“Thank you.” She said goodbye to the dogs, who now sat near his feet. “You must have a way with dogs. They don’t usually take to strangers.”
“Women, children and dogs,” Tony said.
“I suppose I have to agree on the women and dogs because that’s definitely proven. I don’t know about children.”
“They love me, too,” he said with humor in his voice. “Ask your nephew, Scotty.”
Smiling, she switched on the alarm and stepped out with him, hearing the lock click.
He linked her arm in his and they walked to his red pickup.
“Allow me,” he said as he held the door for her. She climbed in, aware of his constant scrutiny.
“I do love tight jeans,” he said, closing the door behind her.
Laughing, she watched him walk around the pickup, feeling excitement mount as she looked forward to being with him again.
“Some of my family has called me to ask about our evening. My guess is that yours has called you,” she said, turning toward him as much as her seat belt allowed. She could hardly believe she was sitting here next to him. Her anticipation of this night with him had built all day.
There still was no danger of it becoming a habit for either of them, just one more night—only a few hours of dancing and talking and, maybe, kisses at her door. As they turned on the road toward the county highway, she gripped his arm. “Tony, look over there in the trees. That’s a wolf.”
Tony followed the direction of her hand and looked toward a stand of scrub oaks. He didn’t see any animal. “I don’t see anything and there are no wolves in Texas.”
“There’s one on my ranch. Look.”
She was insistent, so he slowed and backed up, stretching his arm over the back of the seat as he reversed the car around the curve. He saw a furry gray animal at the edge of the trees.
“That has to be a coyote,” he said. “It looks like a wolf, but it’s not. There aren’t any in Texas.”
“It’s too big and furry to be a coyote,” she said. As they watched, the animal turned and disappeared into the darkness of the trees.
“That animal didn’t really look like a dog,” Tony said, putting the car in gear and continuing to drive. “Well, we’ve always got wild animals around here. My money’s on a coyote.”
“It’s a gray wolf. They have them now in New Mexico, and a wolf doesn’t know state boundaries. They could easily roam into Texas and probably already have. That was only a matter of time. Remember, there’s an old legend around these parts about a gray wolf roaming West Texas and anyone who tames him will have one wish granted.”
Tony glanced at her with an exaggerated leer. “I know what my wish would be,” he said, his gaze sweeping over her.
She laughed. “You lusty man. You’ve got no chance of taming it. You’d have to catch the wolf first.” She returned to her earlier topic. “About our families...”
“Yeah,” Tony said. “Wyatt called me Tuesday morning and said we’re the hot topic in Verity.”
“Imagine that. Me—the hot topic in Verity. Well, let them talk. It’ll die down soon because there won’t be enough to talk about.”
He cast a glance at her. “I’ll bet some new guys have asked you out since last Saturday night.”
“They have,” she said, “but I turned each one down. A couple were at the auction and a couple heard about the auction,” she said, having no intention of telling him six guys who saw her Saturday night had asked her out and three who had simplyheard about the auction had called and one more had dropped by the ranch.
“All ranchers, I suppose.”
“Ranchers, cowboys and an auctioneer from Fort Worth. No way will I get involved with any of them.”
“I can understand that, except you’re with me tonight.”
She smiled. “Maybe you’ve moved into the classification of an old friend. Besides, there’s no danger of involvement for either one of us. I figure this for our last time together.”
“You’re probably right,” he said.
“You can dance, you’re fun, and after last weekend, we’re civil to each other. I’m sure we’ll have a good time.”