The Cowboy Way (14 page)

Beth glanced at her son. He was busy with his friends torching marshmallows. Clint was about to begin a story. Kevin would indeed be fine.

Jake and Beth walked away from the glow of the campfire and the floodlights, past the corral of horses. Their path behind the infirmary through the pines was lit only by the full moon.

“We don't bring the kids to the hot spring because it's a tough path. The wheelchairs wouldn't make it. It's a well-kept secret. Only a few people know about it.”

They continued to walk as Jake guided her down a narrow clearing. The laughter of the camp faded as they walked. Other than the faint hoot of an owl, it was a quiet night.

A while later, she found herself in a clearing. A stream gurgled swiftly, then disappeared into a circle of water that sparkled in the moonlight. Rocks and boulders surrounded the shimmering pool. Steam dissipated as it rose higher, coating the leaves and needles of the surrounding trees with shiny moisture.

“Oh, Jake! I've never seen such a place!”

“It's my favorite spot on the ranch. You should see it in winter. The trees are frosted with ice and snow. It looks like a Christmas card.”

“It's so…ethereal.” Beth took a deep breath. “I want to go in but I didn't bring a bathing suit.”

“Funny thing, neither did I.” His eyes sparked with
mischief. “I guess we'll have to go back to the campfire and listen to Clint's ghost stories.”

He turned to leave.

“Okay.” Two could play his game. “You go ahead. I'll catch up. I think I'll stay and take a dip. Alone.”

He looked over his shoulder.

“Or you could join me,” she finished.

His sexy smile made her heart leap. Without breaking eye contact, he hooked his hat on the branch of a tree as naturally as if he'd done it a hundred times before. She pulled her T-shirt off and draped it over a limb on the same tree. They dispensed with the rest of their clothes in short order and stood looking at each other.

In two steps, Jake had her in his arms, skin against skin, cool from the night breeze.

“I feel like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden,” Beth said when she found her voice.

His lips came down over hers. She felt the length of him against her. “Mmm…”

The gentle lapping of the water and the haunting hoot of an owl were the only sounds she heard. His hands cupped her breasts as he nibbled her neck. The misty steam enveloped them, caressed them, cocooned them, as if they were the only people in the world.

When she was back in Arizona, she'd never forget this moment, this man.

Jake ran a finger down her nose. “You're beautiful, you know. All naked and misty in the moonlight. And glittering green.”

She chuckled. “You don't look so bad yourself, cowboy.” She took his hand and tugged it. “Shall we try your outdoor hot tub?”

“Hang on just a second.” He pulled his wallet out of a pocket in his pants and took out two condoms. He held them up to her and she smiled. Then he returned the pants to a tree branch.

They walked between two large rocks down a slight incline. At closer range, she could see that the water bubbled. He helped her in. She was pleasantly surprised at the perfect temperature of the water—not too hot, not too cold.

“It's only about three feet deep here, so don't worry.”

She immersed herself to the neck, still surprised at the bubbles. They tickled every nook and cranny of her body. It was like swimming in champagne.

“This is really special. Thanks for bringing me.”

“Thank my parents.” He chuckled and pointed to a flat rock where there were two folded terry-cloth towels. “The little matchmakers.”

“Your parents? Matchmakers?”

“Tell me you haven't figured them out yet. They are about as subtle as a Sherman tank.”

She reached for him, ran her hands down his strong arms. “You and me? They're trying to fix us up?”

“Yep.”

She laughed. “Interesting.”

He took her in his arms and kissed her. His tongue traced the seam of her lips, and she opened her mouth for him. He pulled her even closer and continued his delicious assault.

She found herself lifted off her feet and deposited on a rock ledge. Without taking his eyes off her, he tore open a plastic packet and unrolled a condom over his hard length.

His consideration of her touched her heart. Watching him put it on made her hot.

Then his hands were on her knees. “Open for me.”

She did.

Standing between her legs, she felt him enter her, slowly at first; then he buried his length inside her.

He lifted her and she wrapped her legs around him. Their eyes met and she studied his face, memorizing each laugh line, every scar, the curve of his jaw. She brushed back the wet hair from his forehead and kissed him there.

