Laredo's Sassy Sweetheart (10 page)

Laredo straightened. “A Jefferson never quits. If
I did that, then I’d be…like Maverick.” He couldn’t bring himself to say “Dad.”

“Yeah, well.” Ranger sighed. “We’re all running from those demons.”

“And then?” Hannah asked with interest the next morning at the breakfast table.

“And then he disappeared like a puff of smoke, but I think even smoke hangs around longer,” Katy said. “He vamoosed.”

“After you massaged him.” Hannah grinned like mad.

“You’re not listening. I didn’t really get to massage him. I tried to imagine what a Never Lonely Cut-N-Gurls might do if she were in my—”

“Bed with a hunky cowboy,” Hannah said gleefully.

“I just tried to act like I knew what I was doing. Obviously, I don’t.” She scratched her head. “Maybe I squeezed him too tight.”

Hannah wheezed and put her head down on her arms.

Katy couldn’t eat. She hadn’t been able to see Laredo’s face when he’d hit the door, but any man
who could sprint that quickly was setting a record for escape.

“I don’t think you can squeeze a man too tight
there,
” Hannah said. “I mean, maybe, but if he didn’t say ouch, you’re probably safe.”

“Really?” Katy brightened.

“Oh, brother.” Hannah rolled her eyes. “If I was a matchmaker, I have to admit I wouldn’t try to pair the two of you up. I’d never make my commission.”

“If you’re trying to make me feel better, you’re doing a lousy job.”

“Didn’t you ever have any boyfriends? Fool around at all? Back seat of someone’s car? Anything?”

“I was caring for my parents. And studying. I studied a lot.”

“Clearly not anatomy, Miss Brainiac.” Hannah finger-combed her hair.

“What would you have done in my place?”

“Exactly what you did. Except…when he tried to move, I might not have let go.”

Katy gasped. “Are you saying I should have just hung on to his…his—”

“He couldn’t have left then,” Hannah pointed out.

Katy was speechless. “I didn’t want to hurt him. He wanted to leave. I wouldn’t think it’s ladylike to…try to keep him there by holding on to his—This is so confusing.”

“I’m teasing. Relax.” Hannah patted her hand. “There’s a couple of positive clues here.”

“Could you point them out? And hand me a magnifying glass?”

Hannah ignored that. “First, he had an erection.”

“I heard men get those about fifty times a day. How is that special?”

Hannah shrugged. “I think that’s a male-oriented myth. Their pants would look like they were keeping a jack-in-the-box inside their underwear if it were true. In Laredo’s case, he has demonstrated that he clearly does not find you offensive.”

“Can we get to clue number two? Because I don’t think clue number one was all that decisive,” Katy asked.

Hannah nodded. “Clue number two is pretty obvious, actually. He hasn’t left town.”

Katy stared at her.

“Well, he doesn’t have to ride tomorrow, Katy. No one’s paying him. He’s not under a legal and binding contract. The only reason a newbie bull rider hangs around to get tossed off a bull is because there’s someone he wants to impress. So I think Laredo wants to impress you.” She took a bite of egg and then a drink of orange juice. “What I can’t figure out,” Hannah said, “is if he ever plans to make a move.”

“I don’t think so,” Katy said dolefully. “He calls me sweetheart, though.”

“Sweetheart’s good,” Hannah said, “but he’s still gone tomorrow afternoon. Sweetheart.”

Katy nodded. “He’ll change, but I won’t.” She looked at Hannah. “He rides a bull for the first time.
But I don’t do anything for the first time. And I’ll never know for certain whether I’m…sexually normal.”

Frigid was not a tag she wanted to keep.

If she’d ever actually been frigid, she was pretty certain Laredo was the man to change her.

“I’d say you’re toast on the lovemaking issue unless there’s a miracle or a change of heart,” Hannah agreed. “And I’d bank on the miracle before Laredo having a change of heart where your virginity is concerned.”

She just had to talk to him, Katy decided. She would tell him how she felt about being with him. It wasn’t as if she said, If you ride this bull, I’ll sleep with you. What he needed to know was that…somehow she had the funny feeling that he was meant to be her first.

Of course, he wouldn’t want to hear that she thought she was falling for him. That would get in the way of his plans for the big thing. He wouldn’t lay a finger on her then—forget the virginity issue.

So she would tell him. No more hiding behind politeness. No more ladylike silence and waiting for him to make the first move.

