Читать книгу Her Cowboy Reunion - Debbi Rawlins, Debbi Rawlins - Страница 12

Chapter Three

Mike set his beer on the bar and smiled at the dark-haired woman sitting two stools away and eyeing him as he waited for Mallory. She didn’t look familiar, but the woman who’d bumped into him earlier sure did.

“Hey, it’s good to see you, Mike,” Mallory said as she walked up. “Sorry I couldn’t talk before. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

“Yep, been busy. So have you, I see.”

“Business is great. I’m only closed one day a week now. And that’s just for the sake of my sanity.”

“Glad to hear it.” Mike had gotten to know her a little when he’d done some carpentry work for her. He’d already quit doing side jobs by the time she’d moved to town, but he couldn’t say no. Frankly, had she been available, he would’ve asked her out. “Listen, the woman I almost ran over earlier, do you know her?”

Mallory glanced past him and shook her head. “I’ve never seen her before. Probably a tourist. She’s sitting with a guy, though.”

Mike smiled. “I was just curious. She looked familiar, but I couldn’t place her.”

“Ah.” She stared past him again. “Well, for what it’s worth, she might be sitting with the dude, but I’m guessing she’s not thrilled about it.”

Mike choked out a laugh. “Thanks. I’ll pass.” Picking up his mug, he stepped back, remembered what happened before and checked to see if he was clear.

The woman on the bar stool smiled. “What’s going on back there?” she asked with a glance toward the pool tables. “Anything interesting?”

“Besides pool, there’s darts and a mechanical bull.”

“Sounds fun.”

He looked at Mallory, who hadn’t strayed far and was wiping the counter. “Is the bull working?”

“Should be.”

The woman laughed. “I meant the pool. The bull...not so much.”

“If you want to play, you won’t have any trouble finding someone to go up against.” He hoped that didn’t sound like a brush-off, even though it was.

“I’m waiting for someone,” she said with a small shrug. “Maybe later.”

Mallory dropped the rag as Mike turned to leave. “Want another beer to take back with you?”

“Nah,” he said, holding up the half-full mug. “This should do me. I gotta get up early tomorrow.”

“Well, don’t be a stranger. Winter should slow you down some at the ranch.”

“You’re right.” Mike fought the urge to glance over at the blonde before he disappeared into the back. It wasn’t just that she was attractive. It was driving him nuts not being able to place her. But it was also obvious she wasn’t from Blackfoot Falls or anywhere nearby. She was most definitely a city woman. So not much chance he knew her at all.

Ah, hell.

He sneaked a look.

And damned if she wasn’t looking right back at him.

Trouble was, she wasn’t just sitting with the guy. They were so close to each other a stiff breeze couldn’t slip between them. Mallory was right, though. The woman didn’t look all that happy with the setup.

He headed back to the pool tables. Chip stood in the corner chalking his cue and frowning. “I was wondering where you were,” he said. “We’re up next.”

Mike set his beer down next to Chip’s mug on the ledge then picked up his own cue. “I haven’t played in a couple of years so don’t expect much.”

“Bet you’re still better than me.” Snorting, Chip downed half his beer in one pull.

“You drink like that when you play the Circle K boys?”

Chip’s sheepish expression was his answer. “How’s your pitching arm these days?”

“My what?”

“I heard about you,” Chip said. “You played ball in high school and in college, too. I ran into Kenny Edwards at the pawnshop the other day. When I told him I was working for you, he said he used to be your high-school coach.”

“That was a long time ago.” Mike watched a lanky young guy in a camo T-shirt sink two stripes on the break. His cocky grin wasn’t doing him any favors. Another tip for Chip—don’t get cocky, especially when booze is involved.

“Kenny said you should’ve gone pro. You were that good.”

“Yeah, well, Kenny’s wrong.”

“Wait,” Chip said. “Weren’t you scouted for a farm team? I can’t see Kenny lying about something like that.”

The other table had only four balls plus the eight ball left, and the two guys from the Lone Wolf seemed evenly matched. He and Chip would be up in a couple minutes. Sooner if the guys would quit showing off for the three women cooing words of encouragement.

