Waltz With Me, Cowboy

by Debra Holt

  An eyebrow raised, and he reached out a hand toward her, a slight tilt of his head as he returned her gaze. “I can just imagine where that place might be, but you can just hand it to me instead.”

  She dropped the paper in his palm, careful not to make contact with him. Her hands then went into the pockets of her tailored, gray-striped jacket. Calla was glad she had changed into one of her ‘power’ suits as her sisters called more than half of her wardrobe. It bolstered her confidence like a professional shield of sorts, ready for a battle. She might not be in a courtroom any longer, but she was still ready to fight any menace that crossed her path.

  As his attention was on the paper, she noted the dark, mahogany-colored hair that skimmed his collar in back and still looked a bit damp from his shower. A few tendrils tended to curl a bit at the top of his ears. Her fingers moved into balls in her pockets when her thoughts strayed to whether or not the thick hair on his head would be as soft to the touch as it appeared. With clarity, she knew that the less time she spent within the vicinity of this man the better. Keep a distance and keep your head. No detours.

  One more sweep of his gaze across the paper and then he dropped it on his desk. “I take it you don’t agree with the ruling. There are channels to lodge your complaint. Alice can help you with those.”

  He moved toward the door and paused with his hand on the doorknob. A slow smile was bestowed in her direction. “Thank you for expressing your opinion to city hall.”

  The cowboy-mayor was dismissing her! She stopped as she drew even with him. Even in her heels, she had to look up a bit. Calla was not about to back down. “That’s all the concern you have for a citizen’s complaint? I can assure you that city hall has neither seen nor heard the last of me on this matter.”

  The smile curved into a slow grin that deepened the grooves beside it and there was a decided gleam in those eyes. “I’m looking forward to that, Miss Rose.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  Lily looked up from her pruning of one of the many rose bushes as Calla made her way through the vine-covered arbor and slowly along the stone walkway toward the steps at the front of the house. “Oh, dear. By the look on your face, I take it things didn’t go well at the mayor’s office?”

  “You could say that,” Calla replied, for once not caring about what the dust and rough wood might do to her designer slacks as she sank onto the second wooden step, her jacket folded across her lap. “Remember that cowboy you passed earlier on the porch with the beer problem?”

  “Who could forget him?”

  Calla shook her head. Her sister’s words were spot on in more ways than one. “Well, seems he isn’t just a cowboy. He happens to be the mayor, too.”

  “Oh, my… oh no, Calla.” Lily placed her shears into the small yellow plastic bucket beside her and withdrew her work gloves. “I hope you were able to apologize for the beer bath and were reasonably polite in discussing the issue of the ramp?”

  Calla was quiet… too quiet. Lily stood and moved to sit on the same step, her gaze trained on her sister who wasn’t meeting her look but pretending an interest in the bush next to her. “I already tried to apologize at least three times and offered to clean his clothing. As for a discussion, he brushed me off with some meeting he was late for and I could fill out a handful of forms his secretary handed me and ‘go through channels’, quote, unquote. The man has a real attitude.”

  “I see. How did the conversation end?”

  Calla blew out a breath. “Okay, so I might have mentioned what he could do with that piece of paper and all.”

  “That’s what I thought. You should never have gone stomping off to city hall when you’re in one of those moods. You would think being a lawyer; you would handle these things better.”

  “Really? Well, I hate to tell you that handling a cheap ramp in an alley isn’t quite on the same par with arguing a multi-million-dollar corporate litigation in front of a jury. Guess my one on one people skills are getting rusty.”

  “I’m sorry,” Lily’s tone relented. “I know none of this is easy for you. You left a high-powered career in a fancy law firm to come to McKenna Springs and try to save the family business… a ninety-year old dance hall. You’re allowed to be more than a little on edge about things. I just wish I could help you out more.”

