Chance For Love (Colorado Blues)
Read Chance For Love (Colorado Blues) Online
Authors: Ann B Harrison
ONE
The doctor looked at Chance, sympathy obvious in his
eyes. “I’m sorry. This time you’ve done far more damage than even I can fix.”
He walked away from the lit up x-ray box where his patients broken hip was on
display and sat heavily in his chair, swinging it around to look at Chance.
“You should get more movement in your leg once the hip heals better, but I’m
afraid there will be no more bull riding for you.”
Chance Watson swallowed the bile rising in his throat.
The quick rush of emotions threatened to tip him over the edge if he didn’t get
a grip on them. He’d been expecting something like this, but it still rocked
his world. He cleared his throat before he spoke. “It’s all I know. Not sure
how I’m going to go back to running a ranch without the thrill of upcoming
competitions to look forward to.”
“Well now, I’m sure once you get used to it, you’ll
manage just fine. Your daddy bred some of the best bucking bulls in Colorado in
his day. Don’t see why you can’t take over the reins now it’s time. From what I
hear, he’s let that part of his job lapse since your mother died.” The doctor
leaned back in his chair. “You know, he’d be right proud of what you’ve
achieved in your career. Champion bull rider for what, twelve years in a row?
Can’t say I know of anyone else who’s had as long a career on the rodeo circuit
as you have.”
Chance snorted and looked away. He’d had an amazing
career and as far as he was concerned, it was still flourishing. Or at least it
had been until now. As to how his drunk of a father was faring, he didn’t
rightly care. “How much longer until you can take the pins out of my hip?”
The doctor leaned forward and reached for his laptop,
flicking through the dates. “I can take you into surgery in five weeks. I don’t
see any reason why the bones wouldn’t have knitted well enough by then so long
as you don’t take any knocks to the bone. Pretty standard procedure so you’d
only be in overnight.” He closed the book and smiled. “Go home, Chance, and
rest up. You have the ranch and I’m sure with a little bit of help you’ll do
well. Just that you will be on the other side of the bulls now. Breeding them,
not riding them. Much safer in my opinion. Last thing I wanted was to see you
here in this state.”
Chance stood up with the help of his cane, getting his
balance before letting go of the edge of the chair. He tried to stand tall but
the pain in his hip made it almost impossible for him to stretch out to his
full height of 6’3”.
“My nurse will be in touch the week before to go over
the arrangements for admission. Go and start your new life. Kick back and think
of doing something that won’t give your body such a hard time from now on.”
“Sure, Doc. Ranching sounds just like the ticket to me
right now.” He couldn’t keep the bitterness from his voice, but deep down he wondered
if this was what he was looking for.
“You have younger brothers. Surely one of them can
help you out.”
Chance put his hat on his head before he shook the
doctor’s hand and headed out of his office. At the curb, Ralph, his driver sat
on the hood of his car.
“Boss.” He stood when Chance hobbled toward him and
hurried to open the back door of the car.
Once he was settled inside, he dropped the cane to the
floor.
Raising bulls instead of riding them, not bloody likely. My career
couldn’t be over, not just yet. Not when I am still the toast of Colorado and
the rodeo circuit.
“Where to boss? Back to the hotel?” Ralph was grinning
at him from over his shoulder waiting for instructions.
“Yeah, back to the hotel but we won’t be staying there
for long. I want you to grab my bags and then we’re heading to the ranch. I
have things to sort out.”
***
Callie Lister gazed out at the red barren land just
outside of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, Australia. This place was
her home, always had been, and she’d expected to grow old here. Her father
regaled her with tales of how she would take over when he was too old to work,
letting her run the station as she saw fit knowing she would make sure her
sisters could work alongside her as well if that was what they chose to do.
But now that was all gone...or would be by the end of
the week. The accident that took both of her parents brought home the cruel
reality of life in the outback. All in the form of a letter from the bank
delivered just days after the funeral that saw both of her parents buried under
the unforgiving red earth when a tired driver caused them both to be taken far
too young.
