by Trish Milburn - The Texan's Cowgirl Bride (Texas Rodeo Barons)
“Because you love me.”
“So you think.”
Abby laughed again and climbed into her living quarters to get ready for the evening’s ride. Savannah downed the rest of her lemonade before grabbing her bag to change clothes, too.
When they both emerged from the trailer, the grandstands were filling up and the smell of grilling hamburgers permeated the air. Savannah’s stomach growled, but she rarely ate anything close to when she was supposed to ride. Her dinner usually came in the slice of time between when she finished riding and the bull riding event started.
They headed toward the back curve of the arena next to the grandstands, chatting with other competitors along the way.
“Mmm-mmm, your boyfriend is looking good tonight.” Abby nodded toward where Cannon was standing with Liam Parrish, a former bronc rider who now ran the company that provided the rough stock and staff for the rodeo.
“You know, the way you keep finding him, I think you might be the one who has the hots for him.”
“Not gonna lie. I wouldn’t mind sampling his wares, but I’m not fighting the gauntlet of bunnies to do so.”
“Savannah?”
She turned at her name to see a good-looking man standing a few feet away. Tall, nicely built and wearing the ubiquitous cowboy hat, jeans and boots. But he wasn’t part of the rodeo. She’d been around rodeo competitors for enough years to be able to peg one. Something about him seemed familiar, though, but she couldn’t quite place it.
He tipped his tan Stetson back a bit, revealing more of his close-cropped auburn hair and light eyes. “Travis Shepard.”
“Oh, hey.” She smiled and moved in for a quick hug, noticing that Travis had changed a good bit since she’d last seen him. Taller, built more like a man than a teenage boy, and, wow, he’d certainly grown into a looker. Suddenly feeling uncharacteristically awkward at that thought, she stepped back from him. “How long has it been?”
“A while.”
Several years, in fact. She hadn’t seen him since right after he’d gotten married and was about to ship out with the army overseas. A lot had changed since then. He’d lost his wife and had traded the military for a private investigator’s license. A flicker of something in his eyes made her wonder if he’d just had a similar thought.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
He nodded toward the arena. “Came to watch my niece Hailey. She’s riding in the mutton busting.”
“Really? Last time I saw her and Rita, Hailey was still a baby.”
“She’s six now, and Rita’s pregnant again.”
Abby cleared her throat, drawing Savannah’s attention. When she saw the look of appreciation on Abby’s face, Savannah fought the unexpected urge to step in between her two friends, to protect Travis even though from the looks of him he was perfectly capable of taking care of himself. After all, he’d been a soldier.
“Travis and I went to high school together,” Savannah said.
She shifted her gaze to Travis, who had taken a couple of steps closer, allowing her to see his eyes better, remember the pretty pale blue. Even when he’d been an awkward teen, he’d had those striking eyes.
“Travis, this is my friend Abby. She’s another barrel racer.”
Travis smiled and nodded. “I think I’ve seen you ride before.”
“You go to a lot of rodeos?” Abby asked, interest in her voice.
“A few, the nearby ones when Hailey is riding.” He shifted his gaze to Savannah. “I won’t be surprised if she follows in your footsteps. That girl came out of the womb loving animals and not afraid of anything.”
“Sounds more like my sister Carly than me.”
Travis grinned. “I don’t know. I seem to remember you having no fear getting on a horse that was twice as tall as you were.”
He remembered her that far back? Guilt squirmed inside her that she couldn’t remember him earlier than their sophomore year. Of course, she’d been all about rodeo then and probably wouldn’t have noticed him if he’d strolled by her wearing blinking lights.
The announcer welcomed everyone to the night’s events and got the ball rolling with the opening ceremonies. As Abby and Savannah turned toward the arena for the national anthem, Travis took up a spot next to Savannah. While she should be concentrating on the words to the song and the gently waving American flag being held by the rodeo queen in the middle of the arena, she caught herself glancing out of the corner of her eye at Travis. They’d known each other for years. Why was he suddenly making her all jittery? That was just weird.