They had to be tourists, sipping their fancy drinks and flirting shamelessly. Mike couldn’t listen to them or talk about baseball without thinking of Ellen. He’d known his ex-wife most of his life. Or at least, he thought he had. They’d married the summer after graduating from college. Turned out, though, being married to a professional ballplayer was more important to Ellen than being married to him.

“So? Did Kenny exaggerate?”

“No,” Mike said finally. “I could’ve played for the Billings Mustangs. Just like a whole lot of other guys.” In his heart, he’d known he didn’t have what it took to play pro ball. And it wasn’t as if he didn’t like ranching. Hell, it was in his blood.

Chip’s thick brows lowered into a frown. “A lot of guys? I don’t think so.”

“They’re only a farm team.”

“Yeah, for the Cincinnati Reds. Do you know how many major-league heavy hitters came out of farm teams? Most of ’em, probably.”

“Why are you bringing this up? It’s all history. You should be watching these guys and learning a few tricks.” Mike nodded at the kid in the camo T-shirt. “He’ll need to use inside English on this shot. If he does it well, the ball will curve right into the hole.”

After the shot—perfectly executed—he realized Chip was back to staring at him.

“You know,” Chip said, a hopeful gleam in his eyes. “Sometimes the Circle K guys play softball. How about if you—”

“Not interested.” Mike shook his head.

“Why not? Those guys are all young, probably about my age. They wouldn’t know about you playing baseball back in the day.”

Mike couldn’t help but laugh. “Yeah, maybe you shouldn’t imply I’m old if you want a favor.”

“So, you are thinking about it?”

“Softball isn’t even the same—” Mike saw the blonde walk up to the jukebox and completely forgot what he was going to say.

* * *

SAVANNAH SCANNED THE long list of songs. She hadn’t heard of most of them, but then she’d always been horrible at remembering titles. Or even knowing what they were in the first place. And frankly, she didn’t have time to listen to music. Work managed to eat up most of the hours in her day. During her commute to and from the office, she generally listened to self-help CDs. After all, no matter how much she loved her life and career, there was always room for improvement.

“Hey.”

Startled by Nina’s voice practically in her ear, Savannah turned on her with a glare. “What are you doing? We can’t suddenly be best friends.”

Nina gave her a funny look. “Jesus, you’ve been riding a desk too long. You really need to chill.”

Savannah supposed she might be letting paranoia mess with her head and then, worse, overreacting. “What is it?”

“That cowboy from earlier... I think the bartender called him Mike? He was asking her about you.”

Savannah’s heart nearly exploded. “Asking about what?”

“He wanted to know if she’d seen you before. Said he thought you looked familiar.”

Savannah leaned on the jukebox for support. This was bad. So, so bad.

“Obviously it was just a line,” Nina said, glancing over the song selection. “Oh, and he’s hot and I hate you.”

“Duly noted.” Somehow, Savannah managed to stay calm. “Why don’t you go after him?”

“I tried. He wasn’t interested.” She shrugged. “Anyway, I didn’t want to say anything in front of Ron. But if I were you, I’d totally ditch his ass and go for the cowboy.”

They both laughed, and Savannah relaxed. Maybe Nina was right and it was just a line. The possibility that he could actually be attracted to her sent a little shiver down her spine.

But wait...he wouldn’t need to use a line with the bartender. Savannah circled back to worrying. Still, how could he remember a girl he’d never really known or had ever seen more than a dozen times from afar? Fourteen years ago?

Nina pointed to something on the jukebox. Savannah squinted to see what it was then realized Nina was covering up the fact that they’d lingered too long and for no apparent reason. No one was paying them any attention, but she’d get the third degree from Ron.

“I’d better scoot,” Nina whispered. Then in a louder voice as she backed away she said, “Thanks for letting me cut in with my song.”

“No problem.” Savannah shot a quick look in Ron’s direction before returning to the song list. He was still answering texts.

