Hooked (12 page)

“See you soon,” Mustang said, slapping Luke on the back.

With a look at Annie, Luke nodded. “See you soon.” Then he made his way back through the house and away from Annie.

Chapter Ten

“Mom. You needed me?”

In the crowded kitchen his mother and her sweet smile, somehow as bright as ever in spite of the day they’d both been through, greeted Luke. “Your friends are about to leave and I thought you’d want to say goodbye.”

Luke couldn’t help but smile himself at the sight of three of the younger riders happily shoving cookies in their mouths. They looked more like boys than men, though at their ages, Skeeter not even legal to drink yet, the exact terminology was debatable.

While Luke’s mother got pulled off to talk to one of the female guests, Skeeter swallowed a big mouthful of whatever he’d been chewing. “Hey, Luke. Your mom packed us a bag for the road. Chocolate chip cookies.”

Chase held up a bag with a grin. “And brownies too.”

“Well, we sure do have plenty so I’m glad you like ’em.” Luke glanced at the counter, still pretty packed since a few people had arrived bearing more food.

“We’re about to take off. We figure with the three of us sharing the driving, we can drive straight through and check into the room tomorrow. It’ll save us the cost of another night in the hotel,” Skeeter told him happily.

“We’re hitting the road now, but we didn’t want to leave without saying goodbye.” Garret held up a paper coffee cup with a grin. “I’ve got first shift behind the wheel so I’m filling up on caffeine.”

Only the young guys would actually look excited about driving all night long. Luke remembered those early days. When cramming four guys to a room was the norm. When spending the night in the truck rather than spend the money on a hotel didn’t seem odd at all. It all seemed a lifetime ago. Hell, last weekend seemed a lifetime ago. It might as well be considering all that had changed.

“Thanks for coming, guys. I appreciate it.” Luke had been saying that a lot today, but it was no less true. The support of his fellow riders truly touched him.

“We wanted to be here. So we’ll see you soon, right?” Chase’s youthful exuberance reminded Luke of how old he felt at the moment.

“Yup. Drive safe, guys.”

“Will do.” Garret topped off his coffee cup and then the group was moving for the door, making the kitchen seem a lot less full now that three energy-filled bull riders were gone from it.

“Luke. Can we discuss something important for a minute?” Mr. Collins touched his arm.

He looked serious. Having a heavy conversation was the absolute last thing Luke felt like doing. Luke had actually started to feel a little lighter after his time with Annie and then with the guys. Now Mr. Collins was going to bring him down again. “I should help Mom.”

Luke glanced hopefully at his mother for a way out but she was clear on the other side of the room rearranging platters with two of her friends.

“She’s fine. There are more than enough women here. They won’t know what to do with themselves if she doesn’t put them to work helping out. Come on, son. No one will miss us for a bit.”

Son. He’d called Luke that before in the past, but today in particular the word hung in the air heavily. “Okay. Sure. We can talk.”

Mr. Collins glanced at the doorway. “Let’s go outside to the barn where it’s quiet.”

Outside? This was serious.

“All right.” Curious now, Luke followed the older man out the back door and across the yard to the barn.

Mr. Collins opened the door and stepped back for Luke to enter before him. Curioser and curioser. Luke went in and was immediately surrounded by the familiar sights and scents of the building he’d been playing and working in since he could walk.

“Luke…”

“Sir?”

“I know this has been a lot to absorb and damn fast too, but there are things that need to be dealt with.”

“I know.” Luke thought they had dealt with enough already just with the funeral arrangements, but he agreed with the man anyway.

“I would have waited until things had settled a bit to make you this offer, but that wouldn’t have changed much and it would have just cost you more time out of the season. You’re doing so well, I’d hate for you to miss any events.”

Luke frowned. This had to do with his riding career? He was more confused than ever. “All right.”

Mr. Collins continued. “Your father was a hard-working man. He ran this place practically single-handedly. Sure, we’d help each other out when the big things needed doing, but basically, it was a one-man show.”

Luke’s chest tightened. Now that one man was gone. Fighting nausea, he swallowed hard. “I helped out when I was home—”

“Which was only in the off season and a few days here and there between competitions.”