It was now or a lifetime of redefining
frigid.

But the next time Katy saw Laredo, it was Saturday.

And he was in the chute, slated to ride Bad-Ass Blue for the Never Lonely Cut-N-Gurls.

For the enemy.

Katy couldn’t believe her ears when she heard Laredo’s name and Bad-Ass Blue’s called together. Beside her, Hannah gasped, as did the other Lonely Hearts women. The humiliation for all of them was fairly complete. Practically everyone who knew the Jefferson brothers had turned out to watch Laredo on his virgin bull ride. Even the ten women who’d gone to set up shop in Union Junction had returned for this event. Mimi was here, too, with her new fiancé, Brian O’Flannigan. They’d even brought Mimi’s father, Sheriff Cannady, along for the charitable fun.

But now Katy felt like she couldn’t pull breath inside her. Laredo riding for the Never Lonely Cut-N-Gurls? How could Marvella steal their cowboy—particularly Katy’s cowboy? The bigger question was
how
had she? What allure would have been enough to make Laredo susceptible?

Sitting in the stands, surrounded by now-blurred people—even more people were attending this sec
ond rodeo than the first—Katy had been so nervous. She’d gotten Laredo into this; she’d been praying that he’d be fine. What were the stats on first-time riders? Did they stay on? Get broken and stomped?

She’d hardly been able to bear the thought of it.

But when the announcer had called Laredo’s name, it was Katy who got broken and stomped.

Her heart was in shocked pieces, more pieces than when Stanley had dumped her at the altar for her best friend.

O
N THE BACK
of Bad-Ass Blue, Tex barely heard his twin’s name called as rider. There was no time to correct anyone. Beneath him, the bull was bunching and trying to kick, just itching to get out of the stall where he could run free and do his damnedest to toss the cowboy on top of him.

He tightened the rope around his gloved hand, shoved his hat down on his head one more time, put his arm up and nodded.

L
AREDO HEARD HIS NAME
called for the wrong bull, but he was dealing with a bigger problem. Bloodthirsty Black had definitely gotten up on the wrong side of the pen this morning, and though his brother Crockett had come early to paint the bull’s hooves, the bull had decided he wasn’t going to put up with that nonsense, either.

This bull had gotten more ornery with each passing hour. They’d had a helluva time getting the hooves decorated for the contest. This was espe
cially important to Laredo, because he was desperately afraid he wasn’t going to win the bull riding contest, and he wanted to bring home a win of some kind. He and Crockett had argued over creative design—Crockett was on a nudes-only kick—but Laredo felt that was inappropriate considering the salon for which he was riding as knight in shining armor. Besides, he’d told Crockett, the type of detail with which Crockett liked to paint his nudes would probably lose some artistic power once translated onto a bull’s hooves.

So in the process of arguing over the matter of nudes versus the roses that Laredo thought would be a blue ribbon winner, Bloodthirsty Black took a horn to the paint cans and Crockett’s rump, neatly lifting him a foot into the air and scooping him out of the pen onto the concrete floor.

It was Bull-1, Cowboys-0, Laredo thought grimly, but no bull was going to get the best of him.

The bull was not appeased and sensed he was in the company of a greenhorn. After that, every time Laredo came near the bull, Bloodthirsty Black let out a bellow, which might have been a victory yell, and it might have been a warning. Either way, it was making Laredo more nervous than he’d previously been.

The beer he’d drunk the night before as part of Ranger’s suggested training was no longer sitting comfortably in his body. Knight in shining armor, he reminded himself, staring at the painted bull. Unfortunately, his armor felt dastardly dull today.

Crockett did a swift, impressive press-on design of vivid bluebonnets, which was his artistic compromise to Laredo’s suggestion of roses. “They remind me of nudes,” Crockett told Laredo, “they’re pear-shaped and lush and beautiful.”

“What-freaking-ever,” Laredo said, his mood totally sour. The bluebonnet renderings looked really cool on Bloodthirsty’s midnight hooves, and Laredo had to take his hat off to Crockett’s swift application of paint on waxed paper which he pressed onto each hoof the second Bloodthirsty decided to glare at Laredo. But they in no way looked like nudes to Laredo, and right now, he’d have given anything to be in a place with nudes and no bulls. “Miss Delilah should be real pleased with your work, Crockett.”

Crockett beamed at the praise. “His hooves are going to flash as they fly through the air in the ring.”

