Buy a Cowboy (2 page)

“Never you mind.” A lacey handkerchief was thrust into Bonnie's hand. “God's ways are not our ways. I was just to the bank to deposit my check and saw you crying here.”

The common thread of everyday errands washed over her, channeling her thoughts away from the aggravation of Ed's challenges. “I shouldn't have stopped. I have to get my paycheck to the bank before I pick up my kids.” The thought of them steadied her.

“That's the girl. First, I'll pray for you. What's your name, dear?”

“Bonnie.”

The white head dropped lower between the bent shoulders. “Dear God, this precious child is in need of a blessing. Life has overwhelmed her. Her burdens seem too much to bear. She has children who need her, and her mother has gone home to be with You on high. She feels deserted and alone without her father's guidance. Please comfort her and give her wisdom as to Your will in her life. Make her a blessing to her children, her home, and the world around her. Light her way, dear Lord. Light her way. Give her help for the journey ahead. Thank You for Your everlasting presence and the answers You have for us today. Amen.”

“Thank you. I do feel better,” Bonnie spoke softly.

“Are you a believer, honey?”

“Oh, yes!” she answered quickly. “Though lately I keep asking why. Why did my life fall apart? Why is it so difficult? Why am I so alone?”

The bony blue veined hand reached up to pat her face. “I know just how you feel. When I lost my Harold, I felt just like that. My boys were all grown up. But, sweetie, God had a plan. A great plan. We just have to be brave enough to follow it.”

“Thank you, but I have to go if I'm to make it in time to pick up the kids,” she said while nodding in agreement to the woman.

“You go, dear. Remember that Angie Lynaire will be praying for you. I'll get my prayer buddies to add you to their list.”

With a pat to Bonnie's cheek she hobbled back to her aging, sky-blue car.

An aura of calm surrounded Bonnie on the drive to the job site. Waving a casual hand to the calls of the construction workers, she walked to the office trailer. Inside, she opened her desk and found her check.

The first wave of workers came in the door, jostling each other as they ask how she was doing and if they could help.

Todd, the site foreman, leaned against the copy machine and watched with his usual silent gaze.

She tried to field their questions but was saved another emotional breakdown when a short stout man shouted his way into the trailer.

“I ain't payin' ya'll to come gawk over the girl. It ain't like you've never seen her before. She don't wanna see your ugly mugs staring at her. If I don't see your skinny tails back on the job, I'm gonna shred those checks.”

The men shuffled out the door, grumbling. Some paused to buzz her cheek with a comforting whiskery salute from Dick, their supervisor. He followed behind, shoving and goading them out the door. He turned his steel gray head to glare at her. “How'd it go? What the airline have to say? Do you need time off?”

The tall foreman moved away from the copier with languid ease. “Get off your high horse, Dick. Leave the girl alone.”

Bonnie felt tears prick behind her eyelids at their rough show of kindness.

The short construction boss turned on the tall thin man. “Now look at what you did. You know I hate crying women and now you gone and done it!”

Bonnie hiccupped, trying to strangle a sob. “Sorry, I never know when they'll hit.”

“Pay him no mind.” Todd pulled out a cigarette. “His mouth runs at both ends. How can we help?”

“Make Ed go away.” She didn't even have time to think before the words popped out.

“What did he do now?” The foreman's hands stopped short of lighting his cigarette.

“He came to pick me up and told me how we needed to sell my parents' house and set the money in a joint account.”

Dick started cussing and stomping until Todd kicked him. “There's a woman present, you jerk.”

“Well, what's wrong with that man? He's trying to make a buck off a tragedy that hasn't even played out.”

“We could go huntin'.” Now lighted, Todd puffed smoke.

A watery chuckle had the two men focusing on Bonnie again. “I might have taken you up on that a half hour ago. But, a little old lady stopped and prayed with me a few minutes ago and I'm all right. I'll be OK.” She did feel lighter. Maybe it was being around the support of these men. She was still intensely lonely. The deep-seated fear that she wouldn't do enough of the right things to raise her children was still there. But hope was unfurling in her heart.

