Capturing the Cowboy's Heart (25 page)

“Home?” she repeated, her speech noticeably slurred.  “I don’t have one.”  She
started
off across the room, staggering back to her table by the jukebox.

“Ah, hell.” 
He
followed her with a frown.  “You’re wrong,
Dalton
,” he said, lowering his voice.  Enough people were staring at them already as it was.  “Right now your home is at the Flying T.  And as long as you work for me, that’s where you live.”

A new song began to play on the jukebox. 
Dropping down into the chair she’d been sitting in, she
closed her eyes.  “I think I’ll dedicate this one to my grandmother.
 
Do you think she knew I wasn’t there when she died?”  

“Your grandmother died?”  He wasn’t sure what to say.  Cade lowered himself into the chair across from hers.  “When?”

Her eyes fluttered open, though it was clear she was having trouble focusing on his face. 
“That day you found me with Burk in the barn
.
”

“Why didn’t you say so?”  His expression softened.  Now, he understood.  Dammit, why hadn’t Burk told him about her grandmother?  Probably because he hadn’t given
his friend
the chance to before knocking him on his ass in a fit of jealousy.

She waved a hand in the air.  “You’ve got enough on your plate already.  Speaking of which, are you hungry?  Katie makes a
really good
turkey sandwich.” 

“No, I’m not hungry.  Hell,
Dalton
, I’m not so mean that I wouldn’t have let you go home for your grandmother’s funeral.”

“No,” she said with a soft sigh.  “You’re not mean, Cade.  Just lonely.  Besides, there wasn’t a funeral.”

How was it that Lacy Dalton seemed to know him better than he knew himself?  He had an overwhelming urge to take her into his arms and hold her, but resisted.  He wasn’t about to take advantage of her grief.  Because that’s what it would be.  “I’m real sorry about your grandmother.  I know how hard it is to lose someone you love.”

She met his gaze. “I know you do.” 
She
reached out to run her hand along his cheek.  Another song began to play on the jukebox.  Her hand fell away a
nd
she stood.  “Dance with me, Cade.”  She reached for his hand.  “I’ll bet you never dance.” 

Without waiting for him to
reply
, she dragged him out onto the dance floor and slipped her arms about his neck, teetering slightly on her heels. 

“I don’t dance,” he said as he reached out to steady her.

“You’re dancing right now.”

“I mean I haven’t danced since
...well,
I wasn’t very good
at it even back then
.”  He rambled on nervously, trying not to think about what happened or almost happened the last time he had held her so close. 

“You’re doing fine.”  Lacy laid her head on his shoulder and swayed to the music. 

He
gave in a bit, resting his cheek lightly on her hair.  “Why did you do it?”

“Do what?” she murmured.

“Put money
down
on my loan.”

She
lifted her head to look up at him with
those big, beautiful,
glassy eyes.  “Money?  What money?”  She almost smiled.  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You’re a piss poor liar, Dalton,” he replied with a grin.  “I can’t accept it.  That money is going back into your savings.”

“It didn’t come from my savings.”

He was afraid of that.  “Then where
did it come from
?”

“I sold my car.”
             

“You did what!  Hell,
Dalton
, what were you thinking?”

She smiled up at him.  “That I wanted to help you.”

He
cupped a hand beneath her chin and tipped her face to his.  “I should give you real good chewing out for doing something so stupid.  Especially, because I don’t accept charity.  But since you probably won’t remember a word of what is said here tonight, I won’t waste a good sermon.”  He brushed his lips over hers.  “
Thank you.  And though
I appreciate what you tried to do for me
today
, Dalton, tomorrow we’re going to go to the bank
to
get your money back
.  Then we’re going to
go get your car.”

She
shook her head.  “I don’t want my money back.
  I like the truck Al sold me.
”

“
It’s not debatable.
”

She released her hold on him and stumbled back to the table.  “Aren’t you up kind of late for a cowboy?”

It was late, but she needed him.  Not that Lacy would ever admit that.  And it felt damned good to be needed again. 

“I think I can handle a late night
out
every once in a while.  Now getting back to the money—”

“You’re wasting your breath
, cowboy
.  The only reason I kept th
at
car was for my grandmother’s sake.  It holds too many memories for me to
want to hang onto
.”  She leaned unsteadily toward him.  “So
as far as I’m concerned it
’s a done deal.” 

Laughing softly,
she
went to play another song on the jukebox, tugging at her skirt as she went.

Cade followed
with a sigh
.  “
That’s what you think
, Dalton.
”

She turned to look at him.  “If it’ll make you happy, consider it a loan
until you get back on your feet
.  I don’t care.”

“You will tomorrow
when you wake up and realize what you’ve done. 
And you can damn well bet I’m going to pay you back.” 

CHAPTER
ELEVEN

Cade stepped up behind
her
and clasped his hands around her waist to steady her while she
chose
another song.  “Careful there,
Dalton
.  You’re an accident waiting to happen.”

She turned with a smile and slipped her arms up around his neck.  “Then it’s a good thing I have you here to take care of me.”

