Her Rodeo Cowboy

by Clopton, Debra

  Montana Brown, cowgirl wannabe, was in danger of falling in love.

  “What are you doing right now?” Norma Sue asked, walking over to stand near him. Hooking her thumbs in the straps of her overalls, she studied him intently. “You don’t look like you got much sleep last night.”

  Montana looked closer at him, and didn’t see what Norma Sue was talking about. The man looked absolutely perfect. His coffee-colored eyes looked bright and alert to her. They widened at the ranch woman’s comment.

  “I slept like a baby.”

  “Good!” Esther Mae exclaimed. “Then you can take this one—” she shocked Montana by placing her hands on Montana’s back and pushing her toward him “—over to the competitions and join in. I hear they’re going to have a three-legged race any minute, and that’s always a good one to—”

  Adela stepped up and broke Esther Mae off. “It’s a good one to get the heart pumping and the laughter flowing.”

  Esther Mae crossed her arms over her peacock-blue blouse and harrumphed. “It’s also good to get to know your partner. And don’t forget about the octopus ride!”

  “I wasn’t planning on joining in any games,” Montana said.

  Lacy chuckled, looking at Tate. She rubbed noses with him, and he grabbed at her hair. “Oh, no, you don’t. Hey.” She continued looking at Montana. “I’m going to go feed him and then I’m coming back to defend my championship title in the cow chip throwing competition. I’m officially challenging you. Every cowgirl needs to know how to toss one of those bad boys.”

  “I wasn’t—” Montana was feeling a bit trapped. The light in Luke’s eyes told her he knew how she felt, but he was also very amused by the situation. He had no clue how trapped she was feeling, how seriously her feelings were changing where he was concerned. She’d known it the moment she opened her eyes that morning. Looking at Lacy, she couldn’t say no. “Okay,” she agreed. “I’ll be there, and you better come prepared. Because, believe it or not, I can toss a chip a very long way.”

  And so, she found herself walking through the crowd beside Luke, and feeling as if she was heading down a wrong-way street with her hands tied behind her back. Luke, on the other hand, looked like he was on the same road but totally enjoying the crazy ride, judging by the twitch of his lips when he looked at her.

  “So you actually throw cow patties?”

  “Haven’t done it in a while—probably a decade—but I can.”

  As they wove through the crowd, he gave her a disbelieving glance. “You touched them?”

  “That’d be a nooo. I wore gloves. Those things are—well, you know what they are. I’m not touching it. But I can sure give my cousin a run for the money.”

  “I have no doubt about that. How about tonight? Are you ready for the barrel racing?”

  “Yes, I am. But I think the three-legged race is going to be a great warm-up for me. The posse was right. This is a good thing, you and me.”

  “Stuck like glue,” he said.

  Montana chuckled. “That’s right. You and me, babe.”

  Luke laughed. The low, husky sound made Montana’s pulse dance.

  They walked past booth after booth of handmade crafts, tons of jewelry and half a dozen food trailers. Luke stopped in front of a burger booth. “I’ve got to eat something before we race.”

  “That’s good thinking. I wouldn’t want to lose because you were slacking.”

  “Oh, you don’t have to worry about that. I can handle myself.”

  She put her hands on her hips and made herself not laugh. “A little competitive, are we?”

  He tapped her nose with his index finger. “And don’t you forget it.”

  “Then we’re a great match.” The words were out of her mouth before she realized what she was saying. Looking at him, his eyes twinkling, she decided maybe now would be a good time to stop speaking. The look in his eyes told her he might be wondering the same thing. Suddenly she was wondering, were they a great match? She flashed back to being in his arms, and it struck her like lightning that they were.

  She took a step back. Her arm had been lightly touching his, standing in line. Suddenly, feeling a little faint, she wanted to sit down or pass out. She didn’t have time to be getting crazy. She didn’t have time to be thinking things she hadn’t been thinking in a very long time.

  She didn’t trust men. Right?

  She didn’t want a man in her life. Right?

  She didn’t want to fall in love. Right?

