first big holiday and everything went good all except for one incident. Tinker only had to break up one fight and that was between two women who bared their claws over an old boyfriend. Tinker put them on the porch to cool off and they’d come back inside a few minutes later giggling like schoolgirls with their arms around each other.

I knew you’d do fine, Daisy said.

What are you doing still up? Cathy asked.

Party ain’t over yet here, Daisy said. I just wanted to tell you Happy New Year.

Cathy sighed. I miss you.

Me too. Now what about the incident?

I’d love to see your face when I tell it but here goes. Cathy told her the story of being kissed on the dance floor by Travis Henry.

Did you deck him? Daisy asked.

No, I didn’t. I was too damned shocked. Remember when we were sixteen and you loaned me that old junker to go to the football game so I could watch Bobby Cole play? Remember he was the quarterback and I had a horrible crush on him?

Daisy giggled. I remember that you totaled my car. Seems like I do remember you were going to a football game.

Well, Travis Henry reminded me of that quarterback. I swear the devil sent him here to tempt me. He’s evidently a friend of Angel’s and just passing through. The way his kiss made me go all gushy it’d be better if he wasn’t around. The temptation might send me right into another messy relationship. My lips are still burning like hell from the kiss and that was more than two hours ago.

Think Chigger’s momma has been praying to God to knock you off the wagon? Daisy asked.

What wagon? I’m not an alcoholic, Cathy said.

The WPSA wagon. You know, the Wild Passionate Sex Anonymous wagon, Daisy teased.

I hadn’t thought of that. I figured she’d be trying to fix me up through Chigger, not praying for me. But one kiss isn’t going to make me fall off my wagon, yet.

Got to go. Jarod is kissing my neck and, honey, I’m not on the wagon. Daisy giggled again and the line went dead.

Cathy slumped down on the nearest bar stool.

Everything changes; everything stays the same. The Honky Tonk hadn’t changed a bit since she’d inherited it. The building was the same old weathered wood saloon it had been for more than forty years. The two jukeboxes still stood on the south wall with the pool tables. The bar still stretched out across the length of the back of the big rectangular room. The neon sign still flashed HONKY TONK from eight o’clock until two.

But the customers had changed and yet they stayed the same, if that was possible. Human nature didn’t change with time, blood, or tears. Folks who liked to party and shoot pool stayed the same from one year to the next. Only their faces changed. A picture of Chigger back in her glory days flashed in Cathy’s mind along with her mother and the curse she’d put on the unmarried folks at the reception.

Cathy moaned out loud. I do not want a husband. A nice long affair might be nice, though. Say about six months worth of romping around with Travis Henry in a big king-sized bed or a fancy motel with a Jacuzzi.

She fanned her face with the back of her hand. Get thee behind me, Satan. I’ve sworn off men and besides, the way he kept looking at me says he damn sure wouldn’t be interested in a bartender for anything more than a quick one-night stand.

She tipped the bottle back again. She missed Daisy even if she did enjoy having a bed and not having to pull out the sofa bed every night like she did when she and Daisy shared the apartment. She couldn’t wish that things would go back to the way they were because Daisy was so happy. But sitting there in the deafening quietness, she wished she had someone to share the rest of the night with.

She looked across the dance floor at the door into her apartment. She didn’t even have to go outside and drive to her home, but the distance from the table to the door looked to be about twenty miles to her sore, tired feet. Back eight years ago when Daisy inherited the apartment with the job, it came with one rule. No men in the apartment. Ruby had told Daisy that she didn’t care if she got laid but to do it in a hayloft or a motel. Somewhere away from the Honky Tonk so she’d have time to think before she acted.

Daisy had abided by it and told Cathy that it would save her a ton of heartache if she did the same. The question of whether she would or not had never come up until that moment. Would she let Travis into her apartment if he showed up?

A cold breeze waved over Cathy and made her shiver.

Does Ruby’s spirit still live in the Tonk? she wondered as she forced her tired legs to stand up and turn off the Honky Tonk lights.

Yep, I think it does. It has to be the spirit of the Honky Tonk or else I’d done have that cowboy’s jeans down around his ankles and he’d be on his back in my bed. I’m a grown woman. I don’t pine after what I can’t have. I go after it or I let it go. I’ll decide later which one I intend to do. Probably won’t have to decide though, because he won’t ever come back here again.

