IN THE HEART OF TEXAS
The sheriff sighed with awe. “You know Texans say that on the eighth day, God created Texas, and that was the best of his work.”
Lark laughed. “That might be sacrilegious.”
“You wouldn’t get a Texan to think that.” He seemed so earnest and sincere as he looked down at her. They were standing close, too close. For a long moment, they looked into each other’s eyes, and she felt his big hands tighten gently on her arms. She had the feeling that he was going to kiss her, and she wanted him to. She stood on her tiptoes and turned her face up to him, closing her eyes.
She heard him take a deep breath, then he cleared his throat and stepped away from her. She blinked and opened her eyes. He looked uncertain. “I wouldn’t want you to get the wrong impression of me, ma’am. I ain’t one to be forward with a lady.”
Damn him, he was a perfect gentleman. Too bad at this moment he wasn’t more like his rascal brother. She had a terrible need to be gathered into his strong embrace and kissed and kissed some more….
Previous Books by Georgina Gentry
Apache Caress
Apache Tears
Bandit’s Embrace
Cheyenne Captive
Cheyenne Caress
Cheyenne Princess
Cheyenne Splendor
Cheyenne Song
Comanche Cowboy
Eternal Outlaw
Half-Breed’s Bride
Nevada Dawn
Nevada Nights
Quicksilver Passion
Sioux Slave
Song of the Warrior
Timeless Warrior
To Tame A Rebel
To Tame A Savage
To Tame A Texan
To Tempt A Texan
Warrior’s Heart
Warrior’s Honor
Warrior’s Prize
“The Great Cowbow Race”
in My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys
GEORGINA
GENTRY
To Tease
A Texan
ZEBRA BOOKS
Kensington Publishing Corp.
This story is dedicated
with warmth and affection
to the true Texans among you,
the wannabe Texans,
and in memory of my Texas grandmother,
Sarah Jane Crooks Rushing.
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Epilogue
Chapter One
Last Chance Saloon, Oklahoma Territory
Early April 1890
They were cheating the cowboy at the poker table tonight. He must be blind or very drunk not to see Snake Hudson dealing from the bottom. Lark felt almost naked in her skimpy sky blue dress as she paused by the table, tray in hand. Dixie, one of the other saloon girls, stood behind the cowboy, and she was giving slight signals as she watched the cowboy’s hand and nodded to her latest lover, Snake.
Lark hesitated. It wasn’t really any of her business. After all, the big, black-haired cowboy was a grown man, and she needed this job.
“Hey you, girlie,” Snake snarled. “You ever gonna serve them drinks afore we all die of thirst?”
“Right away.” Lark began serving drinks around the table as the big cowboy grinned at her a little cross-eyed.
“Left-handed,” he drawled, “just like me.”
“I’m a Texan, too,” she said. His accent told her he was a Texan. Land’s sake, he was a grown man and ought to know better than to sit down at a poker table with a crooked bunch like this.
Snake sipped his whiskey and rubbed the whiplike scar on his forehead. Then he smirked. “Full house. Sorry, cowboy, reckon you lose again.” He reached out and began to rake in the pot. “How ’bout another hand, Larado? You might be luckier this time.”
Lark continued to serve around the table. The noise and the smoke made her head ache, along with the off-key music.
“Dunno, Snake,” Larado said, chewing his lip. “You ’bout cleaned me out.”
“Just one more hand,” Snake urged. “Maybe this hand will win everything back.”
The cowboy hesitated and Lark held her breath. “All I got left is my horse and saddle and my gold watch, and I set a heap of store by it.” He pulled the watch out of his leather vest and stared at it as if trying to make a choice.
“Take a chance,” Snake urged.
“Yeah, take a chance, cowboy,” Dixie urged. She smiled with lips as bright red as her dress, the cigar smoke swirling around her blond hair.
He hesitated again. “Don’t know if I ought to.” He squinted thoughtfully at the gold pocket watch, his face furrowed in concentration.
Oh, no, I can’t let him lose that too. Without giving it a second thought, Lark dropped a glass of beer in the cowboy’s lap. “Oh, I’m so sorry!”
He stumbled to his feet, wiping at his pants. “Reckon I’m through for the night, then.” He stuck the gold watch back in his pocket and left, weaving in a crooked line toward the swinging doors.
“Damn it,” Snake roared, “I oughta get you fired for that, girlie.”
“I—it was an accident.” Lark put down her tray and followed the staggering cowboy out onto the wooden sidewalk. The night air was fresh and cool but noisy. In this wide-open town, there were a dozen saloons in a two-block area and not much else. Pianos blared a mix of Stephen Foster songs. Drunken trail hands galloped up and down the dirt street, shooting into the air and shouting.
The cowboy staggered down the sidewalk, whistling:…as I walked out on the streets of Laredo, as I walked out in Laredo one day, I spied a young cowboy all wrapped in