  Calla flashed a warm smile at her sister. “I know you do and you are…really you are. It’s a big help with you doing the books for me on the weekends. I know it’s a pain for you to have to drive out here from Austin every Friday and back to town late on Sunday.”

  “Well, I don’t mind. It gets me out of the city and I get to come here and work on the books and also on getting Mom’s rose garden back into some form of shape. It’s a stress reliever for me, being out here. I just wish I had paid more attention when mom would talk about what she was doing for her flowers. I’ve been trying to read a lot of articles I’ve found online and the lady at the plant nursery in town is being helpful.”

  “I understand what you mean. I wish everyday… several times a day… that I had paid more attention to dad and his business dealings on the Yellow Rose. He tried to talk to me about this or that subject whenever I came home, and I just blew him off… half listening, already thinking about the workload waiting for me on my desk each time I managed to come out here from San Antonio. I should have come home more often. All three of us should have come more often… especially after mom died. Dad needed us, but he was too proud to say anything. We were all just so busy with our own lives and careers.”

  “You had a career,” Lily pointed out. “I was and am a glorified bookkeeper in a cubby-hole of an office without a window, working with numbers all day and no real communication with any other human being. It isn’t anywhere near as glamorous as being an attorney at a prestigious law firm.”

  Calla shook her head at the description. “Not so glamorous any longer. And certainly not near as brilliant in the common sense and brains department as I thought I was. Or else, I would still be in my corner office and that slimy snake Barclay Kirkwood would be the one outside looking in.”

  “You’re still brilliant… just wounded. What happened to you happens to lots of women every day. Some sleaze-ball man tried to make you a victim. You feel like a foolish idiot, but you aren’t. You fell for a man with a smooth line. He promised you the moon and you believed him. At the time, you had no reason not to do so. That doesn’t mean all men are like him, either. There are good ones to be found. Look at our dad… mom found a good one in him. You’ll still do that one day, too. I know it.”

  “Barclay lied about that moon and the junior partnership and he lied about being separated from his wife. In fact, I can’t think of anything he didn’t lie about.” Calla still cringed inside when she thought back to the scene in the middle of the plush reception area of the law firm, when her blinders had been removed, and she confronted him at the same time his wife decided to do the same.

  She brushed away the memory like a pestering fly. The sooner she could forget the hurt and embarrassment, the better off she would be in the new version of her life she was making now. “I can say that it was a lesson well-learned. No man will ever make a fool of me again. And that includes this small-town mayor.”

  Lily smiled at her sister’s tough attitude. “Well, you have me and Jaz at your back.”

  “Speaking of Jaz,” Calla said, changing the subject, “she should be out here next weekend. She’s just too busy at the restaurant this week.”

  “She works too many hours. I worry about the both of you,” Lily admitted.

  “I think we’re supposed to worry about you… the baby sister. Not the other way around. Although, I will admit, you may be the toughest one of us all.”

  “I’m not tough,” Lily shook her head. “I wish I was.” Her eyes rested on the fountain in the center of the garden that was dry at the moment. “I also wish I could figure out how to get that fountain working again. I’ve tried everything it said to do online. It p
robably needs a new pump.”

  “Well, it doesn’t bother me if it doesn’t work. It’s not like I have time to sit out here and watch the roses grow. I’m here in this monstrosity of a house long enough to sleep and that’s about it. I eat at the dance hall and have my office there. So, don’t worry about the fountain not working on my account.”

  “I just wish we could do something to make this place special like it used to be when we were growing up.”

  Calla’s smile softened. “You miss mom and dad. They made it all special for us. Not much we can do about that.”

  “I like to think there is. And I need to get back to pruning the roses. I just completed Jaz’s roses and now I’m going to work on yours.” She stood, drawing on her gloves again.

  “Mom and her silly rose naming. Jaz got the yellow roses. You got the pink roses. And I got the red ones. I always wanted the white roses.”

  “The red rose suits you more.”

