A Cowboy of Her Own
Page 5
“Come here and get on Dazzle, and I’ll adjust the stirrups for you.”
“Which one is Dazzle?” she asked him as she walked down the steps then stumbled a little before she got to him.
“Trip on an ant?” he asked.
“Funny. I’m not exactly what you’d call graceful. Which one is Dazzle?” she asked him again.
“The Paint.”
Roark saw her frown as she stared at the horses.
“I thought you said you knew how to ride?”
“I do but that doesn’t mean I know what kind of horse I’m riding.”
“Breed. What breed you’re riding.” He shook his head when her expression remained one of confusion. “Never mind. This one is the Paint. The other is an Appaloosa. I would have thought since I told you that Wild Breeze was a Paint, you’d see the resemblance.”
Priscilla shrugged. “Sure. Whatever. Why are there three? Is someone else going?”
“Bouncer is the pack horse.” At her frown, he grinned. “Surely you’ve heard of a pack horse. He’ll carry our bags and supplies.”
“Oh. Okay.” She walked toward him, stopped by Dazzle’s head, and rubbed the animal’s velvet nose and Roark swore he felt her touch on his dick. She handed him her camera and smiled at him.
Son of a bitch!
“Get on the horse,” he snapped suddenly, and then felt like an ass when she flinched and looked at him startled. “Sorry. I didn’t get much sleep. Do you need a leg up?”
“I don’t think so.”
He watched Priscilla grab the saddle horn, put her foot in the stirrup, and try to pull herself up but all she did was bounce on the ball of her foot while trying to get her leg up. Roark groaned low and put his hand on her ass before giving her a shove. Once in the saddle, her lips tightened and she glared down at him, blotches of pink riding high on her cheeks.
“We’d never get out of here if I had to wait for you to get your ass in the saddle.” He handed her the reins, adjusted the stirrups, then walked to his horse and vaulted into his saddle. Apache shifted under him in excitement so he turned him in a circle glancing over his shoulder at Priscilla. “Ready?”
“Yes.”
He gave her a nod and nudged Apache forward and grabbing the reins to lead Bouncer behind him. He looked back at Priscilla to see her following him on Dazzle. At least she knew how to go. At the gate, Roark leaned down and opened it then signaled for her to go through and closed it after she passed by then rode up beside her.
“See that pasture over there?” He pointed off to the right. At her nod, he continued. “Whatever you do, don’t go in there. My bulls are kept in that area.”
“Bulls are kept together? I didn’t think you could do that.”
“It’s not a problem. They don’t pay much attention to each other since I don’t let the cows near them. If I have a cow I need bred, I’ll take the bull out and take him to her.”
“Do you raise them for beef? Oh, my God! Did we eat one of your bulls the other night?”
Roark laughed. “No. I raise them only for bull riding.”
“Oh. Thank God.”
“You make no sense. You don’t like to see anything killed, but you eat steak. But you get upset because you think you may have eaten one of my bulls.”
She shrugged. “What can I say? I like steak from the grocery store. I don’t think of them as cows that way.”
Roark reined Apache to a stop. “You’re kidding, right?”
“Nope.”
“I will never understand women.” He nudged Apache to move forward again.
Priscilla laughed. “I will never understand why a man gets on the back of a creature that weighs over a thousand pounds either.”
“Got me there,” he said with a chuckle, not wanting to get into the dangerous appeal of it with her.
“Earl mentioned that you would have competed in more venues if you’d won that round. What else do you compete in?”
“He’s behind the times. I don’t do that anymore. I’ve just been in bull riding for over seven years now. I can’t risk getting injured and not being able to ride the bulls. But I did used to compete in the reining competition.”
“I love watching that. How do you teach the horse to do all that?”
“Just get a good trainer...someone who does it for a living. Jake Stone in Clifton is one of the best.”
“I’ve never seen it live. I’d love to though.”
Roark stopped his horse again. “How long are you here?”
