I tag along.”
He started to walk past her, and she grabbed his arm. “Not so fast, buster. Someone will darn well mind.”
“Who?” he asked innocently.
“For starters, me. Why would you want to play poker with a bunch of cowboys? I bet not one of them knows what a tilde is.”
“Could be I just want to play poker.”
“Yeah, and it could be I’m a high-priced fashion model,” she said sarcastically. “Why in the world would you want to spend the evening with a bunch of ranch hands?”
“Like I said before, we haven’t had a chance to get to know each other since you’ve been here. This is as good a time as any.”
“For whom?” she asked.
“For me. After all, if I’m going to help you with the kids tomorrow, it seems to me that we would be a more efficient team if we knew each other better.”
“We’re not a team.”
“We will be.”
“When snowballs survive in hell,” she said.
He ignored her remark and said wistfully, “It’s been a long time since I’ve played poker.”
“Why?” She tipped her head to the side and studied him. “Don’t you have any friends of your own?”
“Of course I have friends. What would make you ask that?”
“Now that Zane and Gwen are married, you must be pretty lonesome.” She gave him an impertinent look.
She thought he needed to make friends? She actually thought Zane Fortune was his only friend? She couldn’t genuinely believe that he had no one to hang out with. He cringed at the idea. When Griff got back, they were going to have a long talk about indebtedness. This favor was getting more complicated all the time.
And on top of her zingers, she was actually starting to appeal to him.
“No, I’m not lonesome. I have my spreadsheets to keep me warm,” he said. Not to mention thoughts of her long legs…. That image made him hot all over. “I just like to play cards. Okay?” he asked more abrasively than he had intended.
“Even if I’m there?”
Especially if you’re there and your brother isn’t, he thought. “How can you ask that?” Before she could answer he took her arm and said, “Let’s go, Mattie. Seven card stud awaits.”
“Huh?”
“No worries,” he said, imitating her. “You’ll find out.”
But he didn’t miss the gleam in her eyes at the word stud.
The ranch hands lived in a bunkhouse about three-quarters of a mile from the main house. With Griff around, she’d never had a chance to see the inside. But she’d heard the guys talking, and knew it was Ethan and Bobby Lee’s turn to host tonight’s poker game. Mattie wanted to jump into the truck she used to get herself around the ranch, but Dawson insisted on walking. It seemed odd to her, since there was a chill November wind blowing. But then, it seemed odd that he was with her at all.
She’d been half joking when she’d said it, but maybe he really didn’t have any friends. That, along with the fact that he was cooped up inside far too much, pushing around all those numbers, made her feel kind of sorry for him. It could explain why he wanted to hoof it to the bunkhouse. He must have a fresh air deficiency.
It wasn’t easy keeping up with his long stride. She was slightly winded by the time they stepped onto the wooden bunkhouse porch. Low voices drifted to them from inside. Now that she was here, Mattie was a little nervous. She was almost grateful that Dawson was with her so she didn’t have to walk in alone. It was a bit like going to a school dance with one of her brothers, except that Dawson Prescott would mind his own business and not hers once they were inside. Anticipation chased away her nerves.
She was about to knock, then glanced at him. The light next to the door picked up the angles of his face, making it look rugged and very masculine. And quite attractive. Her heart gave a strange little lurch. When she spoke, her voice was slightly breathless. From their sprint over here, no doubt, she thought. Because she couldn’t believe that he was starting to look good to her.
“You don’t have to do this if you’re tired,” she told him.
“On the contrary. I’m looking forward to it.” He looked at her uncertainly. “I should warn you about something.”
“What?” she asked.
“Cowboys don’t like to play cards with a woman.”
She gaped at him for a moment, then shook her head. “Surely you can do better than that, Dawson.”
He was trying to talk her out of playing. Why? More importantly, why had he suddenly agreed to accompany her? She’d been on the Double Crown for several months, and they’d had little contact. When he’d first suggested coming with her to the game, she’d wondered if, possibly, he was intimidated by Griff and was taking advantage of the fact that her brother was gone to hang out with her. Now she knew she’d been wrong. He was trying to get rid of her. But Matilda Fortune didn’t scare easy.
“Seriously, Mattie. Cowboys are superstitious. They think it’s bad luck to deal a woman in.”
“Then why did they invite me?” She tried to keep her voice level and pleasant. Not easy when she wanted to bop him.
“They’re superstitious and polite.”
“I’m willing to risk it.”
“It’s your funeral,” he said. He shrugged and stuck his hands in his pockets, lifting his suit jacket.
It was a blatantly masculine pose in spite of his sissy suit. That made her wonder what he would look like dressed in jeans and boots, like a cowboy. She had a feeling the image would give her no peace of mind.
“Okay,” she answered with an emphatic nod, then rapped on the door.
“Come in.” That was Bobby Lee’s voice.
Mattie turned the knob and pushed the door inward. She was surprised to see that only three cowboys were there. Ethan and Bobby Lee who shared the cabin, and Burch Picket, a hand who had been hired around the time she’d arrived. They looked up from their cards when Mattie walked in.
She had a quick impression of wooden floors and several bunks. In the corner, there were couches and a couple of chairs in front of a television. The other corner held a small kitchen complete with refrigerator and stove. There was an empty space in the middle because they’d pulled the table into the cabin’s main room for the game.
Her gaze rested on dark-haired, brown-eyed Ethan. She knew he was right around her own age, but he looked about seventeen. Even his sunburned face didn’t hide the fact that he’d hardly started shaving yet. She thought he was cute, but was vaguely disturbed that being in the same room with him didn’t produce any sort of physical response on her part. Not the
