When he came back, Jody was reading a poster in the window he hadn’t even noticed. “Cowboy Casting Call” jumped out in huge red text, and underneath the details explained that a new season of the self-declared hit series, Not Their First Rodeo would begin shooting soon; they were looking for cowboys and their significant others for the reality show.
She looked up at him as he paused by his bench. “That was in the paper, the one with the photos of the horses. I didn’t even look at it.” She shrugged. “Reality shows mostly make me sick. What’s real about them?”
He sat down and reached for the glass of tea Dottie had filled again.
“Although this one…”
He almost spit spat the tea out. “This one? You think this one would be better?”
“I thought it might be useful. You know, to pour light on what happens to horses after they’re put out to pasture. It doesn’t really happen like that, does it?”
“Not always. Not often enough. I actually called Cowboy’s last owner when I saw he was in with the slaughter horses. Barty Owens runs a good show—honest animals, prize money—everything above board. He breeds his own bulls. Retires his stock on a huge ranch when they’re too old to perform. Cowboy had years left. It didn’t make any sense.”
“So what happened?”
Joe sighed. “Long story short, he tried to help a friend get started in the business and keep his own wife from making him sell Cowboy—and a few others—to increase his cash. Divorce—isn’t it always? So he leased them out, on paper. He basically gave Cowboy away. He didn’t know the friend had a nice little addiction going on. And all his stock went to auction before Barty even knew anything.”
“So, you don’t think the folks who run the Rodeo series would help us somehow?”
“No. They’re between seasons right now, anyway.”
“It could make a promo or something. People might be as horrified as we are.”
“Honey, all they want to promote are marriage meltdowns and ruining lives.”
She didn’t miss the bitterness in his reaction. “Sounds personal,” she prodded gently, tilting her head to consider him. “Were you in the show or something?”
“No. But I might still be married today if I had been.”
He waved Dottie away as she headed toward them with a pitcher. “My ex, Lorraine, knew a producer with the show. He wanted us to appear after I won the title but couldn’t ride again. She wanted it, too.”
“You’re kidding!” Jody stared in disbelief. “Why would he want that?”
“I’d bragged about how I’d be back. And he told Lorraine they needed to regain ratings by ‘sexing it up’ a little. He wanted at least the hint of affairs. The possibility I’d never do anything again.” He emphasized ‘anything’ and wasn’t surprised it embarrassed Jody to consider that. “A perfect storyline. How would a wife—how would Lorraine—deal with a champion bronc rider one minute and a cripple the next?”
“She…she came to you with that? She wanted you to be okay with it?”
Joe gulped the last of his tea and slammed the glass down. “Hell, her first open affair was with him. Our divorce wasn’t final, and she didn’t even tell me she was filing until after she did.”
“Wow,” Jody said.
“Yeah.” He drew a deep breath. “But we’ve got our own issues now, don’t we? I guess we need to ask ourselves if we can swing the deposit. And find a place for the horses in a day or two, so we’ll have time to trailer them.”
“Shouldn’t we worry about the big stuff? The hundred and fifty thousand dollars?”
He laughed. “Actually, that’s the easy part. We have to go to Dallas, but I’m not worried about that. Everything else scares me.”
Jody grinned and her eyes glowed. “Then we’re good,” she said, without hesitation. Because I can take care of all the rest.”
Chapter Eight
It was five-thirty-five when Jody pushed the door closed behind them. Joe walked ahead of her to the tiny kitchen and pulled a chair out for her, but she shook her head, too nervous to sit. He pulled his phone out of his jeans, then fished the card out.
“Remember,” Jody said, as he started to punch in the number. “Ask him to meet us at my bank after we do the head count. I don’t trust him.”
“Benton, Joe Roberts,” he said, nodding at her to let her know he’d heard. “We still think your price is outrageous, but if you won’t let Cowboy go by himself….”
“No, okay. Can you meet us at the bank tomorrow at ten?”
Benton’s voice came out of the cell, sneering. “Why not my office? Afraid of me?”
“No, but we have a lot of arrangements we need to finalize before Saturday. We’re meeting your price, Benton. We’re acting in good faith here. Give us that much of a break, won’t you? Any reason you don’t want to be seen?”
Benton cut loose with a few choice expletives before snapping, “Okay. Ten. Don’t be late,” and ending the call.
Joe sighed with relief. “We did it, girl.”
Jody sagged against the counter for a minute. The implications were enormous. How could this stranger have accepted her plea for help, desperate as it had been?
“Joe—”
He shook his head. “No second thoughts, Jody. We made the call.”
She nodded. “I need to talk to Eric tomorrow sometime. How soon do you need to go to Dallas?”
“Not me, Jody. Us. We should go as soon as possible. Just in case.”
“In case of what?” Her palms felt damp and breathing normally was hard. What if he had no intention of following through? What if she took money out of her savings and lost it the way—no. She wouldn’t doubt Joe. He’d come to see Cowboy. He couldn’t have expected her to be there.
“I hate big cities,” she said, then brushed past him. “I need to do some stuff online.”
