Wanted!

“Or shoved them somewhere else,” Emmett said with an evil grin. “Believe me, I’ve had the urge a time or two. What are we going to do about him, Nick?”

Nick glanced around at the expectant faces of the men at the table. “Damned if I know. Get him laid?” His response got the reaction he’d hoped for. Everybody had a good laugh, and most likely forgot their grievances against Jack, at least temporarily.

Emmett picked up a muffin and broke it in half. “Good luck with that. I think Jack’s taken himself permanently off the market.”

Nick thought so, too. His brother had been in town playing bedroom games with his girlfriend the day their father died. Although he had agreed to help their dad pick up a filly from a neighboring ranch, he’d begged off, claiming that a storm was coming and they should wait until the end of the week.

Their stubborn dad, who hadn’t much liked Jack’s girlfriend in the first place, had driven off to fetch the filly by himself. The storm had hit, making the roads slick.

Ironically, the filly, a brown-and-white paint named Bertha Mae, had survived the crash. Nick had doctored her minor wounds but nobody had ridden her since the accident.

Emmett leaned toward Nick. “Who’s that good-looking woman you’re keeping tabs on?”

And here Nick had thought he’d been subtle about it. “Her name’s Dominique Jeffries. She’s a photographer from Indianapolis. The Bunk and Grub ran out of room.”

Emmett stroked his graying mustache. “Have you ever noticed that whenever the Bunk and Grub is overbooked, we always get the good-looking women over here? I can’t remember ever getting a guy, or a couple, or a family with kids.”

Nick had to agree that was true. “Maybe it’s just easier to relocate a single person, and if you think about it, Pam doesn’t get many single guys at the Bunk and Grub. I’ll bet she has mostly couples and single women. If I were her, I’d move the singles to an alternate location before I’d move a couple, although I suppose that’s some sort of discrimination.”

“Your explanation is perfectly logical,” Emmett said. “But my gut’s telling me that Pam’s trying to fix up those ladies with a cowpoke. Or fix up the cowboys with a tourist. I guess it could be either. Or both.”

“I think it’s pure coincidence.” Nick took another bite of stew.

“Think what you want.” Emmett helped himself to more cornbread. “Oh, and by the way, that Jeffries woman is spending as much time checking you out as you’ve spent checking her out. I think you need to ask her to dinner.”

Nick had known Emmett all his life, so there was no point in trying to maintain his manly rep with the guy. “I did ask her,” he said. “She turned me down.”

“And now she’s looking at you as if you’re the last piece of chocolate in the box. If I were you, I’d ask her again.”

Nick shook his head. “I made my offer. The next move is strictly up to her.” Swallowing another mouthful of stew, he decided to abandon the field. Let her come and find him if she’d changed her mind.

In the meantime, he would head down to the barn and have a word with Jack. The guy was getting on his last nerve.