  But he was great. He was unbelievably sincere. He was funny. He was…easy to fall in love with.

  Oh, my goodness—she was in trouble.

  His eyebrows crinkled as he looked at her strangely. “Are you okay?”

  She slapped a hand to her stomach. “Nerves,” she squeaked, gasping a little.

  “Really? You’re white. Come on.” Taking her arm, he led her out of the line and toward a spot behind all the booths, away from the traffic. They’d used square bales of hay in some areas to give seating to weary festival goers, and Luke spotted a pile of extra hay. Leading her to it immediately, he gently pushed her down to sit.

  “I’m fine,” she said. “Really I am.” She was seeing black spots.

  He knelt down in front of her and his concerned brown eyes seemed to melt into her as he searched hers. He touched her forehead with his fingers. She gasped at his touch and then stuck her head between her knees and gasped for air.

  “Breathe, Montana, breathe.” Luke rubbed Montana’s back. He wasn’t sure what was going on. One minute she’d been fine—teasing and rattling on and making him laugh. Then all of a sudden, she’d turned as white as a sheet and was threatening to pass out.

  “I’m fine,” she groaned after a minute, and sat up, looking more stunned than anything.

  She was staring at him like he had two heads. “Did I do something wrong? Are you sure this is about your ride tonight?” He’d been thinking about her all night long. He’d never had a woman on his mind like he had Montana. He’d done his best to steer clear of her all morning because he wanted to see her so bad. Maybe she’d wanted him to show up this morning. Maybe she was mad at him. Maybe that was a good thing—he wasn’t certain.

  “No, you didn’t do anything wrong.”

  He leaned forward. She sucked in a breath and leaned back, keeping him at a distance. “Okay, then what’s up?”

  She shook her head as if trying to clear it, and then shot up from the hay, glaring at him. “I don’t want this.”

  “Want what?” he asked, maintaining his calm in the midst of a growing gale.

  “This.” She waved a hand toward him, then back toward herself. “This, this thing that’s happening between us. And don’t try and deny it, because I know you feel it, too. Or maybe you don’t.”

  He shouldn’t think she was cute. But he did. That made him smile inside. He honestly liked everything about Montana Brown, including her odd tendency to get mad at herself when she was feeling things she didn’t like…or felt threatened by. He grinned at her, despite the fact that it was thoughts of him that were making her so mad.

  “I do know I enjoy being around you. But right now, I’m also looking forward to you and me smoking a bunch of three-legged couples in a few minutes. You know what I think?” He scratched his jaw, then crossed his arms and studied her.

  “What?” She glared at him but paused her pacing.

  “I think you need to relax. You’re making more out of this than it is.” He needed her to calm down. “The fact is that I like you and you like me. No big deal. We’re still in control of what we do with that. Right?” He nodded, slowly urging her to agree.

  She looked a bit puzzled, but nodded in response to his. “Yes.”

  “Good, then relax and let’s go win a race. And don’t forget, I want to see you chuck a cow chip farther than anyone else.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  “You ready for this?” Luke asked Montana as they tugged the feed sack over their legs. They’d
tied her left leg to his right leg with the twine that Stanley handed them.

  “I’m always ready for a little competition,” she said, narrowing her eyes, teasingly preparing for battle. She let her gaze swing slowly around the gathering group, sizing up the competitors.

  “You’re looking serious. I need to warn you that I’ve never done this before, so I hope you don’t get too disappointed.”

  “Hey, you need to focus, Luke Holden. Focus and get a little can-do spirit. Look at me.” She took his face between her hands and turned his face toward her. “Now read my lips and repeat after me. ‘I can do this.’”

  He chuckled. “I can do this.”

  “See, it’s all better now. We’re going to do this, aren’t we, fellas?”

  Stanley and App were standing in front of them. Each man had his arms crossed over his chest as he studied them with critical eyes.

  “You might better tighten up that thar string,” App grunted.

  “That’s right. Too much slack can lead to tripping,” Stanley said, looking like he wanted to jump in and take over the tying.

