Big Sky Eyes (4 page)

Chapter 6

Brent picked out tiny pebbles from the frog of the horse’s
hoof while the sounds of cheers and clapping echoed behind him. He peered over
his shoulder and saw Ty standing on the back of a horse twirling a lasso above
his head. Ranch guests shrieked with excitement as he sent it dancing around
his knees. Brent rolled his eyes with a shake of his head before turning back
to the task.

“I’m working for the damn circus,” he muttered under his
breath.

“Hey Brent,” Ty called. “Why don’t you come show us some of
your tricks?”

Brent dropped the horse’s hoof and faked a smile for the
crowd. “Don’t think so,” he called back. “I’ve got work to do.”

“Ah, come on!” Kelly yelled. “You’re always working. Take a
break and have a little fun.”

“Fun wasn’t in the job description. Sorry folks. Besides, we
don’t need more than one performing monkey on the ranch.”

Ty laughed. He knew that to any real rancher his antics
would look silly, but they were always a hit with the crowd, and he was
dedicated to seeing that his parents’ paying customers enjoyed their stay.
Mackenna stepped forward, gathering up a rope of her own.

“Sure we do,” she said. “Everyone loves performing monkeys.”
The crowd laughed and she feigned a straight face as she turned back to Brent.
“Well, everyone except Brent, that is.”

“Suit
yourself
,” he said with a
shrug.

She turned her back on him and began twirling her own lasso.
Once she demonstrated that she could pull a perfect horizontal loop, she turned
the loop vertical and passed it from one side to the other in front of her.
Just as everyone was beginning to applaud, she pulled the Texas Skip and jumped
through the loop as it passed in front of her. Guests gasped in awe as she
bowed and Brent leaned back against the side of the horse, crossed his arms in
front of his chest, and watched as she blushed at the attention.

Ty jumped from his horse and squared up to her with narrowed
eyes, as if he were challenging her to a duel. She raised an eyebrow and
widened her stance, gathering the rope back into a ready position. He waited
for her to get her loop spinning before he set his own in motion. At first, he
matched her speed. Soon, he challenged her with a trick and she answered in
kind. He pulled every textbook twirl and she did her best to compete.

She was out-skilled, though, and just when the trick was too
much for her, she whipped her lasso into
a frenzy
above her head and sent it flying toward Ty. It broke through his loop and
landed over his head and down around his body. When it got to his waist, she
pulled, tightening it, and jerked him toward her. He stumbled forward and she
raised her hands in triumph as everyone around them laughed.
 

“Okay, okay!” Ty called in defeat. “I know when I’m beat.
Hey, let’s everybody get some grub.”

The crowd dispersed and Mackenna swaggered confidently
toward Brent. The corner of his mouth quirked in a smile as she approached,
tossing the coil of rope onto her shoulder.

“So, you think you’re handy with a rope now?” he teased.

“Handy enough to earn a few tips throughout the summer,” she
answered.

“We get tips on this gig?” he asked in genuine surprise.

“Well, you don’t,” she answered. “But that’s because you
just work. Fun wasn’t in your job description, remember? Only we performing
monkeys get the coins.”

“In that case, it’s best left to you then,” he said.

“Oh, come on Brent,” she urged. “What’s the harm in tossing
a rope around for five minutes? It wows the crowd and you may earn a few extra
bucks at the same time.”

“The point is it’s silly. If people think you are silly then
they don’t take you seriously when they need to.”

“What a load of crap,” she dismissed. “People are quite
capable of judging the seriousness of a situation. If the circumstances don’t
warrant it, why
be
serious all of the time?”

“Just because I’m hardworking doesn’t mean I’m serious all
the time.”

“You’re right. It’s the fact that you’re serious all the
time that means you’re serious all the time,” she said with a chuckle. “Look,
Brent, you aren’t any more hardworking than I am or anyone else out here. The
only difference is that we know how to have fun at the same time. And
we
know how to use a rope.”

“I know how to use a rope,” he said with a frown.

“Uh huh” she said sarcastically with a disbelieving look. He
stood taller and narrowed his eyes.

