Page 53 of Cowboy Wolf's Secret Baby

“You make the rodeo life work with your wife,” Conner said.

“We don’t have children and she has a job that allows her to travel a lot. She comes to a lot of my events.” Gideon leaned in closely and whispered, jokingly, “Why do you think that I rarely go out drinking and carousing with the others?”

“Because you’re tired, like me, and you just want to go to the hotel and hit the rack after a nice, long, hot shower.”

“That could also be a reason.” Gideon laughed. Then, he got serious. “Just be careful and watch your back. I remember how badly you were hurt all those years ago, and that was just courtesy of an angry bull. There’s no telling what could happen if an enraged bull is encouraged by a nasty witch.”

“You’ve got my back,” Conner said.

“I’m just a clown. I can’t fight a witch,” Gideon said. “It’s time for me to put on my face.”

“Isn’t that what women say?”

Gideon shrugged and laughed as he walked away.

Taryn walked toward him but stopped. Conner knew why. He could smell her overbearing perfume before he heard her steps or her annoying voice.

“Hello, Conner.”

“Kelly.”

“How are things going?” she asked.

“Fine.”

“That was crazy to find a rock in the middle of the arena like that. I wonder where it came from?”

“Did you put it there?” Conner asked.

“Me? No. I would never want to hurt any of the horses that way. Besides, you never know who might step on it. It might be the horse of one of those precious little girls, like Taryn, who is out there racing. If her big horse went down, she could be dreadfully hurt.”

“I guess that would amuse you, wouldn’t it?” Conner asked.

“Of course not,” Kelly exclaimed. “I would never want to hurt a child. Although, if the kid was out of the way, then so would be her mother.”

Rage flooded through Conner. He turned and snarled, “If you do anything to hurt any of the kids here, I swear I will end you. I don’t mean that I will end your career. I mean that no one will ever find your body. Do you understand me?”

All of the color drained from her face and her eyes widened.

“Are you threatening me?”

“Nope,” Conner said.

“I could report you for this,” she said.

Conner grinned and said, “Go for it.”

She stalked away, rigid. Conner honestly didn’t know whether she was going to report him or not. He laughed because he really didn’t care. His days in the rodeo were drawing to a close, anyway.

Taryn joined him. “You just can’t get away from mean women, can you?”

“It seems that I can’t,” Conner said. “Between your grandmother the witch, and Kelly, the queen, I’m surrounded. It actually sounds like a corny fairytale.”

“The good thing about fairy tales is that they always have a happy ending,” Taryn said.

“I guess that all depends on which fairy tale you’re reading and who wrote it.”

“We’ll go with Disney’s version.” Taryn laughed. “I’ve read some of Grimm’s tales and they are a little gruesome.”

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