Taming a Texas Devil - Katie Lane Page 0,23
pit, waving their hats and carrying on. Which probably meant that some woman was showing off her riding skills.
The bouncer left his post to investigate, or just to get a peek, while Lincoln went in search of Lucas. He found him on the dance floor with Miss Gertie. The two old people weren’t doing such a bad job of two-stepping. They were slow, but in sync. Not wanting to interrupt the couple, Lincoln sat down at a table and ordered a beer from a pretty waitress with a welcoming smile.
“What’s going on in the bull pit?” he asked when she returned with his beer.
“Some girl is teaching her friend how to ride the bull.” The waitress laughed. “And we all know how much men like to see women ride that thing. Especially when the woman is our beauty queen deputy.”
Lincoln choked on his sip of beer.
“You okay?” the waitress asked as she patted him on the back.
No, he wasn’t okay. He wasn’t okay at all. The first day at his job watching out for Deputy Meriwether and she was going to break her fool neck.
After leaving the waitress a healthy tip, he grabbed his hat and headed to the pit. Sure enough, there was Deputy Meriwether astride the mechanical bull while a petite woman in a straw cowboy hat yelled instructions above the male catcalls and whistles.
“That’s it, Dixie, keep that hand up and those legs forward. You’ve got this, girl!”
Deputy Meriwether didn’t have it. Her form was awful, but thankfully the guy operating the bull was taking it slow. So slow the deputy was having no trouble staying on, even though she was obviously drunk. Her thick, wavy hair was mussed, her high cheekbones flushed, her green eyes heavy-lidded, and her plump lips puckered in concentration. Lincoln now knew exactly what all the whistling and hoots were about. With her breasts bouncing and her hips pumping up and down with each slow buck, Deputy Meriwether had become every man’s fantasy.
Even Lincoln’s cock grew hard at the sight, and his sexual desire had been non-existent ever since his divorce. But along with the sexual desire came a healthy dose of anger. Anger at all the men whistling like idiots. Anger at the mechanical bull operator for continuing the show. And anger at Deputy Meriwether for not having a clue about appropriate behavior for a deputy.
Lincoln pushed his way through the crowd of men to the bull operator. “Turn it off.”
Either the man ignored him or he couldn’t hear him over the whistling and hooting. So Lincoln followed the cord to the socket and pulled the plug. When the bull slowed to a stop, the operator glanced behind him.
“Hey! You can’t do that.”
Lincoln ignored him and jumped down into the pit where Deputy Meriwether was still sitting on the bull.
“Aww,” she said as she patted the fake fur between the bullhorns. “I tuckered the poor thing out.”
Lincoln rolled his eyes as he held out a hand. “Get down.”
Deputy Meriwether’s eyes widened. “Well, if it isn’t Lincoln Hayes, Texas Ranger. What are you doin’ here, Ossifer Hayes.” She giggled. “I mean, Ossifer.” She giggled even harder.
“Get off the bull, Deputy Meriwether,” he said.
She shook her mane of hair. “Nope. I was just getting the hang of it.”
“Your ride is over.”
“Hey!” Some guy in the crowd yelled. “If she wants to ride, let her ride.” A majority of other men chimed in at having their fantasy disrupted.
“I mean it, Deputy Meriwether,” he growled.
She stopped laughing and leaned in closer. “Now I thought we got this all worked out. It’s Dixie.”
His jaw tightened. “Get off the bull.”
One perfectly shaped eyebrow popped up. “Or what?”
Lincoln had had enough. He scooped her off the bull and flipped her over his shoulder. She didn’t fight. She just hung there like a limp flower-scented noodle as he climbed out of the pit. Unfortunately, as soon as he was out, he was surrounded by hostile-looking men. He pulled out his badge and flashed it.
“Back off. Texas Ranger.”
The men backed off and allowed him through. He headed for the door, intending to leave the deputy safely inside his truck while he came back to retrieve Lucas and Miss Gertie, but once outside, he was confronted by the petite woman who had been trying to teach Dixie how to ride a bull.
“You are one tall drink of water, cowboy,” she said with a thick Texas twang. “But I still can’t let you carry off my friend when she’s drunk as Cooter