by HELEN HARDT
He had said he’d be her loudest cheerer. What a crock. Someone should have clued him in to the fact that it was impossible to cheer for the woman who had shared your bed when there was another woman’s tongue stuffed down your throat.
Did it have to be during her race? Couldn’t he have at least pretended to care?
She looked up at Diablo. The bull was staring at her calmly. She had the strangest feeling that Diablo knew she was sad, that he wanted to help her.
Zach might prefer sweet Mary Ann to her, but she could at least get her paws on his half mil purse. It was even more important now. Since that damned phone call…
With half a mil she could buy back Regina as well.
She rose and searched the bull’s body. The flank strap was in place and looked about right—not too tight. Later, she’d berate Zach for leaving the strap on the animal while he was resting, but for now, he was ready to ride.
She looked Diablo in the eye. “It’s just you and me, big boy,” she said sweetly. “Just you and me. No one else is here. Nobody’s going to hurt you.”
She began to sing her Irish lullaby, this time reaching for the bull’s flank and gently running her hands over his soft pelt. She walked around the pen, continuing to sing, and then reached his head and looked straight into his eyes. The animal was relaxed. It was time. She unlatched the gate and entered the pen.
Diablo didn’t flinch as Dusty approached him. She latched the gate so she was locked in with him and moved to stand beside him, continuing to sing. After about ten minutes, she climbed up on a hay bale to mount him. And the most amazing thing happened.
He laid his body down in the soft dirt.
Dusty clasped her hand over her mouth, and tears welled in her eyes. He trusted her. He lay down so she could mount him. What a sweet, sweet animal.
She continued to croon to him as she lifted one leg over his large body and sat down gently, resisting her own weight at first and then adding it little by little until her full weight was on Diablo’s back. She sat there for a few minutes, letting him get used to the feel of her, and then she leaned forward slowly, pressing her chest and then her cheek into his soft, bristly fur.
Oh, she was nervous, but she calmed herself, understanding that Diablo would draw from her emotions and her body language.
“What a sweet boy you are,” she crooned, gently nudging her cheek into him.
She remained calm when she saw a pair of denim-clad legs walk toward the pen. She didn’t know whose, but she was pretty sure they didn’t belong to Zach. She knew his walk and his legs fairly well now.
“Shh,” she said softly. “Don’t frighten him.” Her cheek was still nestled in the bull’s back.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” the man said, nearly whispering. “I’ve never seen such a thing. That’s a killer bull, Dusty.”
Okay, this person knew her. “He’s no killer. Just a misunderstood animal. He’s sweet and gentle.” She edged her gaze upward to the face of the stranger.
Harper Bay.
“Don’t come any closer,” Dusty whispered.
“I won’t.”
“I’m glad you’re here. I’m going to try to get him to stand up. When I’m ready, I want you to open the gate.”
“You’re going to ride him?” Harper’s voice was a little louder than Dusty was comfortable with, but Diablo didn’t react.
“Shh,” she said again. “Yes, but only if he’s ready. He may not be. And that’s okay. He’ll let me eventually.”
“But you don’t have any gear on.”
“It’s okay.”
“No, it’s not. You’re crazy. You at least need a glove. How are you going to hold the rope?”
“I’ll be fine.”
“Here.” Harper strode toward her hesitantly, holding out a leather work glove. “It’s not the best but it’ll at least keep you from cutting your pretty hand.”
“Slowly, Harper,” Dusty warned.
He obeyed, and she took the glove. He was right. She did need it.
“You don’t have chaps. Or a helmet.”
“I’m fine.”
“Damn, Dusty, I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“He won’t hurt me.”
“He hurt Chad McCray pretty badly a year ago.”
“I’m not Chad McCray.”
“No, you’re not.” Harper kept his voice low and melodic, despite what he was saying. “That’s my point.”
“Shh.” The soft whisper of her quieting command seemed to relax Diablo. “I’m going to sit up now and try to get him to stand.”
