Tyler Read online

  “But we didn’t need any help.”

  “Jolene Langley!” Emily said, immediately contrite. “She’s just feeling poorly and doesn’t know what she’s saying.”

  “Are you two ready to simmer down?” Jake asked.

  Brave man, Emily thought smiling.

  “I’m about ready to call the sheriff, if you two don’t sit down and shut up.”

  Tyler’s words had Emily mentally hog-tying the man and slapping a piece of duct tape over his big mouth. Then she’d haul him off to bed and get back to acting out her latest fantasy. She had a few really long scarves in her top drawer… she smiled, thinking that she was just the woman to handle the job.

  He frowned, and she thought, Men. Totally clueless.

  The longer he stared, the more Emily wondered if what she was thinking wasn’t such a secret any longer.

  And then he smiled, and Emily realized that he might be clueless where women were concerned, but he sure as heck was beautiful.

  Lord love her, she’d always been a fool for a dark-eyed, broad-shouldered cowboy.

  Chapter 9

  Emily fell asleep waiting for Tyler. She couldn’t say what it was that woke her from a deep sleep, but she knew something must have. Blinking, wiping the sleep from her eyes, she shifted in bed and groaned.

  How could she forget about her knee? Damn had she really fallen asleep and missed her first chance to get all tangled up with the man?

  The rhythmic snoring from the bedroom down the hall from her eased her mind that Jolene was still asleep, but didn’t give her a clue about where Tyler was. Annoyed at herself first and Tyler second, she wondered why he hadn’t just snuggled up in bed with her if he couldn’t wake her. Double damn. Too honorable, he probably wouldn’t. She sighed and heard another sound. Not able to decide if the noise she heard was someone downstairs in the bar or a little creature with black, beady eyes looking for a midnight snack that had disturbed her sleep, Emily strained to listen.

  Thud. Thump.

  Heart racing, hand to her breast, she sat up in bed. “That’s no mouse!”

  Tossing the covers aside, she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and stood at the exact moment glass broke and someone cursed. She didn’t waste any time, and she wasn’t going to lie in bed waiting for whoever it was to come upstairs.

  She limped to her cousin’s room. “Jolene,” she rasped, shaking her cousin’s shoulder.

  “Mmmpf…”

  “Jo, wake up!” Her stomach began to churn. “Someone’s downstairs in the bar.”

  Her cousin mumbled something into her pillow, but Emily couldn’t make it out.

  “Jolene. Wake up!”

  Her cousin lifted her head and groaned. “The guys are downstairs. Remember?”

  “Fighting?”

  Jolene swore beneath her breath and mumbled, “How would I know?”

  They both heard the splinter of either a chair or table being smashed. Jolene shot up in bed and was out from under the covers before Emily could straighten up; they’d nearly knocked heads. “Somebody’s wrecking our place!”

  “Before you woke up, I heard some loud noises, then something broke and somebody cursed. Maybe whoever broke in took out Tyler and Jake and is trashing the place.”

  The look on her cousin’s face changed from fear to anger. “Then let’s go get the sonsofbitches!”

  Emily grabbed a hold of Jolene’s hand. “We don’t know how many there are.” She wasn’t afraid exactly, just being cautious; it was a new feeling for her.

  “Probably three or four, if they got the jump on the guys.”

  Emily hesitated. “Maybe we should call 911.”

  But Jolene was already moving toward the closet. She reached in and pulled out a hockey stick, which she immediately handed to Emily. She reached inside again, this time pulling out a Louisville Slugger.

  So much for calling 911 or being defenseless.

  Jolene motioned for her to follow, and Emily nodded. As they crept down the stairs, sweat beaded on Emily’s forehead and between her breasts. She shivered and looked down. Damn! She forgot she’d been too tired earlier to look for her favorite T-shirt to sleep in. When Jolene had pulled two miniscule nightgowns out of her top drawer and had tossed the silky black one at her, she grabbed it and put it on while her cousin had donned the copper-colored chemise.

  “Sonofabitch!” a deep voice yelled.

  The women froze on the steps, their eyes wide and backs pressed hard against the handrail.