Their lovemaking was unhurried and slow, each knowing it might be the last time they'd be alone. Three days. That's all she had left at the Gold Buckle Ranch. Tomorrow was Wheelchair Rodeo. Saturday was the big Gold Buckle Challenge, and Jake would be busy all day. She and Kevin would be leaving on Sunday.

She pushed that to the back of her mind. She clung to Jake and kissed him with all the passion built up inside her. He buried himself even deeper inside her. Their sighs melded together.

Beth was the first to move, slowly at first, then riding him in a wild frenzy. Their tongues danced, teeth nipped, until Jake shuddered and breathed her name. Her release followed, her sigh of pleasure lost in the warmth of his mouth.

With the mist around them and the canopy of stars sparkling in the night sky, they embraced, not wanting to let go. Not wanting to leave this special place. Not knowing if they'd be able to be alone again before they had to go their separate ways.

T
he wagon train slowly returned to the ranch. Kevin led the way again, but this time, he shared the honor with his friends, Alex and Luke.

Jake couldn't think of anything but Beth. The way she rode next to him was as if she'd grown up on the back of a horse. She was a natural. And the way she had looked last night in the hot spring, all bathed in the moonlight and mist…

He'd never forget her. They'd made love with such sweetness, then a second time with wild abandon. Then they had frolicked in the bubbles like two school kids.

What the hell was he doing?

He should be throwing himself into getting the Wheelchair Rodeo competition ready for this afternoon and checking on several other details for the Challenge.
He had a staff of organizers whom he trusted, but many minor things fell to him.

Yet he could only think about finding time to be with Beth.

His gaze shifted to Kevin. If there was another boy who enjoyed being a cowboy more than Kevin Conroy, Jake wanted to meet him. The kid lived to ride horses and rope, and every second that Kevin's smile got bigger and brighter, his mother's eyes lost that haunted, tired looked that he'd noticed the first day he met her.

In a couple of days, Kevin would be leaving, too. Jake's hands tightened on the reins. Shoot. He hadn't realized it until this moment, but he loved the boy as if Kevin were his own son. His leaving would only deepen the hole in Jake's heart.

But they'd take back with them good memories of the Gold Buckle Ranch. It had been a very successful campout. As luck would have it, the weather had cooperated, and they hadn't had any close encounters of the reptile kind.

He and Beth and Kevin could keep in touch. There was e-mail and the phone. But it wouldn't be the same.

Beth rode quietly beside him. Every now and then her thigh would brush up against his. He wanted to take her hand and hold it, to touch her again. Instead, he tried to seem interested when Kevin pointed to another eagle or a jackrabbit scooting into the brush to get out of the way.

He hadn't counted on falling so hard for Beth.

He didn't have anything to offer her other than a broken-down, has-been bull rider. Sure, he was in the Hall of Fame. Sure he had money. But what was he now? Nothing.

He didn't even have a college education like his brothers and sister soon would.

Beth and Kevin deserved someone who would settle down. Not someone who was looking to reclaim his lost fame. Someone who'd be there for them, not someone who was looking for the first flight out of Mountain Springs in the hope of winning another gold buckle and another title.

She leaned toward him and whispered, “Are you ready to talk about what Dr. Trotter told you yet? Or are you still thinking about it?”

“I don't want to give up my bull riding.”

“Is that a probability?”

“Yeah, according to Trot. He said both my leg and back will be okay with a couple of operations. If I don't do the operations, I could have permanent injury if I ride and make it worse.”

“Permanent? As in pain? What?”

“As in pain and numbness and possibly…paralysis.”

Her face drained of color. “Then there's no decision. You have to give up bull riding.”

“It's not as simple as that.”

“It sure is. Merciful heavens, Jake, do you want to end up in a wheelchair for the rest of your life?”

“Not particularly.”

“Then what's the problem?”

“I want to retire on top. I have to stay on the tour to qualify for Vegas in October. I want to win Vegas. But first, I have to ride Twister. Then I'm going to ride in my own event. After I do all that, then maybe I'll retire.”

“But you've won everything there is to win. You even won Vegas before.”

“It's just something I have to do for myself.”

“You'd risk your health for that? And you insist on riding a difficult bounty bull that thirty-five others haven't been able to ride?”

“The bounty bull's for Wheelchair Rodeo.” He didn't hesitate. “Yes. I would. That's what I do. That's who I am.”

