Bartender's Beauty (Culpepper Cowboys Book 11) Read online

  Bartender’s Beauty

  Book Eleven in Culpepper Cowboys

  by Kirsten Osbourne

  Copyright 2016 Kirsten Osbourne

  Kindle Edition, License Notes

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  Dallas Gustafson thought she’d seen Culpepper, Wyoming in her rearview mirror for the last time, but when her father tells her he needs her to come home while he’s on his death bed, she sucks up her pride and complies. Back in the town where she grew up with people who teased and tormented her, she finds herself face-to-face with the only boy she ever loved.

  Austin James still carries a torch for the girl he loved as a boy, even though he’s almost thirty. When she comes into his bar one summer night, he can’t let her leave without telling her how he feels. When her father dies a short time later, he knows he has to do whatever it takes to get her to stay in Culpepper permanently. Will he be able to convince her they were meant to be together? Or will they both spend the rest of their lives without love?

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  Chapter One

  Dallas Gustafson couldn’t take her father’s nitpicking for another minute. “I’ll be back in a few hours, Dad!” she called out as she shut the door behind her. It was after ten, and she had nowhere to go, but she couldn’t deal with him. He was already tucked in for the night, and his caregiver was there. He’d be fine!

  She hurried to her car and climbed behind the steering wheel, not bothering to buckle. She would do that as soon as she was far enough away that he couldn’t follow her. The man wasn’t supposed to get out of bed, but to drive Dallas crazy, he would do just about anything.

  Dallas had moved away from Culpepper when she’d graduated from high school eleven years before, and she’d planned on staying away forever. Her mother had died in a car wreck when she was only fifteen, and she’d wanted to get away ever since.

  She drove mindlessly, heading toward Culpepper, knowing nothing would be open this late, but she wasn’t about to leave town. She was back to take care of her ailing father after all.

  The doctor had told her he wouldn’t last much longer. The lung cancer that was wracking his body would win soon. It was inoperable, partially because he refused to quit smoking.

  She saw the Culpepper Watering Hole on the side of the road and pulled into the parking lot. She sat for a minute, resting her forehead on the steering wheel, trying to decide if she was going to go inside. In high school, she’d had a crush on the owner’s son, Austin.

  She laughed softly. She’d been back in town for two weeks and hadn’t run into any of her former classmates, mostly because her dad didn’t like her to leave his sight. Surely her luck would hold out.

  She got out of the car and walked to the door, pulling it open and going to sit at the bar. There was a country band playing, but it wasn’t overly crowded. Most people were on the dance floor.

  The bartender stopped in front of her. “What can I get you?”

  Her eyes opened wide, and she felt a small smile automatically form. “Hi, Austin.” All of the old feelings came tumbling back, hitting her in the gut like a load of bricks. She only hoped she could keep from throwing herself at him this time.

  He stared at her for a moment and then a huge grin transformed his face. “Dallas!”

  “How are you? I didn’t expect you to be here working in your dad’s bar.” When they’d been teenagers, they’d vowed to one another they would never drink. Their dads had been drinking buddies, and they’d both learned to hate alcohol from a very early age.

  “Dad retired and moved to Florida. It’s my bar now. What are you doing back?”

  She sighed. “My dad has lung cancer. He needed someone to live with him to help take care of him, so I quit my job and moved back to Culpepper.”

  Austin leaned on the bar, his face serious. “I’m sorry about your dad, but it’s good to have you back in town.”

  “I’ll be teaching math at good old Culpepper High in the fall.” She was dreading walking back into that school with all the memories. For her, high school had been her very own torture chamber. She’d been the least popular girl in school, not really fitting in with anyone. A little too heavy for the in-crowd. A little too outgoing for the nerd crowd. She’d never been happy there, and now she was back to teach.

  He laughed at that. “I’m not surprised you’re a math teacher now. Without your expert tutelage, I never would have made it through algebra.”

  She frowned. “I guess teaching math is just what I’m meant to do in life.” And what a depressing thought that was. Surely there was more to life than teaching math to teenagers who had no desire to learn it!

  “Do you enjoy it?”

  Dallas shrugged. “I did in Cheyenne. It’s weird being here in Culpepper again.”

  “Weird good, or weird bad?”

  She sighed. “I don’t know. All the memories, good and bad, rush over me every day.”

  “So what are you drinking tonight to drown your sorrows?” he asked, his eyes narrowed. He hated the idea of her consuming alcohol. Had she kept her promise to never drink?

  “Same thing I drank eleven years ago. I need a Shirley Temple on the rocks. Extra cherries, please.”

  A slow smile spread across his face. “A woman after my own heart.” He quickly fixed the drink for her, adding a festive umbrella he hoped she’d like.

  She smiled, taking the umbrella and twirling it between her fingers. “Nice touch, Austin.” She couldn’t believe how much she liked the umbrella, suspecting he probably wouldn’t have done it for someone else. As soon as his back was turned for a moment, she slipped it into her purse to put on her dresser. The next time her father got onto her for something ridiculous, she could twirl it and think of Austin.