She made herself look back at him, hoping he couldn’t tell how close she was to coming unglued. “Come with me? I know the room is tiny, but we can tie up loose ends while I check email.”
He followed her without comment, sitting in the chair farthest away from her computer and watching as she powered up her system.
“I keep thinking,” she said, her back turned to him, seemingly intent on the screen. “We’re paying so much to save those horses. What you said when we first talked is so true—there are so many others.” She glanced at him. “I can’t keep doing this, but now…it will be hard to think about all the others.”
He nodded slowly. “Getting the horses away from Benton may be the easiest part, Jody.”
“I asked before, but is there somewhere else you have to be? Someone waiting for you, or a job or whatever?”
“Not right now, no. But, Jody, I’m not here for the long haul.” He leaned forward and she sensed his struggle to find the right words. “It’s hard to explain, because right now, I don’t know who I am anymore. I don’t know what I want, if I can’t do what I want to—which is ride broncs. For a year after Lorraine left, I thought I wanted her back. Then I realized she’d been gone for most of our marriage.” He shrugged. “I don’t know what I want.”
She toyed with telling him her story of betrayal, but couldn’t. He’d help her because—well, she wasn’t sure why. And maybe right now it didn’t matter. But she understood how he felt. “Okay.”
She checked her inbox, answering two queries from college students who needed help editing their papers. One of her former English professors recommended her, resulting in a steady stream of work and a surprisingly helpful income. She’d take the laptop with her to Dallas, if she couldn’t talk him into going alone.
“Why Dallas?” she asked, before she realized she was going to.
“Honey, this is Texas,” he drawled. “Where else would I get money?”
She smiled and answered the one last email she couldn’t ignore, one from Eric, asking her to look at a couple of letters for him.
She corrected the letters in seconds and sent the
m back with a message saying she and Joe needed to talk to him tomorrow. Then she turned off the computer and turned around, stretching. “All done.”
“Fast,” he said. “No Facebook gossip or tweeting?”
“Not tonight. I mostly use the computer for work.” She stood, wishing she could walk while she talked, but there literally was no room to pace. She crossed her arms over her chest and tried to speak normally. “Joe, I had no right to ask you to do this. I don’t know—”
He was on his feet before she could finish, wrapping his hands around her upper arms and giving her a slight shake. “Don’t you dare, Jody. Don’t worry about money or think that you owe me anything. We’re saving a horse that you love and I respect, and a bunch of others that should be allowed to live. It’s the right thing for me to do. For us to do.”
She looked down, then back up. “Some would say that much money would help the established rescue operations so much, that they’ve been saving horses for years.”
“But they couldn’t have saved Cowboy. Or any of Benton’s horses,” Joe pointed out. “I admire the folks who do this year after year, Jody. I’ve helped sometimes. Maybe not often enough. But we’re saving these horses.” He let go of her and stepped back. “That’s about all we can do this week,” he added, winking.
She smiled slightly, but worry came rushing back. “So we pay Benton, check the horses and see Eric tomorrow?”
“You left out throwing some stuff in a bag and heading to Dallas, but that sounds like a good start. Oh—and finding a place to put sixty horses when neither of us has property.”
“Oh, that.” Jody twisted her hands. “I said I didn’t, but—I have property.”
Joe’s shock was clear. “You do?”
“It’s not legally mine, yet,” she explained. “Part of Eric’s ranch is mine now, and—” she looked uncomfortable saying it, but added, “He has nobody. The ranch will be mine when he’s gone. But right now, my portion is held by a trust.”
“You surprise me, Jody. You’ll be able to get him to agree so easily?”
She sighed and looked away from him. “Tomorrow. He’ll agree tomorrow. He loved my mother—he still loves her. So, before Saturday we’re back here with tons of money and a way to move sixty-something horses?” She rubbed her arms. “Anything I’ve forgotten?”
“Only little stuff,” he assured her. “We need a vet on the grounds to check all of them. And we’ll need to feed them, too.”
Jody nodded once. They were crazy. He made it all sound so easy. She still didn’t believe deep down that they could do it. The image of the horses at the export pens hit her. Joe was right.
This was just little stuff. Saving Cowboy and the others was what mattered.
She couldn’t imagine anyone else who would have undertaken this fool’s challenge. She looked at him, so close, solid as a rock. Light glinted in the brown eyes watching her and he seemed unshakeable, someone she could count on to help hold her together. She’d been wrong when she told him she didn’t need a hero. Tonight, she did. She needed him. Her body flushed with heat. She couldn’t speak, just stumbled forward and wrapped her arms around him, standing on tiptoes to press a kiss on his jawline. He went hard against her and his arms wrapped around her, his lips touching her forehead. Not returning her kiss, just holding her close.
“Jody,” he whispered urgently, “are you sure? This isn’t something you think we have to do, is it? Something you think I expect because I’m helping?”
She tilted her head far enough back to meet his eyes as she answered. “No. I just want you.”
He sighed and lowered his mouth to hers. Gentle turned to desperate. Somehow clothes came off. Jody pulled him closer as she inched back, falling when the backs of her legs hit the bed, bringing him down on top of her.
