Her Cowboy Hero: Rodeo Knights, A Western Romance Novel (Cowboys of Ransom Creek)

by Debra Clopton

  Lori trudged beside him. “Me too.”

  “No, you will—”

  “Be right here beside you. No way am I letting you do this alone.”

  “I’ll get one of the Presleys to join me.”

  “I’m doing this,” she said, stubborn as ever.

  “Fine. But you’ll stay out of the way. I’m not letting you get hurt.”

  She crossed her arms. “I’m capable of taking care of myself. I’ll bring my rifle.”

  Stubborn woman. “I’m going to call Jesse back and let him know what’s going on. We better go if we’re going to get ready and be back here before too late.”

  Now if he could just keep her safe everything would be fine.

  Chapter Ten

  It was a cloudy night as Trip parked the truck in a stand of Mesquite trees along the creek. He cut the lights and he and Lori settled in to wait.

  Ever since Trip had opened up to her that afternoon and had kissed her Lori had been floating on a cloud. Now sitting in the truck with him she could hardly believe it. He’d told her he loved her. She was finding it hard to concentrate on anything other than that fact.

  She waited all these years, eight years. And then all those years before that—it seemed like she had been waiting all of her life to hear Trip tell her that he loved her. And now he had.

  Now they needed to get through all of this junk with the ranch, get past this rustling and find their horses and cattle and put an end to all this nonsense so that the stock company could be a success. She understood that he needed that. Trip was the kind of man who had to bring something to the table.

  But she’d needed something too, needed him to open up to her like he’d done today. There was an ache inside of her that his words had soothed. His words had vanquished. The ache was gone because he loved her and that was the most valuable thing in the world to her. Now that she had that, she didn’t care if someone came and stole every cow or horse she owned. She had everything she needed with Trip’s love.

  But understanding what he needed drove the fire inside of her to stay out here and wait and watch and try and catch whoever was doing this. They needed to see if the rustlers stealing the cattle were the same ones who’d taken her horses. For the sake of the ranch, the stock company and Trip.

  In the darkness he reached out and took her hand. The thrill went through her as his warm calloused hand wrapped around hers. He interlaced his fingers with hers and there they sat.

  It was midnight and they had a busy day tomorrow as the horses would be loaded in the morning and taken the three-hour drive to Fort Worth and then the rodeo would start in the evening. They were both going to be worn out.

  She yawned. “If they’re coming I wish they would come now so we can find out who they are, catch them and then we can go and sleep a little. We are going to be so tired tomorrow night at the rodeo.”

  He chuckled. “You’re right about that. I don’t think either of us slept last night. You can lay down and rest your head on my thigh and sleep. I’ll let you know if they show up.”

  She squeezed his hand. “I’m not doing that. You’d probably sneak out and leave me snoring. Besides, I’m not abandoning you here in the truck while you have to stay awake and watch.”

  She felt his grin in the darkness. She could barely see him since he’d cut all the dash lights off inside the truck.

  “I’ll be fine. You really should rest.”

  “And you really should remember that I’m not going to do that.” As she was saying the words she saw a light bob in the distance. “Do you see that,” she hissed as if whoever was in the truck could hear her talking.

  “I see it. We have company.”

  “How many do you think there are?” She was still talking in a hushed voice.

  “I don’t know, but we’ll know soon enough. Whatever happens stay behind me. I’d rather you stay in the truck, but I know that’s not gonna happen.”

  “You do know me.”

  He gave a dry laugh. “I know you.”

  Before she realized what he was doing he pulled her into his arms, cupped her face in the darkness and kissed her again. Butterflies, fireflies and moths with fire laced wings exploded through her chest. This kiss was different than that afternoon. It was hard and fast and almost desperate. It left her breathless when he pulled away. And wanting more.

  “Lori,” his voice was raspy. “I can’t have anything happen to you. Do you understand that?”

