The Maverick Meets His Match (26 page)

Tucker had headed to the locker room, and Mandy hurried to catch up. Ty was back by the loading pens with Harold, no doubt assuring that no livestock got out.

“Tuck?” she called through the open doorway. Inside the room several cowboys were either getting ready or packing up, depending on their spot on the roster. She spotted Libby’s husband, Chance Cochran, among the ones getting ready. Libby had found herself a good one, it appeared. Though their path had been a rocky one, they were now happily married and expecting a child. It didn’t get better than that.

“Hey, Chance, good to see you.” Chance was already up in the top twenty, giving him a shot at making the NRF by the end of the year. After he missed out last year due to an injury, she knew how important every rodeo was to him.

“Mandy. I was going to look for you. Libby sends her regards. Says she’s waiting to hear—only she didn’t say about what.” He looked at her quizzically with those steel-gray eyes of his. He was a handsome cowboy, a bit tall for a saddle bronc rider, but lean and muscular.

“Tell her I’ve a lot to say when I get back.” Mandy could really use both Libby’s and Cat’s advice again. “Did you see Tucker?”

Chance nodded toward an interior room. “Think he’s in there. He had some tough luck today.”

That meant he was probably having a beer with some of the other guys who also didn’t make their time.

Chance slipped on his black hat, his smile wide. “Time to saddle up.”

“Good luck.”

Chance nodded as he strode out of the doorway.

She bustled through the few men in the locker room and glanced in the interior room. Sure enough, there was Tuck and four other guys, beers in hand. Upon spotting her, Tuck sauntered over. “Did you see my ride?”

Of course she had. She was right there. “Better luck next time.” It was all she could think to say about it. “I wanted to talk to you about the ranch.”

“I told you I would never want to sell, no matter the money.” He tipped the bottle back and took a sip.

“I know, but this is about the cattle. I think Ty’s brother could use some stock, and I was thinking that, if you were agreeable, we might thin out the Angus cattle a bit and sell him some heifers at a good price. He’s got some issues he’s dealing with…”

Before she could finish, Tucker laid a hand on her shoulder. “You know I’m good with whatever you decide.”

Tucker always seemed to be on the same page with her, and it was a blessing that as siblings they complemented each other rather than competed with each other. “Mom wanted me to remind you to stop by the hospitality tent tonight before you leave.” Her mother never watched Tucker ride. It was too stressful, she said.

“I will. But I thought you should know Mitch Lockhart is here. He wanted me to tell you he wants to talk with you.”

With all that happened, she’d had little time to think about Mitch—or regret what had happened.

“Think he knows about my marriage?”

“It’s the talk of the rodeo.”

“I doubt that.”

“Well, that and the bull getting loose and you crazy enough to take it on. What the hell were you thinking?”

Mandy inwardly sighed. She didn’t want to explain herself yet again, so she ignored his question. “I’ll keep an eye out for him, but I’m too busy to go chasing after him.”

“I’m just the messenger.”

“See Mom,” she said and then took her leave. One more aggravation to look forward to on an already aggravating day.

“Is it true?”

Mandy whipped around, startled by a familiar deep voice. She’d been finishing up feeding the broncs while Ty and Harold checked on the bulls and cattle pens. It was late, and the light from the spotlights provided an overlay of shadows among slices of light in the night as bugs danced under the warmth of the lamps. Most contestants, if they stayed for the next day, were out by the trailers, either sound asleep or shooting the breeze with other entrants. A few lucky cowboys might even share a bed with one of the barrel racers. Rodeo life was a transient one and had its share of casual hook-ups.

Mitch stood before her, a brown cowboy hat covering his dark-blond hair. He was clad in a plaid shirt and denims, fancy cowboy boots on his feet. She’d watched him compete, but there had not been time, gratefully, to say a word to him.

She still resented the way he’d unceremoniously dumped her, and at her grandfather’s funeral, no less. She’d once found him handsome, but today he had such a sullen expression on his face, she felt nothing. Absolutely nothing.

“Hello to you too, Mitch.” She brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes and steeled herself for the interrogation.

