Two weeks later, David stood at the arena fence in Pueblo, Colorado, hands wrapped around the rail, knuckles white.
Mary nudged him with an elbow. “Take a breath before you pass out.”
“I can’t. I’m too nervous.”
Which was why Kylan had banished him from anywhere near the roping box. “Geez, dude. Go take a chill pill. You’re freaking me out.”
At least it had stopped raining. A month earlier, David couldn’t have imagined wishing for an end to the rain, but for the last ten days, the entire state of Colorado had been treated to daily afternoon deluges, line after line of thunderstorms that dumped inches of moisture onto the thirsty ground.
And onto the Pueblo arena, which now looked more like a mud-pocked lake. Short of roping in the midst of a downpour, the conditions couldn’t get much worse. Frosty could handle it just fine, but Kylan—
“Next up, from the Big Sky State of Montana, Kylan Runningbird,” the announcer declared. “You’ve all heard this young man’s amazing story. He was fifteen-point-six seconds on his first calf, so he’ll have to be really fast today to qualify for the short round.”
David’s heart clutched, the air balling up in his lungs as Kylan rode into the arena, looking calm as all get-out, damn him, as he adjusted his rope and piggin’ string. David hadn’t been this nervous when he’d roped that first calf on Muddy at Reno, with what felt like all the world watching.
Mary’s hand came to rest on David’s forearm, her fingers digging into his flesh as Frosty settled into the corner of the roping box.
“What was that about breathing?” David asked.
She curled her lip at him, her gaze locked on the roping box. Kylan nodded his head. Frosty splattered out of the box in hot pursuit of the calf, and every molecule of David’s will went into wishing Kylan’s loop onto the speckled longhorn.
The rope whistled through the air and settled snug around the calf’s neck. Kylan stepped off, staggered through the mud, grabbed the calf, and wrestled it onto its side. His movements were a tad too deliberate as he strung the front leg, gathered the hinds, took one, two, three wraps and a hooey and threw up his hands, but he got the job done.
Air exploded from David’s lungs, a blast of relief. He clapped so hard, his hands stung. Kylan looked over to where they were standing and gave a little fist pump, grinning from ear to ear.
“Fourteen-point-two seconds,” the announcer said. “That gives Kylan a total of twenty-nine and eight on two, which won’t be enough to get him to the short round, but let’s give the Montana cowboy a big hand. I’m sure you’ll all join me in wishing him the best of luck, whatever comes next.”
Kylan tipped his hat to the roar of applause, then gingerly coiled his mud-caked rope and rode out of the arena.
Mary squeezed David’s arm. “You done good, David. I’ve never seen Kylan look so confident.”
“It’s Frosty. The two of them really click.”
“I wasn’t just talking about in the arena, but you did good there, too.” She angled him an inscrutable look. “I’m not getting him back until school starts, am I?”
David winced. He wasn’t supposed to be the one to tell her. “Kylan didn’t want to bring it up until after he was done roping here.”
He was stunned when her eyes filled with tears. “It’s not a done deal,” he rushed to add. “And it doesn’t have to be clear until school starts. I can bring him back sooner.”
She shook her head, brushing at the tears with the side of her hand. “No. It’s fine. Better than that. It’s great. The two of you…” She sniffed, swiping again at a fresh well of tears. “It’s wonderful seeing how you are together. And I swear, I’m trying really hard not to be jealous.”
David cupped her face and kissed away the dampness on her cheeks. “Hey. He’s still yours. Always will be. I could never take your place, and he wouldn’t want me to try.”
“I know. I’m just not used to having to share so much of him.”
“That’s not all he was planning to ask.” David thumbed away a fresh tear. “We were hoping you’d stay, too, for another couple of weeks. That is, if you can stand being packed into the trailer with two stinky guys for that long.”
Her mouth twitched at the corners. “Are you sure you want a girl tagging along, ruining all your fun?”
“We’ll make an exception since you’re a pretty good night driver.”
“Gee, thanks.” She swatted his arm and then tugged at his sleeve. “C’mon. Let’s wade on over and find Kylan.”
She set off, splashing through the mud with those quick, purposeful strides, forcing David to hustle to keep up. Her yellow rain slicker was made for someone six inches taller, and the tails dragged. With her baseball cap pulled low, she looked younger than most of the teenage contestants.
They caught up with Kylan behind the roping chutes, where he was scraping mud off his jeans. David’s cousin, Adam, held Frosty, stroking the horse’s neck and cooing into his ear. Adam’s eyes lit up when he saw David and Mary. He adored Mary. Everyone in David’s family adored Mary. The feeling seemed to be mutual. So much so that Mary had pulled David aside, her eyes troubled.
“This is a great place, David. Wonderful people. But you know I’m not planning to relocate?”
He’d looped his arms around her waist, pressed a kiss to her forehead. “You have a good place already. And lucky for me, my job is portable.”
She’d kissed him then, so hard his brain hadn’t unscrambled for hours.
She hurried ahead while his mind wandered, dodging through the mob of horses and kids to tackle-hug Kylan.
