Stranger in Paradise
Page 12
“Welcome to Dusty’s.” The man behind the polished counter greeted her with a friendly smile and went on with stacking clean glasses on the shelves. “I’m Dusty. What can I get you?”
Aimee slipped off her coat and placed it on the back of the stool. She looked up and caught the man studying her.
“Stinger, on the rocks,” she answered. “You know how to make one?”
His brows rose and he nodded. “Sure thing. Comin’ right up.” He began to put the drink together.
“Is there a problem?” she asked, sliding into her seat, beginning to regret her impulsive decision.
He shrugged. “Not at all. Forgive me. I make it a point of knowing my customers. This is your first time here, am I right?”
She nodded.
“You’re that second-grade teacher up to school? Saw your picture in the paper after you came to town.” He tossed her a smile.
Aimee propped her forearms on the rolled leather rest of the bar and gave the man a pointed look. “That’s me, and at the risk of starting all kinds of rumors, my nerves are a bit frazzled by what I’ve just driven through. I’m sort of celebrating getting back here unscathed, before I head on home. You okay with that?” She pushed a hand through her hair. “Sorry, I don’t mean to sound like a—” She stopped herself. It was enough she was here; she probably shouldn’t add cussing to the rumor mill.
“Sounds like the lady could use a drink, Dusty.” She looked to her left and found a handsome face with an equally charming smile. His eyes were a startling blue and he wore his thick, wavy hair combed back over his ears. Broad shoulders filled out his too-small black T-shirt with a faded Metallica logo on the front. He perched his boot on the foot rail and leaned on his elbow, his gaze focused on her. He looked perfectly at home.
The barkeep scooted her drink across on a napkin. “Five-fifty,” he stated, picking up his towel. Aimee fished through her purse in search of her pocketbook.
“Let me get this, darlin’.” Mr. Metallica slapped a ten on the bar and gave her a cocky grin.
The predatory glint in his eye made it obvious where he hoped his gesture would go.
“That isn’t necessary.” She started to pull her money out.
He smacked a hand to his heart. “I realize, sweetheart, but there are so few times when I’ve had the good fortune to meet an angel in the flesh.”
Dusty chuckled and Aimee offered the stranger a congenial smile. Clearly, he was well practiced in the art of pick-up lines.
“Steve? You gonna play or what?” One of the guys came in from the back room, a pool cue resting on his shoulder. He passed Aimee a glance.
“Don’t suppose you play pool, do you, angel?” Mr. Metallica asked. He looked her over as his lip curved in a come-hither smile.
Aimee shook her head and swirled the ice cubes in her drink. She wished he’d take his friend’s invitation to return to the game.
He leaned closer, his grin blossoming into a full-blown, sexy smile. Maybe it was the drink, the storm, or the after effect of the handsome cowboy lingering still in her mind, but damn, to a woman wanting some company Mr. Metallica was seriously tempting.
“Well, if my luck holds out, maybe you’ll be here when I get through?”
She offered him a smile. “I don’t think so.” He slid his fingers over hers, letting them linger on her skin. Charming was one thing, pushy another.
“You’re sure?” He lowered his voice.
“Steve, come on man! We’ve got money riding on this one.”
“Quite.” She slid her hand from his.
He stood, towering over her, giving her one last look at his powerfully sexy physique. “Maybe another time. My friends and I come up here a lot. The food… is excellent.” He tossed the bartender a look.
“You best get on in there, Steve.” Dusty nodded toward the friend who waited impatiently at the back-room door. “They’ll be starting without you.”
He swaggered toward the door, then glanced over his shoulder with a parting, impish grin.
“Good Lord,” she muttered and finished her drink.
“Mind if I offer a piece of friendly advice?” Dusty spoke, his focus intent on the pilsner he polished.
Aimee hopped off the stool and slid into her jacket. “You mean about Steve? Yeah, I know a player when I see one, no worries.” She tugged her purse over her shoulder. “But thank you for keeping an eye on a girl.”
A slow smile crept over the bartender’s face. “He and his buddies live a few miles down the road. They come in a couple of times a week to play pool. You okay to drive home?”