  “I’ll take your word for it.” Calla stood also. “I’m going to change my clothing and try to get more of dad’s inventory files into some kind of order this evening… or at least try to make a bigger dent in it than I already have.”

  “I’ll have dinner on the table at seven. Don’t make me come get you.”

  “Yes, mother.” She grinned at her little sister as she reached the top step and headed for the front door of the house.

  “Don’t work too late tonight,” Alice admonished the man seated behind the massive desk, its top cluttered with papers and surveys and stacks of mail. “You spend too much time here.”

  Ty Conners knew the woman was right. She was usually right about a lot of things. The main one had been about his needing his head examined to want to take on being mayor of McKenna Springs, in addition to, keeping the family ranch running and his brother Jake’s investment company in the black while he was gone. The investment company was supposed to be his brother’s business to run, but Jake had left McKenna Springs after his engagement to Kylie Summers had fizzled. He had struck out to ‘clear his head’ and Ty guessed he was still doing that some eight months later.

  The postcards were few and far between, but at least he knew he was still alive… just not in the state of Texas. Occasionally, Jake would chime in on some financial matter with the investment company, but more often than not, he remained silent. Ty could care less about the company, but he needed to keep it going until he could toss the reins back into his brother’s hands and be done with it.

  “I placed the appeal paperwork on the top of the stack of files on your desk. I trust you found it?”

  His eyes fell on the paperwork he had placed to the side after reading it… more than once. “Yes, I saw it. You know it’s not going to pass. We’re within our rights and they’re breaking the building code, not to mention safety issues and who knows what else we could find.”

  “Be that as it may, sometimes you need to give people a break… more like a helping hand and being a good neighbor.”

  “How would being a good neighbor fit in with this?”

  “The Rose family has been a part of McKenna Springs for quite a while… far back as I can remember at any rate. That dance hall, The Yellow Rose, is full of history. It’s coming up on its ninetieth year of doing business. Not too many places can claim that these days. And it’s taking a lot of guts for Calla Rose to come back here, giving up her fancy lawyer job in San Antonio, and trying to keep her family’s legacy going. You can appreciate that… you’re doing the same for your family’s ranch and all. Can’t you?” She gave him a long, level look over the rim of her glasses.

  She had him there. But there were laws to uphold. Why did he have the feeling this subject was not going away anytime soon? “Calla Rose is an attorney? And she came back here to run a dance hall? This must really be a big change in more ways than one. But being an attorney, she should know codes are in place for a reason. We don’t go breaking them simply because the person has a history with the place.”

  “Well, you should check things out for yourself. That Junior Davis tends to take his job a bit too seriously sometimes like the time he gave a citation to Maude Smith for her chicken coop being three inches into the city’s variance. Maude Smith lives on a fixed income and those eggs from her chickens helps supplement it. All he needed to do was to explain it to her and maybe even help her move the coop back those three inches. But, no… he had to be a horse’s ‘patootie’ and give her a $200.00 fine. Of course, some good Samaritan did pay the fine for her.” Her eyebrow arched as she gave him a knowing smile.

  “And I’m sure that person wishes to stay anonymous.”

  “He will… although that hint of a halo keeps poking out from underneath the Stetson now and then.”

  “Go home. You don’t worry about me. I’ll be heading out in just a few minutes.” Ty reassured the woman. She gave a shake of head and the expression on her face told him that she wasn’t buying that one. But she wasn’t going to argue.

  “Mind you lock everything up when you do go. Night.” The door closed behind her and quiet settled around him.

  Ty’s gaze settled on the appeal form again. Calla Rose. Her handwriting was legible in clear, concise penmanship. Matched the woman he met… clear and concise. She was all buttoned up and ready for battle; not a hair out of place and wardrobe expensive and professional. If he read her right, she wasn’t the type to back down from much. Just the small amount of time he had spent in her company had told him that much. Evidently, she had a strong sense of family loyalty… if she was willing to give up a lucrative law career in the big city and come back to a quiet country town. Or was there more to it?

