Land of Enchantment

by Janet Dailey

  'Don't you dare put that smelly thing over that outfit!' Connie whispered threateningly.

  As much as Diana would have liked to accept, she refused the offer with a smile of appreciation. Then they were all walking into the arena on to the red-brown dirt. There were only a few horses and riders inside, but their entourage of cowboys quickly positioned themselves on the heavy wooden rails. Diana stood quietly as Rick and Connie discussed the situation, not paying too close attention until Rick let out a low whistle.

  'That guy is straight out of a cigarette commercial,' he murmured to Connie. 'And have you ever seen a horse like that? This will be perfect!'

  Even as Rick started walking forward his hand raised in the air, Diana was trying to follow his direction. It only took her a second to see what had caught the photographer's eye. On the far side of the arena was a horse and rider cantering through a series of figure eights. The horse was blood red with flashy black stockings to above his knees and a black mane and tail. The man astride the horse was the personification of every publicity man's dream of a cowboy. He sat tall and erect in the saddle, each fluid movement of the horse matched by himself. The man was lean and tanned, dressed in faded blue levi's with a matching denim jacket lined with sheepskin. And on his head he wore a weathered brown stetson hat, pulled low over his face.

  As the cowboy caught sight of Rick waving to him, he slowed his horse to a stop and walked in their direction. Diana watched as he sat immovable in the saddle and listened to Rick. Something in the man's bearing made her think that he would refuse to have himself and his horse act as a backdrop for Rick's pictures. There was the slightest hesitation before he looked to where Diana was standing beside Connie and nodded agreement.

  Rick motioned her forward and Diana quickly complied. Precious time had been spent finding a suitable background, and Rick didn't waste any more of it making introductions between his model and the cowboy. Diana didn't even get a chance to study the man up close as Rick hurriedly moved her into position on the right side of the horse and began giving instructions. She was intrigued by the man atop the horse and in between snaps she sneaked quick glances in his direction.

  Swift impressions of a lean hard face, tanned and clean-shaven, were formed. The shadow of his hat brim made it difficult to determine the colour of his hair, but Diana thought it was brown. His eyes were a different matter. One look they appeared blue and in another they were grey. Yet in all of her stolen glances one thing stood out, and that was his arrogant remoteness, as if all this was beneath his dignity. For some reason, Diana wasn't offended by his coldness that bordered on contempt. On the contrary, it fascinated her.

  'Put your left foot in the stirrup,' Rick ordered, his face concealed behind the black camera. 'Stand in it suspended beside the horse.'

  Diana did as she was told, finding she had to hold on to the rider's shoulder to keep her balance. The sheep-skin-lined jacket gave until it hit the solid muscle of his shoulder and arm. It was a strange sensation being so near this stranger. On the ground, she had thought he was no taller than the average man, but now she realized she had made too much allowance for the horse. The man was tall, easily over six foot.

  'Now, turn and look at him, Diana,' Rick instructed.

  His eyes were grey. She wondered how she had ever thought they were blue. They were slate grey - no, she reconsidered quickly. They were granite, as hard and unyielding as granite. Even the contours of his face were angular and uncompromising, too rugged to be handsome and too compelling not to be attractive. His masculinity was revealed in his strong features, just as his virility was in the sensuous line of his mouth. There was a slight bump in his otherwise straight nose that indicated that it had been broken at one time. But it didn't detract. In fact, Diana discovered it added to the look of an eagle about him, proud, commanding and free. Subconsciously she remembered that an eagle was a predatory bird.

  His study of her had been just as thorough, only slightly less obvious. Then Diana noticed his gaze lingering on her low vee neckline, and immediately her cheeks flamed with colour. It didn't take an expert eye to determine that she was bra-less. Diana doubted that this man would be shocked by the discovery, but she was. She knew the category men placed models in, and she had just reinforced it. When his gaze lifted to her eyes, she saw the look of amusement in it. But the-amusement was generated by the flush in her cheeks.

