Читать книгу Her Montana Cowboy - Valerie Hansen - Страница 12

Chapter Three

Julie lagged behind with Ryan as the crowd dispersed, following her father and the rest of the centennial committee around to the front of the bandstand. She wanted to look at the empty concrete vault herself, as if needing proof that the time capsule was really missing.

“There’s no way anybody could find clues here now,” Ryan observed. “This dirt has been trampled by too many boots.” He was crouching next to the open hole while curious onlookers slowly passed by, whispering, pointing and conjecturing.

“I know.” Julie was more than disappointed. She was crushed. “What a shame. Opening the capsule was one of our main events. I can’t imagine who would have bothered it.”

Dusting off his hands, Ryan straightened. “One thing you might want to ask yourself is if it was taken recently or pilfered a long time ago.”

“I’d never thought of wondering why the dirt looked freshly disturbed. I just assumed it was loose because somebody had prepared the site for easier digging when the TV cameras were rolling.”

“That’s possible,” he replied with an arch of his dark eyebrows. “It seems likely that the theft occurred after everybody was reminded that the box existed. The old-timers who buried it in the first place knew what was inside. Folks today probably didn’t, unless that rickety old guy I saw you with earlier today was alive back then.”

His lazy smile warmed her and temporarily alleviated some of the tension. Julie began to smile again. “Rusty Zidek. He’s a fixture around Jasper Gulch. I’ll do you a favor and not tell him you just said he was rickety. He’s proud of being in his nineties.”

“Perfectly understandable,” Ryan replied. “If I were his age and still that spry, I’d brag about it, too.”

She grew pensive. “You know, even if the original records of the burial of that box have been lost, it’s possible Rusty remembers rumors from when he was a boy. It might be worth asking him. I’ll suggest it to Dad in case he hasn’t already thought of it.”

“Okay.” Ryan checked his watch. “I hate to miss any of this excitement, but time’s getting short. I’d better head over to the arena and see to my bareback riggin’.”

“Where do you fall in the schedule?” Julie asked, fully intending to watch him ride every chance she got, as promised.

“I’m fourth up in the bareback lineup, near the last in saddle bronc and the same in bull riding.” He grinned. “Guess the officials are saving the best for last.”

“Good to see a humble cowboy for a change,” Julie quipped.

“Hey, confidence is necessary if I intend to win,” Ryan countered. “You can’t be unsure of yourself and expect to stick eight seconds on a bucker, especially if it’s an eighteen-­hundred-pound bull.”

She allowed herself to assess him for a few seconds, then said, “The bigger ones are probably a better fit for a guy as tall as you are. I imagine those small bulls are a lot harder to ride.”

“Especially if they’re slab sided,” Ryan explained. “It’s like being a contestant in mutton busting when you’re a kid.”

“That reminds me,” Julie said. “I have to see to the sheep I brought to town for that event. The children always look forward to pretending they’re big ol’ tough cowboys. It’s adorable to watch. I just hope my sheep don’t have nervous breakdowns.”

“What little I know about sheep, it wouldn’t take much. They aren’t the most intelligent critters in the barn.”

She huffed and planted her fists on her hips. “Well, they’re smart enough to stay away from wild horses and angry, bucking bulls.”

Laughing, he touched the brim of his Stetson. “You’ve got a point there, ma’am.” As he backed away, he gave her a parting grin that made her toes tingle inside her boots.

“I’ll pray for you. Okay?” she said.

“Whatever.” Turning on his heel, he left her without further comment.

As Julie watched him go, she pondered their previous conversations. Most riders she knew were pretty reliant on the good Lord to watch over them, and many could cite instances when they’d felt God’s protection, even if they’d been injured.

Apparently Ryan Travers was a long way from embracing her kind of faith. Julie sighed, disheartened by that conclusion. It was not her habit to try to change folks when they were happy being whoever they’d decided they were, but in Ryan’s case she’d make an exception. Denying God’s loving kindness and infinite power was bad enough. Doing so when you regularly risked your life was much, much worse.

Julie nodded and smiled at the accurate assessment. And he thought sheep were clueless.