“I have been a cattleman for six years,” he said forcefully.
“I damn well better know how to turn a rope.”

“If you say so,” she quipped. “I’m going to go eat. Feel
free to join us when you’re done…working.”

She walked off and Brent’s mouth puckered into a determined
pout. He untied his rope from the side of his saddle and whirled it rapidly
above his head. Before she was out of range he tossed it, the loop landing
perfectly around her waist as he tightened it gently and tugged her to a stop.
She turned around in wide-eyed shock and held onto the rope, fighting him as he
pulled her toward him.

He smiled triumphantly beneath his shadow of beard as she
finally stopped fighting and walked back to him. She stopped only when she was
a breath away and planted her hands on her hips. He peered down into her eyes,
glistening with surprise and amusement. They were a clear and medium blue that
he’d only ever seen in one other place.

“You’ve got big sky eyes, Mackenna,” he said.

“What?” she asked with a confused smile.

“Your eyes,” he repeated. “They’re the color of a clear,
blue Montana sky.”

“Thank you,” she said quietly, fighting a blush that was
simmering inside of her cheeks. She blinked rapidly a few times and lowered her
eyes demurely, knowing that she must have seemed girly and meek to him. He
almost laughed at her shy, feminine response to a simple compliment. Instead,
he took advantage of her diverted gaze and began tying the rope around his
saddle horn.

“I’ve got a question for you.”

“Yes?” she asked hopefully.
   

“How are you with knots?”

“Knots,” she repeated dryly on deflated dreams.

“Yep,” he quipped cheerily. “See if you can figure this one
out. If you can, I’ll see you at dinner. If not, I’ll come back and help you
out.”

She gasped as he stepped around her and headed toward the
barbeque. She looked at the confusing twists of the rope wrapped around the
horn. The bit around her waist was too tight for her to shimmy out of. She
shook her head at his gall and turned to hear him whistling as he sauntered
off.

“Brent!” she called out. “What do you think you’re doing?!”

“Just having a little…what was it you called it?
Fun!”

Her mouth was left hanging open and her eyes narrowed in
shock. After a full minute, she snapped her mouth shut and shook her head.

“Why, you little son of a…”

Brent gnawed on a rib bone, fighting back a fit of
triumphant giggles. He’d been eating for twenty minutes already and had seen no
sign of Mackenna. He knew she would never be able to figure out that knot. It
had taken him three years to do it. So, she thought he wasn’t handy with a rope,
eh? She would learn her lesson this night.

As he was imagining the look of utter defeat and
bewilderment on her face when he’d go to rescue her, she plopped down on the
ground beside him and stuck out her hands to warm them near the fire. The look
he had just been envisioning on her face was now firmly plastered across his.

“Aah,” she moaned. “That fire feels nice.”

“How…” was all he could manage and that on barely a whisper.

“It was pretty tough,” she said nonchalantly. “I’ll give you
that one, but all it takes is a little brain power. I mean, seriously, Brent.
It’s just a rope. How difficult can it be?”

He fought the urge to huff defiantly.

“I’ll tell you how difficult it is,” he defended. “It took
me three years to figure it out!”

“Really?” she said incredulously,
then
grimaced. “Sorry.
Didn’t mean to touch a nerve.”

“You have got to be kidding me,” he sputtered again. “There
is no way that you figured that out. You must have seen that one before.”

“Nope, this was the first time. Oh, and before I forget,
here’s your rope.”

She handed it to him, perfectly coiled and tied. He tossed
it angrily on the ground, as if it had betrayed him and Mackenna fought back
her own laughter.

“I can’t believe it took you three years,” she jabbed. “Man,
I guess women really are smarter than men. How is it your species has ruled the
world for so long?”

He shook his head, still flabbergasted.

“So, I’ll hear it from you now,” she said haughtily.

“Hear what?”

“Hear that I beat you at your own game.”

“Not a chance,” he said, recoiling.

“So, you’re a sore loser then, too?”

He grunted, looking sideways at her.

“Come on,” she urged. “Let’s hear it.”

He sighed heavily and then turned to her in defeat.
“Fine.
You won. You beat me at my own game.”

