Catch Me, Cowboy

by Watt, Jeannie

  “I’ll see if the boss will let me off.”

  “I’m pretty certain she will. I’ll tell Gramps to cut it short.”

  “So… you and Wyatt Marshall have an entry in the Copper Mountain rodeo?”

  “Thanks to Wyatt, we do.” She gave a small shrug. “It’s time for me to face my demons. I tell myself that I’m cool with screwing up”—her mouth twisted sideways—“and sometimes I believe it.”

  “I know that feeling.”

  “I’m sure you do.”

  “Is that a jab?”

  “Maybe,” she said with a half-smile.

  It felt good to be semi-bantering, but it also felt a touch dangerous.

  She gave him a serious look then. “I never in a thousand years thought you’d be back here on this ranch. Never thought I’d be the person who invited you here, but I think this might work out okay.”

  “So far, so good.”

  She stopped walking and turned to face him. “I’m curious… not that it changes anything now… but if you had it to do over again… would you make the same decision?”

  So much for starting fresh. “I could lie and tell you ‘no’.”

  “So that’s a ‘yes’.”

  Yeah, it was and he was sorry it hurt her. “I had to get it out of my system.”

  “At my expense.”

  “I had my own demons to slay.”

  “At my expense.” She repeated.

  “I wouldn’t have been any good to you had I stayed.”

  “I think you could have been… you just didn’t want to badly enough.”

  “I’m not going to crawl to you on my belly, Shelby.” Which was a lie, because he was close to doing that now.

  Letting things go, starting fresh, had been his idea, but he could see now that it wasn’t realistic. They had too many things to talk about, too many deep hurts to address. If they didn’t, then Shelby wouldn’t purposely be picking a fight with him right now.

  “I don’t want you to crawl.” She sounded surprised at the idea, which was total bullshit.

  “Are you sure?”

  She held his eyes for the longest time, her frown deepening before she said, “No. Maybe not.”

  “Thank you for the honesty.” The words sounded hollow.

  Shelby dropped her gaze, studied the ground near her boots for a moment. Her voice had a husky edge when she finally said, “I haven’t been honest.”

  “How so?”

  She met his eyes in a serious way. “I can’t let things go, because they hurt like hell and I haven’t worked through them. I can’t say that I’m not still attracted to you, because I am.”

  “That’s a bad thing?” He wanted so badly to reach out to her, pull her close.

  Kiss her the way he’d wanted to kiss her when he walked back onto this ranch over a week ago.

  “I don’t trust you. I don’t know that I ever will.”

  “What do we do about that?”

  She gave a scoffing laugh. “What can we do? We figure out a way to coexist.”

  “Do you think we can do that?”

  “We have no choice if you’re going to stay in the area.”

  *

  Les was quiet as he and Ty loaded the tools before going to work the next morning, which suited Ty, because he didn’t feel like talking. He had no idea what was eating at Les, but Ty knew what was eating at him. Shelby pretty much said she still cared for him, but couldn’t, or wouldn’t allow herself, to trust him.

  They couldn’t have a relationship without trust.

  He and Les worked in silence until it was time for lunch and then they sat on their respective four-wheelers, eating sandwiches, until Les finally let loose with an actual question.

  “What do you think of that big gelding?” he asked as he wadded up his lunch bag and shoved it into the tool box.

  “Probably exactly what you’re thinking.” Ty got off the four-wheeler and pulled a t-post off the trailer.

  Les gave a snort of agreement and picked up his hammer. “Shelby’s good. Has a way with horses.”

  “I agree.”

  Ty put the post in place and Les hammered. He and Ty had come to an agreement—Les would hammer posts until he started to feel it, then he would stop for the day. “She had a horse once that was all skittish like that. Worked him for a couple of days, then called the owner and sent it home.”

  Ty was glad to hear that. “So you’re saying she doesn’t have short-woman’s syndrome.”

