Betting on Grace (7 page)

Those were her favorite.

Cowgirls.

Riiiight.

If she had to guess, there would be at least three,
possibly up to five; all of them were going to want to hang out by the pool in
their skimpy little bikinis and wait for the wranglers to pass by. ’
Cause
that’s what cowgirls do
. Which they would do. Every day throughout their
stay. Then, when Mercy tried to convince them to go horseback riding, or
something equally
cowgirl-ish
, they’d squeal and giggle and agree only
if one of the men taught them what they were supposed to do.

Oh, joy, something to look forward to.

“They won’t be here until Thursday, though,” Mercy
tacked on as she stirred sugar and cream into her mug.

“What’ll you do till then?” Jerry questioned.

Mercy raised one eyebrow and glared at him over her
shoulder. “Are you insinuating that I don’t have anything to do around here?”

A huge smirk replaced the stern expression on Jerry
Lambert’s face. Her father loved to give her a hard time about not doing
anything around the ranch. She, along with her four sisters, spent their days
from sunup to sundown working, usually seven days a week. For Mercy, working at
the ranch wasn’t a job. It was a way of life, and she loved it.

“Nope. Not me,” he answered, sipping his coffee and
staring back at her over the rim of his cup.

“What about you? Did she stick you with someone this
week?” Mercy asked.

Her father usually wasn’t assigned to a guest, but for
whatever reason, he had been getting more and more involved in the physical
activities in recent weeks. In fact, Mercy was pretty sure he’d had a lobotomy
because his entire demeanor had changed over the course of the last few months.

“Nope, but I offered to head up a couple of the trail
rides.”

“You sure your old butt can handle bein’ in a saddle
all day?” Mercy teased as she made her way to a small table, sliding a chair
out with her foot before sliding into it.

“Girlie, I can still outride you any day of the week.”

Mercy laughed, leaning her chair back on two legs. She
was the fastest rider on the ranch, and with her horse, Shadow Mist, they were
an unbeatable team. “Right. Believe that if you want to, Pops. If you ever want
me to prove you wrong, just name the time and place. I’m ready.”

Jerry snickered, placing his coffee cup on the table
and relaxing in his chair, his work-roughened hands resting on his trim, flat
stomach. Mercy didn’t squirm as her father seemingly studied her. This was a
recurring conversation, the two of them ribbing one another about who was
faster. There was a time when her father had held that title at Dead Heat
Ranch, but not since Mercy had been a teenager.

“You’re on,” Jerry finally said, his smile
transforming his face from average to handsome instantly.

Mercy dropped her chair back to the floor with a
resounding thud. “Shi— Er … crap,” Mercy squealed when her coffee sloshed over
the edge of her cup and onto her hand. Shaking her hand to knock off the
liquid, Mercy stared at her father. “Are you serious?” she asked, unable to
hold back her excitement. For years, she’d tried to goad her father into racing
her. Not many people at the ranch would because they didn’t like being left in
the dust.

“Yep. Dead serious.”

Mercy smiled, on both the outside and the inside, her
stomach churning with exhilaration. “When? Where?” she asked, putting her
coffee mug down on the table so that she didn’t drop it.

“Sunday mornin’. Before it gets too hot.”

“Scared of a little heat, Pops?” she teased, knowing
that he was more concerned about the horses than anything else.

He merely replied with a tilt of one dark eyebrow up
toward his hairline.

“Fine. Sunday mornin’.” Mercy stood, nearly knocking
her chair over. “I’m gonna let everyone know.”

“Great,” Jerry muttered, still smiling as he sipped
from his cup again.

Mercy headed to the door, ready to run outside and
announce to the ranch that she was going to leave her father in the dust, but
she stopped instead. Turning to look at her father, she smiled at him. “Love
you, Pops.”

“Love you, too, girlie,” he replied, his eyes
softening. “This much.”

Mercy grinned. Her father had started telling them
that when they were little. It had been a game at first because he didn’t use
his arms or his hands to signal how much he was talking about. According to
Jerry, he meant
this much
as all encompassing. It was still something he
said to them, and every single time, Mercy felt just as giddy as she had when
she was a little girl.

