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He gave the hikers one last stern look before he headed out the door.
* * *
KIT WATCHED TYLER stalk out of the bar and glanced at her phone. Still no message from the High Country Sports Bar, though she’d handed in her application a couple days ago. Lance, a bartender there, had said they might be hiring. But so far, no word.
She resisted the urge to duck into the storeroom to check Tyler’s order. It was tough to let go of control, especially when he was doing all the jobs she’d done. But he owned the place now, and if he wanted to order and inventory and schedule, well, that was his right.
She should be happy. She was pulling down the same wages Chris had paid her, but doing a lot less work. All she had to do was chat with customers, make drinks and keep the bar clean.
She leaned against the counter behind the bar. Tapped a restless foot to the nineties mix playing on the speakers. The thing was, she’d never been much good at just hanging out. She had too much energy for that.
The door opened and she recognized a group of field biologists who came through from time to time. Relief had her smiling broadly as they approached the bar. They were studying reptile populations. Not her favorite topic, but she’d take anything over this boredom.
“What can I get you?” she asked. And when the pints were on the counter, “So how’s the research been going lately?” And willed herself to be fascinated by the hunting behavior of the long-nosed leopard lizard. And to ignore the unruly part of her mind that kept wondering when Tyler would walk into the bar again.
Because something was different. In all of her mixed-up feelings around him taking over the bar, there was this awareness of him. Of how he moved with an intense power and grace that was probably what kept him on the back of a bull long enough to be called a champion. Of the way his smile slid sideways to reveal a wry humor, as though he’d seen more ups and downs than most people. Of the creases around his eyes that gave his face a lived-in look and roughed up his beauty enough to keep it manly.
How could she not notice it? Every woman did. Even Lila had been talking about Tyler the other night when Kit went to her friend’s house for dinner. She’d gushed so much that Ethan, her fiancé, had finally said he was coming to the bar to check this Tyler guy out. He’d said it laughingly, because he and Lila had a bond that was unbreakable. But he was definitely curious.
Kit had to remember that Tyler was her boss now. He wasn’t the kid she’d had hay fights with, swam in lakes with and thrown snowballs at. Their past didn’t mean much now that he signed her paychecks. And until she heard from the High Country, she needed those paychecks. So she had to ignore these confusing feelings that had her glancing toward the door.
Lizards, she reminded herself, smiling at the biologist who, thankfully, seemed oblivious to her wandering mind. Focus on the lizards.
* * *
IT WAS TYLER’S first Friday night behind the bar. It didn’t matter how many times he reminded himself that he’d spent the past decade riding bulls whose sole desire was to get him off their backs so they could stomp him to death. After that, nothing should make him nervous. But this did.
So he kept himself busy, slicing lemons at the counter behind the bar. Away from the customers so he’d have a chance to observe a bit before he jumped in.
Kit was on the schedule tonight. Apparently she and Lila usually worked Friday nights together, along with Tim. Ernie and Loomis were by the door ready to bounce anyone who got too rowdy.
He’d understood the books enough to see that most of the bar’s income was generated on weekend nights. But he also knew how busy the High Country got on the weekends. Benson wasn’t a big town, so he was curious to find out who spent so much money at the Dusty Saddle.
The jukebox in the corner was pounding out one country hit after another. It was still light outside, only about six. This time of year, it wouldn’t get dark for another hour. But the door of the bar flung open and the first customer came in, and Tyler couldn’t help but stare.
The guy looked like something out of a history book. His faded canvas pants and flannel shirt weren’t too surprising around Benson, but his beard was down to his belly and the lines in his face spoke of twenty-four hours a day in the elements.
Then the old-timer spotted Kit and his face lit up in a boyish grin. “There’s my angel,” he called as he strode across the room to shake her hand, which turned into a hearty, across-the-bar hug and a fatherly peck on her cheek. He did the same for Lila, and gave Tim a hearty handshake and clap on the shoulder.
“How’s it going, Crater?” Kit pulled a pint glass from the rack above. “Did you have a good week out there?”
“Better than most.” The big man parked himself on a stool that looked impossibly small for his frame. “You know mining. One minute you think you’re striking it rich, the next you’re chipping away at nothing.”
Mining? Tyler had forgotten there were still solitary miners out here. Scraping out silver and gold in high desert claims, burrowing into veins the mining companies had deemed too small when they pulled out of the area years ago.
Kit put the glass under the Guinness tap, poured a perfectly built pint and set it on the counter. “Peanuts?” she asked.
“You betcha.” Crater took a long haul of his pint then sighed, swiping the foam off his mustache with his sleeve. “You all are a sight for sore eyes as usual.”
“We know the weekend’s starting when you show up,” Lila said kindly. “It’s great to see you, Crater.”
The door swung open again and a tall, thin man ambled in. “Evening, Crater,” he said in a quiet tone that still carried in the nearly empty bar.
“Stan.” Crater held out a meaty paw that encompassed the other man’s bony hand. “Good to see you. Good week?”
