EXCERPT

CHAPTER ONE      

 

“I’m not sure this was such a good idea.”

Jules Vandeveer didn’t realize she had spoken as she stared across the dirt-floored indoor arena of the Agri-Plex. From her front-row seat next to her best friend, she watched the cowboy in the brilliant-blue shirt position himself on the back of a horse.

“We can leave if you’d rather not stay,” Beth Anders told her.

Jules was tempted, but strengthened her resolve. “No,” she said, shaking her head. “No, I need to do this.” She knew the dangers involved in any sport involving animals, but running away would not solve her problem. It was time to face her fears, and although she had trouble believing that anyone would be insane enough to make a career of tempting fate on the back of a bucking, twisting animal, she knew her reaction was based on those fears. “We’ll stay,” she said, determined to see this through.

Beth placed a hand on her arm, concern still in her eyes. “Hang in there. It’s nearly over. This could be one of the best bareback bronc rides of the night.”

In a matter of seconds, animal and rider burst into the open. The horse bucked, reared and twisted in an attempt to dislodge the man. With one arm waving above his head, the cowboy hung on with the other.
When horse and rider gyrated closer, so did the dirt and dust they stirred up. Jules escaped any particles that threatened to invade her eyes and mouth by bending to reach for her bag under the seat. Over the noise of the crowd, which had now come to its feet around her, she could hear the horn signal the end of the eight-second ride, and she breathed a sigh of relief.
Before she could collect her wits, something struck her bent head and fell to her feet. Afraid to discover what it might be, she dared a glance and saw a black cowboy hat.

“Where did this come from?” She picked up the hat and stared at it as she straightened. Gingerly holding the dusty object, she looked to the arena where the last rider stood waving at the cheering crowd——hatless.

“Hang on to it,” Beth said over the din.

Jules stared at her. “You hang on to it,” she said, shoving the hat at her friend.

Beth pushed it back, shaking her head and grinning from ear to ear. When the shrill sound of a pager pierced the noise of the crowd, Beth grumbled and slipped the beeper from her belt. “I have to answer this call,” she explained, standing and scooting past Jules to the aisle. “You stay here, and I’ll be right back.”

Jules jumped to her feet. “But——”

“It’ll only take a minute. Don’t move from that spot.” With a wave of her hand, Beth pushed her way through the still cheering crowd and disappeared.

Jules watched her go before turning back to find herself staring down over the railing into the bluest eyes she’d ever seen, eyes surrounded by thick, black lashes——lashes any woman would kill for.

Her heart stopped and her mind went blank.

“My hat, darlin’.”

The comment, uttered in a smooth, slow baritone, caused Jules to blink, but her mind still didn’t kick into gear.

Crinkles formed in the deeply tanned skin at the corners of the sapphire eyes. A lock of jet-black hair fell carelessly over black eyebrows. “If you really want it that bad...,” he said with an Oklahoma drawl.

Her gaze dropped to the hat gripped in her hands, and her heartbeat kicked in, thudding against her ribs. Had he called her darlin’? Stunned into action, she shoved the hat toward him and shook her head.

He gave her a lopsided grin. “You sure?”

She felt her heart somersault before she nodded, still unable to utter a sound. What was happening to her? It wasn’t fear that had her heart suddenly racing.

“You okay, darlin’?” His deep voice was filled with concern.

Jules blinked and stiffened at the tingling sensation the sound of his voice sent along her nerve endings. She held the hat out to him with trembling hands. “If you’ll just take your hat...”

The cowboy took it from her, his eyes narrowing in a puzzled frown, and placed it on his head. Tipping the brim, which now shadowed half his face, he gave her a tight smile before turning to amble across the arena.

“What did you say to him?”

Jules spun around to see Beth working her way back through the retreating crowd. She took a deep, calming breath. “Nothing. I gave him his hat.”

Her friend reached her and frowned. “Is that all? He looked ticked off to me.”

“Of course that’s all,” Jules said. Adding a good-natured smile, she refused to let her inexplicable reaction to the man intrude on their time together. “You know, Beth, if we weren’t such good friends, this cowboy thing would be the last straw,” she teased. She nearly laughed at the irony in her choice of words. Since they’d arrived at the Ada, Oklahoma, arena, she’d seen enough straw to choke a herd of buffalo. And she’d thought straw was a staple of the show-jumping world! Rodeos even had that beat.

She’d thought a rodeo would be far different from hunter-jumping, but even the smells and sounds of the evening had brought back more memories than she’d expected. Seeing cowboys thrown from horses had only made it worse, even though Beth had warned her it might. At least no one had been seriously hurt.

“You’re sure you’re all right?” Beth asked, obviously worried.

“I’m fine. Really.” Noticing the crowd had thinned, Jules gathered her things and stood, relieved the evening was over.
Beth took her by the arm, her brown eyes sparkling with anticipation. “Let’s get going.”

“Where?”

Pulling Jules through the stragglers leaving the stands, Beth said with a wicked grin, “We’re going to a party.”

Jules smiled. She could handle a little quiet mingling and a glass of wine to clear the dirt from her throat, a place where she could relax and get her heart slowed to a more normal pace. It was obvious she needed this vacation if a cowboy could leave her tongue-tied.

© 2009 Roxann Delaney