The Cowboy and the Angel

by T. J. Kline

  The horse veered out, away from the second barrel before cutting sharply to the left and appeared to circle the barrel without moving forward. The cowgirl kicked her legs and heels against the horse’s sides as the animal bolted toward the last barrel at the end of the arena. Again, the horse spun around the final barrel before charging toward the end of the arena and the closed gate. As she leaned forward, her horse pinned its ears back, stretching out and eating up the arena. She crossed a laser beam of light, set up along the side of the fence, and triggered the timer to stop. Angela glanced at the clock reading: 16.56 seconds. Good enough for third place.

  Angela glanced back at the cowgirl, who had her horse under control as he jogged out of the gate and headed back toward her trailer while the next contestant repeated the pattern. She watched as the first rider slowed her horse to a walk, the animal’s sides heaving as he caught his breath from the sprint. Instead of stopping and dismounting immediately, she watched as the cowgirl headed back to the warm-up arena and walked her animal for several minutes, cooling him down. She continued to watch the other performers, keeping her eyes out for any sort of animal neglect, but saw nothing for her story.

  She glanced toward Derek’s trailer and saw him exit. Taking a moment to appreciate his masculine perfection, she watched him tighten his mount’s cinch before hopping into the saddle. He rode through the gate and into the arena, looking like her knight in a cowboy hat at that moment.

  DEREK RUBBED HIS jaw with his thick leather glove. He needed to concentrate on their final event, but he wasn’t sure what to do about Angela’s father. He couldn’t let him wander around, finding any alcohol the crew might have. He would need to find something to keep the man occupied, where he wouldn’t need to be watched 24/7.

  Derek unlatched the rope he had on the front of his saddle as the first bulls were sent into the chutes and rode to his brother’s side. “You know Sydney hates it when you insist on being in here.”

  “You made it back pretty quickly.” Scott gave him a confident smirk. “And Sydney knows it’s part of the job.”

  “And I know my sister-in-law. What did you promise her in return?” Derek arched a brow, guiding his horse closer to the chutes, watching the animals intently.

  Scott laughed. “I promised her we could start trying to have another baby.”

  Derek looked back at his brother, surprised. “You sure it’s worth the price? She drives a hard bargain.”

  “Would you mind having another one like Kassie around? Besides, I missed being in here.” Scott shrugged. “You know how it is. It’s a rush and when you don’t have it, life seems a bit slow.”

  “I’d be happy with slow right now.” He shifted his gaze to Angela in the announcer’s booth.

  Scott arched a brow at his brother but remained silent as the announcer started the heavy metal music meant to get the crowd excited for the coming bull riding event.

  They rode together to stand at the corner of the arena as the rodeo clowns entered, rolling padded barrels in front of them. “Are you sure this is trouble we even want to deal with?”

  Derek glared at his brother but knew it was a legitimate concern. “It will be fine.”

  Scott shook his head, looking down at his saddle. “I sure hope so. Has Angela given up yet on her story?”

  “Not exactly.” Derek didn’t want to explain Angela’s reasons for not dropping the story to his brother. He was just starting to understand what drove her, especially after meeting her father. She claimed to need the story to land a better job, but he recognized the truth. The reality of the situation was that Angela was trying to escape the origin of their loss and wanted to help her father do the same.

  ANGELA HEARD THE commotion below the announcer’s booth and looked over the edge in time to see a bull in the chute tossing his head as one of the riders tried to settle on its back. She heard cowboys shouting as the announcer was commentating the ride already taking place in the arena. The bull in the arena thrashed, twisting wildly and rocking from his front legs to his back. She thought she recognized the bull in the arena as Buffalo, one of the animals Derek had shown her. She’d petted the sweet, docile animal at the ranch. Seeing him in the arena with a cowboy hanging on to the flat rope wrapped around his massive chest, she was awed by the extent of power he exuded. It was a raw, dangerous explosion of strength and might. The cowboy hung on, his body shifting forward and back, sliding slightly to the right as the animal spun to the left just moments before he fell from the animal. The cowboy reached for the part of the rope hanging but couldn’t grasp it.

