Heart Of A Cowboy (12 page)

Her grandmother was right. She would have to fight for Zachary's love. She'd learned to fight when Nicholas got
so sick. Jumping up, she kissed Granny on the cheek and hurried toward her bedroom.

 

Zachary leaned against the fence of his largest corral and watched Nicholas, on the back of Chief, gallop to one end, round the barrel and race back to the other one making a figure eight. His son was improving every day.

Nicholas trotted to him. “I did it.”

When he held his hand up, Zachary gave him a high five. “Let's try it one more time before we leave for Prairie Lake.”

“May I take my rope with us? I'd like to practice while we're camping.”

“Sounds good to me. The HHH Junior Rodeo is only a few weeks away. Practice is the key to getting better.”

“Maybe I'll rope a bear.”

Zachary laughed. “I hope not. But maybe a tree stump.”

Nicholas maneuvered his horse around so he could start the run again. He nudged the gelding.

As his son shot forward, the sound of a car pulling up drifted to Zachary. He glanced sideways and tensed. What was Jordan doing here? Turning back toward Nicholas, he prepared himself for a confrontation over the fact their son was racing around a set of barrels.

He heard her approach. The hairs on his nape stood up. He stiffened as he pushed off, his fingers grasping the wooden slat. She stopped right behind him on the other side. A fence between them. A past between them—a past he kept dredging up.

Nicholas finished his figure eight. “Hi, Mom. What are you doing here?”

“I decided to take your father's invitation up and come camping with you all.”

Zachary strode to the gate and opened it for Nicholas to leave the corral.

“That's great!” His son loped toward the entrance to the barn and dismounted.

“Is the invitation still open?” Jordan came up to Zachary as he latched the gate.

No, I didn't mean it. I need to stay away from you. You're too tempting.
Zachary pivoted and faced her, forcing a smile to his lips. “Sure. You do understand we'll be outdoors with everything you get squeamish about?”

“If Nicholas enjoys it, I want to be able to share it with him.”

“Suit yourself. You were warned.”

Her eyes became round, her eyebrows raised. “It's just a few bugs.”

“Yeah, just a few,” he murmured and started for the barn.

She hurried after him. “Nicholas is riding well.”

“Yes. I told you I wouldn't have him do anything he's not ready for. You need to trust me on that.”

She grasped his arm and stopped him. When he glanced back at her, she asked, “Is that a two-way street?”

Trust didn't come easily to him anymore, partially because of this woman who moved to stand in front of him.

“Zachary, I know you have a good reason to be leery of me, but we both have our son's well-being in mind.”

“So I should trust you, no questions asked, because of Nicholas?”

She lifted her chin. “Yes.”

He shook free. “We need to meet Becca at her house in twenty minutes.”

He continued his path toward Nicholas cooling down his gelding.
It's gonna be a long weekend, trying to avoid
Jordan. I thought I could be friends with her and not care beyond that. But I don't think that's possible.

 

Jordan plopped down on a fallen log by a stream that fed into Prairie Lake, not far from their campsite. If she didn't know better, she was sure that Zachary picked the most primitive area for them to set up camp. And then on top of that, he'd insisted she put up her own tent as the others were doing. She had—or at least she thought it would stay up even if it did lean a little to the left.

She wouldn't say a word. She was determined to do this with a smile on her face.

A whiff of grilled hamburgers wafted to her. Her stomach rumbled. She rose and gathered up her bundle of firewood and headed toward the sound of voices through the trees.

“I caught a fish today.” Nicholas ran over to her and held up his hands to indicate a foot. “I threw it back, but I enjoyed fishing. Dad said tomorrow we can go early in the morning and will probably catch a lot more.”

“That's great, hon. I hope this will be enough wood.” Jordan dumped her armful onto the pile not far from the fire pit.

“So long as we have a big enough fire to last the whole night, we should be fine.” Zachary clamped his lips together.

“Fine? What do you mean? It shouldn't get too cold with our sleeping bags.” Jordan dusted off her jeans.

“I'm not talking about the cold. It's for the bears, bobcats and coyotes.”

