Page 13 of The Cowboy's Downfall
“I can’t wait to try that!” Taryn exclaimed.
*
Nix
“How is thismy fault?” Nix demanded. “You’re the one who said she could sign up.”
“Lower your voice,” Too Good whispered.
He’d managed to dodge her all afternoon. He’d refused Dan’s invitation to accompany them on a horseback ride along the Tongue River, something he usually enjoyed. Ford rode with them instead—which had caused Nix no end of fickle remorse, because apparently, his ex-wife hadn’t taught him a good enough lesson about strong-willed women.
Now, because he happened to be near the barn when they returned, he found himself unsaddling her horse. It was either help her or Trouble, and since he’d had enough of Trouble for one day, Too Good’s it was.
He couldn’t say whether she knew what had happened in the shed with her little sister, but judging by the way she’d watched him earlier, during Miles’s exhibition, it was safe to assume that she had her suspicions and come to the wrong conclusions. Maybe he should explain.
Sure, Nix.By saying what? That he preferred women who thought they were too good for him?
His enthusiastic currying created a cloud of dust, dander, and horsehair that swirled around his head and made his nose itch. Too Good turned her head and sneezed into her elbow, meaning she’d gotten a faceful. What was it with her and her sister? Did they not learn anything about personal space in California?
Her shoulder brushed the side of his arm and his nethers reacted as if she’d set them on fire. God, she smelled amazing. Much, much better than horsehair, and not at all like her sister, who didn’t seem to know when enough was enough when it came to personal care products either.
“I didn’t say it was your fault,” she said. “I simply asked if you could have found some way to make it look less easy.”
He’d never understand women. “You thought that lookedeasy?”
“Fun, then,” she amended.
Okay, he’d give her that. It really had looked like fun. A whole lot of it, too.
“Miles is a two-time world champion. He could make sitting a greased bull hopped up on caffeine look like a good time.”
“This is a disaster,” she muttered.
If she only knew. She was exactly the type of woman who’d need to come to every clinic to keep an anxious eye on her precious sister, and he couldn’t share a bunkhouse with other men if he had to go to sleep with her in his head every night.
He should tell her what happened with Taryn. Even if she didn’t believe him, it might be enough for her to pull the plug on this goat show.
“We need to talk,” he began, only to have Trouble interrupt from where Ford was showing her how to unbuckle the straps on her saddle.
“Hey, Shauna,” she called over. “Isn’t this fun?”
“It’s a blast,” Too Good replied.
How she could sound so sincere was beyond him. She looked great in jeans, but a cowgirl she was not, and never would be. Her sister was paying a whole lot more attention to Ford’s instructions than she was to Nix’s. When he’d tried to show her how to remove the saddle, she’d ignored him.
Ford, who had no sense of humor to the best of anyone’s knowledge, ducked his head behind Trouble’s horse—but not before Nix caught his grin.Bastard.
“Anyway,” Too Good said, returning her attention to him, which totally blew his concentration, because hazel eyes were another weakness of his. “Yes, we do need to talk. But I don’t want Taryn to find out. We should meet somewhere private.”
Which had his thoughts flipping to seeing her naked, and Trouble never entered that picture.
Desperation had more dust and hair flying as he tried to scrub the backs of his eyes along with the horse. The mare pinned her ears back and bumped her head into his shoulder, knocking him sideways, which brought him into physical contact with Too Good. Too Good caught his bicep with one hand and placed her spare palm on his back to steady them both, which parked his elbow between two firm breasts, and the heat scorching his nethers flared a few notches higher.
“Uh…” His brain scrambled to find words that fit a conversation he’d completely lost track of. “This ranch isn’t exactly private.”
Annoyed hazel eyes stabbed him. “There are plenty of private places around here where we can talk. The river is a five-minute walk away. There are three empty barns. One of the bunkhouses is empty. We could slip away and meet up pretty much anywhere.”
He saw a problem that she clearly didn’t. If they both went missing at the same time, people would notice. And by people he meant Dan. Dan didn’t mind parading his pretty cousins around the ranch because he had Ryan O’Connell, who ran the place, on his side—and Ryan was a whole lot more intimidating than some mere county sheriff. Both men expected the boys and the cowhands to behave.
