Page 29 of The Soldier and the Cowboy

“All right then,” he said. He opened her door and took her hand to help her up, closing the door when she was safely inside. He tipped his hat to Cal, jogged to his side of the car, and took off.

They drove a few minutes in silence until he spoke. “I feel I owe you an apology.” When she didn’t reply, he continued. “No response?”

“It seems ungracious to agree with that statement,” she said.

“When women show up in my office, they’re usually either crackpots or something altogether different.”

“Predatory,” she guessed.

“It seems ungracious to agree with that statement,” he said and she laughed. “I admit I didn’t quite know what to make of you, and you caught me off guard. Since then I’ve done some checking on you, and you’re the real deal, Major Dunbar. I apologize that I acted so rudely and unprofessionally.”

“Apology accepted, Ranger Langford, thank you,” she said, relaxing a bit. Maybe he was a normal guy after all. And he wasn’t too shabby to look at either, with sandy blond hair and eyes that were neither green nor blue but somewhere in between. Not like Cal with his devilishly dark hair and eyes.

“Why did you leave the marines?” he asked.

“High blood pressure.”

He clicked his tongue in sympathy. “What do you have planned after you leave here?”

“I’ll probably take a nice, long bath, get the dust and humidity off me, and then I have no idea,” she said, turning to gaze out the window.

“Uh oh, I’ve bumbled into negative territory. I’m sure you’ll figure something out.”

“What would you do, if you had to leave the rangers?” she asked.

He opened his mouth, closed it, and shook his head.

“Exactly.”

“It’s different for women though, isn’t it?” he asked.

“Haven’t we been over this?” she said.

“Don’t you want kids?” he asked.

“Lots of women have kids in the military,” she said.

“Lots of women like you? Whose jobs demand physical performance and the high likelihood of not returning home again? I mean, say you’d stayed in, wouldn’t you have had to come to some kind of crisis moment anyway? Would you really want to stay in and have to sit behind a desk?”

She grimaced.

“I’m not saying it’s an easy thing for you, don’t get me wrong. What I’m saying is maybe it’s a blessing in disguise. A chance to take the reins of change before they’re forced on you. This way you won’t have to resent some man for getting you pregnant and thereby forcing you out of a career you love. Your own body already did it for you.”

She stared at him, eyes narrowed. “I’m not sure if that’s sexist or brilliant.”

He tapped his temple. “There’s a lot going on under the hat, and I have a lot of time to think about things, driving around in my truck.”

“Yours must be an interesting job,” she noted, ready to change the subject away from herself. “How’d you come to be a ranger?”

“A long shot dream and a lot of hard work,” he said.

It came as something of a surprise to Bailey when they arrived in town. The drive had seemed short, the conversation with Sully enjoyable. She began to believe her initial impression of him had been incorrect. He wasn’t a self-important moron after all.

Sully introduced her to several people in the town who all seemed to know her already. “Oh, Cal’s girl. You clean up nice. Where is Cal?” she was asked so many times the faces and voices began to blur.

Finally enough people were on the dance floor it wouldn’t be awkward to join them. Sully led Bailey onto the floor for a line dance that proved to be fun, once she got the hang of it. The dancing was mostly either line or contra, fast and in groups that left little chance for touching or conversation. Every once in a while they threw in a waltz. Bailey found to her further surprise she didn’t mind dancing these with Sully,either. He was a good dancer, and he never held her too closely or pressed her for more than she was willing to give.

“You really do clean up nice,” he said during one such dance.

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