“Does that happen often?”
“Almost never. To make it up to you, I could buy you a late dinner.”
“No, thank you, I’m flying out as soon as this is over.”
He shrugged as if it really didn’t matter one way or the other. “Suit yourself.”
A tip of his bent-up cowboy hat and he was gone. And her legs felt like a cross between jelly and spaghetti. Of course it was adrenaline that caused the reaction. It definitely had nothing to do with an overly confident cowboy with a smile that melted a girl’s insides. Not hers, of course. She was immune, thanks to Richard.
After he walked away she found a seat at the edge of the arena. The rows around her were filled with kids from the group home that would receive a large portion of the proceeds from the event. The kids wore T-shirts and jeans. A few wore shiny, new boots. The little girl sitting next to Elizabeth smiled a gap-toothed smile.
“Is this your first bull ride event?” Elizabeth smiled at the little girl, faded jeans and a T-shirt with a picture of the cowboy who had saved her from the bull. A straw hat was pushed down on the child’s wheat-colored hair.
The child nodded and held on to a poster of one of the bull riders. Her attention focused on the arena. Elizabeth took the hint and let her gaze drop to the arena, the chutes and the cowboys.
Her gaze landed on her rescuer. She smiled, remembering his description of himself. Her knight in cleats. He stood to one side, facing the chute that was about to open. As if he felt her watching, he turned and dipped a courtly bow. Her heart tugged a little. The child sitting next to her giggled. Elizabeth smiled at her, at the dimples and sunshine in a face scrubbed clean.
The gate to the chute opened and the bullfighter hurried forward. A rider ripped from the chutes on the back of a black bull that twisted, bucked and went airborne trying to put the cowboy on the ground. Travis Cooper jumped in front of the bull as the buzzer sounded eight seconds and the rider leaped.
Travis knew that being distracted was a bad, bad thing for a bullfighter. He needed to be focused on the bull, on the guy riding the bull, and not the pretty redhead watching him from the side of the arena.
He shot her one more look and then took a wild leap forward because JP Garret wasn’t so lucky tonight. His hand was hung up in the bull rope and he was bouncing against the side of that old angus bull like a ragdoll hanging from a car window.
“Stay loose, JP.” Travis jumped as the bull ran past, leaping for the bull and the rope that held JP to the side of the animal. The rosin on the rope kept it tight around the cowboy’s hand. JP hopped alongside the bull, trying to stay on his feet and trying to keep up with the raging animal.
Adrenaline rushed through Travis’s veins, sending his heart on a crazy race as he jumped at the bull rope a second time, trying to pull it loose. JP must have twisted a few times on his way off to keep that rope this tight on his gloved hand.
One of the other bullfighters grabbed at the bull to slow down his wild, bucking run. Travis pulled and the rope came loose. John McKnight, the third man on their team, grabbed JP and flung him away from the bull as the rope came loose. Travis jumped back.
The crazy bull wasn’t done playing. The animal turned, brought his head low and then flung up, flinging slobber while catching Travis under the jaw and sending him flying.
Travis rolled and his brain jarred as he hit the ground. The crowd was a buzz in the background. It took a minute for the world to settle. A medic reached him as he got to his feet.
“Travis, you okay?”
The guy’s face blurred. Travis shook his head to clear his addled brain. “Yeah, I’m good.”
“Can you tell me where you are?”
Travis blinked and adjusted his glasses. He found the person he sought. She sat on the second row and she clearly wasn’t enjoying herself.
“Travis?”
“I’m in Tulsa, and if it was a good night, I’d be sitting next to her.” He nodded in the direction of Elizabeth Harden.
“Yeah, well, you’re talking to me instead.” The medic smiled and slapped Travis on the back.
Travis cringed at the skull-jarring blow. “I’m good.”
“Yeah, but have the doc check you out later.”
“Will do.” Travis pushed his hat down on his head and saluted the other two bullfighters. “Just a hard day at the office, guys.”
Chuck Collins laughed. “Ain’t that the truth. And someone just said that the rain is starting to freeze. Looks like a good night to be driving home.”
