After the Sunset (10 page)

I looked up, and Glenn Holloway was there beside me.

“Stay out of this, Glenn.”

“Nice sucker punch,” he said, offering me a hand without looking at me, keeping an eye on Gil. “Back the fuck off.”

“Or what?”

“You really wanna do this?” Glenn asked him as he pulled me to my feet. “Or do you just wanna walk away?”

The two men stood there like rams ready to lock horns, and then Gil turned and left without a backward glance. All the Holloway men had crappy tempers apparently.

“Thanks,” I said, touching my face, making sure my right eye was still in my head. “Shit, that hurts.”

“Well, I expect so,” he said matter-of-factly, picking my hat up from where it had fallen in the dirt. He didn’t give it back to me, just held it. “Come on.” He grabbed my arm.

I rolled my shoulder so he had to let me go. “Just—I’m done with being manhandled for one day, all right?”

“Sure,” he agreed, pointing down the row of concession stands. “Walk that way.”

I didn’t realize that the White Ash had a food booth where they made steak plates. I was directed behind the counter, and since he couldn’t hold himself back anymore, he had to manhandle me. He shoved me down into a chair and then walked away. I watched the flurry of activity going on around me. There was an enormous grill, and the man there was brushing steaks with sauce, checking the charcoal as well as the flame, and frying mushrooms over the open flame on the opposite side. Another man was slicing the cooked steaks into bite-sized pieces and dropping them into huge metal bowls. The next man in the production line was frying onions, sweet potato wedges, and russet potato wedges. At the final station, salad was being tossed and coleslaw mixed.

“God, it smells amazing in here,” I told Glenn when he stepped back in front of me.

“Uh-huh,” he grunted before he slapped a steak over my eye.

“Owww, shit!” I yelled. He had not been gentle at all.

“Sorry.”

He wasn’t sorry one little bit.

“Lemme see,” he said, hand on my chin, tipping my head back to look at my nose. “What did you say to make him take a poke at you?”

“He wants his sister Carly to marry Rand.”

“Still?” an incredulous voice asked.

I chuckled as a woman stepped in beside Glenn. She held out some Tylenol for me.

“That woman’s been wanting Rand Holloway for years. I suspect if she was going to get him, it would’ve happened already.”

“Thank you.” I smiled, taking the pills and the water. “I’m Stefan Joss.”

“I know who you are.” She nodded. “And I’m Gina, Gina Showalter. I work for Mr. Holloway here.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” I said, shaking her hand after I took the Tylenol, and passing her back the empty water glass.

“Feel better,” she said, patting Glenn’s shoulder before she left to return to taking food orders at the front.

“What does Gina do on your ranch?”

“She cooks and cleans, keeps my father and me from starving,” he said, gesturing for me to replace the steak on my eye. “And she’s right. Carly’s been holdin’ out for Rand for as long as I can remember.”

“Oh, yeah? Did she and Rand ever get together?”

“Nope, ’cause Rand only screws girls at the rodeo who don’t wanna keep him.”

“Nothing serious.”

“That’s right.”

“And Carly is not the kind of girl you fuck at the rodeo.”

“No, sir. She’s the kind you court at the rodeo, follow home, and marry.”

“So Rand passed on Carly.”

“Yep. All Rand wanted to do when he got here was drink and screw and ride the bull.”

“Rand’s a bull rider?”

“He does some saddle bronc as well, but yeah, Rand’s the guy who normally rides the bull for the Red Diamond.”

I could only imagine how hot the man looked doing that.

“Poor Carly, I used to watch her fawning all over him only to have him leave with some other woman, most times more than one a night.”

“So Rand was a dog.”

“He was more than that.”

“And she still wants him.”

“You always want what you can’t have.”

“I’m surprised Gil would want a man who treated his sister so badly to marry her.”

“I think Gil’s more interested in the Red Diamond than Rand.”

“Gil could maybe use a loan?”

“I suspect so.”

“Carly says you’re a pig.”

“She should know. At last year’s rodeo, when Rand didn’t show, she set her sights on me.”

“And?”

“And nothin’. Do I look like I’m about to be a stand-in for Rand Holloway?”

“No.”

“That’s right. I ain’t no consolation prize. I’m smarter than that.”

“Oh, you’re very smart.” I smiled at him. “The way you made sure that Rand went to the Sarasota for the weekend, very nicely played.”

