His Cowgirl Bride (9 page)

 

The man was making her crazy!

Tacy had to force herself to calm down as she removed Rabbit's saddle, not wanting to scare or hurt the poor horse. But boy, she sure would like to wring Brent's neck.

Her lips still tingled from his kiss. The kiss had been perfect…but a kiss was not going to help her face facts.
Oh, no.
That kiss was just going to confuse the issue all the more.

Easier said than done. She had never, ever been kissed like that before and somehow it seemed like so much more than just a kiss.
“Enough,”
she growled at herself, grabbing a brush and pulling it along Rabbit's coat. “He probably thinks I'm a blooming idiot—” she said, looking Rabbit in the eye as her hand trembled.

She flirted, teased and generally enjoyed giving guys a hard time. She was
always
in control as far as men were concerned. But she'd felt totally out of control just now—and several other times she had been with Brent. There was something between them that was undeniable.

Frankly it scared her. It would only complicate things.

Right!

After all, she didn't want to get involved with any guy right now.

She had plans. Goals that had to be achieved, or at least set into motion, before she allowed her heart to get distracted with…with—men.
Right!

She
would
keep her head on straight.

She
would
keep her eye on her goals—she wanted to break horses. And she would.

But…She stopped brushing and stared into the grazing area outside Rabbit's stall. She also wanted to see that hollow look disappear from Brent's eyes when he talked about his family. She couldn't deny it.

Drat!
And double
drat!
Things were really min
gling and mangling inside her head, and she wasn't sure at all what to do about it.

Goals or no goals, she was falling for the handsome, haunted cowboy.

B
rent had been in a foul mood for the last three days and as he loaded feed into the back of his truck at Pete's Feed and Seed not even the happy color of the canary-yellow building was helping. Especially since he'd seen Tacy enter the salon across the street as he'd gone into the feed store. Knowing she was over there only upped his irritation at himself. He'd kissed her, and now he couldn't stop thinking about it. Or the fact that he was a darn fool—the words of his dad rang in his head.

He looked up from his work when Pete came out of the store. A large man with a balding head and an easy manner, Pete crossed his arms over his oversize chest and smiled. “How's the horses comin' along?”

“Good.” Brent was glad he'd asked about the animals and nothing more.

A truck pulled into a parking space across the street
and Norma Sue climbed out. The heavyset ranch woman wore blue overalls and a red, long-sleeved shirt, and on her head sat a red cowboy hat. Her wiry gray curls stuck out from under the brim. If it had been white hair, like Adela's, Norma would have looked like a Texas Mrs. Claus. Then again, he guessed she still did, even without the snow-white hair.

Even in his bad mood he couldn't help but wave back at the jovial woman when she lifted her hand in greeting. She started to step up onto the sidewalk, heading to the salon, when she suddenly spun around and headed his way.

“Heads up,” Pete warned. “You are on the radar.”

“Maybe it's you, not me.” Brent grabbed a sack of feed and tossed it onto the others in the truck.

“Nope. You're the one helping App and Stanley build that punkin chunker. She's been asking everyone she sees what it looks like, so I'm pretty sure you're the one she's comin' ta see. Afternoon, Norma,” he greeted as she crossed the yellow line in the road.

“Same to you, Pete. It's a nice one, that's for sure. How are you today, Brent?”

Brent grabbed the next bag, noting that he had four to go. “I'm fine, Norma Sue. How are you?”

“Fine. Just fine. So, is y'all's chunker finished yet?”

Pete was standing off to the side of Norma Sue, so she couldn't see his face as he raised his brows at
Brent and grinned real big. Brent started to answer when he heard what sounded like a herd of cattle rumbling along the sidewalk behind him. Norma Sue's eyes widened, and he turned to see Applegate and Stanley thundering toward them.

“Norma Sue,” Applegate boomed as he came to a halt. “Sam said Adela said y'all got yer machine almost ready to test.”

“Well, why would she go and tell him a thing like that?”

“Maybe,” Stanley drawled, situating his bag of sunflower seeds more securely in the crook of his arm, “because he's her husband.”

Brent glanced across toward the salon and saw Lacy and Tacy watching from the window. He could see them grinning even from this distance.

“Well, I was just asking Brent here if y'all got yours ready to test.”

Brent shot her a look but was smart enough to keep his mouth shut. He didn't want to get in the middle of this. He had horses to train and other more important things on his mind.

“You didn't tell her nothin', did you?” App asked, sharp eyes squinting at the cowboy.

Brent scowled. “No. But I'm not sure I see why it would hurt anything to admit it.”

“Oh, so you admit that it's finished.” Norma Sue beamed triumphantly while Applegate and Stanley scowled like he was a traitor.

“Well, no, ma'am, I didn't say that—”

“Yes, you did,” she said. “So when are y'all testing it?”

“You didn't have to go and tell our secrets,” App accused. “We got you on this team 'cause we thought you could keep yer mouth shut.”

“Yeah, that's right,” Stanley agreed, spitting a sunflower seed at Brent's feet.

Pete chuckled. Brent glared at him. This was getting entirely out of hand. “What is the big deal?” he snapped. “And for the record, I said no such thing.”

“It don't rightly matter,” App said. “Cat's out of the bag now.”

Brent grabbed two bags of feed and tossed them into the truck. “Look, I thought this was a friendly competition.”

“Well, it is,” Norma Sue said. “Whatever gave you the idea it wasn't?”

Huh? He looked from her to his teammates. “Are you telling me
this
is friendly?”

Stanley scratched his bald spot and grinned. “We tend to get a bit carried away.”

Brent tossed his last two bags of feed into the truck. “Yeah, you do.”