She couldn’t be attracted to Travis.
Well, why not? She’d been attracted to plenty of guys and never let them know. And though she’d only been talking to him for a handful of minutes, one glance had been enough to show her that the grown-up Travis Shepard was going to turn a lot more female heads than the teenage Travis Shepard ever had.
When the flag bearers left the arena, Savannah shifted her weight. “We should go get ready for our rides.”
Instead of moving toward where they’d left the horses, however, Abby propped her foot up on the lowest rail of the fence surrounding the arena and shot Savannah a knowing grin. “We’ve got plenty of time. We’re next to last.”
Left with no choice but to join her friend or be obvious about the fact she was trying to get away from suddenly-too-attractive Travis, she leaned her arms along the top of the fence and watched as the little kids were led out on the opposite side of the arena.
“Hard to believe we were ever that little, isn’t it?” Travis said from beside her.
“Yeah.” Wow, way to be a sterling conversationalist, monosyllabic and everything. But how was she supposed to think clearly when she’d swear she could feel his body heat radiating toward her? She was going to kill Lizzie for putting all those gooey, romantic thoughts in her head.
And then it got worse when Travis leaned close and pointed at a little girl wearing a lime-green Western-style shirt and a mini white cowgirl hat.
“That’s Hailey.”
“Aww, she’s adorable.” Look at that, an actual coherent sentence. Maybe the shock of seeing the grown-up version of Travis was beginning to wear off.
They all watched as the first little boy started on his sheep ride only to fall into the dirt about a second later. The next boy did a bit better but not much. The story stayed pretty much the same through three more kids, and then it was Hailey’s turn.
“Come on, Hailey,” Travis called out then whistled.
Savannah couldn’t help but smile at Travis’s obvious support of his niece. If Corinne had lived, would he have some little tykes of his own by now? She shook off the sad memory of Corinne’s death and refocused on Hailey. The pint-size girl dug her fingers into the sheep’s wool and hugged her body close to its back. As soon as the man holding the sheep let go, the animal took off in an attempt to rid itself of Hailey. But unlike the kids before her, Hailey stuck like glue the full eight seconds and even a few more before she let go. When she hit the dirt, she rolled back up onto her feet and waved at the cheering crowd.
Abby leaned forward and spoke past Savannah to Travis. “That girl’s got spunk.”
Travis smiled wide, every inch the proud uncle. If he’d been good-looking before, that smile made him devastatingly handsome. Either a miracle of genetics had happened in the past few years, or Savannah had just been blind to anything but her twin goals of good grades and top rodeo times back when she and Travis had crossed paths every day. He hadn’t been ugly, but she’d had no inkling that he would one day steal her breath.
They all clapped when Hailey got her blue ribbon.
“Well, I owe a little cowgirl a congratulations kiss,” Travis said as Savannah stepped back from the fence.
Damn if her gaze didn’t go right to his
lips, and her mind to wondering what they would feel like against her own.
Travis met her gaze just as she jerked hers away from his lips.
“Good luck with your run,” he said.
“Thanks.”
“What, I don’t get a ‘good luck’?” Abby teased.
Travis broke eye contact with Savannah. “Good luck to you, too, but I gotta admit I’ll be pulling for my hometown girl.”
A flutter of giddiness zipped through Savannah at the knowledge that not only would Travis be watching her ride, but he’d also be cheering for her. It took a remarkable amount of effort for her to not smile like an idiot, especially when Travis shifted his gaze back to her. Yeah, she needed a good, swift kick or maybe a jolt from a cattle prod.
“It was good to see you again,” he said.
“You, too. Tell Rita I said hello, and tell Hailey she’s a mighty good rider.”
He nodded but then seemed to hesitate for an extra long moment, almost as if he didn’t want to leave, before nodding and walking away.