Luke nodded. Because of his riding career, he hadn’t been around to help much. Still, it seemed particularly heartless for Mr. Collins to be pointing it out to Luke now that his father was gone and it was too late to change things. “I tried my best, but you’re right. I wasn’t around as much as I should have been.”

Mr. Collins laid a hand on the back of Luke’s neck. “That’s not what this is about. I’m not criticizing, son. Your father was so proud of you. Still is, I’m sure, from up there where he is now. He wanted you to ride and succeed and you did both. Nothing could have made him happier.”

Luke blinked away the moisture in his eyes. “Thank you, sir.”

“What I’m saying is, he wouldn’t have wanted you to give up your career. And your mama can’t run this place alone.”

“No, she can’t.” Luke fought back the nausea, facing for the first time what he’d so skillfully ignored of late. With his father gone the running of the ranch fell to him, and how the hell could he do both—ride and ranch—alone?

He slumped down onto a nearby bale of hay. “I’m going to have to quit riding.”

“That’s one solution. Or you could sell to me.”

Taken totally aback by that suggestion, Luke stared up at him blankly. “What? Sell?”

Mr. Collins nodded. “My place is right next door. Hell, I lease the east pasture from your parents already for my herd. If you sold the acreage, the barns and the herd to me, your mama could retain ownership of the house. She could stay living right here with plenty of money to retire on, but with none of the responsibilities of caring for the farm.”

A dull buzzing filled Luke’s head, adding to his confusion and the feeling that the world was moving way too fast. “This place has been in my family for generations.”

“I know.” Mr. Collins nodded. “That’s why I wouldn’t want the land to go to a stranger. And the house will still be in the family.”

Luke frowned. He’d always thought that one day, when his career was over, he’d retire from riding and he and his father would expand the ranch. They’d raise bucking stock. Maybe get a few bulls good enough to buck in the pros. His father’s death had changed all that now. But to sell?

It was all too much to comprehend. He shook his head. “This isn’t my choice. My mother—”

“I talked to her already. The wife and I spent quite a few hours in the hospital with your mama before you got home.”

The guilt of his being late getting home hit him again. Luke was becoming used to the weight of guilt and sorrow in his chest. So much so, he’d begun to forget what it felt like to be without it. To be lighthearted. Would he ever feel that way again?

Luke held himself together and asked, “What did Mom say?”

“She said the choice was up to you.”

That did nothing to lift the pressure from his shoulders. In fact, if anything it added to it. “She didn’t mention it to me.”

Mr. Collins shrugged. “You’ve both had a lot on your plate the past few days. Besides, I’d told her I would discuss it with you when the time was right.”

Luke’s brows rose. This was the right time? Just hours after he’d seen his father put into the ground?

“Luke, I saw how the guys you ride with turned out to support you and honor your father today. And I saw how you looked when you talked to them. Your heart is on the road. Competing is your life.” The older man stepped closer and laid a hand on Luke’s shoulder. “I know it seems like a lot to bring this up now, but I wanted you to know that if you want to go back to competing, we’ll take care of the details. Things would be in capable hands if you sold to me.”

What the entire town knew as the Carpenter ranch would be part of the Collins’ place. All traces of his father’s life’s work would be gone.

The choice was clear as day. Right there before him. Luke only had a few good years before retirement from the pros anyway, barring injury. He could retire now. The thought left a lump in his throat, but the idea of selling the ranch, his father’s blood and sweat in every acre, felt far worse.

Decision made, Luke swallowed hard then met Mr. Collins’s gaze squarely. “No. No sale. I’m sorry and I do appreciate the offer, but the answer is no.”

“Do you wanna think about it some? It’s a big decision.”

“I know it is.” Luke would do nothing but think about the choice he’d just made, probably for the rest of his life, but that wouldn’t change his answer. “We’re not selling.”

“All right. You know where to find me if you change your mind.” Mr. Collins nodded even though his expression still showed doubt.

“Yes, sir, I do.”

Mr. Collins glanced at his watch. “You want me to handle the afternoon chores for you today?”

