Dancing With Danger: Book 8: Dancing Moon Ranch Series

by Patricia Watters

  "It's a long story," Genie replied. "Maybe later. Come on, Abby." She offered her hand and the little girl took it and they stepped out of the barn.

  He was about to return to what he was doing when the little girl broke loose and rushed back into the barn, and said to him in an excited voice, "Will you take me widing on your big horse?"

  "Sure, if your mommy says it's okay," Josh replied.

  "Mommy's in heaven," Abby said.

  "Honey," Genie called to Abby. "We need to get settled. Josh can take you another time."

  Josh glanced over Abby's head at Genie, and said, "I can put her in front of me and take her now, and saddle a horse for you too if you want to come, and your husband if he's here."

  Genie looked at him puzzled. "What makes you think I have a husband?"

  "Just speculation," Josh replied. "You weren't married two years ago, and now it appears you have a daughter who's too old to be yours."

  "You jumped to the wrong conclusion," Genie said. "Abby's my little sister and I'm her legal guardian. We recently lost our mother so I'm here for a while. It's a big change."

  Josh couldn't help smiling, but then he caught himself, and said, "I'm sorry about your mother. That's tough." But the thought that Genie was single, at the ranch, and troubled over the loss of her mother and her new responsibility with her little sister triggered a kind of protective instinct, and he had to fight the urge to walk up to her and take her in his arms and…

  And what? She'd never given any indication that he was any more to her than a big pain in the butt when he was stuck in a hospital bed and doing his damndest to flirt with her. She'd also given him a cold shoulder the next two times he'd seen her. He'd try to keep that in mind…

  "Yes, it is tough but I'm working through it," Genie said. "Abby and I will pass on the horseback ride though. Maybe another day."

  "Please can I wide the horse?" Abby pleaded. When Genie said nothing, Abby turned to Josh, and said, "I want to wide a horse like a weal cowboy."

  Josh crouched in front of Abby, looked into her big, hopeful brown eyes, and said, "I tell you what, honey. How about I pick you up right now and you can pet my horse and sit on his back while I hold him."

  Abby grinned and opened her arms for Josh to pick her up, and when he did, he caught a whiff of something sweet, like little girl bubble bath, which made him smile. With all the little girls back at the ranch, he knew that smell well. Rena and Tina, Sophie and Rick's older girls, were three, and Little Sophie was almost two. Adam and Emily's little Gracie was two, and Marc and Kit's little Lizzie was one-and-a-half. There were times when the whole bunch crawled up onto his lap, or piled on top of him when he was catnapping under a tree with his hat pulled over his face, pretending to be asleep, and those girly giggles got to him every time. He never thought he'd miss a pack of little girls, but holding Abby in his arms, he felt a twinge of homesickness.

  Abby stroked the horse's face, and said, "He's weally big. What's his name?"

  "Tinker's Damn," Josh replied.

  Abby cocked her head back and glared at Josh. "You said a bad word."

  Josh laughed in amusement. "I guess I did. We'll call him Tinker, okay?"

  Abby nodded. "Can I wub his nose wiff my hand?" she asked.

  "Sure," Josh replied.

  A shadow fell across them and Josh turned to see Genie standing not more than a few feet away. "We're working on Abby's Rs and THs," she said. "We do fish lips for Rs but I haven't figured out what to do about the THs."

  Josh laughed. "I'm familiar with nursery school English. Back home, between my brothers and cousin there are a half dozen kids under five." He shifted Abby in his arms. "Okay, partner. You ready to get on Tinker's back?"

  "Yes, yes, yes," Abby cried, then hiked her leg up and over as Josh lifted her on top of the horse. Taking a fistful of mane in her hand, she gave Josh a wide grin and said, "I'm weally widing a horse, like a weal cowboy."

  Josh glanced at Genie and winked. To his surprise, she batted her eyes rapidly then caught her bottom lip between her teeth, and he'd swear some color came into her cheeks. Like she was blushing? The reaction vanished when Genie looked at Abby, and said, "Sweetie, we need to go unpack our things and spend some time with Annie and Cody."

  "Can I come wide again?" Abby asked Josh.

