Laredo's Sassy Sweetheart (15 page)

Laredo fell asleep on top of her, sleeping like a man well satisfied. Katy smiled tenderly at her cowboy. The fantasy had turned into a wonderful reality.

She wasn’t frigid. No way. She’d loved what he’d done to her.

But that was all sex, and she was a liberated woman now. It was time to break out of the rest of her shell.

No man, not even a cowboy like Laredo, was going to one-up her just because he thought he could.

Quietly she slipped his keys from his jeans, which were discarded nearby. She dressed, stealing his top for her own use. Knotting it at her waist, she crawled from the truck bed and got into the truck. When she started the engine, Laredo popped up.

“Hey!”

She locked the doors and floored the truck. Laredo sat down very quickly, realizing he had no choice.

Driving back to town, Katy parked the truck out
side the salon. When Laredo jumped down to take possession of his truck, she backed out of the parking space quickly, leaving him standing in the middle of the street, his expression dumbfounded.

Well, maybe it wasn’t the best of exits, but she couldn’t have allowed him to drag her off to the ranch, anyway. If he wanted to bust his head riding Bloodthirsty, she wasn’t going to hang around to watch that, either.

It was time to move on with her life.

“T
HAT CRAZY GIRL
stole my truck!” Laredo complained as Tex and Ranger ran to see why he was standing in the middle of the street with his arms in the air.

“Katy did that?” Ranger asked.

“Yes! Where are your keys? I need to follow her.”

Ranger shook his head. “They’re upstairs, but you can’t use my truck anyway. It’s not a good idea to go chasing after a woman with a hot head. You must have made her real mad about something.”

“I didn’t make her mad. I melted her bones,” Laredo said thinly. “She’s just so darn stubborn!”

“Where’s she going?” Tex asked.

“I have no clue. But that minx stole my truck, and after I made love to her, too!”

That was the biggest insult of all.

Tex and Ranger were staring at him, their mouths open.

“Did you really?” Ranger asked.

“Yes, I did.”

“And she drove off without you,” Tex said in amazement. “Shew-ee. I hope you ride a bull better than you make love, ’cause clearly you’ve lost your touch. I never saw a girl run off from you before.”

Laredo scratched his head. Hadn’t she seemed happy? Satisfied? He shook his head. “She didn’t like the kidnapping plan.”

“Ohh,” they said.

“She made love to you and then she left you holding the sheet,” Tex said with some surprise. “That’s your favorite trick.”

Laredo scowled. “Not exactly true.”

His brothers laughed, then walked away.

“Hey, where are you going? You’ve got to help me find her!”

Ranger waved him off. “You’re on your own, Laredo.”

This had all come about because of that stupid bull. First, she’d wanted him to ride, then she changed her mind. She wanted a hero, and then she wanted a stud. Who could figure that woman out?

And she’d already told him she wasn’t interested in getting serious again, since her blown wedding was only about a couple months cold.

He’d told her he would never be interested in settling down.

It was true. Except then he’d fallen for her scrappiness, and her attitude, and her sweetness. He couldn’t completely have her under his thumb. Just when he thought he had her pinned, she pinned him.

“So annoying,” he muttered. “A woman should not be driving my truck.”

Heaven only knew where she’d taken it. She might never return.

In fact, he knew she wasn’t going to. And his heart contracted tightly at the thought. She could have the darn truck if she wanted, although he knew she’d taken it just to make her point. He was over-bearing. He was cocky. He had thought he could control the relationship. He might as well have tried to control how hard Bloodthirsty would kick.

K
ATY WENT TO THE ONE PLACE
she knew Laredo wouldn’t think to look for her: Union Junction.

More specifically, she headed to her stylist sisters’ new salon, Union Junction Style. Beatrice, Daisy, Gretchen, Jessica, Lily, Marnie, Tisha, Velvet and Violet were the brightly painted names above the new hairstyling stations. And every chair was full, both with male and female customers. The salon was buzzing, but almost all talk ceased when she walked in.

“Katy!” they exclaimed. Whichever stylists weren’t in the middle of a process rushed over to give her a hug. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m on my way to Duke,” Katy said.

“You made up your mind to go,” Violet said. She had been unanimously voted this salon’s manager.

“Finally,” Katy said. “It was past time.”

“Can you stay with us for a while?” Marnie
asked. “Before you go become a North Carolinian and we never see you again?”

