by Tina Leonard
“It’s one of many you would indeed use,” Judy said with a laugh. “Along with ‘arrogant’ and ‘annoying.’ ”
“I can’t disagree with those.” Ava patted her horse’s neck. “He had an idea he wanted to suggest.”
“If Trace had such a great idea, he would have come to me. No doubt his idea had nothing to do with ladies protecting rodeo cowboys. ‘Doing men’s work,’ as I believe he called it.” Judy smiled. “I don’t believe in men’s work. I believe in work. It matters not who does it, and Trace knows I don’t have any patience for his quibbling on that detail. Which is why he went to you to share his idea. He knew better than to suggest it to me.” Judy patted Ava’s horse on the neck and stroked its nose. “Don’t fall for those sexy brown bedroom eyes is my advice.”
Judy had a salient point. Ava looked at her. “Judy, what goes on in Hell isn’t really something I’m focused on. Either we have a bullfighting team, or we don’t. Trace may have thought of a way to ease us into rodeo work.”
Cameron pulled alongside, her white-and-black horse perfectly trained to stand still. Harper joined them today on her chestnut horse, as well-trained as the rest. Judy nodded with satisfaction.
“Give Trace enough time and he’ll figure something out, I’m sure. Never fall for a man’s first idea. Trace likes the challenge of keeping his brain busy improving on the first,” Judy said. “Cool your horses down, and then let’s go pay a visit to Hattie Hanover. She’s the smartest woman in this town, and I always bounce ideas off of her.”
A black truck arrived, gleaming in the sunlight. Judy winked at her Belles, and Ava tried not to stare at Trace as he got out of his truck, ambling loose-hipped toward the ring.
“Ladies,” he said, tipping his hat. “Mayor.”
“So you pay calls to ladies in their bedrooms now, Trace?” Judy demanded. “Ava’s so tired from your late-night visit that she can hardly ride today.”
It was far from true. She’d ridden well. But Ava didn’t say anything, mainly because Trace’s grin was just so shit-eating and pleased with himself thinking that he might have gotten into her head.
“Judy, you’ve had your fun,” Trace said. “Load up the horses and the Belles, and let’s go.”
Judy smiled. “Why should we do that?”
“Yes,” Buck said, coming out of the barn and laying a saddle over a sawhorse. “Why should they?”
Trace looked at the Horsemen as they gathered around, his expression sour. “Because they can ride at my place.”
“They’re fine here,” Fallon said. He glared at Trace. “No one’s bothering them.”
“You didn’t want Judy’s team,” Jake pointed out.
“I’ve had a renaissance.” Trace shrugged. “Sue me.”
“You snooze, you lose,” Rebel said. “Tough luck, Trace.”
Trace looked at Ava. She stared back at him, not saying a word. If he wanted the team, he was going to have to work it out with Judy.
She hoped he did.
He smiled at her, devil-may-care to the max. “You don’t want to be here, Judy. You’ve played your hand, and I’m folding.”
Judy smiled. “Thank you, Trace. I’m anxious to hear this proposal of yours that Ava tells me about.”
“They can train here for free,” Rebel said. “They’re not bothering us. No need to take your team where you’re not wanted, Judy.”
Ava felt Judy’s hesitation. She glanced at Trace.
“You sure are going to a lot of trouble, Trace,” Buck said. “Have to wonder what’s in it for you. You don’t usually trouble yourself on other folks’ behalf.”
Trace looked at Ava, and she felt a strange sizzle flash between them.
“I don’t want to see you ruin a good thing, Buck,” Trace said. “And Judy’s team has the potential to be a very good thing for Hell.”
“Let’s go, girls,” Judy said. “Trace, you can come to my office later to discuss our possible partnership.”
“Judy,” Fallon said, and Judy turned back to face him. “Remember who gave you a place to train, and who was in it for himself. As usual.”
The Horsemen walked away in disgust. Ava felt tension radiating from Trace, but he let the comment slide. His gaze returned to her, and she felt the same hot sizzle she had a moment ago, realizing with a sinking heart that she was falling just a bit for a man whom people described as being pretty much out for himself.