“Not bad.” Stan nodded gravely, shaking hands with the entire bar staff. “Not bad.”
Kit placed a pint of lager in front of Stan and set a shot glass down. “Bourbon?”
“Don’t mind if I do,” Stan said. “Care to join me, Crater?”
“Not for me, my friend. Gonna take it easy tonight.”
“Hard to take it easy when it all goes down so easy,” Stan replied, lifting his shot glass in a somber salute.
Crater let out a guffaw and slapped Stan on the shoulder. The bourbon sloshed in his glass, but Stan managed to gulp it before it spilled.
Tyler moved on to slicing limes, listening as Stan and Crater discussed the price of silver. A couple other older customers, Doug and Marcus, joined them. When Kit came to the sink to wash some glasses, Tyler grabbed a towel to help dry. He kept his voice low. “Are those guys really miners?”
“Yep.” Kit dunked the glasses in the soapy water. “We get all kinds of interesting characters here. Miners, shepherds, rock hounds, UFO hunters.” She grinned at him. “All the wild folks who love this part of the desert show up at the Dusty Saddle.” She glanced at his towel in horror. “Use the lint-free kind.” She handed him a towel from the stack on the shelf over the sink. “Jeez, you are green, aren’t you?”
“Green at this,” he admitted. “But rumor has it I’m a pretty quick study.”
“Well, I guess we’ll find out if the rumors are true,” she teased. “It’s your first Friday night, isn’t it?”
“It sure is.” He tried to smile, but it felt a little weak. “I’m looking forward to it. But I’ve got a few nerves.”
“You should. You have no idea what you’re doing.” Her intoxicating combination of sass and mischief had the glass slipping out of his hand, so he had to hustle to catch it.
“Nice reflexes,” she murmured. “Maybe there’s hope for you yet.”
“If you help me out tonight, there is. I can pour a pint—”
“Barely.”
“—and measure out a shot. But if I get anything more complicated than that, I’m toast.”
“You don’t know your cocktails?”
“Don’t drink ’em myself. I’ve been reading recipes, but I’m more of a hands-on learner.” A nice way of saying that half the words he read made no sense. He glanced hopefully in her direction. “I just need a good teacher.”
“You want me to train you? You won’t be embarrassed?”
“When you rodeo, you learn by falling on your ass in front of hundreds of people. This can’t be more humiliating than that.”
She studied him from underneath her thick black lashes. “What’s in it for me?”
“A boss who’s not totally incompetent?”
Her slow smile could melt metal. “But that could be kind of fun to watch.”
“No shit-show is fun to watch for long. Plus I saw you with those customers. You pretend to be all tough, but you have a soft spot for the lost and lonely. I’m part of that club right now.”
“You?” She laughed, soft and bitter. He’d give a lot to know what put that resentment in her soul. “Not the words I’d ever use to describe someone like you.”
“Someone like me will pay you a training stipend. A hundred extra bucks each night.”
“Now you’re trying to buy my help?” She scrubbed the pint glass in her hand with extra vigor. “Not everything can be bought, you know. Loyalty, for example.”
“I’m not asking for your loyalty, though that would be nice,” Tyler said. “I’m trying to treat you like a professional. You have years of experience. I have none and I need to learn. So I pay you extra to share your expertise with me. It’s only right.”
“Fine,” she said quietly. “I’ll do it. But you have to be willing to move fast and do what I say.”
“I’m yours to command,” he said, liking the flush creeping up her cheeks at the tiny innuendo. “And I appreciate the help.”
She grabbed a stack of dry glasses. “Well, let’s get going then. It’s getting loud out there, which means it’s getting busy.”
They rounded the corner and Tyler was amazed to see a crowd that stretched almost to the door. A quick scan revealed a collection of some of the most rugged-looking folks he’d ever seen in one place. Bikers in leather, ranch hands in hats, jeans and bowlegs. Women in tight T-shirts and big hair. Kit glanced over her shoulder, her smile a combination of excitement and derision. “Welcome to the Dusty Saddle. Hope you’re ready to earn your spurs.”
* * *
KIT HATED TO admit it, but Tyler was a born bartender—naturally quick, outgoing, throwing friendly insults back at the regulars who were determined to give the new owner a hard time. After an hour or two he was pouring pints almost as fast as she did, leaving the tap on while he switched glasses with a blur of motion.
She watched him out of the corner of her eye as she measured a couple rum and Cokes. He was laughing at one of Crater’s lame jokes. She appreciated his interest in the regulars. Some of them lived such lonely lives, on their own out in the high desert that rolled east of the Sierras, eking out a simple and unpredictable living.
They came to the Dusty Saddle for a drink, but they were after much more. A sense of belonging. A chat and the comfort of knowing that someone would miss them if they didn’t show up each weekend. And now Tyler wanted to change all that with his clichéd cowboy ideas. Where would Crater and Stan and the rest of them fit into his fancy new bar?