Laredo glared at Crockett as he shrugged into the shirt Miss Delilah had given him to wear. “Why did you drag everybody from Union Junction to the rodeo? I just wanted your artistry, not a convention.”

“We wouldn’t have missed your first ride, Laredo, even if we think you’re brainless for doing it.”

“Yeah, well. You must have looked like a convoy tearing over here with everybody. And what’s up with Mason? He looks like some unattractive bug species just flew into his mouth.” Laredo peered into the arena where he could see the Union Junction crowd taking up a full grandstand.

“Mimi’s fiancé tagged along. It’s not that we
don’t like Brian, it’s just that he seems to have a rude effect on Mason.”

“How so?” Laredo tightened his belt.

“Mason sees Brian, Mason gets ruder. Or annoyingly silent. We can’t decide which is worse.”

Laredo looked up. “It’s not like Mason was winning any prizes for personality to start with.”

“It’s getting worse, bro. In the past couple days, Mason seemed to have come to grips with Mimi’s engagement, but then we got the wedding invitation, and—”

Laredo held up a hand. “Don’t tell me any more. I don’t want my brother to be the last thing on my mind before I get squished. I’m going to the chute. How do I look?”

“Like you’re about to die,” Crockett said cheerfully. “And not too happy about it, either. Hey, you really like that little girl, don’t you?”

“What little girl?” Laredo glowered at his brother, arranging his steely game face for the upcoming showdown. If the game face worked on Crockett, maybe it would impress Bloodthirsty.

But Crockett laughed. “You’re just like Mason,” he said. “They say actions speak louder than words, but I never knew that the one who was acting could be totally deaf to themselves.”

“Huh?” Laredo glowered harder. “Paint fumes get to you?”

“Yep, just like Mason,” Crockett said on a sigh. “Showing your emotions through physical engagement.”

“Whereas you paint your emotions, and since nudes are your favorite artistic topic, can I assume you’re hornier than a mallard in May?”

The smile slipped off Crockett’s face. “And that’s just what Mason would have said. You’re turning into him.”

“No, I’m not.” Laredo turned to walk away. “That’s precisely why I left the Malfunction Junction.”

“Good luck,” Crockett said to Laredo’s retreating back. “And not necessarily with you,” he told Bloodthirsty. “Whew! Talk about deprivation. If anybody’s got it bad, it’s him. If you break something on him, I’m painting mating mallards all over his cast!”

W
HY
T
EX HAD DECIDED
to ride for the Never Lonely Cut-N-Gurls, Laredo wasn’t certain. Nor did he have time to find out anything more than his twin’s score of an eighty-nine.

Not bad, but not unbeatable, either. Of course, Tex had a lot of experience, and Laredo had none.

Bloodthirsty was brought into the chute, and he was helped onto the trapped bull.

Oh, hellfire. What was he doing here? Pull rope tight around glove, mash down hat for good measure, be grateful to the four cowboys trying to keep this bull from breaking his legs against the chute walls, hope Katy’s watching, hope he stayed on this stupid bull, he
was
going to stay on this stupid bull—

He heard his name called as rider—mix-up on the names, Jerry the truck driver explained as he played announcer—but a Jefferson was a Jefferson and how lucky was Lonely Hearts Station to have a pair of strapping twins from Union Junction here to help them out in their charitable endeavors.

None of that mattered to Laredo at the moment. The “Make My Day” panties had probably had a lot to do with his twin riding for the opposing salon. He wouldn’t take offense to that, but if he lost to Tex, he’d probably have to thrash him later for the sake of his ego.

“He pulls to the left,” Cissy’s voice reminded him. “And then, just when you lean, he jerks to the right with a mean midair kick. Every time.”

Tex had said he didn’t think the bull pulled to the left. Laredo took a deep breath and leaned to anticipate the jerk to the right.

Why hadn’t the damn gate opened? Laredo nodded, remembering at the last second that he was supposed to do so. The chute door swung open, and he was dimly aware of a rodeo clown clinging to the side of the arena before Bloodthirsty burst out, wringing hellfire from Hades and flashing bluebonnet-painted hooves.

K
ATY’S HEART LEAPED
inside her as Bloodthirsty Black flung himself from the chute. He was an immense bull—and the rider on his back appeared to be Laredo. She clasped her hands together, praying harder than she’d ever prayed. Eight seconds—that
was all the Lonely Hearts Salon needed. Eight seconds—please don’t let Laredo get hurt.

