Various States of Undress: Virginia (34 page)

“Will you join me?” he asked.

She was surprised to hear a thread of hope in his voice. As a person who
enjoyed
being alone, this felt foreign to her, but the need to help a guest overruled that. She sat down cross-legged beside him. They didn't talk at first, and she watched him rub his shoulder.

He noticed her stare and gave a chagrinned smile. “I injured it years ago. It still occasionally aches.”

“I imagine the hard work of ranching contributes to that.”

“Yeah, it does, but it's worth it. I love working the land that's been in my family for almost seventy-five years. But we've been going through a tough time, and it's been pretty obvious we need a championship bull to invigorate our breeding program. I thought if I met with some of the ranchers here, we could find some investment partners.”

“That was what your meeting today was about?”

“Yeah. But the Sweetheart Ranch is a large operation, and it's all they want to handle right now.”

“We have other ranches around here.”

He glanced at her and grinned. “Yeah, I have more meetings tomorrow.”

“I'm sure you'll be successful.” She looked away from him, the magnetism of his smile making her feel overheated though she was sitting in the shade. Or maybe it was the proximity of the hot tub, she told herself.

An Excerpt from

LEARNING THE ROPES

by T. J. Kline

From author T. J. Kline comes the stunning follow-up to
Rodeo Queen
. When former rodeo queen Alicia falls for perpetual playboy Chris, she must find a way to tame him.

 

A
licia Kanani slapped the reins against her horse's rump as he stretched out, practically flying between the barrels down the length of the rodeo arena, dirt clods rising behind them as the paint gelding ate up the ground with his long stride. She glanced at the clock as she pulled him up, circling to slow him to a jog as a cowboy opened the back gate, allowing her to exit. 14.45. It was only good enough for second place right now. If only she'd been able to cut the first barrel closer, it might have taken another tenth of a second off her time.

She walked her favorite gelding, Beast, back to the trailer and hooked his halter around his neck before loosening his cinch. She heard the twitter of female laughter before she actually recognized the pair of women behind her trailer and cringed. Delilah had been a thorn in her side ever since high school, when Alicia had first arrived in West Hills. There'd never been a lack of competition between them, but it seemed, years later, only one of them had matured at all.

“Look, Dallas, there's Miss Runner-Up.” Delilah jerked her chin at Alicia's trailer. “Came in second again, huh?” She flipped her long blonde waves over her shoulder. “I guess you can't win them all . . . oh, wait.” She giggled. “You don't seem to win any, do you? That would be me.” The pair laughed as if it were the funniest joke ever.

“Isn't it hard to ride a broom
and
a horse at the same time, Delilah?” Alicia tipped her head to the side innocently as Delilah glared at her and stormed away, pulling Dallas with her.

Alicia snidely imitated Delilah's laugh to her horse as she pulled the saddle from his back and put it into the trailer. “She thinks she's so funny. ‘You haven't won. I have,'” she mimicked in a nasally voice. “Witch,” she muttered as she rubbed the curry comb over Beast's neck and back.

“I sure hope you don't kiss your mother with that mouth.”

Alicia spun to see Chris Thomas, her best friend Sydney's brother, walking toward her trailer. She'd rodeoed with Chris and Sydney for years, until Chris had gone pro with his team roping partner. For the last few years, they'd all been pursuing the same goal, the National Finals Rodeo, in their respective events. So far their paths hadn't crossed since Sydney's wedding nearly two years before. She'd suspected she might see him here since they were so close to home and this rodeo boasted a huge purse for team ropers.

“Chris!” She hurried over and gave him a bear hug. “Did you rope already?”

“Tonight during the slack.” Most of the team ropers would be competing tonight before the barbecue and dance. “I see Delilah's still giving you a hard time.”

She shrugged and smirked. “She's still mad I beat her out for rodeo queen when Sydney gave up the title.”

“That was a long time ago. You'd think she'd let it go.” Chris stuffed his hands into his pockets and leaned against the side of her trailer, patting Beast's neck. “Maybe you should put Nair in her shampoo like she did to you.”

Alicia cringed at the memory. “It was a good thing I smelled it before I put it on my head. That could've been traumatizing, but I got her back.”

“That's right. Didn't you put liniment in her lip gloss?” She smiled at the reminder of the prank, and Chris laughed. They'd had some good times together in the past. She wondered how they'd managed to drift apart over the past few years. She missed his laugh and the way he always seemed to bring the playful side of her personality to the surface.

“So, how'd you do?”

“Second—so far,” she clarified. “Again.”

He chuckled and crossed his arms over his chest. His biceps bulged against the material of his Western shirt, and she couldn't help but notice how much he'd filled out since she'd last seen him. And in all the right places. “Second's nothing to complain about.”

“It's nothing to brag about either,” she pointed out, tearing her eyes away from his broad chest. She finished brushing down the horse, feeling slightly uncomfortable with the way he continued to silently watch her, as if he wanted to say something but wasn't sure how to bring it up. Finally she turned and faced him. “What?”

Copyright

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Excerpt from
Various States of Undress: Georgia
copyright © 2015 by Laura Simcox.

Excerpt from
Beauty and the Brit
copyright © 2014 by Lizbeth Selvig.

Excerpt from
The Governess Club: Sara
copyright © 2014 by Heather Johnson.

Excerpt from
Caught in the Act
copyright © 2014 by Sara Jane Stone.

Excerpt from
Sinful Rewards 1
copyright © 2014 by Cynthia Sax.

Excerpt from
When the Rancher Came to Town
copyright © 2014 by Gayle Kloecker Callen.

Excerpt from
Learning the Ropes
copyright © 2014 by Tina Klinesmith.

VARIOUS STATES OF UNDRESS: VIRGINIA
. Copyright © 2014 by Itzy. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

EPub Edition OCTOBER 2014 ISBN: 9780062304667

Print Edition ISBN: 9780062304704

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