Page 22 of His First Baby Rodeo

“How far away is it?”

“Not too far. We can be on the midway in about an hour, if you’re up for that.”

“Let me just go get changed,” she said, hoping she wasn’t going to regret it. It sounded like a good time — but it also sounded a little bit like a date, and El was having trouble enough as it was keeping her mind off of romantic things with Mac.

Remember, she told herself firmly as she dressed in jean shorts and a cute purple tank top that she’d had no occasion to wear since coming to Texas,this is the guy you’ve been fighting with for the last twelve hours.

But even that made matters worse for her, because the tension in the air between them had been so heavy during that time. She hadn’t been able to spend last night’s dinner pretending that he was someone she didn’t care about. She’d been forced to acknowledge that she cared quite a lot whether or not he was angry with her. And that was a very frustrating thing to have to admit.

* * *

“Do you think I could win you that?” Mac asked, pointing to a giant stuffed puppy dog hanging from the top of a carnival game.

“Throwing with your bad arm? Not likely.”

“Please. I don’t have abadarm.”

El laughed. “These games are rigged,” she said. “No one ever wins. You know that.”

“That’s not true,” he argued.

“You don’t think carnival games are rigged? You can’t be that naive.”

“Oh, I know they’re rigged. But it’s not true that no one ever wins. People winsometimes. Just enough so that everyone watching has hope. If no one ever won, no one would ever play! They need to have one or two people walking around the place with giant animals to prove that the games are winnable.”

“And you think you’re going to be the one to make that point for them?” she teased. “You’re that good at balloon darts?”

Mac pulled out a five-dollar bill and handed it to the man running the stall. “I think you might be forgetting who I am,” he said to El. “I’m a rodeo star. My aim is unimpeachable. My eye is clear and my hand is steady.”

El giggled. In spite of herself, she was having fun. Itdidfeel a little bit like a date, but she didn’t mind as much as she had expected to. Being away from the ranch made everything feel less serious. What difference did it make, really, if they took tonight and flirted just a little — forgot the fact that her stay here was temporary and that she was working for him? It had been ages since she had allowed herself to just relax and have fun with a man, and it was making her realize how long it had been since things had genuinely been fun with Dean.Years.

“All right,” she told Mac. “Go ahead. Win me one of those things.” She didn’t believe he’d really be able to do it, but it would be fun to watch him try.

The man gave him three darts. “You’ve got to hit three balloons on the top row to win a big prize,” he said. “Three hits anywhere on the board wins a medium prize. One or two hits and you get a small prize. Good luck.” He had a satisfied look on his face, and El could only imagine that he gave this speech to unsuccessful players dozens of times a day.

Mac didn’t flinch. He squared up, took his aim, and fired the first dart squarely into the center of one of the top row balloons, which burst with a loud snapping sound.

The man raised his eyebrows. “Lucky shot?”

“Nope.” Mac aimed his second dart and threw again. The balloon next to the one he’d just popped burst.

“Damn,” the guy said. “All right, man. One more and you’ve got the top prize.”

El’s heart was racing, which made her feel a little silly. It wasn’t as if this was something thatmattered, and yet she found herself really hoping he would win.

Mac aimed.

El held her breath.

Snap!

She broke into applause. It felt silly and spontaneous, in a good way. “You actually did it!” she said, flinging her arms around him impulsively. “I can’t believe you really did it!”

“Well, fair play to you, man.” The game operator took down the giant puppy. It was almost as big as El herself, and she laughed as she accepted it. “Have fun at the fair, folks.”

“Want me to carry that for you?” Mac asked as they walked away.

She laughed. “I think you’re going to have to,” she said, handing it off. “I’m not going to be able to keep it from dragging in the mud.”

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