“Yeah, I’m good. Thanks, Dusty.”
“Come on back anytime.”
Aimee smiled. Unless she was with someone, the chances were slim. She stopped at the end of the bar and turned to him. “Say, listen. Maybe you can help me out with something. You said you know a lot of folks around here?”
He shrugged. “Seems, eventually, they all come through here. I’ve got the only jukebox and bar for miles around.”
She chewed her lip and wondered whether it was wise to inquire openly about the stranger on the ranch. What could it hurt? The worst thing she’d possibly find out was that he was married, recently divorced, or engaged in some bitter custody battle over his kids. She took a breath and charged ahead. “I was wondering about something… someone, actually.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“Well, I stopped to get directions at this place up the road. Looks like a giant ski lodge down in the valley… south a little ways, just off eighty-nine.”
He nodded. “Yeah, I’m guessing you mean the Last Hope Ranch. Fine looking place. Jed Kinnison, God rest his soul, and those three boys created quite a cattle business down there. Hard workers, all of them.”
Aimee swallowed. “There’s more than one?” She tried not to sound giddy. “I only met one of them. He’s got dark hair, intense, kind of bossy.” She gave him a half smile. “Very bossy.”
“Yeah, that’d be the oldest of Jed’s boys—Wyatt. I heard Dalton and Rein had left on their annual sales trip.”
“Sales?” she asked, her mind, simmering still on the old-fashioned name of Wyatt.
“Yep, Last Hope is one of the last working cattle ranches in these parts. Has been for as long as I’ve been around. Every winter they sell off some of the herd to feedlots down in Iowa and Missouri.”
“But Wyatt isn’t involved in… the sales?” Bartenders were a lot like beauticians, Aimee discovered. Get them started and they could dish on about anybody.
He chuckled. “Not Wyatt. No, he prefers to stay home, keep an eye on things at the ranch. Kind of a loner, but a nice enough guy. Quiet. Now you take his younger brother, Dalton. There’s a social guy. You’d like him. Flirts like hell, loves to dance and kid around, but he has a good heart. The boy would give you the shirt off his back. They all would. Jed raised some real fine men.”
“Sounds like you have a lot of respect for them.” Aimee adjusted her purse and started to leave, her attention drawn to the loud ruckus going on in the back room.
Dusty glanced toward the sound, sighed, and waited for the noise to settle before he spoke. “Jed, rest his soul, did lots for this community. Rein is the third of Jed’s brood and his only nephew. Poor kid came to live with them after his parents were killed. Now Rein has a head for business. He helped me get this place back on track after I hit a rough patch. Jed raised the three as brothers. He left himself quite a legacy in these parts.”
Aimee smiled, even more curious why it was she’d never heard any of them mentioned by her peers at school. Still, she supposed teachers and ranchers didn’t necessarily run in the same circles, unless of course they taught their children--which left a question burning in the mind of any red-blooded, single woman. Were any of them married? That was a question for her friend, Sally. “Thanks, Dusty.”
She waved a quick goodbye and hurried to her car. The snow had slowed to intermittent flakes by the time she climb
ed in and turned on the ignition to warm it up. She glanced at her watch and realized she had just enough time to get home and register for the online poetry class she promised Sally she’d take. Aside from her duties as the End of the Line’s elementary music teacher, Sally moonlighted as an online instructor through Billings Community College. She spotted the map on the seat, picked it up, and thought of Wyatt’s sincere concern for her safety. True, he hadn’t smiled much… at all, in fact, but his gaze was kind, if not tinged with a puzzling look that made her want to know more about what he’d been thinking. Still, in the entire time she was alone with him, she never felt threatened, as she had around Mr. Metallica in a public bar.
Aimee tucked the map into the console between the seats and eased her car out onto the main road. For as early as it was in the evening, she could’ve shot a cannon down the street. Like a scene from It’s A Wonderful Life, the store fronts were dark, in contrast to the festive holiday wreaths waving in the wintery challenge of the wind. Small white lights dotted the branches of the dwarf trees along the businesses, twinkling with each northerly breeze. A twinge of melancholy hit her. She missed not being at home with her parents, especially this time of year. She wondered at the wisdom in accepting a job in a place so remote that it was truly worthy of its name—End of the Line.