“Dusty.”
“Shh.” She slowly lifted her body until she was sitting perpendicular to the bull. She willed her pulse to stay steady as she sat for a few moments. Then she gently squeezed her thighs together, and Diablo stood.
“I’ll be goddamned,” Harper said under his breath. “This is impossible. Damned impossible.”
“No, it’s not. You’re witnessing it. How’s his strap look?”
“Looks fine to me, but—”
“No buts.” She stroked the bull’s back. “Give me a few minutes. Then I want you to open the gate.”
“No.”
“Please, Harper.”
“I can’t.”
“Please. I need this.”
“Dusty…”
“Does your watch have a second hand?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re my timer. Zach will trust you if you say I rode him longer than eight seconds.”
“So you’ve done this before?”
“Of course.” Her voice was tranquil and harmonious. “Many times. Just not with this bull.”
“Oh, God.”
“It’ll be all right.” Dusty quietly toyed with Diablo’s braided rope, tightly fastening it to her right hand. She was vaguely aware of more onlookers surrounding the practice ring, speaking in hushed voices. “That’s a good boy. Such a good, big boy.” She looked at Harper. “I’m ready. Unlatch the gate, and then get outside the ring. As soon as I tug on his rope he’ll get mad, but I can handle him, I promise.”
“Good Lord…”
“And don’t forget to check the time on your watch as you unlatch.”
Dusty shut her eyes and tried to reach Diablo mentally as she heard Harper unlatch the gate and swing it open. In a flash, Dusty opened her eyes and gave Diablo’s rope a good yank. The bull bounded out into the ring, bucking and spinning.
So far, so good. Dusty could handle this. She continued talking to Diablo, hoping her voice would gentle him. Diablo knew his role well. He twisted. He spun. He bucked. He reared. Dusty felt every jolt, every ripple of his strong muscle. She reacted, matching him move for move, trying to make herself an extension of him and not a foreign object.
God, this animal was strong.
Come on, boy, she thought, trying to reach him mentally, emotionally. We can do this. Yes, we can do this.
She found his rhythm. She had reached him. What an adrenaline rush! She concentrated, holding him with her thighs, grasping the rope in her gloved hand. Yes, it was good. They were together. Completely.
But Diablo whisked away from her in a millisecond with a tremendous jerk. Caught off guard, Dusty flew through the air and stopped, her head striking the hard dirt of the ring.
She lifted her head, her vision cloudy, and attempted to move. Diablo stood several feet away from her, snorting and shuffling his hoof on the ground. The spell had broken. He no longer recognized her. Something had forced them apart, and he was coming for her. God, he was coming for her, but she couldn’t move. She couldn’t move.
Out of nowhere, a figure jumped into the ring. “Get her the hell out of here, Bay!”
Zach’s voice. Zach was circling the bull.
Blackness fell as she fainted.
Chapter Nine
Dusty awoke in Harper Bay’s arms.
“Shh,” he said. “Don’t try to talk. We’ve called 9-1-1, and one of the rodeo docs is on his way.”
9-1-1? That was silly. She was fine. She opened her mouth to voice this thought, but nothing came out.
“Can you understand me, Dusty?” Harper asked.
Again, no words would come. She tried to nod her head, but wasn’t sure if she was successful.
“I think she has a concussion.” Harper’s voice sounded distant, muffled.
“Let me take a look.” Another voice.
Then a blinding light in her eye. “Pupils are responding. That’s good. What was she doing on that bull, anyway?”
“Don’t know.”
Dusty tried to speak again, but failed.
“Well, she looks better than the other fella.”
“How’s he doing?”
“Gored pretty good in his thigh. He won’t be bronc busting for a while.”
Zach? Were they talking about Zach?
“But he’s okay, right?”
“Yeah, he’ll live. I cleaned him up as good as I could and sedated him, but he needs to go to the hospital for stitches and antibiotics. I’d like this little lady to go as well.”