“Bears? Bobcats…” Her voice faded as a twinkle danced in Zachary's eyes. She punched him in the arm. “Funny. So what's the fire really for?”

“We're gonna roast marshmallows and tell scary stories,” Nicholas piped in and returned to Becca.

“I know I'm not much of a nature buff, but I can tell scary stories. You're not gonna sleep at all tonight.” She winked at Zachary and sauntered past him to help Becca with dinner.

“We'll just see who's up the whole night, too scared to sleep,” he said behind her with a chuckle.

She was afraid it might be her. Not that she would let Zachary know she didn't get any sleep.

After helping Becca with the dinner, Jordan sat down with her plate, piled high with a thick, juicy hamburger, baked beans, macaroni and cheese and cole slaw. The heat from the fire that Zachary and Paul, Becca's husband, had built warmed her. Now that the sun had disappeared behind the tall pines, scrub oaks and hackberry trees, the temperature had dropped a few degrees.

“How early are you and Nicholas going fishing tomorrow morning?” Jordan asked when Zachary took a seat near her.

“Crack of dawn.”

“That early?” Who was she kidding? She wouldn't probably close her eyes all night so why not get up and join them. “I'd like to go with you two. Is anyone else coming?”

“Nope. Paul and I have a challenge going. He has a favorite fishing hole and I have one. We're gonna see who can get the most. He's taking his boys.”

“Then I'll even out the numbers. Three to three.”

His brow wrinkled, he looked sideways at her. “Then you want to fish?”

“Why not? If you and Nicholas are gonna, I might as well try.”

“You'll bait your own hook?”

“Fine. Isn't it just rubbery things?”

He grinned. “Live worms. They come in dirt.”

“I know how worms come.”

“Just wanted you to know all the details.”

“Okay, so I'm a girly girl.”

His smile broadened, reaching deep into his eyes. “I've been impressed so far.”

“Yeah, well, wait. It isn't totally dark yet.”

His robust laugh echoed through the woods encircling them, bouncing off objects and returning to enclose them in an intimacy. For just a moment. “We still have the scary stories,” he said, cutting through the emotion-packed tension.

“I have a better idea.” Jordan turned to the rest of them around the fire. “Why don't we play charades?”

“Yeah, I like that game,” Ashley said opposite Jordan.

“I'm good at it.” Nicholas jumped to his feet and threw his plate away, then grabbed a brownie.

Zachary rubbed his chin. “That's actually a good suggestion. Charades it is.”

An hour later with darkness surrounding them like a black curtain and their stomachs full of chocolate and marshmallows, the fire the only bright spot, Jordan sat with Becca and Ashley across from Zachary, Mike, Cal and Nicholas. Paul held the tin container out for Jordan to draw her final selection for charades. She read it and gulped then handed it to Paul, who showed it to the guy team.

She unfolded her hands to resemble a book then turned her hand in a full circle.

“A book and movie,” Becca shouted.

She held up seven fingers, then indicated the second word. Without roaring, she gave a fierce face and acted as if she pounced on prey.

“Bobcat,” Zachary said with a laugh.

Swinging around, she glared at him.

Becca snapped her fingers. “Lion.”

Ashley bounced up and down on her seat. “Oh, oh. It's
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
”

“Yes!” Jordan high-fived Ashley. “Way to go.”

Next Zachary stood, groaned when he read his pick,
The Princess Diaries,
then faced his team to begin. He started to do something, scowled then walked to Paul and whispered something to him. “Ah, okay,” Zachary said and came back to the center.

He pantomimed it was a movie and three words. He paused, thought a few seconds then pranced around the fire as though he wore high heels, then eased daintily into a chair. His team looked at him as if he were crazy.

For the next few minutes Zachary tried to coax the title out of the three boys. When he opened his hand like a book and pretended to write in it, Nicholas finally said, “Journal.”

Zachary smacked his palms together and shouted, “Close.”

“Hey, no talking.” Jordan pointed toward Zachary. “That should be a thirty-second penalty.”

