The Comeback Cowboy

by Cathy McDavid

  Considering they were unaccustomed to roping as a team, they worked well together, automatically anticipating and compensating for each other’s moves. The calf, spooked into action, had spun sideways and was hightailing it through the trees as fast as his stubby legs could carry him. He headed toward the narrow draw, bawling loudly, then dropped out of sight beneath the rim. Adele and Ty bent low on their horses’ necks and flew down the side of the draw.

  An exuberant “Yee-haw” erupted from her throat before she even realized it, then “Come on, Bella,” when the calf unexpectedly cut to the right.

  Her mare’s front hooves hit the ground at the base of the draw like a ton of bricks. Adele hung on, the resulting jar to her system acting like a shot of adrenaline. A quick glance over her shoulder assured her Ty was having no trouble keeping up. Pure unabashed joy lit his face. Her own jaw hurt from smiling so hard.

  Chunks of dirt exploded from beneath their horses’ hooves as they gained ground on the tiring calf. In the next few seconds, they closed the distance to mere feet. Sensing the moment was right, they reached for their lassos. Adele threw hers at the calf’s head a heartbeat ahead of Ty. He aimed his for the animal’s rear feet. Her lasso landed where it should, around the horns. Ty’s didn’t, falling instead to the ground.

  The calf jumped and twisted, shaking his head and fighting to break free. Adele reined Bella to a stop and backed her up to bring the line taut. Ty collected his rope and wound it into a coil, a sour expression on his face. He obviously didn’t like missing his throws.

  Giving their heavily breathing horses a rest, they dismounted. By then, the calf stood quietly, nostrils flaring and flanks heaving, resigned to the fact that his wandering days were at an end.

  “Don’t look so miserable, buddy.” Adele removed her rope, wrapped it around the calf’s neck and tied a knot, one designed for safely leading him back home. “We just saved your life. With all the wolves, bears and mountain lions in this area, I can’t believe you’ve survived this long.”

  Feeling Ty’s gaze on her, she looked up, momentarily stuck by what she was doing here with him. She didn’t act spontaneously. She certainly didn’t tear across the country-side chasing down calves with men she hardly knew. On a bet, for crying out loud.

  She didn’t normally kiss them, either, but she’d done all those things with Ty, in the same day, no less.

  When he didn’t say anything, she asked, “What?”

  “You look happy.”

  “That was fun.” Okay, she’d confessed, and the ground hadn’t opened up to swallow her whole.

  “You should do it more often.”

  “Catch stray calves?” She laughed.

  “Have fun. And laugh.” His brown eyes bored into hers, studying but not judging. “I’m thinking you don’t do either enough.”

  According to her grandfather, she also didn’t date enough. Had she really become that much of a stick-in-the-mud? And when had it happened? Adele didn’t like the momentary glimpse of herself through another’s eyes.

  “Sorry about missing earlier,” he said with what might have been embarrassment.

  “I doubt that happens much with you.”

  “No. And I’m not sure why it happened now.”

  “Mind if I make an observation?”

  “That’s why I came here.”

  “Hamm takes aim with his right eye.”

  “He does?” Ty pushed back his cowboy hat, scratched his head. “I must have watched a half-dozen films of myself on Hamm, and I never noticed.”

  “You might not if you weren’t looking.”

  He closed his eyes, his brow furrowed in concentration. Adele imagined he was mentally replaying his run, feeling the barely noticeable tug on the reins as Hamm turned his head to the left in order to see better. Realizing he should be loosening the reins and shifting his weight.

  “You’re right.” He opened his eyes and grinned. “You can spot me any day.”

  Pleasure coursed through her. Satisfaction at helping a student improve—that was her job, after all. But something else. Something having to do entirely with Ty.

  “We’d better get this little fellow back home,” she said, to cover her sudden rush of emotions. Leading the calf behind her, she mounted Bella and dallied the rope around her saddle horn, glad to be returning home. Ty had an infuriating way of unsettling her.