“None of this would have happened if you'd married up with a true-blooded American cowboy.” Understandably, Dick started pitching his favorite topic. “Why, I know rodeo riders that would sell their souls for a chance to settle on enough land to breathe somewhere. That's what you need. A true A-mare-ee-can cowboy.”

“Dick, shut up,” Todd growled.

The events of the past week hit her and she felt faint.

“Bonnie, don't pass out on me.” Dick grabbed her arm.

Todd pulled out a chair, and guided her gently to it.

She clutched Dick's arm. “I have one.”

“What do you have?”

“A ranch! Land! That's the answer. If I can marry and provide a stable home, I can move away. Far away! It's written in the divorce papers as a stipulation. I can move if I show stability and a way to provide for the kids. I have two homes now. Mom and Dad's in Pennsylvania and Gram's in Wyoming! I'm the sole heir!” She jumped up and strode around, suddenly inspired.

“Bonnie, what are you talking about?” Todd tossed the cigarette out the door.

“I have a ranch. You said a cowboy would work land, right? Cattle and horses. I can raise the kids there—if I'm married and show a stable home life.” She turned to Dick and kissed his startled face on both cheeks. “Buy me a cowboy, Dick. Make him a really good one. He has to marry me first, and I'll deed him half rights to my ranch in Wyoming.” She grabbed her check and raced for the door suddenly empowered. “Buy me a cowboy” floated behind her as she bounced away from the startled men.

1

The white coffee mug was warm in his hands despite the fact the coffee was tepid. How had he gotten to this place? It had been over three weeks since Dick left him on the little spread in Wyoming. He had flown to Florida yesterday so he could meet the owner.

People walked by the diner, busy with their lives.

Baya looked at Dick again and wondered if this was one of his more infamous practical jokes. The little rodeo judge would get a lot of joy setting him up with this meeting, just to pull the rug out from under him. Todd said it was on the up and up, and he had never known Todd to lie, but Dick had been known to pull all kinds of people into his bizarre brand of humor.

His thoughts returned to the valley he had been shown. Even if it was a joke that would backfire and make mockery of his dreams, it was worth the risk to get on the land. Old land already populated with fat beef. The herd was small, from what little he had seen, but the stock was good. He breathed a half laugh. He had been known to sell himself for less. Every rodeo bull he knew on first name basis had trounced him one time or another.

“She's not here,” Dick growled. “Why do women have to be late for everything? You'd think we had nothin' better to do than wait for them.”

Baya narrowed his eyes. Now was the perfect time to hit him with the punch line. If he knew Dick well, and he did, there were not enough riders around to laugh at his ultimate humiliation.

A tall redhead was visible out the window as she walked down the street. She was a big woman, large boned, and brawny. Was this the one? On the corner across the street, a tired looking brunette waited for the light to change.

He had no idea what she looked like, this person he was ready to sell his life to, the one who held the deed to the land in Wyoming. He had refused to question Dick when the man methodically asked if there was anything he wanted to know. But, the thought had been on his mind since he sobered up three weeks ago.

Dick shifted in the padded seat of the booth. His frown was digging deeper into his weathered face.

“What's she look like, Dick?” He could have bitten off his tongue. The last thing he wanted was to let the old coot know he was curious, that he cared one way or the other. The milder painkiller the doctor had him on must have kicked in and affected his head. After weeks of keeping his mind strictly on the ranch, his first day in Florida had him running off at the mouth.

Instead of wicked glee filling the face across from him, the old man's features softened. The sharp gray eyes looked at him from under bushy white eyebrows. Something gentle struggled within the steely gaze before he looked away out the window.

“If I weren't married, I'd have her.” Since Dick wasn't known for his faithfulness, the answer told him absolutely nothing.

“I take it you already have.” He heard the disgust growl through his voice. Shifting in the seat, he cursed the medicine. If a thought went through his head it came out his mouth.

