Ride Me Cowboy #4 (The Cowboy Romance Series - Book #4) (2 page)

I don’t know how long I sat there ruminating over my
life and what to do about Mark before the sun started heating up and I decided
to head back to the house. I went back the way I came, stopping again to watch
the horses as they cavorted in the grass. When I reached the edge of the fence
line, the driveway came into view. I saw a red pick-up approaching and by the
time I got close to the house, a pretty woman about my age with long blonde
hair tied back in a ponytail was getting out. She was wearing jeans, boots, and
a t-shirt that said something about country music on it. She stopped when she
saw me and waited. When I got close, she smiled. It seemed to be a genuine
smile, not like the one that Taylor had given my mother and me the day she
drove up and started trouble.

“Hi there.”

Suspicious because of Taylor, I gave her a cautious
smile and said, “Hello. Can I help you?”

“I was looking for Mark. Is he around?”

Of course she’s looking for Mark. Probably another
jilted lover. “No. He’s gone to a rodeo this weekend.”

“Oh, okay. Taylor said he was home a few days ago. I
guess I missed him.”

The mention of Taylor’s name made me angry all at
once. A little too harshly I said, “Who are you?”

She didn’t seem fazed by my attitude. Sweetly she
said, “I’m sorry. My name is Emily. I’m an old friend of Mark’s.”

“And Taylor’s?” I sounded like a bitch, but just
then I didn’t care.

She was taken aback now by my tone. “I wouldn’t call
myself a friend where Taylor is concerned. She’s just someone I’ve known for
most of my life. She lives on the ranch next to ours. I can see by the look on
your face that she’s been stirring up some trouble.”

“You can say that,” I told her.

“It’s what she does best. I don’t know
what’s the matter with that girl
. Poor Mark has been trying
to get rid of her for years. I know he’s sorry he ever got mixed up with her in
the first place. She’s more than slightly obsessive. I can’t fathom how a
person can throw themselves at someone who repeatedly tells you that they don’t
want you. Taylor is a master at it, though.”

She was telling me what I wanted to hear, but I was
still suspicious of her. “Are you and Mark…did you date him, too?”

“Oh no. I’ve been with a good friend of his for
years – since high school. We’ve stayed close. My husband is away at boot camp,
he just joined the army. He’s a friend of Mark’s, too, and it’s hard on both of
us with him being gone. I just came by to check in and maybe get a little moral
support. I miss my Bobby something fierce.”

I smiled at her then, genuinely. She seemed like a
nice person and I felt bad for her, and I felt bad for my attitude. “I don’t
know him like Mark does so I don’t’ know if it will help, but if you need to
talk about him, I’m willing to listen. I’m Lexi, by the way. I’m sorry, I
forgot to introduce myself. My mother is married to Mark’s dad.”

“Oh, Lydia’s daughter! I love your mom. She’s so
cool. She talks about you all of the time.”

I laughed. “That’s funny because I think my mom is
amazing and great and beautiful…but cool is not how I would ever think to
describe her.”

“Well, Lexi, it was good to meet you. I might take
you up on that talk sometime, but today I have some things I need to tend to. I
was just out this way, so I stopped. If you’ll just tell Mark I stopped by, I
would appreciate it.”

“I will. Nice meeting you.” I watched her leave,
ashamed of myself for jumping to conclusions about her and Mark dating. I’d
never been a jealous person, and I didn’t like the feeling. I thought about
what she said and I wondered if I had jumped to conclusions where Mark was
concerned, too. When I walked into the house, the house phone was ringing.
“Mom!” There was just the echo of silence and I realized she must have left
already. I went and picked it up. “Hello?”

“Hello. This is Vince Gray. I’m the rodeo doctor at
the Livingston rodeo. I’m looking for a relative of Mark…”

“I’m his sister, Lexi. What’s wrong?” My heart was
suddenly racing. Please God, tell me he’s okay. I suddenly felt like I could
hardly breathe.

