He glanced across at his table companions. “May I order something for you gentlemen?” He hoped they’d say yes. It was going to feel weird, chomping on his sandwich while they just sat there and watched.
“We already ate,” the small man said.
“But I’m all out of beer,” the big one said. “I could do with another one, for the road.”
Somebody behind Ryder cleared his throat, a not-too-subtle hint that a drink would be welcome at that table, too.
Ryder grinned. It seemed they were all too eager to take advantage of a generous offer and he didn’t mind at all. “Drinks on the house,” he said, loud enough for Blake to hear. “It’s on me.
She heard all right. Before he’d taken his second bite she’d come from behind the counter, a tray of drinks in hand. She obviously knew what each of her patrons drank because she didn’t ask a single one for his order. She just served.
“And what about you, Ryder?” she asked, pausing at his table. “What are you having?”
“I’ll just take some cranberry juice,” he said, “if you have any.”
“Sure do.” And then, as if this was the sort of thing you did in a place like this, she gave a man at a neighboring table a quick cuff to the back of the head. “Stop snickering and drink your beer.”
Ryder almost snorted in laughter but his mouth was full. Obviously, Blake Beaumont was not one to trifle with.
A half hour passed and then an hour and by that time most of the men had left, leaving only the two at Ryder’s table. The darkness of night was now properly settled on the land and he could feel the exhaustion creeping up on him. Time to get going.
He lifted a hand to catch Blake’s attention. “Could I have the bill, please?”
She tore her eyes away from the small T.V set in the corner of the room. She’d been absorbed in the T.V news for the past half hour but she picked up a piece of paper from the counter and walked over. “Here you go,” she said, depositing the bill on the table in front of him. “You racked up a pretty hefty bill, buying all those rounds of drinks. You’d better be good for it.”
“Don’t worry,” he said, grinning up at her. “I am.” Little did she know he could buy all the drinks she could ever serve. Heck, he could buy the whole town, and more. Still smiling, Ryder reached around to dig his wallet out of his back pocket.
His hand slid in and came back out…empty. “Sorry.” He gave her an embarrassed grin and dug into the other back pocket. Nothing. He frowned. “Weird.” As he muttered the word he shoved a hand into the front pocket on the left then the one on the right. His frown deepening, he patted the pocket of the denim jacket he was wearing. Still nothing.
Ryder cleared his throat. “I’m sorry. It looks like I left my wallet in the truck. I’ll have to go get it.”
Before he’d gotten all the words out Blake’s smile had disappeared and in its place was a glare that said she was not amused. “Do you really think I’m going to fall for that? You’re trying to pull a fast one on me, aren’t you?”
Ryder shook his head. “No, I’m not. I swear. My wallet must have fallen out in the truck. I’ll just go get it and come right back.”
Blake gave him a look of suspicion and then she looked at the big man sitting at Ryder’s table. “Go with him, Ted. Make sure he doesn’t try to take off.”
“You got it.” Ted was grinning as he got up then he cracked the knuckles on his beefy hands. “Come on, buster. Let’s go see if you can put your money where your mouth is.”
Ryder shrugged. “I’ve got no problem with that.” He got up and walked in front of Ted, out the door and toward the Dodge Ram. He pulled the door open and glanced at the driver’s seat then the passenger’s seat. He didn’t see anything so he checked if it had fallen between the seats or onto the floor. It was nowhere in sight.
As he pulled back and straightened up Ted grinned at him. “You really were pulling a fast one. You think you’re slick, don’t you?”
Ryder felt like punching the jeering smile off his lips. “I’m not pulling anything. I must have dropped my wallet somewhere. It’s okay. I’ll call…” As the last word left his lips he realized something. He’d gone through his pocket and his truck and he hadn’t run into his cell phone at all. That was missing, too.
“Oh, shoot.” The words left his lips in a groan of realization. “That guy at the gas station. How could I have been so stupid? I should have known he was too darned friendly to be real.”
Ted gave a snort of derision. “Don’t tell me you’re going to draw for some story about getting robbed.”
“But it’s true. My wallet and my cell phone are gone.”
Ryder’s words were like the signal for Ted to get rough. The man clamped a massive hand around his upper arm, his lips curling in a sneer. “Come on, bud,” he snarled. “You ain’t going to cheat the little lady out of her dough. You’re coming with me.”
Ryder didn’t even bother to resist. Talk about embarrassing.
He was not looking forward to explaining himself to Miss Blake Beaumont.
CHAPTER TWO
“May I borrow your phone?”
“He ain’t got no money.”
Both Ryder and Ted were speaking at the same time, which made Blake glance from one to the other. “What?”
“He ain’t got no money.” Ryder had opened his mouth to speak again but Ted beat him to the draw the second time around. “He was there pretending to search around for his wallet.” Then he gave a snort of disgust. “Like he had any money in the first place.”
Blake felt the anger settle in the pit of her stomach. She should have known his friendliness and generosity were too good to be true. She fixed a caustic glare on the man in question. “So what do you have to say for yourself?” She didn’t even know why she bothered to ask. Sneaky snakes like this one always had a ready answer. She wasn’t about to swallow anything he was planning to dish out.
“I got robbed,” he said, “at my last stop. I had my money and my cell phone up to that point. If you’ll just lend me your phone I’ll have your money to you in no time.”
Doug, the small man who’d sat watching the whole time, burst out laughing, his crooked teeth giving him a comical look. “Lend me your phone, he says. Don’t he know we ain’t got no phone in these parts?”