  “Yes. But, I can’t have anything happen to you either.”

  “It won’t. But you have to stay here. I’m going down there. You have to do as I ask. I can’t risk you.”

  Her mouth went dry and her heart raced. “But I have to. This is my fight too.”

  “I understand that,” he gritted in frustration. “Lori, I can handle this. I can’t handle if something happens to you.”

  Indecision rolled in a long wave through her. “I’ll go with you but stay back. You can’t ask me to do less than that. “

  “Fine. Have it your way.” He kissed her quickly again and then let her go.

  But the tension between them was back, different from what it was before, but it was there. She knew he wanted to keep her safe but there was no way she wasn’t going down there. They rolled their windows down and they could hear the low whine of the truck as it came across the pastures. It topped the hill and they could make out the outline of a truck and trailer.

  They had come after their cattle. There was no doubt about it. They had scouted it last night and now they had come back to take what they wanted. Or try, Lori thought.

  Trip got out of the truck. She slid over and followed him out the same door. He reached back inside and took his rifle from the gun rack on the back window. Lori wished she had brought hers—not that she’d ever used it for anything but target practice and shooting poisonous snakes. But she figured if she needed to protect herself or someone she loved she’d be able to take care of business… But no, she’d let him talk her out of it. “I wish I had my gun.”

  “You’re not going to need your gun. I have mine but it’s okay, you’re going to stay back. Remember?”

  “Right.”

  Frustrations of her own had her shifting from one boot to the other as they watched the trailer lights showing them exactly where the truck was going. They crept through the tall grass and she was thankful for her boots as she didn’t relish the idea of stepping on any creepy snakes tonight. She might scream and that wouldn’t be good.

  They were half a football field length away when Trip stopped moving unexpectedly and she slammed into the back of him.

  “Umph,” she grunted then squeaked, “Sorry.”

  They waited as they could make out two men unloading horses. Of course they’d brought horses. That was one thing about cattle rustling, rustlers had to know what they were doing when they stole cattle. The had to know how to cut what they wanted from the herd, and how to load them. It wasn’t a skill set that everyone had. Which meant that a cattle rustler was normally a cowboy.

  When the two mounted their horses and rode toward the herd, Trip leaned back and whispered, “Let’s go,”

  He started across the pasture again, keeping low as they took a parallel path down the hill and advanced toward the truck. Her adrenaline was high and she followed trip.

  And prayed that nothing went wrong.

  Trip knew that Brice and Cooper were out there somewhere on the lookout for rustlers on their property. And so were Shane and Drake. Vance had stayed home after much persuasion so that he’d be fit to compete tomorrow night. He was in the running to make it to the finals again and he couldn’t miss that opportunity.

  There was a lot of ranch to watch over and he hoped they made it here before anything bad went down. He’d sent them a text but had no idea how far away they were.

  Shane and Drake would stay home tomorrow night and keep watch on the ranch, looking for rustlers while everyone else tried to help at the rodeo.
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br />   They all understood that the rustlers had scouted the ranches and would be back quickly before the cattle were moved out of the pastures they’d been in when the rustlers had scoped them out.

  He was worried about the stubborn, beautiful woman following him like a shadow. If he couldn’t keep her safe… Even the thought of it had his stomach churning. He would keep her safe.

  He leaned close to Lori. “I’m going in,” he whispered. “You have your phone if something goes wrong I need you to stay here and make the call to 911 now that we know their really intending to steal the cattle.”

  “Okay, but I’m not promising that I’m going to stay here after I make the call. You take care of yourself.”

  “You better stay. You promised. Now make the call.” He forced himself not to be distracted and then he made his way toward the rustlers. He thought there were four rustlers. Two on horses and two working the trailer.

  He hoped these were the same people who’d taken the horses. If so, then maybe they’d get some answers. It was more important since he’d spilled his guts to Lori and now he needed more than ever for the stock to make it to the finals and let everyone know that the stock company was going to make it without the larger than life presence of Ray.

