Boots and Leather: Ugly Stick Saloon, Book 2 (6 page)

“Good idea.” Luke pulled into the parking lot of the Ugly Stick Saloon and swung around to the rear of the building, parking beside Libby’s motorcycle.

“Looks like she got it fixed.”

“Makes me feel a whole lot better knowing she’s not stranded.” Luke’s fingers tightened on the steering wheel. “I’d sure like to get my hands around the throat of the guy who vandalized it.”

“You and me both.”

“Come on, let’s find the boss.” Luke led the way through the back door, passing the costume room and stopping at the storeroom.

A smile quirked Mark’s lips at the thought of his older brother banging the saloon owner in that room. As soon as his mind conjured an image of Jackson and Audrey naked and doing it, he imagined himself, Libby and Luke naked amongst the stacks of liquor boxes, doing all kinds of naughty things. “I’m getting a hard-on just thinking about her,” Mark said out loud, adjusting his jeans to accommodate the rising ridge behind his fly.

“Keep it in your pants, brother.” Luke adjusted himself.

“I notice you’re not so unaffected.” Mark patted Luke’s back. “Yeah, I can’t get her off my mind either.”

“What are you two boys doing back here?” Greta Sue, the best bar bouncer since Jack “Hammerfist” McKenzie, stepped into the hallway from the front of the saloon, crossing her arms over her linebacker chest.

“Hey, Greta Sue.” Mark gave her one of his most charming grins. “You’re looking beautiful tonight.”

“Cut the crap, Gray Wolf.” Although her words were tough, Greta Sue’s hand rose to pat the dull blond hair she had pulled back in a prison-warden bun. She had a soft place in her tough-gal chest for the Gray Wolf brothers, ever since Jackson Gray Wolf had become her boss’s sweetheart.

“We need to see Audrey,” Luke said. “It’s an emergency.”

Greta Sue tipped her head to the side, peering around behind the men. “I don’t see a fire or police.”

“It’s worse.” Mark pulled the bouquet of flowers from behind his back. “It’s matters of the heart.”

Greta Sue’s forehead creased into a frown. “Does Jackson know about this?” She crossed ham-hock sized arms over her chest. “’Cause I’m not likin’ this one bit. Jackson and Audrey are made for each other. I haven’t see that woman happier since she bought this junkyard.”

Mark laughed and clapped a hand to Greta Sue’s back. When she glared at him through slitted eyes, he immediately withdrew his arm as if she might bite it off. “No, we’re not interested in stealing Audrey away from Jackson. We need her advice about someone else.”

Greta Sue remained stiff for a full two seconds longer before her she relaxed, her arms falling to her side. “In that case, you can find her out front.”

“Uh…could you get her for us?” Luke asked. “We’d kinda like to speak to her in private, not in front of that bar full of rednecks.”

Greta Sue frowned. “What do I look like, a gopher?”

“No, ma’am.” Mark plucked a daisy out of the bouquet. “You look like a wonderful woman who still believes in the power of love.” He handed her the daisy. “Please, Greta Sue.”

The hardened bouncer took the daisy. She could easily have snapped the fragile stem in her fingers; instead, she stared down at the flower. “Don’t ever let it be said that I’m one to stand in the way of love.” She glanced up at Mark. “And you owe me, big time.”

“He’ll do whatever you want, just get Audrey,” Luke implored.

“I’ll be collecting.” Greta Sue’s gaze traveled Mark’s length, then she spun and headed into the bar.

Mark backhanded his brother in the gut. “Thanks for promising the world to Greta Sue, at my expense.”

“We have to talk to Audrey.”

“Still…”

Audrey rounded the corner from the direction of the bar, eyes blazing, her fists clenched.

“Audrey, we—” Luke started.

“Not a word.” She pointed to the storeroom. “In there. Now.”

Mark snapped to attention and entered the room as directed, Luke following so close he bumped into Mark’s back.

