The Comeback Cowboy

by Cathy McDavid

  “How come you never said anything?”

  “It’s not a secret. Just something I don’t publicize. Old Charlie’s shop is one of the few places I can go and just be myself.” His voice dropped. “So’s Seven Cedars.”

  “Wow.” Adele shook her head dumbly, still absorbing Ty’s remarkable news.

  “Is it so hard to believe I’m learning a trade?” He turned his head and eyed her with a mixture of humor and curiosity.

  “Well, saddle construction does take a lot of…” She scrunched her mouth to one side.

  “Skill? Craftsmanship? Ingenuity?”

  “I was going to say patience.”

  That earned her another laugh.

  “And meticulous attention to detail. I suppose you also have to be good with your hands.”

  “You have no idea.”

  Too late, she realized her mistake. He immediately sobered, and the comfortable mood that had prevailed up till now vanished.

  Oh, brother. She’d stepped right into that.

  “Much as I like rodeoing, chances are I won’t be doing it forever,” Ty said philosophically around a bite of fish. “I may need a backup career.”

  Adele breathed easier at the change of subject.

  “Besides, I’d like to be on road less, some day. Put down roots. Get married and have a couple of kids.”

  So much for breathing easier.

  “I know a lot of guys—and women, too—who leave their families for months at a time, but I couldn’t do it. Raising kids is hard enough for two people. It’s got to be darn near impossible for one.” He paused, suddenly catching himself. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t criticizing. Your dad and mom—”

  “It’s okay. I agree with you.” Adele tried to maintain a light tone. “I wouldn’t want to be married to someone who was on the road for months at a time, either.” And she wouldn’t, not after seeing what that lifestyle had done to her parents’ marriage. To her.

  “When I do finally have kids,” Ty continued, his gaze meeting hers, “I want to be there every moment. From the first visit to the baby doctor to the day they graduate and leave home.”

  Adele couldn’t look away if she tried.

  Fortunately, the band chose that moment to begin the first set. Despite being good, the music was loud, and limited conversation. Ty made up for it by sending her smoldering glances between bites. Adele polished off the last of her meal in a rush. This thing happening between them, whatever it was, couldn’t go anywhere, and she needed to put a halt to it once and for all.

  She was just setting her fork down and hoping they’d be leaving soon when the band launched into a slow number, one of George Strait’s more popular hits.

  “Let’s dance,” Ty abruptly said.

  “I…ah…”

  Her senior prom was the last time a man had given her flowers. It was also the last time she’d danced to such a slow song.

  He stood and tilted his head toward the band. “Come on. I won’t bite. Not on a first date, anyway.”

  Was he joking?

  Walking ahead of him, Adele tried to convince herself she wasn’t making a huge mistake. Just look what had happened the last time Ty had held her in his arms.

  “Relax,” he said into her ear, and pressed his palm against the center of her back.

  She tried. It wasn’t easy. The man smelled too darn sexy for his own good.

  “Afraid I’m a little more comfortable on a horse than the dance floor,” she confessed.

  “It’s not all that different than riding. You just have to find the rhythm and settle in.”

  He couldn’t be more wrong. Dancing was entirely different than riding.

  On horseback, she was in complete control. Wrapped in Ty’s arms, she was a stick being carried along by a rushing, storm-swollen river.

  But after an awkward minute, she did indeed find the rhythm, and stopped inhaling sharply every time their bodies gently collided, either from a misstep on her part or another couple bumping into them. No sooner did the tension start to ebb than the song ended.

  “Wait,” Ty told her when she began to pull away.

  “The song’s over,” she murmured. The realization that she rather enjoyed staying right where she was made her nervous all over again.

  “They’ll play another one.”

  And the band did, this one also slow. Had Ty known?

  Without any prompting on his part, she slipped back into his embrace, her earlier suspicions that they were headed for trouble solidifying into absolute certainty. He felt good. Strong and sure of himself. And those hands he’d bragged about were holding her as if he had no intention of ever letting her go.