* * *

For the first time in longer than Ryan could recall, he was having trouble keeping his mind on his work. He couldn’t have cared less about the missing time capsule; it was pretty Julie Shaw who occupied his thoughts.

“That’s not good,” he muttered as he stood on a metal rung of the narrow bucking chute and tightened the cinch on the surcingle that was the main part of his bareback rigging. This rangy pinto mare wasn’t called Widowmaker for nothing. He knew she followed a pattern around the ring that was not only erratic, she tended to change her tactics if the rider on her back got the least little bit off center.

Off center was exactly what he was, too, Ryan concluded, except his problem was mental. He could not only picture Julie Shaw as if she were standing right there next to the chute gates, he could imagine her light, uplifting laughter.

Actually, he realized with a start, that was what he was hearing. He started to glance over his shoulder, intending to scan the nearby crowd and, hopefully, locate her.

“Clock’s ticking, Travers,” the chute boss grumbled. “You gonna ride that horse or just look at her?”

Rather than answer with words, Ryan stepped across the top of the chute, wedged one leather-gloved hand into the narrow, rawhide handhold that was his only lifeline while aboard the bronc, folded back his fancy chaps and settled himself as gently as possible.

The horse’s skin twitched. Her ears laid flat. She was gathering herself beneath him, knowing it was nearly time.

Ryan raised his free hand over his head and leaned way back so his spurs would fall at the point of the horse’s shoulder when she took her first jump. Then he nodded to the gate man.

The latch clicked.

The mare leaped.

Ryan held tight, determined to keep his feet in the proper position for a legal mark-out. If he let either heel pull away or drop too low before the mare’s front feet landed that first time, he’d be disqualified. Then it wouldn’t matter how well he rode or how hard this horse bucked. He wouldn’t get a score. Period.

Since half the points awarded were for the rider’s performance and half were for the horse’s, he also wanted her to do well, meaning he had to not only keep his balance, he had to make the proper countermoves to get the most out of this ride. Eight seconds didn’t seem like very long until you had your fingers wedged into a grip sticky with resin, the horse’s hind legs were flying so high you were being flung against her spine and the whiplash made it feel as if your head was fixin’ to part company with the rest of you.

Ryan didn’t attempt to do anything but ride until he heard the horn blast announcing his success. Then he straightened as best he could and worked his fingers loose with his free hand while pickup men maneuvered their running mounts close enough to help him dismount.

One of the men flicked the flank strap and it dropped away, stopping the mare from trying to kick it loose.

Ryan grabbed the other rider’s arm and released his glove while the mare traveled on without them.

“Thanks, man,” Ryan said, dropping to the ground next to the pickup horse and getting his balance well enough to scoop up his bent Stetson and dust it off.

“Watch it. Here she comes again,” a wrangler warned. “She’d as soon run you down as look at you.”

It was immediately clear to Ryan that the man was right. The rangy brown-and-white horse had missed seeing the exit gate on her first pass and was coming around again. Fast and furious.

He leaped up on the nearest fence. To his delight, Julie Shaw and a few others he recognized from before were watching. They had parked a flatbed farm truck near the fence beside the grandstand and were watching from secure perches in its bed.

Julie had both arms raised and was still cheering so wildly she almost knocked her hat off. “Woo-hoo! Good ride, cowboy!”

Ryan’s “Thanks” was swallowed up in the overall din from the rodeo fans. Clearly, Julie wasn’t the only spectator who had been favorably impressed.

A loudspeaker announced his score as eighty-six and a quarter.

Julie cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, “You were robbed!” which made him smile even more broadly.

He knew he should immediately report to the area behind the strip chutes and pick up his rigging. And he would. In a few minutes. As soon as he’d spoken to his newest fan.

The soles of his feet prickled in his boots as he jumped off the outside of the fence and reached behind to loosen the thigh buckles on his chaps.

“I’ll take any decent score I can get,” he said, wanting to reassure her that he wasn’t upset about her hometown event. “When I’m going for all-around in rough stock, every completed ride is a good one.”

She climbed down to join him and lightly touched his arm before facing the people she was with. “Ryan Travers, this is my sister, Faith. You probably noticed her at the parade. And this is Hannah Douglas, one of my very best friends. The adorable twins are hers. The boy is Corey and the girl is Chrissy.”