Two seconds later Laredo went flying off Bloodthirsty Black, landing gracefully for a man who was thrown boots-over-head. But the bull wasn’t through with him, and having a taste for Jefferson brother butt after horning Crockett, elected to do the same to Laredo. Laredo went flying into a post, the bull was shooed away by the clown, and Katy was already running down the steps before the Jefferson brothers vaulted en masse from the grandstand.

“W
ELL
,” M
ARVELLA SAID
with a satisfied grin, as the Never Lonely Hearts cowboy went flying. She was watching from the stands across the arena from her sister. “Who would have imagined twins? You stole the wrong cowboy, Cissy.”

“I thought it was Laredo,” Cissy said hotly, wondering why Tex hadn’t mentioned in the entire night that they’d spent together that he wasn’t Laredo. But now that she thought about it, their time together had been very silent, very passionate and very, very satisfying. She got shivers all over thinking about it. In her newly formed opinion, Tex was all man and no bull, and if she ever got the chance to make love with the wrong cowboy again, he wouldn’t have to ask twice.

Of course, he wouldn’t ask again. Men like that went for sweet girls, delicate untouched girls like Katy Goodnight. They liked their fun and adventure,
but in the end they married a Madonna. The real kind. And she was no Madonna.

It didn’t matter that she’d wanted a different life. It didn’t matter that she wished she’d known about Delilah and her girls before she signed on with Marvella. She’d been desperate, and she’d reached out to take the hand that had saved her when she was drowning, and there was no turning back. She had secrets—eight of them—and she could never forget that.

She stared at Katy Goodnight rushing to Laredo’s side, and the pit of Cissy’s stomach turned with empathy. Inside, all she could think of was how glad and relieved she was that she hadn’t stolen Katy’s cowboy. No matter how wonderful the lovemaking had been, there had been a tinge of regret for what she was doing.

“It doesn’t matter,” Marvella said with delight. “Even if you didn’t humiliate them by stealing their rider, you appear to have lured the only cowboy who
could
ride. And believe me, that’s a job well done, my dear.”

No, it’s not, Cissy thought, watching as a doctor aided Laredo to his feet. Something was wrong with him. And it was all her fault. She had given him bad advice at first—though later she’d corrected it. But the nagging voice of conscience wouldn’t go away.

T
HE GATE MONEY
was considerable this time, almost double the first rodeo, money that Lonely Hearts
Station desperately needed for the city coffers. Street repair and some renovations to the cafeteria were tops on the list the city fathers—and Mother Delilah—had in mind.

The prize money and the buckle went to the Never Lonely Cut-N-Gurls, again. But that wasn’t the part that had Katy in tears. She’d gotten Laredo on the back of that bull—and now he had a concussion.

A slight one, the doctor at the hospital said. What could be termed level one, and thankfully the CT scan was normal. But he still had enough of a concussion that he needed rest.

He’d sure been talking stupid there for a while, something that had straightened the hair on Katy’s arms. Something about his dad. Where was his dad? Where was his dad? Over and over again, until Mason had finally barked at him to relax. But then Laredo had started babbling about the winning nudes. Did the nudes win? The blue nudes? Did the nudes win?

Tex finally told Laredo that a blue nude would win anytime, and would he please rest his mouth?

Katy had felt terrible for Laredo. It was all her fault. She’d wanted a win for Delilah so badly, wanted to be a help and thank her for all Delilah’d done for her that she’d risked this cowboy’s life.

Fortunately, his head had cleared an hour later, and he never mentioned blue nudes again. Now they were all standing outside the hospital, deciding how to organize the going-home exodus. During the wait
for Laredo to be examined, some of the Jefferson brothers had sneaked out to Laredo’s truck and unearthed the beer out of the now-iceless cooler. Mimi and her fiancé had long since gone home. She said she needed to check on her father, who had left early.

“Laredo can ride back with me to Union Junction,” Mason said.

It was probably for the best, though Katy’s heart sank a little.

Laredo glanced at her, shaking his head and then wincing. “I’m staying here,” Laredo said, “if Miss Delilah will have me.”

“Of course!” Delilah replied instantly. “We should nurse you back to health!”

But it was Katy he was looking at while he waited for an answer. “I can find someplace other than your room,” he said. “The upstairs den sofa is fine.”