Lassoed Into Marriage

by Christine Wenger

  Finally, Sully was on his feet and waving to the crowd. Sports medicine staff were supporting him, but he was at least upright. Rose cheered, and Lisa finally breathed.

  She couldn’t believe how much she’d worried about him.

  The arena announcers stated that Sully’s ankle wasn’t broken, but it was badly bruised and that he’d be back to ride again in the short round.

  Then Sully limped to where they were sitting, removed his hat and waved it to her and Rose. Then he blew a kiss—obviously to Rose.

  Rose clapped her hands and jumped around.

  The arena announcer wondered out loud who Sully was greeting. The camera panned to them just as Lisa was showing Rose how to blow a kiss back.

  But the camera didn’t show that part. It just showed Sully and Lisa blowing kisses to each other.

  The arena announcer and the entertainer bull fighter took the opportunity to make a big deal out of it. They made Sully seem like a lovesick cowboy, but she fared much better. She was the “mysterious hottie” who had captured the heart of one of the top bull riders.

  Hottie? Her?

  This was her fifteen minutes of fame? If so, she’d take a pass. She didn’t want to be known as anyone’s hottie, least of all Brett Sullivan’s.

  She held her breath, waiting for it to all go away and for them to move on to the next thing.

  Luckily, she didn’t have too long to wait. It was soon announced that Sully was advised by the sports medicine staff not to ride in the short go. They wanted him to get an X-ray on his foot.

  Sully said that he was going to ride anyway.

  Darn that stubborn man.

  Was winning that important that Sully would risk his health? Why wasn’t he thinking of her and Rose?

  Lisa sighed. He was thinking of them. He was thinking of winning and bringing in some money. He was thinking of accumulating enough points for the World Finals.

  And all she could think of was how she didn’t want him to be hurt anymore.

  Chapter Nine

  It was time for Sully to ride again, and Lisa was getting adept at holding her breath. He had drawn Bongo, a young bull who was noted for spinning.

  If Sully could stay on, he’d probably earn more than ninety points.

  The sound of metal crashing against metal filled the arena as the gate opened. The bull went right, then left, then right again, and Sully managed to stay on. Then the bull started to spin.

  It looked like Sully was going to fall off, and Lisa screamed, “Ride him, Sully. Ride him!”

  Rose echoed, “Ride him!” with her little hands cupped over her mouth.

  Lisa took her niece’s hand, and they both yelled. Eight seconds seemed like eight weeks as finally the horn blew.

  “He did it, Rose! He did it!”

  “He did it,” she agreed.

  It took forever for his score to come in. “Ninety-two points,” yelled the arena announcer.

  The place erupted in cheers, and Rose put her hands over her ears.

  “Meet the winner of the Fort Lauderdale Invitational, Brett ‘Sully’ Sullivan!” the announcer said.

  Sully’s interview could be heard over the loudspeaker. Cameras flashed and Sully was presented with a gold belt buckle and a fishing rod and reel.

  “I’d like to thank the two ladies in my life, Lisa and Rose,” Sully said. “And my sponsors.”

  While Sully listed his sponsors, most of the crowd moved to the exits. Lisa wanted to shout at them all to be quiet and listen to Sully’s speech.

  When the presentation was over, she and Rose shuffled along with the crowd. She could hear several people talking about how Sully seemed to have a new energy about him and a new commitment to winning and winning big.

  They attributed it all to the mystery woman in his life and the little girl. A few close friends knew that Rose was his niece and that Lisa was his sister-in-law and, due to unfortunate circumstances, the two of them were Rose’s guardians. Most people didn’t know the circumstances, though.

  Whatever the reason for his sudden motivation, Sully was hot, and he needed to keep riding to keep his stats up.

  * * *

  “Lisa, open the door!” said a man with a baritone voice.

  Lisa opened the door of the motor home as wide as possible and three bull riders carried Sully in.

