Luck Be Delanie

by Shelli Stevens

  That thought led to a major internal eye-roll.

  Right, Bridget, like you have so much time to try to hook up with a cowboy—or two.

  “Vacation or business?”

  “Vacation,” she said. “I’ve always wanted to try my hand at being a cowgirl.” Where the fuck had that come from? She’d never considered such a thing in her life until laying eyes on these two Wonders of the Western World.

  “Well, now. If you need some help with that, Matt and I are pretty good teachers.”

  Matt. Cowboy number one had a name.

  “You teach a lot of cowgirls the ropes, do you?” she asked with a lilt in her voice. Christ, could her flirting be any more obvious? Why not post a sign on her forehead that said, Hasn’t been laid in a year.

  Matt’s smile grew, his dimples deepening. A girl could fall into those bottomless caverns on his chiseled face and never be found again. She could think of worse places to get lost. “My brothers and I own the ranch next door. We train horses, give riding lessons. Stuff like that. We’d be more than happy to help you give that cowgirl lifestyle a whirl if you’re interested. We’ll even supply the rope if that’s what you fancy.”

  Her brain went straight to the gutter and she had trouble focusing after riding lessons.

  She recalled a song she and Rodney had heard on the radio while holed up in Oklahoma. The chorus of the song told listeners to save a horse and ride a cowboy. They’d laughed their asses off as Rodney had twirled her around the small kitchen in a ridiculous city-folk attempt at Texas two-stepping.

  “Hey, there you guys are.” Todd, one of the owners of the B&B, appeared from a back hallway. Bridget had only seen him briefly the night before. “I was starting to worry.”

  “We got sidetracked by a pretty lady,” Matt said, winking at her.

  She wasn’t sure how that simple gesture, which would have seemed somewhat creepy in the city, could be so charming here. Her core temperature rose another notch.

  Todd joined their small group and held out his hand to her. “I’m afraid I didn’t get to introduce myself to you properly last night.” He turned to the cowboys to explain. “Bridget and her companion appeared in the midst of the kitchen fire.”

  She hated to say how much that fire ordeal had thrilled Rodney to no end. He’d considered their less-than-noteworthy arrival the first bit of good fortune after several months of shitty luck and declared no one would even remember they were there. She was quickly destroying that luck. She was supposed to be invisible, not engaging in a conversation with three men, two of whom hadn’t taken their eyes off her since entering the house. She struggled to regret that, but it was turning her on too much. It was a bit disconcerting to discover her libido outranked her sense of self-preservation.

  “Bridget Carson,” she said, quickly recalling the fake name Rodney had used last night when they checked in.

  “I’m Todd Branner, Steven’s other half. He was the tall, terribly handsome fellow who checked you in last night.”

  Bridget nodded, smiling at Todd’s description of his boyfriend.

  “I’m sorry I couldn’t greet you, but our ancient stove finally gave up the ghost in grand style. Nothing like going out in a blaze of glory.”

  “So I heard. I’m relieved no one was hurt and there was no serious damage,” she said.

  Todd shrugged. “Only damage was to my Baked Alaska, which was a crime of epic proportion. Besides, I always keep a fire extinguisher in the kitchen for Steven’s night to cook.”

  “I heard that,” Steven said, rounding the corner.

  “Busted,” Todd joked.

  They all laughed. Bridget felt the tension that hadn’t left her body in months begin to loosen. It felt good to be back in the land of the living, among people whose biggest concerns were issues at work and burned dinners.

  The front door opened and her fears reappeared in an instant. It took all the strength in her body not to move behind the two large cowboys. They could shield her from the newest arrival easily with plenty of bulky muscles to spare.

  Rodney entered and took in the scene in silence. She saw surprise, annoyance and anger cross his features in the span of a single second.

  “There’s my baby brother,” she said with forced cheerfulness, praying Rodney would pick up her cues and roll with them. She’d shot their cover story to hell.