But he didn’t look happy or smug. “You won’t believe me, so I ain’t sayin’ nothin’.”

“Go ahead and say. I might even believe you.”

He squinted at me. “I forgot the damn rodeo was this weekend. When I called my father to tell him I was on my way back and I wasn’t goin’ to Zach’s since Rand was, he reminded me about this.”

“But you didn’t call Rand.”

“Fuck no, not after that whole mess.”

I nodded.

“How did you find out about the rodeo?”

“A very nice lady called me. I think I need to send her a card or something.”

He crossed his arms as he looked at me. “None of us knew that Rand put you on the goddamn deed for his ranch.”

“Why would you?”

“Seems like a lot to give.”

“Aren’t you going to give your wife half when you get married?”

“For one, I ain’t never gettin’ married, and for two, you ain’t the man’s wife.”

“No, I’m not, but I’m as close as he’s ever gonna get.”

He grunted.

“You doubt me?”

“I don’t think anything about it. All I do know is it seems that Carly’s shit outta luck. Again.” He cackled.

The man had a lot of wicked in him, and for better or worse, I was warming up to him.

“Yeah.” I smiled wide, lifting the steak off my eye and offering it to him. “May I trade this one in for a cooked one, please?”

“God, you’re a pain in the ass.”

“Can I have mushrooms too?”

He made me leave the raw meat on my eye, but he brought me back a plate with steak and mushrooms and fries smothered in cheese and ranch dressing and bacon bits. I had coleslaw on the side.

“Thank you,” I said sincerely as I sat up, unconcerned about my eye.

“Lemme see.” He stilled me, checking it as I started shoveling food into my mouth.

The food was so good. “You guys should have a restaurant,” I told him.

“Could you maybe chew and not talk with your mouth full so I can understand what the hell you just said?”

I swallowed hard and looked up at him. “You should have a restaurant. This is amazing.”

He nodded and left me again, only to return seconds later with a huge cup of Pepsi and a Ziploc bag of ice.

“Why’re you being so nice?”

“’Cause, you damn fool, you just got hit in the face.”

“Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“You should really sell this in a building where people can come all the time,” I told him. “A restaurant would be a good investment.”

“Oh yeah? Tell my father.”

“He doesn’t think so?”

“He thinks it’s different at the rodeo and other events we sponsor because it’s special, since folks can’t get it all the time. He thinks if we had a restaurant that the appeal would be short-lived, and we’d lose a ton of money.”

“Oh, I disagree,” I told him. “If you ever wanna try, call me, and I can put together a marketing plan for you and crunch numbers. I bet it would be easy to get investors. You wouldn’t even need your dad.”

He got very still, wary.

“Glenn?”

“Are you fuckin’ with me?”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because I just got through fuckin’ with Rand.”

“Yeah, but that’s your bullshit with him. This is different. This could be your life.”

He was looking at me so intently.

“I could help you if you let me.”

His eyes, which were really the most magnificent shade of peacock blue, did not leave mine. It was like he was checking for something.

“Glenn?”

“Eat your food.”

After I finished everything, I let my head loll back, put the bag of ice on my eye, closed both, and relaxed. I didn’t realize I had drifted off until I heard someone yell. When I opened my eyes, I found that my hat had fallen forward over my eyes and that the Ziploc bag of ice was gone. Tipping the brown straw hat back, I saw a woman holding on to Glenn’s arm, her long red fingernails digging into his skin.

“Glenn Holloway, the bachelor auction begins right at six, so you best get all cleaned up and in your Sunday best before I call for you.”

He looked like an animal caught in a trap.

I snorted out a laugh.

“Megan, I—”

“Oh, no.” The cute bottle-blonde cut him off. “You swore to me and so did your daddy. I expect you to be there.”

He looked very uncomfortable. Her eyes then slid over to me.

“And you are?”

“Stefan Joss,” I said, standing up, massaging the back of my neck where it ached a little.

Her eyes were the colors of cornflowers. “From where?”

“The Red Diamond.”

She tipped her head, narrowing the blue to mere slits. “Rand Holloway, did he come?”

Of course she knew who Rand was. “No, ma’am.”

“You look married to me, Mr. Joss. Are you married?”

“I live with somebody, uhm?”

She thrust her hand at me. “Megan Reed.”

“Pleasure.” I smiled, taking her hand.

