If Troy thought there was anything romantic going on between Dusty and me, he didn’t let on, and he certainly didn’t appear to be resentful in any way. As a matter of fact, he seemed downright grateful to Dusty for being able to shut Bull up.
“Thank you,” he said with a fervent sigh. “I’ve been trying to get him to be quiet and go away for three whole days.”
“Aw, it’s not hard once you get the knack of it,” Dusty said. “He’s pretty easy to get riled. After that, all you have to do is make him feel stupid.”
I secretly felt that Bull would retaliate someday by pounding Dusty into the dirt—he was a big man, after all. Dusty, although smaller and quicker as a rule, was now slowed down by his cast, making him a much easier target. Hopefully, Bull’s sense of fair play would at least make him wait until Dusty was in better shape before he tried to break his other leg.
“Making him sound stupid isn’t too hard,” Troy agreed. “He does that all by himself. It’s the getting him to leave that I want to know how to do. Dunno how y’all stand it.”
“You’ll get used to him after a while,” Dusty said. “He’s not a bad sort, really. He just likes to talk big—and dirty.”
“And constantly,” Troy added. “Don’t forget that.”
“I can usually tune him out, but sometimes it’s impossible,” Dusty admitted. “When it comes to that, you have to run him off or go crazy trying not to kill him.”
“I’ll remember that.” Troy glanced at me lying on Dusty’s bunk and something flickered in his eyes, some emotion too quick for me to catch. When he spoke again, his attitude was carefully neutral. “I haven’t seen you for a few days, ma’am. How’ve you been?”
“Oh, about the same,” I replied before rubbing my chin with a knuckle and biting my lip. I didn’t know if he would remember enough of the code to respond, but apparently he did, for he smiled and scratched his ear.
“Angela says she’s going to take us out on the town,” Dusty said. “Do you want to go?”
“Now wait a minute, Dusty,” I cautioned. “I said I’d round you all up and drop you off at a bar. You’re making it sound like I’m going to treat you to dinner and a show.”
“Sounds good to me,” Troy commented. “I think I’d like to go out with you.”
Dusty glared at Troy. “She’s not going out with you,” he snapped. “She’s going out with all of us.”
I tried to keep my expression as innocent as I possibly could, but what Dusty said made me think of the gangbang in the bunkhouse thing again—although it would probably be more of a threesome since there weren’t any others I’d care to mess with. I might have considered Rufus if such behavior wasn’t so completely out of character for him. Joe Knight was another possibility, but since he never said much, I really didn’t know him very well.
Joe was kinda homely, but I did like him, and he was about my age. Tall and lanky, he was probably hung to his knees, although I was fairly certain I’d never learn that from firsthand observation. Sure, I’d seen him cut up with the guys, but he always acted rather shy around me. I couldn’t imagine why he would have been—I wasn’t the least bit intimidating—but some men were like that around women.
I’d often wondered how men behaved when they were only in the company of other men. Any time I was around to hear them, they knew I was there, which possibly affected their behavior. The only way a woman would know such things would be to watch them through a window or film them with a hidden camera.
Men were such mysteries to me. They had drives and reactions I couldn’t even begin to understand, despite having been surrounded by them for the greater part of my life. I’d heard it said that men think and women feel, but I wasn’t sure I agreed with that. Men probably felt more than they ever let on, and I, for one, thought about stuff continuously. Perhaps I wasn’t typical.
Dusty and Troy both appeared to have feelings, some of which happened to concern me. The thought of going out with both men while they engaged in a no-holds-barred competition for my affections sounded absolutely fabulous—although such an arrangement would undoubtedly be more trouble than it was worth. Having some of the others along to dilute the mix was probably advisable.
“That’s right, Dusty. I did say I would take all of you. I just never actually said I’d be going with you.”
“True, but we’d have a lot more fun if you came along,” Dusty said. “That way we would all have at least one woman to dance with.”
“The idea was for you to meet other women,” I reminded him. “You already know me.”
If his lip-curling grin was any indication, Dusty wanted to get to know me better—a lot better. “Yes, I do. But I can’t dance. I need you to keep me company while the other guys are out dancing with all those hot young cowgirls.”
He was using my own words against me, doing his damnedest to get this “outing” to go in a different direction than I’d ever intended. "Uh-huh. Sure. Everyone would think you were stuck hanging around with your mother. Not many hot chicks would wander over to sign your cast if they thought that, and they sure as hell wouldn’t try to kiss you.”
“Hey, now, there’s an idea,” Troy exclaimed. “We could tell the girls they have to kiss you before they can sign your cast.”
Having recently kissed Dusty myself, I was pretty sure he would be good bait for women whether that rule was mandatory or not. “That’s one way to draw a crowd,” I agreed. “As cute as Dusty is, they’d be standing in line.”
Dusty actually blushed. “Aw, girls never want to kiss me. I haven’t had a girlfriend since high school.”
“Which is why you need to get out and hunt for one,” I said. “All this hanging around the bunkhouse isn’t getting you anywhere. What are you, twenty-five? Thirty?”
“Thirty-one,” he replied.
Older than I thought. Hmm…
I tried not to get too excited over there being eleven years between us instead of fifteen or twenty. With a brisk nod, I continued. “All the more reason for you to get out there and mingle. You’re wasting the best years of your life holed up here on this ranch. What were you planning to do? Wait until your blond curls turn gray and fall out to go looking for love? Believe me, now is the best time to do it.”
“Rufus wouldn’t like it,” Dusty reminded me. “You know how he is about stuff like that.”
