Mavis hadn’t come home when that rodeo was over. Her mother had been as closed mouthed as a nun with a vow of silence, and none of the townspeople would admit to knowing where she’d gone.
“Where have you been, Maple?” The words he’d sworn never to ask had slipped out within a few minutes of seeing her again. So much for playing it cool.
“Don’t call me that.” She stared at him for what seemed like forever before walking around him like he didn’t exist.
His car was parked near her trailer so he hurried to catch up. Bumping his shoulder into hers like he used to, he got the remembered pleasant little shock.
She jerked away. From the look on her face, she’d felt it, too.
He moved closer and did it again.
“Stop it,” she said, her voice an irritated squeak. As they reached the trailer, she threw the bucket into the tack room and grabbed the magnetic horse blanket. She positioned her horse between them, settling the blanket on the mare. “Why are you here?”
“Dad’s not doing too good. Drew isn’t in the country, Davie hasn’t been much help since he was ten, and Nana needs a break. What about you? I thought you’d given up on this small town and become a Texan.” If he could keep her talking . . .
“Your Dad hasn’t been good for a while, and you’ve never come back before. Why now?”
She must have asked after him, or she wouldn’t have known he’d been on the road riding saddle broncs for several years. When Mavis disappeared, he’d gone a little nuts. If he was truthful, he’d sulked for months, waiting for her to show up and apologize.
The next January, he hit the rodeo trail, staying away from home for long stretches of time. Too many things in the small town reminded him of Mavis. “Gram never asked before this.”
She rested one arm on the mare’s withers and watched him with suspicious eyes. “So all someone has to do is ask?”
Bygones definitely weren’t bygones. Besides, she was the one who ran away without a word. “Yup, ask away.”
Mavis untied the mare and loaded her into the three-horse gooseneck trailer. After closing the door and hooking both latches, she stood for a moment before turning to face him. “I don’t have any questions left. They died of old age.”
Well, hell! If she wanted to carry a grudge, he’d let her take the full weight. Dex made it to the front of the pickup before his anger got the best of him.
First his dad and now Mavis. He didn’t know what he’d done wrong, but Karma was sure bent on getting revenge.
This had been the best riding year of his life. He’d been number three in the PRCA Saddle Bronc standings when Alzheimer’s took a strangle hold on his dad. The family’d had no choice but to put Ben Dunbar in a home, and Gram couldn’t handle the ranch by herself.
Dex wasn’t angry. Hell, he was happy to help. Nana Lucy and Dad had done everything for him and his brothers after their mom died. The timing sucked was all. He’d been on a roll and was disappointed to miss the rest of the season.
He picked up his steps and met Mavis as she was climbing behind the wheel of the Dodge three-quarter ton. Grabbing the door, he stepped in the way as she tried to slam it.
Her brows drew together and her jaw tightened, but with her heart shaped face, it was nearly impossible for her to give him a death glare. She reminded him of an angry Snow White in jeans and cowboy boots.
He turned on his charm. “Can we call a truce? Go back to being friends? We’ll be seeing each other on the streets, and I’d hate to feel like I had to watch my back every second.”
She looked at him for a minute then the corners of her mouth turned up. She smiled wryly and shook her head.
“You find that funny?” he asked, running their brief conversation through his mind. Nope. Nothing funny there.
Reaching through the open door, she held out her hand.
He took it in his, her skin soft and warm. This was more like it. He’d never had a problem talking Mavis into forgiving him.
Within seconds, she pulled her hand from his grasp, all trace of humor gone from her expression. “I’ll agree to a truce, but not friendship. I’ve had all the friendship from you I can handle in this lifetime.”
Mavis had changed, become harder. No, not hard. More determined, less forgiving. It appeared her soft spot for him had disappeared.
“So we’re non-friends, but not enemies?” He could work with this. Five minutes with this woman and he realized what he’d been missing. He reached for her hand again, and she tucked it beneath her thigh.