“Bull riding might be what you do, but it's not who you are. You're a hero to these kids—kids who'd never experience any of this if it weren't for you. You have fabulous organizational skills. You put on bull-riding events. You know how to talk to kids without talking down to them. There's nothing you couldn't do, Jake. And if you want to study history, you could do that, too.”

“Thanks,” he said.

“But?”

“But it's not enough.”

Her cheeks flushed red. “You are such a hardheaded, stubborn old mule of a cowboy. You just don't get it.”

He shrugged. “Maybe you don't understand how it is.”

“Obviously I don't,” she snapped.

The Gold Buckle came into view. While they had been gone, several tents had been erected for Wheelchair Rodeo, and more bleachers added near the corral. An excited buzz went through the wagon train.

“Listen to the kids, Jake. Don't you get as much satisfaction when you hear them as you do from an arena full of bull-riding fans?”

He looked toward the ranch and the glittering river, and then back at the kids as they bubbled with enthusiasm and pointed out the tents and the bleachers.

“You know, I like them both, but I got to admit that I get more satisfaction from the kids.”

“The prosecution rests.”

“I'm still going to ride.”

“You might get hurt.”

“It's part of the job.”

She did a slow burn the rest of the way, trying to figure out how the same man who brought her to ecstasy last night could make her want to rage at him today.

The cowboys and the volunteers unloaded the kids from the horses and the wagons and sent them to the mess hall for lunch. Later, the kids would rest for a while, if they possibly could, and then get ready for Wheelchair Rodeo.

The cowboys would take care of brushing, feeding and watering the horses for today.

Kevin looked back at his horse as if he couldn't bear to part from a lifelong friend. “After lunch, I'll bring you some apples, boy.”

Beth walked alongside him as he wheeled to the mess hall. “That'll be after rest time, Kev.”

“I don't want to rest. That's for babies.”

“You want to be in top shape for the rodeo, don't you?”

“Yeah.”

“Then you need to rest.”

“Oh, all right,” he said grudgingly.

Lunch was tacos and a salad bar. A chicken barbecue and corn roast would come later, after Wheelchair
Rodeo. Thanks to Cookie, they certainly had been eating heartily on this trip. At this rate, she was never going to be able to snap her jeans.

They made a couple of tacos and picked a table by the window to watch the action.

“Jake is the greatest, isn't he, Mom?”

Not again,
she thought. She took a deep breath. “He's very nice. Really nice.”

“Are you going to marry him?”

When Kevin looked up at her with his big hopeful eyes, it was hard to pick the right words. “Didn't we talk about this before, sweetie? Even though I think he's cool, and I think he thinks I'm cool, we are pretty different. He lives here. We live in Arizona.”

“We could move. Don't you like it here?”

His voice was thin as if he might cry. He never cried. He hadn't cried about any of his surgeries.

She put her arm around him and kissed his forehead. “Please, Kevin, don't make this hard. If we save some money, maybe we can come back next year.”

His head dropped. “I really like it here, Mom. I like Jake.”

“Jake will be bull riding. We can watch him on TV. He wouldn't be around the ranch much until next summer anyway.”

“We can go with him on tour. We could cheer him on.”

“But he's very busy, and I have my job, and—” She took a deep breath and patted his arm. “Kevin, let's talk about this more later.”

In the time it took them to eat, thunderclouds moved in over the ranch, blocking the sun. They could hear a rumbling in the distance.

Jake hurried into the mess hall and announced, “Everyone, get where you're going, please. Take shelter. This looks like it's going to be a bad one.”

“What about Wheelchair Rodeo?” Kevin asked.

“We might have to postpone it. Either later tonight, or more than likely it'll be tomorrow.”

“Aww…jeez!”

Jake walked over to where they were sitting. “Don't worry, Kev. We'll get it in, even if we have to do it inside the Mountain Springs Arena before the bull riding.”

“Oh, wow! Really?”

“Really. Say, the boys have a poker game going at the bunkhouse if you want to join in.”

“Poker?” Beth asked.

“It's only for macaroni, Mom.”

She laughed. “I knew that.” She turned to Jake. “Need any help?”

“Nope. Everything's under control. Why don't you get yourself to your cabin and snuggle in, read a book or whatever.” He winked, then whispered in her ear, “I'll try to join you as soon as I can.”

