Walker: The Rodeo Legend

by Rebecca Winters

  “I’m glad it wasn’t more serious than that.” She was still looking out the passenger window. “Where’s your next rodeo?”

  “The Crazy Horse Stampede in South Dakota. I’ve got to take advantage of the rodeos I can, including performing most nights here in Cody until the Roundup up on the Fourth of July.”

  “You’ve set yourself a very rigorous schedule.”

  Yup. It’s kept me from rushing you. “I have to if I’m going to get my time down.”

  She remained unusually quiet for the rest of the drive. He, on the other hand, kept up a conversation with Clay, who made noises now and then to let him know he was communicating the best way he could. When Walker looked back at him through the rearview mirror and Clay broke out in a smile that revealed his baby teeth, a feeling of love for the boy crept into his heart of its own volition.

  HER EMOTIONS IN CHAOS, Paula followed Walker and Clay around the side of the house to the pool. Before the day was out, she would tell him she couldn’t go on seeing him. After the nightmare that had taken its toll on her, she couldn’t risk being involved with a man who deliberately put himself in danger.

  He kept talking about the Cody Roundup, but that wouldn’t be the end of it. There’d always be another rodeo stretching to infinity. That’s what it felt like. She couldn’t handle it.

  “You can change over there in the cabana,” he said in a deep, mellow voice. “I’ll keep an eye on Clay.”

  She nodded before doing as he suggested. Inside the changing room, complete with a shower, towels and every cosmetic one could want, she undid her skirt and took off her sandals.

  Wrapping one of the towels around her body, she emerged to discover Walker had removed his clothes and wore a pair of navy swim trunks that rode low on his hips. Except for the scarring, she could find no flaw in him or in his superb physique.

  In a desperate attempt to quell her desire for him, she tested the water. “This is a great temperature for Clay. Let’s put him on the step so he can play there for a little while.” She’d already put his bathing suit on over his diaper.

  Walker took him to the shallow end and got in the water. With infinite care he lowered Clay to the first step and talked to him as he gently splashed Clay a little to help him get used to it.

  Her son loved water and started patting it with his hands. Soon he was kicking his sturdy legs, causing Walker to laugh out loud. His patience with her son revealed depths of his character. He genuinely enjoyed Clay.

  The fun-loving part of Walker that had been buried for so many years came out when he was around her little boy. Her heart hurt to think his life experiences had been so painful, he’d almost forgotten how to be carefree.

  Before she took off her towel and got in, too, she heard a female voice cry out Walker’s name. Paula turned her head to see a young blonde version of Anne Cody walk out on the deck dressed in jeans and a red print top. “I thought that was your laugh and came out to investigate. I was looking for Mom and didn’t think anyone else was here.”

  “We just arrived. Elly, meet Paula Olsen, the woman who transformed the grounds around here. And this is her son, Clay.”

  His sister wore her hair in a ponytail. It swished back and forth as she walked over to her. “Hi! I’ve always wanted to meet you. Everyone who comes to the house lavishes praise over the job you did on the landscaping.”

  “Thank you, Elly. It was an exciting project.”

  She shook her head. “To have your talent…”

  “You’ve got a ton of your own,” Walker asserted.

  “I’ll say you do,” Paula chimed in. “I saw your performance during the barrel racing last night. You were so sensational, I was awestruck.”

  “Really?”

  Like Walker, Elly Cody displayed a rare modesty that won Paula over.

  His eyes leveled on Paula. “My sister’s a fabulous photographer, too. Between her prizewinning photos and your paintings, the two of you have a lot in common. One day you’ll have to get together.” He got out of the pool and brought Clay over to her, but her son was preoccupied by the jade piece.

  “Oh, isn’t he adorable.”

  Paula smiled. “I think so.”

  “Can I hold him? Do you think he’d let me?”

  “Here. Take this towel first or you’ll get soaked.”