  Les sent him a surprised look, then laughed. “Yeah. I guess that’s exactly what I mean.” He sat on the edge of the trailer and pulled a bandana out of his pocket to wipe his face. “So she’ll be honest about her abilities.”

  “But you’re still worried.”

  “I am.”

  Ty nodded and refrained from saying, “Me, too,” knowing in Les’s eyes he’d lost that right.

  Les sighed and stared off across the meadow. “I don’t normally worry about her. Not more than the usual amount anyway.”

  “You know how pissed she would be if she knew we were discussing her like this?”

  “What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her.” Les went back to the trailer and picked up another post. “When this fence is done, you’re pulling out, right?” The words were more of an order than a casual comment.

  “I am.” Which was true. If all went well, he’d be back on the road after the Copper Mountain Rodeo.

  “Shelby might ask you to stay on to help me out. Don’t.”

  Ty choked back a laugh. “No worries there.” He hit the t-post so hard he sank it too deep.

  Shit. He reached out and wiggled the post. Pretty solid, too.

  “You know… I didn’t come back to hurt Shelby.”

  Les shot him a look, but said nothing.

  “Do you think I would have made a good husband? Before I left?”

  “You guys didn’t have to get married.”

  “You’re saying I could have just hung around.”

  “Until you two knew for sure,” Les agreed.

  “Maybe I did know for sure… then.”

  “What the hell does that mean?” Les spoke in a slow staccato rhythm, emphasizing each word.

  “I couldn’t miss that window of opportunity.” Not with his father edging ever closer to depression as the farm fell to pieces around him.

  But it wasn’t only his father living through him that pushed him to leave… he’d needed to get the rodeo out of his system. He’d seen firsthand what happened to people who didn’t. He didn’t think a day went by that his dad didn’t regret giving up his career.

  Les’s mouth quirked in a yeah sure kind of way and then he turned to drag another metal post off the trailer. Ty followed him and set the hammer down on the fender.

  “I know Shelby thinks that means I put the rodeo ahead of her and, yeah, I did. But I wasn’t ready for anything else. Had I stayed”—he gestured as his lips tightened—“it would have been a train wreck.” He picked up the hammer again and then reached out to take the post from the old man. “And I think you know that.”

  Les didn’t respond. The power of silence.

  “Here’s the deal, Les. I didn’t have the maturity to commit back then. I do now. And you may have married your bride at the age of nineteen and been blissfully happy forever and a day, but I had to grow up a little, and I recognized that.”

  He turned back to the fence and started pacing off the distance to the next post. He was done talking. Les didn’t say one blessed word in response. Instead he started the quad and followed Ty, and once they were at the new locale, he silently went to work. But he looked thoughtful, so maybe Ty had gotten his point across to at least one of the O’Connors. If not, then he would leave the ranch in a couple of weeks with both of them thinking he was a total asshole.

  Chapter Seven

  “I wish I’d thought of redoing this depot,” Cassie said as she and Shelby waited for their order at FlintWorks. She said something along
those lines every time they met in the old train station, and Shelby saw her point. Not only was FlintWorks successful, it was beautiful.

  “Somehow I don’t think you have the resources of Jason Flint.”

  Cassie pointed a finger at her. “And that is the only thing that stopped me.”

  Shelby laughed and leaned back as the server set down the beers between them. She was doing a decent job of pretending everything in her life was normal. Even Wyatt had refrained from giving her grief at their last roping practice—which he would have done had he thought she had an issue. He asked about Ty. Seemed okay with her offhand reply, which she’d practiced on the drive over.

  “Here’s to a small amount of time off,” Cassie said.

  Between Shelby’s roping and her full roster of horse contracts, she didn’t have much free time, and Cassie’s carpentry business was taking off.

  “It’ll be a busy week. Jess and I are making some last minute specialty pieces for a couple of the store front rodeo displays and”—she sucked a breath in from between her teeth—“Dan asked me out.”

  Shelby lifted her glass in a salute. “I’m glad.”