  He needed to stand on his own if he was going to ask Lori to marry him. And he was going to ask her because he couldn’t stand being apart from her any longer.

  “Can we hurry this up,” one of the men growled. “I got a bad feeling about this.”

  Trip reached the truck and hurried down the side of it and in between the tailgate and the cattle trailer. He peeked around the edge and this close could see the two men.

  “I’m all for getting this over with. Tell Carson and Lomax to sort and load faster.”

  Carson and Lomax…two of the ranch hands he’d let go for making unsavory remarks about Lori when she took over for her dad. He’d fired them on the spot. And now the no-goods were stealing her cattle. Trip’s blood boiled as he listened to them.

  “Hurry up,” the second rustler snapped. “You two act like you never sorted cattle before.”

  In answer Carson and Lomax cut two heifers from the herd and made them charge the two cowboys working their mouths more than the gate to the trailer.

  “Hey, watch out!” Simon growled. The third man’s distinctive voice finally registered and he remembered the cowboy’s name. He didn’t think he knew the fourth rustler. But he would.

  Trip moved silently down the side of the trailer. The cattle they’d just run up into the trailer were making enough noise to drown out any noise he happened to make but Trip crouched low and moved quickly toward the man holding the trailer gate. He didn’t stop until the barrel of his rifle was in Simon’s back.

  “What?”

  “Nice and easy,” Trip said. “And I won’t have to hurt you. Now step out there. You too,” he said to the other rustler.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” Simon asked, his voice hard.

  “Getting you ready to go to jail. Now move. And call your buddies.”

  Suddenly, there was movement and the loud crack of a bullwhip sounded, instantly the cattle stampeded straight toward the trailer. The cowboys on horseback knew exactly what they were doing. Trip slammed tight against the side of the trailer while Simon was hit head on by a cow he stumbled and went down and was trampled by the first cow. Trip yelled, “Yah.” Waved his arms in hopes the cattle would see him in the darkness and he reached down and grasp Simon by the arm and drug him up and out of the way of the rest of the herd. The man was groaning and could barely stand. When the cattle had run past Trip looked around, and in the pale light he saw Lomax on horseback and he had a struggling, mad as a hornet Lori, laid over his saddle horn.

  “Put me down,” Lori yelled. She couldn’t believe she’d let the rustler see her. But she’d been unable to stand it hiding in the weeds and had crept closer. And Ted Lomax had spotted her as she’d raced to get out of the path of the stampeding cattle. He’d ridden forward and yanked her up and across his horse like a sack of potatoes before she’d had a chance to scream.

  “Hold still and I won’t have to shoot your boyfriend.”

  “No! You wouldn’t dare,” she gasped. “You, you should know that I, I called the police and a whole posse is on the way.” She thought of Trip calling the Presleys her posse. She knew they’d be out there somewhere. Come on, Posse.

  “Put your rifle down, Trip,” he demanded as if she hadn’t spoken at all.

  “Don’t you dare put your rifle down, Trip,” she yelled. “Lomax y’all are stealing cattle. That’s not a hanging offense any more! But killing us is—this is ridiculous. Take my stinking cattle. But don’t do this.”

  “She’s right,” Trip said. “Don’t make this any worse than it is. You can take the cattle. And you can even keep the five horses if you took them.”

  “I don’t want to kill anyone,” a man grunted.

  Lori held her head up from where she dangled over the front shoulder of the horse. Simon, one of the men Trip had fired with Lomax. She bet Carson was out here too. “Good for you,” she yelled.

  “I was just in this to get back at them for firing us,” he continued. “I don’t want any part of killing.”

  “Me either,” another man yelled.

  Lori couldn’t see him and didn’t recognize him. She knew there was another man on horseback out here, she’d seen him when Lomax had grabbed her.