  “I don’t mind.” She wrapped it around Clay and settled him in her arms. “Oh, you’re so cute I could eat you up.” Clay was so distracted by all the attention, he forgot to cry. “Paula? Do you mind if I take him in the house? Mom will go crazy when she finds out who has come to visit.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Positive. I see you brought a baby bag. If I need anything, I’ll get it out. In case you’re worried, I’ve done my share of babysitting in my time.”

  “I’m not worried. He seems perfectly content to be with you right now.”

  “It’s called the Cody Effect,” Walker drawled.

  Elly rolled her eyes at her brother before grabbing the bag. “Trust you to come up with that one. Are you ready, little cutie? Let’s go inside. Do you like bananas? I bet there’s one in the kitchen waiting for you.”

  Paula happened to glance at Walker. The memory of him feeding Clay a banana was on both their minds. The smile he gave her was so sweet it hurt. “Since Clay is being supervised for the moment, there’s something I want to show you. Come on. We’ll go in the truck. We won’t be long.”

  “But I’m still in my suit.”

  “So am I.”

  “I’d still be more comfortable with a skirt on. Just a minute.” She dashed over to the cabana and put it back on, along with her sandals. When she joined him again, he’d slipped on a T-shirt.

  “After we get back, we’ll swim. Your brother told me you set the lifetime best in college for the four-hundred-yard individual medley in the Western Athletic Conference Championships in Houston.”

  “Oh dear. I guess nothing’s sacred.”

  “Nope.”

  His wicked grin told her he possessed other secrets, too.

  Chapter Eleven

  Walker drove them on an outer road through rangeland to a part of the Cottonwood Ranch where she’d never been. In the distance she saw a natural-gas well. After a few miles she spied another and then another. He kept driving until she couldn’t see any more.

  He eventually turned off the road and pulled up in front of an old line shack probably used by one of their stockmen during the winter months. She’d seen one depicted in a Charles Russell painting that looked just like it.

  She flicked him a curious glance. “Why are we stopping here?”

  “I thought you’d like to see my temporary office. This is where you’ll find me when I get a moment.”

  “This shack?”

  His eyes lit up with an excitement she’d never seen before. “You’re the first person to behold the future J. W. Cody Natural Gas Company.”

  Paula stirred restlessly in her seat, wondering if she’d heard him correctly. “I thought you told me you leased this part of your land to the Spurling Natural Gas Company.”

  “We do, but that will come to an end next year.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  For the next few minutes he explained about the conversation with his father. He not only gave her the history behind the natural-gas field on their property, but he told her his hopes of finding another one north of where they were parked and that he was going to fund it himself. “I came up with this idea before I graduated from the University of Montana.”

  “You went to Missoula?” Everything he told her was a revelation.

  He nodded.

  “But then how did you manage to be that far away from the ranch and still be on the rodeo circuit?”

  “It wasn’t easy. Every minute had to count.”

  Not easy? she cried inwardly. He had to be some kind of genius to balance school and rodeo and still win a world rodeo championship. There were more facets to Walker Cod
y than she would ever have imagined.

  “Hey.” He leaned across and cupped her chin in his hand. “You’re not saying anything. What do you think about my plan?”

  What did she think? He’d thrown so much at her all at once, she was spinning. For sure he was the greatest risk taker she’d ever known.

  “I think you’re a throwback to your ancestor whose picture is hanging in the ranch office. He was a visionary man, too.”

  Walker pressed a kiss to the side of her mouth before sitting back. His touch sent fingers of delight through her sensitized body. “Let’s hope my vision produces his kind of results.”

  She had no doubts it would, provided he lived long enough to see it become a reality. “Is your father behind you in this?” she asked quietly.

  “All the way.” She heard satisfaction in his voice. It appeared that whatever issues he’d had with J.W., he’d gotten past them.

  “You’re surprised, aren’t you?”

  “I suppose I am,” she answered softly, “but it’s none of my business.”