  “I was so-o-o hoping you’d say that.” Cassie leaned back in her chair, her shoulders drooping in relief as she smiled at Shelby.

  “I really like him, just not… that way.” She decided to leave out the part where she scared him a little. “He’s a great guy.”

  “But he’s not Ty?”

  Shelby set her beer down. “Why would you say that?”

  Cassie leaned her forearms on the table. “Because I’m worried about you. Why on earth do you have him back on the ranch? Yes, I know he can handle your grandfather better than most… but was it the only solution?”

  “No. I could have let Gramps hurt himself.”

  Cassie frowned at her, unimpressed.

  Shelby thought about diving into an explanation of her “total immersion” strategy, but instead she reached for her beer again. “It’s only for a matter of weeks. Once the fence is done, he’s gone.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “That’s what he said, and I can assure you he’s never told me anything just because I wanted to hear it.”

  Cassie considered for a few seconds, and then gave a grudging nod. “I’ll give him that.”

  “Truth hurts,” Shelby murmured. Really stung, in fact.

  “Then I hope you’re equally truthful with him.”

  “I am.” Now. And she felt a damned sight better now that she’d come clean.

  “And with yourself…”

  “You’re brutal,” Shelby muttered, “but yes. I’m truthful in all regards.”

  They’d barely finished their beer when Cassie got a text and then dropped her phone in her purse. “I hate to break things up early, but my mom is having a plumbing emergency.” She rolled her eyes. “Sometimes it doesn’t pay to be handy.”

  “But mostly it does.”

  “Right.” Cassie started to open her purse again, but Shelby stopped her.

  “Mine. Yours next time.”

  “Thanks.”

  They left the depot together, parting ways at the door. Shelby needed to get home anyway. She’d raced into town after her session with Evarado because she’d cancelled on Cassie the last time they were scheduled to meet for their weekly drink and didn’t want to cancel again.

  As she turned into the driveway she could see someone leading a horse from the direction of the barn toward the corrals. Strange, to say the least.

  She quickly parked the truck and jumped out, crossing to where Ty was putting Evarado back into his pen.

  “How did he get out?”

  Ty turned toward her, his features shadowed by the brim of the ball cap he was wearing. “I don’t know if he did the horse-Houdini thing, or if Les forgot to close the gate latch after he cleaned out the water trough.”

  “Why did he clean out the water trough?”

  “Humongous dust devil came through, tossed debris everywhere. We scooped out all the troughs on this side of the barn.”

  Evarado started pacing the fence, then came to a stop in the far corner. “Glad you caught him before he hurt himself. You know how it goes—”

  “The horse that gets hurt is the expensive one or the borrowed one.”

  “Exactly.” Shelby turned toward the fence and studied the horse standing out of the light, his dark coat blending into the night.

  He snorted, a sharp whistling sound meant to warn off predators, and stamped his foot.

  “Isn’t he beautiful?” Ty said in a fair imitation of Blake.

  “Like you said, he’s scared. I wonder what happened to him, poor guy.”

  “Does it matter?”

  She shook her head. “I’ll evaluate for another day or two and if I make progress and he doesn’t seem dangerous, I’ll proceed as far as I can with him.”

  They stood in silence, close, but not quite touching. Even so, she felt him. Felt his warmth, felt his strength. Wanted to lean closer, but didn’t dare because she didn’t know if she could stop herself from disaster if she got too close.

  He touched her shoulder and her gaze snapped toward him as her heart leaped. “I’m not the enemy, Shelb.”

  Her body stiffened as she fought the need to touch him as he was touching her, a response so deeply ingrained in her that she was surprised she could fight it.

  It was only when she forced herself to remember he’d left her and then come back expecting all to be well that she was able to say, “You’re not the answer, either. You’re… a distraction.”

  She felt his reaction, felt his hand contract before he let it fall away, breaking the contact she told herself she didn’t want. More honestly, it wasn’t so much a matter of didn’t want as couldn’t afford to want. Because she wanted. That was the problem.

