by Heidi Hormel
“That means making compromises on both sides.” This really was a broad-strokes plan. She and Knox hadn’t worked out the details... Maybe she should—
“Remember. I love you.” Danny’s smile lit up the entire cab. “Dear Lord, I do like saying that.”
“I love hearing it, and you’d better love hearing me say it all of the time because you are not going to be able to out ‘I love you’ me.”
She took his hand, marveling again at the callouses, its strength and the tenderness she knew he could show.
“Back to business. With a little work and an infusion of cash, I think we can create a strategy that will use some of what you’d been hoping to do along with some of what my original plan would have done. In other words, we could provide the housing and support to those residents who need it, while creating jobs and economic opportunity. It won’t be Rico Pueblo, but we might use parts of that to ramp up the economic—”
He held her face and kissed her hard on the lips. “You make me hot when you talk all MBA.” He kissed her deeply then softened his lips as he pulled away. She swayed toward him. His denim-blue eyes darkened to indigo. “How did you make me love you even more?”
“My special talent? If I’d known that when I went for Miss Texas, bet I would have won.”
“You would have, but then I would have been arrested for punching every cowboy in the audience. Your sexy MBA talent is only for me.”
“ROI,” she whispered in his ear. “GDP.” He chuckled as his mouth landed on hers and she worked on messing up his hair again.
Chapter Sixteen
Clover tried to wipe the sappy grin off her face. Just not possible. She and Danny had played bull rider and the cowgirl go to the rodeo... Well, she had to giggle at the memory, or she’d end up all hot and bothered again.
“What?” Lavonda asked, sitting beside Clover in the metal stands of the small outdoor arena where Clover had watched Danny practice and now would watch him compete again. Lavonda had told her this was where she’d met her husband, who’d been competing at the Highland games here—a kilted cowboy with a passion for archaeology.
Clover was not telling Danny’s sister about anything they’d been doing.
“Yuck,” added Jessie, Danny’s oldest sister, corralling her daughter between her long legs. “I know that kind of look because you get it, Lavonda. It has to do with—” she looked down at her little girl “—grown-up stuff.”
Clover refused to blush because it clashed with her hair. “Look, it’s the peewee riders,” she said to distract the women.
SAC Bull-Riding Extravaganza, which was still raising money for the town’s new revitalization projects, had everything from three-legged races to bull rides by the top professionals. Best of all, the stadium was full of spectators and every concession stand had a line, including the one run by Pepper’s mother, Faye, where she and the ladies from the Back Room Mafia were telling fortunes and giving out horoscopes. They also had a “Take a Selfie with Ralph the Llama” booth, and the line was three deep. Apparently, Ralph had a big Instagram following.
Clover knew she should be nervous for Danny. He would be riding, just for fun—although she’d seen some betting going on between the men, when she’d gone down to wish him luck. He said he was in good shape, having worked on riding left-handed. Of course, she may have distracted him when he’d been working out. What could she say? A big blond cowboy doing push-ups was a thing of beauty. She’d needed to show him her true appreciation.
“Oh, crap,” Pepper said from her seat next to Clover. Butch, her “herding” dog, had slipped into the arena, then proceeded to chase the children and the younger llamas who’d been recruited as “wild” bull substitutes. “Butch,” Pepper yelled, standing and ready to run into the ring. Then a streak of red and white came hurtling into the fray. It was Maggie May. She’d attached herself to Butch, feeling the need to treat him like one of her pups, while he adored her with the burning love a teen boy had for his first crush. Maggie May nipped at Butch, who stopped what he was doing and lay on his back to show that he was defeated. Pepper laughed. “That silly dog. I’d better go help—”
“Never mind,” said Lavonda. “The menfolk are taking care of it.”
