The Bull Rider Meets His Match

by Jeannie Watt

  Lex’s heart seemed to creep up into her throat as she watched the familiar routine. That damned glove had better come free. The rope had better not twist around it, hanging him up—

  The glove came free.

  Within seconds of Grady giving the signal and the gate swinging open, he was sitting in the dirt. Lex pressed the back of her hand against her mouth to keep the laughter that had bubbled up from escaping. It was pure relief, nothing to do with Grady getting smeared in the dirt, as he’d predicted. She’d just watched her first bull ride after her father’s heart attack and survived. Her heart was still beating too hard, and her stomach was still tight but she’d make it without puking or turning away. And now her nemesis was picking himself up and beating his hat on his leg to shake off the dust.

  “Huh,” Ty said from beside her.

  “Happens to the best of them,” Lex said, glad that the urge to laugh was, for the most part, gone. Grady’s balance had been off the instant the bull reared out of the chute, something that probably didn’t happen to him often. It was a fluke that it’d happened while she was there. No—more than a fluke. It was a gift. She hadn’t had to watch too much of a buck, and now she could leave, pride fully intact.

  Grady walked back to where the high school kids were waiting and spent several minutes talking to them. The kids listened earnestly as the next bull was loaded in the chute, then laughed as Grady made a broad gesture and nodded at the next guy up. As the bull rider climbed over the rails, Grady started walking toward Lex and Ty. Lex pushed off the fence and met him halfway.

  “Well, you made good on your promise.”

  “Man of my word,” Grady said. Lex wanted to argue with that but realized she couldn’t. He’d always been straight with Danielle.

  “You know,” Lex said as she started walking in the general direction of her truck, taking slow, deliberate steps so it wouldn’t appear as if she were in a hurry. “I could give you some pointers.”

  Pure bull, because there was no way she was hanging around. She’d survived one ride but had no desire to push matters. All she wanted to do, now that she’d proven her point, was to get in her truck and drive away.

  “I know what happened.”

  She smiled at him, noting that his gaze held on her lips a little too long. “And that was?”

  “I screwed up.”

  She laughed in spite of herself. “You did.”

  He gestured to her truck. “You’re pulling out already?”

  She turned and leaned back against the warm metal of the bed. “I’ve seen what I came for.”

  “And that’s all you wanted to see?” Again his gaze dropped to her lips, and Lex started to get the very strong feeling that she was being hit on. By Grady.

  It had to be a power play. There was no other explanation. He was trying to unnerve her. When she met his eyes, he smiled at her, his cheeks creasing in a way that no doubt made the buckle bunnies swoon. Even she felt like swooning a little. Grady had charisma. In spades. And right now she felt herself responding to that charisma, which would put him firmly in the driver’s seat as they dealt with each other.

  Wasn’t going to happen.

  Lex took her keys out of her pocket, jingled them in her hand as she debated. Then she raised her gaze, deliberately locking it with his. When the questioning frown started to draw his eyebrows together, she stepped closer and slid her free hand around the back of his neck, pushing her fingers into his hair in a smooth caress, smiling a little as she did so. He stilled and she could read the what the? in his expression. She loved it.

  His skin was warm beneath her wrist. A little damp from the late-afternoon sun, a little dusty from the arena. She registered the sensations in a fraction of a second—registered, too, that she liked those things. Then she pulled his head down and kissed him.

  Grady’s eyes widened as their lips met. Even though her movements had been slow and careful, she’d taken him by surprise and she made it a point to end the kiss before he got his equilibrium back. Which was no easy trick, because once she’d had a taste of him, incredibly, she wanted more. It was all she could do to paste a careless smile on her face as she took a step back. Her heart was beating almost as hard as it had been during his ride.

  “What was that?” he asked gruffly.

  “That was me winning this round.” She moved past him to pull open her truck door, realizing only then that she’d been gripping the keys so tightly that there was an indent in her palm.

  “What?”

  “Give the matter some thought, Grady. I’m sure you’ll figure it out.” She climbed into the cab and then said, “On second thought, I’ll spell it out. You’re challenging me for some reason, and I’m meeting your challenge.” She tilted her head, her hair spilling over her shoulder. “Or have I misread things?”

  Her only answer was his narrowed gaze, meaning she had it right.

  “Later, Grady.” She pulled the door shut.

  Thankfully he couldn’t see that her hands were shaking as she turned the key in the ignition. She’d definitely won that round, but now as she pulled out of the gravel lot next to the practice arena and glanced in the rearview mirror to see Grady standing right where she’d left him, staring after her, she wondered at what cost.

  Without thinking she raised her hand and pressed the back against her lips.

  She’d kissed Grady Owen.

  * * *

  AFTER LEX’S BIG Ford truck pulled out of the lot, spraying a little gravel on the way, Grady tugged his hat down a notch and turned back to the arena. Ty Hayward quickly shifted his attention to the action in the chutes rather than the action that had just occurred in the parking lot.

  What had just happened?

