Bad News Cowboy (4 page)

“It's true. You are kind of stupid.” A smile spread over her face. Sometimes, it turned out, Kate did smile at him. But usually only after she was done insulting him.

“I'm wounded.”

“Don't waste your time being wounded. First, we're going to have to find out if the Logan County Fairgrounds are available for the date we would need it. Probably the day before the actual rodeo starts or the day after.”

“You know who to call for that?”

“Yeah, but I might want to go through Lydia.”

“Good call,” he said. “See? This is why I asked for your help.”

“Because I'm a genius.”

“Sure.” He shrugged. “About a couple things.”

“Aren't you going to have any coffee?” Kate asked, something searching in her brown gaze now. He had no clue what the hell she was looking for, but even so, he was almost certain she wouldn't find it.

“I have to run,” he said. He didn't have to run. He didn't have anywhere to be. Except for some reason he felt averse to prolonging this moment here in the field with her. “When is the next local meeting?”

“Tomorrow night. You should come.”

He'd stopped going to the amateur association meetings in Copper Ridge years ago. He'd turned pro when he was twenty, using the money that the man who was, according to genetics, his father had given him to keep his mouth shut about his existence.

Sometimes it felt like his attempt at being seen when he'd been paid to disappear. A way to demand attention without breaking that damned agreement. Other times it had all felt like an attempt to bleed that unwanted blood right out of his veins, let it soak into the arena dirt until the Wests weren't a part of him anymore. But that feeling had faded as he turned that initial bit of money into yet more money through event wins and investments and sponsorship deals.

Though at thirty-three, he felt too damn old to get trampled on a regular basis. He'd felt too old five years ago when he'd quit. Not just too old for the getting-trampled part but the hard living that went with it. He knew there were plenty of guys still out there riding, but he didn't need to and he felt lucky to have escaped with as little damage as he had.

“Sure, I'll be there. I'll do the hard sell and see if anyone else has more ideas.”

“Do you want to ride together?”

He nodded slowly. “Yeah, let's do that. Do you want to drive?”

“I think your truck is a little bit cushier than mine, but I appreciate the offer.”

“Okay, then, I'll pick you up... When?”

“Seven.”

He gripped the brim of his hat with his thumb and forefinger and tipped it slightly. “Okay, then, see you at seven.”

* * *

S
HE
HEARD
A
car engine and raced to the window, her heart pushing against the base of her throat. But she didn't see anything. No truck. No Jack.

“Oh my gosh, calm down, me.”

It was probably just one of the ranch hands headed out to the barn, or maybe Eli getting home from work. There were three whole minutes before Jack was supposed to show up, after all. And she was being ridiculous about it. Completely overcome by the sense of hyperawareness that often assaulted her when dealing with Jack-related things. And she would picture him pulling up, and her stomach would turn over sharply, her breath catching, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. The response was completely involuntary, and it was so strong it made her legs shake.

Anyone would think she was waiting for a date.

She gritted her teeth and closed her eyes tight just as she heard another engine sound. Her eyes popped back open and she brushed the curtains aside again just in time to see Jack's truck rumbling up the drive.

She put her hand on her stomach. “Stop it,” she scolded herself. It did nothing.

She grabbed a jacket and her bag and jerked open the front door, then walked out onto the front porch as she slung both over her shoulder. She wasn't going to sit in her living room and wait for him to come to the door. She was not going to encourage her weird bodily reactions.

She scampered to the truck and flung open the passenger-side door, then braced her foot on the metal running board before climbing into the cab. She slammed the door shut and buckled. “Let's go.”

“In a hurry, Katie?”

“I would like to be on time,” she said, battling against her urge to bristle.

She didn't want to bristle. She wanted to be sleek. She wanted to have no reaction to him whatsoever. None at all.

“Is it still at the Grange Hall?”

“Yes, it is. And I hope you ate, because they still serve store-bought sugar cookies and watered-down punch.”

“Ah yes, the official small-town meeting food.”

“I don't mind the cookies. I don't even really mind the punch. I just don't know why people think they go good together.”

He put the truck in Reverse, then turned around and drove back down the narrow driveway that fed into the wider main driveway that eventually curved onto the highway.

“It's one of the great mysteries of our time,” Jack said. “Personally, I think overearnest meetings like this should come with whiskey.”

“I would have no problem with that. But somehow I don't think the budget allows for alcohol.”

“Well, that's an oversight. What has to be cut to make room in the budget for alcohol?”

“There really isn't much to cut. We kind of pay for our own stuff. In addition to paying dues to be a part of Oregon's Amateur Riders Association. But you know, support system. Training. And we do get to use the arenas of the fairgrounds a couple times a month at no extra charge.”

“I guess next time I'll bring my own whiskey,” he said.

“There won't really be a next time, though, will there?”

“I suppose that all depends on whether or not I'm creating a monster with this.”

“You feel pretty passionately about it, don't you?” She so rarely asked him sincere questions that he seemed stumped by this one. Well, she was, too. She had no idea what she was doing. Why she wanted to know more. Why she wanted to dig deeper.

“I do,” he said finally. “It feels like half the time the odds are stacked pretty high against women.”

“Seeing as it was my mom that screwed everything up, I can't say that's been my experience,” Kate said.

He huffed out a laugh. “I suppose in your life it was different. Not just because of your mom, but because Connor and Eli would kill anyone who hurt you. You're surrounded by people who love and protect you. There are a lot of people who aren't. A lot of kids, a lot of women. They're either abandoned and left to their own devices, or worse, they're actively hurt by the people who are supposed to love them.”

Kate immediately felt stupid for her earlier comment. “Did your dad... Did he hurt your mom?”