  “Then I’m going to make it your business so you’ll understand. My siblings never seemed to have much trouble with my father, but I always did because we’re so different. Still, life went on the same until my senior year in high school when I was upset with him for trying to keep me from going to the prom. He had other ideas about me doing a competition that night.

  “Troy and I took off and that’s when he told me something about my father that hit me so hard, I lost my natural affection for him.”

  As Paula listened, her pain for Walker grew. If she’d been his age when she’d learned that her father had carried on an affair with another woman early in her parents’ marriage, it would have been so devastating, she couldn’t imagine getting over it.

  “The anger I felt stayed bottled up inside me throughout college and my years in the service. When I saw Mother for the first time after coming back from Iraq, she wanted to know why I resented Dad. At that point I asked her if the rumor was true. She didn’t deny it.

  “I’m afraid my disgust with him came out in my artwork. Dr. Bader picked up on it and we had a talk. To make a long story short, he informed me the war hadn’t done near the damage to me I’d done to myself by not forgiving my father, who, he reminded me, wasn’t a perfect man. Nor was I.

  “By staying away from the rodeo, I thought I was punishing him, but all I’d managed to do was keep myself away from a sport I loved, and separate myself from my siblings, which caused grief for them and unnecessary guilt for me.”

  “Dr. Bader’s a brilliant man.”

  “I agree. After his talk sank in, I realized Mom must have forgiven Dad, so why couldn’t I? Unless Mom has told him, he doesn’t know that I know. I’m still working on building a new relationship with him, but things are better between us.”

  “They must be or he wouldn’t willingly turn over part of the Cody empire to you. It’s wonderful news.” She was thrilled for him. Averting her eyes she said, “So you’re going to start a new company and still compete in the rodeo?” It was a rhetorical question because she already knew the answer. “Of course.”

  Of course. He was only twenty-eight. He had several years yet to be at the top of his form, like Jesse. “I think we’d better go back. I’m sure your sister didn’t expect to find us gone. If Clay’s missing me, he can be a handful.”

  Walker slid a strong hand to her thigh and squeezed it before starting up the truck and turning around. The contact rocked her whole body. When they’d first left the ranch house, she’d thought he was going to take her someplace private where she’d lose control in his arms, the one thing she couldn’t afford to do. Surprise, surprise.

  What Paula needed to do was get a life for herself beyond her work. With Angie gone from Cody, maybe it was time for her to do the same.…

  If she were to move back to Rexburg, a city of eighteen thousand, she could buy a little house and be a landscape architect there. Her family would be overjoyed and Clay would thrive. She’d work things out so Clay saw his other grandparents.

  The move would give her new opportunities to meet people. As Angie had said, it was time to leave herself open to new possibilities. When she got back home today, she’d make housing and job inquiries. With her portfolio, she had every reason to be optimistic.

  Naturally there would never be another tall, dark and dangerous man like Walker Cody, but the nightmare last night had proved she couldn’t go on this way any longer. Living with fear was no way to live. By the time they reached the parking area at the ranch house, she’d determined to tell Walker the truth while they were in the pool.

  He turned his head toward her. “I need to phone Boyd and let him know my plans. I’ll join you and Clay in a minute.”

  “That’s fine.” She got out of the truck and hurried to the back of the house. Elly was walking Clay around the pool. They were both so blond, they could be mother and son.

  Paula waved to them. “Sorry we were so long.”

  “No problem. Mom wasn’t here so we just explored the house and then came outside.”

  Clay saw her and started running toward her as fast as his sturdy legs could go calling “ma ma.” For the first time the sounds were distinct. She grabbed him and swung him around before hugging him again in delight. “How’s my boy? Did you wonder where I’d gone?” After kissing him, she looked at Elly over his curls. “Did he cry a lot?”

  “No. He was terrific and ate all the food you packed for him. If you want to know the truth, I’d like to steal him.”

