The Bull Rider's Redemption

by Heidi Hormel

  “Here you go,” he said, handing her a bottle and motioning for her to take a seat in the recliner as he pulled up a kitchen chair.

  “I guess you don’t have many visitors.” He shook his head. “Do you have any leads on adopters?” Suddenly the room felt small, hot and full of promise. Had she really followed him out of her interest in the puppies? She looked over at the blocked-off area. When she turned back, Danny was right there beside her, looming over her. She shivered. Slowly he leaned down, pushing back the chair as his lips touched hers. She sighed in delight. He lay across her, holding himself up so that he didn’t crush her but molded to her tightly enough that she felt every heated inch of him.

  “I didn’t come here for this,” she gasped between his kisses.

  “I didn’t ask you here for this,” he whispered across her cheek. “But you are the sweetest, sexiest woman I’ve ever met, and I just can’t resist tasting you.”

  And taste her he did, until they were both breathless, and then he took her to his bed. She urged him to go faster. He wouldn’t listen, dragging out each touch, each brush of his lips, until she was begging him. When they did finally come together, she couldn’t think, only feel.

  She mumbled into his sweaty shoulder as she kissed him, “We can’t keep meeting like this.”

  “Why not? Seems like the best nights I’ve spent in a Rocky Raccoon’s age. Go to sleep before I’m tempted to show you again why we should keep meeting like this.”

  “Promises, promises, promises,” she teased. And show her he did.

  * * *

  THE NEXT MORNING as Danny slept, she woke with Maggie May and the puppies, making her way down the stairs in one of Danny’s oversize cowboy shirts. Of course, the white puppy, the runt yet the most adventuresome, hustled around the building. Clover yelled after him, fearful he would get to the street. She heard Danny coming down the steps, saying something to her as she went around the corner of the building.

  “Hulk,” she called.

  “Clover?” her father asked, standing on the sidewalk looking at her with a frown.

  “Clover,” Danny called just as he came around the corner, “don’t go out on the street without your—”

  “Daddy,” she said, interrupting Danny as she yanked at the shirt to magically make it longer. Maybe this was a nightmare.

  Her father’s frown deepened. “I sent you here to clean up your brother’s mess and what are you doing but taking up with some drifter.”

  Chapter Nine

  Danny’s hand automatically went to his head to brush down his hair that had grown in but refused to lie down nicely. He stepped in front of Clover and stretched out his hand. “Good to see you, Heyer. I mean, Mr. Van Camp.”

  The tall man with a thick middle, hair plugs and a pinkie ring didn’t take the hand.

  “I’m Mayor Danny Leigh,” he said, trying not to wince. Not exactly how he wanted to meet the man who had the fate of the town in his hands and was also Clover’s daddy. He didn’t need the man’s approval, but no man wanted to meet a daddy half-dressed, making it clear what he’d just been doing with his daughter. “If you’d like to go on to the diner, we can meet you in a few minutes.” Clover poked Danny hard in the back as she moved from behind him, holding the puppy like a shield.

  “Daddy, where are you staying? I’ll meet you there after I’ve had my shower and breakfast.”

  Danny saw the mean squint to the man’s eyes and stepped in again. “If you give me two minutes, I can be ready to take you on a tour of the town. You can meet up with Miss Clover later.”

  “Don’t try that ‘yes, ma’am’ cowboy bull crap on me. I remember you, boy,” her daddy said in a blue-blood tone that made him feel about two inches high.

  “I’m mayor of Angel Crossing and a lot of things have changed.”

  “Not everything,” the older man said. “Clover, let’s go. You can take me to where you’re staying. We’ll talk there without interference from the mayor.”

  Clover tried again. “I think it would be better for me to meet you later.”

  “Now, please,” her father said in a voice used to command.

  Danny couldn’t believe the fierce take-no-prisoners Clover turned and hurried up the stairs. Danny wasn’t sure whether to stay here and talk with her father or try to comfort Clover. He didn’t know exactly what she needed to be comforted for but he knew that she needed it.

