“Tell me again how big is this ranch you are buying.” Linda batted her eyes at him.
“It’s two sections of land,” Regina answered. “With the possibility of adding two more ranches to it in the future.”
“I would have loved to be the one selling you that property,” Linda almost swooned.
“Someday you will be,” Regina told her. “If you don’t fall in love and decide to leave the real-estate life behind.” She turned back to Miles. “Are you really interested in this property or would you like to see the other two ranches on the market? But remember, this is the only one of the three that has living quarters already on it and with as many acres as you requested.”
Miles nodded. “I’m interested, but I need to run some figures before I make an offer. I’d be inclined to give them their asking price if they’d let me have that Angus bull and maybe throw in a hundred head of cattle.”
“What if they sold the whole place, as is, and let you have all the cattle?” she asked.
“That’s another conversation, but I’d like to see what they’d want for the place with that idea,” he answered.
“I’ll see what I can do and get in touch with you tomorrow,” Regina said as she pushed her chair back and stood up.
“I’ll think about it,” Miles answered and looked around at all the empty tables. “Is this place always this slow?”
“Not at all, but there is a speed-dating event going on over in the speakeasy,” Linda answered. “Last I heard, it wasn’t completely filled up. I love speed dating, but I’ve got to go with Regina and show a house tonight. If you’re going to be in town a couple of days, give me a call. I’d be glad to show you around.”
“I’ll be busy from daylight to dark, but it was really nice meeting you,” Miles said.
“You should go over and throw your name in the pot,” Regina said. “You never know what might happen. My granddaughter met her husband at one of those things, and they’ve been married five years now.”
“I’m not interested in settling down. I’m a love ’em and leave ’em guy.” Miles laid his napkin on the table and stood up. “Thanks for dinner.” He hoped that Linda got the message and Regina didn’t give the woman his phone number.
“My pleasure. Call me tomorrow if you want to make an offer or see the other two properties,” Regina said.
Miles followed the signs to the men’s room and figured he’d be watching another night of football on television after he talked to his father about the ranch. He took care of business, washed and dried his hands, and was in the hallway headed back toward the hotel lobby when a red-haired woman with bright blue eyes came out of the women’s room. Her shoulder brushed against his, and steamy, hot sparks danced all over the hallway.
He had always been attracted to redheaded women, especially those with blue eyes, but not a single one had ever affected him like that. Matter of fact, no woman ever had. He was one of those guys who sent roses and a promise to call aftera date. He wasn’t so crass as not to call, but if the first date didn’t go well, he made an excuse about a second one.
“Pardon me,” he said.
“No worries,” she told him, and headed toward the speakeasy.
On second thought, maybe football and his father could wait. He kept her bright red hair in sight and followed her right into the place, where she went to a table and sat down. A lady at the door looked up at him with a question on her face.
“Is this the speed-dating place?” he asked.
“Yes, but it started a while ago. We only have five tickets left. Twenty dollars for each one,” she answered, “payable by credit card or PayPal when you fill out the app online. It only takes a minute, if you are interested.”
Miles picked up a flyer from the table, glanced over it, and pulled up the link for the app on his phone.
“Are you sure you want to pay money for such a short amount of time?” the lady asked.
“Yes, ma’am. That redheaded woman who went inside ahead of me just got my attention, and I want to know more about her.” His thumbs moved quickly over the phone’s tiny keyboard, and the app popped right up. He already had Miles written where it asked for his name, but he backspaced and put in Bubba—a nickname that his older sister called him—and added Jones at the end. One of the guys who he went to school with was Dicky Jones. He smiled as he added his personal cell phone number beneath that. No way did he want another gold digger to call and hear, “Texas Rose Ranch. This is Sandy. Where may I direct your call?”
That done, he went on inside the room and stood back against the wall and watched three men spend five minutes with the woman he had brushed shoulders with. If there was anything Miles, now Bubba, knew, it was women—their moods, theiraura, and their expressions. And that lady was bored out of her mind. She would have rather been sitting on a barbed-wire fence in hell than dealing with men for five minutes at a stretch.
A guy nudged him on the shoulder. “I’m Hank, and I see you eyeballing that redhead. Don’t bother giving her five minutes of your time. As my grandpa says: ‘When they passed out gorgeous, she was first in line, but when they were giving out excitement, she was off gathering wildflowers.’ He’s not always spot-on, but he is when it comes to her. Those blue eyes are as cold as ice cubes.”
Miles raised an eyebrow. “Oh really?”
“Got to admit, with a name like Lula Ann, I shouldn’t have expected much,” the man said.
“I’m…”—he hesitated for a moment—“Bubba, and I think I’ll give it a shot,” he said, and headed toward Lula Ann’s table.
“You’ll never get that five minutes of your life back,” Hank called out.
