Page 5 of Rogue Cowboy
“I knew your father,” Taryn said, his blue eyes still sharp.“We tagged each other up and down the leaderboard back in the day—long before we met our better halves.”
Cole nodded.Most people who’d known his dad talked about his rodeo days.And then said how he’d been a good man.Honest, with a gift for horses and for business, and they’d been so sorry to hear of his passing.Even twenty-seven years later.One more thing Cole had loved about being in the service—no one knew his dad or that he came from one of the biggest legacy ranches in Texas Hill Country.No one knew about the tragedy.People he met were only interested in his confirms that had garnered a reputation.But his commanding officers and the men in his unit barely scratched the surface, and that was how he liked it.
“He was a good man,” Taryn pushed.
“Yes, sir.”Cole had few real memories of his father—only those that his paw-paw and maw-maw shared.And the buckles, programs, even some posters and pictures and videos.His dad seemed more like a movie star than a father.
“What branch of service?”Taryn asked casually.
Hard to hide what he’d become.Cole wasn’t sure he wanted to, but he’d definitely lost his cowboy swagger a year or two after basic when he’d put in for specialized training and had clawed his way up the barbwire fence of promotion.
“Army.”
“My son Rohan was a Ranger.”
“We’ve met.Good shot.”
Taryn grinned, and Cole noted the laugh lines that crinkled from his warm blue eyes that were so similar to Riley’s.He slapped Cole on the shoulder.“You mustered out for good?”
“Looks like.”Cole might keep his hand in as a trainer.He didn’t feel emotionally ready to say goodbye to the military, but he had his fifteen in, and Riley couldn’t wait forever.
“Good to see you home safe and taking up with the family business.Your granddad and I’ve shared a lot of ranching stories over the years.”
“I’ll give him your best.”
“No need.Already did when he called telling me you were making the run to this rodeo and looking to expand up north.Got you a meet with the Wilders of Wilder Dreams Ranch and Stock company, but anything inked happens after the steak dinner, finals and the Ballantyne Bash.”
Rodeo folks with their social traditions.Cole’s skin wanted to curl off his body.
“I’ll be there.”
Cole avoided social situations.But not this year.And with Riley as his wife, maybe not anymore.He’d never seen a woman with a star that shone so brightly—she’d begun to melt some of the glacial ice that seemed to form his marrow.
He looked at Taryn’s smile, his laugh lines, and imagined that would all fade when he showed up at the family’s ranch and stated his first purpose.
Too bad.
He’d stepped up when they couldn’t and what was done was done.
*
Riley leaned againstthe stall door where Cinnamon snuffled through her enriched haylage, and she sprinkled in oats.She scratched between her horse’s ears and stared out at the rolled open door of the stock stables.The September morning was sunny but still crisp, and competitors were starting to roll in even though the rodeo didn’t officially open until Saturday.Locals usually arrived on Friday, but since she was bringing Cinnamon for an exhibition ride along with Boone’s horse Shadow and Rohan’s horse Midnight, along with three horses that boarded for some local barrel racers, she’d wanted to get the animals settled.
Heck, who was she kidding?She needed to get herself settled.Animals picked up on stress, and she wanted, no needed to be alone—as alone as one could be in a stable a day or two before it was swarming with friends and neighbors and rodeo community and competitors.People who would be happy to see her—the girl she’d been, not who she was now.And she needed time to rope her carefree, cowgirl persona snugly around her.
Riley drew in a deep breath and her heart leapt to her throat.Oh, what a gorgeous smell.How it took her back to before.She closed her eyes remembering.Bergamot, hint of cedar, sun-warmed leather and something exotic like sandalwood—not that she’d smelled actual sandalwood.
But it smelled heady.Safe.Strong.And miles out of reach.
She pictured Cole and inhaled again.Pretended she could go back in time to when she’d desperately crushed on him and wanted to show off.Before when life was simple, and the future was a sparkly gold and pink road she could skip down, her head full of dreams.
How had she been so stupid and young?
She opened her eyes just to see dandelion seeds floating in the shaft of lights slanting through the door.
Make a wish.
From behind, a strong arm went around her shoulders and another anchored at her hip, trapping her between a hard body and the cool metal of Cinnamon’s stall.