“Did you see them, Mary? Frosty did so good, and Kylan…” Adam made a circling motion with his hands. “He tied that calf so fast.”
“He did great,” David said, clapping Kylan on the shoulder. “Way to be solid.”
“Thanks.” Kylan glanced up toward the big covered grandstand where the bulk of his fan club remained warm and dry up under the roof—Galen, Cissy, a sizeable Browning contingent, plus David’s entire family. “Starr sent me a text. She said I ended up twenty-sixth.”
“That’s awesome.” Mary gave him another fierce hug. “I am so proud of you.”
Kylan squirmed, pulling free, but his chest puffed up. He’d exceeded the goal they’d set for the finals. David had a feeling Kylan would be pushing a lot of boundaries from now on. Not that David was kidding himself. He hadn’t sauntered in and chased away all of Kylan’s problems; they were just on an extended vacation. Eventually, Kylan would butt up against the frustration again. He’d try and he’d fail, but David hoped the successes he was building up would be a solid enough foundation for him to stay and fight. Believe that the good would come around again, the way it had for David.
David glanced at the rapidly clearing sky and sent up a prayer of thanks. Bless those crotchety old bastards for detouring him onto this trail, even if they’d knocked him down a few times on the way. David was convinced they’d had a plan all along, and he sure wasn’t complaining about the results.
Frosty nuzzled Adam’s chest, more than ready to be back at the barn. His belly and flanks were streaked with mud, his legs caked solid brown on white as if he’d been dipped in chocolate.
“Frosty wants his grain,” Mary said.
“He earned it.” Kylan looped an arm over the horse’s neck and gave him a hug. Frosty didn’t pin his ears or bare his teeth, unlike someone else they all knew.
“Me and Kylan are going to go clean him off and put him in his stall,” Adam declared. “Then Kylan said I can come with him and Starr to get a hamburger.”
He gazed at Kylan with childlike adoration, his dark hair and almond-shaped eyes the same color as David’s, but his face smoother. Eternally young.
“I owe you somethin’ for lettin’ me use your horse,” Kylan muttered with a mixture of pride and embarrassment. “Let’s go. I’m starving.”
As usual. The kid ate like a bear coming out of hibernation.
He and Adam headed for the barns, Frosty ambling between them while Adam talked a mile a minute and Kylan nodded along.
“Kylan is really good with him,” David said.
Mary smiled. “He’s never been anybody’s hero before. He’s enjoying himself.”
The two of them stood for a moment, nowhere to go for a change, no rush to get there.
“Are your parents sticking around tonight?” she asked.
“Nope. The neighbor told Dad they got another three quarters of an inch of rain, so he can’t wait to get home and check the gauge.”
And to admire the fresh green of the pastures, the grass springing to joyful life with the long-awaited moisture. David knew it was foolish, but he felt as if the whole world had shifted. From the moment he’d finally found this place where he was supposed to be, everything that had been wrong had become right again, including the weather.
“Excellent,” Mary said.
David blinked. “I thought you liked my parents.”
“Love them,” she said, and then gave him a smile that made his blood simmer. “I could use a little private time, if you know what I mean.”
Oh yeah. David definitely knew. He’d spent a sizable percentage of the last two weeks contemplating ways to get rid of Kylan. Not permanently. Just a few hours. Long enough to see where those increasingly hot kisses of Mary’s would lead if there was no one to interrupt them.
Traveling with her was driving him insane, in all the ways he’d expected. She was funny, unpredictable, occasionally maddening, and he wouldn’t change a thing. Not even when she made him stop at the cemetery as they passed through Crow Agency so she could place flowers on Jinx Yellowhawk’s grave.
“If he hadn’t been such a complete waste of a human being, we never would have met,” she declared by way of a eulogy.
Classic Mary, tough and soft, all twisted up in one fascinating package.
When David wasn’t busy roping, he split his time between fantasizing about unwrapping her and debating how long he had to wait before he dared confess he was crazy in love with her. “We could go out to dinner while Kylan and Starr are at the dance.”
She arched her eyebrows. “I’d rather ask if Kylan could stay at the motel with Galen and Cissy tonight.”
David’s heart expanded, squeezing the air clean out of his lungs. Him. Mary. Alone in his trailer for an entire night. “But…they’ll all know.”
“That we’re having sex? Yep. They will.” Her eyes sparkled with amusement and a touch of heat.
“That doesn’t bother you?”
“Not as much as not having sex with you.” She stepped closer, grabbing the lapels of his raincoat and stretching onto her tiptoes to narrow her eyes at him. “I love you to death, Dudley, and I respect your personal choices, but if you tell me we have to wait until we’re married, I’m gonna have to hurt you.”
He lost his air again, reeling from the slam-bam punch of hearing Mary say the words I love you and married in the same sentence. He gave her a hopeful smile. “Or maybe you could just…marry me?”
Her jaw dropped. Then she laughed, a peal of pure joy. “Eventually, yes. But not today. So…you wanna get naked or what?”
“Yes.” He hauled her into his arms, planted a kiss on her lips. “Definitely, yes. In the worst way.”
And now he knew exactly what that meant.