The old resentment had her slamming the drinks in front of two cute twentysomething girls a little too hard. No matter. They were too busy watching Tyler to notice. Kit didn’t recognize them. They were obviously here for Tyler’s star power, not the ambiance of a dive bar. She’d bet anything that when word got out that hunky Tyler Ellis owned the Dusty Saddle, the clientele would become much younger, much more female and would show up wearing a whole lot more Daisy Dukes and cowboy boots.
Another girl, blond curls cascading from under a pink cowgirl hat, said something to Tyler and he leaned over the bar to listen. She brought her mouth close to speak into his ear, giving him a close-up of her ample cleavage.
He straightened, nodded and walked to the counter behind the bar to start pulling down bottles. He glanced Kit’s way, caught her looking and mouthed the word help.
Kit set three pints in front of the burly ranch hand who’d ordered them, flashing him a smile when he handed her a twenty-dollar bill and told her to “Keep the change.” At the cash register, she kept an eye on Tyler, who was furtively looking something up on his phone. For a second, the resentful part of her considered letting him sweat out whatever order he was trying to fill. But her promise to him earlier wouldn’t let her stay away.
She tapped Tim on the shoulder and tipped her head toward a redhead who was waving her money at them. “Card her? If she’s twenty-one, I’ll buy you a scotch after closing.”
Tim glanced the girl’s way and grinned. “Another Tyler groupie? They start young.”
“Evidently.” Kit joined Tyler. “What’s up? Besides blondie practically pulling your face into her breasts?”
He grinned. “Yeah, how ’bout that? I think I’m going to like this job.”
“I’ll bet.”
His smile dimmed a little. “They want cosmopolitans. I looked up the recipe, but I don’t know how to do this.”
“Piece of cake.” Then his words sank in. Cosmopolitans? Kit hadn’t had an order for a cosmo here in pretty much ever. Change had come to the Dusty Saddle and Tyler hadn’t even torn down a wall yet. Glancing at his phone, she reminded herself of the recipe. Then she grabbed three martini glasses and slicked the rims with lime. She showed him how to dip the rims in sugar and add the cherry and lime to each toothpick as garnish.
“You think you’re ready for the shaker?” She elbowed him like it was something naughty, trying to inject some humor into the lesson.
“I’m ready for anything,” he said with a wink that should not make her skin warm the way it did.
“Since you’re making three, use the biggest shaker and make them all at once.”
It was getting busier and louder in the bar. Tyler tipped his head close to hers to hear her. “How am I supposed to measure it all out?”
She pulled away to avoid his spicy scent, which ran soft fingers over her nerves. Rummaging in a drawer to her left, she grabbed a jigger and showed him the marks on it. “Pour into here to measure the alcohol first.”
He blinked at the small metal cup. “We’re not baking.”
“How else are you going to measure it? Have you practiced your pours?”
He looked confused.
“You have to practice pouring water from a liquor bottle before you can go by instinct.”
“I’ve got good instincts,” he protested.
“For bull riding, maybe,” she countered. “Make your drinks too strong and you’ll waste money and have those girls puking in the bathroom. Tomorrow I’ll show you how to practice. Tonight, use the jigger.”
He nodded. “I’ll take it from here. Thanks, Kit.”
She headed to the bar, surprised to see Tyler’s red-haired groupie with a drink in her hand. Maybe as Kit was getting older, customers were looking younger. Maybe she just wasn’t used to all these sweet young things in her bar. Tyler’s bar, she corrected herself.
She glanced back as Tyler carefully measured the vodka into the shaker. It was kind of cute, how seriously he was taking this.
What was she doing, thinking he was cute? She wasn’t even sure she liked him. He was cocky. He was overly confident. He wanted to change her bar. And he’d shown up on the busiest night to practice his nonexistent bartending skills. No, she didn’t like him much. Not even the tiniest bit.
Tyler had said she had a soft spot for the lost and lonely. Well, he was neither of those things, and she needed to keep that in mind when her heart went soft on her, like it was doing now.
* * *
TYLER’S BARTENDING CONFIDENCE was rising with every drink he made. So when Crater asked Kit for another pint of Guinness while she was busy with another order, Tyler offered to get it for him.
“No!” Kit and Crater both yelled at the same time. He must have looked surprised because Kit laughed. “Sorry about that,” she said through her giggles. “It’s just that pouring Guinness is tricky.”
“Only Kit pours my pints, usually.” Crater eyed Tyler suspiciously.
“We’ll do it together,” Kit assured him. “And if it’s no good, I’ll pour you another. Tyler needs the chance to learn.”
“Okay then,” Crater said, and turned to Stan. “Sure are a lot of changes happening around here.”
“Sure are.” Stan nodded sagely. “There sure are.”
A lot of changes? Tyler glanced at Kit in disbelief. The only change to the Dusty Saddle so far was that he was behind the bar. Kit’s eyes sparkled with suppressed laughter. She loved her regulars but she clearly got the joke.
Kit motioned him over to the Guinness tap. “Okay, this is serious stuff. Are you paying attention?”