  “So,” the man said, rooting Danny to the spot, “you’re after Clover again and you think being mayor makes you worthy of her now, do you?”

  “Clover is a grown woman,” Danny said. Because what else could he say?

  “She may be but she has a lot of her mother in her. A little too much concern about love and not enough about facts. The fact is that Clover has the chance to—”

  “I’m ready, Daddy,” she said, hurrying up to them dressed in yesterday’s suit and looking great despite the mussed hair, which he vividly remembered helping muss. “The paper in the puppy pen needs to be changed,” she told Danny, dismissing him in a way he didn’t like and didn’t deserve.

  He reached for her hand and, before she could stop him, pulled her close for a kiss, just to prove to her that he wasn’t someone to be so easily forgotten. Dang. She tasted good and for a second she softened. Then she pushed—okay, shoved—him away.

  “Mayor,” she said in an icy tone. “We’ll see you at the next meeting.”

  She walked off with her daddy. Danny stood watching and not doing a blasted thing.

  * * *

  TO GET THE puppies used to life in Arizona, Danny took the wriggling animals and their mama for a ride in his pickup with strict orders (to the little ones) that there would be no piddling in the truck. The trip to see AJ had another purpose. Danny would show the pups to AJ’s daughter, EllaJayne, who would see the animals and instantly fall in love. It might be a dirty trick but he needed to find good homes for the puppies. AJ’s ranch was a perfect place. Could Danny convince him that two were better than one?

  “All right, boys and girl,” he said to the box of puppies. “It’s showtime. Be on your cutest behavior.”

  Butch, AJ’s girlfriend’s dog, came running up to him with his friendly tail wagging furiously. Danny looked around for AJ, figuring he wouldn’t be far behind. The llamas and alpacas were milling in the corral and the fields of vegetables stretched out in every direction. Here was one of the people Danny wanted to protect by fighting Clover and her daddy’s company. It wasn’t just his own plans. Others had invested in Angel Crossing, too, including his own sister, who had a tour-guide business. She’d been in PR with big corporations. She understood how all of this worked, so maybe she could help him. On the other hand, he hated running to his big sister for help like a little boy.

  Danny heard a yip, a growl and pounding hooves. Dang it. The puppies had escaped. He’d forgotten they were actually mobile now. They had, of course, found their way into the corral with the furballs, as AJ called the alpacas, llamas...and goats? When had he gotten goats? Hairy goats with big horns. Butch and Maggie May ran past Danny and toward the corral. That unfroze Danny and he sprinted for the animals. Crap. Clover would kill him if the animals got hurt.

  Butch had one puppy in his mouth and Maggie May another, the two of them coming out of the corral as Danny climbed in. The big animals seemed to be stepping delicately around the racing puppies. Danny caught another quickly and deposited him back outside the corral with Butch. The dog guarded the two puppies. Good. Danny went back in for the last one—Hulk. He might be the runt, but he had the most personality, 100 percent fearsome. Today that meant he was having a growl-off with a large billy goat, who had been tolerating the nonsense. Now he lowered his head, ready to butt the puppy into kingdom come.

  Danny hurried forward to scoop up Hulk, who readied himself to leap a
t the goat. He got the pup into his arms, stumbled forward, just as the goat rammed, hitting Danny solidly in the nose. He fell to the ground and saw stars, moons and rainbows.

  “Hey, Norman, get away from him,” a woman’s voice said, followed by AJ’s loud whistle. Danny breathed in carefully, trying to figure out what might or might not be broken. Hulk licked his cheeks.

  “Danny?” Pepper asked. He felt more than heard her kneel, and then her fingers were checking him over in a professional manner.

  “I’m okay,” he managed to say around the pain in the middle of his face. Damn it. Had the goat broken his nose?