  “Drink, because I’m about to drag you out onto that dance floor.”

  She shook her head at him. “You don’t have to dance with me.” He’d always gone out of his way to dance with her when the opportunity presented itself.

  “I want to dance with you. I always loved it when you came with your dad to the bar, because then I had a chance to dance with you.”

  “I always figured he paid you to keep me entertained.” Her father had made it clear he didn’t think much of her, and he’d told her repeatedly that Austin was nice to put up with her—nicer than she deserved.

  Austin slowly shook his head. “Never. He was always too busy with your dad.” He sighed. “Let me make sure no one needs anything, and we’ll have fun.” She was a good dancer, and he’d always wished she’d gone to more of the school events. She’d turned him down when he’d asked her to prom, and he’d chosen not to attend rather than take one of the other girls in their class. No one had ever held a candle to her in his eyes.

  He refilled two drinks, thinking of nothing but holding her in his arms again. He’d asked her out over and over, but the only time she’d paid any attention to him at all was when he was dancing with her at the bar, or when she was tutoring him, which he knew her father ordered her to do.

  He’d been on the football team, but he’d never been the smartest guy in school, and he’d never felt like
he was quite good enough for a girl like her.

  Dallas watched him work, thinking about the crush she’d had on him for years. Austin was the last person she’d wanted to see, because she was certain he’d have married. He was a good guy, but he’d frequently asked her out because of bets. One of the cheerleaders had told her that was the only reason a guy like Austin would ask her out.

  Dallas had always been a little thick around the middle. She wanted to be light and graceful on her feet, and she went through spurts where she exercised—usually during the summer months when she had a little more time. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror behind the bar and sighed. She was still at least thirty pounds heavier than she wanted to be. Why did he want to dance with her?

  Austin walked around the bar to behind the stool she was sitting on and tapped her on the shoulder. She spun around to face him, smiling. “You really don’t have to dance with me.”

  He shook his head at her, capturing her hand in his and pulling her to the dance floor. “I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to do.” He nodded at the singer who started a slow song, and he pulled her close.

  Dallas sighed, resting her head on his shoulder. Why did dancing with Austin always feel so right?

  He held her tighter, happy to have her in his arms again. “Is there a man waiting for you in Cheyenne?”

  She shook her head, looking up at him. “No. No man waiting in Cheyenne.”

  “Good.”

  “Good?” she asked, her eyes narrowing. Did that mean he thought she didn’t deserve to have a man? What was going through his head?

  “I saw you first, after all.”

  She laughed. “I guess you did at that. You were one of the first people I met when my family moved to Culpepper. You were in my class in second grade.”

  “And third and fourth and fifth…”

  “I’m glad you’ve always been my friend, Austin. Even when the other kids were making fun of me, I knew I could come to you, and you’d be kind to me.”

  “The other kids made fun of you?”

  She shook her head. “Always. I was too smart and too fat to be one of them.” She hated to even say the word fat. It felt like a cuss word to her after all the times her father had spit it at her, as if it made her something less than she should be.

  “Fat? You?” He shook his head, pulling her closer again. “You always feel just right in my arms. Who wants to hold a skeleton?”

  “All the men I’ve ever met!”

  “Not me.”

  She looked at him with her head tilted to one side. “That’s hard to believe.”

  “Believe it.” He was quiet for a moment as the song ended. “How long will you be here?”

  “In Culpepper? Or at the Watering Hole tonight?”

  “Both.”

  “I’m in Culpepper indefinitely. I’m working here in the fall. Watering Hole? I don’t know. I needed a break from my dad. He’s making me crazy.”

  Austin frowned, understanding the problem well. “Is he up to his old tricks?” He’d heard her dad say some things to her that had made him want to knock his teeth down his throat. He’d always restrained himself because of his own father’s relationship with the man.

  She nodded. “Seeing him makes me feel about twelve again, and I’m ready to duck when his fist comes flying for no particular reason.”

  He hugged her quickly. “You need to make coming to see me a regular thing then. You need a friend in Culpepper, and I’ve missed you.” He was surprised at the words when they came out of his mouth. He had missed her. More than he’d realized. She had been a big part of his life, and her friendship had meant a lot to him. When she’d gone off to Cheyenne for college and never returned, it had felt like she’d taken a part of him with her.

  She smiled. “I might just do that. I don’t know how much time I can spend with my dad without losing my mind.”

  “Just remember you’re beautiful in my eyes. I don’t care what he says.”

  Dallas shook her head. “I think that’s going a little too far, don’t you?”

  “Nope.” He could see one of the regulars at the bar trying to catch his attention. “I need to get back to the bar. How about one more Shirley Temple?”

  She smiled and nodded. “I’d love another.” More than anything, she’d love to sit and watch him work. There was no thought necessary. Just looking at him was enough for her. And sometimes it was nice to shut her brain down for a while.

