Proud Mary

by Bette McNicholas

  When they returned from exercising the horses and King, Stede helped Carolina dismount, turning her around and sliding her slender body along his, and wasting no time, took advantage of having her in his arms to steal a kiss. “Did you enjoy the ride?”

  “Yes, very much, except I don’t think I’m going to be able to walk by the end of the day—my muscles will be too stiff.”

  “You’ll be fine. Come on, let’s go take a look at the arena.”

  The arena filled with activity as sponsors hung advertisement banners along the fencing, electricians worked on the press box and announcer’s stand, and photographers snapped pictures of a mounted cowboy sharing one stirrup with either a model or one of the rodeo queens, she couldn’t be sure which, but the place appeared to have more beauty queens than cowboys.

  “The first event I want to tell you about is team bronco riding. Chance, Manny and I are entered in this event. Chance, is the team shank man, also known as the stock contractor. He loads the horses in the chutes. Each team pulls a number out of a hat and is assigned the horse in the chute with the matching number.”

  Stede yanked a halter with a hemp shank attached off the wall and handed it to her. “This is for the horse’s protection. The leather halter is lined with sheepskin.”

  “What happens if the horses get hurt?”

  “The team would be disqualified. Animals get hurt sometimes, but the penalties are stiff. I’m only one of several vets who will be here this weekend to care for the animals in case of injury. The regulations against animal cruelty are quite stringent. John takes care of shoeing the horses for us and Manny and Jamie take care of the stock that they have trained. Unlike the impression most folks have about the animals, they aren’t wild.”

  “That’s interesting,” Carolina replied.

  “The competition begins when the whistle blows to start the event. Chance holds the horse in position and the mugger, that’d be Manny, grabs the halter and then I have to saddle the horse, climb up and stay on to the finish line, which is simply an imaginary line between two barrels. The entire event takes less than half a minute.”

  “Do you consider this to be fun?”

  He put his arm around her shoulder and laughed. “Most cowboys consider themselves athletes and this a challenging sport. I’m not sure we consider this fun. Personally, I find it exhilarating most of the time and besides, if you’re good this can be a very lucrative business.”

  “What other events have you entered?”

  “Jamie and John are entered in the team roping and steer roping events and the last event of the day for us will be the saddle bronco.”

  “What’s the difference between that and the team bronco riding?”

  “Saddle bronc riding requires the rider to not only have great strength,” he said, opening a chute, “but timing and precision must be synchronized with the horse’s movements. I only have to stay on for eight seconds, which doesn’t sound like a long time, but it’s difficult and a lot of the riders get thrown long before the bell rings.”

  Standing inside the chute, she commented, “This is scary being in here, and confining. Aren’t you afraid of getting thrown and trapped under a horse?”

  “No. These animals are trained to throw the rider and most of them have learned not to buck inside the chute. For the rider, there’s a lot to concentrate on once that chute opens, and you have to rake the rough stock,” he said, showing her his spurs.

  “The rowels on these spurs have blunt points to keep from cutting the animal. You can be disqualified if you use sharp spurs and also if you hold onto the saddle during the ride.”

  “How do you keep from getting hurt when you dismount while the horse is still moving?” she asked, as Stede led her away from the arena.

  “If you’re lucky to stay on the horse for eight seconds,” he chuckled, “there are usually two pickup men. That would be Manny and one of the other men. All the mounted men or women you see in the arena are professional riders. Their job is to help the rider down off the bronc and one of them leads the horse out of the arena.”

  “Jenny explained a lot about the rules, but not how the officials score this event?”

  “The minute the horse jumps coming out of the chute, the timing begins. With one hand holding the rein attached to the horse’s halter, the rider has to stay securely seated in the saddle. He’s not allowed to use his free hand to touch any part of his body, the saddle or the horse.