“Earl wants me to stay the three weeks I would have followed you around on the circuit.”
“Okay then, I’ll take you to the rodeo in town next month. There’s a competition there for fun. Jake will compete in reining. His brother, Gabe, will compete in calf roping, and his youngest brother, Wyatt, will compete in cutting. There is no one better than Wyatt in cutting. His horse is amazing.”
“I’d love it. Thanks.” Priscilla grinned at him.
He frowned realizing he’d made plans for them that far ahead when he really should be figuring out a way to get her to finish up early and go back to wherever she came from. Nudging Apache to move along, he rode away from her.
Chapter Four
Priscilla narrowed her eyes at his back as he expanded the distance between them. What was that all about? One minute he was talking with her just fine and the next, he gave her the evil eye and rode off. And men say women are hard to understand. She nudged her horse to catch up to him.
“Tell me about the bulls. I can use that in the article,” she said when she caught him.
Roark glanced over to her and then away. She saw him take a deep breath. Moody much.
“Raising bucking bulls isn’t just a pleasure, it can be very profitable. A beef or dairy heifer may sell for five to seven hundred dollars, but a heifer or weaning bull from a line of proven buckers can go for double or even triple that. The earning potential for bucking bulls is longer and significantly higher than typical show or feed cattle. A bucking bull can start winning money as young as two years old and can compete for another eight years or longer. A contractor with a bull possessing the skills to buck professionally is paid each time that bull leaves the chute.” He shrugged. “Every time a bull bucks, the contractor gets a paycheck on a per-out basis that can range from one hundred dollars an out to eight thousand at the world finals. There have been world champion bulls that have earned close to five hundred thousand dollars.”
“Holy hell,” she exclaimed. “Five hundred thousand?”
“Yep.”
“I’m in the wrong business,” she muttered.
Roark chuckled and turned his horse to the left. “There’s the cattle we need to move.”
“Shouldn’t there be more of us? I mean, how are we going to move them by ourselves?”
“There are only twenty I want to move up there. Once I get them going, just ride along the outside of them and that’ll keep them in line. They know where they’re going so it won’t be hard to get them headed in the right direction.”
“Wonderful.”
“You want to go back and call Earl?”
Priscilla raised her middle finger at him making him laugh. She shook her head and looked around. The sun was coming up over the Glaciers and had slowly begun to brighten the sky. It was just as beautiful rising as it had been at setting. The orange rays kissed the mountains as it rose above them. She bet this land was beautiful in the winter too.
“Were you born and raised in Montana?”
“Yes. All of us Callahans were. Right here in Spring City.”
“I suppose the winters are harsh living so close to the Glaciers.”
“It can be for sure. I love it though. I wouldn’t live anywhere else.”
“I never see snow in northern California unless I go up into the mountains. A white Christmas never happens where I live. At least I’ve never seen one.”
“You have good summers though.”
Priscilla nodde
d. Yes, the summers were nice but she loved cooler weather. Fall and winter had always appealed to her. She rode her horse alongside the cattle and smiled as the rising sun shone down on her face. It was going to be a warmer than normal day.
“Is there a pond close by where we’ll be camping?”
“Yes...and a stream. It’s why I told you to bring soap.”
“I’m sure I’ll be hot and sticky by the time we get there. I’ll definitely need a bath.” She smiled at the thought of a cool swim but wasn’t thrilled at the idea of being undressed so close in proximity to this hot cowboy.
ROARK ALMOST SLIPPED from his saddle. That was all he needed—thinking of her as hot and sticky. Damn it. Now his damn cock was twitching against the fly of his jeans. Why in the hell did you bring her up here? He decided he was a glutton for punishment. That’s all there was to it.
“Tell me about the Callahan cousins.”
“Reid retired last year. He used to be the best in bull riding—he won a lot.”
“Why did he retire?”
“He’d retired two years before coming home for Christmas last year. It gets hard on the body after a while. I’m thinking of retiring once I win another buckle. Reid did ride one last time this past February in Vegas.”
