The Outlaw Takes A Bride: A Historical Western Romance (Bernstein Sisters Historical Cowboy Romance Series Book 5)

by Amy Field

  Tammy sensed the dismissiveness in his voice but shoved it to file thirteen; she would not let him affect her any more than he already had. Shame threatened to swallow her. She was already walking on egg shells thinking of how this would play out for her and he had the audacity to be so casual about it. She fought for composure and picked a muffin from the tray on the kitchen island.

  “Are you going to train this morning?” she asked.

  “I need not train.”

  Unbelievable, she thought. “Everyone had to train, or are you too good for the rest of your team? Your stats might be up there, but surely you train with the team.”

  When she said that, he looked interested.

  “How do you know about my stats?”

  “I am a sports reporter, of course I know your stats,” she said.

  “Impress me,” he said grinning.

  “You have played 20 games, averaging 15 points and 8 assists. Most of your stats are exceptional but considering your volatile nature, you don’t lose your cool in the court.”

  He ignored the jab she threw his way and said, “Not bad.”

  “I follow basketball. It’s my job.”

  “Your job is to follow sports. Basketball however…” He trailed off.

  She rested her chin on her hand and looked at him.

  “What about it?” she asked.

  “You must come from a family that likes basketball.”

  “Guilty as charged.”

  “So tell me more,” he said, looking interested.

  She hesitated, usually she didn’t talk about her family, but he seemed interested. And this might just give her a foot in the door and get him to open up to her.

  “It’s simple, really. My dad used to watch games on the TV and whenever I heard the commentary, I would run to sit with him,” she smiled at the memory. “My mom wasn’t too happy about that.”

  “Why not?”

  “She is a bit old fashioned. She didn’t want me to be too engrossed into sports. She wanted to raise a dainty girl who does ballet and girly things. I wanted to play sports. She got used to the idea eventually though.”

  “Did your dad play?” Wade asked.

  Tammy’s eyes sparkled.

  “He used to play a lot with my brothers. They would always go to the nearby basketball court and I would tag along. That’s when I started commentating. It was fun, and I kind of just got better as I got older. I knew this was what I was destined for.

  His laughter reverberated right to her core and she couldn’t help but smile.

  “Not bad. You seem to be cut out for the job, I mean; you managed to sneak past Gary into the locker rooms. That takes some skill,” he said.

  She laughed and shook her head. “No skill needed if there’s no one to fool. He wasn’t around and I took a chance and it paid off, sort of anyway.”

  He crossed his arms and leaned back against the counter. “Sort of? From where I stood you got to interview quite a few good players.”

  She picked the raisins from the muffin and dropped them on the small plate. “I wouldn’t call those interviews. I asked questions, they gave me one- liners. Whatever they had to say, I could have gotten from the game.”

  “Well, now you have a story,” he smirked.

  She frowned and tilted her head to the side. “What do you mean?”

  Wade raised his hands and gestured in the air as if he was holding up a banner. “Tammy Forrester beds Wade Conley, a behind-the-scenes bedtime story.”

  Tammy nearly choked on a crumb at his comment. As hilarious as it sounded that would be the last thing she wanted as a headline.

  “Are you always this cocky about your antics?” she muttered and dusted the residue of bran muffin off her shirt.

  “Normally, but if you really need a ground breaking interview, I could give you one.”

  The thoughtfulness behind the offer touched her, but she knew that it wouldn’t help. An interview with Wade Conley, yes it would make waves but it wouldn’t be good enough for her considering his track record.

  “Thanks but no thanks. You aren’t exactly what I need for the news.”

  Wade frowned.

  “And what exactly does that mean?”

  “I mean you have talent but you are throwing it away with all of your antics. You’re tabloid material.”

  His brows drew together, and he stepped forward. Her words seemed to have angered him, but instead he slipped his hand under her locks of hair and crushed his lips against hers. Tammy was breathless when he drew back and almost dumbfounded as he said,

  “It didn’t seem to bother you last night.”

  She fought against the smile that tugged at the corners of her mouth.

  “No it didn’t, but that was in the bed and not the court. Like I said tabloid material, and if you carry on like this, your career would steer to the edge of a cliff. You have all this talent but you are taking it for granted. Someday soon, you’ll be too old to play the game, and you’ll end up being just another icon, framed on a college wall.”

  “You sound sure of yourself.” His eyes were hard and Tammy knew she was walking on thin ice, but she was honest.

  “It’s almost certain. I followed your career for a long time and I have read up on every scandal you have been involved in. Kids look up to you, and all they will end up seeing is the guy who screwed every super model, drank till he was in a stupor and an egotistical male with a bad temper. It’s looking pretty grim.”

  He let go of her and grabbed his keys. “You’re running late.”

  She knew what that meant; he was effectively dismissing their conversation. She would not push him too far, so she stood up and smoothed down her skirt. The uncomfortable silence persisted throughout the ride home, but she didn’t attempt to break it and she noticed the stony look on his face.

  “You can drop me off on the corner,” she said as they approached her place.

