Her smile held a hint of danger. “Do I look hurt?”
Hell no. She looked like an angel fully prepared to sin. “You know what I mean.”
She bit her lip, and he wanted to groan. Again. “I really don’t know, Hawk. Last time I checked, we were just friends. You made that abundantly clear last year.”
Yeah, he had. He’d said those exact words to her after Colt and Melanie’s wedding, figuring there wasn’t a chance in hell he’d survive his last job and make it home. Yet here he was. “I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page.” He sounded like an asshole, damn it.
Then she smiled, and he forgot to breathe. Again. “We’re on the same page,” she murmured.
The end of the bar slammed open, and Adam strode around with a thick blue ski jacket in his hands. “Damn, Hawk. It’s good to see you.”
Hawk nodded and leaned over for a manly half-hug. “Ditto. We’ll have to have a drink sometime this week.”
“Name the night, and I’m here.” Adam turned toward Dawn. “Sorry I took so long.”
Hawk frowned and eyed the bar owner. The guy was well over six foot, built tough, and smiling way too gently. “Took so long?” Hawk asked.
Dawn chuckled. “Were you counting your money from tonight? Miser?”
Adam grinned, flashing what people probably thought was a charming dimple. “I’ve asked you repeatedly to stop calling me that.” He helped Dawn into the thick jacket. “You ready?” His smile relaxed his usually hard face.
Dawn patted Adam’s flat stomach and turned back to Hawk. “I think so. Are we done?”
Hawk slowly nodded. “Yeah.” Almost in a daze, he followed Adam and Dawn from the bar, waiting until Adam locked up. How could they be dating? Did Colton know about that? How could this have happened so quickly? “You two have a nice night.”
“Thanks.” Dawn smiled, and the duo ran through the sleet and across the street to a black Chevy pickup against the opposite curb. Adam opened the driver’s door, and Dawn jumped up, scooting across the seat. Two seconds later, Adam started the engine and drove the truck down the deserted main street of town.
Hawk watched them until the truck disappeared. Snow and freezing rain smashed down, and he didn’t care. Heat exploded in his chest, forcing him to take several deep breaths to calm himself.
All he’d wanted to do was explain to Dawn that he respected her and would never hurt her feelings as a friend. The last thing he expected was to find himself standing in the rain with his dick in his hand.
Chapter Two
Give a man some competition, because boys like to fight.
~ The Lady Elks Secret Archives
Dawn finished setting out the bingo cards, her mind spinning. The second floor of the Elks Lodge held a wide bar, a hodgepodge of tables, and real leather chairs that were now back in style. The floor, walls, and high ceiling were all built about a hundred years ago with wood from the local forest.
What the hell had happened last night? First Hawk showed up looking all wounded and sexy. Then he’d partied with Colton and had seemed more detached than ever. Finally, the guy had apologized for hanging out with friends.
The only time, definitely the only time, the man had seemed present was when their eyes had connected during the first set. She’d felt that connection down to her toes—and everywhere in between.
She bit back a grin upon remembering the look on his face when she’d left with Adam, who’d just been helping her out while her car was in the shop. Yeah. Call her petty, call her immature, but that had felt great.
Dumb-ass men.
“Are you ready, dear?” Mrs. Hudson asked, shoving wire rimmed glasses up her tiny nose as she bustled across the wide room. The spitfire was almost five feet tall with curly white hair, a perfectly symmetrical nose, and powdery skin. She’d been widowed sometime around the early sixties, had reportedly been quite wild for a while, and for the last year or so, had seemed content dating her wrinkled neighbor with no commitment.
Tonight she’d worn a lime-green tracksuit with “Juicy” bejeweled down one short leg. Someone had given the ancient gossip a BeJewler the previous Christmas, and everything she wore sparkled. Really sparkled.
“Yes, ma’am.” Dawn gestured toward the pretty blue tablecloths adorning the scarred wooden tables. “Just have a seat, and as soon as everyone arrives, we’ll start calling those numbers.” She glanced around. “After tonight, we need to start decorating for the winter dance.”
“Yes. Thanks again for planning the dance this year. It’ll be a doozy.” Mrs. Hudson snapped her fingers toward her beau, Henry Bullton, who had just finished pouring a series of Cosmos into Martini glasses. “Henry? This is girl time,” she chirped.
