Page 68 of Haystacks and Hoaxes

To her surprise, he removed his Stetson. “Yes, ma’am. But only because you’re armed and dangerous, and I’m in no condition to make a proper getaway.”

It was true that she was armed, even though he couldn’t possibly know that, and the blister rising on his jaw was proof that she was dangerously klutzy, but still. “Your condition. Really?” She rolled her eyes at him as she pulled off her soggy gloves and squeezed a generous dollop of the petroleum jelly on the tip of her finger.

“I’m injured,” he reminded with a playful wink that took the sting out of his next words. “Your fault, lady.”

“Ashley Perkins,” she corrected mechanically, as she ever so gently dabbed the goop on his festering skin.

He held surprisingly still. “Johnny Cuba, private investigator extraordinaire for Lonestar Security.” He sounded enormously proud of that fact.

“Wow!” The word eased out of her with a breathy fan-girl quality, but only because she was surprised to discover they were in the same line of work. “I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that’s not a typical career progression for a bull rider.”

“Nope. A typical career progression for a rodeo boy would be retiring to a dairy farm, which I’m also doing.” He gave her a crooked grin that she found more charming than she should have while working a case. “Minus the retirement part.”

She absentmindedly finished dabbing on the petroleum jelly while she processed the information Johnny Cuba had shared about himself. Either he’d inherited some money recently, or he’d done really well for himself on the rodeo circuit. Maybe that was why he’d landed in the crosshairs of the Black Widow.

She shivered at how easily it was for her to pictureCaroline Madison devouring her victims like a deadly spider. The woman had practically devoured the big doofus with her eyes the entire time they’d been flirting with each other.

“Cold?”

“What?” Ashley stared blankly at Johnny Cuba, wondering why he was unzipping his jacket in these frigid February temps. She received her answer the moment he swung the enormous leather coat around her shoulders. It was so toasty from his body heat that she couldn’t immediately summon the willpower to hand it back. “You’re going to freeze!”

“At least my face is warm.” He winked at her again.

“That was low,” she accused.

“You kind of had it coming, Ash.” He tugged her toward a haystack that turned out to be a covering for a hut with a space heater. “Ash and the great wedding crash. Hey, that rhymes!”

“Very poorly,” she snickered to cover how melty her insides felt over being called bothdarlingandAshby a guy she’d just met — a very nice, very outspoken, very handsome goofball whom she couldn’t stand the thought of being next on the Black Widow’s hit list. After running into him — literally — Ashley was glad she was in town to keep an eye on him and the developing situation.

“Don’t care. Since you crashed a double wedding, you get to suffer through the vows and kisses right along with the rest of us lonely single folks. You so much as even think of running,” he warned, “and I’ll sick those same two Golden Doodle pups on you that got such a rise out of you the first time.”

“You’re a truly horrible person.” She actually wasn’t in a hurry to leave, and not just because she was working on acase. Johnny Cuba was downright entertaining. She hadn’t laughed this much in a very long time. “And there’s no way a detective with my illustrious record lost her religion over two measly puppies.”

He wagged a finger at her. “Sorry to break it to you, Ash?—”

“No, you aren’t!” She adored the way the shortened version of her name sounded in his country boy drawl. “You’re enjoying every second of it.”

He smirked at her. “Guess you weren’t kidding about that illustrious record of yours, Sherlock.”

“If anyone asks,” she airily adjusted her Santa hat that had slipped over one eye, “my version of the story will at least include a little blood on their fangs.”

“Nice!” He bumped shoulders companionably with her, making her slightly oversized Santa hat slip back over her eye.

The opening notes of the wedding march sounded over a hidden speaker system, keeping her from sharing the next retort that rose to her lips. Two lovely brides were escorted across the snowy stretch of yard where the crowd was gathered. They sashayed toward an enormous trellis of white roses where their grooms-to-be were waiting.

“They’re brothers,” Johnny informed her in undertones. “Raised in foster care. Made a boyhood pact to marry on the same day and actually pulled it off.”

She was utterly charmed by the story, so much so that she felt like turning around and slapping the person behind them who rudely shushed him.

While the two brothers exchanged their vows with their two brides, Ashley tried not to think about the diamond ring that was no longer resting on her left hand. It was hard, though. The truth was, she wanted to be in loveand wanted to be married. Finding the right guy had proven to be the hard part, if such a man even existed. Her choice of careers certainly hadn’t made it easy for her to date.

When the two couples finished exchanging their vows, the minister spoke a closing prayer over them. The moment he said amen, Johnny’s hand closed around Ashley’s elbow.

“Come on.” His voice was firm. “I should’ve never goaded you into staying. That was cruel, and I’m not normally cruel.”

His words made her wonder what he may or may have not read in her expression during the ceremony. “I started it.” She forced a note of lightness into her voice before adding, “By removing the top layer of skin on your jaw.”

“No, really.” He looked genuinely contrite. “Let me walk you to your car. You can regale me with the tale of why you chose little ol’ Heart Lake for your vacation destination, while I come up with a nefarious plan for wrangling your phone number out of you.”

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