Page 50 of The Cowboy’s Reckoning

She smiled into the darkness. “After my mother died, we were able to grieve together, but by the time Dad got sick, and we found out about his financial problems, we were headed in different directions. So I took over.”

“And dropped out of school.”

“I’m doing okay without a degree. Even if I had one, I’d be doing the same thing as now.”

“Ranching.”

“It’s in the blood. The thing is that I’d thought my sisters and I would continue the family ranch. We had a little over a section. Four hundred cows. Alfalfa. It looked good from the outside looking in. Not so good on paper. Dad made some errors.”

He pulled her into his arms, and she snuggled against him feeling remarkably sheltered. There was no cow shooting. No one was messing with the place. It was just the two of them in this tiny trailer in the dark, sharing bits of themselves.

For now, she’d take it.

And she had questions. “How did you come to know Burke?”

“Excuse me?” His chest muscles tightened beneath her cheek as he craned his neck to look at her. She did not raise her gaze, but she did smile. “Aubrey said you guys rodeoed together. What event?”

“We were not in the same event.”

“Let me guess, Burke was a bull rider.”

“Steer wrestler.”

“And you?”

“Rough stock, of course. Saddle bronc.” His muscles relaxed and he stroked her shoulder with his fingertips, sending little waves of pleasure through her.

She hadn’t been caressed and held for a long, long time.

“I was good, you know.”

“I don’t doubt it.” She pulled in his scent, closed her eyes.

“Got myself into trouble a few times.”

She raised her head and then shifted her position to get a better look at him. “You got injured?”

His chest moved as he laughed. “No. Other kinds of trouble.”

Lil propped herself up on her elbow again. “Name one.”

He brought his hands up to frame her face, then pull her down for a kiss, making her lose her balance midway and collapse on his chest. “You’re trying to distract me,” she said.

And he was doing a pretty good job of it.

“Yes. I am. Those days are gone.”

She propped herself back up again. “Give me a category.”

“You are relentless.”

“Determined.”

His gorgeous eyes narrowed at the corners at her correction. “I’ve seen signs of that.” But he didn’t answer the question.

She cocked her head, waited, until finally he let out a resigned breath.

“Fine. Let’s just say I escaped arrest for disorderly conduct on more than one wild weekend in some unnamed Montana towns.”