  “Hey, sis.” Rodney appeared lighthearted, but his eyes were piercing hers. He wasn’t happy to find her out in the open with half the neighborhood in attendance. “I thought you had a headache.”

  He was giving her a quick out. She needed it. “Just looking for some aspirin.”

  “Oh,” Todd piped up. “You should have said something. Didn’t mean to keep you standing around. I have a big bottle in the kitchen. Let me go grab it.”

  Matt turned to Rodney, reaching out for a handshake. “I’m Matt James and this is my brother, Mark. We live next door.”

  At last, a name for cowboy number two. Matt and Mark James.

  Bridget moved toward Rodney, who gave her a questioning look, uncertain what to say to these strangers. Filling in the blanks for him, she took over the introductions. “This is my half-brother, Rodney Carson. And I’m Bridget, which you already know.”

  “You’re both from New York City?” Mark asked.

  Rodney’s piercing gaze shot daggers in her direction, but she pointedly ignored him. “Yep. We’re both city slickers.”

  Matt glanced her way once more. “If you’re serious about the cowgirl lessons, Bridget, you’re welcome to come over to the James Ranch. We’ll have you roping and riding in no time.”

  She nodded noncommittally. “Thanks. That’s a nice offer.”

  “Here we are.” Todd handed her two aspirin and a glass of water.

  Rodney placed a firm hand on her lower back. For a minute, she expected him to pinch her in true sibling style. She could tell he was mad enough to. “I think maybe you should go back upstairs, Bridget, so you can lie down.”

  “Okay.” Great, she wasn’t looking forward to the coming eruption. She’d never seen Rodney lose his temper, but she could tell he was on the verge of it at the moment.

  Matt glanced at the kitchen door. “Guess we’ve put off the backbreaking reason we’re here long enough.”

  “Backbreaking?” she asked.

  “Matt and Mark came over to help us drag out the oven from hell. The replacement will be delivered this afternoon and I wanted a chance to clean up the mess. Little washing and touch-up painting and we should be right as rain. Dinner may be a bit late though, and I’m afraid lunch is just going to be cold-cut sandwiches.”

  “No problem,” Rodney said smoothly. “Need a hand with the stove?”

  Matt slapped Rodney on the back in a friendly manner. “Hell yeah. That fucker is ancient. Probably weighs a ton.”

  Rodney turned to her. “Go on up, Bridge. I’ll be there in a little while. Once we’ve sorted stuff out in the kitchen.”

  No doubt her protector intended to minimize the damage she’d done in terms of compromising their cover story. Climbing the stairs, she tried to summon a bit of guilt for messing things up. For some reason, she couldn’t do it. Foolish or not, she felt safe here. Her gut told her she could trust these people. It had been a long time since she’d experienced that. It gave her hope for the future. Maybe she wouldn’t always be frightened. Maybe the old Bridget was still inside, lurking, waiting for the right time to reemerge.

  Please let that be true.

  She had reached the door to her room when she recalled Matt’s tempting offer. She smiled and let herself pretend she really was on vacation. She may be a city girl, but she had no doubt she was more than ready to saddle up and ride with those cowboys. She could just imagine all the juicy daydreams she could conjure up about the James brothers.

  Maybe her time spent in this room wouldn’t be so boring after all.

  For the first time in a long time, the downhill spiral of her life appe
ared to be changing direction. Yee haw.

  Chapter 2

  The next morning, Bridget sat down for breakfast in the B&B’s dining room. As she’d expected, Rodney had given her an ass-chewing of epic proportions the previous afternoon. It was well deserved, but she was still smarting a bit from it.

  The only reason she had been allowed to come back out in public was because Rodney had determined Todd, Steven and the hunky twin cowboys were decent guys who didn’t have a clue who she and Rodney really were. Besides, as he’d said, the damage was done. There were now witnesses who could identify them to anyone who came looking. The four men would become suspicious if she suddenly took to hiding in the room. He’d decided it would be better if they went about their business as if everything were normal. However, he stressed she wasn’t allowed to set one foot outside the inn.

  So much for her riding lessons dream.