Trace tipped his hat to them, went back to his truck. Ava and the other riders went to the barn to hose down the horses.
“Ava,” Fallon said, picking up a blade to sluice the water from her horse’s back. “We’re hoping you’ll keep training here with us.”
“It’s not up to me.”
Fallon took a hoof pick, began picking the packed dirt from her horse’s hooves. “We can do more for the team than the Outlaws can.”
“I don’t want to get caught in the middle, Fallon. I just ride.”
He sighed, turned to her. “In that case, can I ask you out to dinner?”
She stared at him. “Dinner?”
He nodded. “Someone should show you some of the hot spots Hell has to offer.”
Fallon was handsome, but she wasn’t attracted to him. No, I have to fall for the man with the attitude and the buns of steel.
“Thank you, but no,” Ava said, uncomfortable.
“All right.” Fallon nodded. “I still hope you and the team stay here.” He walked out of the barn, and Ava released her breath.
Trace hadn’t asked her out for a date, not unless one counted trying to drag her fishing, or landing on top of her in the middle of the night just to make his point.
He was a big, tough alpha male. That was his point.
She doubted Trace ever let anyone forget it.
Trace walked into the barn, took her horse’s bridle, led the animal from the barn. Without saying a word, he loaded it into the horse trailer hitched to his truck.
“Let’s go,” Trace said.
Arrogant. Disagreeable. Pigheaded.
Everything I told myself I’d never fall for again.
Damn it.
* * *
“It doesn’t matter,” Trace said, glancing over at Ava. “Don’t let the Horsemen guilt you. They’re working an angle, and it’s always a crooked one.”
“That makes no sense.” Ava gave him a look of disgust, which he took with good humor. He was just happy to have her in his truck. Frankly, she’d come with him more easily than he’d thought she would. Especially after he’d overheard Fallon ask her out.
That alone had caused Trace to shift his gears. He hadn’t really planned on dragging Ava off. The plan had been to talk rationally to her, help her put her horse in the barn. Hell, he hadn’t had a plan.
Until he’d heard Fallon make his boneheaded offer—and split-second, Trace had known that just couldn’t stand.
“It makes sense to me. You don’t want to hang out with them, Ava. Trust me.”
“I don’t know if I trust you at all. You seem shadier than they do.”
He shook his head. “Just some friendly advice. You don’t know the pitfalls of Hell. Friends help each other out.”
“Do they?”
He felt her glare and grinned. Such a sweet, sexy body, so much sass. “Last I checked, yes.”
“You need to sell your idea to Judy. Not me.”
“You let me handle Judy.”
“Fine.” She waved her hand dismissively.
“You don’t really like me much, do you?”
Ava looked at him, her dark green eyes gazing at him curiously. “You’re arrogant and short-tempered. You didn’t want to give us a shot in the first place, and this is the second time you’ve put me in your truck to twist my arm. Did I miss what I’m supposed to like?”
“Now that you put it like that, I realize I haven’t given you much to be impressed with. Let me fix this snag.”
“Go right ahead.”
He turned his truck toward h
is barns to put her horse away. “If I train you, you’ll be a helluva rider.”
“I’m a helluva rider now.”
“Yeah, but when I get done with you, you’ll be a badass helluva rider.”
“Why? Why are you suddenly so motivated?”
He laughed, parked the truck. “Maybe I hate to see a nice girl getting taken advantage of by the Horsemen.”
“I’m not being taken advantage of.”
“I meant Judy.” He grinned, enjoying himself.
“It doesn’t matter. You’re not that kind of guy.”
“Unselfish? Sure I am.” He went around to open her door.
She slid out of the truck. “Considerate. You’re not considerate enough to try to help us out. Your ego may be involved because you’re competitive. But not considerate or unselfish.”
He grabbed her hand, turned her to face him. She’d been sassing him with those pink lips for a few days now, and a man could only take so much.