She glanced down at the map and remembered the encounter earlier with Wyatt Kinnison. An interesting man and a challenge if ever there was one, if what she’d heard about him was true at all. Then again, she’d never backed away from obstacles before. Maybe there was more to why she was there than she’d considered. After all, it was the season of miracles.
Rugged Hearts, Book I #1clickdeliciouscowboyread Buy Here!
Need more Kinnison brothers? Here they are! #1clickcowboys
RUSTLER’S HEART, Book II/ June 28/2015 *2nd edition release
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Haunted by a tragic past Rein pours himself into creating his Uncle’s altruistic goal of making the Last Hope Ranch a haven for the hurt and lost. But a beautiful stranger in the form of a half-sister to the men he calls his brothers arrives and turns his world upside down, bringing with her unseen dangers, not only to his heart, but to the ranch and his family!
Liberty’s presence is a surprise to the family she’s never met and while she yearns to belong, she knows her presence is a reminder of their painful past. Fearless, she dives in, losing her heart to the ranch, to the community and to an unexpected summer fling that turns to love, only to find that her dangerous past is about to catch up to her and threaten everyone and everything she has come to love.
RENEGADE HEARTS, Book III /July 10/2015
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Dalton has the reputation as a good-timin’man. But this past year his life was upended. With both brothers now married, its’ enough to make this bachelor turn on his heel and run. Until the past waltzes back into town, looking more beautiful and less interested than when last they met. Dalton, usually on the run from relationships, finds himself trying to convince Angelique that he’s a keeper. And while her kisses imply her attraction, she’s holding something back and Dalton’s determined to find out her secret.
Angelique’s past is the topic of an afternoon talk show—caring for an alcoholic mother, involved in an abusive relationship that nearly cost her and her daughters lives. Fate offer her a second chance to turn things around, but when she returns to End of the Line, sparks fly between her and Dalton and threaten to reveal secrets that could change their lives forever.
Other Books by Amanda McIntyre:
Historical Erotic Thriller:
The Dark Seduction of Miss Jane
Historical/Erotic Romance:
The Master & the Muses *
The Diary of Cozette *
Tortured *
The Pleasure Garden *
Winter’s Desire *
Dark Pleasures *
*Starred titles available in audio and international languages.
Contemporary Romance:
Ring in a Cowboy-New Year’s Contemporary Boxed set collection/12/28/15
Features Lost & Found by Amanda McIntyre
w/Victoria Vane, Kathleen Ball, Rhonda Lee Carver, Hildie McQueen, Donna Michaels, Lexi Post, Tori Scott, and Gem Sivad
Hot Hometown Hunks Boxed collection/10/06/15
Features Unfinished Dreams by Amanda McIntyre
w/Charity Pineiro, Elisabeth Staab, Robyn Neeley, Christi Barth, Eliza Knight, and Kristin Miller
Stranger in Paradise /9/ 2015
Hot Western Nights Boxed Set collection/9/3/15
First-in-series books feature: Rugged Hearts
w/ Lexi Post, Jory Strong, Desiree Holt, Ciana Stone, Amanda McIntyre
Renegade Hearts, Book III
Rustler’s Heart, Book II
Rugged Hearts, Book I
Tides of Autumn
Unfinished Dreams
Wish You Were Here
Contemporary Erotic Adult Fiction:
Private Party
Mirror, Mirror
Naughty Bits, Vol III
~ABOUT THE AUTHOR~
Amanda McIntyre’s passion is telling character-driven stories with a penchant for placing ordinary people placed in extraordinary situations. A bestselling author, her work is published internationally in print, E-book, and audio. She writes sizzling contemporary and erotic historical romance and believes no matter what, love will find a way. Learn more about her books at:
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Stranger in Paradise
Copyright 2015 Amanda McIntyre
Cover art & design Sahara Kelly and P&N Graphics
Editor Kristina Cook
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work, in whole or in part, in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
Published by Amanda McIntyre
http://www.amandamcintyresbooks.com
Published in the United States of America