Page 9 of The Cowboy's Redemption
The choice came as a surprise. Tanoa was one of the ten horses in the fifty-thousand-dollar value range. Otto had turned down two good offers for her in recent months. While Dana was a decent barrel racer, who could be a lot better with the right horse, she couldn’t possibly have saved up that much money from her winnings alone. Tanner hadn’t left her anything, that was for certain. He’d been in debt to his parents. They’d inherited what little he owned and used the insurance money to retire to Florida.
Despite its name and historic ambitions, Grand was a small town. It was impossible not to know at least a little of everyone’s business, and the Shannahans made for good gossip. People had expected great things from Tanner.
Levi snagged a rope halter from a hook on the cabin’s exterior wall. Dana trailed him as far as the fence surrounding the pasture. He pried two strands of barbwire apart and eased a leg through the gap, then the rest of his body.
He pressed one foot on the bottom wire to increase the size of the gap while keeping it open. “Coming?”
“Sure.”
She ducked through the gap and joined him in the pasture. Purple-tipped alfalfa brushed against the legs of her jeans. They stood so close for a second that he could smell the clean, sharp scent of saddle soap mingled with the softer, flowery scent of shampoo. The fading light stroked her cheeks and framed how pretty she was with its fingers. Levi’s throat closed. Desire licked the length of his spine with its tongue. Tanner had been prouder of winning her over than all the buckles he’d acquired strung together. No wonder.
She put a few steps of distance between them. “I never really thanked you for coming to my rescue. I wasn’t thinking clearly. I couldn’t remember anything that happened. I still don’t.” Beautiful eyes locked with his. “The one thing I do remember is how relieved I was when you showed up. I knew something was wrong and I couldn’t stop it. If I came across as ungrateful, I’m sorry.”
He couldn’t tear his eyes away from hers. He could see how much the apology cost her. She didn’t like to show weakness. Which only strengthened a near visceral need to protect her, no matter how much she’d hate it.
“I probably didn’t pick the best time to give you a lecture on stranger danger,” he said.
Full lips wobbled between natural reserve and a smile. “No. You did not. Even on a good day, no one likes to hear how they were stupid.”
“You weren’t stupid. You were at a rodeo-sanctioned event, and you had a right to feel safe.” He’d filed a complaint with the committee about it too, although he’d left her name out, because there was a predator out there somewhere. He hadn’t been able to leave it alone. What if some other woman wasn’t as lucky as Dana? “Let’s go catch your horse.”
With the change in subject, some of the stiffness leached out of her body. “She’s not my horse yet. What are the chances of Mr. Hart allowing me to set up a payment plan?”
A half hour ago, Levi would have said slim to none. Now? He wasn’t so sure. Even though he’d never known Otto to be swayed by a pretty face, any more than he could be by money, he’d saved her a valuable horse. Obviously, there was something more than her face that he liked.
Levi could understand. He’d once taken a history course in college. The professor had talked about the forgotten middle-class pioneer women who’d helped settle the state of Montana. They’d been stoic but feminine in a period when the emulation of men in their manners or dress was viewed as the safer and easier path. They’d turned their homesteads into homes, using furniture and wallpaper and whitewash. They’d kept up with the latest in fashion and style through letters and catalogs from family and friends left behind. Maintaining appearances helped them adapt to their new lives without losing touch with their pasts.
Dana reminded him of those early pioneer women—not so much in her sense of style as in her stoicism and femininity and sheer strength of will. That was why her relationship with Tanner had never made a whole lot of sense to him. Tanner, while a great guy and an excellent friend, had been a big kid at heart. His twin sister Tate had driven his career, making sure he turned up at the right events, and keeping his finances in order. She’d acted as his agent, his publicist, and she’d been more mother than sister to him.
Levi couldn’t imagine Dana, with her strong streak of independence, playing a similar role in Tanner’s life—she deserved a partner with the same sort of strength, not a golden boy who’d needed a mother. He had to admit though, they’d made a beautiful couple.
But as for the chances of Otto letting her set up a payment plan for one of his coveted horses?
Otto was watching them closely from the porch of his cabin, likely double-checking how Dana and Tanoa interacted—meaning Levi would have to make sure things went well.
“Since Otto has already agreed to sell you a horse, it won’t hurt to ask,” he said. He held up the rope. “Let’s see if we can get a halter on her.”
*
Dana
Dana had fallenin love with Tanoa at first sight—but that was a few years ago and she had to make sure they were still a good match for each other. While she understood that Otto Hart was giving her a great deal on a valuable horse, at thirty-five thousand dollars, this would be the biggest single investment she had ever made in her career.
That was why she’d been too impatient to wait until morning. She had a two-hour drive to look forward to after this. Lady traveled like a trooper, but she’d been cooped up in the trailer for hours and Dana wanted to get her home to her dad’s stable in Billings. He’d be waiting for them. Her mother would have her favorite foods ready. She could sleep in her own bed. She also needed to work with Crackerjack for a few days to get him ready for the next rodeo.
She followed Levi, whose long legs maneuvered the chewed-up, clumpy pastureland without breaking stride. His careless grasp on the halter spoke of a man well used to handling horses. He carried the two-way radio holstered on his hip the way an old-time gunslinger carried a pistol. A hot rush of lust caught her off-guard.
She should have known he’d be too much of a gentleman to hold her poor behavior against her. She chalked up the sudden curiosity as to what he’d be like in bed—if he’d be as gentlemanly as he presented himself—to her three-year lack of a sex life.
Levi Harrington had always been somewhat of a puzzle to her. He’d made an unlikely best friend for Tanner, who’d been as reckless as Levi was cautious. And yet both men held a particular appeal. They carried themselves with old-world panache, something Dana admired. They didn’t give a damn what the modern world thought. They were smart. They were intent on their mutual careers. She liked those traits in a man.
Sexually, the appeal was there, too. Both men were beautiful in a similar way. Blond, blue-eyed, with a wild ruggedness that came from working outdoors and not in a gym. With Tanner, sex had burned hot from the very beginning. They’d spent a great deal of their time together in bed and she missed it.
Sex alone, however, hadn’t proven nearly enough. Tanner was too used to getting his own way. His twin sister Tate had played too large a role in his life—too much for Dana’s comfort, even though she liked Tate well enough.
She hadn’t liked his parents at all. They’d shown their true colors when they arrived unannounced after the funeral to claim what few of Tanner’s personal belongings she’d had in her possession. They’d acted as if she were stealing from them. With parents like that, no wonder Tanner and Tate stuck so close together.
The biggest difference she’d seen between Levi and Tanner, however, was that Levi was straightforward and honest. He saw the big picture. He had long-term goals. Tanner had lived for the moment without a thought for the consequences of his behavior.
