The Bull Rider's Cowgirl. April Arrington

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      Colt continued forcing his way through the chaotic mass of people. He’d made it several feet when a cry cut through the air at his side. A pink bundle banged into his left knee and he grabbed it before it tumbled to the floor.

      A young girl—three, maybe four?—tossed her blond curls off her cute face and steadied herself with a small hand on his leg. She had brown eyes and freckles, just like his younger half sister, Meg. At least that was what he remembered. He’d last seen her when he left home seven years ago.

      An uncomfortable ache formed in his gut. One that appeared every time he remembered leaving Meg behind. “Whoa, there. You all right?”

      The girl looked up at him, blinked, then spun back to scowl at the man chasing after her.

      “But I want it!” Her outraged shriek almost took the roof off the arena.

      “No, Annabelle.” The man took her arm and tugged her back to his side. “You’ve already had one cotton candy and that’s enough for tonight.” He nodded at Colt, dragging a hand through his disheveled hair. “Sorry about that.”

      “No problem, man.”

      Colt glanced at the girl straining against her dad’s hold. Her cheeks turned cherry red and her eyes squinted.

      Here it comes. Colt did his best to navigate around the group in front of him and gain some distance.

      “But Ty got two,” she screeched. “I want two.”

      “Your brother only had one. The same as you. I said no and that’s that.”

      She jerked away and hit the floor, her pink skirt flopping around her flailing legs. Her screaming sobs prompted everyone within a mile radius to frown in her dad’s direction. He bent, hissed admonishments and tried to gather up her writhing form, with no success.

      Colt cringed. Poor bastard. Kids might be cute but most of ’em turned out to be little devils disguised in pink ribbons or baseball caps. A man had to be crazy to saddle himself with one on a permanent basis.

      The girl’s cries strengthened, piercing Colt’s ears and provoking a pained laugh from him. He shook his head and forged through the crowd, making his way outside. The fresh air enveloped him and the girl’s shrieks faded.

      “Hey.” Tammy bumped him with her shoulder and fell in step beside him. Her lopsided smile didn’t hold its usual sparkle. “Come to console our partner?”

      Colt shrugged. “No need for consoling. Jen had a good run.”

      “Yeah. I know.” Tammy nodded toward the outskirts of the warm-up area. “But try telling her that.”

      Jen was cooling Diamond down, apart from everyone at the edge of the grass. She walked him in slow lines, chin lifted. If Colt hadn’t spent years studying every sweet curve of her body and how she moved it, he might’ve missed the overly stiff set of her shoulders and hard clench of her thighs around the saddle. But he didn’t.

      Colt cut his eyes away and watched the other racers mingling around the cooldown area. “I’m gonna touch base with her before I ride. You mind giving us a minute?”

      “Sure.” Tammy’s brows raised, her green eyes encouraging as she walked away. “Take your time.”

      Colt walked over to Jen, stopping as she maneuvered Diamond into a turn and faced him. Her eyes flashed.

      He squared his shoulders then nodded up at her. “That was a damn good run, Red.”

      Jen stilled and the hard glint in her eyes softened. She smiled. The action small and beautiful. But hesitant.

      “Thanks.” She patted Diamond’s thick shoulder. “I’ve got a talented partner.”

      “It wasn’t all him,” Colt said. “You had a part in that, too. The hardest part.” His hand lifted, reaching toward her. He brought it back to his side and shifted his stance. “Second place is fantastic considering the tough competition you had. You really were great.”

      Jen looked away, brushing light touches over Diamond’s mane. Her smile fell. “Wasn’t quite enough, though,” she whispered.

      Colt’s throat closed. She was so hard on herself. More critical of her performances than anyone else was. Almost to the point of erasing all the joy from a competition. Her face had stopped lighting up at the start of a run like it used to. And at the moment he wanted to see that glow in her smile again. Needed to see it.

      “It’ll be more than enough next time,” he said, freezing at the husky note in his voice.

      Something soft heated his palm. He blinked and looked down, stiffening at the sight of his hand curled around her thigh, easing its way up toward her hip. Just as it had with so many other women.

      Her rich, brown eyes narrowed their focus on his hand, then shot to his face. “Feeling sorry for me, Colt? Trying to help me feel better by throwing me a little attention?” Her face flushed and her voice shook. “I don’t need soothing. But Autumn might. She said you’re welcome to pay her a visit later.” She eased Diamond back a few steps, sliding away from his touch. “Seems you’re good at a lot more than just sweet-talking women.”

      Ah, hell. That was called for. But it stung. It squeezed his chest so tight, his lungs threatened to collapse.

      Still, Jen’s anger was an improvement over the defeated expression she’d had moments ago and a lot easier to deal with than her adoration. Especially since he knew that in the long run, he’d only disappoint.

      “Yeah.” He choked back his pride, knuckled his hat farther up his forehead and conjured a sly grin. “I am. You just haven’t seen me at my best yet, baby.” He widened his smile, easing back into the safe, familiar role. “Stick around and watch me ride.”

      Colt spun on his heel and ambled away. Jen’s hard stare burned a bigger hole in his back with each step. He took the long way around to the bull pens, avoiding every buckle bunny and child within sight.

      Women. He understood them only in the bedroom. And kids? He didn’t understand them at all. Bulls, however, he got. And the massive, black-and-white-speckled monster glaring at him through the gate was about to get to know him, too.

       Chapter Two

      “Careful. That son o’ a bitch can spring.”

      Colt handed the end of his rope to Judd and studied the restless bull being prepared in the chute below them. “I hope so.”

      A bull that jumped, kicked and spun right out of the chute guaranteed a shot at a high score. The kind of score Judd had failed at grabbing several rides ago when he’d drawn a flat bull that took a Sunday stroll out of the chute instead of blasting out of it. Hopefully, Sonic, the burly beast Colt had drawn, would be feistier.

      As if on cue, the angry animal slammed his thick horns into the metal rails, then sprang up, hooking his hooves over the top of the eight-feet-high gate. The cheers filling the Silver Spurs Arena strengthened as the cowboys surrounding the chute yanked СКАЧАТЬ