Beware of the Cowboy by Mari Freeman Read Free Book Online

Mr. Dean sauntered up to a
bar on the other side of the lawn, then glanced over to his mother, still
beaming and laughing with her friends on the dance floor. Penelope and Pedro
had just been tucked into their newly built three-hundred-square-foot dog
mansion in the garden.
    As the two men stood together, Blake noticed that his
father’s eyes roamed the room constantly, but always landed back on his mother.
The woman wore her hair in an outdated puffy uplift of some sort, her clothes
were bright—no, loud —and she was outspoken and funny, all in stark
contrast to the man standing next to him. Gerald Dean was a quiet, intellectual
cowboy, wearing a tuxedo with pugs on the pants.
    Liza walked across the far end of the tent. Gerald chuckled
as Blake watched her every move. “You know, son, when I met your mother, I
thought to myself, ‘Now that’s a fine-looking woman’.” He glanced at his son
and back to Bobbie. She was laughing, the sound of her joy rising above the
music. “But, once I kissed her, well…let’s just say I was hooked. I asked her
to marry me on our second date. Haven’t looked back since.”
    Blake nodded, understanding. He’d known last night he was
hooked and Liza DeLane would be his. He was tired of the manipulative games of
most of the Dallas society set. He loved reading history books and fancied that
his dating life was not very different from that of some duke in regency
England, except in his case, instead of delicate flowers, society mommas pushed
their over-bleached, fake-boobed daughters at him every chance they got. Many
of the older, married socialites had thrown themselves at him as well.
He was tired of the superficiality and the not-so-secret agendas of the Dallas
elite. He wanted the real thing. Wanted to look at his wife years from now and
have the same look of satisfaction his father carried.
    He looked over to Liza again—there was no denying he wanted her .
    “That one,” Gerald gestured toward Liza with his beer
bottle. “I’ve worked with her for five, maybe six years now. I’ve never seen
that woman let one little detail fall through the cracks. That’s why we’ve done
so much business with her. She controls everything and everyone around her.
Damn fine qualities for a business partner.”
    Blake pulled his hat off, ran a hand through his hair then
shoved his hat back down. Gerald kept talking, ignoring his son’s sudden
discomfort. “A woman needs that kind of control for a reason, son. Doesn’t
matter what it is. If you want to get past it, you’re going to have to show her
she can trust you. Yep. That one needs to trust her man. Chocolate hearts and
flowers aren’t going to do it.”
    Blake set his beer down and put his hands in his pockets,
shuffling his feet before picking the beer back up and taking a long, slow
swig. He rocked back on his heels and rubbed his chin, before turning back to
his father. The man hadn’t changed in Blake’s eyes in all these years. His
complexion was as dark as Blake’s regardless of time spent in the office, but
his eyes were steel blue instead of dark brown. He was still well built from
his time working on the ranch. The only thing that truly showed his age was a
hint of gray hair at the temples and a few lines that outlined his eyes. Blake
admired him on so many levels and trusted his judgment. “And how do I do that?”
    “Haven’t got a clue.” He laughed as his son’s face fell.
“It’ll come to ya, boy.” He clapped him on the shoulder and headed toward the
crowd and a dancing Bobbie Dean.
    * * * * *
    “You know, I’ve been trying to catch the eye of a very hot
woman this evening and she’s pretty much ignored me.”
    Liza didn’t have to turn to know who that rugged voice
belonged to. He moved up behind her. The heat from his body out-burned the
humid Texas night, his breath a mere flutter across the little hairs on the
back of her neck. She should walk away now, while there was time to keep Blake
Dean