  Because of the mess she’d made, Rodney’s new goal was to find a secluded cabin to rent in the woods near Saratoga while they tried to piece out the clues in the remainder of the letter.

  Much to her chagrin, they would have to leave the B&B immediately. Bridget was loath to return to the solitary existence that had become her normal life the past few months. While Rodney was nice company, she hadn’t realized how much she’d missed people until yesterday’s flirtatious conversation with Matt and Mark. She was tired of being alone and lonely.

  Guilt pierced her heart with that thought. Lyle’s face as he lay dead on the cold warehouse floor flashed before her eyes. She was doing this for him. She’d made him a promise that night. Three more weeks. Twenty-one days until she could see justice served. She owed that to Lyle. Until then, it was too selfish to wish for anything else.

  Once she’d repaid that debt, she’d figure out a way to return to her own life. She just prayed she could find it again.

  “That’s not a very happy face.”

  Bridget jumped, nearly spilling the glass of water Todd had put in front of her only a few minutes earlier. “Oh God!”

  “Damn. Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.” Quick hands reached out to catch the water.

  Speak of the devils. Bridget glanced up to find Matt and Mark looking down at her.

  “Hey,” she said, the racing of her heart no longer based on fear. The sight of the cowboys sent her body into overdrive. “What are you guys doing here?”

  Mark removed his hat, running his hand through his hair. “Todd offered us a big breakfast as a thank you for moving the oven. We don’t turn down one of his western omelets.”

  “They’re that good?”

  Matt followed his brother’s lead, removing his hat as well. “Best in the state. Sorry about scaring you. Thought you saw us walk in.”

  She shrugged off her unwanted fears, forcing a lie from her lips. “I was daydreaming.”

  “Must have been some dream to take you so far away. Didn’t look like a particularly nice one either,” Mark said.

  She used to believe nightmares were only for sleeping. However, after spending the past six months wide awake in the midst of a horrible dream, she now knew better.

  She forced the unpleasant thought from her mind and painted on a smile. For now, she was exactly where she wanted to be—surrounded by nice people in a place that felt safe and homey. She’d focus on that instead. She gestured at the empty seats across from her. “Would you like to join me?”

  Mark grinned. “Thought you’d never ask.”

  She rubbed her hands on her lap as they each claimed a chair at the table. Sweaty palms? Was it due to anxiety from her earlier concerns or girlish nervousness over being so close to the James twins? Rodney would kill her for pushing her luck, but she was running perilously low on common sense or care these days.

  The months since Lyle’s shooting had passed in one long blur of constant pain, limitless fatigue and never-ending motion. She was tired of being suspicious of everyone.

  Prior to Lyle’s murder, she’d never known a stranger. She’d won friendliest in her high school yearbook’s Who’s Who, and she missed talking to people, hanging out with friends, dating. Most of all, she really missed sex. Not that she was promiscuous, but criminy, it had been nearly a year since she’d even kissed a member of the opposite sex. She wasn’t cut out for a chaste lifestyle.

  On top of the everlasting horniness, it was exhausting to look at everyone as the enemy. She hated walking into a room and wondering if someone there was plotting her death. There was something comfortable about the handsome twins that told her she could trust them.

  Matt leaned back in his seat, stretching his long legs out beneath the table. His foot accidentally rubbed against hers. She had to fight to keep her libido at bay. “How’s your headache?”

  She frowned for a moment, wondering what he was talking about. Then she recalled Rodney’s lie. “Oh, it’s fine. All better.”

  Todd came out of the kitchen and made a beeline for their table. “I was starting to wonder if you guys were going to take me up on my omelet offer.”

  “We had a bit of trouble with one of the horses this morning. One of the Appaloosas threw a shoe. It set us back a bit of time,” Mark replied.

  “Well, it’s no problem. I’ve still got my new stove fired up and hot. I know what you guys want. What about you, Bridget?”

  “I’ll just have a bowl of cereal.” She wasn’t a hundred percent sure breakfast was included in the price of the stay.

