the mud out of your hair. You must have taken some fall. Was it after or before the rescue?” His shoulders bunched and moved as he rinsed out the bowl and filled it with water. She’d been impressed by the way he snapped the chain and took charge. He might not be riding bulls any longer, but he was still a man of action. He turned. “Do you know if there are any blankets we can trust?”
The rain hit the tin roof. Talking took energy and focus she didn’t have right now. “I haven’t been here since I was eight.”
“That’s a shame. It’s a great place. There’s always someone trying to buy it from your dad or lease it, but rumor has it he won’t even talk about it.”
“The twins and I actually own the ranch. It’s been in my mom’s family for five generations and Dad didn’t want any problems with Sheila, so he made sure to put it in our names.” One of the many things that had made Sheila mad.
He pulled another chair up next to her and carefully wiped at her arm. “That turned out to be a smart idea. This seems like a perfect place for you. One of the highest cliffs in the county is on the far corner of your property. There are rumors of caves, and you have one of the best parts of the river running right through it. It’s too rough and small to really run cattle, but you could have your own private adventure park.”
“One problem. I’m leaving Clear Water as soon as possible.”
“I used to have that goal.” He shrugged and winked. “But God had other plans for me, better plans.”
She tried to stop him by placing her hand over his. Despite the cold, his skin warmed hers. His fingers were long and surprisingly graceful. The calluses kept them from looking pampered. “Working man hands” was what her dad called them. “You don’t have to do that.”
“No, but I’m not going anywhere, and it’s much more efficient for me to take care of it.” He scooted the chair down and removed the brace. “So what did you name your new baby?”
For a second her gut twisted, and she wondered how he knew. The deer. He was talking about the fawn. “I thought men talked less than women.” She certainly didn’t want to talk about babies.
“Now there you go, stereotyping me.” He grinned at her.
She almost laughed. When was the last time a man teased her? He might actually be flirting with her, and it was nice. He pressed on the bottom of her knee.
Her jaw locked, and she took a sharp breath in through her nose. She would not cry out. Gaze on the ceiling, she avoided looking at her injury. If she needed another surgery to repair the damage her run at freedom caused, she might actually cry. She never cried. She was tough. It was just mind over matter.
Adrian used the warm cloth to wipe the mud away. His touch surprisingly gentle. He and his twin brother had been a few grades behind her. Everyone joked that her sisters, identical twins, should date the identical twin boys. She remembered him being charming and a favorite with teachers and students. Known as the wild twin, he was the next big thing in the bull-riding world.
At a young age, he had already won two high school state titles and everyone knew when he turned eighteen he would take the PBR by storm.
“How did you go from superstar bull rider to a cowhand for Childress?”
“I haven’t been on a bull since I was seventeen. God had better things in store for me.”
“What happened? From what I remember, you were a natural. I saw you ride several times. Once, we drove down to San Antonio to watch you.” The blood rushed at the memory of watching him ride, one hand in the air as the massive bundle of muscles, horns and hooves went into a spin. “It was amazing. The bull was huge and mean. Even the way you jumped off stuck in my brain. I think you were sixteen. Why did you stop? Were you hurt?”
He looked at her face. The gold flecks in his dark eyes flashed, making him look younger. “You drove to San Antonio to watch me ride?”
She nodded. “A group of us.”
With a grin, he went back to work on her leg. He gave a half laugh. “Being hurt is part of the game. What stopped me from riding was my daughter.”
“What? You said you stopped at seventeen.” There was no way she had heard him right.
He sighed and finally looked up from working on her knee. “Not my finest moment, but I can’t regret it. I’m surprised you hadn’t heard the gossip. I’m pretty sure the whole Southwest knew about my fall from grace. I was the example worried mamas used to warn their kids that might stray.” He broke eye contact and went back to her injury. “Mia was born the end of my junior year. My mom said if I was serious about raising my daughter she’d help me, but I had to leave the rodeo.”
Maybe if her mom had been alive, things would have been different for her own senior year. She thought back to the girls at their school. “Is her mother a local or did you meet her at a show?”
“Do you remember Charlotte Walker?”
“Yeah. She was new in town, and...anyway. So you gave up your bull riding to get married and raise a family?”
A noise that might be described as a laugh sounded from his throat, but it lacked any humor. “No. Never got married. Being a mother was not in Charlotte’s plans. She wanted to give Mia up for adoption. She left us and went on with her life as if Mia never happened.”
Nikki fought the instinct to defend the teen mother, but she knew it wasn’t Charlotte she was protecting. It was her own ugly past. She never, ever thought about the son she’d walked away from. She couldn’t.
Tommy hadn’t been willing to even acknowledge her in public. She bit the inside of her cheek hard and kept her gaze trained on Adrian’s hands. She couldn’t risk looking at him.
Twisting the cloth, he dunked it back in the water. “But it worked out fine. I don’t have any regrets when it comes to my daughter.”
He went on as if he hadn’t taken her to the darkest places she worked so hard to avoid and keep buried.
“Mom always hated that I rode bulls. I think she was secretly happy to have that leverage over me. I got a job and finished high school.”
Nikki didn’t know what to say. “Wow.” Okay, that was lame. “You went to work for Dub Childress?”
“I only started working horses for him part-time about a couple of years ago. I thought Mia was old enough for me to be back in the arena. Not bulls, but with horses. I really missed that part. I volunteer with the youth rodeo and horse club.” A throaty laugh made her nerve endings tingle. “Can you believe I’m the 4-H dad? Life takes us to strange and wonderful places we never even knew we wanted. I don’t really miss the bulls.”
She imagined he missed it more than he would ever admit. Did he say it to remind himself the way she had to remind herself she was tough and better off alone? After a few minutes of silence, he looked back up at her and grinned.
“George and I have a construction company. We started doing odd jobs, but found we’re really good at restoring old homes. Next week we might actually start a job for your dad. Your sisters wanted to remodel the upstairs of the hardware store for some time now.” He stood. “But you probably knew that already. Everyone has different ideas,
