Chapter Seventeen

Shane

Odessa, TX—UPRC All-Star Rodeo

Shane had no problem with getting back into the bull-riding routine. He was having a hard time ditching Reba's phone calls. The excuse he told himself was that he was just too tired after training for the past few days on the Brady farm to speak to her, but he knew he was being a chickenshit. He wasn't ghosting her. He just didn't know what to say to her. And whatever was said, he didn't want to do it over the phone.

So, once he got to the rodeo grounds, Shane went looking for her. She wasn't in the veterinarian trailer, but one of the vet techs said she was in horse barn A, so he made his way there. When he got there, he saw Reba all right. She was talking with Abigail.

It almost made him want to turn on his heel and run back to the bullpens. But he had been a coward for the last few days. It was time for him to man up and have some tough conversations with Reba. He just hoped his ex-wife wasn't giving her advice on how to dump his sorry ass.

But as he got closer, he overheard them talking about Starshine, Ronnie's horse.

"I just want to know that Starshine is going to a good home," Abigail said.

"Dylan Porter may just be starting up his horse rescue farm, but he knows what he's doing."

"I know that he's married to your sister," Abigail retorted. "And you wouldn't say a bad word about him. Vanessa should have sold Starshine to me." She patted the horse's neck.

"Well, she didn't. And be glad of it because the renal feed and care Starshine needs is going to take a lot of time and expense."

"Are you saying I would let a horse suffer?"

Shane could tell that Abigail was itching for a fight.

"No, I'm saying Starshine is Dylan Porter's horse. And he will take care of her very well."

"I know Lou Porter," Shane said, coming up to them. "Dylan's rescue is on his property. They're good people."

Abigail glared at him for interrupting.

"What do you want?" Reba crossed her arms and matched Abigail glare for glare.

"I wanted to talk to you."

"I'm working," she snapped.

He couldn't blame her for being mad at him. "I wanted a few words before I got on Sverre today."

Abigail slugged him in the arm. "You're an asshole for doing that."

Reba nodded.

Great, they were ganging up on him. Guess he had his answer.

"Whatever." He turned and walked out of the barn.

Reba caught up to him a few minutes later on the golf cart. "Get in."

He sat down next to her and she peeled off away from the barns. She didn't say a word to him until they were by her RV. "I need to talk to you in private," she said.

At least they wouldn't have an audience for this. He braced himself for the big goodbye when the door behind him closed and they were inside. He staggered back when she threw herself into his arms.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked, hugging him tight.

Okay, they were going to get the bull-riding thing out of the way first. "It's a win-win situation."

"Not if you get injured."

"I've been practicing," he said defensively. "I'm not going into this cold."

"On Sverre?" she said, pushing him back.

"No. I'm saving him for today."

She squinted at him. "How's your leg? Your ankle?"

"They're not too happy with me."

"How about your brain?" she asked. "Your heart?"

His heart ached worse than his leg. "My brain thinks this is a good idea. It's only eight seconds."

"I'm so worried about you," she said. "Why didn't you call me?"

Shane sighed and sat down. "I wanted to put off the inevitable as long as possible."

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

She was so pretty, it made his heart hurt to look at her. He couldn't help himself and had to rub his knuckles across her cheek. Reba surprised him by sitting in his lap and cupping his face in her hands. "Don't do this," she said.

"It's too late now to back out."

"No, it's not," she said.

"I'm doing this, Reba." He pressed his forehead against hers. "I understand if you no longer want to be with me. Chances are the Viking Ranch is going to lose this contract and I'll be a broken-down ex bull rider again without any prospects."

"I'm more worried about you," she said. "One bad fall and you could be in a wheelchair, or worse."

"The bullfighters will have my back. I know how to land. And Sverre knows me. It'll be okay."

"You don't know that," she said.

"I do," he said, giving in to temptation and rubbing her back.

"Shelby believed me," Reba said. "She's keeping this all quiet while she conducts her own investigation. She might know who is behind this."

That was news to him. "Who?"

She tilted her head back. "Maybe if you called me back this week, you'd already know."

His lips twitched in a smile. "I didn't want you to break up with me over the phone."

"Why would I break up with you? I may not like you riding Sverre, but I still care about you. Hell, I probably love you." She looked a little shocked at the admission.

"Don't play with my emotions," he said gruffly.

"I'm not," she said and tried to scoot off his lap.

He wouldn't let her. "I care about you, too. Hell, I probably love you, as well. No, there's no probably about it. I love you, Reba Keller."

"Good, because I'm not going anywhere. If you're determined to ride that stupid bull, at least he won't be doped up."

"We hope," Shane said darkly. He had agreed to be lax in security and he hoped his bull didn't suffer for it.

"Shelby has an undercover agent working in the bullpens." She leaned in and whispered in his ear. "It's Nash Weaver. He's trying to catch the person drugging the bulls in the act. Or at least gather more evidence. If someone goes to inject Sverre, he'll stop it."

"I hope you're right."

"I'm worried Sverre is going to throw you."

"He probably will," Shane admitted.

"Then why are you doing this?" She smacked his shoulders in exasperation.

"To prove that the bull isn't a killer."

"And if he is?" Reba nibbled on her lip.

"He's not. I raised that bull. He's going to buck and jump and whirl. But he's not going to go after me once I'm on the ground. And if he does," Shane hurried to say when she took a deep breath to say something. "Barney and Taylor and the rest of the boys will be right there to get me to safety."

"I hate this," she said, her eyes filling with tears.