  Half expecting him to ignore her request by deliberately dropping her off in full view for everyone to see, he turned into a small side road and stopped the car.

  She felt a twinge of regret. She really hadn’t meant to hurt him but the truth always hurt. Still, she wished that they could have left it on better terms. As she got out of his car she turned back, but all she saw was him speeding away.

  Fourth Play

  After calling in sick the day before, Tammy had a lot of catching up to do. The constant ticking of keyboard keys was the only thing echoing in her office. She was working frantically to get her reports into the editor for review. She spent most of the morning avoiding Robert, knowing he would have plenty to say about the whole incident the night before. And he would definitely try to fish for information about Wade Conley, and she was not going to divulge any information about what happened the moment she got into his car.

  A slight knock on the door drew her attention, and she glanced up from behind her laptop.

  “Look what the cat dragged in,” Robert mumbled flipping a match-stick from one side of his mouth to the other.

  “Morning,” she said curtly.

  “Listen, about the other night…” he started and approached her desk.

  Tammy’s hands paused above the keys and she closed her eyes. “Let’s move on shall we? I don’t want to talk about it.”

  Robert stopped in front of her desk. “Yeah but I wanted to apologize for my behavior.”

  “Fine, you’re forgiven,” she muttered. “Now if you’ll excuse me…”

  “I mean I don’t want you to go and tell the bosses about it, it could mean the end of my career you know?”

  She stopped what she was doing and looked up at him and simply stared with one brow raised. She didn’t utter a word, but the look on her face did the trick. Robert nodded and sauntered out her office and she let out a relieved sigh.

  The Florida Eagles had agreed to a press interview, and Tammy and Robert had been one of the first news teams to arrive.

  As usual she was posted in
front of the camera with microphone in hand. Robert held up his hand and silently counted down from five.

  “We are coming to you live from the Florida Eagles Press room, where they have agreed to an interview regarding their upcoming matches. As inside sources reveal, the match against the Chicago Concords was one of the few they have lost, which was by a mere two points. But could this be a steady decline in wins for the Eagles?”

  Microphones stood towering in front of them like a mini-town of electronics. She had been surprised when her director told her that they had a special invitation to the interview, but something she would not question. This could be her big break. There was a buzz in the room, and reporters from other stations waited impatiently for the Eagles to take their seats behind the table on the podium.

  Tammy eased back and took her seat among the reporters and looked over her notes. Just then the door to the side of the interview room opened and the coach, team manager and Wade walked into the room. He looked smug and as she looked at him, he turned to meet her gaze. She felt a pang in her chest as she took him in. It was a natural feeling, considering the way they had left things off. He kept staring until she looked away.

  She took out her trusty recorder and got ready to record everything. Robert would be recording everything, but she wanted to get everything in her recorder for her notes later. She turned back to see Robert who was glaring at Wade. The rivalry between the two men was obvious. She had seen the aftermath when she had gone to work. His face had been a canvas of black and blue bruises. At least Robert hadn’t held it against her and he had actually toned down his flirtations so something good came out of the whole situation.

  Robert had asked her what had happened afterwards, and she had lied, saying that he had dropped her at her house. She would not tell him what had actually happened, she had dignity or what’s left of it.

  A part of her had hoped that Wade would call or leave a message that everything was okay between them but he had done nothing about it so she didn’t push it. It wasn’t her place to do that.

  The murmurings lessened as the coach got their attention. Tammy liked Coach Matthews, he had a stellar reputation for being a strict but able coach. He always pushed his players but not too hard. He was a veteran with more grey hair than white. He was still a powerful looking man despite his age.

  Tammy got ready to take everything down. She had gotten a reprimand from the network but her saving grace had been that no one had managed to get an interview so she was in the safe zone for now.

  Coach Mathews began to speak, talking about the disappointment of their recent loss and she listened carefully. But she noticed that most of the attention seemed to be directed at Wade which wasn’t all that surprising. The media were like sharks and he was giving them fresh blood. There was no way they would lose the opportunity for a story.

  The coach talked for a while and Tammy admired the way he spoke. His words were concise and clear, there was no room for any twisting that the media was prone to do. She was glad she could get the material she needed for the news, but everything went downhill when it was time for the press to ask questions.

  “Are you changing anything for your players?” one reporter asked.

  “Yes, they’ll undergo a bit more training to smooth out the rough edges,” Coach Mathews answered.

  “Do you think they’ll all cooperate?” a reporter asked brazenly.

  Tammy stared at the rival reporter in shock. As a person who was familiar with the jargon used by the press, she knew exactly what the person was trying to imply but she didn’t think they would broach that topic. Meanwhile, she could see that Wade was still staring at her and part of her wanted to stand up and shout at him. She wanted to demand to know what he wanted from her. She wasn’t the one who had run away from him. It had been him who had left her in front of her house. Could it be that he was feeling remorse for it? But that wasn’t her issue. All she had to do was report the news.

  “Of course they will,” the coach said taken aback.

