Page 4 of Rogue Cowboy
“Just did.”He moved toward her.He was quick.But Riley had been anticipating the lunge, so she tucked and rolled between his legs, popped to her feet and ran to the driver door, flinging it open and hopping inside before slamming the door shut.And pushing the start button.The truck roared to life.
But she unlocked the doors.Locking her brother out would be mean, and as he’d only left the army less than two years ago, she’d never shut him out.She’d been terrified every deployment, especially as he’d spent more and more time away from the ranch.But now Rohan was home working with her dad and brother, Boone, on the ranch that had been primarily a cattle ranch for several generations but now had branched into breeding horses and buckin’ broncs and bulls and stock contracting.
“Still got speed, little sister,” he said, through the closed window.She rolled the window down.She didn’t have to fake her smile.
“Don’t forget it, big brother.”
“I need a ride to the fairgrounds to help Boone and the Wilders set up the broncs and bulls.”
“I’m still driving.”
“Wouldn’t have it any other way.”Rohan climbed into the passenger side.He didn’t have a bag with him, and Riley’s shoulders relaxed.Rohan should be home with his wife, Ginny and their baby and his adopted son, Lucas.She could handle staying in the trailer alone.She’d know a lot of the people camping.Copper Mountain was a local rodeo, attracting a lot of Montana cowboys and cowgirls.She’d grown up barrel racing and trick riding and had fantasized about joining the world touring company Cavalia when her mom had taken her to a show in Seattle when she’d been eight.
She’d been pushed and pulled between her love of horses and music her entire life, and her passion for music was gone.
Her fault.She was weak.Not fighting hard enough for herself.Her happiness.
“Hey.”Rohan tugged one of her braids like he had when she was twelve.“What’s going on?”
“Nothing.”She pressed Drive and carefully accelerated, not watching the stables and safety get smaller in the rearview mirror.
I’m safe.The rodeo grounds are a second home.
“Riley, you put on a good show, but you can’t hide behind a mask twenty-four seven.”
“Ouch,” she said.“You saying I’m a phony?”She pulled out a sealed package of homemade beef jerky.Food always shut her brothers up.
“I’m saying you’re my little sister even though you’re all grown up.I’m watching you.”
“That’s not creepy at all.”
She opened the beef jerky, held it to him, extracting a piece though she wasn’t hungry but needed something to do.He took his own piece and tore off a hunk with strong, white teeth.
“You’re quieter,” Rohan said.“More watchful than you used to be, like you’re worried, like you’re bracing for something.”
His words made her feel sick.She thought she’d been doing so well—the cheerful, friendly, bouncy youngest Telford.The only daughter after three sons.
“Just growing up,” she said easily.
He didn’t answer, but she could feel his scrutiny.Boone had been watching her more closely too.As had her mom.
“Yeah.”Rohan settled in his seat, scanned through the satellite radio.“Not buying what you are half-heartedly selling.You’ve been back home almost what, five, six years, and though you play a good game, you’ve lost a lot of your glow.”
She narrowed her eyes as she drove slowly over the last cattle grate on their drive.
“You saying I need a better skincare regimen?Careful, I might tip over with my head swelling so big at all your compliments.”
She didn’t dare look at him to let him know he’d hurt her, because then she just might need to give Rohan—the idiot big brother she’d said a prayer for every endless night he’d been deployed—a hard slug in the arm and a charley horse.
“Keeping you in line,” Rohan said, still staring at her, but she kept her eyes on the road and her hurts to herself.
*
During the meetingat the Copper Mountain Rodeo and fairgrounds offices, Cole Jameson felt like a phony.He’d picked this assignment out of several that his paw-paw had offered once he’d finally arrived back at the Jameson Ranch, for good, he supposed.
He had more business in Marietta than expanding his family’s stock-contracting business, though he hadn’t mentioned that part.His business for the time being, but his family deserved his best, so despite the brutally long drive, Cole had sucked down enough coffee to keep his head in the game.
“Good to meet you.”Taryn Telford shook Cole’s hand again at the end of the meeting with the Copper Mountain Rodeo committee.
