The Bull Rider's Son

by Cathy McDavid

  “He’s worried about you.”

  “Which is no reason for him to put Shane on probation. What happened between us has nothing to do with work.” Mad as she was at Shane, she hadn’t wanted this. Did he blame her? Probably. “I bet Mom gave Dad an earful.”

  “No. She agreed with him.”

  “I don’t believe it.” Cassidy pushed on the chair’s arm rests, ready to hunt down her parents.

  “Wait,” Tatum said. “Before you go, I think you ought to ask yourself a question.” She gave Cassidy a stern look. “Why are you so upset?”

  “Why? Because I don’t want him to lose his job, of course.”

  “And why don’t you want him to lose his job?” Tatum persisted.

  “Don’t be ridiculous. He needs to work. He has a daughter to support. And living in Reckless puts him near Bria.”

  Tatum smiled with satisfaction. “How is it you can be so understanding of Shane and not Hoyt? He has a son and wants to be near him as much as possible.”

  “It’s different with him.”

  “Not so different.”

  A tiny crack formed in Cassidy’s defenses. Tatum had voiced aloud what Cassidy had been refusing to admit for days.

  She sighed. “Okay, I get it. Hoyt just wanted to spend more time with Benjie. But he shouldn’t have taken him without talking to me first.”

  “No one’s arguing that.” Tatum again put down the newsletter. “Speaking of which, how are the visitation negotiations going?”

  “Hoyt had his attorney submit a schedule. I’m reviewing it now.”

  “And...”

  “It’s not unreasonable.”

  “You don’t say.”

  “We are asking for a few adjustments.”

  Tatum’s smile broadened. “Will wonders never cease? Two adults communicating and coming to a sensible, mutual agreement.”

  “Somehow I get the feeling you’re not talking about me and Hoyt.”

  “Oh, I am. I just wish I was talking about you and Shane.”

  “I confess. Hoyt and I both acted badly. We allowed our emotions to get the better of us.”

  “You think?”

  “But, Shane...” Cassidy couldn’t go on. The pain had yet to lessen.

  “The man is plumb crazy for you.”

  “Then why did he side with Hoyt against me?”

  “Good grief!” Tatum clamped a hand to her forehead in frustration. “You think because he didn’t completely, one-hundred-percent agree with you, he disagreed.”

  “Excuse me, but isn’t that the definition of disagreeing?”

  “Not at all. Nothing is ever black and white. Shane saw both sides, yours and Hoyt’s, and understood them. He tried to be the mediator, encouraged you both to compromise, which, according to you, was a huge mistake.”

  “I was a little hard on him,” Cassidy conceded.

  “A little?”

  “I was scared, all right?”

  “I know, honey.” Tatum’s tone softened. “The last few weeks have been rough on you and a big adjustment. But the world hasn’t ended. The thing you feared the most came and went, and you’re still standing. Granted, with a few expected cuts and bruises. But you survived intact, other than losing a great guy you’re head over heels in love with.”

  “Who said I was in love?” Cassidy asked in a small voice.

  “You didn’t have to. Anyone with half an eye can see it.”

  “It’s too late for us,” she said.

  Tatum waved her off. “It’s only too late if you let him leave.”

  “Leave?” Cassidy panicked. “Has he taken a new job?”

  “If your dad fires him, he will.”

  Cassidy had made enough mistakes. She refused to be responsible for Shane losing his job. “Where are they?”

  “If you’re talking about your parents, they’re at the livestock pens behind the arena. The team penning jackpot is tonight.”

  Cassidy didn’t hear whatever else Tatum had to say. In the blink of an eye, she was out the office door and charging across the open area to the arena. Her parents must have sensed her coming for they turned in her direction well before she reached them. One look at their faces, at her father’s arm around her mother’s waist, and Cassidy instantly knew something was up.

  “I’m glad you’re here,” her mother said after casting Cassidy’s father a shy glance. “We have news.”

  Cassidy ground to a stop in front of them. “You finally said yes. You’re getting married.” It was, she supposed, inevitable.

  “What!” Her mother blinked in surprise. “No, no.”

  “She’s keeps stalling me,” her father grumbled, then gave her mother a resounding peck on the cheek. “I’m moving into the house. This weekend.”

  “We thought you should be the first to know,” her mother said.

  Cassidy waited, expecting to be flooded with doubts and, possibly, anger. It didn’t happen. Quite the opposite, in fact. She was overcome with—was this even possible?—contentment. “I’m glad for you.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. In fact, I think it’s great. As much as you fight, you’re happier together than you are apart.”

  “That’s how it usually is when you’re in love.”

  Cassidy heard her father as if from a distance. The past weeks replayed in her mind. Shane’s arrival at the Easy Money. Their building attraction and fervent kisses. The night he took her to dinner at the Hole in the Wall.

  He’d pushed her, it was true. Made her face her fears and do right by her son. He’d also been her friend, her lover and her confidant.

  Tatum was right. This had been the hardest time of her life. It had also been the happiest she could remember. Because of Shane.

  Cassidy did love him. Tatum was right about that, too. She loved him with all her heart.

