BUCKED Box Set: A Bull Rider Western Romance (11 page)

“You’re
still young, sweetie. You’ve got plenty of time to find all of that. But what
about bull riding? You didn’t even mention that.”

“Oh, don’t
get me wrong, I want to make it to the top. I want to be the best there is and
have my kids be proud of their daddy. I remember
that
when I was little. I spent all my time hoping I could be as
great as my dad one day. I thought
being
a bull rider—and such a good one, at that—was the world’s coolest, manliest
job. I guess I kinda want to have a son to look at me one day with that same
kind of admiration, you know? I want him to tell kids on the playground that
his dad can kick their dad’s ass and that nobody’s braver or stronger.”

“Mmhm,”
she responded with a small nod. She looked as though she was really thinking
hard about something, so I shut up and waited for her to speak again. When she
did, she asked the heavy-hitting question: “And, why is it so important for you
to come off as the manliest man there is?”

“Why’d you
really come out here?” I used my favorite tactic to avoid letting myself think
too much—answering a question with a question.

“I told
you, to pick your brain.”

“About my
masculinity complex?”

“If that’s
what you want to call it.”

“Look, I’m
not trying to be rude, Sara, I think you know that. But why does it matter to
you?”

“Because
you like Laci.”

Can mothers read minds?
Unwilling to give up the truth about that
crucial bit of information, I picked at a spot on the bridle I had in my hands
and thought of the best response. “What makes you say that?”

“Just a
lucky guess,” she smirked. “Plus, I see the way you look at her. You try to
hide it, but there’s a little sparkle in your eye that you just can’t mask.”

“Uh…sparkle?”

“Believe
it or not, my mom’s a real romantic at heart. She used to always tell us when
we were younger that you can learn everything you need to know about someone by
looking in their eyes. Maybe you haven’t realized it yet, but you like her.”

Good,
I thought.
If she thinks I
haven’t realized it, I can ride that.
“I don’t think so.”

“Trust me,
sweetie, you do.” She started to walk away, eerily like the way Laci had, and
said, “Don’t worry, I’m not going to tell her.”

With that,
she was gone.

I stood
there for a moment, wondering what the hell just
happened,
but quickly came to the realization that I probably
wasn’t going to figure it out. So, I focused on what I was there to do. Get to
know the horses. And what better way was there to get to know the horses than
to see what they could do? I took Greg out of his stall and put a saddle on
him. It was obvious from the get-go that he wasn’t a fan of it,
but, at least,
it was something I could work
with. I put the bit in his mouth and started to lead him around a little,
trying to let him stretch his legs and get used to my presence before I mounted
him. When I touched his muzzle and he didn’t flinch or shy away, I figured that
was as good a time as any. I put my foot in the stirrup, and in one swift
motion, I was on his back. He was taller than Ella, and a hell of a lot less
experienced—obviously
since I was supposed to
be training him. He didn’t like it when I tried to get him to speed up.
Instead, he dug his heels in and stopped each time I nudged him.

I let him
walk around at his own pace for a minute while I thought. Laci had a point. I
had to make sure I trained him instead of breaking him. I wondered if the term
“breaking” had actually come from “breaking” someone’s spirit.
Judging by the way
Laci had explained it, that
would make sense. I leaned down to have a little chat with Greg as I rode.
“Alright, buddy, my goal here is to make you into the best horse you can be,
okay? I want to be your Dalai Lama, not your Hitler.” I rubbed him along the
neck and gave him a small nudge with my heels. To my surprise, he started to
speed up a little bit.

“It’s
almost like you can understand me,” I said aloud. “Like you heard me say I want
to work with you instead of making you do all the work.”

I guess she knows what she’s talking about,
after all.

I took
Greg on a couple of laps around the pasture, then took off his saddle and led
him back to his stall. “That’s enough for today,” I told him. “You did a great
job. Princess Laci knows more than I gave her credit for.”

“You’re
damn right I do,” a voice crooned.