  “We get judged on control of the horse, and both the horse and rider will be judged on the spurring action. I can’t wait to get on one of the new high rollers—the more the horse bucks, the better your chances of winning. Both the rider and the horse can score from zero to fifty points. Eighty or more is a very good score. Ninety or more is exceptional and doesn’t happen too often.”

  Carolina had mixed feelings about watching Stede ride. Certainly she wanted to cheer him to victory, but by the same token she would be crazed if he were hurt, or worse. “If I don’t accomplish anything else on this trip, I’ll consider it a success praying you through the rodeo.”

  The way he eyed her for a long moment she wondered if she’d given away more than she intended on how deep her feelings for him had become.

  “I’ll take all the prayers I can get. Chance is a great contractor; once I’m in that chute I only have seconds to mentally prepare for the ride. While Chance sometimes might get a kick, no pun intended, out of his stock throwing the cowboy, he’s very concerned about the dangers to both the rider and the horse. His reputation depends on providing the best trained stock. There are large monetary awards given to the owners of the top bucking horses. Sometimes Chance and Manny even give the rider tips, especially about some of the bulls. I wouldn’t ride one of them, myself.”

  “I hope I can remember everything you taught me,” she said, shaking her head. “What are we going to do for the rest of the day?”

  “Would you like to go into Amarillo?”

  “Sure, but we don’t have any transportation. Manny took the pickup.”

  “Chance has a truck. We’ll take his.”

  “What if he wants to go somewhere later?”

  “Nope. They have a lot of work to do here, and we won’t be gone all day.”

  “Okay. Give me time to change into something else.”

  ****

  Thirty minutes later when Carolina stepped out of the motor home, Stede was seated in the shade under the awning, waiting for her. He looked at her in slow motion, from top to bottom and back again, and she knew from his smile that he liked what he saw.

  “I see you hung up the cowgirl outfit for a pretty city dress.”

  “The jeans and long-sleeve shirt were a little too heavy to wear in this climate, but this little halter dress is perfect.”

  “I’ll say.”

  Carolina smiled and gave a turn for him to have a better look at the black jersey strapless knit with red poppies printed on the material. Two black spaghetti straps formed a vee from the décolletage and wrapped around the back of her neck, tied in a bow.

  Her hair was still damp from the shower and she combed the curls back and clipped them high on her head. She wore a pair of black espadrilles and black button earrings and two black bangle bracelets to match.

  Stede smiled as he took her hand, then leaned down to kiss her on the neck. She shivered from the heated sensation he sent through her.

  “You sure you want to go to town?”

  She laughed and lowered her head for a second. “Yes, I’m certain now, after that kiss. You’re driving me crazy.”

  “That’s my goal. I want to drive you crazy in love with me. How am I doing so far?”

  “I think you’ve gone beyond your expectations.”

  “Well, that’s a start,” he said, opening the door to Chance’s truck, laughing.

  “Where’s King?”

  “He’s with the team. They’ll take good care of him. By the end of the day, he’ll be exhausted, but he l
ikes to herd those cows around the corral.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Carolina and Stede strolled along the streets of Amarillo, going in and out of the shops downtown. Stede sat patiently in one dress shop, while she tried on several outfits.

  “I need to buy something to wear in Dallas. You’re going to have to nod when you see something that will be perfect if we go out in the evening. Remember, I only had one suitcase full of business clothes when I arrived for what was supposed to be a three-day trip and I have to put a wardrobe together.”

  With a smile, Stede nodded and after a few words with the saleslady, he sat down and enjoyed the fashion show. She brought Carolina exactly what he had ordered—casual dressy, a little sexy to show off her figure and legs, the saleslady told her, but nothing flashy.

  Carolina selected only the outfits that brought a big smile to Stede’s lips—an evening dress, a day outfit plus a pair of black gaucho pants and a pair of white Capri pants with dressy tops to match.