  Derek and Scott immediately moved their horses in closer as the rodeo clown ran straight for the bull’s head to distract the animal. Derek moved his mount close to the bull’s left side as Scott edged behind the bull rider. A second clown moved in and released the cowboy’s hand before running to jump into the padded barrel. Scott reached down, helping the cowboy onto his horse’s back as the bull turned its filed horns toward Derek, twisting his head before turning his attention toward the clown on the ground. The clown urged the bull to follow him toward the barrel. With the rider moved to safety, Derek signaled the cowboy manning the back gate and herded the bull toward it and his pen.

  Angela breathed a sigh of relief until she realized that she would be forced to watch Derek in the same danger with every ride for the next two days. She looked around for Sydney, wondering how she dealt with the strain of watching her husband in this position every weekend. She glanced at the trailers and saw her seated in a folding chair with Kassie sleeping against her chest while she talked with one of the barrel racers she’d seen compete earlier. Angela wondered if she’d stayed at the trailer because of Kassie or because she couldn’t bear to watch her husband in the arena with these massive beasts.

  She looked away from Sydney in time to spot her father leaving the trailer he was sharing with Derek and Scott. Looking back at the arena, she sighed, realizing she would miss the rest of the event. Her father was her responsibility and she had to keep an eye on him, even here. She hurried down the wooden staircase behind the chutes, wondering where he might have disappeared. She found him searching a nearby ice chest.

  “Looking for a cold one?” She shook her head as she approached him.

  “I’m thirsty.”

  “You can’t drink here.”

  Her father scoffed at her. “Take a look around.” He waved toward a stand nearby selling beer and hot dogs. His voice was hoarse with sleep and sobriety.

  “No, you can’t drink here.” She took a step closer to him. “We are guests. This is my job. If I don’t get this story, we’re done.”

  “We’ll manage. We have before. I want to go home,” he complained.

  Why couldn’t he seem to understand? If she didn’t get this story, they didn’t have a home to go back to. She’d already spent rent on his bail. She would give anything to be able to walk away and never look back. But he was her father, even if he was a poor excuse for one, and she’d never doubted his feelings for her. He loved her in his own way.

  “I have nothing left and spent rent the last time I bailed you out. If I don’t get a story, we have no home.” He started to interrupt her but she didn’t give him a chance to speak. “I can’t afford to bail you out anymore. We have no money left. None. I’ve been begging Joe for advances on my salary and he won’t give me any more. The only reason you’re even out now is because Derek bailed you out. You owe him your gratitude, not this . . .” she said, waving her hand at the ice chest.

  Her father leaned back against Derek’s truck and narrowed his eyes before giving her a tentative grin. “You like this guy.”

  Angela crossed her arms over her chest. She didn’t want to get into a discussion about Derek with her father. The less he knew about Derek and his family, the better. But it was good to see a smile on his face, one that wasn’t induced by alcohol. “I’m trying to keep you safe and out of jail again.”

  Her father took a deep breath. “I n
eed a beer,” he muttered.

  “No,” she insisted, arching a single brow, “you don’t.”

  He sighed in resignation. “Can I at least get something to eat?”

  Angela searched his face. “Come on, I’ll see if there’s anything in my trailer.” She led him to the fifth-wheel, introducing him to Sydney before she went inside and urged him to sit at the table.

  “I know what you’re doing.” He glanced up at her as she fixed him a sandwich.

  “I’m not doing anything.” She slapped a slice of bread on top and rolled her eyes.

  Her father stared down at his hands in front of him. “You think you can fix me. Your mother couldn’t, what makes you think you can?” He looked despondent as he buried his face in his shaking palms.

  Angela stared at him, dumbfounded. She slipped into the chair across from him and reached for his hand. “I promise. I’m going to get you some help. Dad, I’m not giving up on you.” She slid the plate in front of him. “You need some food. Eat.” She bent and placed a kiss on his forehead.

