Cowgirls Don't Cry(66)

“Why?” She knew little of the McKay family history because Luke never wanted to talk about it.

“Grandpop made it clear he’d rather live with the daughter of the man he hated than with his own son.

I suspect that was the start of the issues between my dad and his brothers, but no one has ever confirmed that’s what sparked the problems.”


“Family drama. Ain’t it fun?”


“Don’t worry, Jess. I won’t pick a fight with a random stranger or do anything to embarrass you in front of your dad.”


“That’s not it. I’m more worried he’ll do something to embarrass me.”


Brandt lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles.

Jessie appreciated he didn’t make false promises that everything between her and Billy would be hunky-dory, sparkly rainbows and lollipops.

The roads to Gillette were icy and Brandt concentrated on driving. She must’ve dozed off because the next thing she knew, Brandt was shaking her awake.

“We’re at the Camplex.”


She stretched. “What time is it?”


“Twelve. What time does the rodeo start?”


“I’m guessing one o’clock.”


“Where are you meeting him?”


“In the contestant area. Not that I have a clue where that is. I’ve never been to the Camplex.”


Brandt frowned. “Didn’t you travel around with your dad for a while?”


“You mean the summer I met you at the Devil’s Tower Rodeo?”


He nodded.

“That was the third and final event I attended with him. I cramped his style.” She smiled. “Which was why I ended up in the bar that night.”


“Do you remember running into us—me’n Luke at the rodeo earlier that day?”


“Uh-huh. That’s how I found out about the dance. Luke asked me to come.”


Brandt parked. Then he turned, cupping her face to give her a tender kiss. “Any time you’re ready to leave, give me a signal.”


“Maybe we should have a code word,” she suggested.

“Like what?”


“Hot, kinky sex?”


Brandt grinned. “I don’t even wanna know how you’d work that into casual conversation with your dad sittin’ right there, so maybe we oughta come up something else.”


“How about slow dancing, in honor of our first meeting?”


“Deal. But I feel obligated to mention that you slow danced with my brother, not me.”


She frowned. “But I know we two-stepped.”


He shook his head. “Sorry. You only had eyes for Luke.”


No point in arguing that one.

They paid the entrance fee to the arena and tracked down the contestant’s area. No one was admitted behind the chutes, but the gatekeeper sent someone to locate Billy Reynolds.

Jessie’s old fears surfaced. What if Billy had changed his mind at the last minute and had bypassed the Gillette rodeo? Wouldn’t be the first time. In truth, Billy had left her hanging more times than he’d followed through with any plans they’d made. She could claim she’d outgrown that fear, but it was embarrassing that Billy Reynolds still had the ability to hurt and disappoint her.

Brandt’s warm, rough, strong hand slipped into hers.

Somehow he knew. Ever since the day she hadn’t walked away when he’d been hurting, things had changed between them. No declarations of love. Just a deeper level of acceptance. Even for things they didn’t speak of. Like what’d happened to Brandt that day to turn him inside out. Like now, when she reverted to the young girl hanging on the corrals, hoping for attention from an absent father before he took off again.