“You might wanna take some ridin’ lessons this week,”
she informed him as she pushed the screen door open. “You’re gonna need ’em.”

With that, she went outside, the sound of her father’s
roaring laugh following her as she did.

Yep, it was safe to say that this week was looking up.
And she could only hope that the anticipation of the race would help to keep
that
unwelcome
dream from disrupting her sleep.

If not, she was going to have to do something about
Cody Mercer because that damn mechanic was getting on her last nerve.

The
worst part about it … he didn’t even know.

Lane’s afternoon was ending about as well as his
morning had started. From the instant that his eyes had peeled open, thanks to
the annoying sound of his cell phone’s alarm, it seemed as though he had been
on his feet. And now, when he would’ve preferred to be heading back to the
bunkhouse for a quick shower and then over to the dining hall for supper, he
was being summoned to the arena.

For what, he had no idea.

The text had come from Mercy, which was a little
surprising, but the message was clear.

Get to the arena now.

Yes, ma’am. It wasn’t like he didn’t have other things
to do, thank you very much.

Fortunately, he hadn’t been on the scheduled trail
ride for the day, but that meant he’d been busting his ass working on fixing
one of the back stables that had practically caved in on itself about a month
ago. They had moved the existing horses from that stable several weeks before
that, due to its condition, but now that they had acquired several more, they
needed the thing desperately.

It felt as though they had been working more in the
last couple of months than in the three years that he’d been there, combined.
They were expanding, that was for sure. Not that he minded that the ranch
seemed to be doing well. As far as he was concerned, Dead Heat Ranch’s success
was his success. And loving what he did made it all the sweeter.

But with work came exhaustion, something Lane was definitely
feeling. He wanted to go jump headfirst into the swimming pool to cool off.
Shit, it had been almost two months since he’d taken the time to do even that
much. Then again, his priorities these days, other than work, were Gracie and Grant.
He was more than willing to spend every spare second he had with the two of
them. Even if it meant he had to forego sleep.

Lane looked up to see that he was only a few feet from
his destination, a sigh of relief escaping him. Getting out of the blazing sun
was his goal, and the arena was going to offer some much-needed shade, although
it wouldn’t do much for the one-hundred-plus-degree temps.

Dead Heat Ranch’s event arena was rather impressive.
The thing rivaled in size any state fair arena that Lane had ever seen,
although the seating capacity was significantly less. The giant steel structure
had to have cost a freaking fortune — not that Lane had any idea how much — but
it was clearly worth the investment since it was always being used. Most of the
time, Gracie, or one of her sisters, was teaching beginning riders what it
meant to be on a horse within the steel building, and that was usually so they
could avoid subjecting the horses to the direct sun.

From time to time, they would hold a miniature version
of a rodeo for the guests, complete with a couple of bulls that the wranglers
would try to outlast for that eight seconds of glory. Lane was proud to admit
that he was a damn fine bull rider, even though it had been nearly a year since
he’d been on the back of one. At thirty-two, he’d outgrown the need to be
bucked off a seventeen-hundred-pound pissed-off animal.

But today, there weren’t any kids running around
chasing one another or any of the wranglers leading animals to and from. No,
right now the place appeared to be a ghost town. Lane didn’t even see Mercy
when he stepped into the shade, making his way toward the bleachers on one
side. The sound of clapping brought Lane’s attention up to the staggered metal
benches that rose up from the ground. There, on the bottom row, was a little
girl and a man, sitting side by side. Lane was about to question what she was
clapping about, but then he stopped dead in his tracks.

No questions needed.

Lane stood motionless, completely hypnotized by the
sexy, petite cowgirl making her way out into the arena, Astro Boy proudly
walking beside her. Gracie was dwarfed by the size of the horse, but even from
as far away as Lane was, she was what drew his attention.