“Why did he return?”
“Zeke Albright was his best friend and he’d been killed by a bull four years earlier. It was an event to honor the fallen men in bull riding.”
“That’s nice that they do that. Why does the name Albright sound familiar?”
Roark chuckled. “Zeke was Lucy’s first husband.”
“What?”
“Yeah. Reid has been in love with her for years but with Zeke being his best friend, he’d never let her know. Thing is, she blamed Reid for Zeke being killed. Zeke had retired but Reid talked him into going one more time.” Roark shook his head. “Reid blamed himself too. He was a mess for a long time. Lucy was pregnant at the time but she didn’t tell anyone. Not even Zeke. She told Reid she had blamed him so she didn’t have to blame herself. She thinks if Zeke would have known she was pregnant, he wouldn’t have ridden.”
“Do you think that’s true?” Priscilla asked.
“No. If anything, he would have gone just to brag about becoming a dad but yeah, he would’ve still ridden...to prove a point, I suppose. We all knew Zeke well. He was like our fifth cousin, but he and Reid were inseparable. Reid really took it hard when he died. Zeke was only twenty-nine.”
“That’s so sad. Can I use any of that in the article?”
“I don’t see why not. It’s common knowledge. There wasn’t a cowboy on the circuit who didn’t know Reid was in love with Lucy—except maybe Zeke.”
“What did she have? Boy or girl?”
“Boy...a little version of Zeke. We all call him Z-man. It’s Reid’s nickname for him.” Roark laughed. “As my Uncle Declan says, he’s a tornado.”
Priscilla laughed. “I bet Reid loves him because he’s a version of Zeke and he’s Lucy’s son.”
“Exactly. Z-man calls Reid, Daddy and he is. He adores that boy.”
“Amazing story. Okay, tell me more. Who else competes?”
“Besides me, no one. Dev retired at the top. Jax retired because he’d been injured too badly in a car accident. He’d been on his way home from a rodeo in Idaho Falls with his wife, Bethany, and a car crossed the centerline and hit them head-on.” Roark shook his head.
“That’s awful. Were they all right?”
“No, Bethany was killed. The car behind them said the car hit them so hard, it spun theirs around, and then it slammed into a tree on the driver’s side. Jaxon’s hip was shattered. Uncle Declan flew us to Idaho. Jaxon had to have emergency surgery and while that was happening, Uncle Declan flew Bethany’s body back home. Jax was devastated. He loved her so much.”
“That’s so sad. How long ago was this?”
“Two years. Listen, I don’t want any of that in the article, please. That’s off the record. Okay?”
“All right. I won’t print that part. So, that’s all the Callahans, right?”
“That’s it.”
“Will any of you compete in the one coming next month?”
“Probably. The entire town comes out for it. You’ll have a good time.”
PRISCILLA WAS SURE of that. She’d love to have a good time with Roark and not at the rodeo. In the tent, under the stars perhaps. She looked at him from under her lashes. Damn! The man was so hot. His black cowboy hat sat low on his forehead and his sunglasses covered those beautiful gray eyes. She wiggled in the saddle. It was going to be a long day and even longer night.
They rode on for a long while before stopping for lunch. When Priscilla swung her leg over the saddle and her feet hit the ground, she would have fallen if Roark hadn’t been there to catch her.
“Thank you. I guess sitting so long got to me,” she said as she looked up at him. He really was tall.
“You’re welcome. I figured you’d need help.” He removed his sunglasses. She watched as his gaze roamed over her face and stopped on her lips. She took off her sunglasses and his eyes met hers.
“You have beautiful eyes,” he murmured.
“I was thinking the same thing about yours,” she whispered and reached up to touch his lightly whiskered cheek.
Roark leaned down and touched her lips with his. She couldn’t stop the moan from emerging. His arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her tight against him. She pushed her hips against him and wished she could strip him naked. He growled into her mouth. She wrapped her arms around his neck and toyed with the hair at his nape. His hands moved down her back to her bottom. He grabbed her ass and squeezed then slowly raised his head and looked into her eyes.
