set only on her.
Just like it used to be.
All the worries she’d been plagued with in coming here vanished the instant she laid eyes on him. Seeing Trace, tall in his Stetson, broad in a black-and-white snap-down plaid shirt and giving her a megawatt smile, flooded her senses, and a shiver of warmth ran down her body. Crap. She was here only to put him off. To tell him they were officially over, so that they could both move on with their lives.
She needed to do this face-to-face.
But his face was filled with genuine joy. “Ruby,” he said, his voice husky and laced with that down-home drawl. “It’s good to see you.”
She stood there immobilized as he paid for her ticket and tugged her through the gate. She realized he held her hand, and when she tried to pull away, he drew her up close, bent his head and gave her a quick kiss. “Sorry,” he said, dipping his head in that charming way he had. “I’ve been dreamin’ about doing that ever since you agreed to meet me here. Gawd, you look good, Ruby. I’ve missed you, honey.”
“Trace.” She put force in her words, ignoring the crazy, mixed-up stirrings in her heart. “I’m here only to—”
“I know, I know. You’re not happy with me right now. I get that. How about we enjoy the evening a little before we get all serious? Look over there. Funnel cakes. I’m dying for one. I bet you are, too.”
“I, uh...”
“Don’t you remember how much we used to crave those things? With all the fixin’s, too. Strawberries and whipped cream, the more powdered sugar the better. You game? Come on,” he said, taking her hand again. “I’m about to die of starvation.”
She rolled her eyes, but a big smile emerged regardless of the company she was in. She was craving a funnel cake, too. They were available only once a year, at this carnival. This was her chance to indulge in a gooey, deep-fried concoction with all the heart-stopping extras. “Okay, sounds good.”
“Delicious is a better word, sweetheart.”
She wasn’t his sweetheart and she was ready to tell him, but a few young women and two school-age boys butted into the line, asking Trace for his autograph. He seemed genuinely delighted, giving them each individual attention as he took their names and signed their tickets, flyers, whatever paper article they could produce. Trace had made a name for himself in the field of bull riding. As far as rodeo champions went, he was equivalent to a soap opera star rather than an Academy Award winner, but to the folks around these parts, he was a local hero. Trace ate up all the attention.
“Sorry about that, Ruby,” he said, guiding her toward a two-seater café table.
“Do you get that a lot?” she asked, curious now.
“Some,” he said, trying for humble, though his grin gave him away. “More and more.”
Then his grin faded as his gaze roamed her face, and he sighed from deep in his chest. “I’m sure glad to see you. I’ve been lonely for you, honey.”
“Last I checked, you broke up with me, Trace.”
“I never did. Not officially. I, uh, like I told you on the phone, I had to focus on my career, and that meant blocking out everything else.”
“That’s not exactly comforting, Trace.”
She’d felt fully and totally dumped, and there was no way he could salvage what happened between them by using phony excuses.
“Only because being with you was so damn distracting. When we were together, you were all I could ever think about.”
He was talking like a man still in love, and if Ruby was that same gullible girl he’d left behind, she might have swallowed that line again. “When you care for someone, you call. You want to know how they’re doing. You—”
“I made mistakes. I’m not denying it.” He played with his fork but didn’t dig into the funnel cake he craved. “But I’m home now, for good.”
“What does that mean, for good?”
“It means I’m gonna stay on in Cool Springs.”
“You quit the rodeo?”
He smiled sadly. “I think it quit me, Rube. I’m not cut out for the life. I’m never gonna make it big. Not like I wanted. I gave eight years of my life to the rodeo.”
“But you love bull riding.” He’d been nineteen when he won his first local rodeo, and the entire town had gotten behind him. Some small businesses in the area sponsored him so he could pursue his dream. It seemed strange to her that he would give it up now. Yes, it was a young man’s sport, but he still had years left in him.
“I did. I loved it, but it didn’t love me back, Ruby. I gave it my all, and I hope I didn’t lose you as a result of my pursuit. I just never got where I wanted to go, and I’m done with all of it. So I’ll be home now, just like we’d planned. If I’m lucky enough to win you back, I’m staying put right here.”
For her equilibrium’s sake, she had to ignore the winning-you-back part. This was all too much to take in. She straightened in her seat to keep from showing her total surprise. “So, what will you do?”
He shrugged. “Dad’s getting on in years. He wants me to take over the ranch full-time.”
It didn’t sound like Trace. He’d always had big plans, and none of them included becoming a local rancher. He was Texan through and through, but Ruby had begun to believe his true heart was elsewhere.
“I saw you on television the other night. Homestead Hills?”
“Oh, that. Yeah, I did that on a whim. Met some casting guy at the rodeo who said I’d be perfect in the role. I gave it a try, is all.”
“A try?” From what she’d heard, people busted their butts and did all sorts of crazy things to win a role in a hit TV series.
“Nothing much came of it,” he said dismissively.
“You haven’t touched your funnel cake,” she said, finally raising her fork and digging in. The airy pastry, all sugared up, got her taste buds going. When she finally swallowed, a burst of deliciousness slid down her throat. “Mmm, it’s good. I shouldn’t, but I think I’m going to eat every last bite.”
Trace smiled, his gaze focused on her mouth for several beats, and suddenly her insides quaked and her belly quivered. Those familiar yearnings returned. She couldn’t believe that one year ago, they’d been doing this very thing: eating funnel cakes and talking about their future.
“Soon as I start,” he said, lifting his fork and gazing into her eyes, “this here dessert is gonna be history.”
True to his word, Trace demolished his funnel cake.
Ruby wound up leaving half of hers behind. Her stomach was tied in knots once everything Trace had said to her finally sank in. She’d been raised to forgive with an open heart. But would she be a fool to do so?
As they rode the Ferris wheel, circling to the highest point, sitting
