To Tempt A Texan. Georgina Gentry

cold glass and ran her tongue over her dry lips. Of course she’d noticed. “Must have cost a lot to get ice around here.”

      He nodded and grinned. “A dollar. Want a sip?”

      “A dollar? That’s outrageous.”

      “I agree, but that’s free enterprise. I reckon they had to haul ice a long way to get it here.” He look another sip of the dark liquid and rolled his eyes upward, sighing as he did so. “Delicious. Are you sure you wouldn’t like to share, sister?”

      Lacey wrinkled her nose. “I’d rather die of thirst.”

      “Great God Almighty, woman, you are stubborn.”

      She smiled without humor. “And that’s precisely the reason I’m going to end up with that choice lot.”

      He winked at her and sipped his drink. “Don’t count me out yet, sis, I’m an awfully lucky hombre…or was until I tangled with you.”

      “There were other lots you could have claimed,” she hissed at him.

      “So could you,” he reminded her.

      “So this is not even about the land anymore, it’s a battle of wills.”

      He grinned. “If you say so.”

      She decided to ignore him. He was the most infuriating man she’d ever had the bad luck to cross paths with; not at all like the gentle, sensitive type of ideal male she envisioned. She simply must have some water. Besides that, she was worried about Precious. “I don’t suppose you’d be enough of a gentleman to hold my place while I get a drink?”

      He grinned down at her. “Would you trust me to be a gentleman and do so?”

      “Gentleman? Ha! Any gal who would trust you might end up losing her drawers. I know your type.”

      “Tsk! Tsk! Such a vulgar comment from a lady.”

      Oh, he was maddening. She had the most terrible urge to smack that handsome, grinning face even as he took another sip of his devil’s brew. “You know, you’re almost pretty when you’re mad.”

      She snorted again. “Do idiotic remarks like that cause most women to swoon at your feet, Texan?”

      “Sometimes,” he conceded.

      “Well, this Texas girl isn’t buying it.” She turned around to face the front of the line, deciding to ignore him. The warm April sun beat down on them as the afternoon lengthened and the line seemed to be only inching along. By now, she was not only thirsty, she was in dire need of an outhouse. Behind her, the Texas rascal kept sipping his drink and shaking the ice around so that she could hear it. Finally she decided she could stand it no longer. “I’ll be back in a minute,” she flung the remark over her shoulder and hurried away into the crowd. Lacey had to find an outhouse fast before she soaked her bloomers and humiliated herself in front of the whole world.

      Lacey found an outhouse and then a snaggle-toothed man selling water. He wanted a dime for a cup.

      “Why don’t you get a gun and mask?” she complained, “that’s highway robbery.”

      He gave her a grin like a broken white picket fence. “Maybe so, lady, but it’s the onliest water around, so take it or leave it.”

      She took it although it was lukewarm and tasted like an old lake. She thought again with longing of Blackie’s tall, ice-chilled glass. But of course she dare not touch demon rum. The last time she had…she pushed that embarrassing thought from her mind and went to the wagon to check on her cat. Precious lapped up the last of the water from her cup and meowed in complaint. “I know it’s a miserable crowded cage. I’ll take you with me.”

      Lacey gathered up Precious and headed back to the claim line which had moved up a few more feet.

      “Hey, lady, no line-breakin’,” a gruff man yelled.

      She walked up to Blackie who did not acknowledge her. “Tell them, you rogue.”

      Blackie shook his head as if bewildered. “Have we met?”

      “Oh, you rascal. All right, I’ll say it. I’m with him,” she announced to the crowd.

      “Why, sweetie,” he tried to put his arm around her, “What took you so long? I missed you while you were gone.”

      She moved very subtly to grind the heel of her high-button shoe into the tender instep of his expensive, dusty boot. “Unhand me, you villain or I will knee you again.”

      “For a lady, you never cease to shock and surprise me.” He scowled. “I see you brought the cat.”

      At the word “cat”, Lively woke up and barked at the white dust mop.

      “Meow!” Precious jumped for a higher, safer position, which just happened to be Blackie’s shoulder, then she went to the top of his head, balancing on his mashed hat.

      “Great God Almighty!” Blackie flailed his arms. “Get this critter off me!”

      “Woof! Woof!” Lively danced around his feet while the cat arched her back, spat, and hissed.

      “Call your dog off and I will. He’s scaring the poor thing. Hey, kitty. Here, Precious.”

      Around them, people laughed and tittered. “Wal,” said a man farther back in line, I seen a goat ropin’ and a circus, but never anything this much fun.”

      Lacey turned on the man as Blackie struggled to get the enraged cat off his head. “Oh, shut up. Haven’t you ever seen a cat before?”

      “Not worn as a hat, Ma’am.”

      The line laughed again and Blackie ordered the dog to desist. Reaching up to pull the protesting feline from his mangled hat, he handed her to Lacey. “Great God Almighty, does it never end, Miss? Miss?”

      “Lacey Van Schuyler Durango,” she said.

      “Ah,” he nodded in recognition. “Of the Durangos, owners of the famous Triple D ranch?”

      “My uncle is Trace Durango,” she admitted.

      “I think I’ve played cards with one Ace Durango several years back,” Blackie mused.

      “My cousin,” she admitted. “Ace is quite a rounder, but he’s married now.”

      “Let himself get branded, did he?” Blackie shook his head regretfully. “Won’t happen to me. Anyway, with a million acres of Texas ranch land, sister, what are you doin’ up here?”

      “My uncle owns that, I don’t.” She stroked her indignant cat. “Besides, I’m an independent woman who wants to make it on her own. When I get the deed to that choice lot, I’m going to build a newspaper.”

      He snorted and sipped his drink. “A woman runnin’ a newspaper?”

      “I’ve had experience as a reporter and my uncle has loaned me enough money to get started.”

      “Why don’t you do yourself a favor, go back to the ranch, get married, and raise a passel of kids?”

      She was outraged. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you? Give you that lot without a fuss.”

      “Great place for a saloon and gambling palace.” He smiled dreamily. “I can see it now: Blackie’s Black Garter.”

      “In your dreams, you rogue.” She was so outraged, smoke seemed to come out of her nostrils. A house of demon rum. She might have known. If he only knew the Ladies’ Temperance Association was concentrating its efforts to run demon rum completely out of the Territory. But of course she wouldn’t tell him that yet. First, she must keep him from getting control of that land. The line moved a few feet and Lively moved to lay down next to them, rolled over on his back and began to snore.

      Lacey said “That is the most pitiful excuse for a dog I’ve ever seen.”