poor clod was out on display now. “People weren’t exactly champing at the bit to pick me up at the auction.”
She brushed a hand back through her hair and blew at a strand she missed. It floated upward and then down again, right into her eyes.
“Does that really surprise you? Rumors about your behavior on the rodeo circuit have been milling around here for months. The town does love gossip, you know.”
He shifted his eyes away from her. “I figured as much. And you’re right. I didn’t expect any better.”
“Martin? Can you give me some time alone with Cash?” Alyssa asked in a soft yet firm voice. It was a question, but not really a question. Not the way Alyssa delivered it.
Martin didn’t look as if he was in any big hurry to capitulate to Alyssa, but when Alyssa shifted her gaze to him and narrowed her eyes on him, he reluctantly got to his feet and shrugged.
“Cash, I’m trusting you to convince her that this is in her best interest.”
Anger flared in Cash’s chest, mostly directed at himself and the circumstances he’d landed himself in.
How, exactly, was he supposed to convince Alyssa of anything?
He’d managed to royally screw up his life, and as a public figure, it wasn’t surprising that his hometown neighbors knew what a mess he’d made.
Neither was he astonished they’d judged him for it.
He didn’t have any excuses for all he’d done. He was guilty on nearly every count, with the one exception of his connection with Sharee, the mother of his unborn baby. That woman had spouted off dozens of lies about him and completely wrecked his character, for no other reason than to get her own face in front of the camera.
No one other than Sharee knew that he’d immediately contacted her as soon as he’d heard, had attempted to accept his responsibility to his baby. He had offered his support and expressed his desire to be a true father to his child, only to be shot down by a woman who had no interest in him other than how she could use him to reach for her own celebrity status.
He’d tried everything he could think of. What more was there for him to do?
It was just another one of his failings, and one of his deepest regrets.
Alyssa waited until Martin was gone before she spoke.
“I’ve never been one to believe in rumors,” she stated firmly. “I know how quickly things can get bent out of shape. Things are rarely as they seem.”
Cash cringed so hard his muscles ached, and a cold sweat broke out on his forehead.
What was she going to do when she realized the rumors were true? Most of them, anyway. But the very worst was one that had never been spoken of at all—something he’d kept hidden from everyone. A secret that he’d have to conceal in the dark of his soul for the rest of his life.
That he was guilty of causing Aaron’s death.
Alyssa’s voice pulled him back to the present.
“I’d rather hear the truth directly from you, if you don’t mind. I want you to tell me why you’re here, and why you think your rodeo career tanked in the first place.”
A spark of hope struck in his heart. She wanted to hear his side of the story. But that wouldn’t matter. He quickly doused the flame.
“Why? What difference is it going to make what I have to say? What will make you believe me? Are you going to keep me on if I give you the answers you want to hear?”
“No. Yes.” She paused and shrugged, rubbing her forehead thoughtfully. “Maybe.”
He extended his other leg and stretched. This was going to take a while.
“Let me ask you something first,” he said.
“Okay,” she answered. She sounded hesitant, but she met his gaze head-on.
“One thing doesn’t make sense to me. Why did you bid on me when you knew going into it what you were going to get?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
A broken cowboy.
“My baggage. Even without a photographer following me around, I’m loaded with problems. As you said, you’ve heard the rumors. You know what I am. You realize people are going to judge you, too, just for associating with me.”
“I’m not worried about that,” she said, although her face drained of color. “I know who I am, and that’s all that matters.”
“You haven’t answered my question,” he reminded her.
She sighed.
“I bid on you partially because you are—were—Aaron’s best friend,” she admitted. “I kept thinking about how he would feel if he saw you floundering up there, and I felt I owed it to his memory to rescue you.”
She might as well have slapped him across the face, because that’s how her words felt. That she would rescue him in Aaron’s memory, after he—
No. He wouldn’t go there.
He couldn’t.
He wasn’t going to think about it, much less talk about it. Not if he didn’t want to end up on a bar stool, ordering a bottle of whiskey, which was the inevitable conclusion if he let his mind wander back to that night.
Instead, he lightened the mood and attempted to tease her, though he wasn’t fully successful in his effort.
“Wow, thanks,” he muttered sardonically. “And here I thought you picked me because I’m good-looking.”
She snorted. “Inflate your own ego much?”
He tipped one edge of his mouth up in a half smile. “Hey, I’m just calling it as I see it. Remember, every morning I have to look at my reflection in the mirror.”
The truth was, he hated what he saw when he looked in the mirror these days—blotchy skin, sunken eyes. The polar opposite of the good-looking youth he’d once been. Everyone else who laid eyes on him saw the same thing.
She apparently noticed the shift in his mood, because her lips turned to a frown.
“This isn’t just about Aaron,” she hastened to explain. “Yes, that was part of the reason I bid on you, but besides that, you really are the best fit for what I need done.”
“How is that?” He couldn’t imagine she believed he was good for anything.
“I’m doing some fairly major renovations with the store. I have to have everything done before the Christmas season starts this year because I’ve signed an exclusive contract with Kickfire to sell their products. Another pair of willing hands would be much appreciated.”
“I’d be happy to help,” he said, and meant it. “But