“Yes, but it’s none of his business what you do with your time off. He can’t very well keep you from dating someone.”
“Maybe not, but he has ways of making you follow his rules. Anytime I’ve done something he doesn’t like, I wind up assigned to the jobs I like least. I’d hate to think what he’d have me doing if he ever caught me in the bunkhouse with a woman.”
“Yeah, well, don’t feel like the Lone Ranger,” I said. “It’s a wonder Dad ever let me go out on a date, let alone marry Cody. I’m sure Rufus would rather you guys were all monks like him—which, of course, you’re not.”
Troy shot me a suggestive, sidelong glance. “And you are no nun.”
While Troy had every right to believe that, Dusty wasn’t aware of the situation and apparently took it as a slur against my reputation.
“What the devil do you mean by that?” he demanded. “You’re making it sound like she’s some sort of tramp. You barely even know her.”
I really needed to have a talk with my boy toy. If Troy kept on making comments like that, he was going to get us both in trouble—and not only with Dad and Rufus. Considering what Dusty had said to me earlier, he wasn’t going to take Troy and me being an item lying down.
I put up a placating hand. “Now, Dusty. I’m sure Troy didn’t mean it that way, but he’s right. I’m not a nun. Maybe I should go out and try to find myself a new man.”
Both men stared at me as though I’d sprouted wings, but neither of them could say a word because they both had secrets that involved me—secrets I was positive they intended to keep from each other. Their openmouthed expressions were so comical, I had to laugh.
Troy started to sputter a protest, but Dusty found his tongue a little quicker. “No way,” he exclaimed. “If you did that, we’d spend the whole time busting guys’ heads for coming on to you.”
I rolled my eyes. “I doubt it, Dusty. Besides, I thought you wanted me to go with you. And you wouldn’t have to bust any heads because, truth be told, you two are the only ones—” Fortunately, I caught myself before finishing that sentence—especially since Rufus, Joe, and Calvin chose that moment to enter the bunkhouse.
Of the three men standing in the doorway, Rufus alone stood out among them. He’d been a hunk twenty years ago, and he still had that certain something about him that drew the eye. Too bad he was so lacking in personality.
Not lacking in expression, however. His brow was knit in a thunderous frown, and his eyes blazed with anger. Since I wasn’t normally the recipient of his ire, this surprised me. Then I remembered I was not only alone in the bunkhouse with two of the men, I was also lying on Dusty’s bunk.
I fought the urge to jump to my feet and offer an explanation, but, dammit, I was a grown woman and co-owner of the ranch. I could do as I damn well pleased. If Rufus didn’t like it, well then, he could just quit. It wasn’t as though he could send me to bed without supper, although reporting my transgressions to Dad would mean I’d have to hear about it for days on end. I was already wondering whether that small rebellion would be worth the price I’d have to pay when I remembered Rufus probably could make things harder on Troy and Dusty.
Searching for allies, I glanced first at Calvin, whose jaw had actually dropped, and then at Joe, who, for once in his life, was openly grinning at me instead of staring at the floor, as was his usual habit. That grin made him so much more attractive. Ordinarily he was so homely he was cute, but now, with a delighted smile on his face, he was almost handsome. I would definitely have to remember to include him in the bunkhouse gangbang—that is, if one ever actually took place.
Suddenly, where there had been no possibilities before, now there were three…
Rufus was the first to speak. His carefully worded, “Good afternoon, Miss Angela,” had a profound effect on every man in the room. Smiles disappeared only to be replaced with solemn, respectful demeanors.
I, on the other hand, was determined not to let him spoil my fun. Smiling, I waved a hand in greeting. “Hi, Rufus. You know, we really need to replace these mattresses. It’s a wonder the men don’t all have back trouble from sleeping on them.”
“Is that what you’re doing here?” Rufus asked. “Testing the mattresses?”
His cautious questions made me giggle in a manner I knew he disliked. “You’ll have to blame Bull for that. He made me laugh so hard I fell over on the bed. As for why I was here in the first place, I thought maybe Dusty could use some company.”
After a quick glance in Dusty’s direction caught his deer-in-the-headlights expression, I deemed it best to retract that statement. I didn’t want Rufus to be mad at anyone but me.
I giggled again, doing my best to sound annoying. “I’m kidding, Rufus. I was out here checking the supplies when they came in.”
The foreman’s frown diminished, but the glint in his eyes didn’t fade completely. “And what did Bull say that was so funny?”
“I think you had to be there,” I replied. “It loses something in the retelling.”
“I see.”
I knew I hadn’t completely allayed his suspicions, but harping on it would make my story even less convincing. Rubbing a nonexistent backache, I got to my feet with a groan, leaving him to draw his own conclusions. Either way, a change of subject was definitely in order. “So, did you get all the fencing done?”
“Not quite,” Rufus replied. “Two more days should see the job finished.”
I nodded. “Sounds good. I’ll tell Dad. See you guys later.” With another wave, I headed for the door. I fought the urge to swat Joe on the buns as I went by, settling instead for a pat on his shoulder. “Keep smiling, Joe. It looks good on you.”
I left the bunkhouse without a backward glance. Rufus could think what he liked, but now that I was finally seeing the ranch hands in a different light, he would simply have to get over it. He wasn’t my boss, nor was he my father, and I was sick and tired of being alone. The guys were lonely too. Even if I had to sneak them out of the bunkhouse to do it, they were going to have some fun—and so was I.
If Troy didn’t show up in my bedroom that night, I was going to fire his ass as my boy toy or boyfriend or whatever he was. Dusty had flat-out told me he loved me, and life was much too short to be kept waiting forever.