The Cowboy She Never Forgot

by Cheryl Biggs

  He had moved away from his horse and was now standing so close to her she swore she could feel the heat emanating from his body, reaching out to touch hers, beckoning her, tempting her. It stirred a shiver of wanting in her that coursed wildly through her veins and left her feeling weak. She tried to ignore the sudden strange aching in her limbs, and the insane, almost desperate, urge building in her to throw herself into his arms.

  She cleared her throat and clenched her hands into fists, purposely digging her nails into her palms. Tearing her eyes away from his however wasn’t so easy.

  Then he looked away, and his smile faded. Kate felt suddenly, completely, and unreasonably deserted.

  Shane looked desolate, too, as if he’d suddenly remembered that he didn’t love her anymore, that nothing between them could ever really be the way it used to be.

  “Have a good ride tonight, Kate,” he said, throwing the short, clipped and brusque words over his shoulder. He picked up the bucket of brushes at his feet and grabbed Samson’s lead rope, turning the horse back toward his stall.

  Kate stared at him, taken aback at the abrupt change. “Uh, you too,” she managed, then hurriedly unlocked Dancer’s stall and rushed inside. What had just happened? Her hands trembled, and her eyes stung with tears.

  “Shane, you ready for dinner?”

  Kate instantly stiffened and, in spite of telling herself not to, she whirled around and looked outside. Dee Brant walked past Dancer’s open gate.

  “In a minute, Dee,” Shane said. “Just let me finish up with Samson.”

  Kate sidestepped so she could peek around the corner of the gate.

  The woman moved up beside Shane and, standing on tiptoe, kissed his cheek.

  Shane smiled down at her. “How you doing, sweetheart?” he said. “All set for tonight?”

  Kate’s heart twisted into a knot.

  “I just need to finish up with Samson,” Shane said. He led the big horse into his stall.

  “He looks good,” Dee said. “You scheduled to ride him tonight?”

  “Yeah.” Shane stepped out of the stall, locked it, and looked back at her. “The bulls and saddle broncs are first up. Steer roping is one of the last events.”

  “How’s your leg?” Dee asked. “Up to that much work?”

  Kate’s gaze darted to Shane’s leg. What was wrong with it? She bit down on her bottom lip, telling herself she should turn away, stop listening, stop watching.

  “So, where do you want to go for dinner?” Shane said.

  “Pizza?”

  He shook his head. “We’re riding in a few hours, remember? Pizza’s too heavy.”

  She smiled coyly. “Okay, we’ll go have salad or something, but only if you promise to take me into town later, to one of the casinos’ dessert bars.”

  Shane grinned. “Deal.”

  She slipped an arm around his and hugged it tightly. “Good, then let’s go, I’m absolutely famished.”

  Kate spent the next hour brushing down Dancer and trying to convince herself that what Shane Larrabee did, and who he did it with, didn’t matter to her one iota. Then her stomach started to growl and she remembered that she hadn’t eaten anything since that morning. She locked the stall gate and walked to the Snack Shack. A hot dog and a soda wasn’t exactly her idea of dinner, but she was in no mood to drive into town to a restaurant.

  “Hey, beautiful, whaddaya up to?” Tim said, sidling up next to Kate as she waited for the clerk to come back from wherever he’d gone so she could order her hot dog. He leaned on the counter and pushed his hat off his forehead.

  Kate smiled. “About to order dinner, if anyone comes back here. What about you?”

  “Well, I had a date, but she didn’t show.” He grinned. “So, some of the guys and me are going down to Petey’s for pizza. Want to join us?”

  Petey’s Pizza. She and Shane had gone there often. But that was a long time ago. Kate pushed the memory away. She was on the verge of saying no, thank you, to Tim when she realized accepting his invitation would give her a chance to get to know some of the others better, and maybe even ask a few questions. And wasn’t that exactly what she needed to do? Kate nodded. “Sure, I’d like that.”

  “Great.” Tim offered his arm. “Then let’s go.”