When she tilted her head, her thick hair fell across the side of her face. Flicking it behind one ear, she looked at him from beneath her lashes. “You remember the old saying, hold your friends close and your enemies closer? I want to make it perfectly clear. We’re not doing that!”
Her voice sounded calm, but he caught the slight quaver. What the hell had gotten her all riled up? She was the one who’d left without looking back. “Sounds like a plan.” Time to back off for now. If she stayed in town, he’d get to the bottom of her attitude. If she stayed in town, he’d get her back.
After the first few months, he’d given up asking about her, but he hadn’t forgotten. A kernel of apprehension burrowed into his brain. It hadn’t taken him but a few minutes in the past to get her to smile. She seemed to have developed a resistance to his charm.
Dex eased his car behind her truck as they pulled out of the fairgrounds. He could easily have passed her when they hit Simplot Blvd, but he elected to follow the trailer instead, keeping a car between them.
He wasn’t stalking her. Not really. It was a few short miles from the rodeo to her house, but for some crazy reason, he was reluctant to let her out of his sight. As if she might up and disappear again.
Mavis’s rig swerved suddenly a mile or so before they came to the Homedale city limits, and she limped into the first spot wide enough to get her trailer off the road.
Dex parked behind her. He met her as she rounded the rig and knelt beside the rear tire on the trailer. “Flat?”
From her look, the question sounded as stupid to her as it did to him.
“Where’s your jack?”
She stood, brushed her hands on her jeans and opened the tack room door. He heard soft swearing and the clink and thud of metal and leather being shifted around. A bright yellow trailer aid jack landed on the gravel outside the door, followed by a four-way lug wrench.
Good thing he hadn’t been standing closer. She’d have taken out his shin.
By the time Mavis reached the driver’s door, Dex had the jack in place in front of the good tire. She pulled onto the trailer aid with the ease of a pro. It took them less than ten minutes to replace the flat.
Kind of like old times, this working together thing. He’d missed the feeling of being with someone who knew his every move. Hell, he’d missed Mavis.
She’d pulled her hair into a ponytail but a few wisps had escaped, and he resisted the urge to tuck one behind her ear.
“Thanks.” The word was short and clipped. She tossed the tools into the tack compartment and headed for the truck.
He wasn’t ready to let her out of his sight. “I’m following you the rest of the way home.” Since he’d found Mavis again, his desire to be with her overrode his common sense. He’d dated several women, okay more than several, in the years since she’d left, but he’d been stupid to think absence would dissipate his feelings. His love for Mavis was as strong today as it had been since the day he’d met her.
“You don’t have to, but suit yourself.” Mavis climbed into her truck and started the engine.
He smiled to himself as he followed her down the highway. It seemed her desire to be with him hadn’t kicked in—yet.
CHAPTER TWO
Friday morning rolled around filled with blue skies and heat.
Mavis should have been enjoying the summer day, but disgust churned through her veins and caused her stomach to clench. For years, she’d prided herself on being
strong and independent. Now she’d put off going into town for the better part of a week to avoid running into Dex.
Some strong woman she was turning out to be.
The echoes of her boots hitting the hard-packed dirt floor of the barn punctuated her determination. She wasn’t spending another moment living her life to the dictates of others.
Tuneful nickered hello as she hurried toward the haystack, but pinned her ears and shook her head when Mavis neared with the flakes of hay.
“Be late with breakfast one time, and everyone turns on you.” Mavis stood watching the mare eat for a moment before hurrying to feed her mom’s horse. When her morning chores were done, she waved good-bye to her mother and headed to town. Her first stop was the Shamrock Café. Set one block off Main Street in downtown Homedale, it was the local’s choice.
When her cell phone had rung the night before, Mavis almost let it go to voice mail. At the sight of Randi’s name in the caller ID, she’d sighed in relief. They’d been close friends all through high school. Randi was one of the few people whose sarcasm level was as high as her own, and they’d had kept up through the years by phone and social media.
This was one reunion Mavis was excited about.