The living room still had the same leather sofa Daisy had left behind and the entertainment unit that housed a television and a CD player. Cathy had added a rocking chair with bright yellow cushions and a grouping of pictures of her family on the wall behind the sofa. Scented candles were scattered everywhere, aromas blending to give the whole apartment the smell of a candle shop.

Cathy looked at the picture of her mother and father on their wedding day. They’d both been gone for several years now, but time hadn’t erased a longing to talk to them. There was an old black and white photo of her grandparents and several of her and Daisy when they were kids: when they went fishing in Grandpa O’Dell’s pond; making cookies with Granny O’Dell; camping out at the foot of the mountain with the whole family.

Perched on the television and the end tables were photos of the happy times in Mingus: Cathy and Daisy at Daisy’s wedding the previous fall; one of Cathy just seconds after she caught the bride’s bouquet. Evidently that old wives’ tale about the girl who caught the bouquet being the next bride was an urban myth. Joe Bob and Billy Bob had both beat her to the altar and stopped coming into the Honky Tonk when they did.

Nothing—be it man, woman, or an angel with a golden halo walking a tightrope bearing roses and singing Redneck Woman—would keep her from the Honky Tonk. That was the pure guaran-damned-teed gospel and could be written in stone and propped up beside the neon Honky Tonk sign.

I’m glad I came to Mingus and I’m so tired if I don’t get a shower I’m going to fall down on this floor and wake up tomorrow morning smelling like the bottom of a two-day-old ashtray, she mumbled.

She tossed her jeans and T-shirt in the general direction of the hamper at the end of the hallway and headed for the bathroom where she let the water warm up before she stepped inside. She lathered up her hair and then let the hot spray beat down on her tired shoulders.

When she finished she wrapped up in a towel, padded back to her bedroom, and put on her favorite pair of faded red flannel pajamas before slipping into the big king-sized bed.

I might not have put the fear of God into Travis, but that look he shot me as he left said he’d never set foot in the Tonk again. I wonder what he does for a living. Is he a rancher like Jarod or is he a professional football player for the Dallas Cowboys? Whatever he is or does, he’s one fine looking cowboy and his kisses are delicious.

She fell asleep quickly and dreamed about Travis. They were arguing on the porch of the Honky Tonk about whether or not she was going to sell it.

Normally, Cathy slept until ten or eleven o’clock, but the next morning she sat straight up in bed, glanced at the clock to see that it was only eight thirty, and grabbed her head in an attempt to erase the crazy dream as well as all the racket. She’d never heard so much noise in her life. Not even when the countdown had all the women yelling hell yeah the night before. It sounded like Armageddon had arrived in the middle of a hurricane and tornado combined.

She threw back the covers and jumped out of bed, already getting a speech ready for whoever or whatever was making so much racket. She pulled up the mini-blinds to discover a backhoe digging a trench right down beside her property line to the road. Men were hanging on the electric poles like monkeys in palm trees. Chainsaws were tearing up the forest where the deer and wild possum lived. A plumber’s truck pulled in and two men threw open the back door and commenced to hauling out vicious looking black tubing. And everywhere the men were yelling above the machinery.

She jerked a fleece-lined leather jacket on over her faded flannel pajamas and stomped across the bedroom and living room cussing all the way. She slung open the front door expecting her very presence and drop-dead looks would quiet the noise and put her world to rights.

It didn’t.

Cold wind rushed across her bare feet and shivers danced up her spine. She slammed the door shut and shoved her feet down into a worn pair of brown cowboy boots. Frozen grass crunched under her feet with every step. Her anger was fueled to the over-full level by the time she reached the edge of the wooded area.

Leave it to a bunch of idiot men to make a mistake and start tearing up the wrong property. When she got through with them they’d all have their little tails tucked between their legs and glad to go home to watch the New Year’s Day parade on their television sets. Why in the hell were they working on New Year’s Day? Didn’t they know it was a holiday?

Someone had made a major mistake. That land belonged to Amos and he was going to be madder than a rabid coyote when she called him. She felt around in her coat pocket but her cell phone was in the apartment. Besides, she couldn’t hear jack shit with all that noise going on anyway.