  Matt shook his head. “Cereal? No wonder you’re so skinny. She’ll have an omelet too. On us.”

  “Oh, you don’t have to—”

  Mark reached across the table and patted her hand. “We’re not letting you leave Wyoming without trying this omelet.”

  She laughed. “Well, in that case, I suppose I’d better relent.”

  Todd poured each of them a cup of coffee before heading back to the kitchen. She’d postponed coming down for breakfast, thinking she could avoid the rush. She thought her plan had worked as she’d had the whole place to herself for a few minutes. Funny, how the space had seemed large and cold when she’d been alone with only her sad memories. Now, with the James twins flanking her, the room seemed pleasantly crowded and decidedly warmer. For the first time in a very long time, fate was smiling on her.

  Mark leaned over and put his cowboy hat on the vacant table next to them. “Did you give any thought to our offer for riding lessons?”

  She tried to find a way to put them off without seeming rude. There was simply no way she could afford to pay for lessons even if Rodney agreed to it, which he wouldn’t. He’d gone off early this morning to find them somewhere else to stay, and he’d been very firm in his instructions that she “lay low”. There was a good chance he’d succeed in securing them a new hiding spot, and by afternoon, they’d be crawling into some other lonely hole.

  “I have a confession,” she said. Both men were looking at her intently. She was entranced by their similarities. They were mirror images of each other. It was almost unnerving.

  Matt grinned. She’d noticed yesterday that Matt had a slight cleft in his chin his brother didn’t share. It was her only clue in telling them apart. “They say confession is good for the soul.”

  “There’s a difference between wanting something and doing something.” She almost winced as she said the words. She wanted something—two somethings—but there was no way she could do anything about that desire. Mainly because she was running for her life, and secondly, who wanted two men…at the same time? It was ludicrous. “While the idea of being a cowgirl sounds like fun, I’m deathly afraid of horses.”

  The words weren’t exactly a lie. She’d nearly been run down by a horse-drawn carriage in Central Park as a child. The experience had stuck with her, and since then she’d given those carts, as well as police horses, a very wide berth.

  Mark shook his head in disbelief. “What? How can you be afraid of horses? They’re the most loving, gentle creatures on earth.”

  She shrugged.
“They’re huge, attract flies, and their eyes are on the sides of their heads. I find that very unnerving.”

  Matt burst into laughter. “I’m not sure I’ve ever heard that excuse for a fear of horses, but you’ve got a point.”

  Mark gave his brother a warning glance that was more amused than annoyed. “Don’t encourage her. She shouldn’t be afraid of horses.”

  Bridget leaned closer. “I’m not sure it’s fear as much as I’m simply not familiar with them. The only horses I’ve ever seen were city creatures—police horses or ones hooked to carriages. The whole concept of getting up on one of those things isn’t a comfortable concept to me. I mean, if you want to know how to get from midtown to Canal Street on the subway, I’m your girl. You want to know the quickest route from point A to point B so the taxi driver doesn’t rip you off, ask me. Put me on a horse and I wouldn’t even know how to make the thing go. It’s not like you can put money in the slot and have it take off.”

  Matt chuckled. “Girl, you haven’t lived until you’ve ridden a horse.”

  “I’m fine with the subway and taxis, thank you very much. I prefer my modes of transportation to have wheels, not legs.”

  Todd emerged from the kitchen carrying three large platters. Bridget’s eyes widened at the sheer volume of food on her plate. “You expect me to eat all of that?” There were two pieces of thick toast slathered in butter, an omelet the size of her pillow, and at least five pounds of potatoes, whipped up hash brown style with green peppers and onions.

  Since going rogue with Rodney, they’d existed on peanut butter sandwiches and cereal. Her mouth watered and her stomach growled.

  “Don’t worry, sweetheart,” Matt said, snatching a slice of toast of her plate. “We’ll help you finish whatever you can’t eat.”

  She reached over and grabbed a piece of his toast to replace hers. “Don’t worry about me. We city girls know how to eat.”