  When she was finished shopping and came out of the dressing room, she found, much to her surprise and somewhat an embarrassment that he had already paid for her purchases. A rodeo outfit was one thing; a supplemental wardrobe was quite another, given the fact that she wasn’t his wife.

  When they were out of the store, she said, “What do you think that saleslady thinks of me because you paid for my clothes?”

  “I hope she let her mind run wild…”

  “Stede!”

  “Okay, I told her we were getting married soon. She doesn’t think you’re a kept woman.”

  Carolina shook her head. “You’re hopeless! And, I am going to write you a check when we get back to the campgrounds.”

  “Fine, but I don’t have to cash it.”

  “You have to stop paying for everything.”

  “All right, I promise. Ready for lunch?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good, you can buy me lunch.”

  “You’re impossible. After lunch I have to spend the rest of the afternoon working on the computer, checking my clients’ e-mails and see what’s happening at the office, and check in before the weekend.”

  “That’s fine. Let’s eat in the Italian restaurant. Otherwise I’m afraid you’ll be overwhelmed with beef by the time you leave Texas.”

  ****

  Stede stretched out on the sofa in the motor home while Carolina worked at the table, putting her workload in order. She went on the Internet and downloaded some research material to read later when they were in Dallas.

  When she finished, Stede called his grandmother and they chatted with her a while, freshened up, and went to the pavilion to wait for the others to arrive for dinner.

  Carolina took a deep breath and then exhaled. “What smells so good?”

  “Beef!” he said jokingly. “They’re barbequing prime ribs for tonight. Chance said they had reserved a table. He’s invited some of his friends and clients to join us and there will be about twelve of us for dinner.”

  ****

  The pavilion had misters around the perimeter to cool the air and huge fans inside that created a pleasant breeze and made the summer heat more bearable. There was a large dance floor in the middle of the room and a bandstand as well as a jukebox.

  “The band should be here soon, and in about half an hour this place will be rocking. Cowboys, vendors and rodeo enthusiasts have been arriving all day.”

  She and Stede had no sooner sat at their table, where Jamie and John Charles were already seated, when photographers and more rodeo queens than there were contestants in the Miss World contest invaded the pavilion.

  A slight exaggeration, she thought, but there was a rodeo queen, a teenage queen, one from the county, and a Miss Amarillo, all accompanied by their courts, and members of the press.

  To a woman, all the queens had long hair and were dressed in bright colored cowgirl hats featuring sequins and feathers and boots to match. Beneath their royal sashes they wore equally elaborately designed western blouses tucked into their form-fitting jeans. Jamie and John, both bachelors, were at once smitten and got up and went to meet the young ladies.

  “Watching those two young bucks work their charms should be fun,” Stede whispered in her ear, as he ran his hand across her back and nuzzled her neck. “Thank goodness I brought you and I don’t have to get involved. You smell a little like honeysuckle and jasmine. I’m sorry I have to turn in early tonight, aren’t you?”

  She shuddered with the thrill of his touch and lowered her head to her shoulder where he continued kissing her. “No, but I think you’re going to need a cold shower.”

  “Don’t you like me to kiss you? Your skin is soft to the touch and I love this dress,” he said, tugging at the bow resting on the nape of her neck.

  “Stede, don’t you dare!”

  “You won’t admit it, but you’re falling in love with me and I know there’ve been times when we both thought our clothes were an impediment to the closeness we sought.”

  “You make it very hard not to think that way, I’ll admit. But I have issues to deal with once we get to Dallas.”

  “Your mother and sister?”

  She nodded. “That’s part of it…” she started, but Chance, Manny and Jenny and some of the other guests who were joining them interrupted her.

  It wasn’t long before the place became crowded and noisy. Women of all ages, some older and looking worse for the wear, some she thought looked desperate to catch a cowboy to marry, and some who didn’t seem to be looking for more than a one-night stand, strutted their bodies adorned in tight jeans and fancy shirts and hats, until they soon outnumbered the men.