An enormous tree fell and landed so close to her backside that the dead branches tangled up in her hair. She grabbed her head and ducked.

Lady, what in the hell are you doing out here? the tree trimmer yelled.

What in the hell are you doing out here?

Getting ready for a trailer to be brought in on Monday, he said.

She gritted her teeth until her jaws ached. She was truly living a nightmare; maybe not one where that sexy hunk of a cowboy was arguing with her, but a bad, bad dream still. What was she going to do with neighbors? And why in the devil would they want to live right behind a noisy beer joint?

A familiar voice yelled behind her. Hey, Cathy!

She whirled to see Amos only a few feet from her. What are you doing here?

I didn’t think about all this noise and confusion interrupting your beauty sleep, but it won’t last but a couple of days. We’ll have the trailer in by Monday and then it’ll be quiet around here again.

Trailer? Nobody asked me if I wanted a trailer on my land, she hollered, even though he was right behind her.

It’s not on your land. The Honky Tonk land ends one foot behind your garage. Think about where you mow the backyard, Cathy. All the acres behind it belong to me, Amos said.

Oh. All the air left her lungs.

Amos took her arm and led her back to the Honky Tonk. Come on inside. I’ll explain.

When they were inside the apartment she shook off his hand and threw her coat on the couch.

It’s not a nightmare, is it? she moaned.

No, it’s not a dream. I’m really putting a business back there, at least a temporary one. It’ll be there at least two months, maybe longer. Amos pulled out a chair at the small kitchen table and hung his coat over the back before sitting. You going to make coffee or you want me to do it?

I’ll make coffee. You explain, she said.

Amos chuckled. Cathy reminded him more of Ruby than Daisy ever did. Slow to wake. Grumbling when she did. Neither of the O’Dell women looked like Ruby and Daisy didn’t even act like her. But if he shut his eyes and didn’t look at Cathy, she could be Ruby’s daughter.

I’d thought to put my business trailer over on my property next to Tinker’s rent house, but there will be times there’ll be equipment parked around and kids live there. So I changed my mind at the last minute. Meant to come by and tell you but got all involved with the holiday parties at work and just forgot. Merle’s niece, Angel, is going to work for me but you already know that. She’s been in the Honky Tonk pretty often. The rig crew will be in and out of it in the daytime. The trailer I’m putting back there will be mainly an office and will shield the sight of the smaller travel trailers the rig crew will live in. So there shouldn’t be a conflict of interest here. If we hit oil in this area I may put up a more permanent office building. If not, well, we’ll cross that bridge when it gets here. Sorry I didn’t tell you before.

You promise all the noise will stop by Monday?

Cross my heart. Had to pay out the nose to get these men out here on New Year’s Day, but I want this place up and running coming Monday morning. He went to the kitchen and poured two cups of coffee.

Cathy eyed him. He didn’t look seventy and he damn sure didn’t look like he dressed up in leather and rode motorcycles with a gang out of Dallas on weekends either. That morning he looked the part of a businessman in his khakis and starched blue shirt. Gray hair rimmed his otherwise bald head and his lean face was etched in deep wrinkles.

He handed her a cup of coffee and sat back down.

No men in the apartment, she said.

Amos’s eyes twinkled. I was part of the reason Ruby made that rule. I don’t expect at my age there’s a chance I’m going to get lucky with you, is there?

Cathy grinned and sipped the hot coffee. Not today.

Okay, then, I’m going back out to supervise the work. I’ll bring the cup back before I leave. Oh, besides the trailer they’ll use for the office, they’re bringing in gravel this weekend. There’ll be twenty travel trailer spaces back there for the oil crew. It’s probably only for a couple of months and then it’ll all be gone, he said.

She swallowed quickly to keep from spewing coffee onto the carpet.

I’ll get back out there and make sure it’s all coming along. By Monday you can sleep until noon again. He opened the door and said, Come right in out of the cold.

Cathy looked up to see who he was inviting into her apartment. Surely that wasn’t… but it was!

Amos threw an arm around Angel’s shoulder. Cathy, I don’t know if you’ve met my new team. This is Angel Avery, Merle’s niece. And this is the best damn petroleum engineer in the whole state of Texas, Travis Henry. He’s been working for me several years. The trailer’s living room will house our office and one bedroom will serve as a filing room. The other one is where Travis will be living the next couple of months. Meet your temporary new neighbor. Travis, this is Cathy O’Dell. She owns the Honky Tonk.