Travis shook his head and regretted the action that sent a sharp pain down his head and into his neck. He pushed his hat on a little tighter. Freezing rain and a trailer load of bulls. Not exactly what he’d call a good night.
As the next rider slid onto the bull in the chute, Travis glanced to the left and watched as Elizabeth Harden got up and walked out of the stands. Her hand brushed at her cheeks.
He’d heard she’d gotten jilted. Frank Harden shared the news. What kind of man didn’t walk her down the aisle and make her his wife? Yeah, he knew what that guy needed. But he didn’t have time to let his imagination run wild, thinking about what should happen to the guy that walked out on her. The gate opened and the bull exploded from the confines of the chute. The first jump nearly unseated the rider.
Travis stayed close to the spinning, one-ton animal. His head ached and his eyes blurred. Over the crowd and the thunder of hooves on packed dirt, he could hear the ping of ice on the roof of the stadium.
The rider made it to the buzzer. Travis tossed his hat at the head of the bull to distract the animal and give the guy a good chance at a clean getaway.
As the bull ran out of the arena, Travis glanced up. He saw his mom on the catwalk talking to their new partner. Actually, she was the daughter of their new partner. Frank Harden had wanted to invest in one of the fastest-growing sports. Tim Cooper, Travis’s dad, eagerly accepted a partner with the money to build up their business.
That didn’t concern Travis as much as the scene unfolding in front of him. Why in the world did Travis’s mom have that look on her face, the one that clearly spelled big trouble for him? As if on cue, she looked his way and smiled. Her arm was around Elizabeth’s waist. The two were talking. Not good at all.
And then the arena’s lights went out and none of it mattered. Nothing like a freak ice storm in mid-December to really stir things up. He didn’t even have a flashlight. Surely they had generators in a venue this size. He waited. Nothing happened. Great. He loved the dark. He just hoped they’d gotten that last bull in the pen and it wasn’t lurking in the arena about to charge him from behind. Or from the front. Or even the side.
Elizabeth stood on the metal catwalk, bulls beneath her, cowboys all around her and total darkness holding everything at a standstill. She didn’t want to move because she didn’t know if she’d fall off the bridge into a pen full of bulls.
“Well, this never happens.” Angie Cooper stood next to her.
“I bet it doesn’t.” Elizabeth tried to force lightness to her tone. “What should we do?”
“Hang tight. They’ll get the power back on in a minute.”
“I wonder how bad the roads are.”
Angie leaned close. “Probably bad enough that planes won’t be flying out. Don’t worry, we won’t leave you stranded here alone.”
“I’ll be fine. If the flight doesn’t take off tonight, I can fly out tomorrow.”
“Nevertheless, I wouldn’t dream of leaving until we know what you’ll be doing. No one wants to be alone at this time of year.”
“I’m used to it.” She hadn’t meant to sound pitiful, just that she was used to taking care of herself. She traveled quite often for Harden Industries. “Really, I have a lot to take care of back home. I’ll get the first available flight.”
In the dark she couldn’t see Angie Cooper’s face, or any looks of disbelief. What did Elizabeth have to rush home to? An empty apartment? No plans for the holiday
s? She had no brothers or sisters to turn to. She didn’t have cousins, aunts or uncles in the area.
Christmas had never been a big family holiday for the Hardens. They’d always gotten away for the holidays. Christmas meant somewhere warm, a beachfront condo or a house in Jamaica, not snowmen and caroling. Her parents put up a tree as a part of holiday party decor, not to celebrate the season.
“We can’t let Frank Harden’s daughter sit in a hotel room by herself, not with Christmas just around the corner.”
“But I’m fine. Really. I can do some shopping. Or…”
In the darkened building an arm went around her shoulders and Angie leaned close. “It won’t hurt forever.”
Elizabeth closed her eyes and said a silent thank-you for the dark that kept anyone from seeing the tears that slid down her cheeks. Her throat tightened and she nodded. Angie Cooper hugged her closer.
And then the lights flashed on.