Every inch of
Dick's frame was rigid with anger. His eyes flashed. “She's not that kind. Wish we hadn't had to leave her there by herself. But, we finished the job and the company sent us west.”

Dick had been slyly taunting him ever since he agreed to this venture. For him to get huffed up now didn't make sense.

Baya glared back.

The door to the diner opened with a jingle, and he glanced over the old rider's head. The coffee cup stopped turning in his hands.

Strength. Warmth. The woman glowed with both attributes. Stunning in dark blue jeans and white cotton shirt, she stood looking over the customers at the counter. The slenderness of her body fell away from straight shoulders to tuck into a waist he could have spanned with his hands.

Dick slid out of the booth.

She smiled and began moving toward them.

The rodeo judge slipped his arm around her, and she bent to kiss his cheek. He turned her toward the man at the table.

Baya managed to push out of the booth without tripping over the crutches or his bandaged feet.

“Bonnie Gibbs, meet Baya McKnight. He's willing to talk to you about the arrangement. He's a little beat up. He lost out on the turn of a mean bull.” Dick's smile had a bite to it. “He's too big and too old to be a bull rider but he kept coming back for more abuse. Wouldn't listen to us pros. Took a paunch gut doctor to tell him he can't be wired back together again”

The eyes looking up into his face were clear blue. The gaze was steady and candid. “Baya?” The voice was soft but held huskiness.

He ducked his head with a self-mocking smile. “Benjamin the Third, Baya to avoid confusion.” They stood several moments, reading each other's faces, before Dick cleared his throat.

“You said to buy a cowboy. I found one already named for the job.” He smiled.

“Dick!”

“It's all right, ma'am. I've known the old codger a long time. Nothing he can say bothers me.” He shifted his weight, moving away from the pain in his leg and beginning to wobble on the crutches.

“Oh, please sit. You didn't have to get up because of me. Sit. Sit.”

She slipped into the booth in one easy slide.

His limbs bent stiffly, twisting clumsily until he could maneuver the plastered leg under the table.

Biting his lower lip, he kept from groaning as his battered body protested the move.

“You wanted a cowboy and now you're already griping about cowboy manners.” Dick snorted. “Wimmen, first they want, and then they wanna change. I'm leaving you two to hash out the details. I guess my job's done?” The question hovered as he stood at the end of the booth watching them while his jaw knotted.

Baya turned to warn him off and then stared as he recognized real concern in the weathered face.

Dick barked, “I'll have the truck outside in thirty minutes. Be there.” The jerk of his head could be interpreted as a nod before the man walked off.

The pause grew into a heavy silence after he left.

“Do you—”

“Did you—”

They both stopped.

“You first,” she offered. “You'll have the most questions.”

“Did you really tell that man to buy a cowboy?”

She worried her thumbnail with her front teeth but nodded.

He waited, just looking at her.

Clearing her throat she took a deep breath. “I needed a cowboy. He is always talking about rodeo riders who have a dream. They all seem to have the same one, to own a pretty little ranch. Seems they all want to live away from the cities and be free.”

Since most of the riders rode to avoid ranching, he was pretty sure Dick had been romanticizing her with fairytales. Dick lived in a condo in Atlanta, and he had been a three time all
—
around bronc buster when he wasn't wrangling a construction crew somewhere. Baya stared suspiciously, as he looked her over again. She was too pretty to need to advertise for a husband, but he'd come too far now to turn back. If this wasn't a joke, he needed to get to the real reason she had Dick shopping for a husband.

“You're good looking. Why didn't you just marry up with someone local?” his deep voice growled with distrust. If she and Dick were playing him…

She straightened in her seat. “Am I to consider that a compliment or a curse?”

His stare faltered. Prissy, was she? He looked at the long flow of waving blonde-streaked hair, the arched eyebrows and fierce glare. Full lips and the golden glow of a smooth tan gave her warmth. Fine lines fanned away from sapphire blue eyes as she narrowed her gaze and lifted her chin in unspoken defiance.

Amusement replaced the anger in his soul.

“You are very pretty.” He gentled his voice.