He kissed her, long and slow and sweet, taking his time since she didn’t protest. She felt better than he remembered, even in his wildest fantasies, which he’d had plenty of concerning her. He was dying to move his hands to her waist, circle it, palm her sexy fanny. Told himself it was too fast, and too fast never got a man anywhere.
Her lips moved under his, returning his kiss, surprising him. Had she just moved a fraction closer? She seemed to melt against him, surrendering, and Trace’s world spun at all the magical wonder suddenly opening to him.
Somewhere a truck door slammed. Ava gasped, moved away from him. Stared at him, blinking, then silently went to unload her horse.
He followed, then helped her unlock the trailer. She unloaded Mack and walked him to the barn.
“Go away,” she told Trace.
That was it? He’d given her a kiss to melt the hardest heart, and she was telling him to drop dead? “Hey,” he said, “don’t freak out.”
“Do I look freaked out?” She walked her horse inside the barn, checked that Mack had fresh, cool water and plenty of fresh hay. “This is the face of annoyed.”
That wasn’t a woman’s typical response to his kissing. “I’m sorry. I jumped the gun.”
“You jumped more than the gun, buster.” She put her horse into a stall, checked the hay, filled the water, brushed past Trace.
He followed her as she sashayed toward her own beat-up blue truck, the one she’d driven from Virginia. “Ava.”
“What?” She moved a mountain of paper and horse stuff from the front seat to the back.
“Can you forget that happened?”
“Easily.” She got in her truck, switched the engine on, rolled down the window. “I already have.”
He jumped back as she peeled away, shredding his gravel drive. Trace grinned.
She might try to forget, but that kiss was going to last him a while.
It had to. He wasn’t touching the lady again—she was going to have to make the next move.
* * *
“That sorry womanizing—” Ava ceased her muttering for a second, refusing to think about the raw passion that had washed over her when Trace kissed her. “Rat. An opportunistic rat, that’s what he is.”
And a sexy-hot kisser. She certainly couldn’t overlook that—but nor was he getting any points for it. She didn’t need any complications right now, and there was no way Trace Carter was anything but a complication.
Yet that had been the best, hottest kiss she’d ever experienced. In fact, if they hadn’t stopped kissing when they had, she might have fallen a few more devastating inches.
I’ve vowed to stay away from his type.
But staying away from Trace’s hard body wasn’t going to be easy. Her phone rang, and Ava pulled to the side of the road to answer. “Hello?”
“Are you still with Trace?” Judy demanded.
“No.”
“Good. Meet me at Hattie Hanover’s. We have things to discuss. Urgently.”
The line went dead, and Ava sighed, pulling back onto the road. Urgently. Judy was urgency. Actually, Judy was on a mission, but she hadn’t quite worked out all the parts to the mission, which wasn’t in her favor. She was running out of time to create the team she wanted.
Ava wasn’t going to leave Judy in her hour of need. Maybe Hattie Hanover had a magic wand or something she could wave over Judy—over all of them.
They needed a plan more than a wand, because apparently the plan that Judy had wasn’t working worth a damn.
* * *
“That was some major bullshit,” Buck said to his business partners. “Carter just can’t walk in here and steal our customers.”
“They weren’t paying customers, but they were bringing in calls from folks who saw them riding in the ring, who were interested in riding lessons for their brats,” Jake added.
Fallon shook his head. “Those guys really get under my skin, including my good brother Declan. What the hell do we do now?”
Rebel tossed a pitchfork into the corner, startling some horses in nearby boxes. “I don’t know, but those Outlaws aren’t the princes of Hell, the way everybody treats them like. They came back from serving with their heads big, and some decorations, and folks around here practically genuflect when they walk down the street.”
“I kind of had my eye on that little Ava,” Fallon said, “and that’s what really chaps my ass.”
“Yeah, well, I managed to sweet-talk that redheaded friend of hers into a night on the town,” Jake said, and they high-fived him.
“How’d you get that past Judy the Judgmental?” Rebel demanded.
“I just played my cards right. Sweet talk will get you far,” Jake said. “I acted like Trace, all stick-up-my-butt honorable.”