Ryan tipped his hat. “My pleasure. I think I met Mrs. Douglas at city hall when I checked in as a competitor.”

“That’s right,” the dark-haired, dark-eyed young woman said. She laughed lightly. “At least I think we met. I’ve seen so many strange cowboys lately they’re all starting to look alike.”

“Not to Julie, they don’t,” Faith chimed in.

Ryan almost laughed aloud when he saw Julie shoot a look of disdain at her sister. She was even cuter when she was blushing, and she was certainly pink enough now. So much so that the contrast of her freckles had almost vanished.

“Want to come with me to claim my rigging?” Ryan asked, assuming everyone would know which woman he was asking.

When all three answered in the affirmative, his jaw dropped—until the other two began to laugh and he realized he’d been the brunt of their inside joke.

“No way,” Julie announced boldly. “This one is all mine.” And with that, she took Ryan’s arm and urged him to walk away with her.

He was unsure how to best respond until she abruptly released her hold and apologized. “Sorry. I’m not usually so pushy. My sister knows how to get my goat, but Hannah doesn’t often help her.”

“It must be nice to be so close.”

“Yes. You don’t have siblings?”

Although he tried to mask his feelings, there was apparently enough poignancy in his expression to cause her smile to fade when he said, “No. Not anymore.”

She didn’t ask further questions, nor did she offer unasked­-for advice. She simply slipped her hand through the crook of his elbow again and tightened her grip.

If Ryan had been asked to interpret her actions at that moment, he probably would have said she was offering moral support. That was certainly the impression he was getting. And, like it or not, her presence was helping him handle the guilt and sorrow he still carried in regard to losing his big brother, Kirk.

Pushing aside those disturbing memories with Herculean effort, Ryan placed his other hand over Julie’s and kept walking. If he could have done so without attracting undue attention, he would have kept her by his side indefinitely.

There was something very special about Julie Shaw. Something he could not explain. Something intrinsic that emanated from her as if she were the personification of acceptance. And of love.

Caught unaware by that random thought, Ryan almost pulled away from her. Yet, he didn’t. And the why and wherefore of that choice troubled him deeply.

* * *

Julie yearned to urge Ryan to confide in her more. To let her help heal his obvious emotional pain. If he would tell her about his problems, she might know better how to pray for him.

“As if God needs my input,” she muttered as she left him checking his bronc-riding gear for his next event and headed back to rejoin Faith and Hannah. True, scripture urged praying without ceasing, yet she also knew there were references to God knowing what His children needed before they even asked. In the case of that spiritual truth, and others, Julie didn’t mind admitting she was confused.

Besides, she thought, climbing back aboard the truck bed with her friends and adjusting her straw Western hat, Ryan had made it clear that he did not share her Christian beliefs. That was even sadder than the way he was apparently mishandling his grief. Life without faith had to be much harder, losses more difficult to accept.

It was always sad when a person suffered. It was doubly devastating to see someone trying to cope without the Savior to lean on. Temporal friends could offer only so much comfort. Jesus would be there to help no matter what the circumstances, but only if He was invited.

This could be a pride problem, she reasoned, particularly in the case of a man like Ryan Travers. He was used to doing things his way, relying on his own strength. And, unfortunately, it looked as if he had failed to overcome whatever trauma had led to his no longer having any siblings. Oh, he probably thought he’d gotten over the loss, but he hadn’t. Not even close. Was that what drove him to stay on the road most of the year? Julie wondered. Perhaps. And perhaps he didn’t even realize why he was so restless.

Or maybe all this is a figment of my imagination because I don’t want to admit he’s happy traveling all the time, she countered. Just because she was a homebody and content to have deep, strong roots didn’t mean that a person who preferred to move around had to be unhappy.

She sighed and released her angst. It didn’t matter why Ryan competed all over the country. He was who and what he wanted to be, regardless of his motivation.

Meaning they were totally incompatible, she concluded in spite of mental arguments to the contrary. Yes, he was appealing. And yes, she really liked him. But getting too attached to him would be a big, big mistake. One she was determined not to make.