Heartstealer (Women of Character3 (29 page)

§  THE END  §

Women of Character Series

Someday, that bull would kill someone. Tye Jenkins just knew
it. She straddled the top rail of the bull chute as old Hit Man moved
restlessly from side to side.

Tye let her gaze roam the rodeo yard. Her heart jumped like
a young colt on a brisk morning as she stared, transfixed, at a dark-haired
man. Jake Miller. He stood close by, a cocky look of assurance on his lean
face. He was a head taller than most of the men around him, a stranger in
business clothes among mud-spattered cowboys. His suit looked expensive, not
the most common attire down by the pens. She had never before seen him dressed
like that, yet he carried it off with nonchalance and elegance. He stood, feet
planted on ground churned up by countless boots and three days of rain, his
dark head bare to the falling mist. Tye didn’t try to stop the smile
spreading across her face. Only Jake could pull off a suit at a rodeo in the
drizzling rain.

She hadn’t seen or heard from Jake in ten years, not
since that terrible night she’d left. He’d showed up now, the night
she planned to remember for the rest of her life―the night she’d
make the rodeo finals. With the bittersweet knowledge of the past firmly in her
mind, Tye sensed it was fitting Jake should be here to see her triumph.

Even knowing she was short on time before her ride, she
continued to stare at Jake. Why was he here? What was that expression in his
face―a mixture of pain and want? Tye wiped the mist from her eyes,
knowing she was wrong. She drew a deep breath.

He had changed, matured, yet something in his eyes remained
the same. How long had she loved that strong face with its wide cheekbones,
no-nonsense jaw touched by the faintest shadow of beard and deep-set eyes of
the lightest blue? Her seventeenth summer she had loved him with a young
woman’s vibrancy. They’d spent endless time together, planning,
talking, dreaming. Back then, Tye had thought Jake could do no wrong.

She drew a deep breath and looked around. Why was he here?
It wasn’t to see her! He was already drawing attention: she could see
some of the girls nudging each other. Her throat dry, Tye drew a deep breath
and then pressed her lips together. There were a lot of handsome faces like
Jake’s, but he had a presence. He always had. Jake was special, that’s
why she had loved him so much, until she had walked away.

"Tye Jenkins!"

Hearing her call, Tye stood up against the metal bars,
gripping the top rail tightly. As she did so the bull in the chute hopped
sideways, rattling the metal gates.

Adrenaline pumping, Tye jerked her gloves on, her gaze
sweeping the yard, oblivious to everything until her glance lit once more on
Jake. He was still there. Seeing him broke her concentration, brought in a
flood of memory. Live, intense heat struck Tye and she closed her eyes tightly
for a brief moment in exasperation. She had gotten over him. Anyone with a lick
of sense knew ten years was a long time to pine over any man.

Deliberately, she looked away. Rubbing rosin on her gloves
and rope, Tye centered her attention one hundred percent on what she knew of
the bull, Hit Man. True to form, he was bouncing in the chute like a young kid
throwing a temper tantrum. Hit Man shot her a glance now and then, probably to
see if his head games were rattling her. He was one of the oldest bulls on the
circuit, but anyone in rodeo knew he’d give you the ride of your life.

Tye's heart pounded wildly in her chest and up into her
throat as she threw her leg over the chute and climbed down on the
bulky-muscled bull. Quickly, she gripped the flat, braided rope as the bull
lunged from side to side. Dry-mouthed, Tye wrapped her hand while the bull
bellowed. He turned his head and seemed to glare at her with one eye, then with
a quick twist tried to horn her.

"Watch your legs there, Tye!" someone shouted, but
she had already pulled them up. Tye focused on keeping her feet from being
pinned between the animal's sides and the metal bars. Steadying hands of the
cowboys at her back helped her stay upright as the bull continued to ram the
sides of the chute.

Her fingers tightened on the rope and she gave the signal to
open the gate. With vivid clarity Tye saw the gate swing open, felt the rush of
air from her lungs. Like a race car in its first heat, a ton of Brahma bull
exploded into the rodeo arena; twisting and spinning. His cloven hooves sank
into the mix of mud and manure. He knew his job and damn! he did it well.

The ornery bull did his best to defy the laws of gravity. He
lunged forward, coiled to the right, came down, whipped to the left and dove
again. Tye had watched this bull and knew what to expect, but every bone in her
body was being jolted to hell and back. She was determined to ride it out and
do it in style. As the bull spun, she spurred him, her concentration intense.

The clock in her head ticked off. Tye held fast like a
winter's burr on a blanket. Two. Three. . .this was the longest six-second ride
of her life. Five. Triumph began to burgeon in her chest. She had him. Hit Man
wasn't getting away.

As the bull reared his head up, they hung suspended in the
air for a moment. Then, with surely no more than a quarter of a second left,
Tye felt him twisting, going over, taking her with him.

All time stopped, silence reigned, the cheering crowd
disappeared. There was only she and Hit Man. It seemed to Tye, in that split
second of realization that the bull had won. She tried to throw herself clear,
but she couldn't get her hand free.

They slammed into bone-chilling mud. Tye felt her head snap
sideways, saw the dull grey sky overhead. Clods of dirt and mud slapped her.
She smelled manure, then sweat and heat rolling off the animal, which lay atop
her. When she tried, she couldn't move, so she lay still, her legs pinned under
the dead weight. If looks could be believed, the bull had dropped dead.

Memory could be gentle. At other
times it left scars.

Anna Barlow had read those words
this morning and somehow they felt like a reflection of her life. She stared
out over her ranch’s fields now, trying to shake off the cobwebs of old
memories.