Travis Cooper stood in the arena, twenty feet away. Elizabeth locked gazes with the cowboy in bright blue-and-yellow shorts, a bent cowboy hat shoved down on light brown, almost blond hair. He touched the brim of his hat and winked.
A loud voice on the PA system announced that the event was being cancelled. The crowd broke into a buzz of conversation. People started moving from their seats. Cowboys pulled off gloves, talked to each other and disbanded.
Angie kept a hand on Elizabeth’s arm. “Let’s see what the men are doing. We’ll find out more about the weather situation.”
As they maneuvered through the exiting crowds, a hand touched Elizabeth’s back and someone moved close. She glanced up to the man on her left side.
“This way. Dad and the guys are loading bulls.” Travis Cooper slipped around Elizabeth and walked close to his mother, blocking her from the crowds of people pushing around them.
“How are the roads?” Angie Cooper kept Elizabeth close.
“Not too bad if we take it slow.” Travis kept them moving forward. “But the airport is already starting to cancel flights. You might need to change your travel plans.”
“I can get a room near the airport so I’m close by when they reopen.”
“How are you going to get there?” he asked.
“A taxi?”
Travis Cooper shook his head. “Not tonight, not out here.”
“Travis can take you.” Angie Cooper gave her son a look. “We aren’t going to leave her stranded. She can come home with us, or you can take her to the hotel.”
“Of course, I’ll drive you wherever you need to go. I have to stay in town anyway.” Travis eased them through the crowd and Elizabeth thought of a dozen ways to regain the control that was quickly slipping from her grasp.
She had an idea that Travis Cooper felt the same way.
Chapter Two
Travis guided his mom and Elizabeth Harden through the crowds. People lined the walls, waiting for their rides. One of the models representing a local boat dealer smiled and winked as he walked past. She’d slipped him her number earlier. He’d already lost it.
His mom shook her head and heat climbed into his cheeks at the warning. Yeah, he knew what that look meant. He liked women. Beautiful women, funny women, serious women. He hadn’t met one who he didn’t find interesting. He hadn’t met one who had ever given him the slightest itch to settle down.
He wasn’t planning on calling the model. She was pretty, but he wasn’t interested.
“Did you bring luggage?” he asked Elizabeth as they hurried down a quiet hallway to an exit the stock contractors used.
“No, I hadn’t planned on staying.”
His mom patted her back. “Come home with us. We’ll let this storm pass and then reschedule your flight.”
Travis drew in a deep breath, experiencing a catch in his ribs that he hadn’t noticed while the adrenaline had been pumping. He made pretty serious eye contact with his mom. Yeah, he knew what she was all about. She wanted to fix Elizabeth Harden. He doubted the woman in question really wanted to be fixed right now.
“You don’t have to drive me. I’m sure I can get a taxi.” She glanced back, smiling as she gave him an out.
Travis liked that she was trying to make her escape in a sweet way, so as not to hurt his mom. Angie Cooper meant well. She was a fixer, an encourager and a real serious matchmaker.
“It isn’t any trouble.” Travis pushed the door open. His dad’s truck and the trailer were nearby, idling in the cold night, exhaust plumes thick in the chilly air. Ice pinged against the vehicles, against the ground, against the metal roof.
“I can’t believe this weather.” Elizabeth shrugged into a coat that wasn’t meant for a serious slice of arctic air.
“So much for the ‘slight chance’ forecast,” Travis grumbled as he fished keys from his pocket. “I have meetings here tomorrow, with the Samaritans’ Group Home. Hopefully we won’t have to cancel.”
The bull riding event had been for the group home. The money they raised would help buy Christmas gifts, clothes and other needed items for a home that housed about twenty kids.
His mom slid on the ice. He grabbed her arm and held her tight. He reached for Elizabeth as she started to slide, pulling her close. “Hold on, ladies.”
They reached the truck and his dad opened the door for his mom, helping her up. “I warmed your truck up with my key.”
