The Year of Luminous Love (11 page)

Earlier Ciana had caught sight of Jon Mercer as she saddled her horse for the grand entrance, and for a brief moment they made eye contact. His green eyes appraised her, unnerving her. She quickly mounted Firecracker and rode away.

After the parade, she locked up her grandfather’s prized saddle, brushed the dust from her horse’s lustrous coat, and put the roan into a holding pen. She hurried to the bleachers
and searched for Eden, finally spotting her sandwiched between Tony and two hulking giants who looked more like pro wrestlers than cowboys. She grimaced but made her way up the steps to where they were sitting. She looked directly at Eden and, ignoring Tony and his “boys,” said, “You hungry? I’m starved.”

Eden stood to give Ciana a hug. “You were gorgeous in the parade. That jacket sparkled so hot it almost blinded me!”

Ciana had removed the jacket but still wore the studded boots.

Beside Eden, Tony grunted, “Must have cost a bundle.”

“It’s vintage. I bought it from a former rodeo queen on eBay.” She turned to Eden. “Come to the concession stand with me.”

Eden sidled Tony a glance. “You mind?”

The fact that Eden had to ask Tony’s permission irked Ciana. “Do you have to get approval to go to the bathroom?” she asked testily.

Tony lifted his sunglasses and gave Ciana a glare that would curdle milk. “You going to hold her hand while she pees?”

Ciana smiled sweetly. “Cowgirls do it by themselves.”

Eden inserted herself between Ciana and Tony. “I’ll be back soon,” she said to Tony. She took Ciana’s hand and started down the bleachers. “Do you have to aggravate him?”

“I do. It makes my day.”

“Well, it complicates mine.”

Once off the bleachers, Ciana turned and asked, “Does he threaten you? Because if he does—”

“Give it a rest.”

Ciana felt the presence of a man-mountain and saw that one of the beefy men had come down with them. “What? We
need a bodyguard to buy fries?” She glared at him, but he ignored her.

Eden tugged her to the concession stand where they got in line. “Tony doesn’t like being challenged.”

“What’s happened to you, Eden? You used to be ferocious. No one pushed you around. How did this man get such a hold on you?”

Eden glanced over her shoulder. “It’s complicated and we’re in a food line surrounded by a hundred people. Please don’t dig around in my private life in front of the whole world.”

Ciana felt stonewalled, but she understood Eden’s point. “Can we talk about it sometime?”

“Sometime,” Eden said with a shrug.

“Sometime
very
soon!” Ciana insisted. “Listen, I miss my friends. You’re always corralled by Tony, and Arie’s head over heels over her horse trainer.”

“He
is
hunky.”

Ciana scuffed the ground with the toe of her boot. She was well aware of that.

“Look, I promise to come over one night next week. We can order pizza, hang out, talk. Okay?”

“I’d really like that,” Ciana said, mollified by Eden’s assurance.

They bought their food, but before Ciana could figure out a place for her and Eden to sit and eat, the Hulk moved in, took Eden’s cup and fries, and said, “Let’s go.”

Shocked, Ciana was about to tell him to buzz off when Eden gave her a pleading look that warned her to say nothing. Ciana stood and watched her friend and the man walk away. She seethed but didn’t follow.

An hour later, Arie found Ciana by her horse trailer in the parking area. “Thought I’d find you here. Come on. Jon’s event is coming up. Let’s go cheer him on.”

Watching Jon maybe break his neck trying to stay seated bareback on a bucking bronc wasn’t anything Ciana wanted to do, but she had no graceful way out. They returned to the arena and shouldered their way into the spectators standing along the corral near the chutes that contained the horses and bulls. The animals were forced into the chutes so that a rider could lower himself onto the animal’s back. When the chute opened, the animal would charge out bucking and whipping its body sideways to dislodge the rider—a contest of athletes. These broncs were chosen for their bucking abilities and could sell for as much as fifty thousand dollars.

In Jon’s event, a rider had to stay on the horse for eight seconds while holding on to a leather strap around the horse’s girth with one gloved hand. His other hand had to be held high in the air without touching the animal or the girth strap. In the stadium box, a panel of judges would grade each rider for time and form. One slip and the rider was disqualified, even if the rider wasn’t thrown. Highest score won.

The announcer called the event and minutes later an angry bucking horse shot out of a chute. The rider was tossed before the buzzer sounded, and clowns rushed in to distract the horse while the cowboy rolled out of the way of the deadly driving hooves. Another rider made it the full eight seconds, but Ciana didn’t think his form was great. The announcer called out, “Next is Jon Mercer from Amarillo, Texas, on Blacksnake.” A cheer went up from the stands.

Ciana’s heart lodged in her throat, and Arie seized her arm in a death grip. The chute opened and the horse was out like a gunshot, bucking and twisting like a corkscrew, but Jon held
on for the full ride. When the buzzer sounded, he threw a leg over the horse’s back and dropped to the ground, rolled, and sprang upright. The crowd went wild and Arie hugged Ciana hard. “He did it! Isn’t he amazing?”

“Amazing,” Ciana verified, watching the clowns corner the horse and a rider herd the animal into a pen. Jon picked up his hat from the dirt, held it high, and waved at the cheering audience.

“Let’s go congratulate him,” Arie said.

“You go on. I promised a few girls from the old flag corps days that I’d meet them on the midway.”

Arie darted off, and Ciana left, struggling not to feel envious of her best friend.