I spun
around. “Jesus, Laci, don’t sneak up on a guy like that,” I spit out.

Her lips
turned up
with
a sly grin that made me
wonder what they tasted like. “Sorry,” she said softly.

“What are
you doing back out here? Come to give me tips on personal hygiene?”

“Actually,
I wanted to apologize,” she said.

“Again?
What for this time?”

“For being
kinda bitchy.”

“You
already apologized for that,” I pointed out.

“Not
properly. I never told you exactly why I
was
being
that way.”

“Oh?”

Well, this was going to be good.

Chapter Eleven - Laci

Things can
change in the blink of an eye. For example, one minute, I was convinced I’d
never want anything to do with Noah Tucker. The next,
I’m thinking
he may not be as bad as I’d originally thought. That
moment came out in the stables when I was having a nice little talk with Rosie,
asking her how she liked being a new mommy—of course, I didn’t actually expect
her to answer. I didn’t expect any kind of response, which is probably why Noah
scared the hell out of me when he came out of nowhere. Getting the hell scared
out of me doesn’t typically signify a turning point in most of my
relationships—and the actual act of getting scared didn’t—but the conversation
that followed gave me a new perspective on Noah Tucker.

“Expecting
her to speak up and answer you?” he asked. “I’m fairly certain she can’t speak
human.”
Well, no shit, Sherlock
. I
admit, the thought did cross my mind to say just that, but then I remembered
what Sara had said about him putting up a wall. In a moment of weakness, I
decided to not be a royal bitch. I politely informed him that I had no
expectations of getting an answer. Something changed in the way he looked at me
as I explained that horses are simply the best listeners out there. A minute
later, I was enlightening him to the differences between breaking a horse and
training one—being a friend as opposed to being a dictator—and, to my pleasant
surprise, he actually agreed with me.

Every
other trainer I’ve ever come into contact with has seemed to find my concept of
gentle training a little on the absurd side, or so they’ve told me. I’ve gotten
responses such as, “I’m the expert, here,” or “Breaking and training are the
same
thing
.” And
truth is,
I pretty much expected the same reaction and response
from Noah. Ever since I learned about the type of cruelty horses can endure,
I’ve held the stance that nonaggressive training is the best way to go. Being
all Hitleristic and forcing your methods on a horse only breaks their spirit.
And yes, they’ll do what you want them to do, but only so they don’t get
punished, as opposed to working together to achieve a common goal and forming a
bond. It’s really not that much different than it is with people. It was
another reason I decided not to be so standoffish to Noah. It damn sure wasn’t
getting either of us anywhere.

I was a
little shocked when he didn’t give me a hard time about my potty training
analogy, too. In fact, Noah actually seemed to be on board. He didn’t pull any
of the pretentious crap I’d heard from other trainers. No, he just said he
didn’t want the horses to fear him. The moment those words left his mouth, I
realized there was more to him than I had given him credit for. And, the more
we talked, the more something inside me wanted things
between
me and Noah Tucker to change. Something else was suddenly
more than a little attracted to him. And…

I
panicked.

I can’t
explain what happened, but my mentality shifted to that of a twelve-year-old
girl who didn’t know how to talk to a boy. So, I delivered a verbal kick in the
shin. I gave him hell about how sweaty he was—in my defense, he really was
pretty sweaty—and then I marched away and headed inside, running into Sara as I
barreled through the door. She was on her way out to look for Noah, so I told
her where he was and mentioned the conversation we’d just had. Her response set
my head to reeling.

“Well,
honey, the fact that he agrees with you has gotta mean
something
,” she said.

What exactly is that?
I had no clue how to take her point, so I
spent the next fifteen minutes pacing and talking to myself like a total loon.
And when I say I was talking to myself, I mean I had a complete external
monologue
going on that would have made
Shakespeare proud.