They all stared at him. “What?” he asked, feeling ill-tempered.

“Are you mad?” Norma Sue asked.

“Ain't no call to be mad,” Applegate said.

“Shore not,” Stanley agreed and tossed a few more seeds into his mouth. “We's jest havin' some fun.”

“Fun?” Brent said and found himself staring at the salon with anger in his eyes. Maybe if Tacy didn't have him all tied in knots he'd see some humor in all this, but as it was he wasn't laughing yet. He yanked open his truck door and climbed in.

“You comin' to the Thanksgiving dinner at church?” Norma Sue asked, walking over to stand by his window. “It might help you get over your bad temper.”

At this point he wasn't sure anything would help. “Fine, I'll be there,” he said, feeling a touch of remorse at having lost his temper.

She gave him a wide grin and tipped her red hat at him. “Good. You take care now.”

What had just happened? Here he thought he was going to have to step in and stop a real fight, and he'd ended up agreeing to attend Thanksgiving dinner with all of them. The townsfolk of Mule Hollow were certainly strange. Strange, but nice, he had to admit.

 

“They've got him so turned around he doesn't know which way is up and which way is down,” Lacy Matlock said, laughing, from the window of her salon. “Poor cowboy.”

Tacy couldn't help feeling sorry for Brent. From what Lacy had told her, this so-called feud between Applegate and Norma Sue was just the two of them having a little fun. She had to admit she had thought they were genuinely furious at each other, too. “You mean to tell me they aren't really at each other's throats?”

Lacy led Tacy back to the cutting chair so Lacy could finish her haircut.

“Oh, they're perturbed at each other, and each is bound and determined to beat the other. But they're having fun. They're just competitive.”

“Brent looked as if he thought they were about to try to kill each other.”

Lacy chuckled. “Yes, he did. So how's it going with you two out at the ranch?”

“Not so good. What was Sheri thinking? I mean, I came here so Pace could teach me, and then he leaves and sends in his place a rodeo star who would rope and hog-tie me before he'd let me on the back of an unbroken colt.”

Lacy slid the hot-pink comb through a section of hair, then combed it straight up and held it between her fingers. “Well, I don't really like to talk, but I'm going to let you in on something because I feel like you have a right to know.”

“Anything you can tell me that would help me understand what this is all about would be great.”

“Pace was worried about Brent. You see, when he took the job out there in Idaho, he was angry about something that had happened in his life. Family issues.”

“Yes, I know that.”

Lacy grinned. “He told you.”

Tacy hesitated at Lacy's obvious excitement. “Yes,” she said cautiously.

“Great, then they were right.”

“They were right about what?”

Lacy waved the scissors. “No, hang on. I'm getting ahead of myself, but I was just so excited to hear that he opened up to you. This is good. Very, very good. Anyway,” she said, snipping off the tips of the hair sticking up between her fingers, “you see, Pace says the Great Basin is such a vast space that a man can tend to his work and have almost no contact with anyone all year long if he wants it that way. Pace worked out there because he loved it. He is such a throwback to the old West cowboy that, for him, it was a love affair with the land and the life. For Brent it was a different story. Brent was running away from something. He wasn't there because he loved it, but to punish himself. Pace told Sheri that just wasn't right. Ever since Pace moved here, he said the Lord kept putting Brent in his mind.”

Tacy met her gaze in the mirror. She agreed with Pace's assessment of Brent. The man had been hurting and guilt-ridden. He'd been punishing himself.

“So when Pace had to leave unexpectedly, Brent was the first person he thought of…said he realized it was a good time to see if he could draw Brent back into the real world.”

“Even if it meant messing up my plans,” Tacy said, but there was no anger in her words.

Lacy snipped. “Actually, Sheri was the one who messed with your plans. See, Pace wanted to call and let you in on everything, knowing you'd probably go somewhere else to break horses.”

Tacy met Lacy's blue eyes in the mirror. “Sheri wanted me here.” It wasn't a question but a statement. Sheri had acted evasive over the phone when she'd called her that first day after meeting Brent. “But why?”

Lacy dipped her chin and a blond curl fell across one eye as she gave Tacy a Duh-think-about-it stare. “She thought getting the two of us to butt heads would help?”

“Is it working?” Lacy asked, instead of denying anything.

Tacy thought of the kiss they'd shared three days earlier. She'd been in a funk ever since that kiss. Even the customers at Sam's had noticed. Poor Jess had stopped flirting with her after she'd practically growled at him.

“Honestly, Lacy. He confided in me because he felt that since he wasn't letting me in the arena I deserved to know why he was so against it.” She didn't elaborate because it wasn't her right to tell, and she knew Lacy totally understood that. “He was right to tell me. I get why he's against it, so I've backed off. I mean, he's hurting about something and me pushing to get in with those horses is only making things worse. But I do feel like I'm here for a reason. It's kind of a weird feeling. I think I'm here to help him, but I don't have a clue how to do that.” She didn't mention that she was also so attracted to him that she couldn't think straight. She really didn't enjoy feeling so out of her element.

Finished with the cut, Lacy combed all of Tacy's
hair down and picked up her blow dryer and brush. “Maybe you're here to push him.”

“No, you don't understand. When I push, fireworks happen.”

Lacy pointed the blow-dryer at her in the mirror like a gun. “You are not the kind of woman who is scared of fireworks. Jump in there and let them fly. The smoke will clear eventually.” She smiled impishly.

“But—”

“No buts. Did you ever stop and think that maybe he needs some fireworks? There is nothing like tension to make a man face the truth.”

Tacy's mouth dropped open and her heart did a free fall. Could Lacy be right? “But what if we're wrong?”

“What if we're right?” Lacy countered with a big smile.