All four women laughed as Jones in his kilt, Danny in his white cowboy hat, AJ in ripped jeans and Payson in chinos began rounding up the llamas and the scared children. Danny turned and squinted into the stands. He’s looking for me, Clover thought to herself as she waved. Her stomach dropped at the gorgeous sight of her cowboy. She lifted her matching white hat, with her signature dyed-pink snake-skin band to which a few rhinestones had been added to match one of the purses her mother had started to design with a little bit of input from Clover. She blew Danny a kiss and wham. One of the llamas rammed him bull-style then galloped over top of him.
Clover ran down the metal stairs, nearly decking a mom and her kid when they got in her path. She couldn’t see the dirt of the arena because so many people had gathered around the railing to watch the kids and now Danny lying hurt on the ground as llamas and dogs raced around.
“Out of my way,” Clover said, elbowing people as she’d learned to do at every New York City crosswalk. She got to the dirt and a security guard put out his hand. She growled just like Maggie May and the man shrank back. She sprinted to the circle of men, ignoring the two dogs now calmly rounding up the llamas.
She pushed at the kilted man and finally moved him aside. Danny sat in the dirt, his cheek bruised and his hair matted with...green goop that smelled...worse than manure after a hot day in the sun. Yuck. “Are you okay? Do you have all of your teeth?”
“Teeth?” he asked blankly. “Nope. Didn’t lose my cap. Just a little bruised,” he said.
AJ added, “And you smell like crap. That’s the first time any of the furballs has spit on a human. Feel privileged, Danny.”
“Women somewhere probably pay good money to be slathered in llama spit.”
“They do not,” Clover said. “Let me help you up. Since your friends are being as helpful as a tiara on a pig, I’ll take you to the showers. This is a college—they’ve got to have a locker room.”
Danny stood on his own and Danny’s brother-in-law, the surgeon who hadn’t even been examining him—men!—handed him the dented and dirty white hat. She teared up looking at it. Wasn’t that just like Danny? All white knight under the dirt and the dings.
He put his arm around her. “Maybe I need help getting into the showers?”
Did he just wiggle his eyebrows? She looked for help from the other men. They had scattered. “You stink,” she said, pushing at him. Llama spit was nasty stuff.
“I’m sorry I scared you.”
He did it again. Just when she thought he was nothing but a bullheaded cowboy, he’d say something sweet or smart or just so Danny.
“You did scare me. Why did you wave to me instead of watching for the animals? You’re a cowboy. You should know better.”
“I do know better. It was your rhinestones. They dazzled me.”
“So, now it’s my fault?”
“Sure is, ma’am. I’m just a cowboy in love and stupid with it.” He kissed her before she could say no, and suddenly llama spit smelled a lot like sexy cowboy.
When they broke apart, both of them were breathless. Good. She didn’t want to be the only one getting hot and bothered. Whew. He smelled horrible. Amazing what a kiss could make her forget. “Get in the showers now or you’ll get kicked out of the competition.”
“You, too.”
“What?” She raised her hand to her face. Ee-ew. She had a blob of llama spit on her face. “Get it off.”
“We will,” he said calmly. “The locker rooms are right here. Too bad they’re not coed.” He gave her another eyebrow wiggle.
“You are one sick puppy.” She hur
ried into the building. She had to get rid of this smelly mess so she could go check on Danny and make sure he wasn’t hurt. She knew one thing about cowboys. They were never hurt until they passed out from loss of blood.
* * *
“I’M COMING IN,” Clover yelled into the men’s locker room five minutes later. No answer. That probably meant no one else was there—but it could also mean that Danny had passed out. She walked inside to stop her imagination from going any further. “Danny?” Then she heard the whistling. What was that? It couldn’t be. “Barbie Girl”? Before she could shout his name, he belted out the chorus and now she laughed out loud. Her cowboy was a surprise every day, which made her love him even more. Darn him.
“Danny,” she shouted as she stepped up to see him washing away in the large open shower area. He jerked around guiltily—as he should. “Practicing for karaoke night at Jim’s?”
“You can’t be in here.”
“Really? I’m here.”
“I mean this is the men’s locker room.”
