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And the womanhadto be a beta. An omega with her looks wouldn’t be wandering around a place like this by herself. She would have an alpha mate, possibly more than one, and there was no way they would ever let her out of the house alone. Hell, they probably wouldn’t have let her out of bed for that matter.
Besides, if the woman was an omega, Tanner would have smelled her the second she walked in.
He watched the mysterious cowgirl cross the room and sidle up to the bar. The bartender was a plump woman dressed in a fancy scarlet corset decorated with matching ostrich feathers. That was the proprietor and namesake of the establishment, old Rosie Redbottom herself, and based on the big grin that suddenly lit up Rosie’s round face, Tanner guessed she was well acquainted with the cowgirl in the duster.
He was ready to make the mystery woman’s acquaintance too. He put on his hat, swept his winnings into the pocket of his coat, and started to rise from his seat.
“Hey! Where the hell you think yer goin’?” Across the table, the drunk cowboy’s beady eyes glared hatefully. “We ain’t done here, mister.”
“Keep playing if you want,” Tanner said. “I’m out.”
“Not till you give me a chance to win my money back. Now pick up them cards.”
Tanner glanced at the table in front of him and realized he’d been dealt five face down cards while he was watching the cowgirl walk in.
“I haven’t looked at ’em yet. There’s plenty of other cowboys here looking for a game. Someone else can take my hand, I’ve had my fill of cards for the night.”
Across the table, the drunkard’s face twisted with rage.
“You ain’t done till I say yer done, you son of a bitch.”
“Hey, easy now, Lester,” the man dealing the cards said. “Don’t you realize this here feller’s an alpha?”
“Hell, I know that!” the drunk cowboy spat. “I could smell his rotten stink from a mile away. Still, just ’cause a man’s an alpha… that don’t mean he’s bulletproof.”
Tanner realized that Lester’s right hand had disappeared beneath the table at some point, probably while he’d been distracted by the girl in the duster. A second later, he heard the click of a pistol being cocked.
“Well hell,” Tanner said. “If you want me to play that bad…”
He slowly moved his own hand forward, as if reaching for the cards, but at the last second he grabbed the edge of the table instead. With one mighty swipe of his arm, he flung the table aside, scattering the cards and sending the dealer sprawling.
Lester managed to pull the trigger on the pistol, but not before Tanner lunged forward with blinding speed and caught the hammer with his thumb, stopping it before the gun could go off.
“Bad boy,” Tanner growled. “Didn’t you see the sign on the way in? No guns allowed. But then, I guess you probably can’t read, can you?”
With his thumb still on the hammer of the pistol, Tanner reached down with his other hand and grabbed Lester’s wrist. He squeezed until he felt something pop, and the drunken cowboy yowled in pain.
Tanner wrenched the gun free from Lester’s now limp hand and held it upside down with the muzzle pointed right between the drunk cowboy’s eyes. All he had to do was quickly release his thumb, and the hammer would fall on the round in the chamber.
“Next time someone warns you about messing with an alpha, I suggest you listen.”
Tanner lowered the hammer slowly, so the gun wouldn’t go off. He released his grip on the cowboy’s injured wrist, and the man slumped to the floor in a quivering, sobbing heap. Tanner casually stepped over him and made his way to the bar.
The cowgirl in the duster was already gone.
Damn.
Rosie was still there though, and she gave Tanner a flirtatious smile as he sauntered up to the bar. “Evenin’, cowboy. That’s a mighty big piece you’re packing there.”
Tanner dropped the pistol onto the bar and smiled back. “It ain’t mine. A gentleman over yonder thought it would be a good idea to ignore your no-guns policy. I convinced him otherwise.”
“Much obliged, cowboy… but I wasn’t referring to the gun.”
Rosie flicked her eyes downward to somewhere south of Tanner’s belt, and he realized he still had a raging hard-on straining against the front of his pants. He grinned.
“Hell. Nothing you haven’t seen before, Rosie.”
“That was a long time ago, Tan, and I don’t recall it being quite so big back then. Anyhow, I’ve got a feeling you’re not sporting that tent-pole on my account.”