The woman was breathtaking. Long, golden-blond hair,
those interesting blue-green eyes, her cute little nose, and those lips… Oh,
damn. If he weren’t careful, he’d be sporting wood just by thinking of how hot
she looked in those sexy jeans, too.

Truth be told, Lane was quite partial to watching her
with her horse. She loved that animal, and he was pretty sure she would’ve
found a way to keep him at her cabin if it was at all feasible. She spent a
significant amount of time with Astro Boy, refusing to allow anyone else to do
more than feed him. And she was a sight to behold when she rode Astro Boy,
which Lane suddenly figured out was her plan.

The sound of footsteps shuffling in the soft dirt
behind him had Lane turning to see Grant walking his way. The scowl on his face
told Lane that Grant’s week wasn’t getting any better than the last time he’d
seen him.

“Mercy text you?” Lane asked as Grant approached.

“Yeah,” Grant grumbled.

“Have you seen her?”

“Nope.”

Well, it sucked to know that Grant still wasn’t back
to his normal chatty self. The guy really needed to get out of his funk. Lane
wasn’t at all fond of the mood, but more important, he wasn’t happy with not
knowing what had spawned it in the first place.

Turning away from Grant, Lane tilted his head in the
direction of the arena floor, where Gracie was currently leading Astro Boy.
“Look.”

Lane made his way beneath the bleachers, trying to get
a better view of Gracie and her horse. Reaching up, Lane clasped his fingers on
one of the metal rungs of the benches that were standing tall and proud over
his head. He was peering through the aluminum steps, hidden from view of the
little girl and the man when Grant joined him.

“Okay,” Gracie said, her voice echoing in the
cavernous arena. “Maddie, I’ve got a job for you. Astro Boy really likes when
you clap. So I expect to hear you loud and clear, all right?”

Lane realized that Gracie was talking to the little
girl, Maddie, who was once again smacking her hands together gleefully while
Gracie turned and said something to Astro Boy. The huge black-and-white paint
knelt on one knee, bowing toward the little girl, which earned him a loud
squeal in return.

“I haven’t done this in a long time,” Gracie
continued, keeping her eye on Maddie as she started walking Astro Boy several
feet one way and then turning him back, all while she rubbed her hand down his
big nose, using the bridle to keep his head close to hers.

Lane glanced around the arena, noticing that there
were barrels set up — one on each end. And that could only mean…

“Holy shit,” Grant whispered, speaking Lane’s thoughts
aloud. “Is she…?”

“Looks like it.”

And from that moment forward, Lane was rendered
speechless, unable to do anything other than watch Gracie. And just like her
name, the woman was pure grace as she led her horse around while still talking
to the little girl.

“Are you ready?” Gracie asked.

“Hell yeah,” Lane mumbled softly.

“Yes!” Maddie screamed.

Lane watched as Gracie walked Astro Boy several more
feet, speaking to him tenderly as she did, readjusting the way she was holding
his reins. When she began jogging, kicking up the dirt beneath her boots, Lane
knew he wasn’t going to be able to look away. And then she was running, Astro
Boy trotting beside her, clearly doing just as she instructed.

Son of a…

Gracie mounted the horse while Astro Boy was at a full
gallop, her much shorter legs keeping up until she propelled herself up and
into the saddle. She directed Astro Boy with the ease of a cowgirl who knew her
horse better than she knew herself. Lane was pretty sure his jaw was on the
floor at that point.

Likely for the little girl’s benefit, Gracie had Astro
Boy perform a few basic stunts, a couple of high steps, a dizzying turn.
Nothing significant, but clearly enough to impress Maddie. Then everything
seemed to morph into slow motion as Gracie called out to Astro Boy, a signal
for him to run.

And he did.

Riding full out, Gracie sprinted Astro Boy around the
arena a couple of times, the little girl clapping louder and louder until the
man was joining in as well. The energy in the place jumped several levels, and
Lane realized he was holding his breath.

Then Gracie kicked it up another notch, running Astro
Boy from one end to the other, circling the barrel, both horse and rider
leaning into the turn perfectly timed. Lane observed in awe as Gracie raced
that horse, Astro Boy doing exactly as Gracie wanted, until finally, they were
coming to an abrupt stop directly in front of the little girl.

