he couldn’t slow her down a bit. “Cissy. Please stop.”
She did, looking up at him. They stood on the sidewalk with the bright May sun washing the street in spring light, and he thought about how sweet she was. She had such a rep for being a tough cookie, but that was just her top layer. Once you got past her crunchiness, she was soft and sweet. “Thanks for rescuing me back there.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Of course, you didn’t have to make it sound like I was some over-the-hill, busted-up cowboy leftover.”
“Yes, I did. Marvella’s determined to beat her sister at all costs. She needed a better cowboy.”
“Hey!” He tugged lightly on her long, silvery hair. “Ain’t no better cowboy than this, lady.”
She cocked her head. “Maybe I disagree. However, I knew you felt that this was all my fault, and so I decided to snatch you back from Marvella’s jaws.”
“Had me going there for a minute. Thought you were going to buy me for yourself,” he said with a touch of swagger.
“No.” She said it calmly and with assurance. “I’ve already had you in my bedroom. Sparks didn’t fly.”
He stared at her. “They most certainly did, in the barn!”
“Maybe for you.” She shrugged. “It was fun upping your price. Too bad those girls are going to be disappointed.”
“What?” Now she was getting on his nerves again, just when he’d decided she was sweet and creamy!
“Well, they’re expecting a fun date. And a little more.”
“I’m taking them to the cafeteria. And giving them each a rose. Come on. That’s not too bad for a first date, is it?”
“Did it ever occur to you that they’re going to want something extra?”
“Hey, the girls will love going out for a nice meal. I mean, they seemed happy. And of course, I’ll spring for dessert.”
“Yes, but strawberry pie isn’t the something extra they’re going to want.”
He ignored that, since he had a suspicion she might be right. In fact, he was going to have to figure out a way around kissing all those girls. “Hey, Cissy, I need to talk to you.”
“We’re talking, Tex.”
Glancing around, he said, “In private.”
“Not my room. You exit like a bad stuntman.”
“You noticed?” He perked up instantly.
“Yeah. I could have heard the crash a mile away.”
“Oh.” He deflated again.
“And besides, I don’t want anyone to get any wrong ideas about you and me.”
“Meaning what?”
“That you…that we—”
“That I might be a customer?”
She stared at him. “A customer? I don’t do hair, Tex. I’m not a stylist.”
“That’s not what I meant, exactly.”
“What do you mean?”
He was getting annoyed because he didn’t want to be indelicate with her. “Come on, Cissy. You know very well what the Never Lonely Cut-n-Gurls salon has a reputation for. Taking real good care of their men.”
“I hope so. It is a service industry.”
“And a little more on the service side than your average Joe’s Barber Shop.”
She put her hands on her hips. “Are you insinuating that I’m a good-time girl?”
That puzzled him. “Well, aren’t you? Sort of? To make ends meet?”
She slapped him. “Ow! Cissy, what the hell!”
“Just slapping a little sense into you, cowboy.”
“Hang on a minute.” He grabbed her by her wrists and pulled her to him. “If you don’t mind, I’d like a straight answer. Marvella’s salon has a rep for being a whorehouse. True or false?”
She struggled against him. “I’m not friends with the other girls. I barely talk to them. They think I’m mean, and they hate me because Marvella wants me there so much. They assume I’m getting special treatment. I’m not. Marvella likes my look. She thinks I give her salon the appearance she wants it to have. I’m a hostess, you dork.”
He released her. “Dork?”
“All right. I’m sorry. But you shouldn’t have implied that I was…wait a minute. Never mind. You are a dork. And a typical guy.”
“Obviously, I was wrong about everything. I apologize.”
“I don’t know. I don’t ask the other girls what they do with their customers. My job is to look attractive, chat sweetly and take the customers to a lady who cuts their hair, manicures them, shaves them, pedicures them, waxes them—”
“Thank you. That will do just fine.”
They stared at each other.
“I think you know it doesn’t matter to me. You’re still someone I want to hang around with. I do apologize,” Tex said. “It was none of my business.”
“I bet you are sorry. Sorry that you got won by ten nice girls. If we’d thought about pooling together at Never Lonely Cut-n-Gurls, you could have been bought by a trashy bunch. And that would have been your dream come true.”
“Actually, I don’t know what my dream is anymore.” He took a deep breath. “Let me buy you lunch.”
“No, thanks.”
Damn, but she was prickly. “Here’s my best and final offer, because I can tell you’re really hungry.”
“I’m—”
He held up a hand to interrupt her denial. “Let me buy us some fried chicken. Then I’ll drive us out to Barmaid’s Creek. It’s too cold to swim, but we can sit and look at the water. And I can talk to you. I promise, no hanky-panky.”
She sighed. “That’s not exactly an offer a girl can’t refuse. So…no.”
Defeated, he knew he couldn’t blame her for not wanting to be with him. She’d rescued him from Marvella, and he’d repaid her by insulting her. “So. I guess we’ll just talk right here. Where anybody can hear us.”
“Guess so.”
He nodded. “All right. I was discussing your contract with Brian, Mimi’s lawyer husband because Ranger
