Spurs and Heels(Divine Creek Ranch 5)(50)

beside her husband, Eli, who was working the door, to greet them.

“Hey! I’m so happy you came in, Juliana! Grace told me you and

Ash might be coming by tonight! It’s good to see you out of the

store.” Rachel gave her and Ash a speculative glance and whispered

something to Juliana.

Ash shook hands with Eli and greeted the bouncers before

pointing into the club. “Darlin’, Grace is waving frantically at you.”

“She’s probably saving you seats at their table,” Rachel offered in

explanation. “You’re dancing with us later, aren’t you, Juliana?”



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133

“Sure!” Juliana replied enthusiastically. “Just let me know. If it’s

okay with Ash, that is.”

Ash and Eli exchanged a knowing smirk and bumped fists. “Oh,

it’s definitely okay with me. Dance with the girls all you want.”

Ash wondered if Juliana knew what “dancing with the girls”

meant but hoped he’d find out shortly.

All the admiring looks Juliana received from the single men did

not escape Ash’s notice. Several were blatantly ogling her as his hand

slid possessively around her hip.

He escorted her through the crowd to the table in the corner by the

bar, where Ethan and his crew usually sat. Grace was there, seated in

Adam’s lap, with Jack and Ethan on either side of them.

Rosemary and Bernadette from Cheaver’s were there also, flanked

by Wesley and Evan Garner. Anyone casually observing might think

that the Garner brothers were there with both of the girls. Rosemary

had confided to Juliana at the pig roast in November that she was in

love with both brothers and they with her. They were planning a

getaway beach wedding in the spring.

Grace had saved seats for Juliana and Ash at their table, and there

were a few other empty chairs at the row of tables as well, saved for

friends who must be out on the dance floor.

A waitress took their drink orders, and Juliana and Grace chatted

for a few minutes, getting caught up on the news about the little visits

Brenda Sanderson paid to them both.

Grace still had her back up over the obliterated crape myrtles. Ash

and the unfortunate ranch hand Brenda had hooked up with did what

they could to mollify her by planting replacement trees of the same

variety. Juliana smiled up at him appreciatively when Grace told her

that part of the story. This was the first she was hearing about it.

“Our Grace, when she’s good and pissed, is a sight to see,” Adam

said with a quiet laugh as he squeezed her affectionately. “We barely

stopped her from chucking a clay flower pot through the back window



134

Heather Rainier

of that dually before that little chippie tore out of there. We’ve got

some spirited women around here, huh, Ash?”

Ash couldn’t help the wide grin on his face as he remembered the

sight of Juliana’s beautiful, flushed cheeks and the fire in her eyes as

she told him off at Teresa’s place a few weeks before.

“Damn straight! I like them just the way they are.”

A friend came up to Ash and started a conversation with him

while Grace, Juliana, and Adam talked. At first, Ash didn’t notice the

ranch hand that took that opportunity to slip in and ask Juliana to

dance. He turned to look at Juliana just in time to see the son of a

bitch give her an admiring onceover as he engaged in flirtatious

conversation. Being polite, Grace introduced the ranch hand to

Juliana, glancing at Ash with apologetic amusement in her eyes. Rock

and a hard place, he figured.

“Juliana, this is one of Jack’s cousins, Boone Warner. Boone, this

is Juliana Meyer. She’s the manager of Stigall’s Department Store and

my former boss. She’s also Ash Peterson’s girlfriend. Boone, you’ve

met Ash before, haven’t you?”

Surprise and good humor registered in Boone’s eyes. “Oh! Yeah,

hey, Ash! Good to see you again. She looked like she was about ready

for a dance. I thought I might oblige her. Sorry, didn’t know she was

your girlfriend,” he said as his horn-dog gaze shifted back to Juliana,

suggesting that perhaps Ash was neglecting her.

Boone knew exactly who she was here with because he’d had a

staring contest with him as soon as they’d walked in. He must’ve been

waiting for his opportunity to slip in and flirt with her. Show her other

options if she was interested. He’d be willing to bet Boone wasn’t the

only man here who had noticed the seams up the back of her sexy

stockings as they’d walked through the club a few minutes ago.

That thought pissed him off in a thoroughly primitive way, but he