  Josh raised his hands toward Abby, and she wrapped her arms around his neck for him to lift her off the horse, but after he'd set her down, he said to her, "How about, after you and Genie visit with the family, I'll take you for a ride on Ferdinand."

  Abby looked at him, curious. "Who's Ferdan?"

  "My bull. He's out behind the barn."

  Abby started jumping up and down. "I saw him! I saw him! Genie said he was a bull and not a cow because he had gweat big horns and something else, but I can't wemember what it was."

  "That thing's called a—"

  "Hump," Genie said quickly.

  Josh gave her a wry grin. "Well, that too."

  Abby glanced over at Genie. "Can I wide Ferdan?"

  The smile on Genie's face faded. Looking at Josh with concern, she said, "You can't be suggesting things like riding bulls. Abby's very young and impressionable."

  "Ferdinand's a big teddy bear," Josh said. "He's trained like a riding horse and goes with a saddle. I could teach Abby how to ride on him."

  "Please, can I? Please, please, please," Abby cried, while dancing around in front of Genie. "I want to wide Ferdan."

  Genie glared at Josh, a look he now recalled from his stint in Nurse Ratched's ward, and she said to him in a tone of voice he also remembered, "Abby will not be riding a bull."

  Josh had to hold back a smile when he saw that same 'Nurse Ratched' glare on Abby's face—a mini clone of her big sister—but that half-pint glare was directed at Genie. Then Abby planted her mouth in a slash, folded her arms and grudgingly followed Genie out of the barn. But as he watched them walking off, Josh thought of a way to soften up both females. The little one… well, she'd already managed to burrow into his heart, and with her he'd settle for a hug and a smile, but the big female he intended to soften up to the point where she'd be warm and eager in his arms. Holding that thought, he went to round up Ferdinand.

  CHAPTER 2

  Genie was still shaken as she approached the house after seeing Josh. He was the last person she'd expected to find in the far corner of Harney County, and the last person she wanted around while she was trying to make a major life-changing decision. She needed a clear mind, a firm backbone, and an unfettered heart. But when she saw Josh standing in the barn, stripped down to his jeans and wearing a leather farrier's apron, her heart shifted into high gear and her tongue was almost too dry to form words.

  It was also a reminder of the muscular male body of the man she'd taken care of at the hospital for three days, and there was no question that the intimate contact she'd been obliged to render a rodeo clown who'd been rammed in the butt by a bull, along with all the other complications in that area, had affected her in ways she wanted to forget. Nurses did not fantasize about their male patients, but after Josh was released, that's exactly what she'd done.

  Unable to resist the urge to turn around and see if he was still standing in the barn doorway, she glanced back and saw that he was. She also saw Abby, walking at a snail's pace, and pouting. Using Abby as an excuse for turning around, she motioned for her to come along. She was thankful that Abby had been present when she saw Josh. If not for the distraction of Abby's chatter, along with her insistence on riding a horse, Genie was certain she would have had to lean against a post to regain her composure, humiliating as it would have been.

  What disturbed her most was seeing Josh with Abby in his arms. In that short space of time she'd witnessed the bonding between a little girl and a man she never would have dreamed had a paternal bone in his body. During Josh's hospital stay his entire focus had been on following the rodeo circuit and rising to the top as a rodeo clown so he could get angry bulls with long pointed h
orns to chase after him instead of the cowboys who were thrown off the bulls. She didn't understand it then, and it made even less sense now…

  "What happened to you?" Annie's voice seemed to come from out of nowhere.

  Genie glanced up to find Annie sitting on the porch swing with the baby in her lap. Not wanting to get into her reaction to Josh, she sucked in a breath to calm her nerves, willed her voice to be steady, and said, "Abby was in the barn. She wanted to stay and I wouldn't let her so she's mad. You might wait a few minutes before meeting her. She's not at her best right now. In the meantime I want to see my little nephew."

  She sat beside Annie and the baby looked at her with big, wide eyes. "Hi Cody," she said. "I'm your Aunt Genie, and you are absolutely adorable, and with those big black eyes and dark brown hair there's no question who your daddy is. You look just like him."

  Annie laughed. "Which means he also looks like Adam, Josh and Jeremy. The Jack Hansen gene pool is definitely dominant." She pulled Cody to sit upright, and with him holding onto her fingers, bounced him on her knees, which made Cody smile.