“Honorable?” Buck snorted. “Judy’ll tell her you’re a snake. She’ll say you’re Jake the snake because that’s what she always says, and that’ll happen before you ever get to taste those lips of Cameron’s.”
“But he has got a good idea,” Fallon said. “Maybe we can’t fight the Outlaws on the business side, but maybe we get at them from the feminine angle.”
Buck looked interested.
They all were interested.
“Anything to fuck up the Outlaws,” Jake said.
“All’s fair in love and war,” Fallon agreed.
“A little payback for stealing our business,” Buck said.
“They’re not the princes of Hell,” Rebel said, “and it’s time someone let them know.”
They shook on it.
Chapter Five
The Rolling Thunder Café was across the street from Redfeathers, but it served a far different clientele. Run by wise and sweet-natured Hattie Hanover, the place served up good food and gossip in abundance.
Ava sat down next to Judy in the bright yellow booth, and Harper and Cameron took the other side. The Rolling Thunder was a bright, sunshiny café, and if you liked grits, black-eyed peas, and green chili corn bread, you were in luck.
Hopefully Hattie had a recipe for Mayor Judy. Ava ordered a glass of tea with lemon, as did Harper and Cameron, then they settled in to wait for Hattie to make her way over from the busy lunch counter.
Five minutes later, Hattie pulled a chair up to the booth, wearing a big smile as she hugged Judy before she sat down. Ava thought she looked like Dorothy Dandridge: dark-complected with a beautiful, calm smile. Ava felt herself relaxing just looking at Hattie’s friendly expression.
“These ladies are my Hell Belles, Hattie,” Judy said, and Hattie nodded to all of them in turn as they introduced themselves. “I need some advice about getting my team off the ground.”
“So I hear.” Hattie smiled. “And, I hear that Trace and Company won’t help you with training.”
“Not with bullfighting.” Judy shook her head. “We can train with the Horsemen, but that’s got Trace and the other men in a twist. Trace is a little sweet on Ava,” Judy explained.
“Trace isn’t sweet on me!” Ava shook her head. “And I�
�m certainly not sweet on him.”
Judy and Hattie looked at her, their gazes understanding.
“You know, Trace hasn’t gone out with anyone since he dated Dee Tompkins,” Hattie said. “Still bugs him that she became one of Ivy Peters’ girls.”
“That was a bad, bad thing,” Judy said. “I’m keeping my girls away from that place. Ivy’s the devil. She’d probably try to get my team away from me.”
“We’re not interested in anything except being Hell Belles. Right?” Ava said to Cameron and Harper.
She thought her friends looked a little guilty—or concerned—but she wasn’t sure why, so she went back to focusing on the issue Judy wanted to discuss with Hattie.
“Anyway,” Hattie continued, “since Trace and Dee broke up last year, he hasn’t been seen with another woman. All Trace does is fish.”
Ava didn’t want to examine too closely why Trace’s dating availability interested her. She told her heart not to perk up at the news, felt annoyed when it didn’t listen to her advice.
“And work,” Judy said. “It’s made him so ornery all the time.”
“All work and no play,” Hattie said.
“Trace is a very dull boy.” Judy sighed. “Anyway, he flat-out won’t even consider it.”
“Trace says he’ll teach me to ride,” Ava offered.
They stared at her, so Ava continued.
“And he’s got an idea for making us—”
“I know, I know.” Judy waved a dismissive hand. “He wants my girls to be a riding team, a decoration, and not a working squad.”
“Is that terrible?” Hattie asked.
“How do we set ourselves apart?” Judy asked. “Every girl in this county can ride.”
“You can’t, Mayor,” Hattie said, and the Belles gasped.
“But I know a lot about it,” Judy said, with a guilty glance at her girls. “You don’t have to be able to play the instrument to know when the music’s right.”
“You can’t ride, Judy?” Ava asked, stunned.
“I did when I was a girl,” Judy said slowly.
“She did until she got her kidney kicked by her horse,” Hattie said, patting her friend’s hand. “Now she stays off horses.”
Judy sighed. “We’re going to get this figured out.”
