A Knight In Cowboy Boots

by Quint, Suzie

  Zach hustled Maddie into getting ready, even acceding to her request to take the Lincoln.

  She let him drive, but as she ran a hand across the passenger side dashboard, she said, “I’m really going to miss this car.”

  “Then why sell it?”

  “I told you, I can’t afford the gas.”

  “Well, that there’s the benefit of me buying it. Any time you wanna borrow it, you can.”

  Like she was going to let that happen. If her ties to Peggy were too risky to leave the car with her, Zach was infinitely worse.

  Maddie noticed several used car lots on the way. She’d been so focused on selling the car to a stranger, she hadn’t even considered a car lot. She’d have to take less and no chance she’d get cash, but that was no longer a primary concern. The most important thing was to leave a cold trail when she got rid of the Lincoln.

  “What time does the action start?” Maddie asked when they had parked and walked around back where the livestock was held. The arena was covered, but the ends were open. Inside, Maddie could see tiers of hard bleacher seating.

  “About one o’clock, I think. We got a couple of hours yet.”

  Was it just Texas pride that made Zach think nothing was as good as a Texas rodeo? This four-day affair was a dog-and-pony show compared to Cheyenne Days.

  Cheyenne held one of top rodeos in the country, drawing top ranking cowboys as well as first-class entertainment. Not just country singers like Reba, but acts non-rodeo fans would be surprised to discover there, like Bon Jovi.

  Of course, Zach didn’t know she was from Wyoming and that almost everyone within a day’s drive came to Cheyenne Days for at least one or two days during the rodeo.

  They found the pens that held the bulls. A couple of cowboys called to Zach. He returned the greetings but didn’t stop to talk to anyone. They wandered until they found Applejack. Zach leaned his arms on the top rail, one boot braced on the bottom rail.

  “So what do you think?” Maddie asked.

  “In spite of what Sol says, you really got to see a bull buck before you can form any kind of worthwhile opinion. A’course, he’s ridden the bull, and I ain’t even seen it in action. What I can tell you is this here’s a powerful bull. The question of course is will he buck and how well.”

  “So what do you look for?”

  “Well, first they got to be built right. You want up tight underneath and kind of narrow in the flank.” Zach pointed out the features on the bull as he talked. “You don’t want any excess hide hanging down.”

  “And when they buck?”

  “Everybody has different traits they’re partial to. A bull that spins when he’s bucking, they’re tougher to ride. I’m partial to a bull that really kicks his legs up. They come down hard, but you see their hooves arch over fallen cowboys all the time. I sure don’t want a bull that throws its head like Bodacious did.”

  “You don’t?” Bodacious’ stud fees had made his owner a fortune, even though the bull had been retired early in his career because the riders thought he was too dangerous.

  “Oh, he’s a legend and money-maker, but I don’t want to feel guilty about putting out any bull that dangerous. I want a bull that can get the job done but that ain’t mean. We already got one of them at the ranch, and I don’t need another.”

  “Aren’t all the rank bulls mean?”

  “Little Yellow Jacket took Bull of the Year three years running, and his owners say he’s downright docile on his home ranch.”

  Maddie smiled to herself. Zach had the bull nearly on a pedestal. He didn’t even see the similarities between himself and the bull he coveted, but Maddie did. Zach was a man who you could rely on to take care of business, as he had when he’d faced down his sister for her, but who was, if not precisely docile, solid and steady the rest of the time.

  “Of course, this here bull’s a gamble. He’s young and not really proved himself yet. His past scores ain’t bad, but it’s too soon to tell how good he’ll really be. We gotta make a decision fast though. Sol says there’s a bull scout here from the PBR. That’s the Professional Bull Riders Association.” Zach unnecessarily translated for her. “If the bull’s owner starts thinking the bull can make it on the professional tour, his price’ll be out of our range before we can get our wallet out.”

  He stared at the bull like he had a personal grudge. “Are you mad about something?” Maddie asked, remembering that she hadn’t seen the temper Jake had told her about.