No. No hospitals. Hospitals held only pain and death. Dusty opened her mouth to protest, but only a croak came out.
Please, not the hospital. Zach, I want Zach.
She drifted back into oblivion.
* * *
Dusty was dying of thirst. Her throat was parched. An iced tea would be heavenly. “Water?” she croaked.
Harper came to her quickly.
“Where am I?” she asked, her voice hoarse and raspy.
“The hospital, honey. You have a concussion.”
She looked down and was dressed in a horrid hospital gown. Lying in a hospital bed.
Her worst nightmare.
No IV, though. Thank God.
“Zach?”
“He’s here. He’s going to be fine.”
Thank God, thank God. “I don’t want to see him.”
“You don’t have to see anyone you don’t want to.”
She tried to sit up, but realized quickly what a bad idea it was.
“I don’t think so,” Harper said, gently pushing her back down.
“I need to call my brother.”
“I’ll call him.” He whipped out a cell phone. “What’s the number?”
No cell phone. “Just leave a message for him. We’re staying at the Holiday Inn downtown.”
“I’ll take care of it, honey. You just rest.” He brought her a glass of ice chips. “Here, suck on these. It’ll help.”
Ice chips. To Dusty, the sweet water trickling down her aching throat was nectar of the gods.
“Harper?”
“Yeah?”
“How long did I stay on?”
He chuckled softly. “Trust you to think of that right now.”
“Well?”
“You were awesome. You stayed on for six seconds.”
She closed her eyes. Not long enough. If she could only have made it for two more seconds…
Another failure.
She slept.
* * *
Runny scrambled eggs and a freaking knife in his thigh. Not Zach’s ideal breakfast. The coffee sucked, too. Spending the night in the hospital during the stock show and rodeo was not on his agenda for these two weeks. All because of one stubborn, beautiful woman. He was madder than old Diablo himself. Thank God she was all right, though. He’d gotten a positive report from his morning nurse.
“Never fear, coffee’s here!” Chad bellowed in his deep voice as he walked through the door, carrying two large Starbucks cups and an Einstein Bros Bagels bag. “Couldn’t abandon you to hospital food, brother.”
“You’re a goddamned saint, Chad,” Zach said, pushing his tray away. “Bring that stuff here. Please.”
“How are you feeling?”
“Been better.” Zach took a long slow drink of coffee.
“I called Ma. She’s on her way.”
“Hell, she doesn’t need to come out here for this.”
“She was going to come tomorrow, anyway, for your bronc busting. Guess we can count that out now, huh?”
Zach sighed. “I guess you’ll be the only one bringing home prize money this year, little brother.”
“Yeah, I guess so. I’m real sorry this happened, Zach.”
“Don’t be.”
“What was the twerp thinking?”
“Don’t know.” Zach winced as he shifted, his leg burning. “She had just screwed up her barrel race.”
“Yeah, I saw it. Damn shame. She looked good. Real good.”
“She sure did. What I saw of it, anyway.”
“You weren’t watching?”
“I was, but Angelina wouldn’t leave me alone. She kept cackling in my ear like a goddamned prairie chicken. Then she…”
“She what?”
“She kissed me.”
Chad’s jaw dropped. “Whoa.”
“You’re telling me. I don’t know what the hell she wants. She broke up with me. Not that I cared all that much. I feel like a heel for missing Dusty’s race.”
“Damn, bro, you’re really whipped aren’t you?”
Zach’s heart lurched, but he forced his face into what he hoped was a nonchalant expression. Him? Whipped? “I wouldn’t say that.”
Chad chuckled. “I would.”
“If only I understood her. Something’s bothering her, I just know it. And this whole thing with Diablo. Why in the hell is she so obsessed with that bull?”
“It might have something to do with the half mil purse you’ve got on his head,” Harper Bay said, entering the room. “Morning, Zach. How are you feeling?”
