The Bull Rider's Redemption

by Heidi Hormel

  “Danny is our baby brother,” Lavonda broke in. “We might feel a little protective.”

  “He’s a grown man,” Clover reminded them. “I don’t think he’d appreciate you discussing his...private life.”

  “Sorry about that. Like Lavonda said, he’s our baby brother.”

  “He’s lucky to have you two,” she said, meaning it. Nothing like her and Knox. They had shuttled between their separated parents until Knox settled with their dad in New York and she chased tiaras with her mother in Texas.

  Lavonda smiled and said, “He’ll probably disown us...again...if you tell him we talked to you. So could we just keep this between us hens?” Jessie nodded agreement.

  “Sure,” Clover said. “One thing, though. Why did Danny agree to be mayor? He won’t tell me.”

  “That’s his story,” Jessie said, “and it’s time I head back to my baby. Come on, Lavonda.”

  “I’m proud of you. I expected us to leave at least an hour ago.”

  Clover watched the sisters stand and said, “It was good seeing you, and your secret is safe with me.”

  “Wait—one more thing,” Lavonda said as Jessie gave her an impatient look. “This isn’t a warning or anything. Danny is different than when he was a teen, but one thing that hasn’t changed is how much he...cared for you when you were young.”

  Before Clover could respond, the women walked away. What did they mean by that? Danny had some torch for her? But they said to leave him alone? The bonds between siblings made her envious and confused. She didn’t understand exactly how it all worked.

  Time to finish her beer and head home. The chat with Danny’s sisters hadn’t been anything more than a little girl talk. A lot of water and everything else had passed under the bridge since Danny and she had been a couple. He might be a better kisser and had aged well. That didn’t mean anything more than that she’d been working too hard and neglecting her social life. She’d take care of that as soon as this project got off the ground.

  She’d spend her time reworking her numbers and tweaking her presentation for the council. She planned to win over this town and prove to her father she was the kind of executive he needed. Not much at all riding on this upcoming meeting, where she’d be laying it on the line in front of an old boyfriend who could still make her forget her name when they kissed.

  Chapter Five

  As he waited for the town-council meeting to start, Danny’s tongue pushed at the empty space between his teeth. The dentist required payment up front and Danny was a little short. He’d been desperate enough to look on the ground around the stairs for the knocked-out tooth but he hadn’t found it. He’d been nodding along to the conversation, not opening his mouth and holding his lip down over the gap. He’d never thought of himself as vain, but a big old hole in his mouth made him want to hide.

  Of course, Clover, in a professional but formfitting suit, sat front and center in the audience at the council meeting. Her proposal was number two on the agenda, after the Pledge of Allegiance. He looked around at the four other members of the board. They’d called Angel Crossing home all of their lives, and like a lot of the old-timers, they didn’t want their town to change. But they also understood that without change their children and grandchildren would never stay. He had a vague idea of how they might view Van Camp Worldwide’s proposal. He’d been explaining his own ideas, but they were long-term solutions, not the quick one that Clover would be presenting.

  The president of the board looked at his watch and hammered down the gavel. “Let’s get this show on the road. I want to be home before that dancing program starts. Everyone stand for the Pledge.”

  Danny stood, turned to the flag and caught the gleam of Clover’s auburn hair out of the corner of his eye. He would not be distracted by her or the memories of their recent kiss.

  “Miss Van Camp,” said Bobby Ames, the president of the board and Angel Crossing’s lone attorney and taxidermist. “Your presentation, please. You have ten minutes.”

  Clover stood and picked up a stack of printouts. She quickly went down the table handing out the colorful and slick paper. Danny would not feel bad that he hoped her big-city presentation raised the hackles on his fellow board members.

  “I am here on behalf of Van Camp Worldwide,” Clover started.

  “We know that, missy. Get to the point. What do you want us to do for you?”

  She looked a little flustered, but her smile seemed genuine. “It’s more what we can do for you all,” she said, a Texas twang suddenly entering her voice, making her sound more like the girl he’d met on the junior rodeo circuit.

  “Give everyone a job and a thousand dollars,” Loretta Miller said.

  “I wish I could help y’all out.”

  Boy, she was laying it on thick. Didn’t she know that Arizona wasn’t Texas?

  “Seven minutes,” Bobby said.

  Clover took in a long breath and stood with regal, beauty-queen posture. “Van Camp Worldwide can provide the town with a viable plan to transform it into a new style of resort that will bring both jobs and tax revenue.”

  “That’s what they all say,” Loretta muttered to Irvin.

  “The materials I’ve provided outline in detail our proposal.” She went on before Bobby could interrupt her with another time check. “We will and have purchased properties at fair market price, but I’m before this body because we need to secure permission to rezone the Miner’s Gulch corridor and demolish the properties from just north of the town hall to the railroad.”

  “Wait,” Danny interrupted. He had properties along Miner’s Gulch. He needed the zoning to remain as is for his own plan to work. He’d already sunk a chunk of his savings into his own revitalization project. She’d messed up part of his plan when she’d purchased the warehouse properties. “I talked with everyone about what I wanted to do. I’ll use local labor and end up with affordable housing for residents—a mix of senior, family and singles. It’s just what we need.”

