Land of Enchantment (6 page)

At seven, she was still walking on air as she rushed to meet Lije at the stables. It wasn't the hurrying that had caused her breathlessness. Diana had chosen her outfit with care, a blue denim slack suit that deepened the colour of her eyes and offset the fairness of her pale hair. She had been just as careful applying the light make-up since Lije had made it clear he liked the natural look. Her appearance must have pleased him, became she was rewarded with one of his rare smiles that so completely transformed his remote features.

Lije kept his word, taking her all around the adjoining rodeo grounds, pointing out everything he thought would be of interest to her. Diana was too dazzled by her companion
to take more than a cursory interest in most of it, though she did manage to absorb enough to ask intelligent questions when the occasion demanded it.

Much too soon for Diana came the time for the grand entrance. He led his buckskin to the arena gates with Diana walking beside him. There was a thrill of belonging when an official started to stop her and Lije spoke up quickly that she was with him and she was allowed in. Handing the reins of his horse to another cowboy, he took her by the arm and led her to the side towards an older, battered-looking cowboy on crutches.

'I want you to stay here with Lefty.' Lije commanded gently. 'He'll keep you out of trouble and tell you the finer points of rodeoing.'

'All right,' Diana agreed, liking the protective and possessive way those grey eyes were looking at her. Even better she liked the way they sharply turned on the short, lean cowboy.

'Take care of her,' Lije told him.

'You bet. If anybody comes near her, I'll chase 'em away with my crutch,' the cowboy assured him with pseudo-ferocity.

Lije's hand touched her shoulder lightly before he walked back to his horse. In one lithe movement he was astride, his boots automatically finding the stirrups. Diana would have been content to watch him, but the older man was already claiming her attention.

'Lije didn't see fit to introduce us,' he was saying. 'My name's Lefty Robbins.'

Diana shook the calloused brown hand he held out to her, aware that now that Lije was gone she was undergoing a close scrutiny.

'Well, Diana,' said Lefty after she had told him her name. 'Let's wander over to the stands behind the chutes. You can get a good look-see there.'

There was no choice but to follow him, although once they had reached their vantage point, she had to admit he had chosen well. There was an unobstructed view of the chutes and the arena.

'What happened to your leg?' Diana asked as she watched him gingerly lower himself to the seats, making sure his leg was stretched out comfortably.

'Ah, a fool horse kicked me out in the stables and fractured an old break,' he replied gruffly. 'I was doin' pretty good up till then.'

'That's hard luck,' she commented sympathetically.

'Heck! If it weren't for bad luck, I wouldn't have no luck at all.' His weathered face twisted into a smile. 'That's how I got my name.'

'Lefty? I don't understand.'

'My left arm has been broken over a dozen times. The boys were going to chip in and buy me a permanent cast,' he chortled, and Diana's blonde head tilted back to join his laughter.

Just as the night before, after the parade and the national anthem, the first event was saddle bronc riding. The winning ride was by the cowboy who had stopped Diana in the stables, Jack Evans. His swagger was even more pronounced than it had been when she met him.

'Why doesn't Lije ride bucking horses?' she asked, turning to Lefty as they cleared the arena for the calf roping.

'He's too big. A good bronc rider is usually lean and only average height. You gotta be small and wiry like me to stay on those sun-fishin' horses,' Lefty announced proudly. 'Not that Lije couldn't stay on, he just couldn't rack up the points with any consistency. Now bull-ridin' is something different. It's still better to be smaller, but he can use his strength to make the ride. Lije may not make day money in the event, but he'll end up somewhere in the placings.'

'What's day money?'

'A cowboy rides in a particular event every night. The one with the highest score, like in bronc and bull-ridin' or the fastest time for calf-ropin' or steer-wrestlin', wins that day's prize money. But the scores accumulate each day so at the end of the rodeo the cowboy who's consistently done the best in a particular event gets the big prize.'

Diana's questions set off a running commentary from Lefty as he explained the various technicalities of each event. He pointed out the string barrier that allowed the calf a head start before the roper was permitted to go after him. If the roping horse broke the barrier, there was a ten-second penalty added to his roping time. After the catch had been made, the calf had to be on his feet before the cowboy could throw him back on the ground and tie his feet.

It continued on through the bareback riding event, where Lefty told her that the rider had to have his feet above the horse's shoulders as the horse came out of the chute or he was disqualified. The rider's free hand could never touch the horse, which was the reason he waved it in the air above him so the judges could see he didn't touch the horse, as well as to give him a certain amount of balance.

'Why does Lije let other cowboys ride his horse?' Diana asked as the steer wrestling began.

'He don't exactly "let" them ride his horse,' Lefty smiled. 'You see, Lije's got himself a valuable piece of horseflesh there, 'cause it's probably the best dogging horse around. Them boys pay to use his horse, so much for each go-round or a percentage of the purse if they win on him. That red horse of his makes Lije a pretty fair profit. I don't know how many offers he's had to buy that stallion, but the price is going up in the five figure range now. That Lije Masters has a pretty smart head on his shoulders.' He winked confidentially at Diana. 'With that horse and Lije's own natural know-how, those two could take it all this year and end up at the National Finals Rodeo in Denver.'

Lefty fell silent during the bull-riding event, sensing the reason for Diana's clenched hands and pale face. After Lije's successful ride, she smiled weakly at the older cowboy, who nodded and patted her hand comfortingly before signalling that it was time for them to leave to meet Lije.

Chapter Four

LEFTY persuaded Lije that even with his restricted mobility, he was capable of taking care of the horses. Lije agreed to the offer, although he unsaddled them before they left.