“Like shit.”
Harper grinned. “If it’s any consolation, you look like shit too.”
Zach ignored the insult and took a deep breath. “I’ve got a score to settle with you for letting the fool girl get on that bull, but that’ll have to wait. What were you saying about the half mil purse?”
“Look, I tried to stop her, but—”
“Later, damn it. What about the purse?”
Harper cleared his throat. “I think she needs money.”
Zach took a deep breath. He’d been thinking the same thing. Sharing a Holiday Inn room with her brother, no cell phone. “What makes you say that?”
“Just a hunch. That and the fact she sold me her barrel racing mare yesterday.”
Zach nearly jumped out of his bed, the jolt sending a sharp pain through his wound. “Damn. That hurt.”
“You need to simmer down, Zach,” Chad said. “You’re supposed to be taking it easy. You’d better cooperate if you want to get out of here this afternoon.”
“She sold you her mare?”
“Yeah. I talked with her after her race. Told her I was looking to buy a horse for Catie, and hers was the best I’d seen. Drove a hard bargain, too. She wouldn’t let the mare go until I offered seventy-five K.”
Zach shook his head. “Dusty loves animals. I can’t believe she’d sell one of her own.”
“Like I said”—Harper sat down in a chair by the bed—“I think she needs the money.”
“I need to see her,” Zach said. “Help me out of the damn bed, Chad.”
“See her?” Chad shook his head. “You’re not mad at her?”
“Are you crazy? I’m mad as shit. But something’s going on, and I want to see her.”
Chad’s gaze drifted to Zach’s bandage. “You can’t put weight on that leg.”
“Then I’ll fucking hop, damn it.” He grimaced as a dart shot through his thigh. “Now get over here and help me.”
“Zach…” Harper cleared his throat.
“What?”
“I think I should tell you. She doesn’t want to see you.”
“Excuse me?”
“I was just with her. She’s doing well.” Harper hedged and cracked his knuckles. “She’ll be leaving later today.”
“What the hell were you doing with her?” Zach demanded.
�
��Just visiting. Her brother’s with her now.”
“Well, I’m going to see her.”
“I think it would be best—” Harper began.
“I don’t give a bloody damn what you think, Bay. I want to see my woman!”
“Your woman?”
Zach winced. His woman? Where had that come from? He was mad at the little fool. Still, the words echoed through to his soul. His woman. “Yeah. You got a problem with that?”
“No.” Harper shook his head. “It’s just that she led me to believe she was available, that’s all.”
Zach tensed. Harper was interested in Dusty. He could smell it. He felt like a wolf, fierce and possessive, with another male sniffing around his mate. The thought of Harper’s hands on his woman made him want to throttle the guy.
“She’s not.” His voice was low, feral.
“All right. Jesus.” Harper rose from his chair. “I think it’s only fair to tell you, though, especially if you’re involved with someone else. Angie thinks she’s gonna start things up with you again.”
“She made her intentions clear at your party. I told her I’m not interested.”
“Good enough,” Harper said. “For me, that is. But Angie’s used to getting what she wants, and what she wants right now is you.”
“She can’t have me.”
“I understand. Just don’t expect her to accept no for an answer.” Harper walked out the door, but turned his head and looked back. “Honestly, I’m glad you’re okay, Zach.”
“What are you standing there for?” Zach said to Chad. “I told you. I want to see my woman.”
“Your woman is the reason you’re in that hospital bed, Zach.”
“I don’t care. She’s mine, and I want to see her.”
Chad rolled his eyes. “I never thought I’d see the day. Fine. But don’t you dare get up. I’ll go get you a wheelchair.”
Chad had no sooner left the room when Angelina trotted in, followed by Dallas and Chelsea. “Oh, God,” Zach said under his breath.
“You poor thing,” she gushed. “I came as soon as I could. How are you feeling?”