“Something?
What is that something? Does his ability to agree with me mean I should just
change my opinion on the guy? I mean, what does it really change about him?
Really? All it means is that he actually understands my point of view. Or was
he just saying that to be polite? And if he was, why
was he being
polite now?
Damnit
,
Aunt Sara, why’d you have to go and get my wheels spinning by saying that to
me?” I stopped and stared myself down in the mirror. “Well, Laci, if he really
does think horses ought to be treated with kindness, he can’t be all bad. Can
he? No. No, he can’t.”

That
little epiphany brought me to the conclusion that my last half-ass apology
really wasn’t sufficient. I needed to do it right. I needed to own up to my
behavior and admit that I had been a complete wench and shouldn’t have taken my
insecurities out on him. So, I waited for Sara to return to the house so I
could be sure I didn’t interrupt whatever she’d gone out there to say to
him—and to make certain she didn’t see me apologizing or I’d never live it
down—then I walked back out to the stables.

Noah was
brushing Greg down and saying that yours truly knew more than he’d given me
credit for. I couldn’t let him go without knowing I’d heard his little
confession, so I spoke up. “You’re damn right I do,” I said. It wasn’t hard to
see that I’d been the one who’d caught him off guard this time, but he felt the
need to make sure I knew it nonetheless.

“Jesus,
Laci. Don’t sneak up on a guy like that.”

I grinned.
“Sorry.” I managed to take a few steps into the stables and lean against a post
several feet away from him. He was finishing up with Greg as I steeled my
nerves.

“What are
you doing back out here? Come to give me tips on personal hygiene?”

“Actually,
I wanted to apologize,” I said.

“Again?
What for this time?”

“For being
kinda bitchy.”

“You
already apologized for that,” he said.

“Not
properly. I never told you exactly why I
was
being
that way.”

“Oh?”

“Look,
Noah, I just…I know I apologized already, but, I don’t know, I guess I feel
like I wasn’t very sincere. My life has been a bit of a rollercoaster lately
and I guess I’m just trying to protect myself. I’ve just been going about it
the wrong way by thinking being a royal witch was going to shield me from the
pain. I’ve been trying to keep a thick skin and deal with it all the best way I
know how, and that day you picked me up at the airport everything was still
pretty fresh. Hell, it’s still fresh now. I suppose your comments just hit a
nerve and I dealt with it the best way I knew how: I fought fire with fire. I’m
sorry.” I stood there a moment, feeling about as vulnerable as I had felt in a
long time. I waited for a response and when it came, it wasn’t what I had
expected.

“You’re
the most entitled, spoiled, stubborn-”

I opened
my mouth to cut him off, to admit that I knew I’d been a pain, and tell him he
didn’t need to rub it in, but then his next words took me by surprise.

“Strong,
complex, courageous, fiery person I know.”

I’m fairly
certain I looked like an idiot standing there with my mouth open. I wanted to
make sure I’d heard him just right. “What did you just say?”

He
launched into his own apology.

“Laci, you
aren’t the only one who should be apologizing. I’m sorry, too. I should have
been a little more sensitive to what you’d been going through when we first
met. I based my first impression of you on girls I’ve known in the past and
that was wrong. Not something I’m proud of. I had
made
a
judgment
call before I
took the time to get to know you, and I’m sorry for that. I still haven’t
gotten to know you, so I guess I need to keep my mind open until I do.”

“I think
we can do something about that,” I replied, trying to use some of my theater
training to keep my face from showing everything I was feeling at the moment.
This man wasn’t a complete
douche as
I’d
thought. He was, in fact, a person just like me who didn’t want to let anyone
in. He was protecting himself so he didn’t have to face rejection. For a
moment, things felt right, I felt calm. It didn’t last long.

 
“Help! Help me! Please, someone, help me!”

My heart
jumped into my throat at the sound of the cries.
I know that voice,
I thought.

Jackson
.

I took off
at a sprint toward the sound of the panicked voice, Noah hot on my tail. We
didn’t have to run far before we noticed what it was—at the far end of the
pasture, Jack was dangling from a tree branch, both
arms
and legs wrapped around it. Circling the trunk of the tree
were five coyotes, all baring their teeth up at my cousin.