  "Ryan must be proud as a peacock," Genie said, while watching the interaction between mother and child.

  "That's the understatement of all times," Annie replied. "You'd think he was the only Hansen man to ever reproduce. He's on the phone all the time to his folks, telling them what exceptional achievement Cody accomplished that day. I'm sure the Hansens must think Cody's a genius, when in fact maybe he is. Look at that grip, and his back's as straight as an arrow."

  Genie laughed. "From what I saw of the Hansen family when I was there, I imagine Grace and Jack get that from all their offspring with kids. I'm just a little surprised that Ryan's okay living so far from them. It's a very close-knit family."

  "He misses all the commotion at times," Annie said, "which is why we decided to build a cabin there. We split off a little corner from the parcel Jack and Grace set aside for Ryan and sold the rest to Adam and Emily. That way we can stay there for short visits and Cody will get to know his cousins."

  "Where are your folks?" Genie asked. "I'd like to tell them hello."

  "They're in Pine Grove picking up supplies," Annie replied. "When I called and told them you were here, Mom said to get you and Abby settled in the room where you stayed before, and they'd be home as soon as they could get away. You looked rattled when you came out of the barn, so I take it you saw Josh."

  Genie nodded. "I didn't expect him to be there and it caught me by surprise."

  "I figured it would, which is why I tried to tell you before you went looking for Abby," Annie replied. "He's only been here a few months but I came to the same conclusion I did before. You two are meant for each other."

  "Yeah, right," Genie said. "And I suppose you've also come up with a foolproof way to get him to stop playing with bulls."

  "Ryan stopped riding bulls" Annie said. "You just have to approach Josh the right way."

  "I don't intend to approach Josh at all," Genie said. "It would be pointless. He has no intention of quitting rodeos."

  "Neither did Ryan," Annie pointed out, "but now he's perfectly content working with our Kigers and riding the mechanical bull I gave him as a wedding present. The way the guys work it here is that one guy presets the bull for a combination of bucking and spinning maneuvers, and the next guy has to stay on for eight seconds, which rarely happens because the men program him for advanced bucking. The bull also sits on an inflatable floor so no one gets hurt when they're bucked off. Guys come out on weekends and we have competitions. It's really fun."

  "Maybe that wouldn't be so bad," Genie conceded, "since the floor is inflated and the thing doesn't chase after anyone with its horns."

  "It gets better than that," Annie said. "We plan to put on an actual rodeo here, with rams and calves for kids to ride, and a couple of mustangs from a neighboring ranch for the guys. We're hoping to get ahold of a bull too so Josh can show off some. He's been doing competitions where it's only him and a bull competing against other rodeo clowns and bulls. Well, they're actually called bullfighters—Josh gets peeved when he's referred to as a rodeo clown—but we saw him at the rodeo in Sisters and he was amazing."

  "I'm surprised you'd go to a rodeo after all the protesting you've done in the past, and then insisting Ryan give it up," Genie said.

  "I didn't insist he give it up," Annie countered. "He volunteered when he knew I wouldn't marry him if he didn't."

  "That's pretty much the same thing," Genie said.

  "Maybe," Annie conceded. "As for going to the rodeo, I didn't have much choice. Josh and his twin, Jeremy were entered in bull riding—Jeremy as a rider and Josh as a bullfighter—their younger sister Maddy was in barrel racing, and their younger brother, Tyler, was Roman riding four horses as a rodeo specialty act. Ryan wanted to see them and he wanted me to be there too, so we all went, including Mom and Dad. The rodeo was okay though. No one got hurt."

  Genie started to tell Annie that a few weeks ago she too had gone to a rodeo, but she didn't want to get into her reason, which was to see if Josh was there. He wasn't, but she had no idea what she would have done if he had been there and they'd run into each other. It was a snap decision when she saw a poster and knew the rodeo grounds were near where Josh lived…

  "Josh was incredible," Annie continued. "There were three men working at the same time—a barrel man who tried to be funny while jumping in and out of a barrel, and Josh and another bullfighter, who threw themselves in front of the bull to get its attention away from the downed cowboy. Josh is so fast he gets bulls turning and twisting to get to him, then once the cowboy's out of the arena, Josh puts on a little show. One time he was up against the bull's side while the bull was spinning round and round trying to get him, and another time he did a back flip over the bull and the bull just stood there wondering where Josh went. I don't know how he did it, but the crowd went wild. Jeremy stayed on his bulls for the full eight seconds and even brought home some money, and Tyler was pretty amazing too, standing on the backs of two horses while driving the other two around the arena at a full gallop."