  The drive to Petey’s, a favorite hangout of many of the rodeo contestants, took only a couple of minutes. When they pulled into the parking lot Kate wasn’t surprised to see it packed with pickups. “I hope we can get a table,” she said, as she climbed from the truck and walked around its bed to meet Tim.

  “Oh, Craig and some of the others are already here. I was just late getting out of the arena.” He winked at her. “Lucky you.”

  She laughed. “Lucky me,” she echoed.

  They walked toward the restaurant arm in arm, but stopped just inside its entrance as Tim looked around the crowded room for the others they were supposed to meet.

  “Hey, Tim, over here,” Craig Lawyler called out from across the room.

  Shane glanced up and toward the door at hearing his friend’s name called out. His gaze instantly jumped from Tim to Kate. Shock at seeing her there, with his best friend rooted him to his seat. Someone else. The words burned into his thoughts. Anger, born of jealousy, swept over him, digging in, clutching at his heart, and twisting his insides into a knot. But it couldn’t be Tim, he reasoned. His fingers tightened around the stem of his beer mug, his knuckles turning white from the pressure, as his gaze burned into her. Why couldn’t she have just stayed out of his life?

  “Okay, handsome,” Dee said, setting a large pizza and two plates on the table as she sat down across from Shane, “pizza’s here.” She looked at him when he didn’t respond, then turned and followed his gaze across the room. Seeing Tim, she waved, then turned back to Shane. He was looking toward Tim, and the look in his eyes was anything but friendly. “Shane?” Dee said softly.

  From the moment they’d entered the restaurant, Kate had felt as if someone was staring at her. Now, as she attempted to follow Tim, who was weaving in and around several tables, the sensation intensified and she glanced over her shoulder to look around the room.

  Her gaze instantly met Shane’s. A little gasp of surprise slipped from her lips, and she nearly tripped over her own feet He wasn’t supposed to be here. Kate had heard Dee Brant suggest pizza, and Shane had said no. She’d heard him say no.

  “You coming, beautiful?” Tim’s voice broke through the spell that had momentarily gripped her. He took her by the hand and led her to an already crowded table.

  Kate tried to smile, but her face felt wooden. She slid onto the picnic bench between Tim and Josh Lawyler, then nearly groaned as she looked up and found Shane’s eyes still fixed on her from across the room.

  Chapter 7

  Shane leaned against the side of his truck and stared through the darkness at the long driveway that led to Kate’s ranch house. He’d been parked across the road from it for over an hour, trying to decide what to do.

  Jealousy had brought him up here, but something else, maybe fear, maybe the remains of rationality, had kept him from going immediately up to the house, banging on her door and dragging her into his arms when she answered.

  His good sense had begun to erode away the moment she’d walked into the restaurant earlier on Tim’s arm. Shane had gotten into an argument with Dee over almost nothing when they’d returned to the arena, then he’d practically snapped Cody’s head off for merely borrowing his favorite shirt, and then ended up riding two of the worst rides of his entire career.

  He began to pace beside his new truck. His insides churned and a thousand curses danced through his head. He didn’t even know what he was doing here. She’d said she didn’t want him, that there was someone else in her life now. So, where was this Mr. Wonderful? There was no ring on her finger, and so far Shane hadn’t seen sign one of another man. Except Tim. Jealousy burned hot in Shane at just the thought of his best friend with Kate.

  Could she have
meant Tim when she said there was someone else?

  Shane immediately discarded the idea. They’d traveled the same roads, visited the same cities, and participated in the same rodeos together for the past six years. He would know if there was something going on between Tim and Kate. Logic told him that they’d just gone to dinner together, probably a spur-of-the-moment thing, and the other guys had been there. You don’t take a woman out on a date and sit with a bunch of other cowboys. But the simple and innocent explanation didn’t even come close to dousing the fire that was roiling around inside of him.

  He slumped against the tailgate of his truck and stared at the moonlit, sagebrush-covered rolling hills beyond the winding mountain road.

  Years ago, stagecoaches, buckboards, ore wagons and men on horseback had traveled this same road between the Reno valley and Virginia City. But the distance it had taken Shane only a half an hour to cover, most likely would have taken them at least two or three days.

