Beauty and the Bull Rider (Hotel Rodeo #3)(7)

No one had taken her seriously after that.

So, instead of selling her share back to him, she’d enrolled at Oklahoma State. Four years later, she’d finally achieved something she could be proud of—a degree in animal husbandry. Eight years ago, her knowledge of cattle had been limited to the best cuts of beef to order at the finest restaurants, but things had changed. She had changed.

“I agree,” Zac continued, unperturbed. “But that attitude doesn’t endear you to folks who already don’t think a woman should be messing around with bulls.”

“Which camp are you in, Zac?” she asked.

His green gaze met hers. “What makes you think I’m in either one?”

“You bought my heifer. Why else would you have bid when you knew I wanted her?”

“I bid on her because it was obvious that you weren’t going to get her any other way.”

“Oh?” She swallowed that morsel and almost choked on it. “You didn’t want her for yourself?”

“I didn’t say that. She was the pick of the lot, but I wouldn’t have outbid you for her.”

“So that’s why you asked how high I was willing to go?”

“Yup.”

“I’ll write you a check right now.” She reached for her purse.

He stopped her, resting his big, calloused hand on hers. She licked her lips, painfully aware that her nerves lit up every time he touched her. Was she that hungry for a man? She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d had sex without batteries. Although she ached to feel a man inside her again, she didn’t want the complications and pitfalls of a relationship.

“Don’t want your money,” he said low and husky. “I’d much rather have your goodwill and maybe a bull calf from that heifer later on down the road.”

“So you really did bring me here to talk about the heifer?” she asked, freeing her hand by reaching for her wineglass.

“Among other things,” he replied.

She regarded him narrowly. “What kind of things?”

“Since it looks like we’re gonna be running into each other a good bit from here on out, I’d like to clear the air between us. Once and for all.”

“All right, cowboy.” She pushed her plate away and leaned back in her chair. “What’s on your mind?”

“I want to know why you blame me,” Zac said.

“Blame you for what?” she asked.

“For you and Ty,” he answered. “I didn’t set out to destroy your marriage. I didn’t pull him away from you, Delaney. I never wanted to see you get hurt.”

“Maybe not, but you sure didn’t do much to help it. I thought you’d at least try to rein him in, if only out of respect for me.”

“I wasn’t exactly Ty’s keeper back then,” he said. “No one was. You know as well as I do that Ty wasn’t ready to settle down.” His gaze was cool and level and far too probing. “I love Ty like a brother, but there’s no way in hell he coulda made you happy, even if he’d stuck around. You didn’t want the same things. You needed a man you could count on. Ty wasn’t that man.”

“I know that . . . now,” she said.

She would like to have argued the point, but she could hardly disagree. Ty hadn’t been ready for marriage and family. Maybe he never would be. If she was honest, it wasn’t all Ty’s fault either. She’d only set her sights on him to spite her controlling parents, but after they’d eloped she’d sworn to become the perfect little rancher’s wife and raise the perfect little family, not realizing that Ty had no intention of giving up his freedom—married or not. When given the ultimatum, he’d walked. He hadn’t even contested the divorce. In the end, the joke had been on her.

She looked away. “I don’t blame you anymore, but it still hurts.”

“He didn’t do it, you know.”

Her gaze flew back to Zac. She released a snort of disbelief. “So he claims.”

“It’s true, Delaney. He was too drunk to know she was undressing him, and he passed out before anything happened.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” She choked out a dry laugh. “My husband didn’t cheat because he drank too much to finish the job? Sorry. It doesn’t matter if he actually did her or not. He shouldn’t have been in that room with her in the first place.”

“We always shared traveling expenses.”

“Whores too, Zac? You’re quite a friend.”

Her biggest concern back then had been the buckle bunnies that flocked to Zac and Ty whenever they traveled together. Deep down, she’d known it was just a matter of time before something bad happened.

He mumbled a stream of curses. “That’s not what I meant.”

“Then what did you mean? Why were there multiple women in the room? Is one at a time not enough for you, or are you sporting more than one dick?”

Zac’s expression darkened. “I’m not going to apologize to you for my lifestyle. Maybe I did have a wild streak once, but that was years ago.” He signaled the waitress for another beer.

“Why did you invite me here?” she asked. “And don’t give me that line about wanting for female company ’cause I don’t buy it.” She took a sip of her wine. “You’ve always had your pick of women. All you horndog bull riders do.”