  Luke grinned as he reached down and studied the string once more. “I’ve got it handled, Stanley. Don’t worry.” He shook the string, noting that it was loose but comfortable.

  “I don’t know about that. It still looks a little loose. A loose string kin trip you up and throw off yor hop-’n’-run move.”

  “Hop-’n’-run move? What’s that?” Montana asked, getting a kick out of Stanley’s serious attitude.

  “It’s the way you get the job done,” he said.

  “Yup,” App butted in. “You hop together—like this. Then you run one step together with the outside legs—like this.”

  Everyone around enjoyed the demonstration from Applegate. The skinny stick of a man was dressed in his starched jeans and shirt, topped off with his pristine, go-to-town straw Stetson—he’d explained to her the difference earlier, when she’d told him she liked his new hat. He’d beamed and told her it wasn’t new, it was just the one he wore to church on Sunday. His everyday hat had gotten eaten by an ornery old goat at the petting zoo. “I had to go home and get my church hat—stinking goat. I couldn’t be up here at the rodeo without wearing a hat.” Montana smiled as she watched his demonstration carefully.

  “We can do that,” she said to Luke.

  He nodded seriously, and showed her some of his new can-do spirit. “Sure we can. Would you mind doing that again, App? Just in case we didn’t get it the first time.”

  App frowned. “It ain’t that easy ta do. Yor tryin’ ta be funny, Luke Holden, but I’m tellin’ ya, this is the move ta win….” His voice trailed off when Erica walked up with a cowboy in tow. She glared at Montana and then at Luke, before she snatched the string and burlap sack from Stanley, who’d shut his mouth the instant he saw her walk up and held out the armload of bags he had to hand out.

  She sat on the hay bale across from Montana and gave her the evil eye. Montana thought it was a little ridiculous that she was continuing to act the way she was. Montana looked away, while Luke was concentrating on tightening the string around their ankles. “If you tighten that any more, we aren’t going to be able to feel our feet,” she said in a hushed tone.

  “Sorry, but I don’t know how to make this better.”

  She knew he meant the thing between him and Erica, and not the string cutting the circulation of her foot off. Montana tried not to look at Erica, but she couldn’t help herself. Erica caught her looking and glowered at her. Montana tried to let it slide by focusing on her group again, but there had to be a way to make this better. She caught App’s eagle eye.

  “You two ’bout ready to do this?” He hiked a bushy brow. “Ain’t no call to get intimidated by a little unpleasantness.”

  He, of course, was talking loud enough to wake the dead. “App, behave,” Luke muttered, looking perplexed by the entire issue.

  “I am. The way I see it, we’re all adults here, and we can act like it.” He looked sternly at Erica, reminding Montana of a schoolteacher giving a child a warning in class for misbehavior.

  Erica crossed her arms in a huff and glared at the cowboy sitting beside her. He was watching the mini-drama unfolding in front of him with all the enthusiasm of a man about to get a healthy tooth pulled.

  “Are you going to just sit there and let him talk to me that way?” she huffed.

  The cowboy looked at her with a hint of humor in his eyes. “Hey, you’re the one who threw tea all over Luke. Grow up, Erica.” Without another word he dropped the string he was holding, tipped his hat and strode off. Fury destroyed Erica’s face and she turned the color of an eggplant. She threw the sack down and stormed after the man who’d just humiliated her in front of everyone.

  Luke had behaved like a perfect gentleman.

  Montana was impressed. As hard as Erica had pushed, he’d barely even voiced his frustration. It was far better than the way she’d have handled it. Yet she knew that was the Christian way to handle it. Though he didn’t talk about his faith much, in small ways she saw how he lived it. It wasn’t put on to impress others. It was a true faith, a quiet faith lived through character, honesty and trying to do the right thing.

  Talk about getting the wrong impression of a person right from the get-go. Boy, had she done it.

  The three-legged teams got downright rough when it came to winning. Montana soon learned that, before the next festival, she was going to have to practice if she wanted to make any kind of mark in the world of three-legged racing.