  “Where do you want him?” Chase Gatlin asked.

  “The dinette will be fine,” she said.

  “The what?” another cowboy grunted.

  “The kitchen booth,” Lisa clarified.

  “Oh.”

  They hoisted him into the booth, and Sully stretched out his leg. “Thanks for the lift, guys.”

  No one, least of all Lisa, would have known that the man before her with scrapes, bruises and an ankle packed in ice was currently the top bull rider in the world.

  He looked more like a prize fighter who’d lost his match—and lost badly.

  “No problem, Sully,” said Chase, eyeing Lisa appreciatively. He winked. “I was lookin’ for you and Rose after the event.”

  “Rose was tired. We came right back here so I could put her to bed.”

  “Well, darlin’.” Chase tipped his hat. “Maybe some other time we could hit a honky-tonk and do some boot scootin’ and—”

  “Thanks again for your help, Chase,” Sully interrupted. “And, just so you know, Lisa is with me.”

  Lisa raised her eyebrow but didn’t say anything. She could take care of Chase Gatlin herself, but quite frankly she was enjoying the attention from the cowboy—both cowboys. It had been a while since she’d felt...desirable.

  But was that a hint of jealousy she detected coming from Sully? To think that Sully would be jealous of Chase was laughable; nonetheless, Sully had made it known that they were...together.

  She wasn’t kidding herself. Sully just wanted to let Chase know that she was off-limits because of Rose. Well, she didn’t intend on being a hermit or celibate any more than Sully did if the right opportunity presented itself.

  “Good night, Chase.” Lisa took him by the arm to lead him to the door. “Thanks for everything that you did for Sully.”

  “Are you really with him, darlin’?” Chase whispered.

  She nodded. “We’re going to be together for a while, Chase. I’m going to have to take a rain check on that honky-tonk thing.”

  “That’s too bad.” He blatantly stared at her, his gaze lingering on her breasts.

  She opened the door and just about tossed him down the stairs. Quickly, she closed and locked the door, then slid into the other seat of the dinette.

  “How are you doing, Sully?”

  He inhaled deeply and exhaled. “I’ve been worse. This is nothing.”

  Silence.

  “What do we do now?” Lisa asked.

  “We?”

  “Yes. We.”

  “Help me out here, Lisa. What are you going for?” Sully asked.

  “Rose’s heart will be broken if we don’t take her to Disney World.”

  “Then we should go,” Sully said. “We’re close enough.”

  “But look at you, Sully. They had to cut your boot off.”

  He shrugged. “It was an old boot.”

  She had to laugh. “That’s not what I meant.” She took a deep breath. “What if you’d really gotten hurt? What if—”

  “Injury is a given in my line of work. It’s not if I’ll get hurt, it’s when.”

  She bit her bottom lip. She didn’t know if she could live like that. “I am counting on you to help me with Rose. If you are injured, you can’t help. And then I’ll end up having to take care of you, too.”

  Sully’s jaw dropped. “I’ve never thought about that,” he said q
uietly. “I’ll hire a nurse if I need one. You won’t have to do a thing.”

  “Oh, Sully, that’s not my point.”

  “What is your point?”

  “That you’re in a dangerous profession. If something should happen to you, it’d be just me and Rose.”

  He took his hat off and grinned. “I’m glad you have confidence in my ability to ride.”

  “You’re a good rider, but things can happen. You said so yourself.”

  “Lisa, if something should happen to me, you’ll do fine with Rose alone, but nothing is going to happen to me.”

  “Promise?”

  “Promise. And I’ll change my will. You’ll be well-protected.”

  “Oh most definitely, Sully. I’ll take good care of your motor home.” She grinned.

  “And my real estate holdings and my bank account. That all totals a couple of million.”

  “A couple of what?” Her mouth hung open like a fish’s.

  “Yup.” He grinned. “It’s mostly my winnings since I started riding with the PBR. I don’t spend a lot of money. I don’t have a lot of needs. But enough about this depressing stuff.”