  He also mounted. “Maybe we can finish our tour of the ranch tomorrow.”

  Of course he would remember.

  “We’ll see.”

  Adele clucked to Bella, who obediently began walking out. Ty fell in step beside her, and the calf brought up the rear, not liking the rope, but having no choice in the matter. Soon enough, he settled down.

  Their slow climb up and out of the draw wasn’t nearly as thrilling as galloping down into it had been.

  At the top, Adele pointed to a trail. “This one circles back around to the east pasture.”

  They slowed their pace to accommodate the calf’s exhausted state and recalcitrant nature.

  “What made your grandfather pick this place?” As they meandered along, he took in the rolling green landscape and startling blue skies.

  “Pop was friends with Garth’s grandfather. He told Pop about the vacant land bordering his ranch being for sale. Pop and my grandmother had visited a few times and liked the area. They wound up buying the land sight unseen.”

  “My mother would never recommend that to a client, but in your grandfather’s case, he made a wise decision.”

  “He and my grandmother lived in a camper for six months while the original ranch house was being constructed. The crew barely finished before the first snow hit. Lucky for Pop, because Grandma might have left him otherwise.”

  “Can’t say I’d have blamed her. It must get pretty cold here in winter.”

  “Twenty degrees on a warm day. But it’s really pretty in a primitive way.”

  “I’d like to see that.”

  “There’s some good skiing up north.”

  “I was thinking more along the lines of sitting in front of a roaring fire.” Ty’s eyes locked with hers. “Snuggled under a blanket.”

  “Oh.” Adele required several seconds and a fair amount of throat clearing to recover. “Pop, um, built the stock barn and the main arena the following spring.”

  Ty didn’t resist her efforts to return to the conversation to their earlier topic. Thank goodness.

  “When did you start Cowboy College?”

  “About seven years ago. We began with the main lodge and the inn building. The cabins came later, a few each year as we grew.”

  “That was quite a risk you took.”

  “Pop’s the one who took the risk. He invested his life’s savings in Cowboy College. And it’s paid off.”

  “You’ve worked hard.” Ty sent her an admiring glance.

  Adele waited for the wariness that usually overcame her when a man showed signs of interest. Only it didn’t happen, and she couldn’t help wondering why. Ty was a poor choice for any romantic entanglements, short-term or long. She should be doubly cautious.

  Then it occurred to her that maybe his leaving soon was the reason she felt less on guard. No way would she be stupid enough to let herself fall for him, only to be hurt later. She was too smart for that. Too careful. Knowing she’d keep her heart under lock and key allowed her to let loose a little. Laugh. Chase calves.

  Because he was…safe.

  She relaxed, her newfound discovery giving her confidence—until he looked at her with a much too endearing expression on his handsome face.

  “Do you like to fish?”

  “I used to. Pop would take me sometimes when I was young.”

  “You want to go one day? I hear the fly-fishing’s pretty good at Little Twister Creek.”

  “I, ah…” Feeling safe with Ty—make that semisafe—didn’t mean she was ready for a date. “We’re so busy right now, I really can’t afford the time off.”

&nb
sp; “Well, if you wind up with a free morning or afternoon, let me know. The invitation’s always open.”

  For just a moment, she indulged her imagination and pictured the two of them whiling away a lazy afternoon on the banks of Little Twister Creek. It could be—here was that word again—fun.

  The discussion changed to roping and the upcoming Buffalo Bill Cody Stampede Rodeo. Ty gave his opinion on who he considered his toughest competition, which included her neighbor, Garth Maitland.

  “Will you come watch?” he asked.

  “I wouldn’t miss it. We usually take a group of students along, too.”

  They reached the first gate, and once again, Adele opened it without dismounting. When she went to close it, Ty stopped her.

  “Can I try?”

  “Sure.” She backed Bella up to give him and Hamm room. When he succeeded in closing the gate with no problem, Adele tipped her head appreciatively. “Nicely done.”

  “We’re learning to work together, too.”

  The calf abruptly let out a noisy bawl.