  Zach glanced at her, then took a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair. The tension seemed to go out of him, as though he’d made a conscious decision to let go of negative emotions. “No, I ain’t mad. Sol grates on my nerves when he gets stubborn, and he’s like a dog with a new bone about this bull. And I’m annoyed.”

  “About what?”

  “Coz Sol’s so hot after this bull that he’s got me out here when we could be back at the motel doing other things.”

  Maddie kept her eyes on the bull, feigning indifference. “You’re the one who insisted I get out of bed.”

  Zach chuckled. “Thank God, you did. If you’d’ve held out any longer, I’d’ve been back in bed with you, and it wouldn’t’ve mattered that Jake was watching. Hell, he could’ve been making home movies for all I’d’ve cared.”

  Maddie gasped and punched him in the arm.

  Zach just grinned at her. “Most of the time, I’m grateful for all of my brothers and sisters, but once in a while, I’d trade any one of ‘em for a blind cat.”

  “And yet you seem so close.” Maddie tinge her voice with irony.

  “Yeah, I’d regret losing any of them.” He cast a sideways glance at her. “I can’t imagine growing up an only child. It’d be so damned lonely.”

  “I suppose so,” Maddie said.

  Zach lifted an eyebrow. “I figured you’d know. I thought you was an only child.”

  Maddie kept her eyes glued to the bull. Had she actually said that? Her heart pounded like a trip hammer, the rush of blood loud in her ears as she tried to remember.

  She could feel Zach’s eyes on her. His silence gave her no clue to help her out of the sudden dangerous spin the conversation had taken. Then she remembered his question in the bar.

  “I said I didn’t have any brothers or sisters. But I used to have a sister.” Maddie heard her voice go flat. “She died.”

  “I’m sorry,” Zach said softly.

  “Me, too.”

  “Are your folks still alive?””

  “Mom died of cancer when I was sixteen. Dad died in a car accident a year and a half later.”

  “God, that’s rough. Was it just you and your sister or did you have any other family to turn to?”

  “No one close,” Maddie lied. No chance she was going to let herself stumble into mentioning Pru.

  “Did you make it to college?”

  She shifted her gaze to him. There was sympathy on his face, but Maddie sensed a relentlessness behind the questions.

  “No. I went to work bartending.”

  “I guess I can maybe see how come you chose Galveston to come to. ‘Specially being used to living out there in Oregon on the coast and all. But I got no idea why you pulled up your roots in the first place.”

  “Why are you suddenly grilling me about my life?”

  “Geez, you’re touchy. I’m not grilling you. Anyone’d think you had some dark past you was hiding the way you react to a few innocent questions.”

  Inwardly, Maddie cringed. Did he have any idea how close he was to the truth? “You haven’t needed to know before. Why now?”

  Zach shrugged, “Guess maybe I’m queasy about the questions Mamma’s gonna ask when she finds out I was here with a woman.”

  “You think Jake will tell her?”

  “No, but word’ll get back. Several of my brothers are here. So’s Daisy. Chances are good someone’s gonna see us together. Mamma’s not going to be favorably impressed if I got no answers to her questions.”
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br />   They walked back to the car the long way, around the back of the pens.

  Someone behind them hailed Zach. As he walked backward beside her, yelling back that he’d be around later, Maddie spied a young couple ahead of them. The boy was decked out in full cowboy regalia from his Stetson down to the blunted rowels of his spurs. The girl wore a midriff top and cutoff jeans so short they were nearly indecent. The boy had her backed up against the boards of a horse pen, and he was kissing her open mouthed, in a way Maddie thought was a bit much for a public display. The girl wasn’t objecting either to that or to the hands that caressed the crescent moons of her bottom that the jeans were so clearly cut to reveal. Maddie blushed as the boy closed what little distance was left between them and began grinding his groin against the girl. His fingers slid boldly inside the cutoffs to caress more of the girl’s shapely bottom.

  Not missing a step, Zach turned beside her to face forward again. Maddie was a couple of paces beyond him before she realized he’d stopped dead.

  She had heard of people who could see auras, but she’d always thought it was a flaky new-age affectation. She was wrong. A dense, black halo seemed to rime Zach’s body as he stared past her. The look on his face made her think his temper was a good deal more volatile than Jake had led her to believe.