Ciana met her friends and together they went on every ride and played every game, ate funnel cakes and corn dogs and cotton candy, and when the midway shut down at eleven o’clock, they hugged goodbye and promised to do it all again next year. Ciana returned to the corral area near the horse trailer parking lot and saw that only Firecracker was left in the enclosure.

“Sorry, sorry,” Ciana said when she saw her horse’s head drooping, half asleep. Firecracker raised her head and Ciana was certain the horse gave her an accusatory stare. Ciana muttered, “Don’t look at me like that.” Yet she did feel guilty. She should have taken the animal home hours ago.

“How about an extra bucket of oats before we load?”

Firecracker’s ears pricked forward, seeming to understand that she was going to be rewarded with food. Ciana laughed and poured a few cups of oats into a wooden trough. While
Firecracker ate, she opened the cab door of her truck and turned the radio on to her favorite country station. She leaned back to savor the summer night sky, where the moon was a half circle with wispy clouds scuttling across it. Rain was coming. While Firecracker crunched oats to the guitar music of a country song, she closed her eyes. The scents of cotton candy and popcorn mingled with the smells of horseflesh and leather.

“Hello, Ciana.”

Her eyes flew open. Jon Mercer was standing a few feet in front of her. She straightened slowly from the truck seat. “I … I didn’t hear you come up.”

“You looked to be in another time and place.”

“Just waiting for my horse to finish up some oats. Why are you here so late?” His proximity rattled her, and yet her eyes feasted on him.

“Went out for a few beers with some of the other riders. Came back for my truck.”

“By the way, great ride today. How’d you do overall?”

He reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out a belt buckle. It flashed silver in the moonlight. “Won this and a hundred sixty bucks.”

“You deserved it, although it doesn’t seem like enough money to have your brains rattled by a wild horse.” She scooted from the truck to stand in front of him.

“Bragging rights,” he said, sliding the buckle back into his pocket. He was silent for a minute, and she knew he wanted to say something to her. Her heart raced nervously. Finally he said, “I’m a plain man, Ciana. Words don’t come easy for me.” His gaze settled on her eyes. “There’s something I want to ask you. Something I need to know.”

She took a deep breath. “All right. Ask me.”

“What happened that night between us? Was it just a game to you? Did any of it matter?”

She did owe him an explanation, but how honest could she be? “It mattered. I was going to tell you everything about me at breakfast. Then that text came.” She blew out a breath. “My grandmother was in the hospital. We’re very close. I had to leave.”

“And you didn’t trust me to understand? You couldn’t have jotted down your phone number before running off?”

“I freaked out. I-I’m sorry. I handled it badly.”

He looked thoughtful, as if weighing how to say what else was on his mind. “You called the cab before the text message came. Did you think I’d leave you stranded at the diner?”

She stared down at the toes of their boots, only inches apart. How could she say,
I’m a Beauchamp. We don’t act the way I did
. “Things looked different in the clear light of day. I was a little ashamed about … about spending a whole night with a man I didn’t know.”

He shook his head. “Nothing hinky happened. I respected you.”

She touched his arm. “I believe you, but we were strangers. I-I’d never done anything like that before. I swear that’s the honest truth. And I … um … let’s be honest, I had thrown myself at you—an offer you politely declined. And thank you for that. I was embarrassed. And I haven’t had a margarita since,” she added quickly, bringing a half smile to his face.

He moved a strand of hair that had fallen across her cheek and tucked it behind her ear. “I ride the rodeo, Ciana. I go from one town to the next with my horse and saddle. Sometimes I have to buy a newspaper to remember where I am.
There are girls. Rodeo groupies who think it’s cool to bed a cowboy in every town.”

Instantly she disliked every one of the unknown females, but she nodded, understanding because she’d heard such stories before. Girls threw themselves at him. Who could blame them?

“I won’t tell you I’ve never had a one-night stand on the road. I have. But I don’t want that for myself. It’s no way for a man to live, bedding every woman who crosses his path just because he can.”

Ciana was acquainted with the kind of guy he spoke of—high school jocks who took a girl’s starry-eyed dreams, used her, and left her. College frat guys who hung hearts out to dry with no concern for their owners. She had seen the pitfalls clearly and avoided them. It hadn’t always been easy, but she’d never regretted her choices. Until now. Until that one perfect night under the stars with Jon. “What do you want?”

Jon searched her face. “To tell you that night with you … it was … different. From the minute you walked in the door, I was … taken. I can’t explain it, and I’m not feeding you a line. I want another chance with you.”

His words should have flattered her, should have made her melt into his arms. Under normal circumstances, she might have, but what he did not know was that someone stood between them.

“You didn’t seem happy to see me that day at Pickins’s place,” he added.

“I was blindsided that day. I went back to that dance saloon a few times, but you never showed. Then I look up one day weeks later, and there you were. I was blown away, then
mad when you almost shot daggers at me. I got your message loud and clear: ‘Back off.’ ”

“It was because of Arie.”

He looked confused. “She’s my student. She’s paying me to help train her horse. I don’t think about her in any other way.”

Could he not see how crazy Arie was over him? “Maybe she wants more with you.”

He dug a trench in the ground with the heel of his boot, keeping silent. When he spoke, he asked, “What about what I want? Does that count?”

Ciana fidgeted, shoving her hands into the back pockets of her jeans, wanting to dodge his question. “Of course, but she’s my best friend. She’s had some rough breaks in her life.”

“I know. I think she’s brave and tough, and I think the world of her, but that’s all I feel for her.”