  Yet, she’d driven him away. Made them both miserable. Possibly cost him his job.

  “I’m so pleased you’re okay with it.” Her mother beamed. “We were worried.”

  “Yeah, fine, whatever.” She turned toward her father. “About Shane. You are not firing him, do you hear me?”

  “Hell’s bells, I’m not firing him. Where would I find a better bull manager?”

  “I heard he was on probation.”

  Her father grimaced guiltily. “He might have been.”

  “But no longer?”

  “I suppose I should tell him. The man’s suffered long enough.”

  “You haven’t!” Cassidy was appalled.

  “When did you change your mind?” her mother asked, evidently not in the loop.

  “A few days ago. After Benjie told me about the phone call.”

  “What call?” Cassidy and her mother asked simultaneously.

  “According to Benjie, it was Shane who convinced Hoyt to bring him home last weekend. Hoyt wasn’t going to at first.”

  “Shane did?” Cassidy’s jaw dropped. “He never said a word.”

  “Did you give him the chance?”

  No, she hadn’t. “That doesn’t explain why he wouldn’t take the credit.”

  “You aren’t the easiest person to approach.”

  From the time she was ten, she’d diligently kept people at a distance. What had it gotten her? She might have safeguarded her heart, but it had turned stone cold. She didn’t want to live her life alone.

  Tears blurred her vision. “I’ve spent years being afraid of nothing.”

  Her mother put an arm around her. “That seems to be the curse of this family.”

  “I’ve been awfully unfair to him.”

  “Tell him.”

  “He doesn’t want anything to do with me.” She struggled to bring her c
rying jag under control.

  “I doubt it. He’s still here.”

  Rather than drain her, Cassidy’s outburst envigorated her. Was it possible for her perspective to change so quickly? Or had it been changing all along, day by day with Shane?

  “Is he here?” She glanced around expectantly.

  “Took the day off,” her father said. “Mentioned some errands and picking up Bria.”

  His daughter. Shane was such a good father. The best. He would have been a good stepdad to Benjie, too. She and Shane had talked about it the mornings they’d woken up together. They could have had that every morning if she didn’t mess up.

  “He’ll be back later this afternoon for the team penning jackpot.”

  Could Cassidy wait until then? Then again, what choice did she have?

  Just her luck. She finally came to her senses, and Shane wasn’t around for her to first apologize and then ask him to forgive her fit of temper.

  What if he refused? She had all day ahead of her to worry about it.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Shane automatically looked for Cassidy as he and Bria drove onto the arena grounds. It was a habit he’d gotten into well before they’d spent last weekend together. Probably from his first day at the Easy Money when he found her tidying his trailer.

  “Can I go riding, Daddy?” Bria asked from the rear passenger seat, the doll she always brought with her lying across her lap.

  “Sure. After we put your suitcase away.”

  Benjie wouldn’t mind if she borrowed Skittles. The two children were close as, well, cousins. He’d be home from school soon. Maybe he’d join them. Shane decided to saddle up Rusty the mule just in case.

  He’d have to check with Cassidy first, of course, fully aware he was manufacturing an excuse for them to talk. He’d been doing that a lot lately without much success. When she got mad at someone, she evidently stayed mad a good long time.

  Damned if she wasn’t infuriating. And addictive. When he wasn’t wanting to rail at her, he wanted to kiss her till she begged him to stop. Never had he felt this strongly for a woman. She would be impossible to get over. Harder still when every night she visited his dreams and every day she invaded his thoughts.

  He and Bria pulled up to the trailer and parked. He studied his temporary home while Bria scrambled from her car seat and ran inside. He’d need a new place soon. Real soon. A trailer was no place to raise a little girl. For a while, he’d thought maybe he, Cassidy and Benjie could find a house in Reckless. One with an extra room for Bria. That idea had gone up in smoke, and he had no one to fault but himself.

  He’d told Cassidy he understood her fears and concerns and sympathized with them. The truth was, he hadn’t. Not until it was too late. She and Hoyt weren’t him and Judy. They were two different people with different histories and an entirely different relationship. He’d been wrong to assume Cassidy would feel and act like Judy or Hoyt like him, simply because their circumstances were similar. In hindsight, he should have done exactly what Cassidy needed and asked for: supported her unconditionally and gone to the marina, insisting Hoyt return Benjie home.

  The mistake had cost him dearly.

  Grabbing Bria’s small suitcase and backpack from the floor of the truck, he carried both inside. At least he’d kept his job. Mercer had called earlier today to let Shane know he wasn’t on probation anymore. Thank God for that much. Mercer hadn’t offered an explanation, other than to say he’d spoken to Cassidy and all was well.

  What did he mean? Shane would probably never find out.

  Suitcase and backpack stowed in their usual place, Shane and Bria headed outside. She skipped along beside him to the stalls where Skittles and Rusty greeted them with lusty snorts and eager pawing.

  “Up you go.” Shane hoisted Bria onto Skittles’s bare back.

  She clutched the old horse’s mane in her small hands as he led the mounts to the main barn for brushing, saddling and bridling.

