Capturing the Cowboy's Heart (5 page)

He
moved
to the edge of the porch
.
  “I see you found your way back
.
”

“Hoping I wouldn’t?” she replied, grinning at him through the open window of her car. 

He
frowned.  “I didn’t say that.”  Not that he hadn’t thought it a few times since leaving the Blarney Stone. 

She
stepped from the car.  “I was just teasing.  Are you always this sensitive?  Or is it just with reporters.”

Cade stepped off the porch and moved toward his ‘guest’. 
“I
’ve made it no secret that I
don’t like reporters. 
You knew that going into this.  So don’t take it personal.
”

Closing the door, she leaned against the car and crossed her arms, keys dangling from her fingers.  “
It appears you aren’t the only
citizen of Deep Creek share your opinion
about reporters being
flesh-eating
vultures
.”

H
e looked up at her in surprise. 
“
Why? 
Did someone say something to you
while you were in town
?”

“Let’s just say a certain lady friend of yours isn’t real happy with my being here either.”

A lady friend of his?
  Then it dawned on him.  “Katie?”

She
nodded. 

“She’s not
my
lady friend.  At least, not in the way you’re thinking.”  He wasn’t sure why he felt the need to clarify that, but he did.  “She’s got a thing for Burk, not that
the
fool
’s
caught on
to her feelings yet
.”

“Oh.  I thought...”

“Sorry
to disappoint you
, Dalton
,
” he said, cutting her off, “b
ut you aren’t going to find any relationship gossip on me in
this
town
or any other
. 
There
is no one
in my life.”

Why that admission mattered to
her
,
Lacy
couldn’t fathom.  But it did. 
She shrugged.  “I guess I’ll have to strike that line of questioning from my list then.”

“You do that,” he replied.  “
I’ll
let Katie know that I agreed to this interview. 
She
tends to be
a little overprotective when it comes to her friends.”

“You’re lucky to have friends like that.”
  She had
spent so many years taking care of her elderly grandparents, and then dealing with her grandmother’s declining health after her grandfather passed away, that she had no close friends of her own. 

Cade
thumbed his hat further back on his head
and studied her for a long moment.  “
Tell me something,
Dalton
.  W
hat does
Bustin’ Loose
want with a washed-up has-been like me anyway?”

“
Retired or not, y
ou were one of the best.”  She didn’t follow the rodeo circuit, but she had done enough research on Cade Tyler to know that much.  “
The fact that you had to leave the
sport in the prime of your career makes you
an
even
bigger
draw
with readers
. 
Rodeo fans are eager to
know what
Cade Tyler’s life is like after the circuit
.”

“Bull,” he scoffed, his dark brows drawn together.  “
Are you familiar with that old saying ‘out of sight, out of mind’?
”

“Have you ever looked yourself up on the net?”

“Don’t own a computer.”

No, Cade Tyler was not a sit behind a desk kind of man.  He
rose early, worked hard, even
in the rain.  And if his tan was any indication, he had no aversion to sweating under the harsh summer sun
to do what needed doing
.

“
L
et me assure you
,” she said, “
there are still plenty of people out there talking about you.
  Missing the excitement you brought to the rodeo.
”

He frowned.  “Why do I get the feeling this assignment is gonna make
that old yearning to ride again return. 
And it’ll make Burk even worse.  Because if it weren’t for my getting
caught up on that bull that day
he’d still be
working
the circuit, saving the butts of those little snots who ride today.”  He let out a long sigh.  “God, I feel old.” 

A part of her regretted
having taken on th
is assignment
. 
The great Cade Tyler was clearly
down on his luck
and t
hat wasn’t how she wanted to portray him in her story. 
A story she had to write.  H
er grandmother
had to be
her first priority.  The woman who had raised her, loved her.  The same one who no longer recognized her own granddaughter.

Emotion knotted up in Lacy’s throat
as she looked around the run down ranch
.  How was she supposed to take a man’s life, which had quite clearly gone down the drain, and hold it up for the world to see?
  She couldn’t.  Maybe she didn’t have what it took to be a journalist. 

No, she was a damn good journalist.  And she’d prove it to Mac.  Even if it wouldn’t be the expose she knew he was
looking for
. 
Because after meeting Cade Tyler, she couldn’t lower herself to write the kind of exposé her editor
was
looking for. 
But
she had no intention of telling Mac that or he’d pull her from the assignment faster than she could say RODEO and give the
Rodeo Romance
column to someone else who would give him the dirt he wanted.
  She just had to make sure she gave him a story that would be guaranteed to sell – without dragging Cade’s pride down with it.
   
             

“Nice wheels,” Cade said
as he stepped up to the car.

Drawn from her
troubled thoughts
, she replied, “
Thanks.”