“I know. But I’m here to check on you. To make sure you don’t have a bone sticking out somewhere that you neglected to tell me about.”
He gave her a grin that somehow married sexy man with immature teen. “Wow. You might be right.” His eyes looked downward, which made her glance the same way. Darn him. They couldn’t do anything about that particular problem right now. She was beginning to feel distinctly hot, too.
“Go back to ‘Barbie.’ I’m out of here.”
“Sure you don’t want to make sure nothing is broken?” How could he waggle his eyebrows with water running down his face?
“Later.”
“But I’m not sure that I can sit a bull like this.”
“You’re not sitting a bull no matter what.”
“I am.”
“Are not.”
She drew in a breath, refusing to get pulled into a juvenile argument. “Danny, you knocked your head when you fell. You had to. You’ve got a huge bruise on your face.”
“It’s a small bruise and I didn’t hit my head, just got a tap on my cheek. I organized this whole thing...well, with Lavonda’s help and maybe a few others, but I can’t not ride. People paid to see ‘real’ bull riders. I’m one of them.”
“You were one of them.”
“I’ll always be a bull rider, just like you’ll always be a beauty queen.”
“Not the same thing. And I’ve not been one for a long time.”
“To me you’ll always be a beauty queen.” He started out of the shower and she backed away.
“We’ll talk about this when you’re dressed. And saying silly things like I’m still a beauty queen will only convince me that you really did hit your head.”
He moved faster than a wet, naked man should and pulled her into his arms, nuzzling into the crook of her neck so he could whisper in her ear, just a minor distraction from the big, wet, muscled male smashed all up against her. “I don’t need a hit to the head to make me loopy. Seeing you in the stands with those tight white jeans and that hat is all it takes. What can I say? I’m a sucker for a Texas beauty queen.” He kissed her neck and she held him and his lips there for a moment.
As she tugged on his hair so she could see his face, she said, “Flattery will not convince me you should jump on the back of a bull.”
He moved his hips forward. “What about giving you a bull ride?”
“First, that’s a bit of bragging, and, second, we’re in a men’s locker room. Now stop and listen to me.” She stepped away from the temptation of him. Was she as juvenile and hormonal as he because she needed to put distance between them so she could talk to him like the rational, MBA-carrying woman that she was? “Everyone will understand why you can’t ride. You’ve been hurt.”
“I know you’re trying to protect me.”
“Darn right. Since you won’t do it for yourself.”
“Clover,” he said softly. She turned to him again, unable to stop herself. He had a towel around his waist now and an earnest expression on his face. “I need to do this for me, too. You know, I never got a retirement ride.”
How could she not have known that? She was supposed to love him. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I’m telling you now because I just kind of figured it out. I’m good with not being a bull rider. I’m okay with that being my past, but I want to put a bow on it. I want to say goodbye.”
“You want to leave on your own terms. I get that.” She did. She understood needing to make your own way in the world. That was what she planned to do in Angel Crossing and with Danny. “Get dressed. You’ve got a bull to tame. Then later I’ll ride the bull snake.”
He laughed and hugged her. “That’s not a thing, and it’s about as sexy as granny panties.”
“You’ve never seen me in granny panties, then.” She kissed him long and hard, knowing once again that her future was here with Danny.
* * *
DANNY SETTLED HIMSELF onto the back of Thunder Jr. The bull was new to the ring, and SAC was the kind of ride that Dave the stockman insisted would provide a good show without testing the mettle of the riders too much. Danny thought that his mettle needed to be tested. This competition was his real retirement ride, win or lose, but he’d like to win. He owed it to himself, just like he’d told Clover. To say his final goodbye. He loved bull riding, but it wasn’t number one in his life anymore. That was what it had to be for him to do it well. But now number one in his life was Clover, and Angel Crossing, his family, his friends.
“Yo, man, pay attention,” AJ said as he thumped Danny on the back. “I thought you’d been practicing.”
“I have been. I’m good.” This really needed to be his final ride, if he couldn’t even keep his head in the game while sitting on pounds of steely bull flesh ready to rid itself of the annoying cowboy on his back.