  As the song played on, she discovered that following his steps wasn’t all that hard. When he lowered his head to brush his temple against hers, she didn’t retreat or tell him to stop. Stranger still, when his hand moved from the center to the small of her back, she turned her head and rested her cheek on his chest as if she’d done it a thousand times before.

  Maybe her lack of finesse on the dance floor had less to do with talent and more to do with not having the right partner.

  As they moved to the seductive beat, Ty’s heart rate slowly increased. She could sense the pounding more than she could hear it over the loud music. When her fingers walked gingerly from his shoulder to the back of his neck, his heart rate accelerated even more.

  People were looking at them, Adele noticed through slitted eyes and a dreamy haze that had begun to surround her. Not that she could blame them. As Pop had pointed out recently, she hardly dated, much less glided across a crowded dance floor in the arms of an incredibly attractive rodeo star. One who also worked for the best custom saddle and leather shop in the Southwest.

  She was still trying to wrap her brain around that piece of news when Ty suddenly swung her in a half circle in order to avoid colliding with Mike and Sandy.

  “Whew!” It took Adele a moment to regain her balance.

  “Sorry,” Mike called over the music before he and his wife were swallowed by the other dancers.

  “You okay?” Ty asked.

  Adele looked up at him, and her own heart began racing. At close range and in the dim light of the honky-tonk, his brown eyes were dark as ebony. They studied her with the intensity of a man with an agenda. An agenda that involved the two of them alone in a secluded place, those talented hands of his discovering the curve of her hips and the texture of her skin.

  Adele averted her gaze. She had little experience with the kind of supercharged sexual currents running between her and Ty.

  He let go of her hand and, tucking a finger beneath her chin, lifted her face to his. Dancing became impossible, so they stopped, staring into each other’s eyes right there in the middle of the dance floor. The people moving beside them were just blurs to Adele, who only had eyes for Ty.

  Leaning down until their foreheads touched, he said, “I want to take you home. Right now.”

  She withdrew slightly, his remark swiftly bringing her back to her senses.

  “I—I don’t… I can’t…”

  He wanted her. And she returned the feelings. But she wasn’t ready for that. Not yet.

  He looked stricken. “I wouldn’t take advantage of you, Adele.” He blew out a breath and, giving her a gentle tug, pulled her back into his arms. “God, I screwed that up.” They started dancing again. “I want to kiss you.” He caught her gaze once more. “You can’t imagine how much.” His mouth curved up in an apologetic smile. “I just didn’t want to do it here, and figured if I took you home, I’d have my chance.”

  “I see,” she muttered softly.

  “This keeps getting worse and worse. I should just shut up.”

  “No. It’s all right.” Adele gathered her courage and made a leap she never had before with a man. “Because I want you to kiss me.”

  “You do?” Ty’s grin widened.

  She nodded, and said, “Let’s get out of here,” just as the music stopped.
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br />   Unfortunately, several people were close enough to hear her. Including Mike and Sandy, who both smiled knowingly.

  “Good idea.” Mike waggled his eyebrows and flashed Sandy a look that left no question as to his own intentions.

  Adele groaned inwardly. She rigorously strived to keep her private life just that. Tonight, however, she’d broken that rule.

  “You’ve got an early morning tomorrow,” Ty said loudly enough for everyone to hear. “And Pop’s waiting for you.” With a gentlemanly touch to her back, he guided her off the dance floor.

  “Thank you,” she said, when they reached their booth. Ty had done his best to make it clear he and Adele weren’t spending the night together. She liked him for that. More than liked him.

  “I’d say I was sorry, except I’m not going to get in the habit of apologizing, or thinking I should apologize, every time I kiss you.”

  Something about his tone caused a tingle to skip lightly up her spine. Almost like the gliding of fingertips. His fingertips.

  “You say that as if we’re going to kiss a lot.”

  “A man can hope.”

