Give Me A Cowboy. Jodi Thomas

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      Chapter 4

      The rodeo started with little more than an hour until sunset. Men drew for events and nights. Since the celebration lasted four nights, one fourth of the men did each event each night. That way anyone coming only to one night got to see all the rodeo had to offer even if he got to watch only one out of four of the men compete for any one event.

      Laurel checked the charts. Rowdy had drawn saddleback riding the first night. Good. That would give him at least one more day to work with the horse on steer roping. She was so excited she couldn’t wait for the buggy, so she’d insisted on riding in with her father. He didn’t talk to her, but it didn’t matter. In four days, she would have the money to leave.

      Deep down she hoped that if she had the means to leave, he might tell her he wanted her to stay. She knew she was only fooling herself. Since the day he’d married Rosy when Laurel had been four, the Captain had always tried to make his oldest daughter disappear. Leftover children never mattered much when the new batch came along. Laurel had a feeling that when she left the ranch Sunday night after Rowdy won, her father would be more angry about losing a free bookkeeper than a daughter.

      When they arrived at the rodeo, she stood just behind him listening to the men talk and hoping to learn something that might help Rowdy. As usual, no one noticed her.

      After an hour, Laurel moved behind the row of wagons and buggies pulled in a circle. She’d sat quietly waiting for her chance. Finally, her father had stepped into a crowd of men who were placing bets on a horse race to be run in the morning and passing around a bottle. Her sisters were flirting with half a dozen cowhands who’d stopped by for a cool drink from the pitcher of lemonade in the back of their rig. No one would miss her.

      She found Rowdy off by himself in the shadows of a barn. Since he’d drawn bronc riding as his first challenge, he’d be part of the last group to compete.

      Without a word, she moved beside him, leaned her back on the barn only a few inches from his arm and handed him a canteen. She could feel the tension in his body.

      “A fellow named Dan O’Brien offered to ride drag for me during the calf roping.”

      “He’s all right, I guess,” she said without looking at Rowdy. “He owns a little farm to the south of here.” She hesitated, then added, “I’m not sure he’s much of a cowhand. I think he raises mostly hogs at his place.”

      “I’ve already told him I’d trade the favor off for him. He only entered calf roping, so he must feel like he can handle his own.”

      Laurel nodded once. “All right.” She could have suggested a few others who might have been better, but he hadn’t asked.

      While he drank, she decided to tell him what she knew before he made another mistake, “I’ve been watching the black you drew for tonight. He goes to his left more than his right and fires up easy even in the pen. I think you should—”

      “I know how to ride,” he snapped as if resenting her advice. “I’m no greenhorn.”

      Silence hung still and heavy between them.

      “Fine. Good luck.” She planted a quick, hard kiss on his cheek and walked away.

      She thought he might catch up to her and say he was sorry, but he didn’t. A tiny part of her knew she’d done it wrong. She could have said something to him first, maybe let him tell her what he thought. But Laurel would never be like her sisters. She couldn’t have conversations that made no sense. She couldn’t giggle at nothing and bat her lashes. It wasn’t her. It never would be.

      “Where you been, girl?” Her father’s voice made her jump.

      “Looking at the stock,” she said in a whisper. She didn’t mention that she’d met a cattle buyer from Fort Worth who told her to pass the word along that he’d be willing to buy off the winner’s cattle if the all-around cowboy wanted cash.

      “That’s better than hiding in some corner, I guess.” Her father took her elbow in a tight grip. “You remind me more of your mother every day.”

      Laurel knew better than to think that was a compliment. Her father had often told her that his first wife was a mouse of a woman, plain and boring. Laurel knew he’d married her for money, he’d even joked once that he’d talked her father into paying more just to get her out of the house.

      Her father let go of her arm and climbed on the wagon bench. “I’m going home after the saddle bronc riders. You stay and see that your sisters get home in the wagon after the dance.”

      “But I rode in,” she protested. “One of the men will be happy to.”

      He looked at her with his usual bothered expression. “All right, see that James or Phil drives the girls home. You can ride back alone, but try to stay for at least one dance. You never know, someone might actually ask you to dance.”

      Laurel knew he didn’t care what she did. He probably didn’t care if she danced, he just wanted her to stay behind long enough so that she didn’t ride back with him. If he hadn’t needed her to do the books, he probably would have left her at school until she was thirty. She was a reminder of a time in his life when he’d settled for something far less than what he’d wanted.

      She stood silently and watched the competition. The first rider fell off his horse coming out of the shoot. The second rode, but his horse didn’t buck enough to earn many points. The third and fourth started well but didn’t make the clock. Rowdy’s horse came out fighting with all his might to get the saddle and the man off his back.

      The crowd rose to their feet. Several people cheered as the animal kicked dust every time Rowdy’s spurs brushed his hide.

      Laurel watched, mentally taking each jolt with Rowdy. His back bowed back and forth, but his left hand stayed in the air.

      When the ride ended, he jumped from the black horse and landed on his feet. The crowd went crazy, yelling and clapping. Laurel only smiled, knowing she’d invested her ten dollar gold piece wisely.

      Her father cussed and demanded to know who number forty was. Five minutes later, when his men gathered round him, he said that Rowdy Darnell was the man to beat in this rodeo and there would be an extra month’s pay to the man who topped his final score.

      Laurel felt proud. She stood and watched the young people move to the dance floor as the last light of the day disappeared. Her father and a few of his men rode off toward the saloon talking of plans for tomorrow. Every night the rodeo would end with saddle bronc riding and they planned to have the Captain’s men shatter Darnell’s score.

      When she knew no one was watching, she climbed on her horse and rode into the darkness. She didn’t need much light, for she knew the trail by heart. In fact, she knew the land for miles around. For as long as she could remember, she’d saddled up before dawn and rode out to watch the sunrise, crisscrossing the land before anyone else was up and about.

      When she was in sight of her home, she remembered what her father had said about staying long enough to dance. If he got home and found her already there, he’d probably yell at her.

      Laurel turned toward the cottonwoods along the creek that separated the Captain’s land from the Darnell place. She rode through the shallow water until she reached a spot where cliff СКАЧАТЬ