  “I don’t think you’re okay. Stay right where you are. AJ, come and get this puppy and give him back to his mama and lock them up in the barn. Don’t let EllaJayne see any of them.” During all of that, Pepper didn’t stop her examination, moving his head and neck. He winced and the movement made his nose shift into a new level of throbbing pain. “I know I took an oath and all, but I’m almost ready to let you lie out here. Bringing puppies—that’s low.”

  “Just taking them for a ride.”

  “Uh-huh. Right now, though, I’m going to be the bigger person and treat you. You didn’t break your nose, but the bruising will sure feel like it. You also strained muscles in your neck. As soon as AJ gets back, we’ll help you into the house. I need to get ice on the nose and pack it. You’re bleeding everywhere.”

  “I am?” he asked but it sounded more like “niam nam?”

  “You are.” She swatted away the hand he’d lifted to feel his nose and wipe away the blood.

  Without fuss, AJ and Pepper got him into the Santa Faye Ranch’s original homestead. Their own new home wasn’t completed...yet. The residents of Angel Crossing were helping them get the house up as fast as possible, but money and time were both in short supply. He sat in the kitchen chair as Pepper, a physician’s assistant, worked on him, helped by her mother, who believed fervently in the power of astrology and Summer of Love medicine she’d learned from who knew where. He winced as Pepper found a particularly sore spot in his neck and swallowed a moan when the movement made his packed and iced nose throb.

  “Definitely a strain. Faye, get me the aspirin.”

  “I think he’d do better with willow bark and turmeric.”

  Through his nearly closed eyes, he saw Pepper get the painkillers. He hoped it would help. His head had started to pound now, too.

  “Here,” she said, handing him a glass. He reached out with his right hand without thinking and the glass slipped from it. Dang it. “That’s it. You’re going to the hospital. Faye, call 911.”

  “No,” Danny said, sitting straight up despite the surge of pain. “I’m okay.”

  “You’ve done something more to your neck than strain the muscles. Sit still. You don’t want to make it worse.”

  “It’s not new,” he managed to mumble out. At least that was what he hoped she heard.

  “Not new. What have you done to yourself and why haven’t you seen me?”

  He’d have to confess now. AJ stood in the doorway with his daughter, EllaJayne. Great. Why not just announce it in the paper? But from the determined look on Pepper’s face, he had little choice. He worked on speaking as clearly as his aching and stuffed nose would allow. “I have...numbness in my right hand and arm. Doctors said it might be something with my back or with the joints. Told me it might get better with rest.”

  “Obviously that hasn’t happened,” Pepper said sternly.

  “It’s better some days than others. But I’ve been doing a bit of practice for SAC. It’s acting up again.”

  “You need to have it checked,” Pepper said.

  AJ stepped forward and laid his hand on her shoulder. “Let him be. He’s a bull rider. He knows what he’s about.”

  “Trying to cause permanent damage to himself.”

  “One little ride won’t do that,” AJ said. “I thought there was a bit more to the story of you retiring.”

  Danny nodded. Becoming mayor had happened just as he needed to make a decision about riding.

  Pepper stepped away from AJ. “I don’t care about your bull-rider code or whatever it is. You can’t ride with that numbness.”

  “I’m teaching myself to use my other hand. It’s not a real competition, just for fun.”

  “Puppies,” EllaJayne screamed. Every adult eye turned. A proud Butch sat surrounded by four puppies posed in exactly the same way.

  “Oh, my,” Faye said. “I didn’t know it was the Year of the Dog.”

  * * *

  CLOVER REALLY WANTED a drink, but since Rita and Anita at Jim’s were dead set against her father, VCW and Rico Pueblo, she’d have to go to the Devil’s Food Diner for coffee and pie. Her head might appreciate it in the morning, but her thighs would be hating it when she upped her workout. She’d start by walking to the diner from her house. It would give her time to try to figure out what her father was up to besides proving that she’d made a mess of things. He’d been ignoring her and had even set up a meeting with the council president that she hadn’t been invited to.

  She sped up her walk to outpace the voice that whispered to her that her father would never respect her and never believe that she could handle anything without him checking on every detail. She made it to the diner in record time.