  “Um...just one more question, if you don’t mind.”

  “Lay it on me,” Sully said. “My life is an open book.”

  “You’re a rich and successful bull rider, so why do your parents, particularly your father, put you down?”

  “I’ve never told my father what I’m worth.” He shook his head. “But being a cowboy is not what my parents consider a normal job. Rick had a ‘normal’ job. He sat at a desk and made money that way. He didn’t have to travel, he didn’t ride smelly animals and he didn’t get dirty. Rick had a job that a father could be proud of. I am a cowboy and that’s one step lower than a convict in his book.”

  “I get it now, but has he ever seen you ride?”

  “Not to my knowledge.”

  Lisa shook her head. “What a shame.”

  “Thanks. That was nice of you to say.”

  Feeling uncomfortable with his compliment, she changed the subject. “How do we get you around? In a wheelchair?”

  “Yup. But I’ll rent one of those electric ones so no one has to push me,” he said. “Maybe we’ll get into some of the shows quicker.”

  She rolled her eyes. “You always find a silver lining, Sully. That’s what I like about you.”

  “At least you like something about me.”

  “I like a lot of things about you,” she said quickly.

  “Like what?” He grinned. “Tell me.”

  “There’s so much, Sully,” she said sarcastically. “I don’t have enough time to tell you everything. To change the subject, let me just ask you this—who is going to drive your motor home? You can’t drive, and neither can Rose.”

  “Uh...that leaves you,” he said. “I figure if you can drive jumbo jets, you can drive this rig.”

  “Piece of cake. We leave tomorrow morning after breakfast. Oh-eight-hundred hours.”

  “Let’s leave at oh-eight-hundred hours and three minutes, just so we’re not being rigid.”

  She grinned. “I’ll get you a pillow and a blanket, Sully. You get the dinette. I’ll sleep with Rose.”

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  She went to the closet and grabbed two blankets and a pillow. When she returned, Sully was already nodding off.

  “I’ll change the dinette into a bed, but you’re going to have to get up,” she said.

  “I gotta freshen my ice pack anyway. Do we have more? This thing is throbbing.”

  “We do. I’ll get it.”

  “I can get it.” Sully tried to get out of the dinette booth by moving back and forth on his rear. “I see what you mean about having to take care of me, but don’t. I can do it myself.”

  “Sports medicine disagrees, Sully, so let me help you.”

  She took his hands and was able to pull him out of the dinette. However, when he stood, he looked like he was about to collapse. Lisa ducked under his arm and held him around the waist. “I’ve got you.”

  “Let’s go over to the passenger’s seat.”

  “That’s just where I was headed. There’s not a lot of seating options in here, you know.”

  He chuckled and let her help him. Sitting down, he took the ice pack from around his foot.

  “I’ll take care of that,” Lisa said.

  “Thanks.”

  She filled the bag with ice then returned to Sully. Bending over, she put the new pack in place.

  “Thanks again, Lisa.”

  She nodded, then walked back over to the dinette. Like an RV pro, she unhooked the table, hooked it again on the lower wall bracket, then put the cushions in place. Shaking out the linens and blankets, she made the bed.

  “Might be a little too short for you,” she said.

  “It’ll be fine.”

  Nothing seemed to faze Sully. He was very easygoing and he didn’t complain.

  “Okay,” she said. “You’re all set. What else do you need?”

  “Well...”

  “Yes?”

  “I hate to ask this, but do you think you can help me get my jeans off?”

  She tried to remain cool, but her face began to heat. She’d seen her share of men without their jeans on or anything else, so why did the thought of helping Sully get undressed send her into a tailspin?

  “No problem,” she said with more confidence than she felt.

  “I have a pair of shorts I can put on, just in case Rose wakes up. They’re in the bedroom, top drawer, navy blue.”

  “Okay.”