“He had an accident during his bull ride today. He
was taken to Mercy Hospital in Merced…”

I heard the tremor in my own voice as I said, “Oh my
God! Is he okay?”

“As far as I could tell, there were no
life-threatening injuries. We sent him for x-rays and they’ll check for a
concussion or any internal bleeding as well because you never know. The bull
dragged him for a bit.”

“Okay, I’ll be there, doctor! Thank you!” I hung up,
wondering why it felt like something was sitting on my chest. He was all alone
and that was my fault. He shouldn’t be alone. I should have been there. How bad
would I feel if the injuries had been life threatening. I left my mom a note
and brought up Mercy Hospital on the GPS. I grabbed my purse and took off.

CHAPTER
TWO

MARK

I woke up in the hospital hours after taking the
pain pill the nurse had brought me. I was disoriented at first. I didn’t know
where I was or what time of day it was. My mouth felt like it had cotton in it
and there was a dull ache in my head. I felt like I did when I have a hangover,
but I didn’t remember drinking. I started to sit up and forgetting about my
injuries, I pushed with my wrist. It was wrapped, but it still bent and I
wanted to scream. The pain shot up my arm and into my shoulder and finally settled
and exploded in my head. “Damn it!” Everything suddenly started coming back to
me. My hand was stuck. The damned bull dragged me…I wasn’t going to be able to
ride again for months…I felt like I was drowning in my own, miserable life.

I looked around the empty, sterile room and then I sat
there and thought about how amazing it is that the pain in my chest – the one
brought on by the fact that I’m here all alone, felt as real as the one in my
wrist. I didn’t have anyone to blame for that other than myself. I had done
everything I could to antagonize my father and then push Lexi away. I have a
lot of good friends, but what I felt like I needed right now, I didn’t have. I
wanted someone here with me…someone worried about me and telling me that
everything is going to be okay. I wanted someone who would cry for me when I
told them that this injury might well cause me to lose everything I’d worked so
hard for this year – the NFR in Vegas. I felt sorry for myself, not for the
injury which was a lot
more mild
than it could have
been, but for the potential loss of everything.

I looked at my phone lying on the bedside again, and
I thought about calling Lexi. The last thing she said to me when I asked her
about going to the rodeo with me was, “I’d rather jump off the Empire State
Building.” I doubt that she would feel much sympathy for me, and that was my
fault. I should have done more to convince her that Taylor meant nothing to me
– less than that even. If it were up to me, I’d wipe all memories of Taylor out
of my mind and me out of hers. Taylor drove me crazy and it had been years
since I’d felt anything for her other than annoyance, anger, or disgust. I
closed my eyes again and drifted back to sleep. Sleep was easier…not
necessarily just because of the pain in my wrist, but because of the emotional
pain. I just wanted to block it all out. As I lay there feeling sorry for
myself, the doctor came back in. I hoped that he had good news for me, at
least.

“Mark, how are you feeling?” he asked. He was an
older guy with white hair and really white teeth. He looked like the kind of
guy who grew up in the city and had never even attended a rodeo. I had a
feeling he wasn’t going to be the kind of guy who understood that I had to get
back out there.

“Better,” I told him. “The pain pill helped.”

“Are you having any headache?”

“Yeah, some, nothing too bad.”

“What about pain in your back or spine?”

“Nothing worse than I usually have after a rough
ride.”

“Mark, I’m going to admit you to the hospital
overnight for observation. I want to make sure that you don’t have a concussion,
first off. They’ll be bugging you a lot, doing
neuro
checks. I see from your chart that you’re not a stranger to head injury. Have
you been riding bulls long?”

I nodded. “Yeah, since I was a kid.”

He shook his head. I was right, he had no clue. “I
also want to have the surgeon come in and consult on that wrist while you’re
here.”

In a tone harsher than the doctor deserved I said, “Do
I have a choice?” I asked him. My spirits were already low. Staying here…alone,
overnight just pushed them down lower.