“Time, without even adding a penalty. Girls win three to two.”

Mike stuck out his chest, a pout on his face. “We had harder ones. That's the only reason you all won.”

“Mike, they won fair and square.” Paul put the tin container back with the other dishes. “It's bedtime. We need to get up early tomorrow. Got a challenge to win.”

After standing, Jordan stretched and rolled her head to ease her tight muscles. Exhausted, she covered her open mouth. “I don't think I'm gonna have any trouble sleeping tonight.”

“Well, don't let the bed bugs bite.” Zachary winked and headed with Nicholas to the tent they were sharing.

Jordan watched everyone scatter to their respective tents. How did she get stuck by herself?
'Cause you don't belong. This is Zachary's family, not yours.

Flipping back the flap, she crawled inside the small space where she would sleep. After snuggling into the warmth of her bag, Zachary's comment about the bed bugs came back to haunt her. She switched on her flashlight and checked everywhere around her for any sign of an insect or any other creepy, crawling critters. When she thought it was safe, she relaxed and zipped herself in.

That was when the sounds intruded. The constant chatter of the crickets with an occasional bullfrog taunted her with the idea of sleep—just out of her reach. She stared into the darkness. The hoot of an owl nearby made her gasp. She hunkered down into her bag and squeezed her eyes closed. Sleep finally descended when she relaxed her tense muscles enough to allow it in.

Only to be jerked wide-awake by a howl. She bolted upright, flinging her arms out, connecting with the side of the tent. Canvas swallowed her in its clutches, trying to smother her rather than shelter her. Trapped. With a shudder, she squirmed in her sleeping bag, fighting with the zipper while shoving at the walls of the tent that had fallen on her. Twisting to the side, she searched for an opening and rolled down a small incline, ending up at the bottom in a tangle.

Her heartbeat thundered so loud in her ears she barely heard Zachary call her name. Then suddenly he freed her from the canvas and knelt down next to her.

“What happened, Jordan?”

“My zipper is stuck,” she said between pants. She needed to get out of the confining sleeping bag.

He placed a calming hand on her. “Let me.”

Five seconds later he liberated her totally. She sat up and inhaled deeply of the oxygen-rich air. Another howl reverberated through the woods. “What's that?” She threw herself into his strong arms.

For a moment he held her before saying, “It's a coyote.” He helped her up, stooped and grabbed the tent and bedding. “We're safe.”

“How do you know that?”

“I've been camping here many times and a coyote hasn't bothered me yet.”

“There's always a first time.” The trembling in her hands quickly overtook her whole body.

He tossed the items on the ground not too far from the fire then drew her into his embrace again. “You're all right.”

She laid her head against his chest, feeling the steady beating of his heart beneath her ear. “You said a coyote hasn't bothered you. Has something else?”

“Raccoons. That's why our food is locked away in the car.”

“Oh.” Although she didn't want to encounter a raccoon, it sounded better than a coyote. From the dim light of the dying fire, she noticed the time on her watch was four in the morning. Even though her body didn't feel like it, she'd gotten a few hours of sleep. “I think I'm done for the night.”

“Dawn is still a couple of hours away.”

“I know but I'm not wrestling with my tent again.”

“I can stay out here. Why don't you sleep with Nicholas?”

“You'd sleep out in the open?” His warmth encircled her and lured her into a serenity she wished she could maintain.

“I've done it before.” His fingers skimmed down her spine.

She pressed closer. The thumping of his heartbeat increased. A sudden intake of air attested to her effect on him. She smiled. Hope blossomed within her and spread through her.

He stepped back. “I'll use this sleeping bag. You can use mine. That way we won't disturb Nicholas.”

Still keyed up with her fight with her tent, she moved toward the glowing embers of the fire and sat. “I might take you up on it, but right now I can't sleep a wink.”

He sank into a lawn chair nearby. “I probably can't, either.”

“Ha! We have something in common.”

His chuckles tickled down her spine like the feel of his fingers seconds ago. “Besides Nicholas. Yeah, I guess we do.”

“Well, certainly not camping. I suck at it.”