  “When you have your plan ready to present formally, bring it in,” Bobby said. “You really shouldn’t even comment on Rico Pueblo.”

  “But I’m mayor,” Danny said, not looking at Clover. “I live here and I care about Angel Crossing. I won’t come in and cut out its heart, pull out my profits and move along.”

  “That’s not how the law works,” Clover said, her drawl disappearing again. “I can have a lawyer come with me next time, if need be.”

  “No need for that,” Bobby said. “I’m a lawyer and I know what we’re mucking into. Mayor, we can’t make a decision that favors you because you’re ‘local.’”

  “Why the hell not?” Loretta asked.

  “President Ames,” Clover said, her drawl rounding out her words. “Thank you for being so fair-minded about the concept plan. If you turn to page eight, you’ll see our projections for tax revenue going forward. I believe that sort of influx will be essential for the smooth operation of—”

  Danny interrupted, “But it’ll cost us in police and maintenance. Think of all of the people here to party. Chief Rudy and his team are stretched to breaking just keeping up with the current population.”

  “Mayor,” Bobby warned.

  Clover went on, speaking directly to him. “The additional revenue from taxes plus the private and state-of-the art security measures will not put any more strain on the town’s finances than the current situation. That is outlined on page thirty-six.”

  When they were teens all Clover had talked about was her hair and the sorority she’d pledge when she went to college. Where had she hidden this Clover? He scanned quickly through her material. “Wait a minute,” he said. “What’s this about tax forgiveness and stepped-down assessment and an amusement-tax abatement?”

  “Thank you, Mayor—a very insightful question,” she said sweetly, like d
oubly sweet sweet tea. “This front-end investment by the community will match that of Van Camp Worldwide’s, making Rico Pueblo a public-private partnership.”

  “I thought you said you’d be giving us revenue,” one of the other council members said, followed by similar questions.

  There. He’d gotten her. They’d have to say no to her, which would be a yes for him when he gave his plan. Not that he really had any doubt. He’d been living in Angel Crossing and had settled in for the long haul.

  The council members moved from asking about revenue on to how they would deal with the snow...if they got any this year. At this elevation, they did get the white stuff, but they were also in the high desert, so they didn’t get a lot of precipitation, period.

  “Mr. President,” Clover said, her voice easily carrying over the continued discussions. “I hate to be pushy about this, but you see, we have deadlines to meet with the state.”

  “We won’t be bullied,” Danny said, sounding self-righteous and thinking that was just the right tone.

  “I’m not trying to put the pressure on, Mayor Leigh. It’s just that those are our deadlines. If we don’t make them, then we’ll have to pull the project. There’s another location just a few miles closer to Tucson that actually might work better. I told the board at VCW, though, that Angel Crossing had the heart to be the kind of community we want. Plus, there were hardworking men and women who would be proud to be our employees.”

  Danny saw the faces of his fellow council members. They were eating it up. Couldn’t they see she was playing them? “Really. Another town but we were the top pick. Isn’t that a convenient detail to bring out now? We don’t need your kind of attention. I already have a plan to put Angel Crossing on the map. A charity bull-riding event featuring all the top cowboys. I’ll even come out of retirement for this one.” There. See if she could top that.

  Her blue eyes narrowed and bright pink stained her cheeks. “You just came up with that. You don’t have a competition organized,” she said, hanging on to her twang but glaring at him.

  “Are you calling me a liar?” He kept his gaze locked on her. She wasn’t going to win this. It was his town and his future.

  “Hot damn,” Bobby said. “A bull-riding competition. You shouldn’t keep events like that under your hat, Mayor. Wish we could get into all of the details tonight. We’ll talk about it at our next meeting.”

  “What about me?” Clover asked, her smile a little less bright.

  “Next month for you, too.”

  “That puts us awfully close to our deadline. We’d certainly be willing to underwrite the cost of a special meeting, if need be.”

  Bobby looked at the wall clock pointedly. “Our next meeting. We should be able to give you an answer then. Anyone else?”

  Irvin piped up. “This rodeo is going to be bigger than that time the governor’s car broke down and I gave him a ride back to Tucson.”

  “Is AJ helping?” asked Claudette, the fourth council member and receptionist at the town’s clinic.

  Danny stalled. “He’s so busy with Santa Faye Ranch.” His friend and fellow retired bull rider would probably help, when Danny asked. Of course, that would mean actually organizing the event, which he’d never done before. Why had he let Clover get to him like that?

  “We expect a full report next month, Mayor,” Bobby said sternly with his Law & Order lawyer voice.

  Danny felt nothing but relief when Bobby moved along on the agenda. What was he doing? He’d always been focused, always been able to make a list of what he wanted to accomplish and then check off each item. Not now. Not since he’d really understood his retirement was permanent.

  “We’re adjourned.” Bobby slammed the gavel. Clover shot across the room, trying to talk to Bobby, who waved her off. He was nearly running from the building, intent on his dancing show. The other council members listened to Clover. Danny didn’t move, not sure if he wanted to speak with her or not.

