Page 13 of Taming the Wild Cowboy

“Neither Brooke nor I were driving your truck that night.”

“I don’t understand.”

“She let her guy, whom she’d arranged to meet in Red Lodge I guess, drive her back to the rodeo grounds in your truck. Late.” Maclyn cleared her throat.

She hesitated, watching him for a sign to continue. Trev nodded even as his gut went tight. Brooke had been meeting a guy for some side action while he and Dylan had been miles away, checking out a roping horse in Miles City?

That made him feel stupid. Used.

“He wrecked the truck.”

All Trev could do was stare. What the fuck?

“I think there was a deer involved. Brooke called me to come and get her when I was about to head back to Western.”

It had been the last rodeo of the season, and Maclyn hadn’t made the finals, so she’d decided to return to school, and Brooke was going to hitch a ride with him back to Bozeman. That much he knew was true.

“I drove to the accident site, then took her back to the rodeo grounds. I offered to stay, but she insisted she was fine. So, I left as planned and didn’t find out that she’d blamed me until weeks later.” She pulled in a breath. “You know … when you confronted me about insurance.”

“Why didn’t you mention this guy before?”

“I didn’t know about him.” The words rang true. “I thought Brooke had been drinking, so it made sense that she’d been trying to avoid a DUI by calling me. When I showed up, I had no reason to suspect she hadn’t been alone. I think you know the rest.”

It was pretty much burned in his brain. He and Dylan had pulled into the rodeo grounds late the following morning, only to be met by Brooke sobbing about his truck and how Mac had borrowed it, swerved to miss a deer and ended up sliding down an embankment. It was Brooke’s fault for lending Mac the truck, and she begged him to just let the matter go. She’d pay for repairs. At the time, he’d thought Brooke was being a good friend. He had no reason to believe otherwise.

“Finding out that Brooke blamed me for the wreck, that she insisted she wasn’t even there, was like finding myself in a weird dream. It was …” Maclyn let her words trail as she frowned at the memory. Trev hesitated, then put a hand on her upper arm. Her gaze flashed up and he dropped his hand. She didn’t seem to notice he’d even touched her, and it was painfully obvious from her expression how betrayed she’d felt.

“It was shattering,” she finally said.

“Listen—”

A sudden gust of wind blasted over them as the door behind them opened and Wade strode in. “You guys going to work anytime soon?”

Trust Wade to be his gruffest in front of the new hire.

“Waiting for the wind to die down,” Trev said, holding Maclyn’s gaze long enough for her to know that this conversation wasn’t done, and then shifting it in his uncle’s direction.

“Then I guess the cows will go hungry today.” Wade touched the brim of his wool cap and nodded at Maclyn. “I’m Wade.”

“Maclyn Kane.”

Wade’s eyes narrowed and Trev wondered if he remembered that she was the one involved with the wreck. How could he? Trev had given him the minimum amount of information regarding the incident and Wade had seen his boys get into enough trouble over the years that he hadn’t questioned him too closely.

“Nice to meet you,” Wade finally said before turning to Trev. “I’ll take care of the bulls. The New Holland is acting up, so use the John Deere when you show Maclyn how to feed.”

“Will do,” Trev said, feigning an easy smile. Feigning rarely worked with Wade.

“You okay?”

“Yeah,” Trev said as if it were a dumb question.

“Uh-huh.” Wade’s parental radar might be rusty, but it was still operational. He bounced a look between Trev and Maclyn, as if sussing out trouble, then shook his head. “I’ll check the cows. Catch up with me when you’re done feeding.”

After Wade had opened the gate to the rear of the barn where the calving pens were located and had traveled out of earshot, Trev asked the question that had to be asked. The one that, if Maclyn couldn’t answer, might exonerate Brooke. “How’d you find out about the mystery guy?”

“Madi Fletcher.”

“No shit.” Madi was the closest thing the rodeo had to a bona fide girl scout. Not the gossiping kind. Definitely not the lying kind.