“Callie.” The youngest of the twins, Jess, stood at
the gate, looking unsure of whether to approach her or not. Tears streaked down
her face and Callie held open her arms to her sister. Together they stood in
the dusty barren yard, holding each other up against the onslaught of pain
threatening to knock them down.
“Hush. It will alright, you’ll see.” Callie brushed
the damp hair from Jess’s face. At three weeks shy of eighteen, Jess was the
more sensitive of the twins. She was the one who always felt the pain or disappointment
in life where as her sister Lori was pragmatic and down to earth. It was her
who was packing the twins’ belongings to move to the city to live with their
father’s parents so they could attend university and get a good education.
“I don’t want to go. I want to stay with you.”
Callie pushed her back and wiped her thumbs under
Jess’s eyes to stay the tears. “You can’t and we both know it. I have to do
this; I have no other choice.”
“Get a job here on another station. There must be
someone that will employ you.”
“There isn’t. Besides, the money isn’t that good here
anymore, not with the drought hitting everyone as hard as it has. Plus, I don’t
know anything else but farming. I wouldn’t stand a hope in hell of getting a
job in the city either. I’m better off going to America and making some decent
money. Maybe then I can come home and we can start again.”
That’s if I can get away after the time limit is up.
Twelve months will go fast, especially if I work hard and save my money.
“But…”
“No buts. Stay strong and go and help Lori pack your
stuff. Grandpa will be here soon and I doubt he will want to hang around much.
It’s a long drive to town.” She watched Jess slowly make her way back inside
the house. Callie looked it over, knowing she could only take her memories with
her when she left.
The bank had been quite clear on that. Nothing was to
be removed apart from their personal effects. Not that they had much anyway.
Life was too tough for extras and that had never been a problem for any of
them. They were happy living on the station working the land as they had. There
weren’t many trips into Alice Springs apart from the trip for supplies once a
month. It was then that Callie go excited. They picked up the lessons from the
post office for home schooling when they were younger, and her favorite treat
of all was the magazines they brought.
While the twins had been into girly magazines,
Callie’s favorite had been the Horse and Cattle Digest. She would climb up on
the hay bales in the barn and lose herself between the pages for hours. After
she’d read every single word, she would take her ever-suffering old quarter
horse and put him through the paces as if she was in the rodeo and he was a
stud-worthy blue ribbon winner. Her mother, an American by birth, had told her
bedtime stories of the rodeo circuit and encouraged her to dream big.
As she’d grown older and more realistic, she’d dreamed
that one day the farm could afford to buy stock like those between the pages of
the glossy magazine. Sadly it was not to be, and the reality had hit hard when
the local police had come to inform the girls of the accident that had taken
both parents from them.
Her things were already packed and sitting on the end
of her bed ready to go. Her passport was tucked in the side of the old canvas
carry all bag along with a photo of her parents and the three girls sitting
together on the old rickety veranda. She was leaning on her father’s shoulder,
her arms draped over his chest and he was holding her hands, laughing up into
her face. Her sisters were both perched on their mother’s lap, faces close
together and hands linked. Callie couldn’t remember who had taken the
photograph, but it was the only one of them all together in recent years.
The sound of a car travelling over the cattle grid by
the roadway caught her attention. Her grandfather was here. She watched as he
drove down the driveway, doing his best to avoid the large pot holes that
jarred even her teeth. She winced as he hit a particularly big one and the
bumper made contact with the red rock of the driveway.
“Callie.” Jock Cameron pulled up beside her and opened
the car door, to get out and stand beside her. He held out his arms and she
fell against him, giving into one last bout of tears before she said goodbye to
everything she knew and loved. He patted her back as she cried and pulled out a
handkerchief when she pulled away from him.
“Thanks, Grandpa. I didn’t mean to cry all over you.”
“Honey, I don’t care. I just wish your grandmother and
I could do more for you. We both want you to come back and stay with us in the
city, you know that. There’s no reason to go flying off to another country to
make a decent living. You can do that right here in Australia.”
