Treasuring Amber: The Temptation Saga: Book Five (16 page)

“
L
adies and gentleman
,” Mark, the rodeo emcee, announced. “Welcome to the opening ceremonies of the Bakersville Rodeo! We’ve got a week full of fun and adventure planned for everyone. Zach and Dusty McCray have brought back their bull, El Diablo, and are still offering that half-mil purse to anyone who can ride him for a full eight seconds. Maybe this is the year. Any of you cowboys up for the challenge?

“Our rodeo queen contest is underway, and we’ll have this year’s pretty ladies come out and strut their stuff in a minute. First though, please welcome last year’s rodeo queen, Amber Cross. Miss Cross is escorted by her father, the one and only Thunder Morgan!”

Deafening applause echoed from the stands of the rodeo arena as Amber took the stage on her father’s arm.

“Amber won’t be single much longer. Next week, after she crowns our new rodeo queen, she’ll become Mrs. Harper Bay!”

More thundering applause.

“Congratulations, Amber,” Mark said.

“Thank you so much, Mark. I’ve enjoyed being your queen for a year, but I’m going to love being Mrs. Bay for the rest of my life.”

“Well said, Amber. And Mr. Morgan, it’s an honor to have you here at our small-town rodeo. But I understand you’ve been here before.”

“Yup,” Thunder said. “Busted broncs here fifteen years ago and won a large purse. Thank you, Bakersville!”

Thundering applause again.

Amber and her father left the stage as Mark introduced the grand marshal of this year’s parade, Chad’s brother Zach McCray.

Harper was waiting for her in the wings.

“You looked beautiful out there, baby,” he said.

“Thank you, kind sir.”

“You know, the good people of Bakersville don’t know what a favor I’ve done for them.”

“And what might that be?”

“I let them have you for two more months when I should’ve marched you straight to the justice of the peace and made you mine forever.”

“Next week’ll be here before you know it,” Amber said.

“True. And you know what’ll be here even before then?”

“What’s that?”

His dark eyes gleamed. “Tonight.”

B
akersville
, Colorado, Present Day

“Ladies and gentleman,” Mark, the rodeo emcee announced. “Welcome to the opening ceremonies of the Bakersville Rodeo! We’ve got a week full of fun and adventure planned for everyone. Zach and Dusty McCray have brought back their bull, El Diablo, and they're still offering that half-mil purse to anyone who can ride him for a full eight seconds. Maybe this is the year. Any of you cowboys up for the challenge?

“Our rodeo queen contest is underway, and we’ll have this year’s pretty ladies come out and strut their stuff in a minute. First, though, please welcome last year’s rodeo queen, Amber Cross. Miss Cross is escorted by her father, the one and only Thunder Morgan!”

Sam stood in the McCray brothers’ private box at the rodeo arena, taking care of his nephew, Sean. Deafening applause echoed from the stands. A platinum blond siren took the stage on his idol’s arm.

Thunder Morgan. The best bronc buster in history, in Sam’s humble opinion. He hadn’t always won, but he’d always given the audience a good show. The man had style. Too bad he’d retired a few years back.

“Amber won’t be single much longer. Next week, after she crowns our new rodeo queen, she’ll become Mrs. Harper Bay!”

More thundering applause.

“Congratulations, Amber,” Mark said.

“Thank you so much, Mark. I’ve enjoyed being your queen for a year, but I’m going to love being Mrs. Bay for the rest of my life.”

“Well said, Amber. Mr. Morgan, it’s an honor to have you here at our small-town rodeo. But I understand you’ve been here before.”

“Yup,” Thunder said. “Busted broncs here fifteen years ago and won a large purse. Thank you, Bakersville!”

Thundering applause again. Amber and her father left the stage as Mark introduced the grand marshal of this year’s parade, Sam’s brother-in-law, Zach McCray.

Sam stopped listening as Mark and Zach traded jibes. Zach was a good man. He took amazing care of Dusty and their son, Sean. Sam could never repay him for that, and the beauty was that Zach didn’t expect repayment. He adored his wife and son.

“Hey, Sam, look who I found.”

Zach turned to see his sister and a gorgeous black-haired beauty enter the box.

He gulped.

“You remember Sydney, don’t you?”

Sydney Buchanan
.

She hadn’t changed one bit in five years, except maybe she was more beautiful.

“Of course,” he said. “Hello.” He held out his hand.

When she took it, sparks sizzled up his arm. Those brooding dark eyes seared into his own.

“It’s wonderful to see you again, Sam.”

“Isn’t this great?” Dusty took Sean’s hand. “Thanks for watching him.”

“No problem. You know I love the little guy.”

“He’s adorable.” Sydney squatted down. “How old are you, sweetie?”

“I’m almost five,” Sean said.

“You’re almost a grown-up.” Sydney touched the little boy’s cheek and stood. “You must feel incredibly lucky.”

Dusty smiled. “Only every minute of every day.”

Was that a hint of sadness in Sydney’s dark eyes? Sam wasn’t sure. Did she know about Dusty’s cancer, and that little Sean was almost a miracle? It wasn’t common knowledge outside Bakersville. At least he didn’t think it was.

“Are you competing this year, Sydney?” Dusty asked.

“Sure am. That’s why we’re here. Are you?”

Dusty shook her head. “Nope. I haven’t competed since that ill-fated race against you back in Denver all those years ago. I ended up pregnant with Sean and never went back to racing.”

“You gave it all up? Even bull riding?”

Dusty laughed. “
Especially
bull riding. Zach wouldn’t hear of it, and I actually agreed with him. We were lucky to get Sean. It’s unlikely I’ll ever get pregnant again.”