“Is it true?” Mitch glared at her, his fists resting on his hips. He was husky and tall, all muscle and bone. Not an ounce of fat on him. The build of a tie-down roper. “You pulled my sponsorship?” He practically snarled the accusation.

“My grandfather sponsored you as a favor to me. I no longer wanted the favor.”

“I didn’t think you’d be that petty. I thought this was a business relationship.”

“Based on the premise of a personal relationship—and nothing more. Prescott doesn’t sponsor cowboys. We supply them.” Given the anger stampeding across his face, she decided to forgo mentioning that his standing had fallen so low that even if Prescott did provide sponsorship money to cowboys, he wouldn’t be on the list.

“And not doing a very good job at that, given the incident with the bull today.”

“Things happen.”

“Like you getting hitched to that guy you called an SOB? Didn’t take you long to recover from our breakup, did it? Only I don’t see no ring on your finger.”

His comment about the ring bothered her more than it should have. “I married Ty Martin.”

His gaze roved over her like he was checking for signs of pregnancy. Not the only one who had done so, but it rankled more from him.

“You told me you hated the guy.”

At the time she had. Despite everything, she couldn’t say that now.

“I’ve no more intention of explaining my decisions to you than you have of explaining why you dumped me little more than an hour after we put my grandfather’s body in the ground.” And this was the type of guy who filled too much of the rodeo arena. The type of guy she was likely to meet in her line of work. It didn’t bode well for life after Ty.

“Obviously you didn’t care that much, because you got married like a week later, so don’t go acting like it’s a big thing. But I need that sponsorship money. I’m in the middle of the season. It was a bitchy thing to do, Mandy.”

“Is there a problem here?”

Mandy jumped at the smooth, cold sound of Ty’s voice. He must have come from behind the corrals.

Ty didn’t so much as glance at Mandy. His focus was solidly on Mitch as he walked forward, slow and steady, determined and purposeful. The light caught the streaks of dust that accented his jeans. Sweat marked areas of his white Prescott shirt. With his battered Stetson and scuffed boots, he looked the epitome of the working cowboy.

“Mitch Lockhart, my husband, Ty Martin.” This time the introduction sounded familiar, normal.

Neither man reached out to shake hands.

“Yeah, I got a problem. The problem is that Prescott Rodeo Company canceled my sponsorship in midseason. That’s a piss-poor way to do business.”

“I’m heading up Prescott, and I decided to cancel your sponsorship.”

“No doubt after instructions from your wife.” Mitch’s face twisted in an ugly expression. “It’s all over the circuit that Prescott is in trouble and going on the auction block. Couldn’t happen to a more worthy rodeo supplier. Thanks for screwing me, Mandy—literally and figuratively.” He spit on the ground before turning and walking back into the darkness toward the trailer area.

“So that’s Mitch Lockhart,” Ty said, his eyebrows raised as they both watched Mitch walk away. “He seems like a real dickhead.”

Mandy didn’t like the description, especially since it reflected on her taste in men, but she couldn’t exactly disagree with it.

Ty turned around. “Is that what a trophy boyfriend looks like?”

Mandy didn’t mean to laugh, but the edges of her mouth turned up, and it just gurgled out. “Touché, Mr. Martin.”

Mandy hesitated at the door to the hotel room as Ty lugged their two suitcases through the entryway. There sat one king-sized bed covered in white bed linens and sporting tons of pillows. It seemed her life these days began and ended with hotel rooms. Unfortunately, these hotel rooms were filled with a man she found increasingly attractive—even if he was so wrong for her.

Sex with Ty had definitely complicated things—at least for her. She’d been hoping she could be like him—take it for what it was and not wish or expect something more. Considering how she’d felt about him just a week ago, that shouldn’t have been a problem. But in a short time, things had changed.

And it had her thinking about even bigger changes. Something that would change every aspect of her life, for the better. Something that would give her life meaning beyond Prescott.

Ty turned to look behind him as he set the luggage down. “What’s the matter?”

“I’m taking a shower and going right to bed. It’s been a long, eventful day.” And a confusing one. She needed space and time to think. “Stan, the bull, and then Mitch…” And you, she thought. She let go of the hotel door, and it slammed closed behind her.

Ty frowned as he doubled back to her. He seemed to take up the whole room as he crooked a finger under her chin and stared at her as if he was trying to figure out his own puzzle.

