His smile faded and a look of concern entered his face. “Hey, you okay? Is something wrong? I was just joking, I need to know you for at least five minutes before calling you mine.”
She still had no clue what to say. Probably because he was flirting. At least she thought he was. And she had no idea what to say.
Etiquette lessons hadn’t covered flirting cowboys in bars.
“I’ve never been to a bar before,” she blurted out.
He raised an eyebrow. “Never?”
“Never,” she whispered, cringing. Did that make her pathetic?
He glanced behind her. “There’s no one with you?”
“Um, no.”
A look of surprise filled his face that she didn’t understand.
“I’m guessing that you don’t live here, darlin’.”
“Um, no. I’m staying at the hotel. I can leave if I have to . . . “
“Nope. Come on. If you’re gonna pop your cherry in a bar, this is the one to do it.”
“Pop my cherry?” she asked, staring at him with wide eyes.
He let out a bark of laughter. “Not like that. I meant that if there is any bar to come to alone it’s this one. Nothing bad will happen to you here.”
“But it might somewhere else?” she asked.
“The world’s a dangerous place, darlin’,” he murmured, looking slightly . . . haunted.
Arabella squashed the urge to ask him if he was all right. If anyone knew about being haunted by their past it was her.
He led her to the bar and lifted her onto a stool. She let out a small squeal, but his hands quickly left her waist. “Yo, Devon!”
A good-looking man turned from where he’d been speaking to someone at the end of the bar and raised his eyebrows.
“Come here!” her new friend yelled, waving his hand through the air.
Arabella could feel herself growing red. She glanced around as people turned to stare.
“Um, you really don’t need to yell,” she said. “I’m happy to wait until he’s free.”
“Darlin’, he wouldn’t be happy if I didn’t tell him you were here.”
What?
That made no sense.
“What is it?” Devon grumbled, staring at her with a frown.
Great. Maybe he thought that she’d asked her flirty friend to yell out to him.
“This is . . . what is your name, darlin’?” her friend asked.
“I’m Arabella.”
Her new friend whistled. “Fancy name. This is Arabella. She’s never been to a bar before and she’s staying at the hotel. She’s also on her own.”