  “Guess he’s glad to be home.” She started forward. This time the animal followed willingly, in a hurry to be reunited with his pals crowding together at the fence in order to get a look at him.

  “He’s not the only eager one.” Ty had to hold Hamm back from running a race to the barn.

  They rode first to the calf pen and dropped off their charge in the care of the assistant stock manager, then walked their horses to the barns. When they reached the place where they would separate—he was going to the main barn, she to the smaller one—they stopped as if on cue.

  “Thanks for the tour,” he said, with that sexy half smile she’d seen countless times in magazines, on cable television and the big screen at rodeos. Only this time, the smile was directed at her. “I know I kind of tricked you into it.”

  “Kind of?”

  “But if we hadn’t gone, we wouldn’t have found the calf, and you wouldn’t have shown me how Hamm takes aim.”

  Or had such a good time team roping, she thought.

  “I might have shown you. Eventually,” she said with a grin, and quickly escaped to the quiet seclusion of the barn, where she could give her wildly beating heart a chance to slow.

  Who was she fooling, thinking Ty Boudeau was safe? He was as dangerous as they came, especially to someone like her, a country girl with little experience around men like him.

  Just as Adele was latching the door to Bella’s stall, a woman’s voice sounded from behind her.

  “That’s one fine looking cowboy.”

  Her mother, of course, would notice, having made fine looking cowboys the focus of her entire adult life. Still, Adele couldn’t disagree.

  “I suppose.”

  “He likes you.” Lani accompanied Adele to the tack room in the center of the barn, where she hung the mare’s bridle on a peg. “You like him, too.”

  “He’s a student, Mom.” Adele bristled, the remark hitting too close to home. “And a guest of the ranch. That’s all.”

  She walked away, well aware that her reaction was over the top. But hell would freeze over before she’d discuss Ty with her mother.

  “Wait,” Lani called after her, struggling a little to catch up, her breathing shallow and raspy.

  Smoking and hard living did that to a person.

  Only now that Adele thought about it, she hadn’t seen her mother with a cigarette or a drink since she’d arrived. Knowing her, she’d probably gotten better at hiding her vices.

  “You have every right to be mad me,” Lani said.

  The admission was the last thing Adele had expected to issue from her mother’s lips. Ever. It brought her to a standstill.

  “I have to get to the office,” she said, fighting an unwelcome rush of emotion. “Some new guests are arriving this afternoon.”

  “I’d really like to talk to you.”

  Adele inched away. “Not now.”

  “You can’t keep avoiding me.”

  “Why not, Mom?” She spun around. “You avoided me for years.”

  “I guess I deserve that.”

  Whatever else Lani intended to say was cut short by Stick barreling down the barn aisle toward them, his shirttail flying and his freckled face flushed beet-red from exertion.

  “Adele, Adele! Come quick.”

  “What’s wrong?” she asked, alarmed by the sight of him.

  “It’s Pop,” he said, holding his sides. “He fell. And he’s hurt bad.”

  Chapter Six

  Adele reached her grandfather first, ahead of Stick and her mother. He lay flat on his back on the muddy ground near the water trough. Ty, of all people, was kneeling beside him. Where had he come from and how did he get there ahead of her?

  “Pop, are you okay?” Breathless from running, Adele bent at the waist and braced her hands on her thighs.

  “I’ll live,” he muttered, his chest rising and falling.

  “You’re lucky you didn’t crack your head open on the trough.”

  Pop groaned when Ty lifted him to a sitting position.

  “Careful,” she warned. “He may have broken something.” She thought of Pop’s hip, the one that was always giving him trouble.

  “Quit being such a mother hen.”

  She ignored her grandfather’s comment and came closer, intent on verifying for herself his claim of being uninjured. “What happened?”

  “That damn spigot’s been leaking for days. Figured I’d fix it.” His face twisted into a painful grimace when Ty stood and hauled him to his feet. Putting out a hand in protest, Pop said, “Give me a minute, would you?” in a strained voice.