  He brushed past her even as she reached out to stop him from whatever mayhem he was about to inflict on the young couple.

  In a half dozen steps, he was behind the young cowboy, grabbing his shirt collar, dragging him back from the startled girl. His fist caught the boy square in the face. Blood exploded from his nose even as the boy fell.

  Zach stood over him, his feet wide apart, braced for a fight. “Get up!”

  The girl grabbed his arm. Zach tried to shake her off, but she clung like a burr. “Zach, no!”

  He spun on her, his hands fisted at his sides. “I thought we talked about how you were dressing!”

  The girl flinched at his rage but didn’t let go.

  “And you!” Zach turned back to the boy, dragging the girl with him. “I thought I made myself clear to you, too.”

  The boy pulled his feet under him, clearly intending to stand and face his attacker. He had Texas-sized balls, Maddie decided, even if his brain was clearly suffering from testosterone poisoning.

  Zach cocked his fist, clearly ready to put the boy back on the ground.

  “Zach, stop!” The girl was crying now as she clung to her brother’s arm.

  Zach rounded on her. “You! You answer me plain, Deborah. How far has this gone? Has he compromised you?”

  The girl gasped, a stunned look on her face.

  “Coz if he has—”

  Maddie couldn’t stand back any longer. “Zach, stop it!”

  “No!” Daisy cried, finding her own temper. “No, he hasn’t ‘compromised’ me. Not that it’s any of your business.”

  “You think it’s not my business?” Zach shook his head, his expression incredulous, but his eyes shot sparks.

  Maddie stepped in, put an arm around the girl and pulled her away, hoping to forestall a response that would further enflame her brother. Daisy let herself fall back a couple of steps, but she refused to retreat further.

  Zach pointed a finger at his sister that promised he wasn’t through with her before he turned back around.

  The boy was back on his feet, though he didn’t look very steady.

  Zach grabbed him by his shirt and thrust him against the boards of the holding pen. “It’s Rance, ain’t it?”

  The boy’s head jerked up and down. Daisy took an involuntary step forward.

  “What did I tell you I was gonna do to any boy who touched my little sister? Do you remember?”

  Blood dripped from Rance’s nose onto his western shirt.

  “I said I’d make jerky out of him. You’re almost there, boy. As it is, I’m tempted to cut off the parts of you I find offensive. Like the hand you had up her pants. And the part you was rubbing up against her. You ever come near her again, and I won’t bother resisting the temptation.”

  The boy was obviously no match for Daisy’s brother, particularly when Zach was in a temper, but the muscles in the boy’s jaw bunched as though he wanted to resist. Zach turned his back on the boy, his contempt plain in his disregard. Maddie caught her breath, unsure if the boy would strike, but he only stared daggers at Zach’s back.

  Zach grabbed Daisy’s wrist. “C’mon.”

  Daisy struck at him. “You big bully! I ain’t going nowhere with you!”

  “This ain’t open for discussion, Daisy Mae.”

  Daisy crossed her arms, set her jaw, and glared at him.

  Zach shook his head but didn’t argue with her. Instead, he threw her over his shoulder and carried her off, her fists beating ineffectively against his back. Maddie followed behind, thunderstruck by this unexpected side of Zach, suddenly wondering if picking a fight to leave him wasn’t going to be a bad mistake.

  Chapter Eighteen

  They drove back to the motel in heavy silence. The stubborn set of Daisy’s jaw as she sulked, refusing to look at her brother, only magnified the resemblance between them. Zach’s lips tightened whenever he glanced at Daisy. When he looked back at the road his mouth moved as though he was already silently arguing with her. Maddie might have found it amusing if she wasn’t trying to figure out if this was going to complicate her exit strategy.

  Zach dragged Daisy into their motel room and immediately started yelling. Maddie had to credit his sister with gumption. The girl refused to stay in the chair Zach had thrown her at. She went toe-to-toe with her brother, unintimidated by his ranting.

