Page 86 of His Last Nerve

“Is he old and fat?” she asked, teasing me.

I took a deep breath, shaking my head. I wish he was; then, this would be easier. She needed to know the truth; I was already lying to her enough.

“Mom, he is the single most beautiful man I have ever seen,” I admitted, picking at my dress. It was a pale purple, almost lilac, but not quite. There were no buttons down the middle. Instead, the fabric was dotted with tiny white daisies. It was cute. Feminine. I loved it.

“I knew it!” That was Jackie.

I gasped. “Am I on speaker phone?”

“Mmm, of course you are! Your momma told me about this cowboy the other day and I knew—I knewhe had to be fine,” Mom’s nurse gushed. I blinked, my brain trying to process what was happening right now.

“I mean, you have been doing this job for years and not once have you met a fine cowboy…Smells like bullshit to me.”

My jaw dropped and Mom was giggling.

“Now, you go andlive, Val. I got your mom. Take the job. Whatever that man is offering, take it. He sounds fine. Too damn fine, if you ask me. A man like that running up to me on a horse, kissing me, and telling me to stay? Mmm…I like that.”

I looked to the ceiling, a laugh forming in my chest. Mom laughed harder. This was the most she had laughed in years.

“Oh! I have to tell you about the pumpkins!”

A smile tugged on my lips. “Yes, the pumpkins…”

Twenty minutes later, I was hanging up and stepping through the front door.

“God damn, you are pretty.”

I let out a yelp and looked up to find a cowboy, one of the twins. He was standing on the bottom step of the porch, his boot on the next step.

“Lance, you can’t cuss like that in front of me,” Caleb said from the porch swing. He had his feet up, the book in his lap.

“My apologies, Wizard,” Landon said to the boy, a smirk playing on his lips.

Were all these men just gorgeous out here? What was in the water?

Lance was tall. He wasn’t as tall as Denver, but tall. He had tan skin like all cowboys do, dressed in Wranglers, brown boots, a white t-shirt and a cream cowboy hat. His brown eyes scanned me up and down slowly.

I cleared my throat.

“Name’s Lance,” he said, stretching out his dirty, calloused hand to me. I stepped forward and took it.

“I’m Valerie.”

“Oh, I know,” he said, flashing me a smile that could bring a woman to her knees. He was young, younger than me by a few years.

“Can I help you with something?” I asked.

His eyes looked me up and down again as he held my hand. He was chewing gum, and another smile spread across his handsome face. “Nah, darlin’. Just heard from the boys you were staying. Wanted to come up and introduce myself.”

Denver had been talking about me?

To his…men?

“That’s very kind,” I said, something catching the corner of my eye, movement on Caleb’s side of the porch. I turned and immediately stiffened. There was a man, another cowboy—the other dark cowboy—the one who never let me see his face. He was staring at me, his head tilted, and even though I couldn’t see his eyes under the brim of his hat, I couldfeelthem. He looked like he didn’t like what he was seeing.

“Mags,” Lance warned.

Caleb looked up from his book and over the porch railing to look at Mags. “Hey! We riding to the herd?” the little boy asked.

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