“No, I can’t. I’m not qualified to do anything other
than run a station, as much as we might like to think differently. I’ll be
okay, I promise. I might even be able to catch up with some of Mum’s family
while I’m over there.”
“That would make this old man feel better. At least
you have a job to go to anyway. Better than rocking up with nothing planned.”
Oh Grandpa, if only you knew what I have planned.
You’d hog tie me to a fence and not let me go. But I have no other choice if I
want to clear the debts on this place.
TWO
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. I don’t see why
you can’t hire on from locals. There’re plenty of guys out of work.” Tyson
followed his older brother and slowed his steps to match Chance’s battle with
his cane.
“It doesn’t concern you, understand?” Chance hobbled
to and fro in the walk in wardrobe, riffling through his clothes rack looking
for something suitable for his Las Vegas wedding. He chose a plain black jacket
and trousers, a black shirt, and walked out to throw them on the bed. Then he
went back and chose a pair of boots and a thin tie to match. All black like
doom and gloom. Perhaps he should change the tie, try for a slightly more
cheerful theme?
“It does. You’re only doing this so we don’t have to
help you out. For crying out loud, Chance, we’re all brothers. We help each other,
that’s how families work.”
Chance turned around, a red necktie in his hand, and
stared at Tyson. He was prepared for the attitude about bringing in a new
manager but not the passion his younger brother was showing or the negativity
that fairly oozed from his skin. “You all have your own lives, your own ranch.
I need help and I’m sick and tired of leaving my place in the hands of someone
who claims to know what they’re doing and doesn’t have a freaking clue. It’s
time I hired someone who knows the job and if I have to import them from
overseas, so be it.”
“What, so you’re bringing someone from Australia to
run it for you? I don’t believe you can’t hire somebody local. Not all useless
out here.” Tyson ran his hand through his thick black hair and cursed again.
“You know we don’t mind keeping an eye on things. Just can’t be here every day,
but now you’re back home, you should be able to get by with just a couple of
hands.”
“And that’s what I’m getting at. A couple of hands
hasn’t worked in the past, but this person knows what they’re doing and has the
experience to back that up. I figure it’s a safer bet.”
Tyson dropped down onto the super king sized bed and
watched his brother packing an overnight bag. “What are you doing? Thought you
said you were picking them up from the airport. Not like you to dress up all
fancy like unless you were expecting to get laid while you were there. Doing a
little something on the side, brother?”
“Mind your own business, Tyson. Now scat. Go on home
to your horses and your own life. I’m fine.” He zipped up the suit bag and
threw a package of toiletries into the hold all.
Tyson stood up. “Fine then. Be like that. Just wait
until the boys hear you’ve gone and brought in a damned foreigner to run the
place when you go back to the circuit. They’re not going to like it at all. You
know how we like to keep things in the family.”
I’m not going back, ever
. “Well that’s just too damned bad. You guys are the
ones who wanted your own places and you’ve got enough to do. The others are
living away so I can’t rely on them.”
“You know Rory lost the plot when Cindy died. He
needed to get away or he would have gone crazy with everything the same and her
gone.”
“Yeah well, that’s his call. This here is mine.”
Chance pushed Tyson out the door and hooked the bags over his shoulder while
using his cane to steady his leg.
The brothers headed down the sweeping staircase of the
huge log home Chance had built six years ago just after he invested in the
property. His meteoritic rise to fame on the rodeo circuit had given him more
cash than he could spend on a good day, but this was his dream for the time
when he was too old to ride bulls. He just hadn’t expected it to come around
quite so soon.
The home was set against the backdrop of the Rocky
Mountains with views from the front rooms of the house over the Deer Mountain
and down into the town. The two story building looked like it jutted out of the
wooded hills with acres and acres of rich green pastures spread out all around
it. But once you drove up the long winding driveway and got closer to the
house, you could see the pine forests were set well back at the base of the
mountains which were already tipped with a fine dusting of snow.
He threw his bag in the bed of the big black truck and
hung the suit bag in the back of the cab. “Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine
and so will the new ranch hand. Trust me when I say I have it all under
control.”