  Danny’s sister Lavonda called to her, “Are you by yourself? Come sit with us.”

  Danny was the reason she was at the diner ready to drown her sorrows in lemon meringue pie. That morning two weeks ago was the real reason she and her father had been fighting about everything. Finding her wearing only Danny’s shirt had been really, really bad luck. She blushed remembering it.

  “Come on,” Lavonda urged. “You’ve got to see the cutest baby in the universe.”

  Clover walked over, intrigued because she knew the baby wasn’t Lavonda’s. She had a donkey and a cat and a Scotsman but no baby.

  She looked for Jessie, Danny’s oldest sister and the baby’s mama. There she was, striding from the hallway that led to the bathrooms. “Thanks for watching Gertie,” said Jessie when she got to the table. “Hey, Clover, heard you were still in town.”

  Clover wondered if this was a setup. The women had been very protective of their little brother even as teens. Could she gracefully leave? No, she could not. She sat down and admired the baby with Jessie’s smile and, disconcertingly, Danny’s blue eyes. Her dark hair was apparently from her surgeon father.

  After pie and coffee had been ordered and the baby resettled into her car seat for a nap, the two Leigh girls turned on Clover—as she’d guessed they would.

  Lavonda started. “You know I spent years in corporate communications. I’d like to know exactly how you can promise you won’t be pushing out current business owners and residents who don’t sell.”

  “I’ve outlined that in the presentation. We don’t control economics, but those businesses that take advantage of the influx of visitors will certainly have the opportunity to thrive. Take your guide business, Lavonda. More people coming to Rico Pueblo must include those interested in exploring the desert or looking for the Scottish treasure, right? We project that within five years the average stay will be two weeks.”

  “Isn’t there a housing component?” Lavonda asked.

  “A part of the plan is for condo-style housing that will be managed by VCW. It will allow people to make this their second home or a vacation retreat.”

  “What about Danny?” Jessie asked, her sage-green eyes fierce. “He wants to help families here afford housing. It sounds like your plans will push them out. There’s Pepper, too, and her market.”

  This was tricky because the approval of Rico Pueblo would be the end to Danny’s plans. The properties he’d bought would remain zoned as commercial. “He could shift his project farther from the core of t
he town, possibly.”

  Lavonda said firmly, “The point, though, was that the residents could walk to what they needed—the doctor, the market and Lem’s store. Moving them farther from town will mean they need to drive, which some don’t do or shouldn’t do. Having an affordable core was also attractive to younger home buyers. This town definitely needs younger folks and a place for the children of the current Angelites to start off.”

  “Two things. With the influx of tourists, there could be a public transit system. Second, VCW and Rico Pueblo will provide jobs that will help keep younger people here. There’ll be viable career opportunities.”

  “Huh.” Jessie snorted. “I don’t see the people here wanting to ride those cute little trolleys like they have in Tucson and Phoenix. And careers? Sweeping up at restaurants and washing dishes?”

  Clover wasn’t going to argue about the clear economic pluses of the plan. Instead, she said, “It’s not up to me, really. The council will make the final decision on whether our project is best for the town. I think that makes it fair all around.”

  “It would be,” Jessie said, “if Danny had your money for slick presentations and throwing around the promise of good prices for land. A couple of property owners told me that you...sorry, your father and VCW...offered them above-market prices for their properties.”

  Clover scrambled to understand why her father was making offers. She was supposed to be doing that, as they’d decided in New York months ago.

  “Plus, you’re sleeping with our brother,” Jessie said. Her stubborn cowgirl chin thrust out. “What are you trying to do? Convince him of your way of thinking with—”

  “Of course not!” She was hurt to her core that these women would think she’d do something like that.

  “Good,” Lavonda said. “At least you’re not using Danny’s ‘interest’ in you to get your own way. We wondered about that.”

  “I’ll be leaving,” Clover said with as much Texas beauty queen as she could manage. “Everything I’m doing in Angel Crossing is legal and ethical. I resent that you would imply anything else.”