Two To Wrangle (Hotel Rodeo #2)(4)

“First off, that business with me and Cassie the other night was just that, Monica—business. I was entertaining a potential investor—which, as you might recall, was somethin’ you suggested. Cassie only came to give me some archi-architeshural renderings and then asked to join us for the bull riding. We went as a group. There was nothing else to it.”

“You had your hands all over her,” she accused.

“Then you were seeing things. I had one arm around her shoulders, ’cause she’d had a bit too much to drink.”

“I saw how she was looking at you, Ty, like she wanted to eat you up.”

“Look, Monica. Les jus’ cut to the chase here. If you wanna know if I ever screwed her, the answer is yes. More than a few times, but never since I met you. I could have brought her up here to this room after you tossed your little hissy fit and stormed out the other night. Maybe part of me wanted to, just to spite you for it, but I didn’t. I know you’re gonna believe the worst of me, as you always do, but that’s the truth.”

“All right,” she replied warily, still unsure if she could believe him, but wanting to give him the benefit of the doubt. “If I did jump to conclusions, what did you expect after you acted so vague and mysterious. You really hurt me.”

“I never meant to,” he said softly, remorsefully. “I’d planned to tell you everything if it panned out, but the whole deal was still hanging in the air at that point. I didn’t want to jinx myself by talking about it.”

“Why didn’t you ever tell me about Delaney?” she asked. “You were married, for God’s sake! Why did you let me think you’d never been in a serious relationship?”

“Because my marriage was a total f*ckup. Probably the biggest of my life. I’m no good at relationships. I said that from the beginning. So mebbe you can understand why I don’t like to talk about it.”

“But I thought you just said you wanted to tell me your side of the story.”

“You really want to know all about me and Delaney?”

“Yes, Ty,” she said. “I do.”

He blew out an exasperated breath. “All right. If that’s what you really want, I’ll tell you the whole damned story.” He slouched, flinging one arm over the back of the sofa. “We first met at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. I was there riding bulls and raising hell with my best buddy, Zac McDaniel. Delaney had just been crowned Miss Yellow Rose and was campaigning for Miss Texas.” His eyelids drooped to half-mast as if he were re-watching it in his mind.

“She was completely out of our league, and we both knew it, but given that Zac and me were always fiercely competitive, we both set out to get her attention. It really wasn’t much of a contest ’cause Zac’d never put himself out for a woman before. The more he ignored ’em the more they flocked to him, but Delaney wasn’t like that. She took a little finessing, which was right up my alley.”

“I’ll buy that. You’re quite the Casanova when you want to be,” Monica said, tamping down a jealous twinge. “So what exactly did this finessing entail?”

“It started with a two-step on the dance floor of the Stockman and ended a few hours later in the backseat of my truck.”

“That was fast work,” Monica remarked dryly.

“Yeah, well,” he gave a dry laugh. “Unbeknownst to me, she was already primed for some slumming with cowboys. Delaney resented that her rich family had her future all planned out, so she’d decided to take the bit between her teeth that night. All I knew was that she was rich, beautiful, and wanted sex, at least with me. By the time I realized she was a virgin, it was too damned late. We eloped that night. I was twenty-four and she was nineteen.”

“You eloped that same night?” she asked incredulously. “No wonder it was doomed for disaster.”

“Yeah,” he replied with a rueful look. “It was stupid as hell, and we both lived to regret it. Delaney wanted to settle down on the ranch and have babies, but I wasn’t near ready to give up rodeo.” He paused. “She didn’t understand that cowboy doesn’t come off with the hat. It’s in the blood.”

“But you had a responsibility to her.”

“I did,” he said, “But I wasn’t willing to let anyone dictate my life. I’ve never answered to anyone except Tom, and he mostly let me have my head. I wasn’t ready to play family man. It wasn’t who I was or what I wanted. You can only deny yourself for so long. Restlessness and rodeo won out in the end.”

“You left her?”

“Not exactly,” he said. “It was her choice. She didn’t want to live on the road in cheap motels, but I did. So Zac and I hit the road again, one rodeo after another in endless succession.”

“Did you cheat on her, Ty?”

He looked pained at the question. “Hell if I know. I’d like to think I didn’t, but I can’t recall any of it. There’s weeks of my life that are just a blank page. That period wreaked almost as much havoc on my liver as it did on the marriage.” He sighed with a remorseful shake of his head. “We weren’t any damn good for each other anyhow.”

“We all make foolish mistakes when we’re young and stupid,” she said.

“If only mine had ended there,” he said.