Cathy mumbled something.

Travis muttered a hello.

Angel patted Amos’s arm. We were at the Honky Tonk last night for the New Year’s Eve party. I whipped Garrett McElroy’s ass in pool but just barely. Just looking at that cowboy almost puts me off my game. And Travis kissed Cathy.

I didn’t know she owned the place, Travis said with clenched teeth. What in the hell had he done? At least he didn’t see that enormous bouncer anywhere in the small apartment, so maybe he wasn’t on a hit list. Not yet, anyway.

Damn, Travis, I swear you have no tact. Forgive him, Cathy. He’s outside material. I’ll try to get him housebroken so he won’t be a horrible neighbor, Angel teased.

You kissed Cathy? Amos asked.

New Year’s kiss. You can bet it won’t ever happen again, Travis said.

That’s right, Cathy smarted off.

Well, it looks like you two got things worked out between you. Let’s get out of here and let Cathy go back to sleep. She’s unbearable when she first wakes up. We don’t want to get bit. Amos chuckled and ushered them out to the porch.

Cathy rolled up into a ball and moaned. He would be living within spitting distance of her back door—so much for not having to deal with him ever again.

* * *

Why in the devil didn’t you tell me the bartender was the owner? Travis sputtered when they were outside.

Angel ignored the question and explained to Amos, Travis kissed her at the stroke of midnight without asking.

Amos threw back his head and roared. Never a dull moment at the Honky Tonk, is there? I can’t wait to tell… he stopped.

Who? Angel asked.

No one. Just a slip of the tongue. So you kissed Cathy without her permission and you are alive? Count your blessings, Travis, Amos said.

Why?

You figure it out.

Well, I thought the owner was some old broad and that the bartender was just hired help, he groaned. He’d never tell Amos and Angel that the kiss had stayed hot on his lips for hours and that the barmaid, Cathy, had been in his dreams all night.

Angel poked him in the ribs. That’s what happens when you think about anything other than finding oil.

For the next eight weeks, I’m staying in the field and thinking of nothing but oil, he declared.

Amos chuckled. Don’t lie to me, son. If you can kiss something that looks like Cathy and not ever think about it again, there’s something terrible gone wrong with that brilliant brain that’s been working for me all these years.

Chapter 2

Blessed quietness filled the car. A few snowflakes fell from the gray skies but nothing that would accumulate according to the weather man. Cathy reached out to turn on the radio but pulled her hand back. The silence was wonderful, especially after waking up to noisy machinery and yelling men.

The bright red Cadillac was a joy to drive and Cathy still couldn’t believe the car was hers, or the Honky Tonk, or the Harley cycle. She pinched herself at least once a day to make sure it was real. Daisy had always said that Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar was her theme song, and the only way she’d ever leave it was when they carried her cold dead body out the front door and she’d die with her fingers wrapped around a longneck bottle of Coors beer. It hadn’t happened that way, but Cathy made the same boast after Daisy had married Jarod and moved to Oklahoma. Jarod was one of those special men that God only made one of and then broke the mold, so Cathy had no misbegotten illusions that she’d get the same miracle in her life that her cousin had gotten.

Besides, after Brad Alton, Cathy didn’t trust her own judgment anymore. She’d loved Brad, accepted an engagement ring from him, and let him move into her apartment. For all that she’d gotten to fall on the floor and be whipped with a belt while he screamed obscenities at her. Travis might be a wonderful man as well as a sexy one, but Cathy couldn’t take a chance. Another mistake like Brad would wipe out every thread of her self-confidence.

She passed two pickup trucks before she made a right-hand turn toward Gordon. A couple of deer grazed in the ditch beside the road. They raised their heads but didn’t bolt and run when she passed them. A little further down the road a momma skunk with a couple of half-grown babies behind her scooted across the road.

Anger replaced the peace in her heart. Progress came at a great price, but why did it have to come out of her yard? Most weeks she saw at least a dozen deer from her kitchen window. And poor old Rascal, the possum she fed dry cat food to on the porch, would never wander through that maze of trailers. Come Monday the only view would be a tin can trailer house, pickup trucks, and travel trailers. The only wildlife she’d see would be thirsty oil men and the lusty women and men in the Honky Tonk.