Tyson shook his head before he looked up into Chance’s
face. “
If’n
you say so then. Let me know when you get
back home. I want to see this guy and make sure he knows what he’s doing before
you go back on the circuit. Would hate to get any surprises while you’re away
winning more hearts and dollars.”
“Sure.”
“Talking of which, are you going to marry that actress
I saw you with on the television entertainment show? You know the one with the
Barbie figure and jet black hair—Libby Tucker?”
“Not telling you any of my secrets. Now get on
outta
here. I have things to do, places to go.” Chance
hooked his arm over his brother’s shoulder and gave him a quick man hug before
pushing him toward his own truck. He watched Tyson jump into the cab and start
the engine. He remained standing there long after the rumble of the truck could
no longer be heard on its trip down the mountain.
The sun shone down on his face and he took the time to
look around the hill at the ranch he had built up in the off seasons. The young
bulls were grazing in the paddocks, oblivious to the turmoil racing through his
mind. He’d wanted to tell his brother about Callie, the girl from Australia,
but he didn’t know how Tyson would react and if he’d go blabbing to the other
boys. Last thing he needed was them all descending on the ranch while he was
still trying to get to know his new wife. Not that it was any of their
business, but the brothers were close, always had been. Especially after their
mother had died young and the old man had taken to a bottle to drown his
sorrows.
Chance had run away to the rodeo circuit to deal with
the pain. Luckily he was damned good at it, especially the bull riding where
the money was. It had been fun at first, riding and winning to the cheer of the
crowds. Going from town to town winning the small points before he could take
on the big guns at the rodeos where the money was better. Eventually he’d made
a name for himself and he’d been hooked into the lifestyle faster than a bull
out of a chute.
Guilt at leaving his brothers at home with their
father tugged at him over the years and Chance always made sure they were doing
okay. Because he earned good money on the circuit, it had been easy to transfer
lump sums into his brother’s accounts which in turn made him feel less guilty
about his wealth and leaving them in the clutches of a drunken father. It also
identified him as a magnet for those who wanted to brush sides with the rich
and famous, and he was never without either a model or a starlet on his arm.
He turned and gazed at the top paddock closest to the
barn behind the house. The big grey bull, Terror, stood beside the fence as if
he knew what was going through Chance’s mind. The same beast that had thrown
him into the fence at the last championship, causing him a career ending
injury, chewed his grass and ignored the man standing before him. He’d pawed at
Chance while he lay unconscious on the ground keeping everyone away from him.
Now he was standing looking as docile as a milking cow. But Chance knew better.
He knew the sudden turn of attitude that could run through this bull at the
snap of a finger for no good reason.
He was a formidable animal, solid muscle, built like a
tank, and very fast. That was what made him the perfect breeder for the rodeo
bulls Chance wanted to specialize in. “You’d better pay well for what you did
to me, you cantankerous old bastard. When I get home, you’re going out to stud
again. Let’s see if you can do better than last year. Make sure you know what
you’re doing and do it well, or you’ll end up on the barbeque.”
Chance turned and opened the door to his truck and
climbed in, throwing the cane on the seat beside him. He started the ignition
and cruised down the driveway to go and meet his wife-to-be in Las Vegas where
he had already planned the wedding.
***
Callie looked around the room. The bell hop stood at
the door and coughed to clear his throat or get her attention. She looked at
him, confused. “I’m sorry. Did I forget something?” She looked at her bag where
he had left it on the end of the bed before the penny dropped. His tip.
Shame rushed up her cheeks. She’d been so nervous the
whole flight over, she’d completely forgotten about the local customs she read
about in the traveler’s guide book she’d picked up at the airport before
leaving Australia. Precious money she couldn’t afford to spend at the time, now
almost wasted. “Sorry. Not thinking.” She hurried to grab her purse from the
hippie bag on the small dining table and looked at the small amount of American
change she had from the taxi. Until her new “husband” arrived, it was all the
money she had left in the world.
