Page 64 of Rogue Cowboy
Marbas took the shot and kicked out.Jim dropped and rolled, avoiding the flying hooves.Marbas bolted, but a row of cowboys blocked the exit, one quickly forming a lasso.Marbas spun, reared and ran the length of the back row.Riley trusted Marbas would be blocked in at the other end, so she stood still by his stall.Parker handed her the tack, but she didn’t think she’d need it.
As Marbas reared, snorted and danced out of range, Riley stayed still.She began to hum as Marbas ran by.Riley held her ground, trusting everyone to stay calm and do their job.Marbas ran back several times as she began to sing ‘The Seal Lullaby.’It was the song she sang every night when she did the last rounds.She saw Cole out of the corner of her eye and hoped he wouldn’t step in to assist.She wanted Marbas to release some of his nervous energy, which meant he had to keep moving to soothe himself as she too worked to calm him.
She stepped into the middle of the aisle, holding her position and then taking a step or two before stopping.In the end it was easier than it had initially seemed.Marbas trotted, snorted, reared once more, but then he met her in the middle, head lowered.She kept singing, adding his name to the song and stroking his ears, silky mane and neck.
She pivoted, Marbas followed her back to the stall, tack not necessary.
Jim was already out, and Riley went in with Marbas, and latched the door quietly behind him.
“It’s not your turn to show off,” she teased the horse, whispering into his twitching ear.“You’ll get your chance to buck Jim off this afternoon.”
“I’ll take that challenge,” saddleless bronc rider Jim said good-naturedly.“Nice preview of your moves, bud.”
“Good luck, cowboy.”Riley kept her voice low, soft, and her attention focused on Marbas, running her hands over him, and up and down his legs.He hadn’t injured himself in his panic, and relief coursed through her.
She palmed a few oats and held them up to Marbas to snuffle and delicately chew.
“That’s it.Good boy.You got this.You’re the king.”
Marbas sighed and laid his chin on her shoulder, as calm now as he’d been disturbed earlier.
Riley looked up finally, letting her attention expand.Everyone had faded away as the potential crisis was averted, except for Cole.He stood tall and still—a watchful mountain, but there was a new, different light in his eyes, that sent a chill through her.He looked invincible and determined and as if he held a secret.
Riley wondered if Cole was now making a comparison that she absolutely didn’t want—that maybe she too had been panicking and needed to stop running.And all he had to do was stand still and block her escape.
Was she, like Marbas, ready to stop running?
You asked about flying and dreaming.I do still dream about barrel racing.Being poised at the release point, picturing the moves, letting the music, adrenaline and Mystic Pie do her thing.
Mystic Pie?
I was a kid when I named her.I liked pie.Still do.
Favorite flavor?
Peanut butter and chocolate, but don’t tell my mom because she’s all about apple-cinnamon-vanilla and it is to die for.
Restaurant in Last Stand Char-Pie makes peanut butter pie I dream about.I’ll take you one day.
A pie challenge.Barrel racing feels like flying.
Chapter Fourteen
Riley pulled outthe tucked-in mirror in the trailer’s bathroom and carefully applied some Lumi foundation, which added a sparkling glow to her complexion.Then she added some color to her cheeks and a lotion from Lush that had a hint of sparkle to highlight her eyes.She slicked on a little lip gloss and, after hesitating, she carefully applied a smoky-blue eyeliner and mascara.
“No false advertising,” she advised, and even as she said it, Riley felt solid with her decision to take it up a notch tonight.She’d been a bit of a tomboy growing up—who wouldn’t be with three older brothers—but she’d always loved to play with makeup and add a little bling and glitter for big events, especially when she’d been performing on stage.
And wasn’t attending the steak dinner with Cole tonight a performance?
But also real.
“My husband.”She tried out the words and felt a little thrill snake through her belly.
She had no idea how it would work—if she could be a wife, become a mother to his children.Where they would live?What they would do?But somehow all the questions didn’t seem so important or so impossible to answer after last night.She’d felt silly dreaming about him all these years.Embarrassed by her excitement over every text.And the last year and half, she’d started initiating conversations, and she’d even begun convincing herself that perhaps he’d been smitten that weekend in LA just as she had.That maybe he hadn’t just been wearing a white hat when he’d proposed marriage to protect her.
Maybe they could find their happy?
She finger-combed the curls she’d worked on for the past twenty minutes, and took one last spin in her dress despite the trailer’s tight quarters.