I can’t lose anyone else,
was all I could think.
That
and a few choice curse words
.

When the
shock of what I saw wore off, I realized I had to do something. Turning on my
heels, I ran back to the barn, all but dragged Greg out of the stall, and
hopped on him bareback. I vaguely heard Noah yelling something behind me, but
my heart was thundering in my ears too loudly to make out what he was saying.
All I was really sure of was the blood rushing through my veins. I practically
kicked Greg’s sides, urging him to run faster, to help me save Jackson.

I can’t lose anyone else.

Of course,
coyotes have amazing hearing, and when they heard the approach, they decided it
was best to make their move then. Two of them lunged up toward Jack missing him
by only a few inches. Jack yelled in terror and attempted to pull himself
higher onto the branch but his little arms just weren’t strong enough. Two more
coyotes howled and scratched at the base of the
tree
as if their clawing could bring the tree down and their prey with it. The last
one turned and snarled at me as Greg and I approached.

I begged
Greg to keep pushing, and he did just that. With my hands wrapped in his mane,
he circled the tree and the coyotes, slowing his pace like he was trying to get
a better line of attack. The coyote didn’t wait, he sprung forward.
Instinctively, Greg lifted onto his rear legs and kicked his hooves out,
probably for his own defense more than for mine, but it had the same effect. He
connected with the coyote’s torso and sent him soaring back with a yelp. The
mangy animal turned to run just as Noah came speeding up behind me on another
horse, Stella. Coming to terms with the fact that getting pounded into the
ground by roughly three thousand pounds of
horse
wasn’t worth the meal, the coyotes took off running.

I calmed
Greg as quickly as I could and
leaped
off
of his back, making a run for the trunk of the tree. Jack held his grip on the
branch, soft sobs escaping as he clung to it. I can’t say I blamed the poor
boy. I attempted to climb to him, but I quickly found out the tree wasn’t
strong enough to support two people on Jackson’s branch and so I jumped down,
rethinking my strategy. Putting my acting skills to use once more, I choked
down the alarm in my voice and tried to calm Jackson down.

“Jackson,
honey,” I crooned. “Jack, they’re gone. You’re safe now.” Instead of coming
down, he just continued to clutch the tree like his life depended on it. I
looked to Noah, my expression pleading with him to do something. He patted the
horses to reassure them and slowly made his way over to my side.

“Can you
try to get him down?” I whispered. “He really looks up to you, and I know that
hearing reassurance from my dad for some reason was always more comforting than
coming from my mom when I was scared. He might respond better to you,” I
suggested.

Looking up
at the boy, Noah nodded. “Hey, bud, it’s okay. They can’t hurt you. We are
right here. I promise we’ll protect you, no matter what. Can you come down,
please?”

Jackson
chanced a look over his shoulder, and Noah continued to encourage him. “Look,
they’re gone. We’re here. Come on down, buddy.”

Jackson
slowly started to inch his way toward the trunk of the tree. He was just about
a foot away from a point where Noah could reach him when he lost his grip and
fell. Noah reacted fast, extended his arms, and caught Jackson. When he
steadied the boy’s feet firmly on the ground, I hugged Jackson as tightly as I
could, telling him over and over that I was here and I wouldn’t let anything
happen to him. I felt Noah’s arms curl around us and determined that I was
completely okay with that. Not only had we just cleared the air, but he had
also just put his life at risk to help me save my
cousin’s
. I wasn’t about to make a big deal out of a hug.

He’s surprisingly
g
ood
with kids,
I thought. It’s not like I hadn’t seen him interact with Jack
before, but it had always been in jest. This, a time when Jack was scared for
his life, was the perfect test of whether or not he was actually good with
him—and he was.

When the
adrenaline faded, Noah quickly released his grip and took a step back. I hugged
Jackson one more time and then started back toward the barn, my arm still
wrapped around his shoulder, not wanting to let him out of my grip. The three
of us began to talk about the event as we led the horses back to the stables,
Noah and I asking Jackson questions and recounting our reactions.