His lips left her lips and moved over her cheek, his chin scratching her throat. She reached for his head to urge him closer, but he muttered something and half fell off the bed as he fished for something, his bare midriff and ass exposed. She leaned over and pressed a kiss near his waist and he jerked and slid to the floor.
“Don’t ever do that again,” he said from the floor. “I’m ticklish.” He climbed back up and put on the condom he’d been seeking, then turned and pushed her back to the middle of the bed. “Where were we—right about here?” he asked, brushing her throat again with his lips.
So long. Jody caught his cheeks between her hands, urging him over her. “Later,” she murmured. “I want you. Now.”
He thrust into her and she cried out in pleasure, digging her fingers into his back and moving under him, her body reacting to his demands and making its own, until their frenzied mating ended in explosions of noise and flaming colors.
He turned on his side and pulled her close, holding her loosely while their breathing steadied.
Almost immediately, the anxiety pressed in. What if he expected her to talk, to compliment him? Or claim love neither felt? She’d gone through that with the first—the only—mistake she’d let herself make.
But Joe just held her, snuggled against him, occasionally brushing her sweat-dampened hair.
“Wow,” he murmured eventually, sighing contentedly.
She nodded, her lips against the wall of his chest, and felt him harden against her.
“Wow,” she echoed, and he laughed and disappeared off the bed again.
Chapter Nine
Somehow during the night, they both wound up on the floor. Jody lifted her head briefly and glanced at the bed, but it seemed impossibly high and far away when Joe was sleeping inches away. Smiling, she scooted over and found a comfortable position against him. He mumbled and moved, but didn’t open his eyes.
She didn’t wake up after that until her alarm belted out its usual morning clamor. Even then, she pressed against Joe until Brooks and Dunn blasted her a second time.
“Lord have mercy! You could have just called me,” he grumbled, pushing himself up. “Then again, after last night…we really have to get up, right?”
“Right.” She wished she’d had the foresight to throw something on before he woke up. Standing up naked in front of him was agony. Her whole body burned. He’d been married. Who knew how many other women he’d slept with? She bet none of them turned fire engine red just because he watched them move.
She wrapped herself in the shawl on her desk chair, feeling stupid, and nodded at the bathroom. “I’ll take the first shower, but if you need to go first—”
He went without saying anything, pausing to kiss her forehead. When he came out, he waved at the door. “All yours. I need to get stuff out of my bag.”
She rushed through the shower, pulled on clothes and went out to the kitchen. Joe was standing buck naked by the couch with his arms full of clothes, not looking at all abashed. She moistened her dry lips, and he noticed and grinned at her.
“Benton,” she said curtly, not sure how to get him out of her living room. “We have to go meet Benton.”
“Killjoy,” he muttered, but headed off with his bundle.
While she waited, she fixed breakfast—fried egg sandwiches again. He’d probably be polite and eat them, and they didn’t have time for anything else.
She sat down abruptly as she thought of the daunting week ahead. Benton, Eric and whoever or whatever was in Dallas. She couldn’t look up at high buildings. Her mother had taken her to Dallas several times. She’d walked with her head down, trying not to bump into people. Her mother encouraged her to look up once or twice, but she’d gotten dizzy and stepped off the curb into the streets.
“You look pretty glum,” Joe said, from the other side of the bar. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” She waved at the sandwiches. “We need to eat and go.”
He sat and began eating, watching as she bit her sandwich and pushed it away.
“Nervous?”
“How did we hook up, anyway?”
He looked surprised at the question and she shook her head. “I don�
�t mean last night. I mean, at all. You’ve got a championship buckle, an ex-wife and an invitation to be a reality TV star. I never deal with people face to face if I can help it. I—I’ll freak out after we see Benton. I might throw up when I have to argue with Eric.” She jumped up, picking up the plates as he took the last bite. “And Dallas? I would give anything not to go to Dallas.”
He walked up behind her and pulled her back against him, resting his chin on the top of her head. “You’re stronger than you think, Jody. And there’s one thing you wouldn’t give up to skip Dallas.”
She nodded and turned, leaning into his chest. His arms closed around her in a gentle hug.
“Yeah.” She didn’t say it, but knew he was thinking it. Scared or not, she’d do anything to save Cowboy.
***
Joe watched his speed and highway signs more closely than usual. All they needed was a traffic stop to ruin everything. He wondered if Benton would be on time or would arrive late just to make them squirm.
Jody was already tied up in knots. She sat too stiffly, mostly staring straight ahead, her hands in tight fists. The one time she seemed to notice any of their surroundings was when they passed a pasture with quarter horses and Appaloosas grazing near a fence line. Her face softened and she turned to look at them until they were out of sight.
When they arrived at the desolate pens, Benton’s car was already there. Joe pulled up a few yards from the car and hopped out. “Let me get the door for you,” he told her softly. She blinked in confusion, then shrugged and waited.
He pulled it open, glad she hadn’t questioned. Benton was a snake. She might not appreciate the gesture, but he didn’t want her to deal with any unpleasantness that he might be able to buffer. Keeping her as close as possible seemed the best way to shut Benton out.
Saving Cowboy Page 4