As soon as Audrey closed the door, she spun to face them, a full head shorter, but still intimidating with her fists perched on her hips. “What in the hell did you do to my best bartender last night?”

Mark stepped forward. “What do you mean?”

“When she came in today, she handed me her resignation. Out of the friggin’ blue, damn it. And the goddamn rodeo is in town this weekend.”

“Holy hell.” Luke spun and paced the short length of the room, running a hand through his hair. “She wasn’t kidding.”

“Kidding? Kidding about what?” The bright pink splotches on Audrey’s cheeks deepened into red. “You two owe me an explanation. I couldn’t get anything out of Libby except a muttered, lame excuse and a bucket of tears.”

Mark set the bouquet of flowers on a box and took Audrey’s hand. “We made love to her.”

Luke spun and strode back to where Mark and Audrey stood. “Purely consensual. And she was amazing.”

Audrey snorted. “Apparently, she didn’t feel the same.”

Beside his ego taking a full sucker punch to his lower gut, Mark couldn’t fathom what had gone wrong.

“Was there foreplay? Did you make sure she liked what you were doing? Did you bother to ask her what she liked? Did you get to know her before you nailed the girl?” Audrey drilled.

“We did everything right, as far as I could tell,” Luke said. “She didn’t complain.”

Mark shook his head. “Not everything. She wouldn’t let us get to know her better.”

Audrey pounced on Mark, her finger poking into his chest. “What do you mean?”

Mark grabbed Audrey’s finger and held it away from him. “When we tried to ask her about herself, she shut us down.”

“Damn.” Audrey’s lips twisted. She shook her head, finger-combing her long blond hair back from her forehead. “I should have seen this coming.”

“Seen what?” Luke grabbed Audrey’s arms, spinning her to face him. “What do you know about Libby? What’s she hiding?”

Audrey brushed Luke’s hands from her arms. “I don’t know. She never opened up to me. From all that I’ve gathered, she’s running from something.”

Mark’s heart sank into his chest. He and Luke had suspected the same. “From what?”

“If I knew, I’d have done something about it.” Audrey sighed. “What are we going to do?”

“What about her job application?” Luke asked. “Did she list any previous experience…references…anything?”

“When I hired her eight months ago, I didn’t ask for any. She was able to mix all the drinks, had the figure to wear a tank top, and she looked like she’d just lost her favorite dog. I couldn’t turn her away. Hell, I would have put her to work busing tables rather than let her leave. She looked like she could use a friend.”

“And in eight months you don’t know anything else about her? Does she have family?”

Audrey shook her head. “Not that I know of.”

Mark asked the question that jumped to the forefront of his mind. “Is she married?”

“She isn’t wearing a ring, nor does she show any indication of a past ring. Hell, I thought she was a lesbian for the longest, when she turned down every guy in the joint. Until I saw that she turned down the women as well.”

“She’s afraid of something.” Luke crossed his arms over his chest.

“What can she possibly be afraid of?” Audrey dug her hands into her back pockets. “I don’t know anything about her past, just what I’ve seen since she got here. I don’t want to lose her. She’s not just my best bartender, she’s my friend. I feel responsible for her.”

Mark sat on a box, starring at the bouquet of flowers. “Why would she want to leave now?”

Audrey’s brows knit. “When she told me she was leaving, she said something about staying too long.”

“Eight months?” Luke smacked his cowboy hat against his knee. “We’re just getting to know her. How can eight months be too long?”

“I don’t know. It’s as if she wants to keep moving to keep her past from catching up.” Audrey glanced across at Mark. “It
has
to be that she’s running from something or someone.”

“Libby might not even be her real name.”

“I don’t care what her real name is. She’s real enough to me.” Mark stood. “We can’t just let her go.”

“How long of a notice did she give you?” Luke asked.

“She wanted to quit after tonight.” Audrey rocked back on her heels. “I made her promise to wait until after the Cowboy Masquerade Ball.”

“That gives us two days to figure this out.” Mark’s gaze connected with Luke’s. “Which also means we don’t have much time to convince her to stay.”