  The dinner tab had been placed on their table while they were dancing. Adele reached for it, but Ty beat her to the punch.

  “Hey, I’m supposed to pay.”

  “I’ll get it.”

  “We had a bet.”

  “You can pay next time.”

  “Who says there’s going to be a next time?”

  “There is if you owe me dinner.”

  “You’re impossible!”

  Ty removed his wallet and place several bills inside the folder containing the dinner tab. His gaze held hers as he replaced it on the table. “Don’t think this gets you out of kissing me tonight.”

  “It never crossed my mind,” she said softly, reeling from more of those sexual currents.

  Despite her earlier vow to keep her personal life private, she didn’t object when Ty clasped her hand in his. Together, they wove through the throng of boisterous patrons.

  With each step, she tried convincing herself not to get involved with Ty. His return to the rodeo circuit loomed ahead. Unless she could be satisfied with seeing him a few days here and a few days there, engaging in a romantic relationship could only end with her being hurt.

  No amount of warning, however, lessened the anticipation building inside her at the prospect of their next kiss. How could she refuse him? Especially when she might not have another chance?

  To reach the front entrance, they had to pass the bar area. Typical for a Saturday night, people stood two and three deep. If a big burly man hadn’t chosen that exact moment to back away from the bar, Adele might have left without ever having spotted her mother parked on a stool near the end.

  The sight of Lani hefting a beer wasn’t enough to stop Adele in her tracks. She’d seen her mother in bars before. It was the man she sat next to, with her head bent close to his in what was clearly an intimate conversation, that left Adele chilled.

  Henry Parkman, owner of the feed store.

  Married Henry Parkman. And until this moment, Adele had thought him happily married.

  His wedded state, however, didn’t seem to make a difference to Lani. She flashed her white teeth at him before tipping her head back and laughing uproariously.

  Adele’s mother had always gone after men; that was nothing new. Somewhere along the line she’d apparently moved to married men. Adele felt sick to her stomach.

  Every thought fled her head save one: getting the hell out of the Spotted Horse. Legs shaking, she sidestepped Ty and brushed past another couple in her haste to reach the entrance, her escape fueled by an incessant roaring in her ears.

  “YOU DON’T HAVE TO GET out,” Adele said when Ty opened his truck door and pocketed his keys.

  “I’d like to walk you to your door, if you don’t mind.”

  He assumed the good-night kiss they’d teased about at the Spotted Horse—the one that had sent his pulse skyrocketing—wouldn’t materialize. That didn’t stop him from wanting to see her safely inside.

  Adele’s mood had plummeted the moment she saw her mother with Henry Parkman, the owner of the feed store. And understandably so. Ty had remained silent on the subject during the short ride home, commenting on the weather and upcoming rodeo, and not pressuring her when she didn’t respond. It had been obvious from the day he first saw Lani in the barn with Pop that any discussion of Adele’s mother was off-limits.

  From somewhere nearby, one of the ranch’s many dogs barked. Ty sat behind the steering wheel, absently tapping a foot.

  When Adele didn’t immediately exit the truck, he waited another moment, then shut his door. She continued sitting in the passenger seat, staring into the darkness at a row of sprawling cottonwood trees, standing like a black wall against a silver sky.

  Strange behavior for someone who’d been in an all-fired hurry to get home not twenty minutes earlier.

  Okay, maybe she did want to talk. Or not be alone. When she still didn’t move or speak, he hunkered down in his seat, pushed back his cowboy hat and scratched his forehead. The intricate workings of a woman’s mind had often eluded Ty, and he’d long ago developed a system to use in situations like this one. When in doubt, wait and say nothing.

  “I’m sorry,” Adele finally muttered.

  “For what?”

  “I know this isn’t how you expected the evening to end.”

  “Don’t sweat it.”

  “From the day my mom arrived, I’ve been trying to figure out why she showed up. I should have guessed it was to find a new man. She doesn’t go long without one. I just hadn’t realized she’d lowered her already low standards and was including married men in her pickings.” Hurt and disappointment roughened Adele’s voice.