“If it’s about selling the company, Stan Lassiter did mention a figure today. But it was so low, Mandy, I told him no.”

A seed of hope lodged inside of her. “So you’re not selling Prescott?”

“Not at that price. I don’t need an analysis to know it’s too low. And given the state of the economy, you may be fretting about nothing. A the end of six months, the company could still be yours, and the business, I promise, will be on firm footing.”

“If there is even a chance…”

“You know I can’t promise, but if the other stock contractors think like Lassiter, you’ll have nothing to worry about. I won’t surprise you. You’ll be kept informed every step of the way. Trust me.”

Trust was something she couldn’t afford to give—not to Ty. Yet, part of her wanted to. Part of her wanted a happily ever after. Not selling Prescott would be that happily ever after—only now she wanted something more.

How to tell him? And would he even listen?

“Mandy, we love you, but you’ve got to stop calling these emergency meetings,” Cat said as she looked over at her son sitting next to her at the table in the spacious McKenna ranch house kitchen. “My mom’s not always available, and I can’t get a sitter on a moment’s notice.”

A toy truck, a light saber, and several superhero action figures were strewn across the wood floor—all attempts to keep Jake busy while Cat had manned the outdoor grill and put dinner on the table.

Mandy felt the flush in her cheeks. Cat was right. She wasn’t being a considerate friend. But she was desperate, and as soon as she’d returned from Utah that Sunday evening, she’d pleaded with her friends to join her for dinner, leaving Ty to eat alone. Because Cat couldn’t get a sitter and her mother was at a church meeting, Cat had been nice enough to invite them to her house for grilled hamburgers and hot dogs.

She was grateful because this was something she couldn’t or didn’t want to decide on her own.

“I apologize to both of you,” she said, looking first at Cat and then at Libby, who was tucking into her second hamburger, Mandy and Cat having already finished. “And to you, Jake.”

Jake, upon hearing his name, sent Mandy a big smile as he waved a french fry he’d plucked from his plate, leaving behind, momentarily, a hot dog cut up into little pieces. With his big brown eyes, blond hair, and cherub face, he was sure to be a heartbreaker when he grew up—apparently just like his daddy had been.

“Ice cream?” he asked.

“After you eat your dinner,” Cat replied with a sigh. “I’ve become very adept at using bribery,” she said unapologetically. “Can you color a picture?” Cat nudged the coloring book and crayons toward him, and Jake dutifully complied, paging through the book and settling on one of the superheroes pictured there. He set about tackling it with a blue crayon. “And using distraction,” she said, turning her attention back to her friends.

“I’m taking notes.” Libby giggled.

“That’s sort of what I wanted to talk to you guys about.” Mandy’s stomach felt queasy as she considered how she would broach the subject.

“We are all ears. And you better talk fast. When you don’t care about coloring in the lines, it doesn’t take long to finish your masterpiece.” Cat glanced back at Jake.

“Well, first, Ty and I have…”

“Omigod, you didn’t last two weeks!” Cat said, her arched eyebrows conveying her lack of surprise.

Libby smiled. “Chance and I didn’t last long either.”

Relieved she didn’t have to get too specific in front of the little one, Mandy nodded.

“And?” Libby asked, even as she blushed.

“Really, you want details?” Mandy jerked her head in Jake’s direction.

“Summarize—good or bad?” Cat said.

“Good.”

“Just good?” Libby sounded disappointed.

“Incredibly good, okay?”

“So that’s not why you called us here, then.” Cat looked over at Jake. “What a nice picture you colored.”

“It’s for Libby’s new baby.” He smiled, and the room seemed to light up.

Cat tore out the page and handed it to Libby.

“Thank you so much, Jake. I will hang it in the baby’s room.”

“Can you find another one, maybe do one in red crayon?” Cat asked her son.

Jake nodded and proceeded to explore his other artistic options in the book.

“It’s weird between us, given the potential to sell the company, but that’s not why I’ve called you here.” Mandy watched Jake page through his book and felt a little squeeze in her heart. “I’m thinking of having a baby with him.”

Libby almost choked on her bite of burger, and Cat laughed. So much for support.