  “Jo,” Emily whispered. ”Was that Jake?”

  Jolene turned toward her, and from the look on her cousin’s face, Emily realized they wouldn’t be waiting. “Not sure… could be, but this is our place,” Jolene rasped. “And no one is going to break into it or hurt one of our men if I have anything to say about it.”

  She grabbed the bat in Jolene’s hands, holding her cousin in place. “But Jo, what if—” Another thud echoed in the night, this time followed by a series of loud curses and what sounded like someone getting punched.

  Their eyes met and their gazes held. Emily nodded. “Hell, if you’re going, then I’m going. What are a few more bumps?”

  Jolene grinned and Emily was ready. They tiptoed the rest of the way down.

  ***

  “Jake,” Tyler ground out, “can’t you hang on to those two while I take care of the others?”

  The grunted response said it all. “Hang on.” Tyler finished off the knot he could tie in his sleep. It’d hold. “What’s the problem?” he demanded coming up from behind the man.

  “These two are so drunk, they’re slippery,” Jake explained. “I can’t hang on to either of them long enough to tie them up.”

  Tyler watched for a few minutes and sighed. “You grab here,” he pointed to the one young man’s belt. “And I’ll grab his buddy.”

  Just then the four teenagers they’d caught breaking into the bar got their nerve back. “Hey what gives?” one yelled, while the other three mumbled and cursed, but Tyler could hear the underlying edge of fear in their voices.

  “You broke in to our friend’s bar and tried to steal a keg of Shiner Bock… my favorite beer,” Tyler told them.

  “And we stopped you.” Jake shook his head, asking, “What were you kids thinking?”

  “Hey,” the same one answered, “we would have gotten away with it if you guys weren’t here.”

  “Yeah,” another one spoke up. “We heard this place is run by a bunch of women.”

  “They’d be a cinch to steal from,” said another.

  “Shit.” Jake swore. “Behind you!”

  Tyler spun, ready to fend off another intruder. All he could see was someone in the shadows swinging something at his head.

  He dipped to the side, and the blow glanced off his shoulder. Used to being quick on his feet, he straightened up and grabbed the weapon and the intruder.

  Silken curves crashed against him as a mass of curls swept across his naked chest. His body shivered in response as recognition slammed into him. “Emily!”

  “Tyler?”

  Rage, hot and potent, boiled through his gut, spewing from between his lips. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” He’d nearly tossed her to the ground after grabbing… “And what the hell did you try to hit me with?” he demanded, reaching for the weapon clutched in her hands. “A hockey stick?”

  Someone turned on the dim lights behind the bar as he looked from the weapon to the woman holding it. She was dressed in a silky black slip that rode high on her thighs, exposing the curvy length of her well-toned legs. Lust hit him hard, low, and inside. The sight of all that cream-colored flesh got his heart pumping and parts of him standing at attention. Jake appeared at his side with a baseball bat in his hands. Tyler shook his head and looked over at the other shadowy figure, knowing it was Emily’s hardheaded cousin.

  “What are you two doing?” Tyler demanded.

  “What does it look like?” Jolene ground out.

&nbs
p; “Protecting our bar,” Emily answered.

  “Together they just might have half a brain,” Jake grumbled.

  “I’ll have you know—” Jolene began only to be interrupted by the sight of the teenagers tied together, sitting up, leaning against the bar, like an old time photo of an outlaw gang that had been brought in for the bounty on their heads, slung together in front of the sheriff’s office for the photo that would record the deed for posterity.

  “My, my,” she drawled. “What have we here?”

  Emily chuckled. “I do believe our men have done our work for us and gift-wrapped the culprits with a bow. If y’all had waited, I’ve got this roll of red ribbon upstairs.”

  “Whoa,” one of the boys rasped. “Did you know they’d be such babes?”

  Tyler kicked the bottom of the boy’s boot for noticing. “Shut up.”

  The one next to his friend groaned. “Man, have we died and gone to heaven?”

  Jake nudged the boy’s buddy, repeating Tyler’s words, before asking, “Don’t you know you’re in serious trouble?”

  “Tyler—” Emily began.

