CHAPTER 15
Denny supposed her father had really meant it when he said they would talk about Rocket, the race, and everything else later. She sat with her family at dinner, and not a word was said about any of that . . . for which she was grateful, since this was Louis and Melanie’s day, and she didn’t want to ruin it for them. That had never been her intention.
There was enough food for an army, which was good because that was sort of what had shown up at the Sugarloaf. Big Rock had to be almost empty. The same was true for the rest of the valley. Everyone seemed to be having a wonderful time, and the level of noise in the air remained high as the guests ate, drank, and visited with one another.
After the meal, Sally, Denny, and a number of volunteers from among the guests cleaned up, but the tables and chairs the ranch hands had set up remained in place so people could sit and talk.
Denny was walking around when she saw Brad sitting by himself at one of the tables. “Hey, kid,” she said as she took one of the empty chairs beside him. “What are you doing? Why aren’t you with your mother and Louis?”
“Everybody keeps coming up to them and shaking Louis’s hand and telling them congratulations. It’s boring.”
“Yeah, I can see how you might get tired of that after a while.”
His expression brightened as he suggested, “Why don’t we go out to the stable and see how the horses are doing? I reckon Rocket’s back in his stall by now.”
“That da—darn mustang! I don’t care how he’s doing.”
“I’ll bet you don’t mean that. He ran really fast out there in the race, didn’t he?”
“He did,” Denny admitted. “We would have won if he hadn’t gone loco.”
“Yeah, I’m sure you would have. So why don’t we go see him?”
Denny gestured at the elegant, expensive gown she wore. “I’m not exactly dressed for clomping around in a barn.” She lifted a foot shod in a lightweight slipper. “And if I stepped in anything with these on, my mother wouldn’t be happy.”
Brad sighed and shook his head. “All right. If you want to be a girl about it.”
A new voice said, “I don’t reckon Miss Denny can be anything else, son, and a mighty pretty girl, at that.”
She looked up and around and stiffened as she saw Steve Markham standing there.
“Who are you?” Brad wanted to know.
“Name’s Steve.” The cowboy stuck out his hand. “And I know you. You’re the young fella whose ma married Miss Denny’s brother a while ago.”
“That’s right. I’m Brad Buckner.” He shook hands with Markham like a grown-up. “Pleased to meet you, Steve.”
“Likewise.” Markham looked at Denny and commented, “The two of you seem to be hittin’ it off pretty good.”
“Brad and I are old friends,” she explained coolly.
Without being invited to, Markham pulled out one of the chairs, reversed and straddled it. “I’m hopin’ you and me will get to be friends, too, especially if I go to work here on the Sugarloaf. Your pa offered me a ridin’ job, you know.”
“Not exactly. He told you to talk to Cal about it. As far as I know, we haven’t been hiring any new hands lately, so I wouldn’t get my hopes up if I were you.”
Markham chuckled. “Reckon I’ve always got my hopes up. It’s just my nature. And speakin’ of which . . . I hope that once the baile starts tonight, you’ll do me the honor of sharin’ one of the dances with me, even though I got to warn you I ain’t what anybody would call nimble-footed.”
Denny reached over and linked her arm with Brad’s. “Sorry, but all my dances are promised to my new nephew here.”
“What?” Brad exclaimed. He hurriedly extricated his arm. “I’m not gonna spend all evening dancin’ with a girl.”
“You’ll feel different in a few years, pard,” Markham told him. “I can promise you that.” He turned his attention back to Denny. “I reckon that means your dance card is wide open . . .”
“Not hardly.” She stood up. “Come on, Brad. Let’s go out to the stable and look at the horses.”
“But I thought you said—”
“Never mind what I said. Come on.”
Brad looked at Markham and rolled his eyes, which made the grin on the cowboy’s face get even wider. Denny saw that and tamped down the irritation she felt. She motioned for Brad to follow her and started toward the barn.
When he caught up to her, he said, “You don’t like that fella, do you?”
“He just gets on my nerves.”
“He’s the one who saved you when Rocket ran away with you, isn’t he?”
“He didn’t . . . well, yeah, sort of . . . But that doesn’t mean he and I are friends, and it sure as he—heck doesn’t mean I want to dance with him.”
“I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings when I said I didn’t want to dance with you, Denny. I really don’t mind . . . I guess.”
She put a hand on his shoulder and said, “Don’t worry about it, kid. I don’t need you to rescue me from Steve Markham. I can handle varmints like that myself.”
“Pearlie says sometimes you have to shoot varmints.”
Denny grunted. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”