  She sat down in the same spot and watched as he filled the drink order and then made her another Shirley Temple. This time, he put a little red plastic sword with six cherries on it into her drink, winking at her as he rushed away to help someone else. His eyes were the exact color of milk chocolate, and every time she saw him she melted. She always had.

  The place was much different than she remembered it. When she’d gone there years before, it had always been filled with smoke, and people had gone there to do some serious drinking. There was now a sign behind the bar that read, “If the bartender thinks you’ve had too many, he will refuse to serve you and call you a cab.” Now it seemed that people came for the music and not just the alcohol, and she couldn’t say she was disappointed. The atmosphere was so much nicer than it had been, and she was glad to be there.

  Austin had everyone taken care of when he walked back to her five minutes later. He leaned against his forearm, which was on the bar in front of her. “So you’ve been teaching math in Cheyenne?”

  She nodded. “Yeah, for about seven years now. I had planned to go back to the same school, but when Dad found out he was dying, he asked me to come home.” She ate one of the cherries off her little sword. “What about you? Never left?” She felt bad that she didn’t have more emotions about her father’s illness, but their relationship had never been good, and had gotten drastically worse once her mother had died.

  He shook his head. “Not really. I went to an online business school, and as soon as I graduated, Dad told me he was done. He wanted to move to Florida and sell drinks from a little hut on the beach.”

  “And is that what he’s doing?”

  Austin shrugged. “As far as I know. He doesn’t exactly call or write often. Before he left, I made sure he had signed the bar over to me, and I owned it lock, stock, barrel. I’ve had ideas for it since I was young.”

  “I love what you’ve done with it. It feels more welcoming. Smells less like lung cancer.”

  He chuckled softly. “You know you’ve always been able to make me laugh. Have I told you yet how glad I am that you’re home?”

  She smiled, averting her gaze. “Tonight’s the first time I’ve been glad to be here.”

  “Are you sure there’s no one waiting in Cheyenne?”

  Dallas shook her head. “I was dating a science teacher from my school, but we weren’t serious. When I decided to come back here to help my dad, we parted as friends.”

  Austin frowned. “How long did you date him?”

  “I don’t know. A month or two. Neither of us were heartbroken that it was over.”

  “So if I ask you out, you won’t be thinking about him on our date?”

  Dallas looked at him with surprise. “You don’t need to ask me out. I’ll come here on Tuesdays and we can hang out. It’ll give me an excuse to get away from my dad, and you obviously work on Tuesdays.”

  “I was thinking I could take you to dinner in Haskell.”

  “I really need to concentrate on my dad right now.” And he’d always been way too much of a distraction. Even now, tending bar in a pair of jeans and a tight T-shirt, she wanted to climb over the bar and just—she stopped that thought in its tracks. What was it about Austin that turned her thoughts so carnal?

  He sighed. “But you’ll come see me every Tuesday night?”

  She nodded. “I’ll do my very best.”

  They danced together twice more before she left an hour later, and at the end of the last dance, she hugged him tightly. “I sure have
missed you,” she said softly, almost hoping he wouldn’t hear.

  The grin he flashed her told her he’d not missed a syllable, even over the loud music. He kissed her cheek, and she felt the tingles drifting through her body. “You take care of yourself. I’ll see you Tuesday.”

  She nodded, her cheeks flushed, whether it was from the exertion of dancing or just being so close to him, she didn’t know. “I’ll be here.”

  She pulled out her purse and got a twenty, but he held up a hand and shook his head. “You won’t let me take you out, so at least let me give you your drinks on the house.”

  Dallas started to argue, but she nodded. “Thank you. See you soon!”

  She thought she heard him say, “I’ll be counting the hours,” as she rushed for the door, but that couldn’t be right. He was Austin and she was Dallas. He was everything she admired in a man, and she was a dumpy math teacher.

  Austin watched her go with a smile on his face. Dallas was everything a woman should be, all in one sweet package. He hadn’t been able to convince her to go out with him in high school, but he wasn’t taking no for an answer now. He wouldn’t give up until he had her in front of Brother Anthony wearing a white dress. Of course, what he really wanted was what would happen after he took the white dress off.

  He had to come up with a plan, because that woman was going to be his if he had anything to say about it.

  Dallas got into her car and drove the fifteen minutes out to the failing cattle ranch her father had owned since she was eight. He’d inherited it from his father, a man she’d never met. Her dad had always called him “an ornery old cuss,” and she couldn’t help but wonder if he realized just how like his father he must be.

  As she drove, her mind was on Austin. Austin James had filled her every youthful fantasy. He’d been on the football team. He’d been the best singer in the school. But most of all, he’d been kind to her. He’d treated her like she was so much more than an overweight girl with the brain of a calculator.

  She wondered why he was acting as if he was interested in her. There had been no time for any of the other guys to have dared him to ask her out. A smile touched her lips as she hit on the answer. He was being kind, because that’s who he was. He wanted her to feel welcome back in Culpepper, and after spending the length of three songs in his arms, and being the focus of his attention while she’d downed four Shirley Temples, she felt very welcome.