  Now she saw him approaching. But in the dark she couldn’t see his face with his hat pulled low. But she’d bet that was Carson.

  “Carson take the rifle from Trip.”

  Suddenly, she saw the rider level his shotgun but instead of pointing it at Trip he shoved it into the unsuspecting Lomax’s ribs.

  “No can do—”

  Lori gasped—Cooper Presley was sitting in the saddle.

  “What?” Lomax growled.

  “No what’s, ands or ifs,” Cooper drawled. “I’m a crack shot and a hothead. And you happen to have one of my very favorite females in all the world dumped over your horse in a very uncomfortable position. So, I’d think long and hard about what this shotgun can do at close range. And I’d toss that pistol you’re holding over there to the side.” She heard the sound of hooves and out of the darkness five more horses and riders moved in and flanked Lomax. They all leveled a firearm at the man sharing a horse with her.

  Lomax said something vulgar then tossed the pistol to the ground.

  Instantly, Trip came to her and helped her scramble off the saddle horn. He pulled her into his arms and held her.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “I’m better now,” she managed, and wrapped her arms around his neck as he carried her away from Lomax and his horse.

  “Thank you all for showing up,” she said later, as the police got there and took the four rustlers away and she looked around the group of cowboys. Trip had his arm around her shoulders holding her close.

  “Yeah, thank all of you. And Cooper, that was a pretty good trick you did on the horse.”

  His brothers all chuckled, the tension was gone and they were all relaxing a bit.

  “You should have seen him,” Vance said. We had just reached the area when the cattle stampeded and he jumped out of the truck and streaked across the pasture and grabbed that rider off his horse before he knew what hit him. I had followed him and he handed him off to me then swung up into the saddle and rode the horse back toward y’all like he was one of them.”

  The night was lit up with truck lights and so Cooper’s cocky grin was visible. “Hey, I figured it was our best shot of getting close.”

  “And you were right,” Marcus said. “So, they said they didn’t know anything about the stolen horses. And they took our cattle just to throw everyone off so no one would suspect them.”

  “Yes, that’s what they said,” Trip said. “So, as unbelievable as it is, we had cattle rustlers and horse thieves at the same time.”

&n
bsp; “That is beating the odds on bad luck,” Drake said, shaking his head. “Any more news from the Knights?”

  “I’ll call them in the morning and tell them what happened and I’ll see if there is any more news. They’ll all be at the Stockyards. Speaking of that, I guess we better all call it a night. Lori, lets get you home.”

  “Okay, I’m too wound up to sleep, but maybe I can. Thanks again, fellas. I’m a lucky woman to have all of you.”

  And she was. When they reached the ranch Trip walked her to her door and held her. “I don’t want to let you go,” he said against her temple.

  “I know. I love you. I was so scared when they were threatening to shoot you.”

  “And I was terrified when I saw they had you. I don’t want to ever lose you, Lori.”

  “I love hearing you say that. You won’t.”

  And she went to bed that night with that thought on her mind.

  Chapter Eleven

  As planned they drove the horses to the Fort Worth Stockyards, checked them in and then met with the Knights in the lobby of the historic Stockyard Hotel. Lori loved the old hotel, she’d spent many nights in this hotel when she and her dad came to the Stockyards. She loved the history of the place and the beautiful furnishings. She loved the way the old stairs creaked when she walked up them and the slow moving elevator.

  It was the perfect place to meet because since her dad had loved it too, it felt as if he was sitting in on the meeting.

  Only two of the Knight brothers had come, Jesse, the ex-military policeman and then Sean the veterinarian who took care of the rodeo stock while at the events. After they all greeted each other they got down to business.

  Jesse’s smile turned serious. “I think we have a good lead. Michael flew to Oklahoma City to check it out and will hopefully have answers before the rodeo is over.”

  “That’s where Kramer’s outfit’s at,” Trip said.

  “Yes,” Sean agreed. “It is. He’s going to do some undercover poking around.”