  He had to admit she was quite something the way she had faced him down. She might be used to getting her way in a courtroom, but she was clearly in the wrong here. Or was she? He had to admit what Alice said about Junior Davis was correct. He was overzealous more often than not. But he had gotten the job when Ty’s predecessor had been prone to hand out city jobs to more than a few of his relatives. Ty had managed to sort through most of the dead wood in the city hall in the nine months he had been in office, but Junior was one of the last couple of holdouts.

  Calla Rose. He didn’t like the fact that the woman kept popping into his mind more than a few times since she had left his office. When he had turned from the bar and set eyes on her for the first time, he had definitely had his brain short-circuited for a few moments. He couldn’t remember any female having that impact before. It caught him off guard and few things had the power to do that.

  There was something in those silver-gray eyes that had met his full on, no hesitation and no shyness, just a steady, bold strength. Whatever else he might not know about her, he had a hunch that she was not someone to back down from a good fight or a just cause. He’d wager that she would give as good as she got.

  She was also a beautiful woman. She might dress a bit conservatively…maybe more than a little…but he had a pretty good idea there was quite a seductive body under all that ‘lawyer-dressing’. He wouldn’t be opposed to seeing a lot more of it. But then again, she did have a prickly shell around her. He could almost see the ‘keep hands off’ sign blinking above her head. It was a frosty front she had met him with. It would take a determined man not afraid of a little frostbite to warm her up and soften the ‘determined’ side of her. Someone with a lot more time on their hands and a lot less aversion to pain than him. Time to leave on that note. Reaching for the lamp on his desk, he switched it off… and hoped to do the same to a certain pair of gray eyes playing hide and seek in his mind.

  CHAPTER THREE

  “Well, this looks like a ‘happening’ kind of place. Lots of delivery trucks, painters repainting signs, floors being redone. Pop would be proud.” The voice belonged to the slender woman standing in the doorway of the dance hall, her short denim skirt showed off a length of tanned legs that disappeared into the tall brown cowboy boots with silver stars embroidered on them. The denim vest and white
blouse completed the picture. Calla knew it was more than just a ‘look’… it was who her sister Jasmine was.

  She was the unconventional one of the three Rose sisters. More often than not, she had been the first one to push the edge of the envelope growing up. She had certainly been the one sister to be grounded by a parent more than the rest during their high school days. Her mane of reddish-blonde hair fell almost to her waist and was brushed back from her forehead and held in place by a sparkly headband. While Calla and Lily had inherited their mother’s blonde looks, Jaz matched the red hair of their father.

  Lively green eyes danced around the cavernous room and landed back on her sister. “Calla Rose… dance hall proprietress. Or is it just proprietor? I would hate to be politically incorrect.”

  “Since when?” Calla grinned back. The two women met in a hug midway across the floor. “Just call me ‘that crazy Rose sister’… that’s what most of the townspeople are probably saying and thinking behind my back.”

  “Well, I’d say I’m glad you’ve taken my place in the gossip annuls of this town.”

  “Happy I could help out. Does Lily know you’re here?”

  “Yes, I dropped my bags off in my old room before coming over. She’s really throwing herself into cleaning and refurbishing… even momma’s rose garden is beginning to come alive again.”

  “Lily always was the one more like momma than either one of us,” Calla had to admit. “And you’re like daddy. You are definitely the wild card of this family.”

  “And then there’s you,” Jaz spoke up, shaking her mane of hair. “Still waters and all that stuff. You’re a blend of both of them. You project momma on the service, all cool and calm and deep thinking. But there’s a shimmer of daddy’s wit and daring and gambling ways just beneath the surface of those waters.”

  “I’ll take that assessment. But right now,” Calla replied, turning to the lead the way to the back-patio doorway. “I’ll let you know what I’m thinking would be a gamble for you.”