  Rick was shouting more instructions to her and Diana had thankfully to turn away. In seconds, she was once more in command of her composure, although she was intensely aware of the man in the saddle. The thought kept running through her mind that she had never been so self-conscious in the presence of any other man. What was so different about this one? He was only a rodeo cowboy.

  Just as Diana was striking another pose, one of the gates at the chutes swung shut with a loud bang. The blood bay horse that had stood with such restless restraint jumped forward, and Diana let out a startled gasp as she felt herself falling backwards to the turf. But the man's reflexes were instantaneous. His right hand shot around her waist as his left drew on the reins to check his mount's flight.

  In the span of seconds, Diana was clutched tightly against his chest, held by the iron band of his arm. Her own arms circled his shoulders with her head buried beneath his chin. The closeness permeated her with the scent of his masculinity. She felt the flexing of his muscles as he controlled the horse and maintained his grip on her. The horse was stopped now, his head tossing in agitation and his hooves beating an in-place cadence.

  The danger was over, but the blood still pounded in Diana's temples and her heartbeat had accelerated. She moved her head away from beneath the man's chin to stare wide-eyed into his calm face. Her waist was pinioned tightly against him, arching her closer. Only inches separated their faces. An invisible message was being exchanged by their eyes until Diana felt transformed by the wonder of it. His face remained as hard and remote as it ever was, but something had changed. Something had been transmitted between them and it was still tingling through her body.

  'Are you all right?' His quiet voice seemed to come from a long way off.

  'Yes,' she breathed softly when she realized he was waiting for an answer.

  Then they were no longer alone. Rick and Connie came rushing up to them, their concern dividing itself between Diana and the white jumpsuit. Effortlessly the man lowered her to the ground with one arm. Deprived of the warmth of his body, Diana shivered as she shrugged off her employer's inquiries. Connie turned her attention to the smudge mark on the knee of the slacks. The mark was too noticeable for any further photographs, but Rick consoled Connie with the fact that he thought he had sufficient. Diana was to return to the trailer and change.

  The man was just reining his horse to leave when Diana stepped towards him. She had to tilt her head way back in order to look up into his impassive face. Her serene features were a mockery to the tumult she was experiencing inside.

  'I want to thank you for saving me from that fall.' It was amazing how composed her voice sounded. 'I admire your expertise, Mr—?'

  'Masters. Lije Masters.' It was the first time Diana had ever seen anyone smile with their eyes. The line of his mouth never changed. The quiet respect stayed in his voice. But the corners of his eyes crinkled slightly and there was a glitter of light in the stone greyness of his eyes.

  'Thank you, Mr. Masters,' she said, feeling the warm clasp of his hand take the one she had extended to him.

  'My pleasure.' Now mockery glinted as he touched his hat and turned the horse away.

  Lije Masters. All the way back to the trailer the sound of it rolled silently on her tongue. It was an unusual name. Diana didn't recall ever hearing that first name before, but it belonged to an unusual man. She was sure that the last name was particularly apt. With his strength, he would be a 'master' as an eagle was the ruler of the skies. Diana had never been so certain of anything in her life as she was that, above all else, she wanted to see Lije Masters again.
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  Chapter Two

  THE photography session lasted the rest of the afternoon. Diana dressed and undressed so many times that her shoulders and arms ached. The muscles around her mouth quivered from smiling so much. At every opportunity her eyes had scanned the collection of cowboys that roamed about, hoping to see the man on the blood bay horse. Once only had she seen him. It had been outside of the arena shortly after their initial meeting and he had been walking his horse towards the stable area.

  Diana had believed that he would come to watch her work. By the end of the day, she realized Lije Masters wasn't the type to join the crowd of ogling cowboys. That brought up another question. How was she going to see him again? Connie Deveronne had brought her trio of models to San Antonio for a two-day session, Thursday and Friday. Tomorrow the pictures taken would be all wrapped up and on Saturday they would be travelling back to Dallas.