She was still aggravated about the change when she made a right-hand turn onto Jezzy’s ranch. Three hundred acres of rolling hills covered up in mesquite and rocks with a few head of Angus roaming about here and there. Two extra trucks in the driveway said that she wasn’t the only dinner guest that day.

Well, shit, she fussed. She’d looked forward to a long, lazy afternoon with Jezzy, Leroy, and Sally without anyone else around. Call it downright selfish, but Cathy figured she deserved it after the way the day had started. Sharing another bit of her life with strangers didn’t seem a damn bit fair.

She crossed the yard slowly, wiped her boots on the doormat, and knocked. The house was a small three-bedroom white frame with a tiny porch flanked on either side by dormant rose bushes. According to Jezzy, the roses were in a live-or-die situation. They could live or they could die, but she wasn’t telling them bedtime stories and handpicking aphids from them the way her grandmother had. That almost put a smile on Cathy’s face… but not quite.

Come on in, Jezzy called out.

Cathy stepped inside and slung her coat on the rack behind the door.

Jezzy called out from the sofa in the living room. Happy New Year’s Day. We’re at the end of the parade. Everyone, this is Cathy O’Dell who I’m sure you’ve already met. She owns the Honky Tonk. Jezzy had naturally red hair and freckles across her nose. Red was not her best color, but she wore a Crayola red sweater that day with her jeans.

Cathy looked around the room and came close to grabbing her coat and lighting a shuck right back to the safety of the Honky Tonk. Jezzy, Merle, and Leroy sat on the sofa. Sally and Travis Henry were on one loveseat, and Angel was on the other.

Hi, Cathy. I didn’t know you were having dinner here today, Angel said.

Jezzy patted the sofa between her and Leroy. Sit, girl. After all that standing last night your feet have to still be tired.

Merle piped up from the corner, Did you know that Travis kissed her?

Cathy wished she could dig a hole, fall into it, and pull the dirt in with her.

It was New Year’s Eve, Cathy said.

If I’d known what a stir it was going to kick up, I wouldn’t have done it, Travis said.

Jezzy laughed. You are an idiot. I don’t know a man alive who wouldn’t give his left ball to kiss Cathy or one that would apologize for it.

Travis intended to shoot Jezzy a dirty look even if he was a guest in her house, but when she winked he chuckled. In my defense I had no idea she was the owner. I figured someone with a name like Cathy was at least sixty years old. Besides, what’s a pretty young lady like you doing in a place like that anyway?

Sally slapped his arm playfully. That line is older than me and it wasn’t a good one when it was new.

Sally was Leroy’s twenty-three-year-old daughter who’d graduated college and gotten a mid-term position in Gordon as a kindergarten teacher. She’d moved in with Leroy and Jezzy a couple of weeks before. Her mother was Asian and Sally had inherited her barely toasted skin, almond eyes, and complexion that a modeling agency would pay big bucks for.

Cathy looked across the room at Travis. The line really is old. And what I’m doing at the Tonk is running a beer joint. I like my job. I love the Honky Tonk. So don’t bad-mouth it.

Travis was her dream man. Blond hair. Blue eyes. The glasses had never been part of the dream, but even they were a little sexy. Jeans that fit just right. Boots. So why in the devil was she angry and not flirting? Other than kissing her, dancing through her mind all night, and showing up in her morning, he hadn’t done anything wrong.

Travis held up his palms in defense. I quit. I’ll talk about oil wells and soil samples the whole time I’m in Texas. At least I won’t have to eat my shoes that way.

Angel patted him on the arm. She was short and had naturally red hair that lay in ringlets around her face and green eyes. She wore a flared denim skirt and an army green sweater the same color as her eyes. It’s all right, darlin’. You’re a geology geek. They aren’t supposed to be able to sweet-talk the women. Folks understand when you put your big old size twelve boot in your mouth.

Travis blushed as red as the flannel shirt he wore with faded jeans. Angel’s jokes about him had been funny before. Now they weren’t. Cathy would think he was a country bumpkin who picked his nose and didn’t know how to use a fork.