  Grady had to admit that he wasn’t quite clear, except that Lex had picked up on the fact that he’d been messing with her; that when he asked her to come watch him practice, he hadn’t expected her to say yes. In other words, he’d been tossing out challenges gauged to make her feel uncomfortable. And she’d answered. With the big guns.

  So what now?

  Walk away and forget that kiss?

  As if. He’d idly wondered now and again, as guys tended to do, what Lex’s sexy mouth would feel like beneath his. He’d never had the slightest intention of finding out, but now he knew. It felt like something he wouldn’t mind experiencing again. Kissing Lex had been like tossing back a shot of good whiskey. Gone too soon, yet the aftereffects hung with him.

  He smiled grimly as he headed back to the chutes, ignoring the looks the other riders sent his way. He wasn’t one to walk away, and he wasn’t all that keen on letting Lex drive into the setting sun feeling like a winner. The next time they met up...well, one thing was for certain. Lex wouldn’t be taking him by surprise.

  Next time he’d walk away the winner.

  * * *

  GRADY HAD A rough time on the garage the next day, smacking his fingers more than once with the hammer, and he felt like blaming Lex each time. The woman had ruined his focus, just as she’d intended. He couldn’t stop thinking about the feel of her mouth. That wasn’t the way he wanted to think about Lex. It put him off his game.

  “What’s up with you and Lex?” Annie asked later that afternoon as she pulled cans out of a shopping bag and started storing them on shelves.

  Grady had expected word to get around. A guy simply didn’t kiss someone in a parking lot in front of a lot of gossipy cowboys without instigating rumor and innuendo.

  “Nothing.”

  She shot him a glance from under her arm as she set a can on the shelf above her. “You two didn’t kiss in the parking lot at Hennessey’s?”

  “Well, yeah. We did that. But there’s nothing to it.”

  “You and Lex just kissed.”

  He shrugged, hating that he was having this
conversation.

  “All right.” She reached for another soup can.

  “Kristen found a salamander today,” he said, grasping at whatever he could to distract his sister.

  “She didn’t let it go in the house, did she?”

  This mother radar was amazing stuff. “Just for a while.”

  Annie gave a casual nod and folded the paper bag, putting it in the official paper-bag place next to the refrigerator. “And that salamander is now...?”

  “Back at the creek.” Even though the girls had pleaded for Grady to make a habitat out of a shoe box, he’d managed to convince them that the salamander had a wife and kids and they would be very lonely without him.

  “Good.”

  Katie wandered into the kitchen then, her lips still stained red from the Popsicle she’d had earlier that day. “We caught a lizard today.”

  “Salamander,” Grady automatically corrected.

  “He’s back with his wife now.”

  “As all good salamanders should be,” Annie agreed, reaching out to stroke her daughter’s hair. “Since when do you eat the red Popsicles?”

  “The blue ones are all melted.”

  Annie shot a look at Grady. “Long story,” he said.

  “Where is your sister?”

  “Making her boots shiny for tomorrow.”

  Tomorrow was the first day of riding lessons. The girls had been talking about it all day long. Annie had bought them new boots but, according to Katie, had drawn the line at Western shirts. “We can’t ’ford them,” Katie had whispered conspiratorially.

  Another small twist of the guilt knife. Grady should have spent more time in Montana during the off-season, even if the training opportunities were limited. His nieces needed spoiling, and he was going to take care of the Western shirt issue tomorrow after lessons.

  Annie opened the fridge and took out the stew she’d made the day before. “I know the lessons take away from building time—”

  “I don’t mind.” Watching the twins took away from building time. It seemed he’d barely get started and there’d be a cry of “Uncle Grady!” followed by a minor emergency—a shoe stuck tight in a pant leg, a salamander under the sofa. That kind of stuff. And the reading took time. Just before Grady took the girls to Emily the sitter’s house, for the afternoons, the three of them settled on the sofa and the girls took turns reading aloud. They were hell-bent on winning library summer reading awards because one of the prizes was an ice cream free-for-all.

  After setting the stew on the counter, Annie turned to him, brushing aside a hank of hair. “I’m not going to lie—having you here is a godsend. Not that you can’t go back when it’s time,” she added hurriedly. “It’s just nice to have some backup for a while.” She turned to put the stew on the stove. “Once school starts, I won’t have to worry about morning day care. Emily will pick them up after school and keep them until I’m off work.” She gave her head a shake. “Second grade already. How did that happen?”

  “Time flies,” Grady agreed. Pretty soon he’d be too old to ride bulls and would have to look at a second career, and he was seriously considering something in the building trades. But he still had a few good years in him, and he needed to keep at the top of his game as much as possible, training when he had a free moment and spending more time at Hennessey’s.

  * * *

  LEX DIDN’T MAKE it into the store on Thursday because of a dental appointment, and when she walked in the door early Friday morning, Danielle gave her the eye—the concerned friend eye—as she finished hanging a red gingham apron next to a display of red-and-white cooking implements.

  “What?” Lex asked. She wandered closer and picked an apron out of the cardboard box sitting on the floor next to her friend. They were handmade, probably by one of her grandmothers, since Danielle concentrated solely on quilting. When Danielle didn’t answer the question, she looked up again.