  He was just finishing when Benjie came bounding down the aisle. Did the kid ever walk?

  “No running, son,” Shane called, not that he expected either Skittles or Rusty to react with anything more than a docile swishing of their tails.

  “Can I go with you?” Benjie asked, grabbing Shane around the waist for a hug.

  That was one quality Shane found appealing about his nephew. He always greeted Shane as if they hadn’t seen each other for months instead of hours.

  Two days ago, Shane had found a chance to speak with Benjie about their relationship, clarifying his role as uncle. Benjie had seemed to understand, which relieved Shane. He didn’t want to confuse the boy further.

  “I was planning on you coming along,” he told Benjie, “but you’ll have to ask your mom first.”

  “It’s okay with me.”

  Shane swung around at the sound of Cassidy’s voice. She was here! Within a few feet of him. Every cell in his body jumped to high alert. God, he’d missed her.

  “Hey,” he croaked, his throat having gone bone-dry.

  She looked incredible, and not just because she was perpetually on his mind. There was something different about her. A glint in her eyes. A lightness to her step. A softness to her mouth that was in stark contrast to the thin, hard line of late.

  What, he was desperate to know, accounted for the change? He had to find out.

  “Can I talk to you?”

  She smiled. Smiled! “I was about to ask you the same thing.”

  Shane didn’t wait. He lifted Bria onto Skittles and settled her into the youth-size saddle. Benjie was already climbing onto Rusty.

  “Come on,” Benjie said to Bria once he was seated, and nudged the mule into a trot. “Race you.”

  Bria followed in hot pursuit before Shane could warn the boy to go slow.

  “She takes after you,” Cassidy said, watching the two children.

  “They shouldn’t run the horses down the barn aisle.”

  “Actually, they’re trotting, not running. And I find it difficult to believe you never did anything like that at their age. I did.”

  “I plead the fifth.”

  This comfortable, casual banter was the kind of interaction Shane had been hoping for with Cassidy. The kind they’d once shared. He’d rather there be more, but he’d accept friendship.

  “What happened?” he asked when they reached the end of the aisle and stepped into the open area. “You’re not mad anymore.”

  “I’m not sure where to begin.”

  “Try.”

  “An epiphany, I guess.” She laughed quietly. “Or a severe reprimand from Tatum and my parents. They told me what I already knew.”

  “Sometimes we need to hear it from someone else.”

  She gazed up at him with those incredible, luminous dark eyes. “You’re right.”

  All around them, the arena buzzed with activity. Students arriving for the afternoon riding classes. Vehicles and trailers hauling horses and participants for the team penning event. The Becketts, Mercer, Sunny, Ryder and Liberty, all hard at work. Benjie and Bria rode in the round pen, joined now by Tatum and her children who begged to ride double.

  Home. Shane couldn’t get the word out of his head. He’d felt as if the Easy Money was the right place for him and Bria from the day he’d arrived. Sooner, in fact. From the moment he’d driven across the town line into Reckless. Cassidy had been a large part of that.

  “Is there any chance we can start over?” he asked.

  “We should probably talk first.”

  Hope blazed inside him. She hadn’t said no.

  Before he could respond, she cradled his cheeks in her hands and drew him down for a full-blown, mouths-fused-together kiss. And, like each time before, she rocked his world.

  A blank stare was a
ll he could muster when she released him.

  “You okay?” she asked.

  “Uh, yeah.” Was he? “What was that for?”

  “Added insurance. In case you don’t accept my apology.”

  “You have nothing to apologize for.”

  “I do. You’ve always been there for me. I was wrong to accuse you differently.”

  “I forced you to tell Hoyt about Benjie.”

  “I needed forcing. My family’s a mess. Was a mess. I didn’t want the same for Benjie and convinced myself that hiding him from Hoyt was the solution. It wasn’t. Isn’t.”

  The future Shane had thought lost to him appeared again on the horizon. “Things will work out with Hoyt.”

  “They will. Sooner or later. I’m committed. Hoyt is, too. We spoke last Thursday. Cleared the air. Set some ground rules we can both live with.”

  “I’m glad.”

  “Thank you.” The glint was back in her eyes. “You’ve been a good friend and a good uncle to Benjie.”

  “I’d like to be more.”

  “I know. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.”

  He had to be sure he understood correctly, that she wanted what he did.

  “Are you saying what I think you are?”

  Her cheeks blushed a pretty pink Shane found sexy as all get-out. “I’d like for us to date.”

  He grinned. This was what he’d been waiting for. Praying for. “No.”

  “No?” She stumbled backward. “My mistake.”

  He captured her hand in his. “The only thing you’re mistaken about is dating. I won’t settle for that.”

  “I’m confused.” She looked it, too.

  He hauled her around the corner where they were out of sight.

  “What about the kids?” she protested.

  “Tatum’s with them. They’ll be all right for a minute, which is all the time I need.”

  “For what?”

  “Cassidy.” He dipped his head and nuzzled her ear. “I love you.”

  “It’s too soon.” She closed her eyes and trembled when he planted tiny kisses along the side of her neck.

  “Are you saying you don’t love me, too?”