“Anything you can do.” Audrey touched Mark’s arm. “She’s never going to have a life until she stops running and faces whatever has her scared.”

Mark hefted the bouquet of flowers and handed them to Audrey. “Will you give these to her and tell her they are from her secret admirers?”

Audrey smiled. “Daisies. They’re so wild and free, yet delicate and pure.” She nodded. “Nice touch. Are you two staying?”

“Only long enough to say hello to Libby.” Mark opened the door to the storeroom. “We’ll do our best to get her to stay.”

“What about the flowers? When should I give them to her?”

“Wait until after we leave.” Luke strode from the storeroom and entered the bar.

Mark followed on his heels, grateful his stoic twin was back on his game. The thought of losing Libby after just finding her must have shocked him into his usual calm, determined self.

All of the seats at the bar were filled, and Libby’s head was down as she measured whiskey into shot glasses.

Luke headed for the table where their older brother, Jackson, sat alone, nursing a beer.

Mark took the seat on one side of Jackson and Luke dropped into the other.

“What are you two up to tonight?” Jackson waved to Kendall Mason, one of the sexy beauties who waited tables at the Ugly Stick Saloon. “A beer for my brothers.”

The music blared to life and the early patrons filled the dance floor, shuffling along to a raucous Texas two-step.

A brunette Mark had danced with the night before stopped in front of him. “Wanna dance?”

Mark smiled up at her, not wanting to hurt her feelings, but not the least bit interested in any other woman besides Libby now that he and Luke had broken past her initial barriers. “Not tonight, but thanks.”

She shrugged and turned to Luke. “How about you?”

Luke shook his head, craning his neck to see around her. “Not dancing tonight.” He glanced toward a table full of rednecks. “Why not ask RJ? He’s the best dancer in this bar.”

“If I wanted to dance with RJ, I’d have asked him first.” The woman flipped her hair over her shoulder and stalked away.

Jackson’s brows rose up into the hair hanging down over his forehead. “Why aren’t you two up dancing?”

Mark tipped his head toward the bar.

About that time, Libby looked up, her gaze connecting with his.

Mark’s groin tightened, his stomach flipping over. He pressed a hand to his belly.

“Did you feel that?” Luke asked, pressing his palm to his own gut.

“Felt like a punch to the gut,” Mark acknowledged.

“You two are pathetic.” Jackson chuckled and took a deep swallow of his beer. “If you like her that much, tell her.”

Mark sighed. “It’s not that easy.”

“She says she’s leaving town,” Luke added.

Jackson stared from Mark to Luke and back again. “What did you do to the girl?”

“Get Audrey to fill you in on the details. Right now we need to check into a few things.”

“Like?” Jackson set his mug on the table.

“We need you to call in a favor from your buddy in the sheriff’s department.”

Their brother’s brows furrowed. “Dusty Cramer?”

“Yeah, Cramer.” Luke leaned forward. “We need him to search through the missing persons database and see if he finds Libby Jones, or someone fitting her description.”

“Why don’t you ask him yourself?” Jackson asked.

Luke poked a finger at Mark. “He’s never forgiven Romeo here for stealing his prom date.”

“Hell, that was a long time ago, you’d think he’d have forgotten all about that,” Mark groused.

“Point is,” Luke continued, “he hasn’t.”

Jackson swallowed another gulp of beer before responding to their request. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Could you make it fast? Libby’s leaving soon. We need to know why she’s running.”

“What if you find out something you don’t like?” Jackson pulled out his phone and thumbed through his contacts. “What if there’s a warrant out for her arrest?”

Mark glanced across at Libby. “Then I’ll be leaving with her.”

“And me,” Luke added.

“Crazy, stupid love.” Jackson glanced down at his phone and shook his head. “No reception.” He stood and headed for the office at the back of the bar, calling back over his shoulder. “Can’t say as I blame you. I’d take a bullet for Audrey.”

After their brother walked out, the waitress arrived with a tray, bearing two mugs of beer.