Page 50 of A Montana Rodeo Star

She wouldn’t though. No one had done something this romantic for her.

Ever.

Faith hurried to where she’d be able to watch the show. Her hands and legs were shaking and she wouldn’t have been surprised if she collapsed before she got there.

Right as she reached the edge of the arena, the chute opened and the horse bucked out into the fray. Brent looked as good as the pros. His spur work was exceptional and it was clear he’d been working on his form. She couldn’t catch a single thing wrong with his performance.

Her eyes remained glued to him until the buzzer sounded. She didn’t exhale the breath she’d been holding until he was safely to the side and climbing over the wall. A squeal of excitement practically burst from her body as she charged back down the corridor where she’d come to meet Brent on his way to the locker room.

It took longer than she expected for him to arrive but when he did, there was the biggest smile she’d ever seen plastered on his face. His pace quickened as he strode toward her. Brent dropped his helmet to the floor and pulled her into his arms.

Hugs weren’t usually something Faith considered intimate. She hugged her family, friends, and most of the people she liked.

But when Brent’s arms wrapped around her and he held her tight enough to lift her feet from the floor, Faith felt… different. There was something about the way Brent held her. Heat seeped into the coldest parts of her body right to the marrow of her bones. She clung to him and let the world fall away. In this moment she wasn’t Tate and Jason’s little sister. She wasn’t the shy, quiet girl who no one paid attention to.

Right now, she was the girl Brent Gilley had asked on a date.

She was the girl who said yes.

Brent pulled back, pride and excitement shining from his eyes. “Third. I got third place!”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

There was no duplicating the high that Brent had experienced last Saturday. He’d won. No, he didn’t get first place, but he’d gotten a date with the girl he couldn’t stop thinking about. He placed in an important event where he knew there were potential sponsors. No one would approach him yet, but he knew the rodeo crowd was buzzing with the news of his win.

Hopefully the news wouldn’t reach Sagebrush.

So far, nothing had changed at home. Everyone was too busy planning for Tripp’s wedding. The closer the date came, the more frantic his mother seemed to get. She didn’t have time for gossip or even asking how his budding relationship with Faith was going.

At least now he didn’t have to lie to her about why he was going over to the Dennison property as much. He fully planned on spending time with Faith. As much as he could get away with.

Brent brought a mug of coffee to his lips and smiled as he watched out his upstairs bathroom window as a few men rode off toward the sunrise. Dust billowed around them as they made their way toward the northern pasture where the cattle were grazing. He’d overheard Bo asking some of the men to count the cattle before they were moved to another meadow. Thankfully, Brent hadn’t been needed.

There were a few things he had to take care of. In the post whirlwind of the event last night, he’d been too distracted to notify Tate and Jason about his intentions with their sister. It had completely slipped his mind when they’d congratulated him on placing.

And when Faith met him outside of the locker room, her brothers had been elsewhere.

In the back of his mind, he knew he had to speak to them. In fact, he probably should have told them before he asked Faith out on an official date. He could already imagine the looks of anger on their faces when they found out. They’d already warned him off.

And when he’d promised them he only intended on being friends with Faith, he’d been telling the truth.

Sometimes things changed.

And the realization that he wanted Faith was one of them.

He wasn’t against fighting them for the privilege of dating their sister, either—something that surprised even him. Brent had so much on his plate, but he wanted this. Almost as much as he wanted the rodeo sponsorship.

Brent blew out a breath and turned away from the window, grabbed his hat, and headed for the door. He deposited his coffee mug in the sink, pulled on his dusty boots and ducked into the cool morning air. Since he wasn’t going to be helping with moving or counting the cattle, he’d offered to ensure the barn was straightened up.

Was it really spring cleaning when it was in the middle of the summer?

There was a workbench area that was a catch-all for tools and other small equipment that people didn’t put away in the right places. And his cousin, Jack, had started parking the riding lawn mower just inside the barn because the space where it belonged in the large shed had been filled with a few large boxes that contained decorations for the wedding.

The chaos from the mess was getting to Brent as much as it was probably getting to Bo. Sagebrush had always been Bo’s life. He would have worked himself to the bone if he hadn’t found his wife and she’d forced him to delegate more.

Brent couldn’t help but linger on that final thought as he set to work organizing the tools and wire used to repair the fences surrounding the property. There was something to be said about finding someone who could stand by and support a man through all his dreams for the future.

Obviously, it was too soon for him to think about finding someone to fill that role. But it did make him wonder if it would be possible to have it all.