Newly warmed earth and northeast
temperatures collided, creating ground vapor as the sun fought its way through
heavy clouds. She shivered, brushing at the cool morning mist that settled in
her hair. Her mare stood unmoving beneath her, her nostrils blowing gently from
their run. Anna patted Spirit’s neck, wishing she could forget she was
barely hanging onto the ranch. . . her home.

Every tree, stick and grain of dirt
of the Double B Ranch belonged to her. The barns and dilapidated fences . . .
the makeshift corral.  She couldn’t walk away from her only real
home. Her grandfather Martin Barlow had brought her here at the age of
fourteen. Now, everyone she’d ever loved was gone. Martin. Tyler.

Restlessly, Anna nudged her gray
mare toward a well-worn dirt path that led down to the barns and house.

She’d survived worse.
Somehow, she’d get through this too. Anna touched her right cheek and
curled her fingers against the scarred flesh, her fingers tracing the faint
ridges almost absentmindedly. Her face had once been her biggest asset. Now it
brought her only anger and at times self pity. She hated feeling sorry for
herself, but God Almighty she was only human.

Giving in to a reckless edge of
emotion, Anna urged her mare into a bone-jarring trot down the hillside. When
they reached level ground, the spring wind tore against her as they loped
across open pasture. She inhaled the clean air into her lungs, reveling in the
familiar thunder of hooves beneath her. Gradually, the sting of failure
lessened. Self-absorbed and prideful these last two years, she’d allowed
the fire that ruined her face to take over her life.

She had to live with her mistakes,
but somehow she’d find a way out of this mess.

A woman, a man and a child with
nothing in common but their respective troubled pasts. Three wounded souls
determined to survive alone until they realize all they need to heal is each
other.

On the verge of a nervous
breakdown, Christie reacts by running away, emotionally and physically. Down to
her last twenty dollars, she’s determined to fulfill her dead
sister’s last wish -- to locate their sister Judith who left home twenty
years before. Her quest brings her into the lives of Garrett, Judith’s
husband, and the emotionally fragile Hannah, Judith’s daughter. Christie
is devastated to learn Judith died two years before. When Christie insists on
getting to know her niece, Garrett agrees on the condition she doesn’t
reveal her identity. He hires her to work at his horse farm but what he
doesn’t count on is the turmoil and hope Christie brings into their
lives.

Christie’s own emotional
journey forces her to come to terms with her family’s alcoholism and her
perception of herself.

#

Women of Strength Time Travel

Once
Upon a Remembrance:
Book 1. Photographer Isabeau Remington
travels to 1894 Virginia and falls in love with a man she must ultimately leave
behind when she returns to her own time...but things are not always as they
seem.

Modern day photographer Isabeau is
pulled from the present time and thrust back into the year 1894 in Virginia.
She must help save Hawk Morgan, a man threatened by a killer, a man endangered
by his own erased memories. Hawk must survive in 1894 so his present day
ancestor Pierce Morgan, will be alive in Isabeau's future.

Isabeau begins to fall in love with
Hawk Morgan but with both their future's uncertain and a killer on the loose,
neither one of them may have a tomorrow to look forward to.

Soulmates
Through Time:
Book 2. Thrust from her own time in
1822, Elise has been separated from the man she loves for 24 years. She has
adjusted to modern times, raised a daughter, and become successful in her own
right. When she stumbles upon the way back, she must make the decision to step
back into that time.

Will Darien still love her and will
Elise be able to turn back the clock and regain the love they once shared? Does
she want to turn back time?

Treasure
So Rare:
Book 3. Erik Remington Captain Erik Remington
has been haunted for three years by a black haired sea witch. They spent seven
glorious days and nights before she vanished as mysteriously as she appeared.

In 1850, when his ship is pulled
into a strange vortex, he ends up in middle ages England. Forced to assume
another's identity, Weinroof of Camdork, he travels to the home of the man's
affianced, the Lady Iliana. This world is nothing like the England of history
books. Danger lurks everywhere, even the skies. As Camdork, he meets the Lady
Iliana and instantly recognizes her as the woman who's haunted him.

Iliana wants nothing to do with
Camdork and will defy her Queen to not marry him. All she sees is the man known
as a murderer, whose attack four years before on an innocent maiden haunts her
memories.

Iliana has her own secrets, but her
unwavering mission is to find the perfect green gem and restore it to her
people. Camdork stands in her way, so she must kill him if she ever wants to
see the return of her old life.

#

Romantic Short Stories

Two
Babies, a Cowboy and Sara:
Short, sweet romance,
24,000 words. When Sara is appointed co-guardian of her deceased cousin's
infant girls, their father Lucas is glad to accept Sara's help in caring for
the twins. For Sara it's a labor of love and also a dream come true since she
can't have babies of her own.

For Lucas, having Sara on his ranch
is a reminder of how his life could have turned out so very differently, if
only he'd met Sara first.

Short, sweet romance with a hint of
suspense. Trey's boss is old, sick and his days are numbered; and he wants to
see his missing granddaughter Katharine before he dies. Trey will do almost
anything for the old man, even if it means having artist Sacha Fortune pretend
to be Katharine.

Sacha is forced to assume the other
woman's identity, because if she doesn't comply, Trey will expose her criminal
past to the art world which has so recently embraced her art.

But Sacha has more to lose than
Trey could ever guess.

Thanks for reading!

Faeries Series Coming soon!

Visit my author page at
http://www.GraceBrannigan.com
to
read all my contemporary, time travel, faerie stories and short romantic stories.

Grace Brannigan