Ah, y’all give him a chance, Jezzy piped up. If Leroy Folsom can be tamed, Travis can too. Why, I’ve even taught Leroy where the bathroom is and he’s even quit pissin’ off the back porch.

Only when she’s lookin’, Leroy teased back. We didn’t have fancy toilets in the desert.

Cathy smiled.

Ah, a grin. She’s going to forgive old Travis, Angel said.

I wouldn’t get that enthusiastic, Cathy said. "Are the peas about ready, Jezzy? I went to sleep listenin’ to the sounds of a few lonesome old cold crickets and the wailing of a coyote. I got rudely awakened by a scene from that old movie Red Dawn. It sounded like terrorists were surrounding the Honky Tonk with armored tanks. I thought I heard machine guns and a cannon, but it was just every kind of construction machine in the world out there tearing up my peaceful backyard. I was so mad I went straight into the Tonk and cleaned up last night’s mess. I didn’t eat breakfast and I’m starving."

Soon as the parade is over we can eat. Cathy, you and Sally come on and help dish it up and put it on the table. Sally made a banana nut cake for dessert, Jezzy said.

What about me? Angel asked.

You and Travis need to talk to Leroy some more about this oil idea. We can take care of the dinner, Jezzy said.

It’s your property, Leroy said. I’m just the hired help.

You know more about that end of the business than I do. That’s why you are the hired help. Listen to what they got to say. If you think it’s a good idea, they can put one of them black pumpin’ devils in the middle of my kitchen floor. I can just see Elijah and Paul’s faces. Those self-righteous sumbitches would pass little green apples if this old rocky ground makes me rich. And that would make me very happy, Jezzy said.

Rich? Sally laughed. You already own ninety percent of the stock in Fort Knox.

Well, maybe I want to buy out the other ten percent, and this oil well will let me do it. Jezzy headed for the kitchen through an archway to the left of the living room. The room was oversized with cabinets on one side, a refrigerator, stove, and sink on the other, and a round table with eight chairs circling in the middle of the floor.

Eli and Paul will just pray harder for your wild and wanton ways, Sally teased.

All goes to prove their prayers don’t go no higher than the ceiling. I got a feeling that my brother prayed for the same thing and it didn’t do any good. Jezzy pulled a pan of ham from the oven. Cooked it last night and carved it this morning so I wouldn’t be so rushed. That’s enough talk of money and oil. Cathy, you tell me why are you being mean to that sexy cowboy? If you don’t want him then don’t be selfish, kick him over the fence to Sally.

Sally whipped around and shook a hot pad at Jezzy. I don’t want him. I’ve got a boyfriend.

Damn, Sally. You’re supposed to play along with me. I was trying to make her jealous, Jezzy whispered.

Jealous of who? What’d I miss? Merle pulled out a kitchen chair and sat down. I couldn’t hear a damn word with y’all whisperin’. It’s got to be good or you’d be talkin’ louder. For a minute there I thought I was losin’ my hearin’. Wouldn’t surprise me none what with all the wooden balls I’ve knocked around in my lifetime.

They were talking about Travis kissing Cathy, Sally said.

I’m surprised she didn’t kill him, Merle said.

It’s not too damn late. Hell, he’s done disgraced my honor by kissing me in the Honky Tonk so he deserves to die. God knows it’s an unforgivable sin to be kissed right smack on the lips in a beer joint. That’s supposed to go on in the backseat of a car in the church parkin’ lot after a prayer meetin’. Load up Granny Green’s old blunderbuss over the fireplace and I’ll avenge my honor. I’ll gut shoot him and he can die a long and painful death. Teach him to go around kissing women on New Year’s that he don’t know, Cathy whispered.

Jezzy giggled. Take him outside first. I don’t want blood on my new carpet.

Give me ten minutes and you and Sally bring the shovels. We’ll bury him down by the pond, Cathy said.

Sally threw up her hands. Don’t bring me into this. I’m not digging in the cold, hard dirt. I’d break a fingernail. I’ll talk to the cops and give you an alibi, but I’m not touching a shovel.

Cathy smiled. There’s nothing to worry about. He’s not my type. I like bad boys and he’s too pretty to be a bad boy. He’s not much good for anything other than oil wells.

Jezzy began stacking ham slices on an oversized platter. "Maybe he’s good in bed. Ever think of that? With all those muscles to wrap your legs around