  “Holy shit!” one of the boys groaned. “Ty, is that you?”

  Tyler flicked on the overhead lights and shook his head. “Timmy, can’t you keep out of trouble for just one week?”

  “Shoot, Ty,” the tallest of the group answered. “We were just gonna get us some free beer.”

  “You’re not old enough to buy beer,” he reminded them.

  “Heck,” Timmy answered, “we weren’t going to buy it; we were gonna take it.”

  “Do you realize that stealing is a crime?” Emily rounded on the group of boys with her hands on hips and her hair spilling wildly over her shoulders. One look and Tyler’s concentration flew right out the window. Earlier he’d raced upstairs, ready to take Emily up on her earlier promise only to find she’d been fast asleep, her silky red hair spread across the white of her pillow. Lust had him by the throat, but he couldn’t do anything about it, and he hadn’t been able to wake her up. Without an invitation from the pretty lady, he wasn’t going to be crawling into bed beside her.

  The whispered comments caught his attention. He didn’t have to look at the boys to know they were still staring at the women… his woman in particular. “Close your eyes, boys,” he ground out. “You’re not old enough to look at either Ms. Langley in their nightclothes.”

  “Hey, we didn’t get the beer; the least you can let us do is take in the eye candy, man. How old do you think they are, Timmy?”

  Tyler reached out and rapped Timmy on the head. “Don’t answer that or I’m calling the law instead of your uncle.”

  “Jeez, Ty. Ain’t no harm in looking.”

  He ground his teeth together. “Look boys, you’ve already committed one crime—”

  “That’s right, Tyler,” Emily said, walking over to where he stood.

  When he looked down into her upturned face, he felt the floor shift beneath him. Her beauty reached out and grabbed him in a choke hold while need for her roared through him like a three alarm fire. He fought hard for control and won. “Yeah?”

  “The only crime that’s been committed here so far is breaking and entering,” Emily said, nodding to the group struggling to loosen the knots in the length of rope that linked them together. “You and Jake stopped them before they got away with the keg.”

  “Which we may be willing to overlook.” Jolene stood on the other side of Tyler and poked him in the arm. “Are you paying attention?”

  She was waiting for him to say something, but he was distracted looking down at Em. Jolene shrugged and finally flat out asked, “What do you suggest we do then, call these boys’ families or Sheriff McClure?”

  The protests from the boys didn’t mean as much to him as what the women wanted. He’d like to keep Timmy out of trouble, but only because he’d known the boy since he was a toddler. He didn’t know the other boys well, but he’d seen them around town. They were pretty much harmless, just being drunk, stupid, and sixteen.

  “I think you all owe Ms. Jolene and Ms. Emily an apology,” Tyler suggested.

  “It’ll be up to them what we do with you,” Jake added.

  Jolene slipped around Tyler to where her cousin stood, and they linked arms, staring down at the boys.

  “Can’t you untie them?” Emily asked. “It seems cruel to have their hands and feet tied like that.”

  Tyler shook his head. “They haven’t apologized yet. Besides, why don’t you decide what you two want to do with them first,” he said, looking down at the boys. “Then we’ll see.”

  Jolene and Emily leaned in close to consult with one another, and Tyler was struck by the beauty of the women. Jolene sure was a looker, but Emily was the one who had his heart stuttering. Her black nightgown skimmed the tops of her thighs. Her riot of red curls spiraled over her cream-colored shoulders, just begging him to reel her in for a long slow tasting. A curl slipped forward and got caught on the edge of her nightgown, dragging his attention to her amazing breasts. He couldn’t blame the would-be beer-nappers for staring, but he didn’t have to like it, especially since he’d been denied the promised taste of her earlier and been sleeping in a chair down by the bar.

  Side by side, the sight had his gut clenching again. Two fiery haired angels… battered and bruised but beautiful. Damn, he had it bad.

  “Hey, Ty,” Timmy called out.

  When Tyler didn’t answer, the boy called him again.

  Emily turned around and the laughter in her eyes told him the juvenile attention didn’t bother her.

  “Er… Ms. Jolene,” Timmy said, clearing his throat, “we’re sorry.”