  “What the hell does that mean? A distraction?”

  Shelby lifted her chin and explained. “You are a walking talking reminder of a time in my life when everything had seemed so perfect… before it all went to hell.”

  “Then why am I here, Shelby? On this ranch? Because even though I can handle your grandfather, you could have hired someone else.”

  He wasn’t touching her, but he was close enough Shelby wanted to put more space between them. Maybe a few extra feet would calm the jangling of her nerves and thoughts. But stepping away smacked of retreat, and caring too much, and reacting too much, so she stayed planted exactly where she was. “I thought that if you were here… if we spent time together without being lovers, that it would change things.”

  “How?”

  “I thought I would get used to you.”

  He frowned, showing he wasn’t quite following and one corner of her mouth quirked impatiently.

  “Like sacking out a colt. You expose him to the things that make him react and eventually, with increased exposure, he no longer reacts to them.”

  The frown turned into stunned lift of his eyebrows. “You were sacking out our relationship so you no longer reacted to me?”

  “We don’t have a relationship, but yes, that was the theory.”

  She assumed he was going to tell her what a stupid idea it was, because it sounded totally lame when spoken out loud, but that wasn’t why she shifted her weight and swallowed dryly. No, that had to do with the way he was looking at her, with his eyes slightly narrowed as if considering options.

  “Let’s see how this is working.”

  “How so,” she asked cautiously, not liking the look in his eye.

  “Kiss me.”

  “What?” Shelby jerked back and for a moment she literally forgot to breathe.

  His perfect lips curved just enough to tell her that he was totally comfortable taking command of this situation. “Let’s test your hypothesis and see how it worked.”

  “Don’t be a jerk.”

  He merely raised his eyebrows.

  She straightened her back, found her voice again. “I’m not going to kiss you
.”

  “Yeah?” His gaze still fixed on her mouth and after a few tense seconds, she automatically wet her lips. He sucked in a breath through his teeth. “Kiss me.” This time it was a command.

  A sane woman would have turned on her heel and stalked off to the house. A sane woman wouldn’t have put herself in this position in the first place or expounded on lame-ass theories to the very guy she was working them on. But the truth was her hormones had been battling with her brain ever since Ty set foot back on this property and she was growing weary of the battle.

  She wanted to kiss him. More than that, she wanted to show him he was not the one in command of this situation. This was her ranch. Her life… which he’d walked away from.

  “You want me to kiss you?” Her voice was little more than a whisper as she moved closer and lightly placed her hands on the front of his shirt. His heart beat beneath her palms. He wasn’t as in command as he let on.

  “Wouldn’t mind.”

  Bullshit. He wanted her as badly as she wanted him.

  His pupils dilated, darkening his eyes as she reached up to take his face between her palms and pull his mouth down to within an inch of her own.

  “Is this what you want?” she murmured.

  His lips curved as his hands settled at her hips, his fingers pressing into her flesh as he eased her lower body closer to his. She felt his arousal, hard and insistent, pressing against her belly but the answering flood of heat was not as strong her anger.

  “Well, then maybe you shouldn’t have left.” She dropped her hands to his chest and pushed.

  He took a stumbling step back while Shelby folded her arms and silently hoped he fell on his ass. He didn’t.

  He cocked an eyebrow. “Can’t do it?”

  Not the response she’d expected. “When you sack out a colt, you don’t move too fast.”

  His lips twitched at the corners. “Then how about I move real slow?”

  Shelby’s heart did a double beat. She loved it when he moved real slow… and she couldn’t afford to keep thinking this way. She closed her eyes in an effort to center herself, drew in a calming breath. When she opened them again, he was there. Right… there.

  “Ty—”

  She barely got his name out before he took hold of her waist and gave a tug, pulling her body smack up against his own. Her breath caught at the sudden contact and then his lips were on hers, obliterating all hope of logic prevailing as his clever tongue welcomed her back into the wonderful world of things he could do with his mouth.