  He scoffed at his wandering thoughts and began toying with a quarter, rotating it through his fingers. What did he care how long it had taken anyone to travel this road a hundred years ago? He looked over his shoulder and stared at the lighted windows of Kate’s house.

  I won’t have a cop for a wife, Kate. Give it up and marry me, or we’re through.

  They’d argued vehemently that last night three years ago, and finally he’d stalked away, positive she’d come to her senses by morning. She hadn’t, and he’d endured a miserable day, but he’d been too stubborn to back down on his ultimatum, and still convinced she’d come around. Later, when he was preparing for his ride, he’d looked up and there she was, standing at the rails watching him. Then he’d been sure be was right. Everything was going to turn out.

  His ride had been near perfect that night, his points high, and his place in the finals secure. When he walked from the arena and Kate threw her arms around him, he was on cloud nine. It had given him the courage to pull the ring, which he’d been carrying around with him for weeks, out of his pocket. It had given him the courage to propose to her again, and know she would say yes.

  And he’d been wrong.

  Memories flooded through him, tugging on emotions he’d kept buried deep and steadfastly ignored over the past three years. Shane continued to mindlessly flip the quarter between his fingers, over, under, over, under, as a kaleidoscope of images played out in his mind.

  The sharp snap of a screen door slapping shut broke the silence that hovered over the mountain valley and shattered Shane’s thoughts. He shot away from the truck and looked toward the house. An outside light had gone on, illuminating the patio that bordered the rear of the house and wrapped around one side. Kate was standing at the edge of the patio, where it stopped and the ground sloped downhill. She stood still, looking out at the valley far below, where the lights of the city of Reno and its casinos glistened like a bed of stars in the otherwise dark, mountainringed valley.

  Unconsciously, Shane took a step toward her.

  The screen door at the side of the house opened again and a man stepped outside.

  Shane instantly stopped, feeling as if the wind had just been knocked out of him. He’d almost convinced himself she’d been lying. He watched as the man moved to sit in one of the patio chairs. Shane strained to make him out, even took several unconscious steps forward, but all he could discern was that the man was tall and broadshouldered, and that the combination of patio and moonlight made it appear that he had light-colored hair.

  Thoughts of Tim and his blond hair flashed through Shane’s mind and even though he told himself the mere thought was ridiculous, he couldn’t quite shrug it aside, or deny the jealousy stirring to life within him. He ached to move closer to the house, or turn and leave. Instead, he remained rooted to the spot, unconsciously straining to hear whatever they were saying, but they were too far away.

  “From what I’ve read of your files, Kate, there’s not much I can add,” Jim Hodges said. He took a long sip of the soda he’d carried outside with him. “Magruder, Norris and Lawyler, out of all the contestants in Reno, have the best motive for wanting to get rid of Shane, I admit, but I just can’t see any of them stooping to sabotage.” He shook his head and drummed his thick fingers on the glass table. “No, not these guys. Magruder’s got too much good history behind him, three All Around Cowboy awards and almost a dozen World Champions. He wants the All Around title again, but he sure in blazes doesn’t need it, or any more endorsements.” He propped a booted foot onto his other knee. “I haven’t known Lawyler long, but he seems like an okay guy. Heard he got banged up a bit a while back, but he’s okay now, and took his brother in when the parents bombed out on the kid. As for Tim Norris, I’ve known him for several years and I can tell you, he’s just not the type to do something like this. Honest to a fault. And don’t forget, he was a victim himself, both here and in Oklahoma. Coulda easily been killed, too.”

  Kate joined him at the table. She’d been thinking exactly the same thing.

  “Plus Larrabee and Norris are best friends,” Hodges said. “Have been for years.”

  Kate set her own can of soda on the table between them. “I know. Everything about these men says they’re above suspicion, and that’s the problem. They’re our best suspects, and yet they’re not. Which is why I wanted to talk to you away from the arena, where there was no chance someone would see or overhear us. There are too many other people who could be doing this, and I can’t be everywhere at once, so I’m going to have some surveillance cameras set up in the stall area.”