She started to tingle all over just thinking of them making love in the cozy cabin during a raging storm. She'd make a fire in the fireplace, put on her Wal-Mart nightgown and they'd snuggle under the comforter.

She watched as Kevin grabbed a couple of apples from the salad bar.

“See you, Mom.”

“Okay.”

Kevin wheeled off in the direction of the barn with Jake at his side.

She hurried to her cabin as the wind picked up. The
sky was almost blue-black. Fat raindrops fell on her before she reached shelter.

Her gear was already on the front porch. She brought it in and deposited it on a chair. She jumped from a loud clap of thunder and was riveted as lightning flashed bright in the room. Thunderstorms seemed so much louder here than they did in Arizona.

She wasn't scared. It was just so powerful. She took a seat by the window to watch it. The rain came down in torrents, and almost as black as night.

Thank goodness the storm hadn't hit during the campout.

 

Jake turned the corner of the barn and headed for the refrigerator in the tack room. Opening the door, he popped the top of a cold beer. He was done for the day and wanted some peace and quiet to think about everything that he needed to do for tomorrow. He sat down at his desk and took a long draw of the cold liquid.

Did he love Beth enough to give up riding?

She wanted him to. The last thing she needed was another person in a wheelchair. She'd made that clear enough.

It wouldn't come to that.

Jake took another swig. He put his feet up on the desk and leaned back, tuning in to the rain on the roof, looking out the window to the ranch that he'd helped build.

His brothers, Ty and Cody, weren't interested in the Gold Buckle. They were working on their own careers. He didn't know about his sister, Karen. She seemed quite happy in Vegas. When his parents were ready to
retire, he'd buy the place from them and buy his siblings out. Until then, he might build his own cabin near the hot spring.

Beth loved the hot spring.

They could spend long, leisurely nights in the spring together—if he quit riding.

He could tell that she liked him. If she didn't, she wouldn't care whether he rode, whether he had surgery.

But did she love him enough to marry him?

He took another sip from his beer. Nice and cold.

Jake heard a noise. As he struggled to get up, beer sloshed on his shirt.

Brushing it off with his hand, he stepped out into the barn. He almost choked on the gulp he had taken, when he saw Kevin Conroy stand up, walk toward a couple of barrels of hay and pick up an apple from the floor in front of them.

Jake blinked. He must be seeing things.

Kevin walked to the horse's stall and held the apple out to the horse. “Here you go, Killer.”

Then he walked back to his wheelchair and got another apple from the canvas bag hanging from it. He fed it to the horse. “Good boy, Killer. Good boy. I'll get you a carrot.”

Kevin turned and walked to the carrot basket.

Jake couldn't believe his eyes. “Kevin?”

The boy froze.

“Kevin?” Jake walked closer, squinting. “What the…”

Kevin turned to face Jake. “I—I…uh…”

“How long have you been able to walk?”

He didn't answer. He looked ready to bolt.

“I'm thrilled that you can walk, but how long were you going to fake like that? That's not the cowboy way, son. I'm very disappointed in you.”

The boy stared up at him, his eyes tearing up. “That's what my father always said to me. You even smell like him,” he blurted.

Jake looked down at the beer can in his hand. He heaved it into a nearby trash can. Shoot. He was handling this whole thing badly.

“Does your mother know you can walk?”

“No.” Tears brimmed in his eyes. He blinked, and they trailed down his cheeks, dropping onto his shirt.

Jake held his palms up. “I find that hard to believe. What's this about? A free vacation?” He knew his tone was harsh, but he felt like he was being played for a sucker.

Kevin's whole face crumbled. Jake felt like an ogre, but he couldn't understand why this beautiful boy would sit in a wheelchair when he could walk.

“She doesn't know! I tried to tell her, but I—I…” He reached up to swipe his tears with his shirtsleeve.

Jake felt his stomach knot with dread. He wanted to believe him, he really did.

Maybe it was something psychological, as Doc Trotter thought. If it was, Jake was bungling this. He sure as heck didn't want to make Kevin cry. What kind of an idiot was he?

“Look, I'm not going to tell your mom. I'm going to leave that to you. She'll be happy—not that you lied to her, but because you can walk. I'm happy, too. Now go to the bunkhouse, hang out with the guys and relax. When the storm clears, you can tell your mother.”