  “Yeah,” one of the others chimed in. “We didn’t mean to steal your beer… well, we did, but we didn’t mean…”

  “To get caught?” Jake suggested and the group fell silent.

  “We’re sorry, Ms. Emily,” Timmy added. “Can we make it up to you?”

  Emily and Jolene looked at one another and then the men. “Maybe. Are you boys afraid of hard work?”

  They all answered at once. “No, ma’am.”

  Jolene and Emily smiled. “Well then, I think we can let these boys loose before their families get here and charge us for cruel treatment, if they promise to come back later this afternoon. I’ve got some stock that needs shelving and a sign that needs re-hanging.”

  The group of boys looked at one another, and Em would bet they knew who’d shot their lucky star out front. They looked up at Tyler, and Timmy answered for the group, “Yes ma’am.”

  “I know Timmy’s Uncle Ned,” Tyler said. “When he hears that his nephew tried to steal a keg of Shiner, he’s toast.”

  “Is that true, Timmy?” Emily asked.

  Timmy hung his head then shrugged.

  “Tell her, Timmy.”

  “Do I have to, Ty?”

  “Yep.” If it hadn’t been his boss and her cousin that they had tried to steal from, he might not be as hard on the boys. When he was their age, he and his brothers had pulled a similar stunt, but that wasn’t the point. One of Timmy’s friends was bound to know who’d been taking target practice on the sign hanging outside of The Lucky Star. With any luck, he’d get the names out of Timmy and have the teenager and his friends watching out for the Langley women.

  “My Uncle’d skin me alive if he thought I tried to steal from you.”

  “Why did you?” Jolene asked.

  Timmy looked at the boy sitting next to him. “Steve double-dog dared me.” Hanging his head in shame, the boy sighed.

  “Well that makes sense to me,” Jolene said. “Let them go please, Tyler.”

  “Are you going to call their families?” Jake asked coming to stand beside his friend.

  Emily and Jolene shared a look and shook their heads. “Not this time,” Jolene said slowly. “And not if all y’all show up by three this afternoon ready to work.”

  “But if one of you is late, we’ll call Sheriff McClure and press
charges,” Emily added.

  “You sure?” Tyler asked the women.

  Emily nodded and Jolene urged, “Untie them, please.”

  Tyler shrugged and did as she asked. “Hand over your keys, guys.”

  “No way—”

  “You’ve all been drinking, and not one of you is going to drive home,” Tyler told them. “You can either walk home or call for a ride.”

  “But if we tell them to pick us up here, they’ll ground us for life!”

  “What’s wrong with here, boys?” Jolene drawled.

  Not one of them could look her or Emily in the eye. “Um… nothing, Ms. Jolene.”

  “Shoot, you know why,” Timmy grumbled. “On account of what Ms. Gorman told my Uncle Ned.”

  “I’d start walking if I were you boys,” Jake suggested.

  “I’ll call Dylan and ask him to call your uncle and tell him you got caught drinking with four of your friends, and that I wouldn’t let you drive home. He might pick you up by the time you reach our ranch.”

  Timmy’s shoulders slumped further. He looked from one man to the other and then at the Langley women. “All right. Thank you, ma’am,” he said to Jolene and then told Emily the same.

  “Don’t waste the lesson all y’all have learned here tonight,” Emily warned.

  “No, ma’am,” one of the boys called out. “It was a lesson well learned.”

  “We’re glad,” Jolene answered.

  “Amen to that,” another boy said. “We learned that redheads are way hotter than blondes.”

  Emily groaned and Tyler chuckled. “Start walking, guys.”

  Once the grumbling group left, Jake walked over to where Jolene was leaning against the bar and asked, “Where’s your sling?”

  Tyler noticed the way Jolene had started to lean toward the fire marshal, but then stopped when he asked that last question. Saying the Langley women were prickly was like saying a skunk had a slightly unpleasant smell. Besides the fact that these women spelled trouble with a capital T, reminding him of an old Travis Tritt song, they were like two peas… one pod. He shook his head. May as well tell it like it was. “Difficult as hell,” Tyler mumbled.