  She left him in the trailer and saw the stands emptying. Several cowboys headed toward a table Mike had set up behind the chutes with the rodeo secretary to distribute the day’s purse winnings for each event. She glanced back at the trailer, praying her father would stay inside. She noticed her hands shaking and fisted them at her chest, longing for Derek’s arms to chase away the hopelessness she’d heard in her father’s voice and the despair she could feel creeping up on her. She’d hoped that one day her father would see all she was doing to try to help him, to save him from himself, and he would want to change, for her. But his question echoed in her mind: If her mother’s love hadn’t been enough to convince him to stop drinking, what could she do?

  Chapter Sixteen

  * * *

  DEREK HAD NEVER felt so relieved to finish a rodeo. He glanced up into the announcer’s booth and wondered where Angela had slipped off to. He rode the horse to his trailer, pulling the bridle off and clasping the halter behind the gelding’s ears, trying to dismiss the uneasy feeling centering in the pit of his stomach.

  “Mike,” he called, “have you seen Angela?”

  “Not recently. She was over at the trailer with Sydney earlier.” He shuffled papers to the side and handed a check to a cowboy in front of him. “But I’m kinda busy, so I haven’t been watching for her. If you see the rodeo secretary, send him my way.”

  “Will do.” Derek spotted Sydney near the trailer putting Kassie into her playpen in the shade and jogged to her, scooping the baby from her kiddy-corral and tossing her into the air. Her giggle tickled him, and he couldn’t help but smile up at his niece.

  “Have you seen Angela?” he asked Sydney, cuddling Kassie against his chest as she reached for his hat.

  “Not since she left the trailer. She took her dad inside to get him something to eat.” Sydney’s brows knit together in a frown that worried him. “She came out alone, but he left a few minutes later. Did you check the announcer’s booth?”

  Derek shook his head. “She’s not there.” He looked toward his trailers. “Have you seen her father since?”

  She shook her head and Kassie copied her, making them both smile. “He didn’t say anything when he came out, but he looked upset. He headed back toward where our trucks are parked.”

  Dread began to well up as Derek put Kassie back into her playpen. “I’m going to see if I can find her.”

  “Is everything okay?” He could hear the worry in Sydney’s tone.

  “I’m sure it is. I just don’t want her to feel like she needs to deal with him alone.”

  She reached for his forearm as he turned to leave. “She told me she’s trying to work out a new story. I get the feeling she’s trying to run away from something. Is it him?”

  “I don’t think so.” Derek couldn’t help but think about Joe. “It’s more complicated than that . . .” His voice trailed off, and he clenched his jaw. “Sydney, she’s been supporting them both, alone.” He shook his head in disbelief. “She keeps bailing him out and it’s taking its toll on her. She can’t keep doing this.”

  Sydney gave him a gentle smile. “You care about her.”

  He tilted his head at her and rolled his eyes. “I would do this for anyone. I’m just trying to help her out.”

  “Oh, sure.” Sydney nodded at him, obviously skeptical. “Face it, Mr. I-Want-to-Save-the-World Chandler,” Sydney began, tapping her finger over his heart, “Angela has you thinking with this instead of this.” She touched her finger to his head.

  Derek glared at her. “If you see her, tell Angela I’m looking for her.”

  ANGELA SLIPPED BEHIND the trailer, listening to her father’s side of the conversation. When did he get a cell phone? She could hear the annoyance in her father’s voice but wasn’t sure if it stemmed from being dragged to the rodeo or from remaining sober all day.

  “I don’t know.” His voice grated into the phone. “She said she’s still working but I don’t know what the story is about. She hasn’t talked about it with me.” Her father glanced back over his shoulder as Angela jumped behind the nearest trailer. “I think she has a thing for one of the cowboys. Seems like a nice guy. Yeah, the one who was at the jail. Tonight?”