  Her brief escape into the bedroom gave her some time to be alone, to catch her breath, to figure out why Brett Sullivan was making her crazy.

  * * *

  Sully didn’t need as much help as he’d indicated to Lisa. He could have cut his jeans to get them over his swollen ankle, but he liked this pair and wanted to save them. With Lisa’s help, he’d be able to get them off.

  He had to admit that he liked watching the blush that crept up her cheeks when he’d asked her to help him. Fascinating. You’d think that such a woman of the world Lisa wouldn’t feel embarrassed about much of anything.

  He heard the door close quietly, and Lisa returned with his navy blue jogging shorts in her hands.

  “How’s Rose?”

  “Out like a light. She had such a great time, Sully, and when you won, it was just perfect.” Lisa tossed him the shorts, and he caught them with one hand. “No, I take that back. It was perfect when you blew her a kiss. You made her feel special.”

  “She is special.”

  “Definitely,” Lisa agreed. “But she was asking about her mommy and daddy again. When she’s overtired, she cries for them.” Lisa stared at some place above his head. He knew she was thinking of her sister.

  Sully felt every ache and pain from tonight’s bull riding. He wished he could think of some magic words that could take away Rose’s and Lisa’s pain. All of their pain.

  He thought about how Rose’s little face lit up when he blew her that kiss, and that made him feel better.

  Suddenly, Sully felt exhausted. Without thinking, he stood up, popped the button of his jeans and lowered his zipper. But then he almost fell sideways.

  “Hang on, Sully. You’re a little wobbly. And I have to take the ice pack off again.”

  “Okay.”

  She knelt on one knee, her gaze avoiding anything but the ice. “Can you lower your jeans some more and sit back down?”

  He didn’t think he could play this game any longer. Soon, he’d be showing more than he ever dreamed of in his tidy whities. He sat down.

  “Uh...I can take it from here, Lisa.”

  “No.
I’ll help. Lift your legs.”

  She gripped the jeans and tugged gently. Slowly, his jeans slid down his legs and pooled at his ankles.

  Carefully, she freed his bad ankle.

  “Wow, is that swollen!” she exclaimed.

  If she only knew...

  “It’s purple, Sully. Purple!”

  Oh, damn.

  He held his breath, hoping this would end soon.

  His other ankle was freed, his socks were off and he was sitting in the passenger’s seat in his underwear.

  So far, Lisa had avoided looking above his knees. That changed when she held her hand out. He took her hand and covered it with both of his.

  “I...um...just wanted you to hand me your shorts. I was going to help you into them,” she said.

  “Oh, sorry,” he said, but he made no move to drop her hand. He just wanted to hold it for a while.

  She looked at their clasped hands and raised an eyebrow. “What’s up, Sully?”

  “I want to thank you for everything you’ve done so far.”

  “Back atcha,” she quipped.

  “I’m serious, Lisa.”

  Her eyes finally met his. “Okay.”

  “We haven’t had a fight in...how long?”

  “Shall we count when you left us stranded here and the Tiffany debacle?”

  “Okay, so it hasn’t been that long,” he said. Then he winked at her.

  “Don’t wink at me! It reminds me of Chase Gatlin.”

  “Hey, you don’t like him, do you?” he asked.

  “I think he’d be fun to go out boot scootin’ with, as he says, but that’s it.”

  It seemed like the most natural thing in the world, sitting there in his underwear and talking to Lisa.

  “We really should set some rules for dating,” he said. “I don’t want a lot of men coming and going in Rose’s life.”

  “I wasn’t the one who drove Tiffany around the state of Florida.”

  “I only drove her around Fort Lauderdale.”

  “Oh, I beg your pardon,” Lisa said.

  He slipped his shorts over his ankles, stood and snapped the elastic waistband into place.

  Lisa rolled her eyes. Had she figured out that he was semi-faking?

  “Sully, what exactly is our relationship?” she asked.