“Oh.” Sydney looked down. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up anything…well, you know.”

So she wasn’t aware of the situation. Then why did she look so sad?

“I know you didn’t.” Dusty smiled again. “It’s okay.”

Sam truly admired his baby sister. She was the strongest woman he knew. She’d been to hell and back, yet a genuine smile always graced her pretty face.

“You should have won that race, anyway,” Sydney said. “You were magnificent.”

Dusty let out a sigh and pulled Sean into her arms. “Things worked out for the best, believe me. Look what I got for my trouble. I’m a lucky woman.”

Sydney’s red lips curved into a half smile. “Yes, you sure are.”

“Sam, I’ve invited Syd and her family to the house tonight for our little get-together.”

Sam’s heart lurched. Was he happy or unhappy at the news? What exactly did one say to a woman he’d slept with once and never seen again?

The sex had been good. Freaking amazing, actually. None of his other experiences had come close. He shuddered as the image of her crimson lips wrapped around his cock sprang into his mind. She’d licked and teased him until he thought he’d burst.

He dismissed the thought.
Don’t need a boner right now.

Two days later, Sydney had won the barrel race with a time of 14.9 seconds—not a personal best, but damn good.

But her victory had been bittersweet for Sam. Dusty and her mare had out-performed Sydney until the last second, when they knocked over the third barrel. The five second penalty had cost Dusty the race.

Her last race.

Course as she’d said, things had worked out. She married Zach McCray a few months later and had Sean not long after.

“Sam’s psyched,” Dusty continued, “because Thunder Morgan will be there. He’s the father of one of my sister-in-law’s best friends.”

Great. Now he looked like a star struck little boy to Sydney
.

“Really? That’s awesome,” Sydney said.

“He’s been Sam’s idol for years.”

Shut up, Dusty!

“Do you still bust broncs, Sam?” Sydney asked.

“Yep. I’ve got a couple competitions this week. I’m thinking about giving El Diablo a try too.”

Dusty’s eyebrows shot up. “What?”

“You heard me.”

“Wow! I remember that bull,” Sydney said. “I didn’t know you rode bulls, Sam.”

“He doesn’t,” Dusty said.

“I’ve ridden a few in my day.”

“You don’t know Diablo.”

“You rode him, didn’t you?”

“And damn near killed myself and Zach too, if you recall.” Dusty put Sean down. “Go play with your Legos, sweetheart.”

Sam berated himself silently. He had no intention of riding that bull. He’d only said it to impress Sydney. At thirty-three, he didn’t need to be talking himself up to impress some babe. High school had been a long time ago, for God’s sake, yet here he was talking big for a girl.

“You two are both amazing,” Sydney said. “I’d never get on a bull.”

“You just have to understand them, “ Dusty said. “They’re really sweet, beautiful animals.”

“No offense, but every time I watch bull riding, I think those guys are insane.”

Dusty laughed. “Some of them are, that’s for sure. I know the whole town thought I was when I got on Diablo.”

Sam opened his mouth to agree but shut it quickly. Since he’d opened his trap to say he might ride the damn bull, he couldn’t very well agree that his sister had been crazy to attempt it.

And no doubt, she
had
been crazy.

Dusty was actually really good with bulls, with all animals. She had originally planned to study veterinary medicine, but her illness, and then her marriage and birth of her son, had changed that goal long ago. Still, she helped her sister-in-law Annie, who was the town vet, as often as she could.

“You guys are still offering that half-mil purse, huh? No one’s won it yet?”

“Not yet,” Dusty said. “We have a couple cowpokes try every year. Thankfully no one’s been seriously hurt.”

“Do you still work with him?”

“I take care of him. I haven’t tried to ride him again. Like I said, I gave all that up when I got pregnant.”

“Yeah, I understand.” Sydney’s gaze shot to Sean, who was sitting on the floor with his Legos. “Your little boy is beautiful.”

“Thank you. We think so.”

“So what time are you starting tonight?” Sydney fidgeted a little and played with her hair.

Did she not want to go to Dusty’s shindig? Why on earth not? His baby sister and her hubby threw a party like nobody’s business.

“Around six. Come on over any time. We’ll have a dinner buffet, but it’s a ‘serve yourself and eat when you want to’ kind of thing.”

Sam laughed. “Don’t listen to her. The McCrays don’t do anything halfway. Their ‘serve yourself’ buffet will be an open bar and a huge spread topped with a baron of McCray beef.”

Sydney blinked again. Clearly, the woman was a bit nervous. Because of him? Couldn’t be. Five years had passed since their clandestine liaison. No reason to be nervous.

Course his own belly was doing a series of somersaults.

He excused himself and left the box. He found an empty seat in the rafters and plunked down.

Sydney Buchanan.

She hadn’t changed a bit. In fact, if it were possible, she looked even sexier and more beautiful.

They had shared an amazing night all those years ago, still the most passionate night he’d ever spent. Bits and pieces of their crazy lovemaking still haunted him regularly, but a long time had passed since he’d relived the entire night.

Opening ceremonies were still going on, but soon Mark’s voice became unintelligible, and a vision appeared in Sam’s mind.

D
ear Reader
,

Thank you for reading
Treasuring Amber
. If you want to find out about my current backlist and future releases, please like my Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/HelenHardt
and join my mailing list:
http://helenhardt.com/signup/
. I often do giveaways. If you’re a fan and would like to join my street team to help spread the word about my books, you can do so here:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/hardtandsoul/
. I regularly do awesome giveaways for my street team members.

If you enjoyed the story, please take the time to leave a review on a site like Amazon or Goodreads. I welcome all feedback.

I wish you all the best, and keep reading!

Helen