Crazy For the Cowboy by Vicki Lewis Thompson Read Free Book Online Page B

on eating his sandwich while he gathered his thoughts.
    Hell, if what they said was true, he hadn’t even admitted it to himself. He thought back to when he’d come up with this idea. He’d wanted to see Bickford again and have some fun at Sadie’s. Finally rounding up the Ghost after all these years had seemed like an excellent adventure for the three of them, something they could brag about over drinks at the saloon afterward.
    But now that his friends had brought up Georgie, he realized that his most vivid memories of Bickford and this saloon included her. On the few Saturday nights she hadn’t made it to Sadie’s, the fun had gone right out of the evening for him. He also used to dream up reasons to shop at the general store, a habit he’d never questioned until now. He’d done it again today. He could have managed without that package of razors.
    Yesterday when she’d walked in, he’d checked her ring finger. He’d tried to buy her a drink. He couldn’t sidestep the truth of what his friends were saying. His motivation for coming here had been connected, either a little or a whole lot, to Georgie. How humiliating that they’d figured it out before he had.
    Finally he’d run out of food and couldn’t delay the discussion any longer. He appreciated the fact that Mac and Travis had remained silent while he faced a few unpleasant realizations. Good friends did that for a guy.
    Glancing up from his plate, he spoke quietly. “Number one, anything said at this table never gets repeated. I don’t care how drunk either of you are; you keep it zipped.”
    Mac grinned. “Could you be more specific? I’ll keep my mouth shut, but I make no promises about—”
    â€œKeep everything zipped, nimrod. Georgie’s off-limits and Anastasia’s not your type.”
    â€œYou don’t know that.”
    â€œI do know that. I saw her less than an hour ago, and she is so not your type.”
    Travis looked hopeful. “Is she my type? By my calculations she’s about twenty-three now. That makes her only a few years younger than me. Besides, I always liked her name.”
    Vince shook his head. “She’s not your type because you’re leaving tomorrow and she’s a nice girl, not the kind you get involved with and then cut out on.”
    â€œVince is right, and not just for that reason,” Mac said. “You’re coming off a bad breakup, so nobody’s your type until you get your shit together.”
    Travis winced. “So I did spill my guts last night. I was afraid of that.”
    â€œYeah, but that’s not going anywhere, either.” Vince kept his tone businesslike. Travis wouldn’t appreciate sympathy.
    â€œDefinitely not.” Mac sounded equally brisk. “We do, however, have a matter on the table that needs addressing. Are we going to go after that horse or not?”
    Vince glanced toward the bar and noticed that Ike wasn’t there. Maybe he’d gone back to the kitchen for some reason, which was lucky, because Vince didn’t want him hearing this. “Let me explain before Ike comes back. The bottom line is, I can’t allow Georgie to think she got the better of me on this deal.”
    Mac groaned. “Why can’t you just let it go?”
    â€œBecause I can’t, that’s all. Let’s just ride out first thing in the morning and find the herd. That’s not so much to ask. We don’t have to rope the Ghost, but I want to lay eyes on him one last time. I want to be able to say I did that much.”
    â€œI can understand that,” Travis said. “You want to save face. God knows I understand the value of saving face.”
    â€œI guess I do, too,” Mac said. “So we’ll get up at the crack of dawn and do this damn thing.”
    â€œWhich means no tequila shots tonight.” Travis narrowed his eyes at both of them. “A few beers,