“Whooee, that is one fine specimen right there,” Abby said.
Savannah took a moment to bite down on an uncharacteristic comeback that would have sent up red flags for Abby. Heck, the entire grandstand full of people would see those bright flags waving.
Thing was, as she watched Travis walk away, she realized Abby wasn’t wrong. He was indeed a fine, fine hunk of man.
“Is he seeing anyone?”
Savannah shrugged, not trusting herself to not tell her friend to back off. She had no right to claim Travis Shepard, not when she’d told Abby she was too dang busy to date. At least not until she’d built the store into the destination she wanted it to be. She’d proven in the past that success required single-minded focus.
What about Lizzie? She was successful, the acting head of the family’s large energy company, and still had time for falling in love and starting a family.
Yeah, and she had a lot more employees at her beck and call. And she wasn’t building Baron Energies from the ground up.
When Abby started giggling, Savannah finally tore her gaze away from Travis’s retreating form. “What?”
“Hope he likes drool,” Abby said as she made a circular motion with her finger toward Savannah’s mouth. “Because you’ve got a bloodhound slobber situation going on.”
“I do not.”
“Really? Let’s ask the crowd.” Abby made as if she was going to call out a question to the people sitting in the grandstands.
Savannah spun on her heel, gave her friend a playful slug in the arm, and headed toward Bluebell. And she’d never admit in a million lifetimes how difficult it was to not glance over her shoulder and scan the crowd for Travis. Abby didn’t need any more ammunition. And Savannah didn’t need to have images in her head of Travis rewarding her for posting a good time with a congratulations kiss of her own.
Chapter Two
Travis fought the urge to look back over his shoulder as he walked away from Savannah. Maybe if he ignored the buzzy tug of attraction he’d felt toward her, it would go away. It wasn’t the first time he’d been drawn toward Savannah, but he wasn’t that smitten boy anymore. And he didn’t want to feel anything other than friendship toward her or any other woman.
Besides, he doubted his attraction would end any differently than it had all those years ago. After all, back in high school her focus had been on rodeo and family to the exclusion of everything else. Considering where they were, he’d venture a guess that hadn’t changed.
Not that it mattered. Savannah Baron might not have changed, but he had. When they’d been teenagers, he couldn’t have imagined the pain and turmoil he had ahead of him, the anger that still accompanied him every day even though he did his best to hide it.
He shoved those hard memories and thoughts of Savannah away as he drew close to his own family. He walked up behind Hailey and lifted her into his arms.
“Hey there, cowgirl. Got a kiss for your favorite uncle?”
Hailey giggled. “You’re my only uncle, silly.”
“Guess that means I have to be your favorite, huh?”
Hailey leaned over and gave him a big, smacking smooch on the cheek.
“Who were you talking to?” Rita asked as she tucked Hailey’s big blue ribbon into her purse.
“Savannah Baron and a friend of hers.”
“I haven’t seen Savannah in forever.”
“Yeah. She said it was when this squirt was a baby.” He tickled Hailey’s ribs, making her squirm to get away. With a laugh, he set his niece on her feet. She immediately ran over to talk to one of her friends who’d competed in the mutton busting, too.
“So, how is she?” Rita asked. “Still single?”
Travis knew that tone and shook his head at his sister.
“What does that mean? She’s not single?”
“It means you can stop those matchmaking thoughts you’re having.”
Rita crossed her arms. “Why? You liked her once upon a time.”
“That was a long time ago. A lot has happened since then. We’re not the same people we were then.”
“Sure you are, just older and with more experiences.”
“Listen, I know you’re just looking out for me, doing the big-sister thing, but I don’t need dating advice.”
“Because you’re not dating.” A tinge of sadness enveloped her words and shadowed her eyes when she looked up at him.