  When Stede went to help Manny and Chance bring the trays of food to the table, Carolina couldn’t help notice the women swarm around them like bees to honey. Some of the ladies were bold enough to give them kisses; a couple of them even grabbed the men from behind and squeezed their tight rear ends.

  She noticed Stede smile and laugh easily, with some of the women who flaunted their favors in front of him. He seemed comfortable enough to make her wonder if he had bedded any of them at one time or another or would if she hadn’t been there.

  He was handsome, rich, a veterinarian, and a rodeo champion to boot, so she shouldn’t find the fact that women were drawn to him surprising. He wasn’t married and not even engaged, nor did she have a claim on him. And even if she did, the temptation he must face night after night on the circuit had to be overwhelming and a temptation for most professional men who played sports.

  She wondered if he was he strong enough to resist. The possibility that he could still make plans to meet one of them later occupied her thoughts for a brief moment before she erased the thought and the scene from her mind.

  When he returned to the table, he stepped over the bench and sat beside her, placing a huge platter of food in front of her.

  “Carolina? Are you all right?”

  She realized she continued staring at the bevy of beauties and managed a smile. “Yes, daydreaming I guess. Do you expect me to eat all this food?”

  “Not to worry, King will gladly finish any leftovers.”

  “These ribs are larger than the plate,” she exclaimed. “They remind me of something Fred Flintstone would have for dinner.”

  “You’re right—” He laughed. “—but they are the best in all of Texas.”

  “Like all the women hanging around you.”

  Stede turned sideways, looking her over closely with a big grin spreading across his face. “Are you jealous?”

  Carolina sat up straighter, primly busying herself placing her napkin on her lap. “No, of course not, I merely wondered. They all seemed to know you and Chance, at least you acted quite familiar.”

  “Maybe, maybe they’re old friends, or perhaps they know a good-looking man when they see one,” he teased.

  “Well I noticed some of your old friends certainly know a good-looking pair of buns when they see them,” she quipped lightly, managing
to spare him a sweet smile, although there had been no mistaking the pique in her tone and the challenge in her salvo.

  Stede had trouble hiding his grin that he knew irritated the hell out of her.

  She looked at him, appalled. “What?”

  “Carolina Palmer is jealous.”

  “I am not,” she denied heatedly.

  “Oh!” he said, leaning over to whisper in her ear, “now you’re showing a new side—jealous and angry.”

  With a primness that irritated the hell out of him, she moved to put space between them. “Stede Foster, you’re incorrigible.”

  “If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t be able to handle a difficult woman like you.”

  Her light green eyes rounded on him. “Difficult? Me? I’m not the one getting my buns squeezed by a bunch of hussies.”

  What she didn’t add was their doing this in front of a woman he’d told a sales clerk earlier that day that he was going to marry. Not that she believed that for a minute. Nor could she see how that could work, great kisser that he was, when she wanted family and stability and he roamed the countryside after fame and fortune, defying death in the process.

  “I should hope not,” he said, moving closer until his leg touched hers beneath the table, reconnecting with her.

  Now she wondered who was jealous. She gave him an aside glance. He confused her. She wanted to be wanted her entire life. And, if he could be believed, he wanted her, at least to some degree. What that was exactly, she had no clue.

  Truth was she wanted him, too. But if she really got him, she didn’t know what might happen. Would she wake up one morning, a wedding and two children later, like her mother, and find the man she’d married tired of dealing with her peccadilloes who turned on her?

  Everyone laughed together and Carolina looked around the table. She noticed they apparently were too hungry to pay her any attention, and kept busy eating, for which she was thankful. Besides the ribs, there was corn on the cob, Texas toast, baked beans and coleslaw and her favorite for dessert, Texas brownies.

  When she finished eating, she knew her scent of honeysuckle and jasmine had been replaced with the barbeque sauce that seemed a bit much for the napkin to handle, as she reached for a moist wipe.