  'Di, honey, you were terrific today!'

  So lost in her thoughts was she, Diana jumped as Rick threw an arm around her shoulders and hugged her close to him. That was Rick, all professional during the sessions, only to turn into a wolf after they were done. He wasn't really a wolf, Diana amended, since they were dangerous. He was probably only a wolf cub. Rick liked to come on strong because he thought it was part of his image as a photographer. It was important to him to have a beautiful girl at his side, which was probably the reason Diana steered clear of him. She disliked the fact that it was her beauty that drew people towards her.

  'Thanks for the compliment.' She smiled coolly at him as she removed his arm from around her shoulders.

  'Vanessa, Connie and myself are going out tonight for dinner and all. Haven't had a chance to ask Stella what she's doing. Why don't the two of you join us?' Rick ignored Diana's attempt to put him off.

  'It would be kind of tough dividing your attention between the four of us, wouldn't it?' she jeered softly.

  'You'd be surprised at what I could do.' His blue eyes roamed over her figure.

  Diana didn't think she would be too surprised. She had made the mistake of going out with him once and discovered that after a couple of drinks Rick could turn into an octopus.

  'No, thanks. I have other plans for tonight.' Her refusal was brisk and firm.

  'Don't tell me you're going to use those tickets the manager gave Connie for the rodeo?' He stared at her incredulously.

  'The complimentary tickets, you mean?' Diana guessed astutely, a gleam of an idea already forming in her mind.

  'What else? Come on, Di honey, you don't want to go to a corny rodeo tonight,' Rick wheedled.

  'That's where you're wrong,' Diana smiled firmly, stepping quickly away from him to scurry to the trailer.

  Once inside the small trailer, it took her searching gaze only seconds to find the tickets carelessly tossed on the counter. Diana knew Connie wouldn't give them another thought and quickly extracted two from the stack. Stella would be just as averse as she had been to spending an evening in the company of Rick, Vanessa, and Connie. With luck, Diana could persuade her to attend the rodeo rather than spend the evening in their hotel room.

  After a brief outburst from Stella that Diana had gone off her rocker, she warmed to the idea. Her one-track mind quickly remembered the admiring glances from the assortment of cowboys. Neither of them had had any previous inclination to attend such totally Western functions, despite the fact that they had both been born and raised in Texas. They were city girls and city girls are the same all over the world. Their planned night at the rodeo brought out a spirit of adventure in both of them. Of course, Diana's reasons were completely different from Stella's. Hers was hinged on a man named Lije Masters.

  Their seats in the grandstand were strategically located near both the chutes and the gates where all the horsemen entered. Diana couldn't believe her luck. Her eyes searched the parade of riders during the presentation of the colours and the national anthem. There was not a sign of the blood bay horse and Lije Masters.

  He had to be here, she told herself, switching her attention to the ever-changing group of cowboys perched on the chutes and rails. The programme called for saddle bronc riding first. Although Diana listened closely, she never heard his name called by the announcer. She applauded after each successful or unsuccessful ride, but not with the enthusiasm of her companion.

  The next event was calf-roping. Lije Masters was in the arena before Diana saw him. This time he was riding a sedate buckskin horse. Just watching him, she felt that odd breathlessness take hold of her chest. Her hands clapped for the roper completing his tie on a calf, but the only one that existed for her was Lije Masters.

  'Our next contestant, ladies and gentlemen,' the announcer was saying, 'hails from the State of New Mexico—Elijah Masters!'

  As soon as his name was announced, the rider set the now alert buckskin well back in the enclosure next to the tunnel chute. He gave a quick nod to a cowboy atop that chute and the door was pulled up and a hefty black calf came charging out. With a bounding leap, the buckskin was after it. Diana saw the rope snake out from Lije's hand and settle over the calf's neck in a perfect throw. With the precision of a trained athlete, the buckskin sat back on its haunches, the slack in the rope taken up in a few quick dallies around the saddle horn. The calf was yanked off his feet as Lije vaulted out of the saddle in one fluid movement. He reached the calf just as it got back on his feet. He threw the animal to the ground, catching a front leg with his piggin string and making the tie with the back two legs before throwing his hands in the air to signal the official timer his completion.