“No, I’m not.” And he had no intention of changing that. Every time he thought about it, his heart got jerked back to the happy days he’d spent with Corinne and how they’d been ripped away in a split second. Going through that once was heart-wrenching. Not just that he’d lost Corinne but how he’d lost her. And the fact he’d lost what might have been—children, a long and happy life together. He wasn’t exactly chomping at the bit to set himself up for that kind of pain again. Taking that chance just wasn’t worth it.
But damned if his gaze didn’t drift across the arena, searching for Savannah anyway.
“You know Corinne wouldn’t want you to spend the rest of your life alone. You were much too young when she passed and you have a lot of years ahead of you.”
Of course, she couldn’t know that. His life could be snuffed out tomorrow, as quickly and unexpectedly as Corinne’s had been. But he wouldn’t say that and hurt her, especially when Hailey was nearby and might hear. Despite the harsh reality of the world, he wanted nothing more than to keep that away from Hailey for as long as he could.
Wanting to change the subject, he glanced at Rita. “Would you like something from the concession stand?”
Rita let her breath out slowly but didn’t pursue the original topic further. “Grab us a couple of burgers and lemonades.”
Thankful for the break from his sister’s scrutiny, he made his way through the crowd. But leaving behind what Rita had said proved more difficult. There was no denying he’d been immediately attracted to Savannah, a pull he hadn’t felt in a long time. Didn’t want to feel. Was it even possible for him to move on? Would it be fair to a woman when a chunk of him still clung to the hope of vengeance against the man who’d killed Corinne? That was an ugliness he just couldn’t shed, and he doubted Savannah or any other woman would find it appealing.
As he stood in the concession line, he shifted his gaze toward the end of the arena. He couldn’t see Savannah, but maybe that was a good thing. What were the chances she was single anyway? She was nice, beautiful, talented and from a well-to-do family. That seemed like a recipe for having guys lined up around the corner.
“What can I get for you?”
Travis jerked his attention back to the woman working the concession stand window. He needed to forget about Savannah Baron now the same way he had when he’d been a hormonal teenager fumb
ling every attempt to tell her how he felt.
But as he carried the food and drinks back to the grandstand, he began to realize forgetting the second time might not be any easier than it had been the first. Savannah Baron wasn’t the type of woman you forgot easily.
* * *
“SO, I THINK you need to hunt down Travis after your ride and ask him out,” Abby said as she and Savannah prepped Rosie and Bluebell for their rides.
“That will not be happening.”
“Why not? He’s hot.”
That he was. “Be that as it may, I wouldn’t feel right about it.”
“Why the heck not? If you’re too shy to do it, I can ask for you.”
Savannah propped her hand on her hip. “What is this, third grade?”
“Pretty sure those kind of sparks don’t fly in third grade.”
“There were no sparks.”
“Oh, yeah, there were definite sparks. I’m somewhat of an expert on the subject.”
Savannah rolled her eyes. “Just because you date a lot doesn’t make you an expert on everyone else’s love life.”
“Maybe not, but I’ve known you long enough to know that you were interested.”
Savannah laughed. “Earlier you were convinced I was head over heels for Cannon.”
“There’s a difference between appreciation and interest.”
Savannah laid her palm against Bluebell’s neck and stroked the animal. “It wouldn’t feel right. Travis lost his wife a few years ago. She was shot in a convenience store holdup.”
The teasing fell away from Abby’s face. “That’s awful.”
“Yeah, and he wasn’t even here. He was stationed overseas with the army. I can’t imagine how horrible it was for him.”
Abby glanced toward the crowd watching the tie-down roping as if she could spot Travis among them. “So maybe he could use another friend?”
Though Abby wasn’t being callous, Savannah should have known her friend wouldn’t give up so easily.
“I’m sure he has friends.” Before Abby could say anything else, Savannah pulled herself up into the saddle and guided Bluebell away. If she had any hope of making a good ride, Savannah needed a few minutes to clear her head of thoughts of Travis, the tragedy he’d lived through and the unwise attraction she’d felt toward him.