Katy gulped. “I’d better not,” she said. “I’ve dallied long enough.”

Beatrice gave her a hug. “It’s that Laredo, isn’t it?” she said softly so her Union Junction customers couldn’t hear.

“No, I really need to be moving on with my life,” Katy protested.

“We heard through the grapevine—” Gretchen said.

“You mean from Hannah,” Katy interrupted, knowing Delilah wouldn’t gossip.

“The grapevine,” Gretchen repeated, “that you and Laredo were engaged in an all-out battle of the sexes. We had our money on you. So what happened?”

Katy was confused. “Money on me? For what?”

“To rope him in,” Daisy said. “You know. Marriage.”

“Actually, no,” Katy murmured. “Marriage was never on either of our minds. It’s too soon for me to think of that again, and it will always be too soon for Laredo to think of it. He’s got to do his Big Thing, and I needed to find myself. We’re sort of on separate tracks that would never permanently connect.”

“Oh.” Sympathetic murmurs flurried around her.

“Why don’t you go in the back and get washed up?” Violet said. “When we’re done here, we’ll take you to our farmhouse.”

“Farmhouse?” Katy asked. “This isn’t like Delilah’s place?”

“Nope,” Tisha said firmly. “It’s as different as we could make it. Even down to the name. No more ‘Lonely’ anything.”

“And all the Jefferson boys come to us for their cuts,” Velvet said proudly. “We all get one apiece. Except for Last, because he’s odd man out, so he rotates amongst us.”

“I get him next,” Lily said, “and I can’t wait!”

“Who cuts Laredo’s hair?” Katy murmured, for some reason needing to know silly trivia about the cowboy.

“I do,” Violet said kindly. “He’s a perfect gentleman, and he’s got hair that doesn’t want to lie down. Which is fine, because his hat keeps it mashed. And that’s all I can tell you about your cowboy, Katy.”

Katy flashed grateful eyes at Violet. “Guess I’ll go see what you’ve done in the back.”

T
HE FARMHOUSE
was more like a home than Katy would have imagined. “Does Delilah know you’ve done this? It’s wonderful!” she exclaimed.

All the women nodded. “She knows, but she hasn’t had a chance to visit. We’re pretty proud of it,” Velvet said.

“The Jefferson boys helped us find financing, especially Mason,” Daisy said. “Mimi actually found us the house. Union Junction has welcomed us with open arms.”

“So you’re better off here than you were in Lonely Hearts Station.” Katy was amazed. “I remember when Delilah had to choose which of us to let go. At the time we thought it was the end of the world.”

“We pulled together,” Gretchen said, “although don’t be fooled. At times we fought like cats and dogs.”

They took her upstairs and showed her the bedrooms. “This is such a big farmhouse that we were able to convert extra rooms into bedrooms. Almost all of us have a separate bedroom, and bathrooms are generally shared between only two of us,” Beatrice told her. “On the weekends someone usually stops by, either to fix something on the house or bring food.”

“They’ll never forget us helping them out during the big storm,” Katy said. “And it didn’t seem like we were doing all that much. Just pulling together.”

“Well, we’ll always be happy that the e-mail Mimi sent accidentally came to us,” Lily said. “Those were some of our darkest days.”

Katy sat on a chair in the sitting room, a second-story screened-in porch. She instantly decided it was her favorite room in the house. “I think Delilah has a few more dark days ahead of her, though she would never let on.”

“Hannah says that bookings are up,” Tisha said.

“A little, yes. But Marvella won the real prize money, and since she’s got the winning cowboy,
she’s getting more of the bookings.” Katy sighed. “I thought the good guys always won.”

“So what about Laredo?” Marnie asked.

Katy stiffened. “He’s riding to the rescue tomorrow.”

“So…what are you doing here?” Violet asked. “Don’t you want to see him?”

“I don’t want to see him get thrown again. I just can’t. The doctor was very clear about no more head injuries, but Laredo doesn’t listen to anything. He’s so stubborn!”

Jessica nodded. “Stubborn. That’s one of your traits, too, you know.”

“Yes, I know, but…what crabs me is that he
could
let Ranger ride. Or someone in his family who knows what they’re doing. But no. He’s got to be the hero.”

“For you, Katy,” Jessica said. “He’s trying to be your hero.”