Travis nodded. He still had hold of Elizabeth Harden and he was having a difficult time focusing. Her coat was soft suede, all fashion and no sense. “Right. Thanks, Dad.”
“No problem. You’re staying in town?” Tim Cooper glanced from Elizabeth to Travis.
“I am. I have a few things to take care of. You sure you want to tackle these roads tonight?” Travis answered, and he just wanted out of the cold.
Tim nodded. “Yeah, I don’t think it’s as bad toward home. I called Jackson and he said it hasn’t started to freeze on the roads, just the fences and trees.”
“Jackson answered his phone?”
Tim nodded and his attention refocused on Elizabeth. “You’re more than welcome to come on out to the ranch.”
“No, I should stay in town and wait for the airport to reopen.”
“Travis will take you to a good hotel and make sure you’re settled.” Tim, always old-school, tipped his hat before turning his attention back to Travis. “Take care of yourself and don’t get in a hurry.”
“Will do, Dad.” Travis stepped away from his dad, a hand on the woman still at his side. His cleats slid a little but he managed to get traction.
“I can’t believe this is happening.” Elizabeth leaned close. He considered taking off his coat and tossing it over her shoulders. But he thought she was the type of woman who wouldn’t appreciate a whole lot of chivalry. Instead he concentrated on making it to the truck without getting all tangled up and falling on the pavement.
When they reached his truck, he jerked the door open. It had already started to freeze. Ice covered the handle and coated the paint. “Easy getting in.”
“No problem.” She climbed in. He stood in the open door, waiting. “Will we be able to get to the hotel?”
“Oh, sure we will. Okay, maybe not the one closest to the airport, but we’ll get somewhere. They might have rooms at the place where I’m staying.”
“Thank you. I wasn’t prepared for this.”
“Yeah, you never know what’s going to happen.” He pulled the seat belt and handed it to her. “Life’s funny that way.”
She froze, staring at him. The arctic air swirled and his mind lost track of what he’d been thinking or why he’d said what he’d said. She’d been jilted a week before her wedding. He had one word for a guy that would do that. Or maybe a few choice words. Loser would do.
What kind of man was this guy and why in the world would she have wanted to marry him? Travis shook his head. “Buckle up.”
He closed the truck door and eased himself around to the driver’s side. Man, the ice was coming down hard. He didn’t like th
is. He didn’t like it one bit.
“Are we going to make it?” Elizabeth peered out the windshield at the glistening, ice-covered roads. The windshield wipers scraped and squeaked as they pushed against the frozen precipitation. Christmas lights hanging on electric poles glistened and wavered through the icy windows of the truck.
“Of course we will.” But he didn’t turn to give her one of his cute little smiles. Instead he leaned closer to the steering wheel and stared straight ahead at the frozen pavement.
The radio didn’t play music; instead it was a running account of roads being closed, flights being canceled and streets blocked by accidents.
Elizabeth shivered in the cool interior of the truck. The heater was just starting to blow warm.
“I shouldn’t have been here.” She sighed as the words slipped out. The last thing she wanted was to get emotional.
“There are worse places to be.” Travis didn’t turn to look at her but kept his eyes on the road. “I mean, if I had to choose somewhere to be stuck, I’d pick Oklahoma. Especially at Christmas. If you can’t fly out, you can always spend some time at Cooper Creek. My parents love company at Christmas.”
“I’m glad you feel that way. But they’re your family. I’m a stranger.”
“I was a stranger when they adopted me. I was five. I didn’t speak English. It was about this time of year.”
She gave him a careful look, saw him as that little boy coming to a strange land, to have a family made up of strangers. His story was easier to focus on than her own.
“Was it frightening, to be so young, to be taken from everything familiar?”
The truck eased to a stop at a red light, sliding just a little to the right. Travis glanced her way, a quick look before returning his attention back to the road. “Yeah, it was scary. I’d lived in the orphanage in Russia for several years. I knew the workers and children. It wasn’t perfect, but it was my home.”
“But you wanted to be adopted, didn’t you?”
Christmas Gifts: Small Town ChristmasHer Christmas Cowboy Page 11