'Would you mind waiting a few minutes outside my camper while I change my clothes?' Lije asked as he and Diana walked towards some parked vehicles near the stables. He glanced ruefully at the dirt stains on his white shirt. 'I forgot to tell the bull I was taking you out to dinner.'

'I don't mind waiting,' Diana laughed as they stopped beside a pick-up truck with a camper mounted in the bed and over the cab.

'I won't be long,' he promised, adding with an impish twinkle, 'I would invite you in, but…'

'I'll wait outside.' A rising tide of warmth started up her neck. She had been in those types of campers before and knew very well there wasn't any real privacy when it came to dressing and undressing. A smile crinkled his eyes as he nodded and entered the trailer.

True to his word, Lije was out in a matter of minutes. He hadn't just changed his shirt, though, but his entire dress. Now he was wearing a Western-cut suit of brown corduroy with an open-neck shirt in a cream yellow. The outfit enhanced his rugged good looks, intensifying the colour of his grey eyes while it complemented his dark brown hair and accentuated the width of his shoulders and the slimness of his hips. Lije Masters looked every inch the commanding rancher, and the effect awed Diana.

'Will I do?' he mocked as she continued to stare at him.

'Now I'm the one who feels she should change,
'
Diana laughed nervously, glancing down at her suddenly plain denim slack suit with its white stitching.

'It's too late. I'm hungry,'
he decreed, taking her arm and guiding her to the front of the truck. 'And you would attract attention no matter how you were dressed. I don't think any man would ever look to see what you were wearing.'

'I'll take that as a compliment,' she murmured, a little overwhelmed by this charming side of Lije Masters.

'Good,' holding the door as she climbed into the cab. 'That's the way I meant it.'

There was a caressing quality to his softly spoken words that quickened her pulse. All day she had been wondering how she could get close to this remote and sometimes arrogant man, but Diana was learning fast that it was he who set the pace of their relationship. She could only follow his lead. She had always resented anyone who was dominant or dominating to others, including herself, but this time she thought it would be nice for Lije to rule her.

The restaurant he took her to had a friendly, informal atmosphere; it was decorated with Western trappings that were a perfect background for Lije. Last night Diana had discussed her past with him with ease and tonight she found herself doing it again. Lije Masters had the rare quality of being able to listen with sincere interest and draw people out with gentle, probing questions, while Diana learned little more about him than she had before. After their meal was finished, she switched the position.

'Tell me how the son of a rancher came to be named after the Biblical prophet Elijah?'

The corner of his mouth lifted in a half-smile as he studied his coffee for a minute before looking up to meet her frank gaze. There was a velvet quality to the colour of his eyes that was oddly soothing.

'My father's name was Daniel, a common name, although it's found in the Bible. But my mother, Naomi, was a religious woman. She had had several miscarriages before, in her middle thirties, I came along. Elijah was considered the messenger of glad tidings in the Bible and lived in the mountain wilderness, and she felt it was doubly appropriate. My father was the one who shortened it to Lije."

For the first time in many years Diana was struck by the sadness that she would never be able to recount personal stories like that. When she was left at the orphanage there hadn't even been a note telling her name.

'You haven't said when you're leaving tomorrow,' Lije stated when Diana didn't speak.

'I don't know,' giving herself a mental shake to remove the slight depression. 'There's a chance we won't be leaving—something about Rick wanting some action shots. Connie was supposed to let us know this evening.'

'Should you phone the hotel?'

'She'll tell Stella if I'm not there? Diana glanced at her watch. 'I probably should call Stella, though, so she won't have to wait up for me to let me know.'

'You do that, while I take care of the check,' Lije suggested.

Diana's face was radiating her inner happiness when she hung up the telephone and turned to the waiting Lije. 'We leave on Sunday morning,' she announced.

His inscrutable expression made it impossible to judge whether he was pleased by her news. Diana knew she was. With luck, it would mean another day in his company.

'Does that mean you'll be working tomorrow?' he asked, as his hand rested on the back of her shoulders and guided her out the restaurant door.

'Not until late tomorrow afternoon, Stella said,' Diana answered.

'Have you been to the Alamo or along the river walk?' Lije inquired with that remote indifference that always bewildered her.

'No.'

The breeze caught a silver-gold lock of hair and blew it across her face. She swept it behind her ear in a graceful gesture as she picked her way among the chunks of gravel in the parking lot.

"I'll conduct you on a personal tour tomorrow.' They had reached the pick-up truck as Lije made his statement. It was what she had wanted to hear, but considering his unpredictability she had feared another ambiguous statement. Diana wanted to tell him how much she looked forward to going with him, but all the words that came to mind sounded so trite.

'What time?' she asked as calmly as she could.

'I'll give you a call around nine.' His arm was resting on her side of the pick-up door, but he was making no attempt to open it. He was looking upwards at the night sky brightened with a blanket of stars. 'It's a beautiful night, isn't it?'

Diana had been studying his lean angular jaw and cheek and the deep groove carved from the corner of his nose to the corner of his mouth. Even in the dimness of the purple night, she could discern that far-seeing quality of his eyes which always made it seem that he could see beyond the horizon. Any moment now he would look down at her. She forced herself to look up at the twinkling lights in the heavens.

'The Big Dipper really stands out tonight,' she said, when she felt Lije's movement beside her and sensed his eyes on her. 'I never have been able to find the Little Dipper. Where is it?'

'The two stars that form the outer edge of the cup point to the North Star. You have to follow their imaginary line.'

As Diana continued to search unsuccessfully, Lije moved closer, bringing his arm around her shoulders so she could sight along it. The sudden contact with his lean hardness brought a weakness to her limbs. Masculine cologne enveloped her with its intoxicating scent as his breath stirred her hair. A tightness clamped on her throat as she fought the disturbance that was taking hold of her.