“That was awesome!” Maddie yelled.

“I’ll say,” Grant whispered, still standing beside
Lane. “Have you ever seen her ride like that before?”

“No,” Lane answered. He knew she was good with horses,
but he’d never seen anything as spectacular as Gracie racing that beautiful
horse at full speed, circling those barrels as if she’d done it a million times
before. She was good enough to have gone pro.

Which made him wonder … why hadn’t she?

■□■□■□■□

By the time Astro Boy came to a stop, Gracie was
breathing hard. Leaning forward, she talked to her horse while petting his face
gently, telling him how proud she was.

“Very impressive, Gracie,” Ben called, standing up and
leading his daughter down to the rails that lined the front of the bleachers.

“Thank you,” she replied, encouraging Astro Boy to
move closer to the stands.

“Where did you learn to do that?” he asked as Maddie
stood on the bottom rung and leaned over to pet Astro Boy’s head, Ben’s hand
resting on Maddie’s back, probably to keep her from leaning too far over.

“My mother,” she told him, a sharp pang of loss
echoing in her chest.

Her mother had taught her how to barrel race when
Gracie was little. Being that her mother had been a champion barrel racer
herself, Gracie had wanted to grow up to be just like her. She’d worked hard at
a very young age, always adoring the time she had to spend with her mother, the
two of them out in the arena — not the same one they were in now — working to
perfect her form.

But then her mother had died, and Gracie had buried
her dream of going pro right along with her. She continued to race, but only
when no one knew she was out there. Ever since she’d gotten Astro Boy, Gracie
had known that he was meant to run. She was pretty sure he loved it as much as
she did, and they were quite the pair.

Not that she wanted anyone to know. It was difficult
to keep her family and friends in the dark because they were a nosy bunch, but
either she was successful or they were keeping their mouths shut where her
extracurricular activity was concerned. She tended to believe it was the
latter. What she didn’t want was for people to start pushing her toward
something she didn’t want to do anymore. Sure, it was fun to race Astro Boy
from time to time, but she didn’t want to do it for a crowd. Grace was more
than content with the way things were, spending her days working at the ranch.
No rodeos for her. No thank you.

The sound of boots on the bleachers had Grace looking
over her shoulder.

Oh, crap.

Coming toward her, with matching stunned expressions
on their handsome faces, were Lane and Grant.

“Real cowboys, Dad,” Maddie whispered, loud enough for
everyone to hear.

“Hey, darlin’,” Lane greeted Maddie, his signature crooked
smirk falling into place.

Grace found the little girl was grinning ear to ear,
likely falling head over heels in love with the man on sight. Rather than
respond, Maddie giggled while grabbing on to her father’s hand as if he were
her lifeline.

“What’s your name?” Lane asked, squatting down in
front of Maddie.

Grace half listened to the conversation, her attention
turning to Grant, who was staring back at her as though he’d never seen her
before. Rubbing Astro Boy’s head, Grace tried not to fidget under the scrutiny
of his gaze.

They’d seen her race, if she had to guess. Which was
exactly why she didn’t want anyone to watch, having absolutely no desire to
endure any of their questions or encouragement. And she could see in Grant’s
expressive blue eyes that he had loads of questions.

“Can we, Dad?” Maddie called out, drawing Grace’s
attention back to her.

“Sure, if that’s okay with Gracie,” Ben replied.

“Can we, Gracie? Can we have supper with you and the
two cowboys? Pretty please?”

Grace laughed, enjoying the little girl’s fervor. And
yes, she did have to eat, but she shot Lane a look that promised retribution.
He simply tipped the edge of his mouth into a sexy smile that made her body
ignite immediately.

“Sure you can,” Grace answered, pulling her eyes away
from Lane. “What time is it, anyway?”

“Four-thirty,” Ben said quickly.

“How ’bout we meet in the dining hall at five,” Grace
told Maddie.

The little girl clapped her hands giddily as she
nodded.