“How long have you known Wes and Jillian?” she asked.
It was because of Jillian that Natalie had met Colt. From what she’d heard, Colt had been happy living a life secluded on the ranch, his sister less than a mile away, and only leaving on the weekends to perform. Natalie had been in a bad horse accident, and Wes and Jillian had suggested Colt could help her learn to ride again. They’d fallen in love along the way. And the rest was history.
“I’ve known Wes my whole life,” Chance said. “His mom was friends with our mom, but he’s mostly my brother’s friend.”
“Wes seems nice,” Carolina observed. “And Jillian is amazing with animals. Once one of Natalie’s jumping horses was limping and they couldn’t figure out why. Jillian came over and told her it was a torn muscle. They took the horse to the vet clinic, and Mariah used some kind of infrared device to confirm the diagnosis. It was unreal.”
“I’ve heard it’s crazy how good Jillian is reading animals.”
It was the first conversation—their first real conversation—since their practice session in the arena. She smiled. She liked talking to him. It was easy. Not awkward and uncomfortable. “I think she does more than simply read them. It’s almost like she can talk to them or something.”
“Dr. Doolittle,” Chance said. “That’s what Colt calls her.”
“Exactly like—”
She bolted upright in her seat. Chance slowed down as quickly as he could with horses in the back of the trailer. They’d reached the end of the drive and the iron gates that guarded the entrance of Reynolds Ranch. In the distance was James’s truck.
Son of a—
Chance must have realized who it was, too, as she’d given him a detailed description of James’s truck, as well as a picture of the man himself. It might still be early enough that the headlights painted the pavement gray, but James’s big silver truck was hard to miss. Her ex must have realized they’d spotted him, because suddenly his lights flicked on. He peeled out so fast his tires kicked up a stream of dust and rubber.
“Damn,” Chance said.
Yes, damn. She’d truly hoped he’d leave her alone now. That he’d had his fun. But being faced with the reality of James’s presence was like discovering a gaping hole in her arm, one so big and ghastly she didn’t know how it could ever be fixed.
“I don’t understand,” she whispered.
They both watched as James sped off, his taillights fading to small points of light before disappearing altogether.
She clenched her fists. “Why won’t he leave me alone?”
The side of Chance’s jaw ticked, his eyes slits as he stared at the spot where James had been parked.
“Bastard’s gonna be sorry.”
* * *
SHE HARDLY SAID a word the rest of the ride. That was okay. Chance was busy checking his six, even doubling back once, not that she seemed to notice. Carolina seemed too lost in her own thoughts, fiddling with a strand of her hair, probably wondering what she could do to keep James away.
Nothing.
The simple truth was, there were some men who didn’t want to take no for an answer. Who were crazy. Who did things no sane man would ever do. Over there, in the Middle East, Chance had seen things. He shook his head, not wanting to think about it. Suffice to say, he’d probably taken James a hell of a lot more seriously than she had, knowing what he knew about certain individuals.
He gripped the steering wheel. “I won’t let him hurt you.”
“He knows where the rodeo is,” she said in a small voice.
He glanced at her, about to ask how that was possible, when he realized she was right. Of course he knew. Colt’s rodeo schedule was posted online. It was no big secret where they would be. And even if it hadn’t been online, rodeos had their own websites, and they listed who their performers would be. He was an idiot for not thinking of that sooner. Of course, he’d been hoping the guy had given up. The sight of him sitting in front of the gate had changed all that. It’d been nearly two weeks since Carolina had moved to the ranch, and James clearly still had it out for her. That meant he was capable of anything. Maybe even scary things. Like the stuff Chance had seen while serving.
“If he shows up, I’ll take care of him.”
She nodded, her gaze firmly fixed ahead.
“In the meantime, maybe you should call the lieutenant in charge of your case.”
“I will once we get there.”
“Not that it’ll do any good,” he said, checking his six once again as he merged onto a new road. “James’s gonna do whatever he wants. His type of man always does. He’s mad at you for breaking up with him, and he’s trying to make you pay.”
She stared out the front windshield, clearly oblivious to what was around her. “I never should have started seeing him.”
“Hindsight is always twenty-twenty.”
“Yeah, but I wasn’t even looking to get involved with someone. From day one, my whole focus has been the Galloping Girlz. When he asked me out on a date, I actually said no.”
“Sometimes you can have a gut feeling about someone.”
They were headed into the Sierra foothills, to a town whose claim to fame was the rodeo they held every fall. It was getting to the end of rodeo season. Any cowboy that found himself behind in earnings would be at the Tres Rios grounds in the hopes of a last-minute score of cash that might nudge them toward the top of the standings, and the National Finals Rodeo.
Carolina hugged herself. “When we first started dating, he was really charming.”
Chance simply nodded, keeping quiet. He sensed she wanted to talk to someone. He would listen.
