Crazy For the Cowboy by Vicki Lewis Thompson

“I want to get something from my truck.”
    Mac turned around. “I hope you’re not going after some big-ass belt buckle to complete your ensemble.”
    â€œNo. I need to get my rope.”
    Travis groaned. “Don’t bring your rope, Vince. If you bring your rope, you’ll feel obliged to use your rope, and we’ve already decided that’s a bad idea, right, Mac?”
    â€œYes. Travis and I took a vote and so it’s two to one against your rope going along on this quest.”
    â€œWhat if we get in some situation where we need a rope?”
    Mac spread his arms wide. “Like what, for God’s sake?”
    â€œLike . . . one of us gets thrown and rolls over the side of a cliff, and is hanging there holding on to a tree branch, and we need a rope to haul him back up.”
    â€œRight,” Mac said. “Because that happens to me every damned time I go out riding. I can
never
stay on my horse, and wouldn’t you know I often get thrown off right next to a cliff, and if somebody doesn’t have a rope, I’m done for.”
    Travis grinned at him. “What a coincidence! I’m the same way! I’ve lost track of the number of times somebody’s had to haul my butt out of a canyon using the rope they were considerate enough to bring along.”
    â€œAll right, all right.” Vince heaved a sigh. “I want to bring it because if I don’t, Georgie will know I was just bluffing.”
    â€œWhich you are, right?” Travis peered at him.
    â€œPretty much.”
    Mac shook his head. “Okay, bring the damned rope, but I swear, if you get a hankering to throw a loop over that stallion, you’re on your own, buddy. Travis and me, we’ll just ride off and leave you attached to him and let you figure out what to do about it.”
    â€œThat’s fair.” Vince walked around to the passenger side of his truck and took out the rope he’d stashed there. Looping it over his shoulder, he rejoined his friends.
    â€œWe have to walk past Georgie and Anastasia’s house to get to the stable,” Mac said. “I suppose you’re hoping Georgie’s looking out the window so she can see how cool you look.”
    â€œHell, no, I’m not. What are we, in junior high?”
    â€œIt feels like it,” Travis said. “With Mac and me trying to get the same girl and you parading past your girlfriend’s house looking all studly.”
    â€œShe’s not my girlfriend.”
    â€œSee?” Travis laughed. “Then it’s exactly like junior high. You’re walking past the house of the girl you like, but she doesn’t like you back, but you’re hoping to impress her with your outfit so she’ll start liking you.”
    â€œYou are both totally whacked.” But as they all passed the Bickford House, Vince stared straight ahead. No way would he want Georgie to see him looking over there. Yeah, it was kind of like junior high, after all.
    *   *   *
    Georgie waited by the parlor window until the three cowboys had gone on to the stable. She did her best to ignore the way Vince’s chaps and leather vest added to his hotness factor. She’d never seen him dressed that way because he’d always come into town with his dancing clothes on. Today he was every inch the rugged cowboy and it stirred her blood.
    The rope looped over his shoulder stirred her blood in an entirely different way. It made her mad as hell. That rope was a red flag signaling his intentions, and no matter how good he looked to her, he was still the enemy.
    And she had her battle plan. Picking up the coiled stock whip from the delicate table next to the Victorian love seat, she walked out of the parlor and down the hallway to the kitchen. Fortunately no one was awake yet besides her and she could slip out the kitchen door without anyone knowing.
    She’d left a short note for Anastasia