Page 5 of The Cowboy's Downfall
Taryn disappeared as the crowd in the gymnasium closed ranks behind her. Before Shauna could chase after her and attempt damage control, a tall, commanding blonde, in her mid-fifties, stopped her in the hall.
“Shauna! What a surprise seeing you here.”
“Hello, Mrs. Harrington.” She’d forgotten that Wren Harrington, her aunt Freda’s friend, taught senior high biology here. She kept an anxious eye on the gymnasium. “My little sister will be staying with me for a few months, and we had a meeting with Mr. Dunning before she starts classes on Monday.”
The older woman’s eyes lit with wry humor. She required no further details. She understood there would be no good reason for a seventeen-year-old to suddenly relocate at the start of the school year, and to live with her older sister, no less.
“Let me guess… Your sister is the confident little blonde in the snappy knit dress, attracting all the attention? I’m sure she’ll be fine.”
“She’s not the one I’m worried about.”
“A pretty girl from a big city arrives in a small school where the locals have all known each other from birth,” Wren mused, tapping her chin. “This will undoubtedly end up as an educational experience for everyone.”
Shauna pressed her hand to her chest and suppressed a shudder. “Why did a chill just run up and down my spine?”
Wren laughed. “Grand is a small town and she’s the sheriff’s cousin. You’ll know her every move before she does.”
Shauna wasn’t so sure. “Which reminds me. I’d better go find her. We’re headed to Aunt Freda’s for dinner.”
“Say hi to Freda for me.”
The funky smell of old sweat, well-used sports equipment, and floor wax assaulted Shauna’s nose as she entered the gymnasium. Caged LED lights glared overhead. The crowd coalesced in front of the stage at the far end.
No miraculous parting of the sea happened for her. She had to push her way through. Her heels tapped smartly, likely scuffing the floor’s highly glossed finish, as she ignored posted signs on the walls that warned only proper sports shoes were allowed.
A man in jeans, cowboy boots, and a skin-tight, black T-shirt stood behind a long, folding table strewn with stacks of paper. A battered felt Stetson rested on the raised platform of the stage behind him. Thick veins corded muscular arms. Brown hair, licked up in front and shaved close on the sides, matched finely angled eyebrows and a faint hint of stubble that suggested either he’d forgotten to shave, or had shaved very early that morning. He wasn’t much taller than she was—maybe five feet nine or ten against her five eight—and his build could best be described as wiry.
But wow, he was pretty.
She’d been warned early on about the hazards of dating cowboys in Grand. If a woman was seen in public with one more than twice, or invited him into her home after nine o’clock, then they were as good as engaged. Hookups were rare because they were impossible to keep private.
How archaic. She had no interest in marriage. At least, not anytime soon.
A few moments ago, she would have said she had no interest in hookups, either. Her interest in cowboys, however, had suddenly shot through the roof.
He looked up from the table. Bright, laser-blue eyes collided with hers, and her heart skipped a few beats. He was her age, give or take. She wondered if he was married, and if not, where his hookups might happen.
Then, his glance moved on, and her sanity returned. She had to work in this town, and what might be okay in LA or New York wouldn’t fly here. Besides, what had George said? She should focus on Taryn, and what she’d need from her big sister.
Good-looking cowboys abounded. She only had one little sister. Being an exemplary role model was the right place to start.
Taryn was chatting to the teenaged, skinny-jeaned Emo beside the hot cowboy. She tucked the handful of papers he handed her into her leather tote. The boy looked as if he didn’t dare trust his good fortune.That’s the right call, Emo. Don’t trust her.
“You ride bulls?” Taryn was saying to him, her eyes wide in a way that made Shauna want to roll hers.
“A few.” The boy shrugged. “Not as many as Nix, though.” He jerked a thumb in the hot cowboy’s direction.
“Only because I’ve got a few years on you. You’ll catch up in no time,” the hot cowboy said, sounding so humbly sincere and polite that Shauna was momentarily charmed. It was obvious the boy was intent on impressing her sister, and cowboy Nix was helping him out.
Wasn’t that sweet.
From the conversation around her, Shauna gathered they were signing boys up for a rodeo clinic sponsored by the Endeavour Ranch. She’d been to one or two rodeos, and while the music and the lights and the crowds were quite the experience, she could think of quicker and less painful ways to be killed.
“Where do you buy the equipment?” Taryn asked Nix.
“The Tongue and Bit carries tack. That’s the local saddlery,” he said. If he was humoring her sister, nothing about his slow, friendly smile gave him away.
That friendly smile, directed at Shauna’s super-cute but underage sister, twitched her lawyerly suspicions, and all of a sudden, she wasn’t as charmed.