The retired car salesman scratched his thinning gray hair and lumbered around the bar. His khaki pants dragged on the floor, and he hitched them up almost to his armpits. “All right. I’ll pick ya up after bingo.” He bowed, and cherry cough drops plunked from his pocket. “Damn.” Leaning over, he grimaced and then reloaded the pockets. “We’ll go to my place.” He grinned and sauntered out the door.
“We most certainly will not,” Mrs. Hudson called loudly before turning back toward Dawn. “Men.” She reached into a glittering bag nearly large enough to span from her shoulder to her knees. “I made you something.” She grunted and tugged out a hand-stitched pillow. Then she turned and glanced at a group of ladies setting up the coffee table near the wide wall of windows facing Mineral Lake. “Girls? Now, please.” The please was for etiquette…because there was a clear order barked into the words.
Three white-haired heads bobbed, and then Maverick County’s elite Board of Lady Elks bustled their way.
Dawn swallowed, her instincts humming.
Mrs. Hudson waited until the seniors properly surrounded Dawn before flourishing the pillow. “We had a vote at our last meeting, which was at Mertyl’s house, because we had to do something while she ordered out. Burned the rolls, you know.”
Mertyl Franks, the mayor’s mother, gasped. “Now you hush your mouth, Patty Hudson. You know my oven has been on the blink.”
Mrs. Hudson waved her hand. “Please stay on task, girls. Anyway, we voted to help you find a man. It’s time, Dawn Freeze.”
Oh no. No, no, no, no, no. Dawn tried to back away, only to be surrounded by shriveled people. Most folks would think the meddling cute, but Dawn had grown up in Maverick County. The women were serious, and they’d hound her. Really, really hound her. She waved her hands, trying to keep the panic at bay. “That’s so kind of you, Mrs. Hudson. But as you know, I just started a new job—”
“Job, schmob,” Georgiana Millbury—of Millbury Grocery—scoffed, flipping her long hair. “A job won’t make your mama a grandma, or keep your bed warm at night.”
Okay. Dawn could handle this, and it truly needed to be handled quickly before things got out of control. “My mother is already a grandma from Jake, and she’s about to be a grandma from Colton. And I have plenty of blankets on my bed.”
Mrs. Hudson narrowed faded blue eyes. “If you think blankets warm a bed, we need to have a different discussion later tonight. For now, you need to understand, we care very much about choosing the right man.”
“I voted for Adam,” Mrs. Millbury said, her chin wobbling as she nodded. She had several inches in height on Mrs. Hudson and kept her posture ramrod straight to take advantage of being able to see over everyone’s heads.
“Not Adam.” Mrs. Hudson glared at Mrs. Millbury. “That boy isn’t ready to settle down, and if you ask me, there’s a woman already tunneling into his heart.” She turned back to Dawn. “Unless you’re sweet on Adam. Then we could probably make him fall for you.”
“No.” Dawn shook her head. Did Adam have a love somewhere? He did seem kind of lonely sometimes, and she enjoyed his friendship, which didn’t include her three older brothers—something rare in the town. “Adam and I are just buddies.”
“Told you.” Mrs. Hudson nodded wisely.
“After we discussed each candidate, it was so obvious that we really didn’t debate long. Surely you know who we chose.”
Dawn blinked, trying to head off the suggestion. “Hawk isn’t ready—”
All four ladies sighed and nodded vigorously.
Mrs. Hudson slapped the pillow into Dawn’s chest. “Yep. You called it. You’ve mooned over that boy for decades, and he’s been alone for too long. Heck. He’s practically part of your family already.”
Mrs. Millbury clapped her hands together. “You knew it was Hawk, so it must be fate.”
Of course it was Hawk. She had dreamed silly fantasies about the guy since she’d become old enough to notice the difference between boys and girls. “Hawk doesn’t like me that way.” Yeah, the truth hurt, but it was all she had to stop this train wreck.
So when all four ladies threw back their heads and laughed, she could only gape.
Mrs. Hudson wiped her eyes. “He doesn’t like you. Youth is so wasted on you young’uns. Of course he likes you. If not, we’re gonna help you make him like you.”