  “I still can’t believe we got whupped,” Luke said, laughing as he and Montana made their way over to the cow chip throwing contest thirty minutes later.

  “Well, the hop-’n’-run didn’t work for us.”

  “But that wasn’t all our fault. It was partly due to that other couple who tried out the maneuver, got tangled up and took us out.”

  “They did kind of resemble a bowling ball.”

  “And we were the pins.”

  “More like sitting ducks,” Luke grumbled. “I still should have been able to get us up and make it across the finish line before we did. We got ‘plum whupped’ as App and Stanley would say. They were not too impressed with us.” He chuckled so hard his shoulders shook. Looking at him she found herself smiling, too. It had turned into a great day.

  Hooking her arm in his, she felt closer to him than she wanted to, but she wasn’t worrying about it at the moment. Like he’d said earlier, she needed to relax where they were concerned.

  “We did just fine,” she said, then halted dead in her tracks at the cow chip competition. “Whoa, Nelly!”

  The last thing she expected to see after they’d gotten whupped in the three-legged race was a line of women raring to throw cow chips! But there they were, lined up, studying the pile of chips, trying to figure out which one would fly the farthest. It was serious business.

  “Looks like I have a little more competition here than just Lacy.” She spotted Lacy and headed toward her. She was grinning and waving them over.

  “Hey, just remember to be positive. A little can-do spirit and you’ve got this.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I think I’ve created a monster.”

  “Nope, I was like this before I met you.”

  “Oh, that’s so good to know.”

  He threw an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. Montana’s stomach erupted in butterflies. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could stop herself from falling for Luke.

  The stands were full, and that put huge smiles on the matchmaking posse, as they worked the welcome station next to the entrance of the arena building. App and Stanley, along with Sam, were helping out at the booth, while Norma Sue’s husband, Roy Don, was the announcer, and Hank, Esther Mae’s husband, was helping work one of the gates. No doubt about it, they were all having a good time seeing familiar faces and reconnecting. It was part of the fun for all the older people of town, and Lacy was thrilled to be meeting them, too.
She and Tate were acting as greeters. Last time Montana had glimpsed them, they’d been busy. This was why Montana was shocked when she saw Lacy come around the corner of the barn, where she and her horse were warming up before their barrel race. Lacy was clipping along just short of a run as she halted in front of Murdock.

  “Looking good, Miss Queen of the Cow Chip Toss,” she cooed, rubbing Murdock’s forehead and grinning up at Montana.

  “Thanks, Mrs. Barely Runner-Up.” It had been big fun, and she’d only beaten Lacy by a nose. “I feel good. I’m hoping our good fortune in the cow-chip toss will continue on.” Lacy’s smile beamed up at her. “You can do it. You and Murdock are ready, and I know God’s going to smile at your efforts.”

  “Thanks, Lacy, really. What are you doing out here? Don’t they need your smiling face at the welcome table?”

  She waved a dismissive hand. “Naw, I left little man Tate in charge for a few minutes. It’s all good.” She chuckled, then placed her hands on her hips and tilted her head. “I wanted to come out here and see you before your ride. Can you dismount and let’s say a prayer?”

  “Sure, I’d love to.” The instant Montana’s feet touched the ground, Lacy threw her arms around her.

  “I love you, Montana! I just want you to know that. And I know, whatever happens out there, God’s going to be with you. Win or lose, you’ve trained hard and given it your all, and you’ll give God the glory. I feel it in my heart of hearts that you’re going to do great. Yep, yep, yep, I do,” she sang, grinning widely. Just the joyful sound of it made Montana feel positive and happy. “Now, let’s talk to God, girlfriend.”

  Montana’s heart was pounding as Lacy said a quick, heartfelt prayer for everyone’s safety that night, and for victory for Montana, if it be God’s will. After she finished, Montana hugged her tightly, holding on for a long moment. “Lacy, you don’t know what coming here has meant to me. Thank you so much.” She let go, but kept talking. “I was floundering in anger and bitterness when you reached out to me. You’ve helped me start finding myself again.”