“We had so much fun. He was so attentive, and I liked that. I’d never met a man who so clearly wanted to spend time with me, but then it got to be a little annoying. One day, I decided to go out to a bar with everyone in our group. I wasn’t planning on picking up anybody or dancing. It was just a night of fun for us girls to relax, you know, away from a rodeo or practicing out at Colt’s place.”
She shook her head, her lips pressing together for a moment. Her hands clenched.
“James told me I couldn’t go.” She looked at him then. “I laughed.”
She shook her head again, her gaze shifting to the scenery in front of them once more—the mountains in the distance capped with snow, the hills nearest them scorched brown by the California sun—her face as cold as the stone in the hillside.
“He hit me. Bam.” She mimicked the motion of being struck in the head. “One minute, I was standing, and the next, I was on the ground. I remember thinking, did he really just do that? Only he had, and then he was holding me and telling me how sorry he was, and I wanted to believe him...”
So she’d forgiven him. She didn’t need to say the words. Chance knew she’d let him back into her life, as many women did with their partners.
“He was good to me after that, and I started to think he’d just had a bad day. You know, that I must have pushed him too hard. That it was somehow my fault.” She pinned him with a stare, her gaze so intense it was as if she tried to turn back time with her mind. “It’s amazing how easy it was to believe it was a onetime thing. Two months later, he hit me again, and that was the time I told him to go to hell, only he didn’t take the news well.”
She touched the side of her face this time, as if touching invisible scars. “Thank God one of my neighbors came along when he did. He said he’d heard my screams. I honestly don’t know if James would have stopped. I ended up in the hospital. I don’t remember much about how I got there. The police came. I filed charges. I thought James would leave me alone after that, especially since he’d be in jail, but the bastard posted bail the next day and then he was out and the phone calls started.”
“He’s angry.”
“I’m the one who s
hould be angry.” She inhaled, a sigh of resignation and possibly disgust. “But I’m scared.”
“Don’t be.” He’d said the word so sharply she had immediately turned to look at him. “Don’t be afraid. I haven’t served eight years protecting this country to let some lowlife scumbag push you around. He has no idea who he’s messing with.”
He was driving, which made it hard to maintain eye contact, but he did his best, and he hoped she saw how serious he was.
Carolina swiped at her eyes. “He’s going to make an appearance at the rodeo. How much do you want to bet?”
“I’m not going to take that bet. Not when I think you’re right.”
She pulled her legs up onto the bench seat and hugged her knees. “Maybe I shouldn’t perform.”
“Don’t,” he said again, just as sharply. “You’ve changed your life around enough already. Don’t let him take this away from you, too.”
He didn’t realize what he was doing until he did it. He pulled over to the side of the two-lane county road.
“What’s the matter?” she asked.
“First of all,” he said, stopping the truck, “I’m checking to make sure he’s not following us. With the hill behind us the way it is, he’ll crest the top before he realizes we’ve pulled over.”
She glanced behind them, trying to see through the horse trailer and the road beyond. “I noticed you doubled back earlier, but he’s not following, is he?”
“Not yet. But he might have been smart. Might have left ahead of us, but I think you’re right. He knows exactly where we’re going. Sitting outside the gate this morning was his way of telling you he knows your schedule, and man, I’d like to beat his face into a pulp because of it.”
She looked ahead again, still hugging her knees.
“But I won’t, because there’s more than one way to skin a cat.”
He rested a hand on her knee, and she jumped. He hated that she jumped. This week, he’d done his best to keep his distance from her. Easier to do that, considering his inconvenient attraction to her. However, trying to maintain space hadn’t helped his concentration riding Teddy. He’d fallen off more times than a drunk on a bar stool. Still, his need to comfort Carolina in that moment outweighed his common sense, and he squeezed her leg. She looked up at him, and those blue, blue eyes drew him down and down and down, and it wasn’t until he was inches away from her face that he realized he’d dropped his head toward her own. And that she hadn’t moved away while he did so.
He shot back so fast he nearly clocked his head on the driver-side window.
“Sorry.” If he hadn’t been wearing a cowboy hat, he would have run his fingers through his hair. “I was just going to say everything will be okay.”
She nodded in agitation, and it was then that Chance got his second shock where Carolina Cruthers was concerned.
She was attracted to him, too.
Chapter Seven
He’d almost kissed her.
Carolina was certain of it.
Thank God he’d stopped himself. But why had he stopped? It was driving her nuts. It shouldn’t. She should be grateful. It was too soon. Way too soon to be thinking about kissing another guy. What was she? Crazy? And he was leaving in a couple of months. She couldn’t have picked a worse possible man to have a crush on.
But crush on him she did, and she was beginning to think he might have noticed.
He had hardly said two words since he’d started the truck and pulled back onto the highway. Had he seen her cheeks fill with color? Had he noticed the way her breathing had quickened? Did he know she’d become frozen with anticipation as his head had lowered toward her own? It wasn’t right. They’d been talking about her twisted ex-boyfriend, for goodness’ sake. She should have sworn off men for the rest of her life, not been practically panting the first time someone new tried to kiss her.