He
laughed
at that
and shook his head. 
There was no reasoning with her in this condition. 
“
Lucky you
.”

“You know,” she said, reaching up to run her fingers over his mouth, “you
really
should smile more often.”  

He closed his eyes, fighting the desire her touch awakened in him.  “
Dalton
,” he muttered, opening his eyes to look down at her.  But her finger moved over his lips, silencing him.

“You’re so sexy when you smile.”  She hiccupped.  “Of course, I’m usually paying more attention to the backside of your jeans.” 

His
eyes rounded at the unexpected admission. 

She r
ose
up to whisper
against
his ear, “Which you fill out quite nicely if I might say so myself.”

Her finger moved from his lips to her own as she signaled for Cade to keep what she’d just told him a secret.  The next thing he knew,
her
other hand move to the back of his jeans, giving his butt a playful squeeze. 

He
released her and shot backwards, bumping into a chair so hard that it teetered on two legs before finally coming to rest
again
on all four.

She’s drunk.  She doesn’t know what she’s doing. 

Looking around, he saw that every head in the place was turned their direction.  Katie’s included.  And damn if she wasn’t grinning. 

This
was not a laughing matter.  Lacy Dalton had just copped a feel
of his backside
right in front of half the town.  Okay, so maybe it wasn’t half the town, but by morning everyone in Deep Creek would know he’d gotten felt up by his houseguest.  News traveled real fast in a small town. 

He
ran a hand down his face with a
heavy
sigh
before moving toward her
.  “All right,
Dalton
, it’s time to go home where you can sleep this off.”

“Not yet,” she pleaded,
slipping
her arms around his neck.  “The song’s not over.”

“Look, Dalton,” he said as he pried her arms from around his neck, “it’s late.  Time to get going.”

Her lips formed a pout.  “You’re such a party pooper.”

“That’s me.  Now, let’s go get you to bed.”  He reached for her purse, slipped an arm around her waist and then guided Lacy toward the door. 

“Mmm....sounds good to me.”  She waved to several men who were watching them from the bar.  “He’s taking me to bed.” 

Muttering a curse,
he
hurried her out into the lamp lit parking lot.  “You talk too much,
Dalton
.  I can’t believe you just said that.  I know those people.  You get to go back to Denver and forget about all this
night
, but I have to live here.”

“I’ll never forget you,” she admitted softly, her words tugging at his long-dead heart.

Cade shook his head, fighting the emotions Lacy stirred in him.  “You’re going to feel like shit tomorrow,
Dalton
.  And deservedly so.”

“Why are you guys mad at me?”

You guys?
 

Cade looked behind him to find only the closed door of the Blarney staring him in the face.  He turned back to Lacy with a frown.  “I don’t like it when my employees get themselves rip roaring drunk.”  Not that she’d meant to.  He knew that.  But he needed to keep his distance for his own sanity.  He started toward his truck with Lacy in tow.

“I don’t know what you’re getting in such a huff about.  I’m ferfectly pine.  And I’m not drunk.  I only had two bottles of wine.  Little bottles.”

“
Three and a half,” he corrected.  “And those
little bottles
aren’t mixing so well
with
the a
llergy medicine
you took
.  We’re going home and you’re going straight to bed.  You still have chores to do in the morning, and I’m through being nice about it.”

“Yes, sir!” 
Her
mock salute was followed by an impish grin.

He
refused to give in to the grin her alcohol-induced behavior had tugging at his mouth.  Ignoring her, he continued across the parking lot.

“My truck or yours?” she asked, pointing to a truck that sat alone in the far corner of the parking lot. 

“Mine.”  He opened the passenger door and shoved her inside, then hurried around to the other side.

“Got something against baby blue?”

He
turned to look at the
pickup
Lacy had bought in place of her beautiful red sport car.  Al’s had definitely gotten the better end of the bargain.  He just hoped he could right everything in the morning.

He threw the truck into gear and pulled out onto the street.  “You really are something else.”

“Thanks.”  She leaned into him and smiled.  “I’m crazy about you, too, cowboy.”  Her slurred words were followed by another hiccup.

His
heart slammed into his chest.

She p
ressed
a hand to her breast and sighed
softly
.  “Crazy in love with a cowboy.”

Slam.  Slam.  His heart was working overtime.  Lacy loved him?

Face it, Tyler, she’s drunk.

“Yeah, well, you’re not so bad yourself.”

He turned the corner and Lacy tipped into him.  “You know, they really need to make the roads around here a little straighter.”

He couldn’t help but smile.  God, the things she’d said to him back there.  Too bad
Dalton
hadn’t brought her tape recorder with her.  He would have taken great pleasure in playing it back for her in the morning. 

“Look!” Lacy
she exclai
med, practically climbing over him to see out the driver side window.

It was a damn good thing there wasn’t anyone else on the road
, Cade thought as he swerved back and forth.  He pushed at the brake and looked to see the source of her excitement.  Beneath the moonlight, several deer were gathered in the field along the road, feeding.