  “Did you really kiss Grady?” Danielle asked in a voice pitched a little higher than usual.

  “It was to make a point,” Lex said with an overly casual shrug before she handed over the apron she held and reached for the last apron in the box.

  Danielle frowned at her. “And that point would be...?”

  “The point was that he can’t mess with me.”

  “How was he messing with you?”

  “He was kind of hitting on me.” She set the apron on the table next to her, ignoring the fact that it didn’t belong in a display of Western wine racks. If she held on to it any longer, she might wrinkle it with a death grip.

  Danielle’s eyebrows arched. “Grady?” She plucked the apron off the table and draped it near a setting of Western table service.

  “It wasn’t for real. He was—” Lex made an impatient gesture “—he walked me to my car after we ran into each other at Shardlow’s. Then he asked me to come and watch him practice, because he knew I wouldn’t, so of course I had to.” She paused, realizing it didn’t sound like all that much. “You had to be there,” she finished.

  “Sounds like it.” Danielle nodded thoughtfully. “How about I stay out of this?”

  “There’s nothing to stay out of.”

  “If you say so.”

  Annie came in through the back door then, calling a hello as she hung her tote bag on the hooks near the door. She turned toward Lex and Danielle and smiled awkwardly. Lex had never in her life seen Annie do anything awkwardly. The woman was warmth incarnate, unless someone riled her. The only explanation was that Annie knew about the kiss, so Lex saw no other option than to take the offensive—for the good of the store, of course.

  “Yes, I kissed your brother, but only to make a point.” There. Out in the open.

  “I heard,” Annie said matter-of-factly. “Good luck with that point thing.”

  There was a heavy silence, and then Danielle giggled from behind them. Both Lex and Annie turned to look at her; then a second later Annie laughed, too. Lex let out a breath and felt her lips begin to curve.

  “That’s out of the way,” Danielle said as she reached for the smock she wore while tidying up the store, “and if yesterday was anything to judge by, we have a full day ahead of us, so let’s get at it.”

  It was a full day. Tourists were on the road and many wanted to take home fun Western memorabilia, which was what Annie Get Your Gun was all about. By closing time they’d sold enough that Annie had started unpacking boxes from their new shipment ahead of time and Lex had made a long list of jewelry pieces she needed to replace.

  “Grandma is going to be so thrilled about the aprons. I bet I’ll have to drive her to the fabric store again this weekend.” Danielle finished refolding her remaining quilts and arranging them over the brass bedstead they used for display purposes.

  “And you sold three quilts,” Annie said, sounding impressed. “That would be three, no, make that four, years of work for me.”

  Danielle laughed. “Not if you take a shortcut.”

  Annie frowned and Lex explained, “She pieces the quilt tops and then sends them out to be quilted by a professional.”

  “I used to do all the quilting by hand, but that’s not cost-effective unless you’re making heirloom pieces.”

  “I’d still be looking at the three-or-four-year range, even with the shortcut,” Annie said on a sigh. “Since the girls were born, I haven’t had a lot of time to indulge in any kind of hobby.”

  “From what I hear, the time comes all too soon,” Danielle said.

  “You’re right. They’re in second grade. Can you believe it?”

  They’d been five when Danielle broke up with Grady, three when they’d started dating.

  “No,” Danielle said simply.

  After closing, they tidied up the store. Then before heading out the door, Annie said to Lex, “Please
, no matter what happens with you and Grady, never feel like you have to be awkward around me. Grady can handle his own life.”

  “And vice versa,” Lex said. “But I think Grady and I are done lobbing volleys at each other.” As things stood now, she was the winner and she wanted to keep it that way. Why start another battle she might well not win?

  “Yeah,” Annie said, slowly, sounding like a sister who knew her brother well enough not to partake in Lex’s fantasy. “Maybe.”

  Danielle simply lifted her eyebrows.

  And Lex got the idea that maybe the battle had been won, but the war was not over.

  Chapter Five

  Saturday morning Lex was up early, grooming the mares she was taking to Jared’s riding lessons. Rosie, Daphne and Lacy were all over twenty years old, with quiet temperaments suited to beginners. Daphne had been her father’s backup horse when he wasn’t riding cranky old Snuff, and Rosie and Lacy had been her 4-H and rodeo horses. All three were now retired from ranch work but were perfect for her cousin Jared’s purposes.

  She pulled into the fairgrounds a little before 8:00 a.m. The lessons started at 9:00 a.m., but Jared wanted the high school students who would help him for the next six weeks to warm up the horses.

  “Lex, thanks for doing this,” he said as she got out of the truck. He introduced his crew of four helpers to her, then sent a couple of girls to unload the mares.

  She shaded her eyes as she looked at the stands. “I think I’ll hang out. Make sure everything goes all right. And if you need an extra pair of hands, I’m here.”

  He smiled at her. “Always glad to have some backup.” He shifted his weight and cocked his head. “So, what’s the deal with you and Grady?”

  The curse of close relatives who’d helped you through the roughest time of your life. They tended to ask direct questions instead of wondering what was going on.