“You’re not a prisoner,” he said with a too-white smile.
“But I would strongly advise against you leaving AMA. Without that wrist properly
fixed, you won’t just be on an eight week vacation to heal…you won’t ever ride
a bull again.”

“You’re just a picture of sunshine, aren’t you,
Doc?”

He chuckled. I guess he wasn’t too put out with my
attitude. “I try,” he said. “I’ll go call and arrange for a bed for you upstairs
and set up the consult. Meanwhile, there’s someone here to see you.”

I thought I must have heard him wrong. Did he say
someone was here to see me? The doc at the rodeo usually calls someone, but I
really didn’t expect them to come. “What?”

“A young lady is here to see you. The nurse up front
told her only family is allowed back. She says that she’s your sister.” He
sounded skeptical. I smiled. I’ll be damned, Lexi showed up?

“Pretty girl, dark hair?”

“Yes.”

“She’s my stepsister. Can she come back?”

The doctor smiled again. This time his smile told me
that he knew for certain that she wasn’t my “sister.” There must have been
something on my face that gave away how I felt about her. I’ll have to be
careful of that at home, I guess.

“Yes. I’ll send her back,” he said. I thanked him
profusely. Suddenly, all of the pain went from a deep ache to a dull throb. I
wonder if she would be surprised to know that she was like an anesthetic to me.
I guessed that she probably wouldn’t want to hear it.

It was probably only minutes, but I was so excited
to see her that it seemed like hours later before she burst through the door.
Her cheeks were flushed and her long hair was wild around her face and hanging
loose down her back. Her pretty eyes looked worried and maybe it shouldn’t
have, but it did my heart a world of good to see her worried face.

“Mark! Oh, look at your face! Are you okay? They
didn’t want to let me see you.” She didn’t wait for an answer. She grabbed me
into a hug and then she released me and said, “Oh my goodness. I’m sorry. Did I
hurt you?”

“I’m okay. It’s just my wrist. They’re going to keep
me overnight for observation and a consultation about surgery on my wrist. The
scrapes and bruises are just that. They’ll heal fast. I’ve had lots of those
before.”

“Thank God. Oh, but your poor face. What happened?”

“My hand got stuck in the rigging, and I got drug
around for a while before they could get me off the bull. He was pissed, so he
took me for a wild ride. He was trying to shake me off.”

“Oh no! I’m sorry I wasn’t there. I should have been
there! You could have been killed!”

I smiled. “Then you would have just had to watch
that. I’m really okay, it’s not your fault you weren’t there, it’s mine…” I’m
so glad she’s here.

“No! No, it’s not your fault. I feel so bad about
all of it. I had a visitor on the ranch earlier today…”

“Oh Jeez! Not Taylor again?”

She smiled. “No, Emily came to see you.”

“Emily?” Why would Emily just stop by? It was stupid
to worry because my friend hadn’t even been deployed yet, but maybe it was the
meds. I got a sharp pain in my stomach and said, “Is she okay? Is Bobby
alright?”

“She seemed fine. She didn’t say anything about her
husband not being okay. She just said that she missed him. She came by just to
talk with you about him, she said. She was really nice. I like her. She also
told me a few things about Taylor.”

“Taylor? What brought her up?”

“She mentioned that Taylor said you were home and
that’s why she thought you would be.”

“So what did she tell you about her?”

“Pretty much the same things that you did, or that
you tried to and I wouldn’t listen. She said that she keeps forcing herself on
you and that you’ve done nothing to encourage her for years. She told me that
Taylor loves to stir trouble and everyone who knows her knows it.”

“And you believed her?” Please say yes. Thank you,
Emily!

“I do. I should have believed you. I’m sorry, Mark.
I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions.”

I wanted to jump on her right now. It was so funny
how you could feel like total crap one minute and everything would be okay the
next. “It’s okay,” I told her. “I can’t say that I wouldn’t have jumped to the
same ones had the roles been reversed.” I shuddered at the thought of another
man’s hands or lips on her. “But, Lexi, I have to say something…”