  He had to be on the phone with Joe, but why would Joe call him? Is that where the cell came from? Maybe the phone was Joe’s way to “keep an eye” on him while she’d been working on the story. She felt that familiar flip of her stomach that always seemed to guide her reporter’s instinct. Questions began to flit quickly through her mind like hummingbirds, never landing long enough for her to grasp answers to any of them.

  “Angela?”

  She heard Derek call her name and spun around, seeing him headed her direction. She didn’t want him to know what she’d overheard until she had the opportunity to ask her dad about the call.

  “There you are.” Her voice cracked and she cleared her throat as she hurried toward him. “You made me nervous in the arena with those bulls.”

  He gave her a curious look but shrugged. “They’re not so bad as long as you stay out of their way. Where’s your dad? He’s not in the trailer and I couldn’t find him.”

  “He’s on the phone right now.” She thought it would be better if he didn’t know her father was talking to Joe after the stand-off between the men at the jail earlier.

  He slid his hands into her loose hair and pulled her to him, his lips capturing hers in a kiss that surprised and delighted her. She felt her body instantly react, melting against him, all tension disappearing. Her hands found his back as she held on to him. What had begun as an innocent kiss quickly turned into an inferno of need as his tongue brushed hers, igniting her senses. She sighed with pleasure, and he circled her waist with his arm, holding her so that every delicious muscle was pressed against her. She could feel his arousal and briefly wondered if they might not sneak off to his trailer.

  “Eh-hem.” Her father cleared his throat.

  Angela’s eyes widened and she tried to pull away from Derek, a blush burning her cheeks. Her father had never seen her kiss anyone, not even Joe during the short time they’d dated. Derek’s arm remained wound around her waist, stubbornly holding her to him. She pushed her hands against the solid wall of his chest in an effort to loosen his embrace.

  “Derek, please,” she whispered through clenched teeth.

  He inhaled deeply, releasing his breath slowly as he looked at her father, still refusing to release his hold on her waist. “Sir, I apologize.” He looked into Angela’s eyes and smiled. “The next time I kiss your daughter, I promise to show more regard for her reputation.” He waited for her father to comment.

  Her father’s face split in a grin for the second time in one day and his eyes held a merriment she’d never seen in them before. She looked at her father, really looked at him, for the first time in months. His jaw was covered by graying whiskers, making him look even older than his fifty years, and deep wrinkles surrounded hi
s eyes. His clothing was beginning to hang on him, a result of too much drinking and too little food since she’d left. He appeared weak and tired, as if time hadn’t been his friend, and she could see the toll his grief had taken over the past fifteen years.

  “Angel, why don’t you make sure the shower is free so your dad can use the trailer before we head up to the barbecue.”

  “Barbecue?” Her father scrubbed at his jaw nervously.

  “We always try to stay for the barbecue and dance so the rodeo committee knows we are supporting them. Why don’t you let Sydney know we need to be up there in about two hours?”

  She still wanted to ask her father about the phone call, but it was going to have to wait until later. Derek kissed her temple before she headed to find Sydney and lay a towel out for her father. It was going to be a full time job keeping him from drinking tonight. This day hadn’t turned out the way she’d expected, but she was certainly learning she could trust Derek.

  DEREK WATCHED ANGELA walk away, making sure she was out of earshot before he turned his attention back to her father. “I need you to steer clear of trouble tonight, sir.” He wanted to show Robert the respect he was due as Angela’s father but had to make sure his point was made: No drinking allowed.

  “You better not hurt my daughter,” Robert replied. Derek appreciated the older man’s protectiveness even if the notion was coming far too late. Derek narrowed his eyes at Robert’s warning tone. “I want her to be happy, but I’m not sure everyone would feel the same way. You should be careful though.”

  “Something specific you think I need to watch for?”

  Robert shook his head and looked at the ground. “I don’t know. I just have a feeling. But if I were you, I’d be prepared for trouble when that news crew gets here. I don’t know much more than that right now.” He wiped a hand down his face and over his whiskered jaw. “Just keep an eye on her. She stays pretty closed off—that’s probably my fault—but I think she likes you. I’ve never seen her like this with anyone before.”