Heat climbed into Dawn’s face. Panic flirted with embarrassment, and she scrambled for a way out. “I can land my own dates, ladies.”
Mrs. Hudson shook her head. “Forget dates. You need love and happily ever after. Obviously you’re not making that happen on your own.”
Dawn tried to sidle away from the huddle. Footsteps echoed on the stairs outside the room, and several more Lady Elks walked inside, stomping snow off their boots first. Her friend, Luann, followed the pack, saw the cluster of women around Dawn, and then made a sharp left for the bar. Traitor.
“Read the pillow,” Mrs. Hudson said. “We Lady Elks have rules passed down for generations.”
Oh man, this wasn’t going to be good. Her hands shaking, Dawn turned over the pillow to read the list of five rules perfectly embroidered across it.
This couldn’t possibly be happening.
How to Catch a Man
1. Make your man the only man around.
2. Don’t give the cow away (AKA NO SEX).
3. The way to his heart really is through his stomach.
4. Let your man rescue you.
5. Give him the illusion of control so you can chase him until he catches you.
Each line had been carefully hand-stitched into perfect, even formation. Dawn breathed out, her shoulders relaxing as she clutched at a definite lifeline. “Darn it. I already broke number one last night by leaving Hawk at the bar and heading out with Adam. Shoot.” She attempted to return the pillow to Mrs. Hudson.
Wrinkles plummeted together into a frown on Mrs. Hudson’s face. “How did Hawk look when you left with Adam?”
Dawn paused. Surprised, irritated, and…lost. Hawk had looked lost standing alone in the snow, and at the thought, her heart thumped. Hard. “He looked just fine and happy to be heading home.”
“Hmmm.” Mrs. Hudson glanced around at her posse and then finally nodded. “That’s all right. Really, number one doesn’t count much. So long as you follow the rest of the list, you’ll get your man.”
“Hawk isn’t my man.” The damn words hurt, even though she’d spent the last seven months accustoming herself to that fact…and the fact that he’d never be hers. She liked him, and she wanted him in her life—even as a friend. So she’d had to let go. “Hawk will never be mine.”
Mrs. Hudson’s chin firmed. “Oh, sister. He will be. I promise.”
Dawn shook off the odd feeling of Mrs. Hudson calling her sister and hustled over to the bar, where Luann drank a Wallace Brewery Huckleberry Ale. Luann was the lead guitarist for Sizzled Pink, and at school they’d often played bars together. When she’d said she needed to talk, Dawn had asked her up to the Elks for a drink. “Sorry. Now what did you want to chat about?” Dawn asked. “I have a couple of minutes before bingo starts.”
Luann pushed streaked purple hair over her shoulder, her green eyes sparkling. “Nice pillow.”
“Be quiet.” Dawn bit back a chuckle, stuffing the cushion onto the barstool beside her. “They mean well, but seriously, they won’t let up. Together, strong and banded, they’re dangerous. Trust me.”
Luann, who was originally from Houston, just chuckled. The two had become friends in college, sharing fun nights singing, but Dawn had studied finance, and Luann Eastern Philosophy. “Whatever. So are you ready to ditch the small town and come on tour with us? We booked a place in Paris and are going to take Europe by storm. Please come.”
Dawn grinned. “While touring Europe with Sizzled Pink would be a blast, I just started at the family company and need to work on updating the software and double-checking the current investments.” She glanced over her shoulder to where Mrs. Hudson was carefully picking through bingo cards for just the right one. “I like it here, and I’m ready to hang tight for a while.”
Luann rolled her eyes. “You’re ready to hang tight with Hawk Rain for a while, and I get that. He’s a serious Hottie McHottie of Hottieness.” She leaned forward, losing her smile. “But he also has one combat boot out the door, if you ask me. Even while watching you sing last night, he didn’t relax. Not once.”
Dawn swallowed. Hawk never stayed home for long, and there wasn’t any sign that he’d changed. Sure, she’d thought that once she’d finally graduated with multiple college degrees last year, he’d see her as all grown up. Maybe he had finally understood she was an adult, but that hadn’t stopped him from leaving. And while he was home now, he might not stay. “Even if Hawk takes off again, which I admit is definitely a possibility, I want to be home for a while. Settle in and take over the finances at Lodge-Freeze.”
