Fake Marriage Box Set

She sat back in her chair, stretching her long legs so she could rest her heels on the porch railing, too. “I sure was sorry to see Sandy go.”

“Yep,” I said, dipping my head into a nod. “Me, too.” Sandy was a quarter horse Lacey’d trained from the time she came to the ranch as a gun-shy filly. She'd left a top notch, fearless barrel racer. I tried to keep from getting too attached to the horses we raised and sold here, but Sandy had been a favorite of mine. It had been hard letting her go. But I couldn’t turn down the money she’d fetched. I had to keep this ranch up and running. That sometimes meant making hard choices.

“I’ve got a new one coming in,” I said, looking over at Lacey. She was staring out at the field. It was second thing in the morning, so the horses weren’t out there yet. “I just bought a colt from a rancher outside of Dallas. He’s spirited, I’m told.” I took a sip of my lukewarm coffee. “I’m driving out there tomorrow, if you want to ride along.”

“Hell no,” she replied, that troublemaking grin on her face again, her brown eyes squinting at me as her eyebrows scrunched down. She had a spray of freckles traveling from one side of her nose to the other, but none on her tanned cheeks and forehead. “I have no interest in running up to Dallas and back again in one day, especially not with all the work that needs doing around here. I’ll help train the new colt once you get him, though.”

“I’d hope to hell so. Why else am I paying you?”

She gave a deep belly laugh and reached to sock me in the arm. She was skinny but solid, so her fists packed a punch. “You’re lucky I like you, Pete Gains, or I’d leave you to make the big bucks at some other ranch.”

She really could make a lot more somewhere else, but we’d known each other since first grade. She’d grown up on this farm, same as I had, and we both knew she wouldn’t feel comfortable anywhere else. Our whole lives had been horses and bailing hay. We didn’t know anything else. Lacey could have, if she’d wanted to, but she stayed home instead of going off to some fancy college upstate. I spent so much time screwing off in school that the ranch was my only option after graduation. Not that I minded. I couldn’t have made it through another four hellishly boring years of school.

I shook my paper to straighten it out and kept on reading while Lacey reached to scratch old Riley behind the ears again. He didn’t even lift his head, but his tail thumped once on the floor, letting her know he appreciated her.

“What do you have planned for today, old man?” she asked.

“I need to go by the feed store.” I thought a moment, staring hard at the paper without reading a word of it. “The lumberyard, too. The fence fell near the rear of the property line.”

She turned to stare out at our view of the farm, the pointy front of the barn and the grassy paddock beyond it. “What time are you leaving for Dallas tomorrow?”

I dropped my boots onto the wood floor of the porch and leaned over onto my knees, the paper hanging down from one hand so it was almost touching the floor. “First thing, probably.” I grinned over at her, meeting her eyes when she turned her head. “Well, after I go by the Texan, of course.” I’d been going there for breakfast as far back as I could remember, riding the distance into town in the back of my daddy’s old pickup. The morning just didn’t feel right without their biscuits and gravy.

“Of course. You have to see what the other old timers are doing before you head out. You have more in common with them than you do men your own age.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” I replied, lifting my chin a little.

The smile she gave me reminded me that I shouldn’t take anything she said as a compliment. She’d played the part of the thorn in my ass since we were both knee high to grasshoppers. Not that I didn’t rain on her parade whenever I thought she was getting too big for her Stetson. What else were friends for?

“You’re never gonna find yourself a wife if you keep hanging out with the old timers at the Texan every morning.”

I wrinkled my nose, making like I’d just tasted something I didn’t agree with. “What use do I have for a wife?”

“She could teach you how to dress, for one,” Lacey said dryly, one sandy eyebrow cocked high.

I looked down at myself — long-sleeved chambray shirt, faded jeans, a broken in pair of cowboy boots — and then back up at her. “What’s wrong with what I have on?”

“It ain’t just what you have on,” she said, going on without really answering my question, which was her way. “It’s everything. Acting like you’re about to turn eighty-three instead of twenty-nine. Your ratty clothes. Your messy place looking like a tornado just ran through. Oh, and your hair, too. That needs serious help.”

“Damn, Lacey, tell me how you really feel.” I currently had my terrible haircut tucked under a cowboy hat. I’d worn it the same way since high school. If something was working for you, why change it? And, anyway, I wasn’t interested in finding a girlfriend. Why advertise if you aren’t looking? I didn’t need any more complication in my life than I already had with keeping the ranch up and running and dealing with Lacey’s smart ass.

“You know I love you, Pete,” she said, shooting her pointy grin over at me as her giggling started up again.

“I’d hate to see how you’d treat me if you hated me.” But I was laughing, too. I couldn’t help it.

“You’re too damned silly for a wife right now, anyway. Even if you did stop hanging out with the old timers. Who would want to put up with your ass?”

Now it was my turn to reach over and shove her, so hard she nearly pitched out of her chair and onto the floor next to Riley.

“Pete!” she hollered, struggling to keep her balance, her arms going around in wild circles.

Before she could regain her feet, I sprang from my seat, jumped down the porch steps, and ran off around the side of the house towards the barn. I’d always been faster than her — on my feet, at least, as no one could beat her on a horse — but I could hardly run with how much I was laughing.

She didn’t come after me, just screamed from where she stood on the porch in between laughing herself. “You better keep running, boy! Don’t let me catch you!”

I slowed down right outside of the barn, not wanting to spook the horses. Since I was over there, I figured I might as well see about feeding and watering them. I’d been putting off hiring someone to take care of them full time for a few months. Between Lacey and me, we were doing okay. But the new colt was going to take up a lot more of her time. And, I had the rest of the ranch to worry about. As much as I didn’t want to put out the money, I was going to have to deal with finding someone sooner rather than later.

Chapter Two