  “Thank you for watching him. I know it wasn’t on your schedule for today. I feel like I should pay you.”

  “Don’t be silly. It was a pleasure. One day I’d give anything to have a cute little boy like him.” While they were talking, Walker suddenly appeared. Instead of coming over to them, he took off his shirt and dived in the water.

  “I’m sure you will,” Paula said. Seeing his lean body almost made her lose her train of thought.

  “With zero marriages in this family so far, it’s doubtful,” Elly quipped with a smile. Since danger was the middle name of the attractive Cody siblings, they found the rodeo far too fascinating to settle down to anything as mundane as marriage. The sooner she removed herself from Walker’s sphere, the better.

  “Thanks again. I guess Clay and I had better join your brother.”

  Elly rolled her eyes once more. “Good idea or he’ll show no mercy and throw you in the deep end of the pool. Then it’s everyone swim for your lives!” Paula laughed, but inside, the idea of swimming for her life with Walker in pursuit left her breathless.

  “Come on in!” he called to her as she walked Clay across the patio. He was treading water at the far end of the pool as if he were lying in wait. Elly’s comment of a moment ago didn’t seem so far-fetched.

  Paula struggled to keep her composure before putting Clay in his swing so he could watch them. Once more she entered the cabana and took off her clothes. Underneath she was wearing a new, white, two-piece bathing suit.

  When she swam for the university, they’d all worn one-piece suits. It had never bothered her to walk in front of hundreds of spectators, but knowing Walker was out there and would be watching sent her into a panic. Without a tan, white did little for her, but it had been the most modest suit she could find.

  Having a baby had added to her curves. She needed to get on a disciplined swimming regimen to tone her body. It would probably never perform the way it once did, and she shouldn’t be worrying about that now, but she couldn’t help it because—because she wanted to look good for the man outside.

  “Paula? Is anything wrong?”

  “No! I’m coming!” She swallowed hard and headed out the door to discover Walker had gotten out of the pool and was hunkered down next to Clay, swinging him back and forth.

  He turned his head when he saw her. She felt his gaze sweep over her in intimate appraisal. It caused her body to break out in heat. Walking to
the end of the pool, she dived in and did five laps before surfacing. By now Walker was in the water. He swam over to her, then tossed his head back. She’d never seen his eyes so alive.

  “Last one to the other end will have to pay a penalty. Are you game?”

  “Are you?” she challenged. No one ever bested him at anything, but she was going to try.

  “Do you need to catch your breath first?” Wouldn’t he love it if she said yes. “No.”

  A devilish sound escaped his throat. “On three, then.” He gave the countdown and they were off. As they cleaved the water side by side, her excitement grew. She thought they were matching stroke for stroke. At the other end their heads lifted at the exact same time.

  “It was a draw!” she cried, gleeful that he hadn’t beaten her the first time out.

  His expression didn’t look quite as triumphant as before. “We’ll do it again,” he muttered.

  “You’re on. I’ll count. One, two, three!”

  Their second round went the same as before with both of them surfacing together. Trying to keep from grinning, she said, “Shall we go for one more?”

  Walker’s handsome features had hardened. The true competitor was revealed at last. “I’m ready if you are. I’ll count, and this time I won’t give you the edge,” he announced in a no-nonsense tone.

  “Hah!” At the sound of three she went deep and did the first part underwater to prevent drag. Using her feet in the dolphin kick, she undulated them and her body and came out first on the other end. Walker arrived a close second.

  He grabbed her around the waist as she was trying to get out to reach Clay. “That was an incredible stunt you just pulled,” he murmured, drawing her close against his hard-muscled body. “I feel sorry for your competitors.”

  “What I did wasn’t any different than the way you master leverage to bring down a steer faster than anyone else.”

  The fire in his eyes whipped up a storm inside her. “Don’t I wish. Go ahead and give me any penalty you can think of.”

  “I’m trying to think of a good one,” she teased. They were both out of breath.