“No. Thank God all he did was leave. But even that didn't make it easy. It just... This kind of stuff gets me. I don't want a wife. I don't want kids. Because I know myself. It doesn't make any sense to me, these men who have kids just to leave them. Who get married just to mistreat the women they made vows to. At least I know my limitations.”

“You wouldn't hurt anyone, Jack.” Kate's voice was small when she spoke the words.

“Not with my fist.” He tightened his grip on his steering wheel.

She studied his profile, the strength in his hands, the muscles in his forearms. He was tan from hours working out in the sun, strong from all the lifting and riding he did.

And regardless of how he treated her sometimes, regardless of the fact that he had been around since she was a little girl, he was most definitely not her brother.

She swallowed hard, her throat suddenly dry. “I'm sure that you... I mean...if you wanted to...”

“I don't. So it isn't an issue.”

His response, so hard and sharp, definitive, made her feel stupid. Young.

He took a hard right just before Old Town, moving farther away from the ocean and into the less quaint part of Copper Ridge. The Grange was a tiny little building nestled between a modern grocery store and the edge of a residential neighborhood. It looked as if it was built out of Lincoln Logs, and Kate imagined it was supposed to be quaint, when really, years of repainting and foul weather had left it looking worse for wear.

An American flag and an Oregon flag flew high in the parking lot, which was already filled with pickup trucks. There was no place for Jack to park, so he pulled up to the curb, put the truck in Park and shut it off.

“Maybe we should have warned them?” she asked.

“With what? You can't email them—you don't have a computer.”

She snorted. “I could have called.”

“You don't have a cell phone.”

“I have a landline.”

“You could send smoke signals.”

“Jack,” she said, exasperated, opening the passenger door and sliding out, not waiting for him. She went ahead and walked into the building, greeting everyone who was in attendance, already seated in a semicircle in the back room.

The front room had permanent seating and a stage for community theater. But they met in the back in a sterile environment that had a little kitchenette with bright orange countertops, a white linoleum floor and fluorescent lighting.

Long folding tables were set out with the promised punch and cookies. They looked mostly untouched.

The lonely punch and cookies weren't all that surprising. They were more of a formality. An offering of refreshment because if there was going to be a gathering, refreshments had to be on offer. The laws of small-town etiquette.

There were only two vacant chairs, and it so happened that they were right next to each other, so any hopes she'd had of getting some distance from Jack were thwarted.

Her friend Sierra waved, but there were, of course, no open seats next to her. Sierra somehow managed to exude both femininity and strength. Kate had no fucking idea how you were supposed to exude femininity. Yet Sierra managed. Her blond curls were always perfectly set; her brightly colored eye shadow made her blue eyes glow. She was the classic sequined rodeo queen. Kate couldn't even fathom trying to wear a sequin. It would just feel like trying too hard.

She wasn't the type to ride with turquoise and rhinestone.

But sometimes Sierra made her wish that she was.

Eileen, the president of the group, was reading minutes, so Kate took her seat as quietly as possible. She kept her eyes fixed on Eileen and jumped when Jack took a seat next to her. Did he have to be so...warm? Yes, he was warm. Uncommonly warm. She could feel it even with a healthy bit of air between them. And it was distracting. And disturbing.

She looked down at her hands, which were folded in her lap. But then she saw Jack's denim-clad thighs in her peripheral vision and became completely distracted by that. They looked hard. And if they were like the rest of him, they were probably uncommonly hot. Temperature-wise. Just temperature.

She forced herself to glance away.

When Eileen got to the part where everyone brought up relevant business, Kate didn't speak up, because she didn't want to speak first. And also, the dry throat.

When it finally seemed that topics had been exhausted, from a need for new barrels for the arena they trained in at the fairgrounds to shared transportation to amateur events on the West Coast later in the year, Kate opened her mouth to speak. But Jack beat her to it.

“Hi,” he said, clearing his throat. “If you don't know me, I'm Jack Monaghan. I used to ride pro in the circuit, though I haven't for a few years. But I wanted to come today to talk to you about the possibility of doing a charity day at the upcoming rodeo here in Logan County.”

Eileen brightened visibly. “What sort of thing did you have in mind?”

“Well, Kate and I have been talking, and she was the one who told me I should come tonight.” He gestured toward her and she lifted her hand, twitching her fingers in an approximation of a wave. “We were thinking that it would be a chance for this group here to take part in some events. And I could get in touch with some of the riders I know coming through with the pro association. See if maybe they wouldn't mind participating, either. You could all compete against each other. And we would work with the chamber of commerce both here and in some of the other towns to get food donated, as well. I have plans for the proceeds to go to a couple of the battered-women's shelters and to help a local business that's been trying to get disadvantaged women back on their feet after they leave abusive situations.”

“Well, provided we can secure the space, I think that sounds like an excellent idea,” Eileen said. “Can I get an informal count of who would be interested in participating?”

Nearly every hand in the circle went up, and Kate's heartbeat increased, satisfaction roaring through her.

“That's a good start,” Eileen continued. “We'll just want to see which day the fairgrounds might be able to accommodate us. I'm willing to do that.”

“That would be great,” Kate said.

She was more than happy to let Eileen use her connections with the board at the county expo.

“Kate and I will work on the roster and the schedule of events.” Jack was speaking again, and volunteering her for things, things that they would work on together. She wasn't sure how she felt about that. “So you can get in touch with either of us if you want to participate, and we'll get you added to the list. If you don't want to compete, we could still use the help. We'll need a lot of volunteers to try and keep costs down. Because if it gets too expensive, we won't have anything to donate.”

After that, much-less-organized conversation broke out in the room, a buzz of excitement surrounding them.

“Okay, I think that concludes official business for the evening,” Eileen said above the din.