The ten-foot tall wooden shamrock on the side of the café was exactly as she remembered it, including the spot where Bobby Cates had carved his name into the stem when they’d been in the ninth grade. Entering the door, Mavis stopped to look around. With the exception of new plastic ivy growing around the top of the walls, the place hadn’t changed a bit.
Randi had commandeered the booth near the exit, and Mavis made her way through the tables. Many of the customers were old friends of hers or her mom’s, and it was a pleasure to stop and speak to each one.
She’d had time to say hello to Randi and not much else when a familiar voice called to her.
“You have been gone too long, Mavis girl. It’s about time you came home.” Gladys Jeffries slapped laminated menus onto the table and filled their cups. Good thing they both liked coffee. The waitress had worked at the Shamrock since shortly after her husband’s death a few years before Mavis was born.
Extra wrinkles graced the corners of her eyes and around her mouth. The steel gray of her tightly wrapped bun was a shade paler than it had been the last time Mavis had seen her. “I got hungry for lemon meringue pie. Nobody makes it like Clarence.”
Clarence Cook was, by coincidence, the cook. The man had a magic touch when it came to making pies. He made four each morning, and when they were gone, they were gone.
“Good thing Randi reserved you each a slice. Mrs. Alder bought the cherry for Karen’s birthday party. Must be pie for breakfast day, because the morning coffee club ate most of the apple crumble and part of the lemon. You enjoy your coffee, and I’ll fetch the sweets.” Gladys hurried toward the kitchen, her rubber soles squeaking against the faded linoleum.
While they waited, Randi filled Mavis in on the gory details of her latest break-up with a local farmer.
Mavis shook her head. “So, Clyde bit the dust. Who’s left?”
“Not many in this small town. I may have to move.” Randi grinned over the rim of her cup.
“You’ll never leave Homedale. There’s always Davie.” Mavis tried to hide her grin but couldn’t.
“That rat bastard.” Randi stopped stirring cream into her coffee at the mention of Davie Dunbar’s name. “I haven’t seen him for a couple of years, and he’s one man I’m glad to see gone.”
Mavis opened her mouth to ask for details when she saw Randi’s eyes widen. The bell above the door rang out as someone entered the café. Even though she sat with her back to the entrance, Mavis knew who’d entered by the look on Randi’s face.
“Oh my god, that man looks good.”
Feigning nonchalance, Mavis folded her napkin in two and ran her thumbnail along the fold. “Who looks good?”
Lowering her voice and leaning across the table, Randi acted like she was leaking a state secret. “Dex Dunbar. I heard he was back in town.”
“Everyone knows sugar is good for the soul.” Gladys sidled up to the table, a piece of pie in each hand. She placed a plate in front of each girl and stood back, her hands on her ample hips. “Go on. Is it as good as you remembered?”
Mavis broke off a bite of pie and popped it into her mouth. She moaned as the tart lemon flavor swamped her taste buds.
“I remember that sound.”
Dex’s words conjured up thoughts that were sinful and sexy. His deep voice, coming from right beside her caused her to choke as she swallowed. Grabbing the napkin, she held it over her mouth and glared as best she could with tears flooding her eyes. “What do you mean by that?”
“It means you used to moan whenever I brought you here for pie.” He batted his eyelashes, but his attempt at innocence fell way short. “You have developed a dirty mind, Maple.”
Randi laughed as Dex patted Mavis on the shoulder.
Embarrassment heated her cheeks, and she dabbed at her eyes before turning to look at Dex. Did the man never have a bad day? Here she sat, her eyes red and her nose running, and he looked like he’d stepped off the cover of Rodeo GQ. “I asked you not to call me Maple.” She picked up her fork and scooped up another piece of pie before deciding stuffing more food into her mouth wouldn’t be a great idea.
Dex slid into the booth next to her, his hard thigh brushing against her leg.
The simple touch sent a jolt of electricity through her jeans right to her heart. She scooted as near to the wall as she could get. It had been foolish to think the years apart would lessen his affect on her.