  “Sorry.” Ty relaxed his grip but didn’t let go.

  Good thing, because Pop swayed unsteadily.

  “Maybe we shouldn’t have moved him just yet.” Adele hovered, the mud her grandfather had slipped in pulling at her boots and sucking her in. It also covered her grandfather from head to toe, probably soaking through his clothes.

  Several more guests and the assistant barn manager had come over to investigate, crowding around them. Their anxious chatter and proximity grated on Adele’s already frayed nerves.

  “Can everyone step back, please. He needs room.”

  “Don’t mind her,” Pop told Ty. “The least little thing sets her in a tizzy.”

  “This is hardly the least little thing,” she retorted hotly. “You’re hurt.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Can you walk?”

  “I’m getting to it.”

  Distressed by the sight of her grandfather’s ashen complexion and his attempts to dismiss what could be a serious injury, she confronted Stick. “Why didn’t you help him when he fell?”

  “Ty got there first. Pop didn’t want to tell you, but Ty—”

  “You weren’t going to tell me?” Adele demanded of her grandfather.

  He shot her an isn’t-it-obvious-why look. “Don’t know what all the fuss is about. I just had the wind knocked out of me.”

  “And now you can hardly stand, much less walk.”

  “The hell I can’t walk.” He shook off Ty’s hold.

  Adele watched, biting her lower lip. To her relief, Pop didn’t topple, but neither did he attempt to take a step. She sent Ty a worried glance behind her grandfather’s back.

  He nodded reassuringly, letting her know he wasn’t moving from Pop’s side.

  The seconds dragged by. Finally, Pop attempted a step—and his knees went right out from under him. Ty easily caught him when he pitched forward. Thank goodness.

  Adele panicked at the sight of her grandfather’s pale face. “I think we should call 911.”

  “You’ll do no such thing.”

  “You need to see a doctor. You could have broken a rib or sprained an ankle.”

  He made a sound of disgust.

  “She has a point,” Ty said.

  “That’s enough out of the both of you.”

  “I have an idea.” Adele turned t
o Stick. “Find Mike Scolari and bring him here. His cabin number is fourteen. If he’s not there, go to the office and have Gayle pull up his reservation record. His cell phone will be listed under guest information.”

  “Mike? The husband of Sandy, who talks nonstop?” Ty asked.

  “Yes.” Adele nodded, her attention remaining on her grandfather.

  “What can he do?”

  “Mike’s a doctor.”

  “You’re kidding!”

  “I don’t need a doctor,” Pop groused.

  “Yes, you do,” Adele insisted. To Stick, she said, “Hurry.”

  “Take one step and you’re fired.”

  Stick’s gaze traveled between Adele and her grandfather. “Sorry, Pop,” he said, and dashed off to do her bidding. Smart kid.

  “What’s the matter with you?” she asked Ty, who continued to gape at her.

  “I just can’t believe Mike’s a doctor.”

  “Because his wife talks a lot?”

  “Because roping is a dangerous sport. I can’t believe he’d risk injuring his hands.”

  “Mike’s a pediatrician.”

  Wrong thing to say.

  Pop exploded. “I ain’t letting no kiddie doctor examine me.”

  “Then I’m taking you to the emergency room.”

  “The hell you are.”

  “Pop, please.” She couldn’t help the sob that infected her voice.

  To her amazement, he conceded. “All right, all right.”

  “Mom.” Adele reached into her jeans pocket and fished out her keys. “Can you pull my truck around?”

  “Of course, sweetie.” Lani hurried off. A few minutes later, she returned in the truck.

  After arranging a horse blanket on the front seat to protect it from all the mud, Ty helped Pop climb in. It was a struggle for both of them.

  “Thank you, Ty,” Adele said softly when they were done.

  “I’ll ride with you, just in case he needs help getting out.”

  She didn’t want him along, but knowing her grandfather, he’d be more cooperative with Ty than her. “Okay.”

  He opened the rear passenger door and climbed in.