In a haze, Luke shook his head. “No. Thanks for the offer but I’ll handle it.” He realized he was still wearing the dress pants, good shirt and tie from the funeral. “I’ll just get changed out of these clothes first.”

“All right.” Mr. Collins turned toward the door and, dazed, Luke rose and followed him out of the barn.

Luke heard an errant bellow from one of the cows off in the pasture. In a closer paddock nearby, Luke’s horse, Maverick, pressed against the rail and watched him, his ears forward. He was on alert, knowing he’d be getting fed soon.

This would be Luke’s life now. That of a rancher. No longer a professional bull rider. No more autograph signings. No more photo shoots or sponsors. Just tending to the animals and the farm.

And of course there would also be the chance to be around his good friends the Collinses and his mother more. All the time actually. No more being away from home. The traveling wore on him at times. Trying to look on the bright side, Luke reminded himself of that.

This was what he’d dreamed of for his life after he’d retired from riding pro, wasn’t it? A nice peaceful life on his family ranch.

It was just too soon.

Chapter Eleven

Annie strode toward the media room at the arena where she’d be meeting with her boss, Joe, feeling a bit more human after a shower and a change of clothes.

She’d thought she had it tough with all the travel she did for her job, but flying everywhere and picking up a rental car at the airport to drive directly to a hotel seemed like nothing to her now. Not after crossing a few state lines with Mustang and Slade in that damn trailer. She didn’t know how they did it. It must be a man thing. Give her a nice big shower stall with unlimited water and a few hundred channels on the cable television any day. They could keep their life on the open highway.

Just outside the door of the room they’d be using as home base and for their equipment at this venue, she stopped and drew in a deep calming breath. She grabbed for the handle, only to have it yanked from her hand as a willowy blond who might be twenty-two at most came bursting out. Since the girl was still looking backward over her shoulder and into the room, she didn’t even notice Annie until she’d literally stepped on the toes of her boots and crashed into her.

“Oh, excuse me.” The blonde’s porcelain face was glowing as she giggled. “I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

No kidding. “No problem.” Annie glanced past the girl and into the room, wondering if she was too early for her own meeting since there’d be no reason for Miss Bubbly here to be conducting business with her network.

Yet the girl disproved that theory by turning back one more time, thanking Annie’s boss profusely by name while Annie watched with raised brows.

Finally, the whirlwind that was Blondie left and peaceful, bubble-free calm filled the space that she’d occupied. Annie stepped into the room. “Hey, Joe. Uh, who was that?” Annie waited for an answer as her cameraman, Carl, came through the door behind her.

Carl smiled in greeting. “Hey, Annie. You get to meet Chelsea?”

“Chelsea. Was that who that was? We didn’t exactly meet, no.” Annie glanced down at the scuff that this Chelsea had left on the toe of her boot while a preemptive feeling of gloom began to creep into her gut. Then she turned her attention back to Joe.

Finally, after what seemed like an inordinately long pause, though that could have been Annie’s paranoia, her boss answered her former question. “We’ve decided to add another interviewer for some of the bigger events.”

“And that would be Chelsea?” Annie’s brain filled in the word her boss had neglected to use. They’d hired a younger interviewer. That was more realistic than his saying another interviewer. That had to be what this was about. Bull riding was a young sport. Damn, there’d even been a few of the guys who’d still been in high school during their rookie year in the pros. And the younger the new crop of riders got each year, the older Annie became.

“Really. Hmm. That’s interesting. I didn’t hear anything about plans to do that.”

That damned Chelsea looked more like an intern than a reporter. Annie clenched her teeth so tightly together her back molars began to go numb.

Joe nodded. “You know, we get such a good reaction to you from fans, we thought what the hell. It would be doubly good to have two of you.”

What bullshit. “Two of me, huh?”

Did this Chelsea person have a college degree in communications and years of experience in real-world, live, on-air situations? Doubtful. What she did have was youth on her side, and Annie couldn’t compete with that.

Her brain spun, imagining that horrible meeting where she’d be told she’d been totally replaced by Chelsea, who would be the new on-air girl for all the regular season events. Or maybe they’d send Annie down to the touring pro division, or to cover local rodeos rather than the pros.