“‘72 ‘Vette?” he asked as he ran his hand along the
hood
.

“Close. ‘71.” 

He circled the car
, admiring it
.  “She’s a beauty.  T-tops and all.  How’s
it
ride? 

Lacy reached out and opened the door.  “See for yourself.” 

“What?”

She
held out her keys, dangling them
in front of him.  “Let’s go for a ride.” 

He
glanced
down at the key ring
swinging to and fro in front of him
, obviously contemplating her offer.

Smiling,
she reached for his hand and placed her keys into
his palm
.  “I have to confess.  You’re going to be my first.”

The key ring slipped from his hand, but he caught it midair
. 
“The first?”
he repeated, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down. 

Lacy rose up on her toes and leaned forward to whisper in his ear, “The first person other than myself to drive this car since I’ve owned it.”  Laughing softly, she turned and walked around to the passenger side.  “Let’s go, cowboy.”

“Can’t,” he replied.

“Can’t? Or is it because you’re afraid to?” she taunted.

“What the hell is there to be afraid of?”

“That this beauty might be too much for you to handle?”

His frown deepened.  “I ride...rode bulls for a living.  I’m sure as hell not intimidated by any car.” 

She opened the passenger door.  “Prove it.”

Muttering a curse, he
lowered himself into the driver’s side and backed the seat up to make room for his long legs.  Then he curled his long fingers around the wheel and looked her way.  “You
’re a
real
pain in the ass, Dalton.  You know that, don’t you?”

She smiled her reply.

He looked around
and then nodded in approval. 
“Not too shabby.” 

“It
belonged to my
grandfather.  He left it to me when he
passed away
.”

He eyed the keys in his hand.  “
Maybe I
’d
better not take it for a ride.”

She hit the door lock, not that it would keep him in if he chose to leave, but she was making a point. 
“
Weren’t you just about to prove something to me?”

“I repeat,” he said with a chuckle as he started the engine, “Real pain in the ass.” 

He looked big behind that wheel.  Sexy.  “Don’t worry,” she said.  “I’ll grow on you.” 

“
Like one of those pesky, clinging vines, no doubt,” he muttered with a grin as he pulled out onto the drive.

She tried not to dwell on the image those words brought to mind.  Her naked limbs wrapped firmly around his bare, musc
ular body.  Lacy groaned.

“Dalton?” he said, looking her way.  “You okay?”

“I’ll be better once you get this ‘Vette moving and I feel the wind in my hair.”  And on her heated face.

They turned off his drive and onto the road. 
“
So what’s the fastest you’ve ever
gone
in this thing?”

“Around 100.” 

His eyes widened as he pulled away from the house.  “As in miles per hour?”

“What can I say?  I like fast.” 

“In your men, too?”

Her head snapped around, her gaze meeting his
.  “I’m supposed to be asking you the questions, remember?”

“Sorry
,” he said, forcing his gaze back to the road.  “
That was out of line.”

“You’re forgiven
– this time
.”  She laid her head back against the leather seat with a sigh.  “I love this.”

“This?”

“Flying down the road with the top down, the wind
whipping around me
.  There’s nothing like it.”

“Have you ever ridden a horse?”

“No.”

“It’s even better.  Maybe I’ll take you
out
for a ride sometime.”

She rolled her head to look at him.  “I’d like that.” 

He
removed his hat and placed it on the seat between them.  “Aren’t you worried about your hair getting all messed up?”

“Why?  Have we been invited to a dress your best hoe-down this evening?”

He grinned. 
“
Not that I recall.
” 

The man had a great smile when he chose to use it.  “Wait!”
she exclaimed.  “Make that a cowboy’s ball.  Only instead of losing her glass slipper, Cinder-cowgirl leaves behind her boot.”

Cade cocked a playful brow her direction.  “Do I detect a conflict of interest here,
Dalton
?  Seems to me you’ve got something against cowboys.”

“You couldn’t be more wrong.
”  She flashed him an impish grin. 
What woman
in her right mind could
resist a
ruggedly sexy cowboy
in tight jeans and boots
?  One w
ho c
ould
wrestle a bear
and win.
” 

“I’d like to think it was me you were referring to with the ruggedly sexy part, but seeing as how I’ve n
ever wrestled a bear
that leaves me out.  U
nless you count Burk.  He’s hairy enough.”

Their laughter blended together and drifted off as the car sped
even faster
down the country road. 

Lacy couldn’t keep her eyes off the boyish grin that tugged at the corners of Cade’s mouth.  Something told her that catching him in this kind of carefree mood was a rare thing.

The
y
sped down the road
, radio blasting,
like a couple of teenagers and then back again.  Cade eased off the gas as they neared the ranch
, his grin fading
.