Beauty and the Bull Rider (Hotel Rodeo #3)(19)

“It’s not a damned gesture,” he almost growled. “I mean it. If there’s anything you can’t or don’t want to handle, Delaney, I want you to call me.”

“Thank you, Zac. If there’s anything I can’t handle, I promise I’ll call. I really have to get back to this fence. Was there a reason you phoned?”

Her question brought him back around to his purpose. “Well, yeah. I called because I’m going to look at some bucking bulls for Ty. There’s a big herd reduction at an outfit just north of Laredo. I hear they’ve been producing some pretty rank stock by crossing some bucking lines with fighting bulls. Any chance you’d like to come along?”

“To Laredo?” She hesitated, calculating the distance. “You’ll probably stay overnight, won’t you?”

“Yeah. If you wanted to go, I thought we could spend a night in San Antonio. We can get separate rooms if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“I don’t think so, Zac,” she finally replied. “I appreciate the offer, but I really can’t get away right now. Too much work to do.”

“Do you want me to take a look at the prospects for you? You’d probably do better if I negotiate for you anyway.”

“Why’s that?” she asked, bristling with resentment. “You think I don’t know a good prospect when I see one?”

“Don’t be so defensive, Delaney. I only meant they might try to take advantage of you, given that most people know you have a lot of money to throw around.”

“Oh. I thought you meant—”

“I didn’t.”

“I’m sorry, Zac. I’m just so used to people misjudging me.”

“Really? How ironic,” he mumbled.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Isn’t that what you’ve been doing all along with me?”

“How?” she asked.

“First, you blamed me for your divorce. Then, at the auction, you assumed I was stealing your heifer. Since then, you’ve implied more than once that I have the morals of an alley cat. You don’t think a whole lot of my character, do you?”

“I’m sorry, Zac. I admit that I thought you only wanted sex, but there’s no reason for you to go to such ridiculous lengths for it. Maybe I jumped to a few conclusions.”

“It’s time to stop jumping, Delaney. I’m not one of those people who want to see you fail. I respect what you’ve accomplished.”

“You do?” Her tone rose in surprise.

“Damn straight,” he replied. “I’m in your corner and I intend to stay there.”

“You really mean that?”

“I say what I mean.”

“I appreciate that, Zac,” she said softly.

“Call you again when I get back?” he asked.

“Sure,” she replied. “I’ll be around.”





Delaney hung up with mixed feelings. Maybe she’d been too hard on him, but it had only been a few days since all this started, certainly not long enough to prove anything. Part of her had wanted to accept Zac’s invitation, but what she really needed right now was some distance and objectivity. Every time he even looked at her, she felt herself weakening just a little bit more. He’d made it clear he was determined to wear down her resistance. Laredo was over eight hours away. How much resistance would she have left after spending the better part of two days and one night with him?

Pocketing her phone with a sigh, she turned back to the job at hand. She hated pulling wire, but with Zac planning to buy bulls, it was time to reinforce the woven wire fence with a strand of barbed wire. The last thing she needed was for one of his bulls to come through it into her herd.

After rolling out the spool and pulling the wire, she was fighting with the ratchet when her hand slipped. Almost instantly, the metal barbs pierced her worn leather glove and penetrated into her thumb. She dropped both the tool and the strand of wire with a curse. The wound stung like a bitch, and blood had begun saturating the leather. Ripping off the torn glove, she examined the wound and then rifled through her utility cart for the first aid kit she always carried on the ATV.

Damn it all! She knew it was her own fault. It would have made perfect sense to ask Zac to help her with the fence, but stubborn pride hadn’t allowed it. Now that same pride would require her to make a trip to the Frederick Urgent Care Center for a tetanus shot as soon as she finished.

Two of her young bulls, Romeo and Caesar, approached, watching intently as she bandaged her thumb. Figuring they were just curious, she paid little attention, until Romeo turned broadside and lowered his head with a snort. Young bulls often challenged one another, but they were too close to her and to the roll of barbed wire. She recognized the danger of the situation when Caesar replied in kind.

Leaping over the ATV, Delaney watched from the relative safety of the other side. Although she’d bottle-fed them both as babies, these weren’t babies anymore. They were easily eight hundred pounds, and with only a few yards separating them, any further move on her part could easily divert their aggression to herself.

Her heart raced in panic when Romeo dropped his head and hooked the loose wire with his horns. He charged Caesar, popping several yards of wire from the staples that had anchored it to the posts. Torn loose, the new section of wire snapped back into a tight coil, catching the bull around the legs. Icy-cold fear clogged her throat.