  Ty decided to go out on a limb. “Don’t take this wrong, but are you sure your mother was going after Henry Parkman?”

  Adele turned her head to gawk at Ty with disbelief. “You saw the two of them at the bar.”

  “I did.” He scratched his forehead again. “Can’t say there was much going on between them other than talking and laughing.”

  “If she’d been sitting any closer to him, she’d have been in his lap.”

  “The place was pretty crowded. Hard not to sit close to someone with people crammed in all around you.”

  “Why are you defending her?”

  “I’m not defending her. Only saying I didn’t see anything more than two people having a friendly conversation.”

  “Yeah. Real friendly. That’s how it always starts with her.”

  Ty let the remark pass, returning to his original plan to say nothing. Women were talkers, he reminded himself, and men were fixers. She probably didn’t want his advice, just a sounding board on which to vent her frustrations. At least, that was what his sisters used to tell him when he opened his mouth once too often with unsolicited advice.

  Several more moments passed with Adele sitting silently. Ty leaned back, content to be patient, and determined to be what she needed, even if he couldn’t figure out exactly what that was.

  “You have a perfect family,” she murmured, staring out the window again.

  “I wouldn’t call them perfect.”

  “Your mom and dad are still married after, what, thirty years?”

  “Something like that.”

  “They not only raised three kids, they both have successful careers. I’d call that pretty perfect.”

  “They’ve had their share of rough patches.” Some of them a direct result of Ty and a few rather rebellious teen years.

  “My parents divorced when I was three.” She heaved a sigh. “I don’t really know why. My dad refused to talk about it, and the reasons my mom gave always sounded a bit…manufactured.” Adele turned toward Ty. “Do people really grow apart?” Without waiting for him to answer, she resumed gazing out the window. “I think she just got tired of him.” Adele’s voice hitched. “Like she got tired of me.”

 
; “That’s not true.”

  “How would you know?”

  “All right, I don’t.” That’s what he got for trying to say the right thing. Back to plan one: be quiet and listen.

  “She left me here every chance she got. Every time she found a new man to latch on to. What kind of mom does that to her own kid?”

  “Maybe she was trying to protect you.”

  “From what?” Adele asked, her expression incredulous.

  Ty ground his teeth, cursing his inability to shut up.

  “From what?” she repeated when he didn’t respond.

  He was probably going to regret it later, but answered her anyway. “From the lifestyle she was living. From the men she was with. From the constant liquor and partying and living on the road in a motor home or in a hotel room. I can’t imagine any mother wanting to expose her child to that.”

  “Then why didn’t she just stay home and get a regular job? Why did she dump me off at my father’s or grandparents’ every chance she got?”

  “You should be asking your mother these questions.”

  Clearly, he’d blundered, for Adele sprang into action, wrenching open her door and jumping out.

  Ty went after her, but she’d gotten a solid head start on him. He caught a break when she fumbled with her keys at the front door.

  “Adele, I’m sorry.” He came up beside her. “I shouldn’t have said that.” Dang it all, she was crying. “Oh, sweetheart.” He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

  She went into his arms so fast he momentarily lost his footing.

  “I hate being one of those pathetic people with mommy issues,” she said, her face buried in the front of his shirt.

  “There’s a reason Lani came here.” Ty put an arm securely around Adele. When she didn’t retreat, he tugged her closer.

  “That’s what Pop says, too,” she muttered. “He thinks I should give her a chance to explain.”

  “Your grandfather’s a smart man.”

  “Not about everything. He overdoes it and falls.”

  “Well, that’s true.”

  Ty forced himself to concentrate. It was hard holding Adele—feeling her body fitted snugly against his—and not responding. He ached to taste her lips, glide his palms along her supple curves. When his hand inadvertently slipped off her shoulder and down her back, he quickly pulled it away.