Page 25 of The Cowboy's Redemption
Chapter Eight
Levi
Levi packed thebags of ice Dana had thought to purchase into Otto’s icebox, then stowed the perishable groceries inside while she filled the small fridge in her trailer that ran off the generator.
Something had happened while she was in Grand. He had no idea what, but she’d been preoccupied ever since her return. Maybe she was having second thoughts about her decision to stay. Maybe how isolated they were had finally struck her. Maybe she’d run into someone in town who’d recognized her—she became different around fans.
Whatever it was, she’d shake it off when she was ready.
In the meantime, he’d brought some barrels and cones from the Endeavour so she could work with Tanoa. The cones, placed around each barrel, helped rider and horse pinpoint their approach. The trick was in taking things slow so that Tanoa didn’t become anxious and end up rushing her turns. A stumble at those speeds could injure the horse and be fatal for the rider.
He watched from the stoop while she guided Tanoa through the cloverleaf pattern, over and over.
His thoughts soon drifted toward Shauna Walsh, the differences between the two women, and why he preferred the one who had the least interest in him. Big city women like Shauna found men like him appealing—in the same way some people liked to collect exotic pets. He was different from the men they were used to.
They were different from the women he was used to as well, and he’d succumbed a few times, even learned a few things, but it hadn’t taken long for him to lose interest in them, despite what he’d learned.
Because Montana women—the ones born and raised here…
They were something else. A whole different breed. They knew how to dress up and be pretty and they knew how to flirt. They also knew how to get their hands dirty and get a job done.
The way Dana was doing right now. No one saddled her horse or brushed it down for her. She drove her own truck and hauled her own gear. She mucked out stalls and lugged buckets of water and feed. She might not have the same level of education he did, but she wasn’t stupid and didn’t waste time pretending to be. She knew her own worth.
And when she put on a dress to go out for an evening, she left the girls from New York in her dust. She was about as Montana as a Montana woman could be, and he was in love with her—lock, stock, and cloverleaf-patterned barrel.
She didn’t love him in return. She liked him, though. Enough to make it plenty clear that she’d be willing to take him to bed. But that was as far as things would go.
She glanced over at him. A smile burst past pink lips and cheeks and blue eyes the way a sunbeam cut through delicate layers of cloud. His heart caught on fire. She loved horses and racing, and this was the first display of real, unfiltered happiness he’d ever seen her show.
“What do you think?” she called out.
That he wished he could make her smile for him the same way.
His talk with Otto resurfaced. The one about regrets. He’d been handed an opportunity to spend alone time with her, and even if it wasn’t going to end the way he wanted it to, was he stupid to let it slip through his fingers? Who would it hurt?
The only person who’d really be hurt by it was dead. If she expressed any further interest in a night or two of benefits with him, he’d take Otto’s story to heart. Better to regret a chance he’d taken than an opportunity he’d blown. Lying awake all last night had confirmed it.
But thanks to last night, he might have already blown it. And this wasn’t exactly the right time or place either, all things considered. The universe conspired both for and against him.
None of which answered her question.
“I think Las Vegas had better watch out, because you and Tanoa are coming,” he said.
*
Otto died threedays later.
Levi woke in the morning, and when he checked on him, he was gone. It came as no shock. After the first day, Otto had refused medication, food, even water.
“No point in prolonging things,” he’d said, and when Levi approached Dallas about it, Dallas concurred.
“What do you want me to say?” Dallas said. “Why not leave him be, as long as he’s at peace with his decision?”
So, Levi left Otto’s decisions alone, and after he passed away, drove to the Endeavour to call for an ambulance—which struck Levi as ironic, becauseover my dead bodywas the only way anyone would ever have gotten the old man inside one.
Then he notified Ryan and George and promised George he’d stay and take care of the horses until after the burial and the reading of the will.
Dana agreed to stay, too. “It’s only right that Otto have people with him when he’s laid to rest who genuinely cared about him,” she said, and Levi admired her for it. Doing the right thing was easy when people were watching. Doing it because it was right showed what she was made of. Otto did deserve to have people who cared for him standing by.