Dex slid closer.
She put her hand on his shoulder to push him away, but another tickle of awareness shot up her arm.
Damn! She ate right and exercised, took the best possible care of her body, and at the first chance, it betrayed her. She jerked her hand away and clenched her fingers in her lap.
Dex rested his arm along the back of the booth, his fingers lightly touching her shoulder. He was touching her on purpose, but there was no graceful way to get out of the booth short of crawling under the table. She pretended to flip her hair over her shoulder, catching the inside of his forearm with her fingernails.
She had to hand it to him. If she hadn’t been watching she would have missed the flinch.
Within seconds, he’d moved his arm back to the table. With a smile, he took a fork and cut off a bite of her pie. “I’ve missed this.”
“Buy your own,” Mavis said, sliding the plate as far from him as she could. “I’m taking the rest home to Mom.”
Randi pushed her plate toward Dex. “Have some of mine. Just looking at it makes me gain weight.” She grinned at Dex and tilted her head. “Pie through the lips adds an inch to your hips, or something like that.”
With the show Randi was putting on, some people might have wondered if Mavis’ friend was interested in Dex, but Mavis knew better than that. If Dex responded, she’d know for sure she’d been right to leave. The weeks until she could head south again and escape the temptation that was Dex Dunbar were going to seem like a year.
“Aw, thanks, Randi. I was just giving Maple a hard time.” He leaned back in the booth like he didn’t have a care in the world. After glancing at Randi, he turned his attention to Mavis. “What have you two been up to while I’ve been gone?”
What kind of game was he playing now? She’d told her mother to keep her whereabouts secret, but if he’d really wanted to find her, the rodeo world was a small group. Any of the top barrel racers could have told him where she was located.
Dex shifted his weight, turning his electric blue gaze on her. The hungry look in his eyes made her jump. “And how have you filled the lonely hours during your years on the road?”
It took her a minute to gather her thoughts and not smack him in his smirking mouth. She went for cool and unaffected, but her flinch at his words probably gave her away. “I’ve been doing what I love. Making great horses.
And you?”
Randi’s brows furrowed, and she opened her mouth to speak.
But Mavis wasn’t stopping. She was on a roll. Whether it was the right one, she didn’t have a clue, but she’d committed, and she was going to finish. “Weren’t you riding a few bucking horses?”
How lame could she be? Her natural born snark had deserted her when she’d needed it the most. She used to be able to put a person in their place with a few well-chosen words, but her brain had failed her today. She could tell by the look on Dex’s face he knew he had her flustered.
“Yeah, I’ve ridden a few.” He straightened and pointed to his buckle. The shiny gold and silver glinted in the dull lights of the diner. “I won Pendleton two years ago.”
Much as she would have liked to pretend indifference, she was impressed as all holy hell. Pendleton was one of the best rodeos in the country. “Congratulations. I hadn’t heard.”
Dex looked ashamed. He’d been a lot of things but never a bragger. “Got lucky.”
Gladys arrived with a cup of coffee for Dex and the bill for the girls. “Anything else?” She looked from one to the other as they shook their heads.
Dex took a sip. “I’ve been all over the country, and nobody makes coffee like you do, Gladys.”
The older woman put a hand on his shoulder. “Good to have you home.” She shifted her gaze to Mavis. “You, too, honey. Any chance you and Dex will start dating again? You’re such a cute couple . . .”
~-~
Dex choked on the mouthful of coffee but managed to spew only a little on the table. “Went down the wrong pipe,” he said as soon as he could draw a breath.
Mavis’ face glowed red with embarrassment. One thing about redheads, their emotions were as visible as a neon sign. She flipped her fingers at him trying to get him to move so she could leave, so he picked up his coffee as if he didn’t have a care in the world. “Randi, are you still running barrels?”
Mavis dug her finger into his ribs, but he managed to keep his attention on her friend.
Cowboy Six Pack Page 19