She’d chosen several songs, but she couldn’t for the life of her recall what they were. What she really wanted to do was check out the back room, but she knew she’d better wait until Mike left.

It was a tough call. Should she get it over with, see if he remembered her? Or try to avoid him? She wondered how often he came into town. All she really had to do was stay away from the two bars. Maybe the diner and steak house, too. And probably the Food Mart and variety store just to be safe. Definitely the hardware store but that one was easy.

Oh, hell. The town wasn’t all that big. Twenty-three hundred people in the whole county, most of them spread out on ranches and farms.

Should she or shouldn’t she?

Since she couldn’t decide, she figured the smart thing would be to leave. Ron had had one foot out the door from the minute they’d arrived. If she pleaded a headache and went to her room, he just might decide to hit Kalispell.

And she’d be left in peace to write up today’s notes. If she were to run into Mike again, at least she’d be more prepared.

Taking a step backward, she was struck with the temptation to steal a quick look at the pool players. All she had to do was turn her head to the right...just for a second...

She moved back another step and felt something directly behind her.

A deep rumbling laugh caressed her ears.

“We’ve gotta stop doing this.” It was Mike’s voice. His laugh. His hand touching her lower back.

Savannah whirled around.

He stood a couple feet away, holding his almost-empty mug aloft. Enough beer remained to have made a collision unpleasantly wet.

“Sorry, sorry, I didn’t look. Again.” She glanced helplessly at Nina, who arched a brow at her, clearly trying not to laugh.

“Excuse me,” another voice said from behind her. “Could I squeeze by to get to the jukebox?”

Savannah turned, and as she moved out of the way, smiled an apology at the woman trying to hold on to a fistful of quarters. When she switched her gaze to Mike, the intensity with which he was studying her jolted her back to the problem.

If she wanted to test the waters, now was the time.

But Nina was right there, not more than ten feet away now. And Ron...he could be charging toward them for all she knew.

Savannah turned her head and saw that he was still preoccupied with his phone. She inched around so that she wasn’t directly facing Nina.

“I’m usually not this oblivious,” she said, keeping her voice low and steady, even as her courage faltered. “I would really appreciate it if you’d let me pay for a refill.”

“I didn’t spill a drop,” he said with an easy smile. “But if you have the time, I’d like to buy you a drink.”

“Oh. No.” Her mouth went dry. “All I meant... I’d just—” She cleared her throat. “I’m with someone.” She glanced briefly toward Ron. “But I’d like to pay for your beer. You know, as an apology. That’s what I meant...”

His smile faded. “I understand,” he said, nodding slowly. “Can I ask you a quick question?”

This was it.

Savannah was an idiot. She wasn’t prepared, and there was nothing she could do but listen. “Okay.”

“Have we met before?”

Her chest actually hurt, though she didn’t think it was anything serious. Yeah, why would she get off that easily? “No,” she said, and even managed a smile. “I don’t see how.”

“You’re not from around here?”

“Nope.”

“Billings?”

She shook her head. “Denver.”

“It’s not a line. You really do look familiar.”

She shrugged. “I get that a lot.”

Mike frowned. “I can’t see why,” he said, his whiskey-brown gaze roaming over her face and lingering briefly on her mouth. “I’m Mike, by the way.”

“Savannah.” She’d gone by Elizabeth back then, if he’d known her name at all. Her middle name should throw him. “Well, I’d better get back to the table. I promise not to bulldoze over you again.”

“No worries. I’m tough,” he said with a dazzling smile. It disappeared in the next instant. “I know where I’ve seen you—you were that kid—” He cut himself short and, with a slight frown, searched her eyes.

Panic roiled in her stomach. She heard a whimper and, with a start, realized it had come from her. Unable to move, she stayed frozen in her tracks as she silently pleaded with him to not give her away.

“No,” he said after the longest ten seconds on record. “I was thinking of someone I met at the Denver stockyards a while back.” He moved to let someone pass. “Ever been there?”

She just shook her head.

“Sorry, my mistake.” With a quick smile, he shrugged and walked away.