Luann shook her head. “Working with family. Sounds crazy to me.”
Dawn shrugged. “Not my family. We’ve always worked together, and that’s one of the reasons I earned the business degrees. I like numbers and making them line up.”
“You sing like a star, though.” Luann played with a cocktail napkin.
Dawn grinned. “I sing okay, but it’s not a passion. I do that for fun.” She’d never get her college buddy to understand, but she tried anyway. “Being here and working the ranches as well as the business feels right. That’s my passion.”
Luann snorted. “Hawk Rain is your passion, and it’s more likely he’ll be here than in Europe. Don’t kid me.”
Dawn shook her head. “Hawk and I are just friends.”
Luann sighed. “Promise me you’ll think about the tour. Just keep an open mind.”
“I promise.” Dawn nodded as Mrs. Hudson waved a card. “Looks like I’m up. Talk to you later.” She left her friend and walked to the bingo table, quickly shoving the pillow out of sight. Seriously. A pillow? She had to dissuade the ladies as soon as possible, or they’d never leave her alone.
Man. How was she going to do that?
Chapter Three
Fall in love with your heart, but use your brain to make sure it’s right.
~ The Lady Elks Secret Archives
The rural road cut between snowy fields under attack by the wind. Dawn drove her SUV slowly over the icy streets after the vigorous bingo game, her mind throwing thoughts to the forefront like scattering buckshot while Mrs. Poppins pouted in the passenger seat.
Why did the entire town have to know about her childhood crush on Hawk Rain? What would it be like to live in a big city where nobody knew her business?
Probably not fun. She’d been to college and grad school away from town, and like it or not, she’d missed everybody. It was great to be home, and once she nipped this issue with Hawk in the bud, life would be good.
“You’re driving too fast, Dawn Freeze,” Mrs. Poppins muttered, holding her bulging purse to her chest.
“I’m sorry.” While the rural route remained empty, the roads were icy, and the storm continued to rage. Dawn slowed from thirty miles an hour to twenty. The speed limit was fifty, but Mrs. Poppins had lost at bingo, and she seemed a bit peeved.
Mrs. Hudson had won the most at bingo
, and she’d all but danced out the door with Henry Bullton, whispering loudly that he was gonna get some. For some reason, to Mrs. Hudson, winning meant all her dreams would soon come true. Including Hawk falling for Dawn.
Dawn shook her head.
A thump alerted her, and her SUV jumped. Damn it. Groaning, she pulled to the side of the very deserted country road. The Jeep slid on the ice, and she corrected until she could pull to a stop.
“Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness.” Mrs. Poppins yanked off her scarf and fanned herself, her eyes wide behind her spectacles. “We hit somebody.”
Dawn patted the elderly lady’s knee. “We didn’t hit anybody. I promise.” Squinting out the window, she sucked back another groan at seeing the snow pounding down. “Feels like a flat tire.” Her cell phone blinked on the seat next to her, and without a doubt she could call any of her brothers or her father to come change the tire.
Hell. Her mother and sisters-in-law could change the tire.
So could she.
Did she want to? Um, no. But it was time everyone saw her as an adult and not the Lodge-Freeze boys’ little sister. Changing the tire would make her cold and irritated…but provide no danger.
Not in Maverick County.
“I’ll have the tire changed in just a second, Mrs. Poppins,” Dawn said, keeping her voice low and reassuring.
“No.” Sharp nails dug into Dawn’s arm. “Let’s call for help. Right now.”
Dawn patted the gnarled hand. “I can change a tire, ma’am. It’ll be okay.”
Mrs. Poppins rolled surprisingly bright green eyes. “Of course you can change a tire, Dawnie. Geez. If you couldn’t change a tire, you wouldn’t be a girl I’d let drive me home. But what I’m saying is…you don’t need to change the tire.”
“Yes, I do.” She smiled at the frowning woman.
Mrs. Poppins squinted out at the storm. “What if there are rapists out there?” She glanced down at her shimmering black pantsuit. “Patty bedazzled my shirt, and I’m rather, well, hot in this.”