Callie apologized again as she handed over the coins.
“I have to change some more money before I go shopping.”
“Thank you, ma’am, that is very kind of you.” He
gripped the coins in his hand and turned walking out of the room. The door shut
quietly behind him leaving her alone in a strange hotel on the other side of
the world.
What the hell possessed me to think this would work?
Callie walked over to the window and looked down on
the famous Las Vegas strip. It was just after sunset and the lights of the
casinos and the local attractions lit up the main street now packed with
tourists. She wasn’t used to seeing so many people in one place roaming the
streets and having a good time.
When she had walked into the hotel to check in, she’d
been assaulted by the noise of the casino and its gambling machines in the
lobby of the hotel. Blown away by the people around her looking as though they
were all in party mode, she’d stumbled into a couple of scantily clad ladies,
spilling the champagne from one of the glasses onto the tiled floor. They were
both hanging onto the arm of a slightly inebriated man dressed like a cowboy.
He was wearing tight denim jeans, a checkered shirt, and a large Stetson jammed
jauntily on his head. But it was his intricately worked boots that Callie
noticed most of all.
“Hey, watch yourself.” One of the women pushed her out
of the way and she stumbled backwards and fell to the ground, landing
ungracefully on her butt. Her eyes filled with tears of exhaustion and
embarrassment. The carved boots she had spied a moment ago which had in all
likelihood hood distracted her more than anything, appeared in her line of
vision.
Callie looked up. The man held out a hand to her and
waited with a grin on his face for her to take his offer. Resting her hand in
his, she let him pull her to her feet. “Best you watch where you’re going,
little lady.”
“Sorry, I was kind of amazed at all the goings on
here. It’s not what I expected.” She stared as a native Indian in full dress
waltzed past her, shooting flames from his mouth with the help of a flaming
torch.
“Does kind of blow you away now, don’t it?” He gripped
her hand tighter and she took a step back. “Now that’s not right friendly of
you,
darlin
’.”
“Let me go, please.” She wrenched her hand free,
gripped her bag firmly in her hands, and turned away toward the desk. The
laughter from the cowboy and his lady friends followed her as she stood in line
to check in, now wary of the strangers around her.
When she made it to the desk, Callie gave her name
hoping she wasn’t going to be told there was nothing for her. She was still
unsure if this crazy jaunt was going to amount to anything or if she would be
left with no money and no place to go. To come all of this way on the man’s
word alone was irresponsible and stupid, but it was a last ditch attempt to
make some money and pay off the families debts.
“Yes, here we are, Miss Callie Lister, the Lido
Suite.” The receptionist clicked a few keys and smiled at her. “Your passport
please, Miss Lister.”
Callie handed it over and watched as it was checked
before it was handed back. The smiling woman tapped a bell beside her computer
and a bell hop hurried over to take her bag. “Leo will show you to your suite,
Miss Lister. Please call down for dinner when you’re ready. A butler is waiting
by to serve you this evening as Mr. Watson felt you would be exhausted from
your flight and would probably like an early night. Your car is booked for 10am
tomorrow morning. Breakfast is available twenty four hours, but might I suggest
you eat by 8am to make your appointment?” She handed the key to the bellhop.
“Enjoy your stay Miss Lister.”
The click of the door closing behind him brought her
back to the present. She bit her lip. Never before had she stayed in a hotel
and she never imagined she would ever in all of her life stay in something like
this. It was like a palace. The lounge dining room she was standing in was
almost bigger than the house she grew up in. A small white baby grand piano
took pride of place over by a set of French doors with gold edged drapes
pooling on the floor like a wave of melted bullion.
A fireplace was set into one wall with a large
portrait of a girl standing with a small dog at her feet. Callie shook her
head. It seemed so out of place in this desert town but after the drive in from
the airport, she doubted she could be surprised by anything else she saw.
Double doors were slightly ajar and she walked over, taking a peek into the
room beyond. A giant bed sat in the middle of the room, facing yet another set
of French doors that opened onto a small Romeo-type balcony.