The Texan Takes A Wife

“I hear you brought someone home with you last night.”

Dan stilled. It wasn’t anybody’s damn business and it was uncanny how fiercely he wanted to protect Erin from any scrutiny. “You hear that from your wife?”

“Nope, not Darla. I saw the dog with my own eyes this mornin’. What happened this time, and is he stayin’?”

Dan choked back his relief. He should’ve known Ted would be more discreet. Even if he had seen Erin, he wouldn’t have said anything. “Hit and run. I witnessed it and brought him to Doc Bristol. He’s stayin’ unless someone comes to claim him.”

“Does the dog have a name?”

“Lucky.”

“Fittin’. Him gettin’ hit in front of you might’ve saved his life, that’s for damn sure,” Ted said, slapping him once on the back. “You never could resist a body in need.”

Dan smiled at Ted’s comment because it was so true.

And a little while later, he suited up in a pair of new denim jeans and a solid royal blue shirt. With his belly full thanks to Darla’s fried chicken dinner, Dan gunned the engine in his four-wheel drive SUV and headed off the ranch. He knew where he was going and he told himself it was only to see if anyone at the Dark Horse was missing a half shepherd, half collie mix.

And once he arrived, he scanned the parking lot, finding clusters of people milling about by their cars, but no one looked familiar. No one was asking about a lost dog. A damn chuckle rose from his throat. He was such a fool. He’d blown it big-time and now was hoping to see Erin again. To find her, and then to do what? Hell, he didn’t know.

He continued on until he was inside the saloon, standing at the bar. “Scotch. Double. Straight up,” he told the bartender. The barkeep set a tumbler down in front of him and poured from a bottle two inches high. Dan took a healthy sip.

“Have you seen anybody come in here looking for their dog? Medium-sized collie-shepherd mix?” Dan asked the barkeep.

The guy shook his head. “Can’t say as I have.”

Just as well, Dan thought. He was growing fond of Lucky. He turned his back to the bar to look out into the crowded dance floor. A leggy brunette came out of nowhere and batted her eyes at him. She was put together, wearing a low-cut eye-popping blouse.

“Are you looking for your dog?” she asked.

“Something like that. I found a dog.”

“Oh, um. Well, I can help you ask around if you’d like.”

“No, thanks.” He sipped his Scotch. “I’m good.”

“I think so too,” she said. Her eyes gleamed darkly, a flicker in them that would have most men paying the check and escorting her home. She leaned in closer. “I’m Yvonne.”

Yep, ripe for the pickin’, his buddies would say, but Dan wasn’t interested.

“Yvonne, I was just about to call it a night. Thanks for the offer, but no thanks.”

Her eyes snapped in surprise. “Sure,” she said, her chin up as she pivoted on her three-inch heels and walked away.

Dan turned back to the bar and polished off his drink.

“Oh, man,” the barkeep said.

Dan gave him a look. “What?”

“You’re looking for that chick who rode the bull last night? You, uh, helped her out, right?”

Dan didn’t respond.

The bartender shook his head. “She doesn’t come in here. She’s not a regular. Doubtful she’ll be back. You can always tell, you know. This place didn’t suit her, if you ask me.”

“I didn’t.”

“There’s always the internet. Look her up.”

“What?”

The bartender grinned as if he knew all the truths in the world. What a dumbass. But Dan had to agree. Erin didn’t fit in a place like the Dark Horse.

He was wasting his time. She wouldn’t be back.

Three (#uf8cdb051-4482-56b0-a172-2fa64f38a55d)

“Thanks for inviting me to lunch, Chelsea,” Erin said as she sat across from Chelsea Hunt in Royal’s number one new resort, The Bellamy. “This place is amazing.”

Erin didn’t know Chelsea well, but she’d heard that Chelsea had been the latest of Maverick’s victims. She’d been secretly photographed in the TCC locker room and those images had emerged on a popular internet site causing quite a splash. It had been a bold move on Maverick’s part, to hack a hacker, Chelsea being the CTO of Hunt and Company. Her friendship with Max St. Cloud and Will Brady culminated in their being tasked to investigate the crimes. Erin’s heart went out to Chelsea. It must have been so awful being violated like that.

“Yeah, I thought the two of us could use a break and I’ve heard The Glass House has incredible food.”

The entire resort was something out of a modern tech dream and this restaurant, made of more windows than walls, looked out upon beautiful lush greenery mingled with colorful fall flowers. Inside the restaurant, everything from the napkin rings to the delicate chandeliers over each table was made of the finest handblown glass.

She and Chelsea had bonded one day over tall lemonades while playing with little Faye Brady on the Flying E Ranch. Erin missed her little eleven-month-old charge.

She was out of a job, too. With a ton of time on her hands and no prospects. Will had insisted on keeping her on his payroll until the end of the year and so she figured why not go to a five-star resort and splurge a little?

The little buggy voice in her head hollered, Remember the last time you splurged?

She’d splurged alright, on adventure at the Dark Horse Saloon and ended up having a one-night stand with a man that had topped her list as a forever kind of guy. A guy who took great care with animals. A man who didn’t say much, but allowed his actions to speak volumes. A man who had treated her with the utmost respect.

Dan.

She sighed. It had been two weeks since their night together. And though she felt the loss of him all the way down to her bones, she didn’t plan on splurging like that anytime soon. She’d stick to splurges like hot fudge sundaes at the Royal diner, or fifty-dollar lunches at a swanky resort.

Opening the menu, she glanced at all the choices. “Wow. I can’t decide. It all sounds delish.”

“If you like seafood, I recommend the scallops in lobster sauce.”

The thought of it made her stomach clench. “I’m not really a fish person.”

She was, sometimes, but today a meal doused in all that sauce didn’t sound appealing. “I think I’ll stick to something basic, like chicken.”

They ordered their meals and sipped iced tea through colorful straws. While they were chatting, she caught Chelsea sighing and staring out the window a few times.

“And so the cat howled at the moon and the dog turned green.”