  “We know some of your players have a tendency to misbehave.” the reporter continued.

  “Show me a man who doesn’t misbehave,” the coach said firmly.

  At that moment, a voice rang out.

  “You are talking about me right? Sure, I might sneak out once in a while to enjoy the company of a woman but that will not affect my abilities to play the game, now will it?” Wade said grinning.

  Cameras clicked away and Tammy was open mouthed as she stared at him. How could he so brazen? Why would he say something like this out of nowhere? The first thought that came to her mind was that he was trying to get attention, but she knew that thought was unrealistic. Why would he do that?

  But as she looked at him, she saw it might be true from the way he stared her. There was a flash of desperation but she thought she might have been imagining it. She knew he had managed to hit the headlines once more and she couldn’t help but be angry at him for that. It was exactly the opposite of what she had told him to do. She had told him to be normal, to not take things too far but clearly he didn’t want to listen to her. There was nothing she could do about that and she only stood up and walked out.

  Wade tossed the ball towards the hoop but missed. Frustrated, he threw the ball against the wall. He still had the image of Tammy in his mind, the way she had looked at him at the interview had been merciless, but he had deserved it. He couldn’t fault her not when he had done something outrageous in the first place.

  Wade knew he was out of balance. That he wasn’t like the others and it wasn’t because his therapist told him that. His therapist always had a little too much to say but Wade had to admit that his therapist was right about one thing which was his sex addiction and his need for attention.

  The strangest thing was that after he had met Tammy, he hadn’t had the urge to sleep with anyone else. He remembered the way she had looked when he had met her. She had a fire in his eyes he liked and though she was scared of him, she had refused to show it and had stood up to him. Wade liked feistiness in a woman. He had been serious about trying to seduce her but he hadn’t thought that it would mean something. He had succeeded, but he hadn’t expected the emptiness that came after he left her at her house. That wasn’t something that usually affected him. He had tried to avoid thinking of her for a few days but it hadn’t worked. Like a bad cold she kept crawling back into his mind, refusing to set him free.

  His coach had been pissed at him for his stunt at the interview and this time he didn’t even try to defend himself because the look on Tammy’s face had been engraved in his mind. For the first time, he was asking himself if all the antics were worth it. Did it have any meaning? He had a good career right? Then why was he trying to mess it up?

  Wade wished he had the answer to that.

  He was broken out of his reverie when he felt a push.

  “Sorry, didn’t see you there,” one of his teammates said sarcastically.

  The teammate in question was Jordon Anderson. Like Wade, he was 6 foot 3, but he was the center. His dark hair and good looks was like his own but Jordan didn’t have the roughness that Wade had. He was a good player, but he had always harbored bitterness against Wade for all the attention he got. They always butted heads and usually Wade like riling him up but today, he was already on the edge.

  “Let’s not go there today.”

  “You have some nerve,” Jordan said angrily. “Do you even care about this team or are you more into the attention you get?”

  “Careful,” Wade said.

  “Or what? All you’re worried about are the women you get to bed, but news flash, we have our careers to think about and you aren’t helping that one bit. One broken chain in the link has a negative impact on the entire team.”

  “I told you to be careful,” Wade barked.

  “Oh please, is that a threat? You’re a coward and an arrogant bastard!” Jordan retorted.

  He shouldn’t have said that, Wade thought.
<
br />   He launched himself at Jordan and they went crashing to the ground, aiming punches at each other. Jordan was definitely as strong as he was, but Wade was driven by rage and he aimed the punches blindly, not caring what he hit. A part of him told him that if he continued like this, he would end up being benched or worst, scratched from the team for the season.

  It was always his anger that won in the end.

  Wade felt his fist connect with something followed by the sickening crunch of bone under his fist. Jordan cursed and pushed him off, his hands going to his nose. Wade’s vision focused to see copious amounts of blood seeping through his finger and landing on the shiny court floor. The horror came soon, and he was stunned by what he had done.

  Through the corner of his eye, he saw his coach headed towards them. Coach Mathews lips pursed but thunder clouds following him. He barked at the medic in the corner to take care of Jordan and then turned to Wade.

  “I know you do a lot of shit but doing something to your teammate is out of line. This is my last warning to you Conley, one more outburst like this and you are benched for the season.”

  Wade watched numbly as the coach walked away with his teammates following behind. It was then that he felt completely alone.

  Fifth Play

  He shouldn’t be here.

  That’s what Wade told himself as he stopped his car in front of Tammy’s house. He shouldn’t be here but he had been driven by a need to see her, one he could not explain. After the whole debacle, his only thought had been to come and see her.

  Wade parked his car, got out and headed straight for the building in front of him. He didn’t know which floor her apartment was on but he would find her.

  “You are Wade Conley right?” The on-duty guard said excitedly as he got to the entrance. “I love watching you in the game!”

  Wade was all too used to strangers walking up to him, and more than often it frustrated him that he couldn’t even enter a department store without being stormed by fans wanting his autograph, but this time he could put his fame to good use.