“But I don’t want a hero. I want him healthy. I wish I’d never pulled him in off the street. I wish I’d never opened the door and seen him standing out there! I thought I’d seen a miracle, but he turned out to be just a…man,” she said sadly.

“Why? Because he has no experience? You should give him a second chance,” Velvet said reasonably. “Katy, life isn’t cleanly cut into right and wrong. Tomorrow he may bust his head open like an egg dropped on cement. Or he could stay on. Who knows? You could admit that you’re in love with him. You might risk getting your heart busted
open again, or you may end up staying on. He’s getting back in the saddle. Why aren’t you?”

“Because I’m scared,” Katy said. “In the end, I think I’m as big a mouse as Rose.”

“So whose truck are you driving?” Gretchen asked, glancing out the window.

“Laredo’s. I stole it from him. But I figure he’ll be back here tomorrow night, and then he can pick it up.”

“Uh-huh,” Gretchen said. “That’s a good idea. Except that he’s out front writing on it.”

“Writing on it?” Katy jumped to her feet.

With shoe polish, he’d written all over the truck sides, “Take my truck, but not my heart.”

“Oh, my,” Katy murmured. “He is one unstoppable cowboy.”

“Are you going to go down there or not?” Daisy demanded. “That poor man!”

“He’s not so innocent,” Katy explained. “He was planning on kidnapping me and dumping me at Malfunction Junction so I couldn’t leave town and pose for
Playboy.
”

“Good for him,” Violet said. “I like that man’s way of thinking!”

“You are all against me,” Katy said, realization dawning on her as they all waved at Laredo. He stood in the front yard, his hands on his hips, staring up at them.

“No, we’re all for finding true love,” Lily said.

“I think…I think I’ll at least go congratulate him
for outthinking me. And thank him for the use of his truck.”

“You do that,” Marnie said. “We’ll be waiting up here for you.”

H
EART IN HER THROAT
, Katy walked downstairs and went out to meet Laredo. “You found me.”

“I knew where you’d go,” he boasted.

“Hannah told you.”

“Hannah gave me a couple of bits of insight,” he admitted. “She said you probably wouldn’t go far from your sisters.”

She stared up at him silently.

“The kidnapping idea was a bad one,” he said. “I should have just told you that it killed me to think of your naked body in print. And now that I’ve made love to you, you leave me no choice. I know you hate to be told anything, but—”

She laid two fingers over his lips. “I wasn’t going to, anyway.”

“Never?” he asked, moving her fingers, his gaze lighting up.

“Well, I thought about it. I did need to break out of my shell and find out if I was frigid.”

“You’re not—”

“But,” she said quickly, “once we made love, I knew for sure I couldn’t do it. You satisfied that worry in me, and I’ll always be grateful for that.”

Laredo grinned. “I told you.”

She sighed. “Laredo, you are too confident.”

“I can have confidence for both of us. Until you
get yours back, Katy. You just need someone to stick with you longer than eight seconds.”

“You’re still going to ride that darn bull, aren’t you?”

“Darn tooting,” he said. “Me and Bloodthirsty, we’ve got a date. But I’d like you to be there, Katy.”

She thought about how frightened she’d been when he’d gotten tossed. And then Bloodthirsty had ladled out extra insult by horning him. She thought about how her heart had nearly dried up when he’d been lying on the ground, his expression dazed.

“I’m afraid of that bull,” she murmured.

“I’m afraid of lots of things.”

“You are not.” She squinted up at him doubtfully.

“I was damn scared of you being naked for other men, Katy. That’s far worse than taking a shot in the pants from a bull.”

She shuddered. It was unbearable to think of it.

“By the way,” Laredo said conversationally, “I went back and got your bra and top from the side of the road. To be honest, I was afraid when you shucked your clothes like that. I mean, I liked it, but you did kind of goose me, acting all uninhibited like that.”

She didn’t believe a word of it. “You didn’t act scared.”

“Well, it was kind of a buzz having you throw yourself at me with such determination. Who was I to say no. But I was afraid that you wouldn’t like
making love to me. That you’d always regret it. You’re the kind of girl who thinks too much, Katy. You regretted nearly marrying Stanley, which was very wise of you. But then you regretted pulling me inside the salon and asking me to ride the bull—”

“I only regretted it after you nearly got your head split open,” she disagreed.