by Cynthia Sax
She walked her favorite gelding, Beast, back to the trailer and hooked his halter around his neck before loosening his cinch. She heard the twitter of female laughter before she actually recognized the pair of women behind her trailer and cringed. Delilah had been a thorn in her side ever since high school, when Alicia had first arrived in West Hills. There’d never been a lack of competition between them, but it seemed, years later, only one of them had matured at all.
“Look, Dallas, there’s Miss Runner-Up.” Delilah jerked her chin at Alicia’s trailer. “Came in second again, huh?” She flipped her long blonde waves over her shoulder. “I guess you can’t win them all . . . oh, wait.” She giggled. “You don’t seem to win any, do you? That would be me.” The pair laughed as if it were the funniest joke ever.
“Isn’t it hard to ride a broom and a horse at the same time, Delilah?” Alicia tipped her head to the side innocently as Delilah glared at her and stormed away, pulling Dallas with her.
Alicia snidely imitated Delilah’s laugh to her horse as she pulled the saddle from his back and put it into the trailer. “She thinks she’s so funny. ‘You haven’t won. I have,’ ” she mimicked in a nasally voice. “Witch,” she muttered as she rubbed the curry comb over Beast’s neck and back.
“I sure hope you don’t kiss your mother with that mouth.”
Alicia spun to see Chris Thomas, her best friend Sydney’s brother, walking toward her trailer. She’d rodeoed with Chris and Sydney for years, until Chris had gone pro with his team roping partner. For the last few years, they’d all been pursuing the same goal, the National Finals Rodeo, in their respective events. So far their paths hadn’t crossed since Sydney’s wedding nearly two years before. She’d suspected she might see him here since they were so close to home and this rodeo boasted a huge purse for team ropers.
“Chris!” She hurried over and gave him a bear hug. “Did you rope already?”
“Tonight during the slack.” Most of the team ropers would be competing tonight before the barbecue and dance. “I see Delilah’s still giving you a hard time.”
She shrugged and smirked. “She’s still mad I beat her out for rodeo queen when Sydney gave up the title.”
“That was a long time ago. You’d think she’d let it go.” Chris stuffed his hands into his pockets and leaned against the side of her trailer, patting Beast’s neck. “Maybe you should put Nair in her shampoo like she did to you.”
Alicia cringed at the memory. “It was a good thing I smelled it before I put it on my head. That could’ve been traumatizing, but I got her back.”
“That’s right. Didn’t you put liniment in her lip gloss?” She smiled at the reminder of the prank, and Chris laughed. They’d had some good times together in the past. She wondered how they’d managed to drift apart over the past few years. She missed his laugh and the way he always seemed to bring the playful side of her personality to the surface.
“So, how’d you do?”
“Second—so far,” she clarified. “Again.”
He chuckled and crossed his arms over his chest. His biceps bulged against the material of his Western shirt, and she couldn’t help but notice how much he’d filled out since she’d last seen him. And in all the right places. “Second’s nothing to complain about.”
“It’s nothing to brag about either,” she pointed out, tearing her eyes away from his broad chest. She finished brushing down the horse, feeling slightly uncomfortable with the way he continued to silently watch her, as if he wanted to say something but wasn’t sure how to bring it up. Finally she turned and faced him. “What?”
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Excerpt from Beauty and the Brit copyright © 2014 by Lizbeth Selvig.
Excerpt from The Governess Club: Sara copyright © 2014 by Heather Johnson.
Excerpt from Caught in the Act copyright © 2014 by Sara Jane Stone.
Excerpt from Sinful Rewards 1 copyright © 2014 by Cynthia Sax.
Excerpt from When the Rancher Came to Town copyright © 2014 by Gayle Kloecker Callen.
Excerpt from Learning the Ropes copyright © 2014 by Tina Klinesmith.
SINFUL REWARDS 4. Copyright © 2014 by Cynthia Sax. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition OCTOBER 2014 ISBN: 9780062354174
Print Edition ISBN: 9780062354181
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