  * * *

  CLOVER KNEW SHE was intelligently answering the council members who came up to speak with her. At the same time, she was aware of Danny standing to her left. Watching with his blue gaze and arms crossed over his chest. He looked just like a cowboy waiting to confront the black-hatted bad guy in a Western. In classes at Wharton, they hadn’t discussed how to face a former lover/boyfriend during business negotiations. Maybe she should call the dean of the school and suggest that class.

  “I understand your concerns,” she said to Irvin. “I will take that into consideration.”

  “See that you do,” the older man said just before he was led away by the woman who was obviously his wife.

  “Mayor,” the woman named Claudette said as she walked toward the door, “we’re going over to Jim’s. You coming?”

  Clover kept her gaze on her large professional rolling case packed with papers.

  “Not tonight,” he said. Clover moved, but not quite fast enough. Danny reached out and took her arm. “Need to ask you a few questions, Ms. Van Camp.” His voice would easily carry to the leaving council members and she wondered if anyone else had noticed that he’d suddenly developed a lisp.

  She stopped, not afraid or worried, but tell that to the quiver in the pit of her stomach. “Certainly, Mayor Leigh. I’m happy to answer any of your questions, though you might want to wait until my next presentation.”

  “Since you’re trying to run me out of business and change my town, I think I’ll ask you now.”

  “Certainly.” She used her polite smile. She’d dealt with caterers and venue owners for her mother. Danny would be much easier than them. She knew him, or had known him. Wouldn’t that give her an advantage?

  His gaze stayed stern and locked on her even as he uncrossed his arms. “I’m going to ask you again—why Angel Crossing?”

  He still thought this was about revenge for a teenage affair she’d forgotten long before she’d graduated from college. “VCW did a survey of properties and locations in a radius of major airports with appropriate transportation connections and with land at favorable pricing. Angel Crossing met the criteria.”

  “Really?”

  “Really. Danny, my brother headed the project initially.”

  “Then you stepped in.”

  “Yes, I did. Knox hadn’t—” She stopped herself, calculating how much she should say. “He was called to another project.” That wasn’t a lie. He was on another project but because he’d messed this one up.

  “How, with all of the tax breaks and waiving of fees, can this provide revenue for Angel Crossing?” Danny asked, obviously changing tack.

  “I explained it in the presentation. This may require short-term pain for all of us with the opportunity for long-term gain.”

  “Seems like we’re the only ones in for ‘short-term pain.’”

  “VCW will be investing in land and improvements before any money comes in.” He snorted. “What?” she asked, beginning to get annoyed.

  “Your daddy’s company doesn’t do anything for nothing.”

  “Of course not. We wouldn’t be in business if we didn’t make money.”

  “Exactly. There’s something you’re not telling us in these papers.” He waved his copy of her presentation.

  “I’m not lying,” she said. That accusation really hurt.

  “Everybody lies. Didn’t you lie to me?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You said it didn’t matter that I was just a bull rider from a family who followed the rodeo. It mattered all right. I was just a notch in your sorority belt.” His arms crossed his chest again and his eyes had gone an icy blue.

  None of this should matter. They’d been teens. It’d been years ago, and had they really made any promises to each other? “What about you? Telling all of your friends? Bragging that you’d..
.well, you know.”

  His shoulders drooped a little. “I do apologize for that. What can I say? I was young.”

  They had been young, so young. “You didn’t email or call.”

  He dropped his arms and shoved his hands into his pockets. Her heart clenched. He did that when he was embarrassed or uncomfortable. She was transported right back to the first time he’d asked her out.

  “My friends told me that you’d moved on, you know. You were going to Italy, then on to college.”

  Her mother had dragged her to Milan for a crash course in fashion because Clover was expected to work on her degree and spend time at Cowgirl’s Blues. “My mom and school kept me busy. You said you had no fear or something like that.”

  “That was about getting onto the back of a bull.” He pushed his hands harder into his pockets. “Going after an older woman was something else. When you didn’t even send me a postcard, I figured you’d met some sophisticated Italian guy. Probably a prince or duke or something.”

  She laughed loudly. “The men in Milan told me—the two or three who actually spoke English—that I was an unsophisticated girl. Beauty-pageant pretty was nothing to them. Talk about a wake-up call.” She should be embarrassed to reveal such a failure on her part, but it felt comfortable with Danny, in an odd way.

  “Those guys were blind,” he said, taking his hands out of his pockets.

  “It’s fine. They were right. I was unsophisticated, and I thought I was Vogue pretty. I’m not.”

  “You’re better. You’re real pretty.” His gaze locked on hers and she saw he was sincere.

  “Thank you,” she said with difficulty. It had taken her years to learn to take a compliment without pointing out all of her flaws. “You were really a nice boy then.”

  “Then?”

  “I don’t know you now.”

  “You could,” he said.

  “Stop. I don’t want Danny, champion bull rider who all of the women love. I’m good with Danforth Leigh,” she said and meant it.

  “What about you? Are you still Clover Anastasia Van Camp?”