She laughed triumphantly. “Don’t feel too bad. It really was
quite clever of you to leave me tied up there. It’s not your fault that I’m
cleverer.”

Before Brent could bite back with the retort on his lips, Ty
stood on the other side of the fire holding several lengths of frayed rope.

“Whose is this?” he called out. “I found it in the corral. I
don’t want bits of rope left in the corrals for the horses to munch on. That’s
all we need is a blockage.”

Mackenna’s face, even her ears, reddened with chagrin. She
refused to look at Brent as she answered Ty.

“It’s mine,” she called out. “Just go ahead and toss it on
the fire. It’s no good to me anymore. Sorry for leaving it out there. It won’t
happen again.”

Ty nodded then threw it on the fire. Brent’s brow furrowed
as he wondered why Mackenna’s rope would be all cut up. He looked over at her.
She had her face planted in between her hands, with the back of her hand facing
Brent, blocking him from seeing her. He looked down at the rope near his feet.
Picking it up, he inspected it more closely. He knew for certain it was not his
rope. Suddenly, it all became clear. She hadn’t figured out the knot at all.
She’d cut her way free!

He crossed his arms over his chest, and slowly shook his
head. In a mock voice, high-pitched and girly, he mimicked her.

“All it takes is a little brain power,” he said, then
returned to his normal voice. “Yeah, all it takes is a pocket knife and a
gullible opponent!”

She could hold back no longer. Her shoulders shook with
silent laughter and as he playfully shoved her in the shoulder she laughed loud
and long, hugging her middle as she did so.

“You should have seen the look on your face,” she said
through her tears. “Aw, man. It was priceless.”

“You play dirty,” he said, fighting back his own chuckles.
“Would you have ever told me the truth?”

“Not a chance,” she said and he laughed right along with
her. Suddenly, he realized that it had been a long time since he’d laughed like
that, for nothing more than his own enjoyment.
Years, in
fact.
It almost made him stop.
Almost.
 

When Mackenna finally settled down, she smiled at the
effects the moment had on Brent. His eyes were glistening brightly, his jaw was
relaxed and he seemed completely unwound. She was glad to have brought it out
of him. Perhaps he would laugh more often now.

“You have a nice laugh,” she said casually.

“And you’ve just bitten off more than you can chew with that
stunt,” he countered.

“Oh, it’s on now, is it?”

“Absolutely.”

Over the next two weeks they were ruthless in their pranks.
When Brent squatted down to gather a sip of fresh mountain water during one of
their rides, she shoved him face-first into the icy stream. At the end of a
dusty day, she splashed her face with water from a trough and called for a
bandana to towel her dry. The one he gave her was full of dirt, leaving her
face caked with mud.

The occupants of the lodge usually discarded their muddy
boots into a wooden bin with a lid on the porch by the front door before
turning in at night. That way, they wouldn’t track mud through Bev’s place.
Brent slept outside in the second story of the stables and so one night he
crept to the front porch with a palm full of fresh horse dung and shoved it
into the bottom of one of Mackenna’s boots.
 
He chuckled all the way back to his loft.

When dawn broke and the wranglers were making their way to
the corrals to feed, guests were ambling sleepily toward the lodge, answering
the inviting scents of bacon, eggs and coffee. Mackenna and Kelly chatted with
a few guests on the front porch before tossing the remnants of their coffee
over the railing and retrieving their footwear. Brent lounged against the
stable doors beside Ty and Leslie who were chatting about the forecasted rain.
His eyes and ears were pinned firmly on Mackenna as she slipped into her boots.

She took one giant step,
then
stopped. A perplexed look on her face, she took another step. Her lips twisted
in disgust as she made it down the steps and yanked her boot free. What was
left of the horse droppings tumbled out while the rest was squished down into
the boot and soaking the bottom of her
sock.
She let
out a repulsed cry and her head snapped up, scanning the area for Brent. It
wasn’t hard to find him. He was the man doubled over with laughter, leaning
against the stables.

“Really, Brent?!” she shouted over his guffawing, not amused
at all. “How am I supposed to clean this out of my boot?”