“I’ll unload the horses.” He put the truck in Park again, this time out back behind the rodeo grounds.
“I’ll check in with the rodeo manager. Find out where it’s okay to set up.”
He nodded. She waited for him to look her in the eyes, and when he didn’t, tried not to let her disappointment show as she inhaled a deep breath of pine-scented air. What a messed-up piece of work she’d turned out to be.
But he doesn’t know about that other thing.
And he wouldn’t, either. She would make sure of it, she vowed, heading for the rodeo office.
“Well, lookee here,” said Hank Havens, a person who characterized the epitome of a rodeo man. Big hat, wide girth, cheesy smile. “If it isn’t Spider Woman in the flesh.”
Spider Woman. The nickname he’d given her when she’d nearly had a wreck with her horse, somehow managing to hang on to the underside of her horse’s neck during the middle of a performance. That was when she’d first started out with the Galloping Girlz. She thanked the Lord it hadn’t ended badly.
“Hey, Hank.” She forced a smile. “Just checking in.”
The man had the eyes of a laser scanner, and they beamed up and down, the wrinkles beneath his oversize cowboy hat deepening. “Why, you look as miserable as a herd of wet cattle.”
She tried to muster a smile. She truly did. “Been a long drive.”
His gray eyes narrowed, and she knew he didn’t believe her. She toyed with telling him all about James, but she hated to drag him into the whole mess. She didn’t want anyone to know how stupid she’d been.
“Okay if we toss the horses in one of the stock contractor pens?” she asked.
Hank’s big jowls quivered for a moment, as if he were about to say something. Then he smiled. “Why, sure. ’Course, honey. You don’t even have to ask.”
She slipped outside before he could probe deeper and took a calming breath when she paused outside the portable trailer that served as the rodeo office. They were only an hour off the main highway, but it felt as if they were hours away from anywhere.
The rodeo grounds were in a clearing ringed by tall pine trees. A massive arena was in the middle of it all. Grandstands stair-stepped their way toward the sky. It seemed like such an arbitrary location, as if God had plopped down a tiny toy rodeo play set in the middle of nowhere. Truth was, they were surrounded by a small logging town. There were homes in the hills around them, and one of the nation’s biggest sawmills was not far away. The townspeople loved their rodeo, too. They would celebrate tonight by hosting a big rodeo dance, an event Carolina always avoided like the plague.
James stood in front of her.
She almost screamed, realizing too late that it was actually Chance.
“Did I scare you?”
He knew he had, but she still said, “No.”
He’d removed his hat. A red ring from the hat indented his forehead. He’d fluffed up his hair, too, and she realized he’d tried to look like her ex on purpose.
“Where’s your cat key chain?”
“In my purse. In the truck.”
“Good place for it.”
“I was just walking to the rodeo office.”
“You could be walking to an outhouse and be attacked, which is why you need to carry it around with you at all times,” he said sternly. “Don’t go around with your head down. Look up and survey your surroundings, and most of all, be prepared.”
He was still angry, although not at her, she realized. At James. Something about that anger stirred feelings in her own heart.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize.” He tipped her chin up with his hand. Her breath caught. “This is not your fault. None of this is the result of something you did. He’s a lowlife piece of scum, and if he comes near you, he’ll be sorry.”
How was it possible to be so afraid of one man and yet so incredibly attracted to another at the same time?
“He won’t come here.” The words were more of an affirmation, one she’d been repeating to herself the whole way there.
“If he does, I’ll take care of it.”
Chance never looked away, and she took this time to examine his face. He looked more like his sister, Claire, than his brother, with his green eyes and dark hair. But it was the expression on his face that held her attention. She’d never seen such a look of fierce determination—and it was all aimed at protecting her.
Frankly, it turned her on.
* * *
SLEEPING ARRANGEMENTS.
He’d been thinking about it the whole damn way to the rodeo. It hadn’t been a problem before he’d damn near kissed her. But now he’d be a fool to share a room with her, not when he clearly couldn’t be trusted to keep his distance. No. It’d be better if he found her a hotel room or another place to stay, or a place for him to stay. There was just one problem.
James.
What if he showed up in the middle of the night? What if he watched her bunk down in someone else’s trailer? What if he sneaked up on her? Chance couldn’t allow that to happen, which meant sticking to Carolina like glue, which meant sharing the trailer with her.
Yippee-ki-yay!
So when she showed up at the trailer after a quick practice session with the girls, he needed to tell her his plan. She wore that skintight bodysuit he was growing to hate, or maybe love, and he tried not to notice the way it showed off her every curve. “Look, I was thinking you might be uncomfortable with me sleeping inside. You know, gossip and all that, so I was going to grab a blanket and set up camp outside.”
The Ranger's Rodeo Rebel Page 6