  "And Ryan's okay seeing his brothers get all the glory?" Genie asked.

  "That's another issue," Annie said. "Josh has a thing going with Ryan in that he more or less accused Ryan of not wearing the pants in the family by giving up bull riding, and Ryan took offense because it's not the case at all, so there's some friction between the brothers. The problem is, Josh is single and doesn't understand what Ryan does, now that Ryan's a husband and father and knows he has to stay in one piece, not only for me, but for Cody."

  "It has nothing to do with Josh being single," Genie said. "There's a distinct difference between the brothers. Josh wouldn't give up rodeo for any woman because that would be like admitting he's being female dominated and he's too macho for that. Ryan's pretty macho too, but he's also a sweetheart who's in love with you and will do whatever it takes to keep you happy."

  "Í suppose you're right in a sense," Annie said, "but I still think you shouldn't write Josh off too quickly. He's a lot of fun and he too has a sweet and deeply caring side that makes me know he'd be a good husband and father. He's also done some amazing things with that big Brahma bull of his."

  "Speaking of which… he told Abby he'd take her for a ride on the thing, which made me fighting mad. I don't want Abby thinking a bull's a pet, or the next thing we know she'll be out in the pasture with him. This whole rodeo mentality just doesn't work for me. And this is a pointless conversation because what you're thinking is not going to happen. I'll admire Josh from a distance and not get burned. Once was enough."

  "What are you talking about?" Annie asked. "You and Josh didn't get together after the wedding, did you?"

  "I'm not talking about Josh," Genie said. "I never mentioned it before, but I was engaged to a man who was a motorcycle stunt rider. Cal performed wheelies one legged, one handed, standing up, sitting down, standing on the seat, and even doing that on one leg. Then he start
ed performing jumps over cars and was killed, but he had the same tempting-fate mentality as Josh. No thanks. There are a lot of other fish in the sea."

  "The way you stay clear of Josh because he's a bullfighter, I'm surprised you could ever have been interested in a motorcycle stunt driver in the first place," Annie said.

  Genie let out a short, cynical laugh. "When I look back, I'm surprised too, but Cal was a good-looking guy and lots of fun, and he convinced me he could handle all the idiotic things he was doing. At the time, my head was in a cloud, but the sky around me is very clear now. And speaking of good-looking guys, where's Ryan?"

  "Driving the chuck wagon back from an overnight trail ride," Annie replied. "Like they do at the Dancing Moon Ranch, we have guests here for week-long stays, so Josh plans an overnight each week. As soon as I'm done breast feeding I'll tag along with Ryan. Mom loves looking after Cody, and Ryan and I love sleeping under the stars. Josh gets everyone square dancing out there on top of the hill and the guests feel like they're in a time warp."

  Genie let out a little chuckle. "It's funny you mention square dancing because I happen to love it."

  "Then you'll definitely have to go on the next overnight," Annie said. "I'll watch Abby."

  "It sounds fun, but no thanks," Genie replied. "Going on an overnight would be like playing around with fate the way Josh plays with bulls. It could become addictive being around him, and I do not need that complication in my life right now. Meanwhile, Abby's pouting because she can't ride a bull." Motioning to Abby, who was standing off, sulking, she said, "Honey, come meet Annie and Cody. You might get Reggie out of the car and show him to Cody, and if you squeeze Reggie's nose, Cody might laugh."

  Abby looked their way, and in an instant, the pout was forgotten. Scurrying over to the car, she raised on tiptoe and opened the door, then grabbed her clown doll and scurried over to where Annie was holding Cody. But before Abby could make her doll laugh, Annie said to Genie, "Why don't you get your bags out of the car and take them to your room, and while you're doing that, Abby and I will get acquainted and she can introduce Cody to Reggie."