  Maddie and Jake showed more caution. They stood side-by-side against the wall, carefully out of the line of fire. Maddie held Jesse in her arms, prepared to seek refuge in Jake’s room if the open animosity made him start crying. So far, his only visible reactions were the thumb in his mouth and a wide-eyed fascination with the combatants.

  “My sex life ain’t nobody’s business but mine!” Daisy declared.

  Zach looked apoplectic. “Your sex life? You’re sixteen years old! You don’t get to have a sex life!”

  “Why not?” Daisy shot a belligerent glance at Maddie. “You obviously do.”

  “I’m not a sixteen year old girl!”

  “That’s a double standard. You ain’t nothing but a hypocrite.”

  “Did you learn nothing from Ezra’s troubles?” Zach yelled. “You let that boy have his way with you, Mamma’ll have y’all married off before he can zip his pants back up!”

  “You think that’s a threat?” Jake said cautiously. “You think she ain’t wrote that boy’s name on all her notebooks with missus in front, just to see how it looks?”

  Jake’s contribution earned him a glare before Zach turned back to his sister.

  “Is that it, Deborah? You wanna trap this boy into marrying you? You gonna spend the rest of your life wondering if he’d’ve married you if he hadn’t had to? Or do you wanna let him knock you up a couple of times before he decides he missed out on his oat-sowing and leaves you with a bunch of babies to raise on your own? How many boys you think’ll take you on then, with a bunch of screaming, snot-nosed kids hanging on your skirt?”

  Maddie tried not to cringe outwardly. Except for the number of children, was that how he saw her? She squared her shoulders. It didn’t matter; she was as good as gone from his life, but his tirade added to her desire to get out of that room.

  Maddie shifted Jesse in her arms and caught the odor of soiled diaper. Perfect. She nudged Jake with her elbow, meaningfully tapping Jesse’s bottom when she had Jake’s attention.

  He caught her meaning immediately. “Come on. You can use my room.” She shot Zach an apologetic look and Jake grabbed Jesse’s bag and hustled them out.

  “Thank God, I only got four sisters,” Jake said as he let her into his room. “I don’t know if I can get through this more than once.”

  “You should be there though.
They need a referee so they don’t kill each other.”

  “Oh, no. Please don’t make me go back.”

  Maddie gave him a sympathetic look as she laid Jesse on Jake’s bed and grabbed a diaper from the bag.

  He sighed. “You’re probably right. I sure wish you weren’t though.”

  “I almost feel guilty sending you back …”

  “You ain’t going back, are you?”

  Maddie shook her head. “I don’t want Jesse upset by all the yelling.”

  “Yeah, coz he really looks traumatized,” Jake said, dryly. “Gonna need a therapist for that boy.”

  Maddie had the grace to blush. She focused on changing Jesse. “Okay, so I don’t want to step into a family squabble. It’s not my place. But I don’t want them killing each other either, so you need to go back.”

  Jake shook his head and sighed. “It’s not like either one of them listens to me,” he muttered as he opened the door of his room and dutifully went back next door.

  The yelling next door was still going strong, so after she finished changing Jesse, Maddie dug the keys out of her bag, grateful Zach had asked her to drive back, so he could keep his sister from jumping out at a stop light on the way.

  Equally grateful that the car ran so quietly, she started it up and drove out of the parking lot, only stopping to strap Jesse into his seat when she was half a mile down the road.

  She got a six thousand dollar offer for the Lincoln at one of the car lots in town. She’d hoped for more, but she couldn’t afford to hold out for a better offer. It wouldn’t matter to her anyway; the check would have to be made out to Prudence since the title was still in her name. Maddie just wished she could send her aunt something closer to what the car was really worth.

  Promising to consider it, Maddie drove down the road where she found a secondhand Ford. She wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice. It was cheap enough she could afford to just walk away from it once it got her wherever she was going next. She paid with cash she’d taken from the duffel bag and stowed in Jesse’s diaper bag.

  Armed with a story about the car being a surprise for a nephew’s birthday, she got them to deliver it to the rodeo grounds. She followed, taking possession of the keys and moving the contents of the Lincoln’s trunk to the Ford’s. The car would be waiting for her when she was ready to leave town.