Page 21 of My Rancher Valentine

“Beau.” Devon walked up beside me right before I got back to the stall.

“Devon.”

“Ready for today?”

“Yep.” I took comfort in the fact if he was talking to me, then he wasn’t looking around for Kat.

“My guy is looking really good.” He tilted his head.

“I’m not worried.” This was how people tried to get in your head.

“Good. Good.” He nodded with a half smile. “Wouldn’t want you distracted.”

I led Valentine into the stall and started unhooking the saddle. “Why would I be distracted?”

He shrugged. “You just seemed very interested in Kat last night, and I heard a crazy rumor about you two that I know can’t be right.”

“What rumor?”

“That there might be more going on between you two than what I thought.” He leaned on the bar.

“If you’re talking about our being engaged, the rumor is true.” I picked up a brush.

Devon didn’t say anything at first, and then he broke out laughing.

“Get the fuck out of here.” He bent over, holding his side. “There’s no way Kat would ever agree to marry someone like you.”

The brush paused over the top of Valentine. “What the hell does that mean?”

“Guys like us aren’t the ones that win a girl like Kat.” He straightened up. “We are the ones they get all their wild tendencies out with. Accountants, doctors, teachers. That’s the guy who gets to marry Kat. Not me and definitely not you.”

“Guess you underestimated my girl because she is marrying me.” Somewhere in the back of my mind, I felt as if I should stop, but I couldn’t.

“We’ll see.” He shook his head and walked off, chuckling to himself.

My hand tightened around the brush, and I came really close to throwing the damn thing against the wall.

I didn’t want to believe Devon was right about Kat, but I couldn’t deny that an accountant or a doctor sounded better suited to Kat. Someone reliable who probably hadn’t slept with more than one woman in his life and didn’t have a hostess at restaurants throwing themselves at him right in front of her.

She deserved a guy that she could trust wouldn’t screw around, and if last night’s conversation told me anything; it was that she didn’t see me as that man. It probably wouldn’t matter to her that I had never cheated on a girl. Granted, I had only had one real girlfriend back in high school and a short-term girlfriend freshman year of college, but I had kept my dick in my pants when it counted while I dated both of them. I never wanted to be that guy. Still didn’t.

Yet how was I going to prove that to her? It wasn’t as if I thought she would follow me around the US to every rodeo Irode in. That’s a lot to ask. Especially when her job, her friends, and her family are all in Bliss.

“Here he is.” I turned at the sound of her voice. Kat walked in with a smile. Randall and Leonard were trailing behind her.

“Hey, Kitten.” I reached for her, grateful that she stepped willingly into my arms.

“Hi.” She placed a kiss on my cheek before pulling back. Her smile dropped, and her eyes narrowed as she stared right at me for so long I got a little nervous.

“Everything okay?” I asked. Had Devon found her while I was in here worried that I wasn’t good enough for her?

“Yes.” I didn’t believe her for a moment. She put on another smile. “I ran into these two while I was doing an interview.”

“Oh.” I faced the other guys standing right outside the stall. “How’s your morning going?”

“Good.” Randall nodded. “We were looking for you because it turned out we are going to be in Bliss Haven in a few weeks.”

“Really?” Maybe that meant they wanted to set up a meeting.

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