“Fuck,” he muttered as he dropped his hands from her and then stepped back.
“Well, I’ve never had that reaction to a kiss before.” She placed her hands on her hips and stared at him.
He took his hat off and combed his fingers through his hair then resettled the hat on his head. “That shouldn’t have happened.”
“It did, though. It was just a kiss, Roark.”
He stared at her. “You’re right. Just a kiss.” His words came out in a near snarl.
“Why are you so mad?”
“I’m not mad,” he growled. He’d begun to pace in short steps as if he didn’t know where to go or what to do.
“Oh, you’re angry that I said it first, is that it? Well, if it makes you feel better, go for it, big guy. Tell me it was just a kiss and I need to get over it.” She placed her hands on her hips again. “Well?”
“Shut the fuck up. I don’t need this shit. Eat, so we can get going.”
“I’m not hungry.” Priscilla was so furious now that she wanted to stomp her foot. How dare he speak to her that way? He’d kissed her not her him. Men!
“Fine.” She watched as Roark walked to the packhorse, removed some food containers and a blanket then sat down in the grass and made himself a sandwich. He glanced up at her when her stomach growled and raised his eyebrow.
“Okay, so I’m hungry.” She joined him on the blanket. When she looked over at him because he chuckled, she then couldn’t stop her own laugh from erupting.
“I’m sorry, that entire conversation was ridiculous,” he said.
Priscilla snorted then laughed again when she saw Roark shaking his head. He glanced up at her and her breath hitched. She’d never been so attracted to a man so fast. She’d never been into cowboys and for the life of her, couldn’t remember why not because this one was everything delicious. She remembered his body as he stood over her when she’d passed out. His rock hard body had her wanting to run her tongue down it. From his pecs, down that rippled stomach, to his...she mentally groaned. She glanced over to him when she heard the grass rustle to see him lying back with his hat over his face.
“I thought you were in a hurry to go?” she asked.
“Am...whenever you’re ready. In the meantime, I can r
elax while you eat. If I fall asleep, just kick me when you’re ready.” He clasped his hands behind his head and crossed his booted feet.
She ran her gaze up from those boots, along his long legs, and stopped on his fly. She bit the inside of her cheek. Good googly moogly! The chaps he’d worn when she met him only emphasized an already amazing area.
“Why do cowboys wear chaps?”
He raised his hat and looked at her. “In the rodeo, we wear them to protect our legs from rubbing against the animal we’re riding. Bronc or bull. For men moving cattle or horses, it protects their legs from brush and cacti.”
“Okay.” Not to emphasize his crotch! Noted. She finished her sandwich and packed up. “I’m ready when you are.”
Roark sat up and put his hat on his head then helped her up.
“We need to get going. I want to get up there so I can get a fire going and put the tent up for you.”
“All right.” Priscilla picked up the blanket and handed it to Roark who moved to the packhorse to replace the items. Meanwhile, she moved to her horse and lifted herself up onto the saddle. She had to stifle a groan but couldn’t keep the pain from registering on her face when her ass hit the saddle. She looked down to see Roark grinning and she narrowed her eyes at him.
“Don’t give me that look. I know your ass has to hurt. I could massage it for you if you want.” He winked at her and a shiver of desire rushed over her at the thought of him massaging any part of her.
“I just might let you,” she said with a teasing smile as she tugged on the reins and nudged the horse to get going.
ROARK MUTTERED UNDER his breath. Damn smartass.
Then he picked up Bouncer’s reins, vaulted into his saddle, and rode behind her. He grinned when he saw her wiggling around on the saddle. He knew damn well she had to be sore—especially if she hadn’t ridden in a while. He grinned thinking how he’d love to massage her ass. When he’d had his hands on it early, he’d love the feel of it. He looked at it again. Really nice ass. Shit! He’d always been an ass man and damn, she had a great one.