Dave said from his other side, “This little guy is new. Be nice. I’ve got big plans for him. Give them a good ride, but nothing fancy. Okay?”
Danny nodded, reached up and settled his slightly dinged-up hat on his head. Give the crowd a show. That was what he’d do. He’d enjoy the ride like he’d done as a teen, when not so much was at stake. Today was about giving the audience what it had come to see and raising money for Angel Crossing. Before he let his brain drift to places it didn’t belong, he gave AJ the signal. The chute opened and Thunder Jr. didn’t move. Hell’s bells. Dave smacked the bull on his beefy haunch. He still didn’t move. Frozen. Could a bull get performance anxiety?
“Give ’im a nudge, Danny,” AJ counseled. Danny did and the audience yelled, expecting Thunder Jr. to explode out of the chute. But the large black-and-white bull took one dainty step after Danny urged him to move with a gentle nudge from the point of one boot in the bullish armpit. Thunder Jr. turned his head to give Danny a hurt look, like somehow he’d betrayed him.
He tried a tap of his heels, readjusting his grip. The bull stopped dead again, his large head turned so he could look at Danny with one brown eye. What did the animal want? This was a time for them both to shine. Next, the rodeo clowns came out. They looked at the animal warily but approached him, waving their arms. Thunder Jr. bellowed at them but didn’t move.
“Okay, folks, it looks like Danny Leigh has already tamed this bull, so we’ll be seeing him ride later.”
The clowns carefully scooted to the rear of the bull and walked him with Danny on his back out of the arena. As they passed the fence, Danny lifted himself off the bull and waved to the crowd. He watched Thunder Jr. saunter away without a backward look.
What did Danny do now? Ride another bull? Was this the universe telling him that he’d pushed his luck as far as he should? Obviously, he’d been hanging around Faye too much if he thought that. Look at all of the good things he had. Did he really have to win
this little bull-riding extravaganza to feel right with his retirement? Clover waved to him, the rhinestones on her headband and those decorating her shirt nearly blinding him in the Arizona sun. What did he need to ride a bull for? His life was going to be filled with more thrills and spills than he could imagine, hooked up to Clover. Time to give other cowboys a chance for glory. He was happy to be Mayor Danny of Angel Crossing and a cowboy for Clover Van Camp. What more could he want? Babies. Crap. Where had that thought come from? Thunder Jr. stopped, turned his front quarters and bellowed right at Danny. Dang. He must have hit his head when he and the llamas went two rounds.
* * *
“HURRY UP,” LAVONDA said as she sprinted up to Danny after his “ride,” then headed around the back to the arena.
Clover stood in front of him now, tugging on his hand. “Come on. We can’t miss this. It’s going to be the biggest thing in Angel Crossing since Anita got Jim’s in her divorce.”
He followed the women without argument. This day was supposed to be a good old-fashioned rodeo to raise a little bit of money and the hopes of Angel Crossing. They ended up just to the left of the chutes. AJ stood on top of the gate, decked out in his cowboy best. He must have changed. He’d mess up his clothes if he rode like that.
The announcer’s voice boomed out. “We have a little change in the schedule, folks. Instead of AJ McCreary on Widowmaker, we will have a brief performance by AJ on banjo.” There was a hushed silence. “Just kidding. That cowboy can’t carry a tune in a bucket.”
Danny saw AJ’s horse Benny come into the arena. His friend jumped on the horse as he galloped past. “What the hell is going on?” he asked Clover, who shushed him.
He looked back to his friend, waiting for whatever was going to happen. His sister looked like she was about ready to explode. Then Jones came sidling up beside her and whispered something in her ear. Lavonda smiled and stared even more intently at AJ and Benny.
The audience stayed silent. Then the horse and rider made a perfect turn and magically AJ unfurled a banner. The rider and horse moved even faster around the ring as the banner whipped behind them. Finally, Danny saw it.
