Cowboy Protector
Page 19
Surreal, he thought again as he took his looped rope in hand.
More cars…more skyscrapers…two bronze lions observing them from the front steps of the Art Institute.
Neil leaned over Cisco and brought up the rope and whirled it overhead. Then he let loose and the looped rope went sailing, landing square around Wainwright’s shoulders. He yanked out the slack and Cisco slid to a stop. Wainwright was jerked off the saddle onto the street, the wind knocked out of him.
Before the stockman could regain his breath, Neil had dismounted and had run the length of rope to the toppled man. He trussed both of Wainwright’s hands to one of his feet almost like he would a calf or, more appropriately considering the man’s size, a steer. Only he did so behind his back so that he couldn’t work himself free.
“What’s going on, Mommy?” he heard a kid ask as bystanders cheered.
“It’s part of the festival entertainment. If you ask me, it’s downright irresponsible!”
Neil shoved a boot under Wainwright’s chest and flipped him over to look him in the face.
“Took me a while to rope you,” he drawled, “but that might just be my best ride yet.”
ANNABETH NEVER STOPPED praying for Neil until he returned to the arena area under the escort of two mounted policemen. The horse Wainwright had confiscated trailed behind them.
The welcome sight lifted a weight from her shoulders…and especially from her heart.
“Thanks for the escort, fellas,” Neil said. “I can take it from here.”
“You shouldn’t have gotten yourself involved at all,” one of them replied.
To which Neil most certainly must agree, Annabeth thought, remembering the fierceness of the regret he’d expressed that morning. Though what he was thinking now she couldn’t tell—he was staring at her with a strange expression.
Her pulse fluttered as the other cop asked, “Ever heard of 911?”
Neil didn’t say a word. Both policemen turned their horses—retired Thoroughbreds, Annabeth knew—and moved off, leaving Neil to dismount.
She worriedly searched him for new signs of injury even as she asked, “Where’s Lloyd? He got away?”
She was steeling herself from jumping Neil and smothering him with kisses in her gratitude that he was still alive. He hitched both Cisco and the pinto near the water trough before turning his full attention to her.
“He’s in the back of a squad car on his way to the police station now,” Neil told her.
She closed her eyes for a moment and offered her silent thanks. “It really is over, then.”
“Not exactly. Wexler showed up—he’s the one who took Wainwright into custody. We have an appointment with him as soon as we can get there.”
And no doubt Neil would have to stick around for a few days past the rodeo closing until the facts of the case were in order. Then she supposed he would return to South Dakota until Wainwright’s trial came up.
She said, “We’d better get going, then.”
“First we need to get some things straight between us.”
The way he was looking at her…
Though she couldn’t control her emotions or the way her heart skipped a beat at the us reference, she could control what she said to him. “What’s the point?”
“The point is that I love you, Annabeth Caldwell,” Neil said, making her eyes widen. “No, make that I’m in love with you. You are my legacy.”
“Your grandmother’s wishes mean that much to you?”
“You mean that much to me,” he insisted, taking her in his arms and ignoring the fact that she was trying her best to resist. “If Wainwright had killed you…”
“Well, thank goodness you outguessed him,” she said breathlessly while pushing at his chest to no avail.
His wolf’s gaze captured hers and Annabeth went still. He was breaking down her defenses. If she let him, he would break her heart in the end. Who was she kidding? When he left, he would break it no matter what.
“I saw what was going to happen right before you let your weight drop. Twice today I had premonitions, Annabeth, both about you when I wasn’t even touching you. So you really have no choice.”
Hardly daring to breathe, she echoed, “Choice? About what?”
“About admitting that we were meant to be together. That you love me. That you’ll marry me and go back to South Dakota with me.”
Even as her heart lifted at his proposal, she argued, “But I’m not right for you, Neil. I’m too strong-headed. Too impulsive, too—”
Neil stopped her protests with a kiss.
For a moment, Annabeth lost herself in the heady sensation of feeling his mouth covering hers. She leaned into him and he hugged her even tighter.
And when he raised his head, he didn’t give her room to object. “We are different. That’s exactly why you are right for me, Sunshine. Together, we fit like the pieces of a puzzle. You’ve been missing from my life until now. So marry me and complete me.”
The backs of her eyelids stung with unshed tears—this time of happiness, when Annabeth whispered, “Yes, Neil, yes.”
Epilogue
Neil chomped down on the pigging string and gave Annabeth the nod.
The calf shot out of the chute. Cisco practically vibrated with excitement until the calf hit the end of his score and Neil signaled him to go.
Loop roiling overhead, Neil leaned over the big bay’s neck and spotted his target—bull’s-eye!—then yanked the slack out of his rope. Cisco braked to a stop. Neil dismounted, flanked the calf and trussed three of its legs together.
A good run, he thought, throwing up his hands and remounting.
“Neil Farrell…seven-point-one seconds… Ladies and gentlemen, give a big hand to the winner, not only of today’s calf-roping event, but of the week-long series!”
Neil sought out Annabeth. She was grinning from ear to ear, lit up from the inside out, truly the sunshine of his life.
The celebration afterward was a family affair at an outdoor restaurant overlooking the lake at Navy Pier. And Annabeth was warmed to her core to be part of it, especially since Neil announced they were to be married.
“Ah, sweet Moira is some matchmaker, is she not, even from the great beyond,” Skelly said, hugging his wife, Roz, close.
The triplets had slithered away from them and were playing ring-around-the-dinner-table.
Keelin gave her husband, Tyler, and their daughter, Kelly, a soft look. “Indeed, Gran was a wise, wise woman.”
“Hmmph. It’s dreadful being the youngest of this branch of McKennas,” Alicia grumbled, “wondering what’s in store for me and with more than a year to wait.” She held up her glass. “But in the meantime, congratulations, Neil and Annabeth.”
“Congratulations!”
They all clinked glasses.
Annabeth grinned and leaned into Neil. She seemed to be doing that a lot lately—both the grinning and the leaning.
“Do Aunt Rose and Uncle Charlie know?” Alicia asked.
“I called Mom and Dad this morning. They couldn’t be more delighted.”
“I almost forgot.” Skelly handed Neil an envelope. “This came for you from Rose just today.”
“Thanks.”
Upon opening it, Neil shook a smaller envelope from the larger one. This one was addressed to him at home in South Dakota, Annabeth noted. Home. She was going to have a new home away from the city. A ranch wasn’t a farm, but it was close enough for her.
“From my brother Quin,” Neil muttered, tearing open the envelope and lifting out a single sheet of paper.
Even before he could unfold the missive, he froze.
And Annabeth’s stomach did a roll. He’d checked out for the moment and she knew he was having a vision.
As did the entire family, who sat forward in their seats waiting for him to come back to the present.
Suddenly he shook his head and blinked madly, as if trying to focus, then opened the note and quickly scanned it. When he looked up, a wry smile t
ugged at his lips.
“It’s my brother Quin…I saw him laughing at me. He’s always had the gift. He writes that he saw the two of us together, exchanging vows.” He waved the note. “He can’t make it to the wedding, but he says now I can stop being mad at him since I’ll have a partner to help me run the ranch.”
The McKennas let out a collective breath.
Annabeth smiled dreamily. She was going to have a new home away from the city.
“What are you grinning about?” Neil whispered.
“The future…partner,” she said, sealing the deal with a kiss.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-4288-3
COWBOY PROTECTOR
Copyright © 2002 by Patricia Pinianski
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*The McKenna Legacy
†Sons of Silver Springs