Page 12 of The Cowboy's Downfall
Dan’s phone rang. He glanced at the number. “I’ve got to take this,” he said. “Work. I’ll be back in a bit. Wait here for me.”
Shauna and Taryn stood off to one side to watch and wait while the remaining men cut a white bull from the herd and maneuvered it into a chute. The chute attached a small, open training arena to the bullpen. Dan had already explained to them that stock bulls began competing around three years of age and might continue until ten if they remained injury free. They were bred for the sport and treated like the star athletes they were, and even received physical therapy, same as the riders.
While they watched and waited, Shauna wished she’d considered how she’d be affected by saying yes to Taryn’s newest obsession. No one had mentioned how boring it was to watch a bull be contained. Why should she have to stand here, in the dust and the heat, with her clothes and skin absorbing a wild, funky animal smell, all because grown men jumped when a spoiled, self-entitled seventeen-year-old girl batted her eyelashes at them?
The only thing she found remotely of interest was Nix, and mostly because he hadn’t looked at her. Not even once. And after she’d gone to great lengths to look her least lawyerly on his behalf, which put her out more than a little.
Ford seemed to appreciate her efforts. Too bad the Old West, loner, vigilante type wasn’t for her. The married men had also looked twice, and Dan didn’t count. But Nix? He refused to make eye contact with her. She frowned. If it was because he had a guilty conscience over something he’d done to Taryn she’d rip him apart, but she just couldn’t see it. Taryn might be past the legal age of consent in Montana, but compared to Nix, she was a child.
The felt Stetson shielded his face, but tight jeans did nothing to hide magnificent glutes. He’d rolled up the sleeves of the thick, unbuttoned, cotton shirt he wore over a gray, well-laundered T. In the arena, focused on work, he was different. Not so uptight.
Muscles in his forearms and shoulders strained as he lifted the orange metal gate used to help separate the bull from its mates and herd it into the narrow chute. He dropped the gate into place so the bull couldn’t back out. The fluidity of his movements, like a stone skipped across water, was incredibly sexy. What could a man whose entire body rippled with sensuality possibly see in a teenager? Because Nix McCray bore the hallmarks of a man who knew his way around women. On the surface, at least.
His eyes said something different, however.
And not knowing what he was hiding drove the lawyer in Shauna crazy.
Levi came to stand with them while Miles jogged to the shed to collect his riding equipment. Nix and Ford stayed in position next to the bull in the chute, trying to calm it.
“Why do they want the bull to quiet down?” Taryn asked Levi, apparently more interested than Shauna in the whole process. “Don’t they want it to buck?”
“They do, but generally, the weight of the rider is enough agitation. While the rider and bull are still in the chute you want them both to be safe. You don’t want the bull ramming the rider against the gates and possibly breaking his legs. The bull could hurt itself, too. My goal as a breeder is to engineer a bull that’s sole goal is to unseat the weight on its back. There’s not much I can do about a bull stepping on someone. That’s an unfortunate accident and part of the risk of the sport. But riders—barrelmen too—are more often injured or killed if a bull gets blood in its eyes. They’re fast. You don’t stand much of a chance of outrunning one if it’s trying to kill you.”
Forget reverse psychology.
“This is a terrible idea,” Shauna said to Taryn. “Why not try barrel racing, instead?”
“My wife is one of the top barrel racers in the country,” Levi added, with more than a hint of pride in his smile and his eyes. “I bet she’d be happy to give you some tips. But if you’re looking for a safe sport, then that isn’t it either.”
“Does the school have a swim team?” Shauna asked.
The look Taryn gave her was filled with disdain. Her deceptively soft, little-girl jaw took on a hard line that meant her mind was made up and no one would change it. “I want to ride bulls.”
Levi’s smile deepened. “Then keep your eye on the gate. Once you see Miles’s hand go in the air, that’s the signal for Ford to open it. He keeps that hand up for the whole ride. If his hand drops, the ride’s over. Ford and Nix’s job is to distract the bull when he dismounts.”
Shauna was a worrier by nature. Three people distracting the bull had to be safer than two, right? For everyone—not only the rider? Because next to Ford—whose physical size bordered on indestructible—Nix looked far more… Not fragile. More susceptible to damage. An easier target if the bull got “red in its eyes.” She didn’t care for the idea of seeing him trampled.
“Why aren’t you helping them distract it?” she asked Levi.
“My job is to watch the bull and assess its performance,” he said, not at all worried about the humans in the arena. “I’m looking for specific bucking traits. Does it spin? Does it—” He broke off his explanation. His chin went up and his gaze sharpened. “Watch out. Here they come!”
The bull, with Miles on its back and his hand grabbing for sky, shot out of the chute. Shauna sucked in a breath and pressed a hand to the base of her throat. She’d seen a few bull rides before, but never this close. The men considered that monster a baby?
The ride was over in seconds—supposedly eight—but it felt more like a lifetime to her. Miles leaped to the ground, avoiding the bull’s flailing hind feet by millimeters at most. Ford and Nix moved in on the bull’s head from opposite sides.
The bull, once the rider’s weight was dislodged, settled on all four feet. It trotted around the arena, circling the fence and shaking its head, eyeing the chute with dislike but ignoring the men.
“Yes!” Levi shouted, throwing both arms in the air in a victory display. “That’s my boy!”
Miles vaulted the fence and slapped Levi on the back. “Good job,” he said. “That one’s a keeper.”
Shauna’s heart hadn’t quit squeezing her lungs. “Good lord. Are you training children on that?”
Levi’s smile had hijacked his entire face. “Not this one. He’ll go into professional competition.”
She’d been so focused on Nix that she’d almost forgotten about Taryn. No worries there. What they’d just witnessed was enough to give anyone with common sense second thoughts. She had to be careful not to rub it in, though. Let her save face.
She turned to her sister and found her eyes shining.
