Mack knew the feeling. He’d woken alone in bed the morning after at the El Rancho Motel. Beth had left while he’d been asleep—the scent of her perfume on the bed sheets the only evidence she’d been there.
“What’s the boss going to do?” Mack asked. “He’s got that group of businessmen coming in from New York on Friday.”
“He was givin’ a gal a tour of the place earlier.” Hoss shrugged. “Maybe she’s the new housekeeper.”
“Let’s hope.” Mack was willing to do a lot of things at the dude ranch, but he refused to change bedsheets. “How’s the boss taking it?” Everyone knew Dave and Millie were sleeping together.
“He doesn’t say much, but I figure he’s hurtin’.” Hoss spit tobacco juice at the ground. “Can’t never trust a woman. They ain’t ever who you think they are.”
Hoss was speaking from experience. His wife had left him years ago when Hoss was still rodeoing. Heartbroken, Hoss rode the circuit, leaving his sixteen-year-old son home alone to fend for himself. At eighteen his son had joined the military and Hoss hadn’t seen or heard from him since.
“Maybe Millie will return in a few days. Might have been a family thing.”
“Millie ain’t got no family.” Hoss stood, the old bones in his bowlegged hips creaking.
“Wait here.” Mack rolled the wheelbarrow out of the horse stall.
“Get yer hands off my damned horse shit.”
“Settle down, old man, before you work yourself into a heart attack.” Mack wheeled the ’barrow out a side door and dumped the soiled hay into a compost pile behind the barn. When he returned, he caught Hoss rubbing his twisted fingers and knobby knuckles—leftover souvenirs from his rodeo career.
Hoss grabbed the ’barrow. “You competin’ in the Rattlesnake Rodeo at the end of the month?”
The Rattlesnake Rodeo raised money for the only medical clinic in Rattlesnake, Arizona. The closest town with a hospital was four hours west in Tucson. The residents of Rattlesnake depended on the clinic for most of their medical needs. “Yeah, I’ll probably enter.”
“Yer brothers gonna ride, too?”
“Don’t know. Except for me and Porter, they’re all married now and busy with their families.”
“Might find a wife at the rodeo.” Hoss snorted as he pitched soiled hay into the barrow.
“Sorry, Hoss. No buckle bunnies for me.” When Mack married, he wanted a down-home girl. Beth’s face flashed before his eyes... Why did she have to be like the other women who came to his concerts and just wanted a piece of him? Mack had dreamed of being a musician all his life, but lately the warning be careful what you wish for rang through his brain far too often.
He was tired of loose women fawning over him. He was twenty-nine and he’d made a promise to himself that by his thirtieth birthday he’d have found his forever woman.
That wasn’t going to happen if he couldn’t forget his one-night stand with Just Beth.
Copyright © 2014 by Brenda Smith-Beagley
ISBN-13: 9781460337356
THE COWBOY MEETS HIS MATCH
Copyright © 2014 by Roxann Farmer
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The Cowboy Meets His Match (Fatherhood) Page 21