“I need someone to help with the bachelor auction, Mr. Joss.”

“I’ve been to at least ten in my life.”

Her face lit up as she clutched my hand. “Are you serious?”

“They do well as charity fundraisers as long as the guys are hot.”

“Cowboys in Wranglers,” she said like I was nuts. “What could be hotter?”

So help me God, I didn’t say anything.

“Will you be my assistant?”

“Oh, honey, I would love to.”

Her catch of breath made me smile.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Glenn growled beside me.

Finally I was back in my element; charity events were something I knew how to do.

“Come with me,” she said, taking my hand, tugging. “Oh my God, I’m so excited!” Her squeal of happiness was loud.

“You best watch yourself, Stefan Joss!” Glenn called after me. “Don’t do nothin’ stupid!”

I flipped him off as I walked away.

“Fuck!” I heard him croak back.

E
VERETT
was fit to be tied. Chase was spitting nails. Tom called me names, and Pierce growled. Not one of them wanted anything to do with a bachelor auction. They would absolutely never… ever… in a million… and then we reached the stage area, and they saw all the women. An ocean of women, hundreds of them were there just waiting for a chance to have a cowboy, if only for one night, one dream-date. Suddenly I was brilliant, absolutely and without doubt fucking brilliant, and being bid on like a piece of meat was flattering instead of something sleazy.

I had not pressed Chris to participate because I had realized a year ago that he wasn’t conceited or angry. He was shy. So when he leaned quietly next to me and said that he wouldn’t mind being in the auction, I smiled wide.

“Holy shit.” Megan was stunned when she turned and found me there in front of her.

I gave her a slow grin, watching her mouth fall open, her eyes go round.

“You… Stefan….”

The thing was, I cleaned up nice. I had ditched the whole cowboy vibe because it didn’t matter anymore if I fit in or not. By the reaction of most people, I wasn’t going to anyway. What did matter was that I had brought my men to the rodeo, and we had swept the events thus far.

Calf roping, team roping, barrel racing, and steer wrestling were behind us, and the next day we were facing saddle bronc, bareback bronc riding, and bull riding. Apparently by the number of people who had come up to congratulate me on the performance my men turned in, we were a shoo-in to sweep every category. I was trying not to smile like an idiot and strut around the place.

“I think I should auction you off, Stefan.” Her breath fluttered. “I think I could make a lot of money.”

My jeans were too tight, my hair was gelled to artistic perfection, and the bracelets I wore were back. The oversized watch with the thick biker band, all the details that had been hidden away so I could pass for serious rancher, were returned. The dress shirt clung to me, open lower than just the collar and unbuttoned at the bottom to show skin and how low the denim was riding on my hips. Anyone who was looking could not miss my display of sleek gold skin. I had been hiding, and now I wanted everyone to see me.

“Can I have the microphone?” I asked her.

She passed it to me, and I wandered out on stage as soon as the band wrapped up their song. I held out a hand for the lead singer, and he moved his guitar around to his back, held there by the strap, and took my hand in both of his. The only way I could tell they were a country band were the hats. Other than that, jeans, T-shirts, boots, they could have been a grunge band or alternative. But I had met them earlier, and they had been very happy to meet me. A master of ceremonies always kept things moving and on track, and they appreciated that.

“Let’s hear it for Bootlegger, everybody,” I called out, “and show them how much we appreciate them coming out tonight to entertain us!”

Thunderous applause as all eyes came to rest on me.

“I’m Stefan Joss from The Red Diamond, and I want to welcome you all to the Truscott Rodeo bachelor auction and dance.”

Whistling, more applause, and catcalls greeted my introduction, and then I asked the ladies if they were ready to get them a cowboy.

The screaming started immediately, and my smile went neon. I was there to auction off hot men in skin-tight denim, worn boots, and Stetsons. Oh, I was so very popular.

I had twenty men to find homes for, and I did it four at a time, with the band playing three songs between each. I made a big deal out of every cowboy, giving kudos to Rand’s men without running down anybody else. When Chris went up, and he was bid on fast and furious, the shy smile he gave me was very sweet. We had people line dancing on stage with me, women planting kisses on the band, and the event sponsors who visited the side of the stage when we were taking a break wanted to shake my hand. Megan nearly smothered me to death and told me over and over that already we had tripled the money from the year before and we still had men left to auction off. Hud Lawrence came by personally to thank me.