"I'll survive this. I can survive anything as long as I know you're going to be there after the ride."

"I'll be there," she said. "You can count on it." Her phone buzzed. She glared at it. "Shit, I've got to get back to work. Are we good?"

"We're good," he said.

"Call me back next time instead of having me eat voicemail?"

"I promise," he said. Shane still held her close as she slid off his lap. "You really don't want to dump me even if the ranch loses the UPRC contract?"

"Of course not," she said. "You'll bounce back from it and even if you don't, it doesn't matter to me. And based on Shelby's Miller's reaction about only having three breeders for the UPRC, I'm not sure that's going to even be an issue anymore."

"What do you mean?" he asked, frowning. "I signed a contract."

Reba held up her hands. "I'm not a lawyer, and I don't know how the UPRC is set up. All I'm saying is Shelby hadn't known about the contract. But be that as it may, it doesn't matter if you are in the UPRC or not. I want to be with you, Shane Calland. I don't care if you're a rancher, a bull rider, or a janitor. I just want you."

"I want you, too," he said hoarsely.

"Well, too damned bad because I've got a cow about to give birth." She gave him a hard kiss on the mouth. "But if you can still walk after the rodeo, I'm all yours."

"Now that's the incentive I need to stay healthy," he said.

*

Shane walked amongthe other bull riders, trying to regain the feeling that he had when he had been in active competition. Was the thrill of hearing the crowd cheer for him still there? Yeah, but it was muted. He found himself looking for Reba's face in the crowd. He never did that when he was married to Abigail or with anyone else that he had been dating.

"Did you hear about the big hullaballoo?" Barney asked.

"I'm sure you're going to tell me." Shane watched as Pat and Tommy walked Sverre into the gate area. He snorted and slammed himself into the rails, making some of the cowboys jump away.

"That other veterinarian, Dr. Lance? He got escorted out of the rodeo by a couple tough-looking cops."

"Oh yeah?" Shane said. "Did they say why?"

"No one knows a fucking thing," Barney said. "But the rumor is he's been up to no good around the bulls and some of the broncs."

"Really?" Shane said.

"You think he stuck Sverre?" Barney said.

"I hope not."

"Just be careful."

"Always am." Shane heard the announcer call his name and the crowd was getting antsy. He turned and looked for Reba, but he didn't see her. He'd go search her out when all this was over and kiss her senseless.

Unless he was senseless.

As he moved to get settled on the bull, he caught Nash Weaver's eyes. Nash gave him the thumbs-up signal. Shane took that to mean that this ride was going to be all up to him and Sverre.

Sverre bucked and snorted when he settled on top of him. He was raring to go as Shane got his ropes in order and then, before he could have any second thoughts, the gate was open and they were on their way.

*

Reba

Reba never thoughtof herself as a clinger, but she hung on to LeAnn for all six seconds of Shane's ride. Shane put up a good fight, but in the end, Sverre was not going to let him go for eight seconds. He shook Shane up and down and finally with a last buck, Shane was tossed off.

Sverre kicked up his back legs and shook his head, but Shane was clear and limping toward the rails. Marty Kreeger was there with a lasso around Sverre's neck and without any more drama, Sverre was hustled back to the pens.

"I could have ridden him for the eight seconds," LeAnn said.

"Maybe you'll get your chance." Reba didn't want to let go of her sister, but she did. "Just be damned careful."

"You sound like Mom." LeAnn rolled her eyes.

Reba hurried back to the bullpen area where Shane was getting good-naturedly teased about his ride.

"Knew you didn't have it in you anymore," Keith said, with his arm around Abigail.

Maybe not so good-naturedly.

"He's a tough bull," Nash said.

"They're all tough to you," one of the other bull riders teased.

"Reba…" A hand on her arm stopped her from running to Shane and throwing her arms around him.

"What?" she said, annoyed when she turned and saw it was Dr. Kilgore who held her. "Get your hands off me!" Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Shane and Nash look in her direction.

"Easy there, sweetheart." Kilgore raised his hands and gave her a fake smile that didn't reach his eyes.

She remembered the warning look he used to give all of them. "I'm not your sweetheart," she said. "And you don't belong back here."

"Hey," Keith said. "He's with me."

She ignored him.

"There's no need to be rude," Kilgore said between his teeth. "I've been trying to reach you about a job offer."

"I have a job," Reba said. Even if she wasn't too happy with Diane and the UPRC right now, it was miles better than what she'd had.

"I can offer you much better. I've heard about your troubles." Kilgore looked over her shoulder and took a step back. Reba imagined that Shane was bearing down on them. "I can pay you a lot more than what you're making now and you'd have full run of all my animals. You'd be in charge of all testing and decisions. We need you back on the team."

"I wouldn't work for a dickhead like you at twice the salary. You have the temper of a doped-up bull, the manners of a bull rider on a bender, and…" She took a deep breath. "You're an evil fuck." Reba was shaking, but damn, it felt good to say all that.

"How dare you," he sputtered.

"How dare I?" she asked. "You really want me to explain how I dare with my boyfriend and family so close by."

"You're hysterical," he said and backed away from her.

She risked a glance over her shoulder and saw not only Shane and Nash, but also Dylan, Dolly, and LeAnn almost literally at her back.

"And you are no longer worth my time." Reba dismissed Kilgore with a look and then jumped into Shane's arms. "Congratulations," she said.

"You, too." He kissed her.

Oblivious to the crowd around them, she wrapped her legs around his waist and let him carry her off to somewhere more private.