Long Hard Ride (Rough Riders #1)(67)

Colby sighed and glanced at the clock again. He missed Channing.


They hadn’t had a chance to talk about his stellar * performance from the other night. He’d been too much of a chickenshit to call her cell phone as he’d driven Trevor’s rig to Cheyenne last night. Some things had to be done in person. Especially apologies. Then last night after they’d pulled into the campground at the opposite end of town from Frontier Park, they had to set up, take care of the horses and, by the time he and Edgard finished, it’d been damn near two in the morning.


Too late to call her. This morning he had to register for his events, pay his fees and he’d spent the afternoon with his family, leaving no time for him to wander over to Gemma’s campsite.


So…maybe if he played his cards right tonight, they could sneak outside and kiss and make up. Then he could get up the gumption to tell her all the things that’d been weighing on him before she left him for good.


“Hey, cowboy. Buy me a drink?”


Colby turned slightly. Yep. Another buckle bunny trying her luck. He shrugged and didn’t respond, hoping she’d get the hint.


She didn’t. Long scarlet nails inched up his shirt. She crowded in so he was enveloped in silicone, rhinestones and a cloud of perfume.


“Maybe you’d rather dance?”


“Maybe you’d like to get your paw offa him or I’ll bust it off, starting with those ugly fake claws,” a striking brunette said as she wrapped her arm around Colby’s waist.


“Run along, little girl,” the bunny hissed.


“Darlin’,” she cooed sweetly to Colby, “you want this washed up old hag, or would you rather have a young hottie like me rockin’ your horse trailer?”


Colby tried not to laugh as he dropped a kiss on her temple. “I’ll take you, sweetheart.”


The buckle bunny spun on her ugly high-heeled boots the color of raspberry Kool-Aid and disappeared into the crowd.


Colby looked down at his sister and grinned. “Thanks, Keely.”


“You’re welcome. Although it totally creeps me out to have to ask you this. Are they always all over you like flies on shit?”


“Nice visual,” he said dryly. “But yeah, pretty much.”


“Dude. That sucks.” Her face brightened. “Hey, maybe there’s a way you could keep them away tonight. Pretend you’re madly in love with Amy Jo. Dance with her. Sit with her. Hold her hand and stare into her eyes. Normal nice, boring courtin’ shit that’d make me gag. But I know she’d totally go for it.”


Keely’s steely blue eyes were a bit too gleeful. “And this would be solely for my benefit?”


“Absolutely.” She ducked out of his embrace. “Ooh. I’m bailing before that hot bull fighter I’m chasing thinks I really am with you.” Keely shuddered. “Later, bro.”


Colby watched his sister saunter off and the trail of young bucks hot on her heels. Keely McKay was smart as a whip, as beautiful and unrefined as a wild horse, and held a razor sharp tongue that’d stripped the skin off of more than one unlucky cowboy. With an independent streak as wide as her stubborn streak, she considered raisin’ hell her God-given right. Woe to the man who wound up trying to tame her and win her heart.


What would Channing’s family say about their daughter? Did they even know her heart? Her wild streak? Her secret desire to be tamed and inflamed?


As Colby made his way back to his family table, he ran into Trevor, who appeared eager to get away from his own family. “Where you goin’?”


“To the bar. And if I don’t come back, don’t tell them where I went, okay?”


“Okay. Have you seen Channing?”


“Ah. No.”


Panicked, he grabbed Trevor’s arm. “Something happened to her?”


“Nope.” Trevor dropped his gaze. “I just haven’t seen her since last night.”


Colby recognized his guilty expression. Jealousy roared through him like a raging forest fire. “You son of a bitch.”


“What?”


“Did you f*ck her when you saw her last night?”


Trevor’s stubborn chin rose a notch. “So?”


Somehow he’d expected Trevor to deny it. Or Colby had hoped that Channing knew he’d been serious about his threat that no other man touched her besides him. “That’s all you’ve got to say to me is so?”


“What’s the big deal? Isn’t that why she’s travelin’ with us? For a little variety?”


Colby loomed over his friend and growled, “I am gonna kick your sorry faggot ass right f*cking now.”


Trevor didn’t back down. In fact, he stepped up. “Back off, McKay.


I’m warnin’ you. I’m in a piss-poor mood, half-drunk and rarin’ to beat on someone. Since you’re in my face it can just as easily be you.”


“You prepared to bleed for her?”


“Probably more than you are.”


“What the f*ck does that mean?”