Free Cowboy Crazy (The Dalton Boys Book 1) by Em Petrova Page A

right.
     

Chapter Five
     
    “What’s got your Wranglers up your butt?” Cash leaned on his shovel and eyed Hank.
    He shot him a warning look and kept shoveling. “No wedgies here.”
    “No? You’ve been in a funk for a week. Are you pissed that you didn’t go into Austin with us?”
    “Hell, no. I don’t believe for a minute you’re going to walk into a bar in Austin and find a girl who wants to live her life on a secluded ranch.”
    “Ah. So you believe that woman’s right under your nose, huh? Say, in the kitchen takin’ Momma’s orders?”
    Hank pushed out a sigh. Since Charlotte had left him reeling—aching—that night after he’d pleasured her, he’d had a hell of a time concentrating. There were jobs on the ranch that needed doing, but he couldn’t see anything but the sweet little woman he’d had in his arms.
    For hours after she’d gone back inside, he’d lain on the hard floor, beating himself up for making some mistake. As far as he could see, he hadn’t been in the wrong, though. She’d pulled away. He hadn’t pressured her. She’d walked.
    Still, he couldn’t stay away from her. He found himself in the house every chance he got, watching her whirl through rooms tidying up and learning to bake just like his Momma.
    And the way she threw him sidelong glances burned him up with desire. He could practically still smell her on his hands.
    He swiped a palm over his face. “I don’t want to discuss Charlotte. Only thing going on is me fixing her car.”
    “Yeah, and you spend all night doing it. No wonder you’re grumpy—you can’t be getting more than four hours of sleep.” Cash dug into the manure pile again. Scoop, pitch, scoop, pitch. They worked in a rhythm that provided a bit of calm to Hank. Before Charlotte, he’d been content. Now, he felt as if ants crawled under his skin.
    After half an hour of straight shoveling, Hank put his hand tool down and grabbed his thermos. It was filled with ice water, and he drank off most of it, sweat running down his body. He recapped the thermos and looked at his brother. “So how did the wife hunt go?”
    Closest in age, they’d always shared a lot. Cash was a prankster and had a tendency to make small things into a big deal, but his antics always made Hank smile. Right now, he could use some cheering up.
    “Well, we tried our best. We went as a group, thinking the ladies would fall all over us. I mean, we aren’t without good looks.” He plucked at the buttons of his western shirt.
    Hank smiled crookedly. Cash had always been cocky, but usually it just made him funnier.
    “And we got some attention. Danced and bought drinks for some cute gals. But we were a little country bumpkin compared to city slickers. We didn’t have fast cars, and the ladies wanted to leave in them. So we split up and tried some smaller bars around town. I found a nice girl who worked in the hotel lobby, but after talking to her for two days, I found out she was engaged.” He rolled his eyes.
    “Man, that sucks.”
    “Yeah, and she was the only one I was actually interested in learning more about.”
    Hank knew the feeling, but he didn’t say so.
    “So what’s really going on with you and Charlotte?”
    Time to shovel again. He picked up the tool and went at it. “Her car broke down, I picked her up. I’m fixing her tranny in exchange for her helping Momma. That’s it.”
    “She doesn’t look at you as if that’s it.”
    Hank’s heart did a slow somersault. “Are you gonna lean on that shovel or use it?”
    With a grin, his brother started working alongside him, but he didn’t have the sense to stop talking.
    “She looks at you like she’s hungry and you’re a big old donut.”
    He shook his head, disregarding his brother’s words. They’d just give him hope—it already leaped in his chest—but Charlotte had obviously sworn him off. She hadn’t said more than two sentences to him all week.
    “Well, if you’re not interested, maybe I’ll