  Hodges nodded.

  “And at the stock pens and parking lot as well.”

  “Fine.” He rose. “But as long as you’re looking at rodeo contestants for motives, maybe you’d better look at Brent Sumner too. In fact, I’d say you probably oughta put him near the top of your list”

  Kate frowned. “The clown?”

  “Some of them prefer to be called bullfighters,” Hodges said. “They clown, but they also enter the bullfighting competition. Brent’s one.”

  She stared up at him and nodded. “Fine. What’s his motive?”

  “Well, I don’t know how true it is now, mind you, I just heard about this today.”

  She nodded again, encouraging him to go on.

  “About two years ago his wife had a kid, then left him after he found out the child wasn’t his.”

  Kate felt a chill wrap around her heart. Not Shane, she prayed. Don’t tell me it was Shane’s child.

  “Rumor has it that Molly Sumner had an affair with Shane just about the time she would have gotten pregnant.”

  In spite of the night’s warmth, Kate felt a chill touch her heart, then spread to invade the blood in her veins. She shivered.

  “When Molly left Brent she went off to live somewhere in New Mexico with her parents, I think. Shane and Brent are still on the circuit, but no one’s seen hide nor hair of Molly since then.” He shrugged. “It’s just a rumor, but more times than not where there’s smoke...”

  “There’s fire,” Kate said softly.

  “Well, just figured you should know. May be something, may be just a coincidence. Anyway, I’d better be getting on home. Abby waits up for me.” He rose. “Can I use your phone and let her know I’m on my way?”

  “Sure. It’s in the kitchen.” She stood, and tossed their empty soda cans in a nearby recycling container. “I’ll have a man at the arena tomorrow to install the surveillance equipment and explain it to your security staff.”

  Shane watched them walk back into the house.

  A second later the outside light went off.

  He shoved the quarter he’d been mindlessly fingering into his pocket, spun around, and stalked toward the door of his truck, not wanting to see the light in her bedroom go on. He should have known better than to come here. Obviously getting thrown off Dust Devil in Calgary a few months back, and getting momentarily caught beneath the animal’s hooves had done more than put a hairline crack in his thigh bo
ne. It had rocked a few of his brain cells loose. Or maybe it had just killed them off.

  Kate had told him there was someone else in her life now, another man, but something inside Shane just couldn’t accept that, wouldn’t let him believe it. He’d had to see for himself, and now that he had, he once again felt like the king of all fools.

  “I should just put a damned jester’s hat on and be done with it,” he growled under his breath.

  He jerked the door open and, as he started to climb into the pickup’s cab, he glanced over his shoulder at her house. The back door opened again and Shane’s hand thightened mercilessly around the steering wheel.

  “Flapjack?” Kate called into the night. “Come on, boy. Where are you?”

  The large tomcat instantly appeared from behind a decorative pile of rocks at one end of the patio and pranced toward her, answering her call with a guttural meow.

  Kate bent down and scooped him up in her arms. “You naughty boy,” she scolded lightly, “you know you’re not supposed to be outside. Do you want to end up being some coyote’s dinner?”

  The large cat lovingly rubbed his head against her chin and purred.

  “Slipped out with me a few minutes ago, didn’t you?”

  As if understanding her, he meowed.

  Kate laughed softly and, cuddling the big tom to her breast, she reentered the house.

  Shane jammed the pickup’s key into the ignition and turned it with a forceful jerk. The word fool echoed through his mind as his engine roared to life. He shoved the gearshift into first and rammed a foot down on the accelerator. His tires threw dirt and gravel into the air as they spun, finally caught, and the pickup sped onto the road and down the mountain.

  A light was still on in the arena when Shane pulled into the fairground’s parking lot. It was late. He’d expected everything to be closed up tighter than a drum. He locked up his truck and started for his trailer, but curiosity got the better of him. Maybe their prankster was at work. He walked cautiously through the open gates, which should have been closed and locked hours ago, and headed for the arena, making certain to stay out of the light.