  There was a brief wait by the officials to make sure the calf couldn't free himself while Lije mounted the buckskin and rode it forward so the taut rope went slack. Diana joined in with the thunderous applause when it was announced that Lije Masters had the fastest time so far in that event. In response, Lije removed his hat as he rode out of the arena, revealing thick, nut-brown hair.

  Diana's heart was in her throat as he neared the place in the entrance where she sat. Would he see her? Should she call to him? No, she couldn't do that. The last thing she wanted to have Lije think was that she was chasing him. The brown hat was on his head again when he did ride by Diana. The brim shadowed his eyes so that she had no way of telling whether or not he had seen her.

  His calf-roping time didn't stand as another contestant riding the same buckskin horse that Lije had ridden beat him out of first place in the event by a full second. Bareback bronc riding was next, and again Lije didn't compete. Diana didn't see him again until the steer wrestling event, which the announcer explained was also known as bulldogging. This time Lije was astride the red bay from this afternoon.

  Lije Masters was one of the last contestants in the event, although he participated several times acting as a hazer to keep the steer running straight so his competitor could vault from his horse and wrestle the steer to the ground. His big bay horse was used just as often.

  When the moment came for Lije's attempt, Diana didn't know whether to cheer him on or hold her breath. The idea of him diving from his horse at a full gallop on to the horns of a big burly steer who was also running sent shivers of icy cold fear down her spine. She didn't have much time to dwell on it, because it was over almost before it began. Four strides out of the gate, Lije was off his horse, had the steer by the horns, brought him to a halt and had wrestled him to the ground. What was more important to Diana was that Lije was standing completely unharmed.

  It frightened her how important this veritable stranger had become. It didn't seem natural, and yet she felt completely natural. Her concern and interest for Lije Masters was the most natural thing that had ever happened. There was the strange sensation that she had done this many times. And she couldn't explain why she felt that way.

  This time when Lije rode out of the arena gate he didn't continue on out of the stands as he had done before. He stopped his horse next to another cowboy who was leaning against the s
tands not too far from where Diana was sitting.

  'With that big red horse of yours, you can't never lose,' the other cowboy laughed up at Lije, who stroked the glistening neck of his horse.

  'That's the idea, Les. How's the ribs?'

  'I'll tell you after the bull-riding tonight. I drew that spinning devil,' he answered grimly. 'How about you?'

  'I've got the grey,' Lije replied.

  'Watch him. He hooks to the left on a downed rider,' the cowboy warned before he lifted his hand in goodbye and walked towards the back of the chutes.

  Diana didn't understand what the conversation meant exactly. It sounded like serious advice. Her clouded blue eyes were studying Lije as he looked-up and met her gaze. Again he touched his hat in that quaint Western way that Diana found pleasing. He inched his horse closer to where she sat.

  'Enjoying the rodeo?' His drawl was not quite as pronounced as most that Diana had heard and there was a quiet, educated tone in his voice along with its natural commanding firmness. Lije Masters was a man who would be heard no matter how softly he spoke.

  'Very much,' Diana answered as she saw Stella glance at her curiously from the corner of her eye. 'I've seen rodeos on television before, but it's the first one I've attended.'

  'I hope it won't be your last.'

  'I don't understand all the slang yet, but I've found it all very fascinating,' Diana smiled. Her nerves were jumping as she waited anxiously for him to issue a more personal comment.

  'There are a lot of things that happen behind the scenes that the spectators don't get to see. Later on when you're free, I'll show you around.' The remoteness of his expression made it difficult for Diana to judge how sincere the invitation had been.

  'I'd like that,' she answered.

  'If you'll excuse me, then, I have to get ready for the next event.' Touching his hat, he reined the horse around and left.