a backhanded slap to the chest, then headed toward the barn. He needed to get in the right headspace for the competition. After all, he had to put on a good show for the campers.
And if their camp counselor liked what she saw, all the better.
* * *
SLOANE HARTLEY STARED hard at her approaching sister. “You are up to something.”
Angel made a pffftt sound as she reached Sloane. “I think you have me confused with our brothers. They’re the ones always up to something.”
Sloane propped her hands on her hips. “I’ve always heard it’s the quiet ones you have to watch out for.”
“I’m not that quiet.”
“But you do fly under the radar.”
“Not hard when my siblings have such big personalities.”
“I feel as if I was just insulted.”
Angel gently patted Sloane’s cheek. “Not at all. I like your big personality. And Ben’s approaching bearable now that he’s a married man.”
Sloane paused her interrogation long enough to get all the campers and Julia settled in the bleachers. As usual, Julia was striking up instant friendships with the other kids, something their mother had noticed and pointed out as proof that there needed to be more grandchildren running around the Rocking Horse Ranch. Well, Neil and Ben were both married now, so Sloane figured the ball was in their procreation court. She sure wasn’t going to be a player in that game, at least not anytime soon. With her luck, never.
When she sank onto the bleacher seat next to her sister, she resisted glancing toward the barn to see if Jason the steer wrestler was still visible. Yes, the man was wicked good-looking, and she was afraid Angel had noticed Sloane’s awareness of that fact.
“So, spill. What were you talking to him about?”
“Him?” Angel asked, all faux innocence.
“You know exactly who I’m talking about.”
“You mean the handsome cowboy who couldn’t take his eyes off you?”
“You sound like Mom.”
Angel shrugged. “I call it like I see it.”
“Whatever. Maybe you should ask him out.”
“Nah. Not my type.”
“What is your type?”
Angel leaned back against the empty bleacher behind them. “I don’t know because I haven’t met him.”
Sure, Angel had a daughter, but that didn’t mean Julia’s father was the kind of guy Angel wanted to spend the rest of her life with. In fact, Sloane wasn’t sure that normally mild-mannered Angel wouldn’t coldcock Dave if she ever saw him again. If she didn’t, there was a long line of Hartleys willing to do it for her.
“Listen,” Angel said. “All I did was invite him out to the ranch to talk to the kids some more about rodeoing. I saw how interested they were in what he was saying.”
“You did what? Are you crazy? We don’t know the first thing about him. He could be a creep. Or have a rap sheet as long as my arm.”
Angel turned partway toward Sloane. “Did it strike you that either of those things is true?”
“How would I know? I barely spoke to the man.”
“Well, then, you can cure that when he’s your camp’s guest speaker.”
Sloane started to protest again but was interrupted by her younger sister.
“You know I’d never do anything to put these kids, including my daughter, in danger. If it was just going to be us there, I wouldn’t have invited him. But Dad and the guys will be close by. Not that I think the two of us couldn’t take Jason down by ourselves.”
“You got that right.” If anyone posed a threat to these kids, who already had enough to worry about in their young lives, she’d take them out. A boot to the kneecap could bring down the biggest man.
Though her instinct told her Angel was right, that this Jason guy was fairly harmless. Except, perhaps, to her peace of mind. The moment she’d met his dove-gray gaze, she’d been thrown off-kilter. That wasn’t a normal state of being for her. She’d come into contact with plenty of handsome men before, so what was it about Jason the steer wrestler that felt different?
Probably just that he’d seemed to pop up next to her out of thin air. She’d not exactly been startled, rather caught off guard. Just when she’d reined in her initial increased-pulse reaction to his looks, however, he’d gone and been nice to the kids. It was as if he was trying to increase his tally of “I’m an awesome guy” points as fast as he could, before she could even figure out who he was.
No need to worry about it though. As long as he entertained the kids, she was cool with him talking to them. But it didn’t matter how good-looking or charming he might be, she wasn’t interested in a cowboy only in town for a weekend. They came and went. She didn’t blame them. It was how they made their living or followed their passion. But if she ever ended up serious about a guy—and with her dating history, she wasn’t even sure she wanted that—it wasn’t going to be someone living that sort of nomadic lifestyle.
Her family had given her roots, and rodeo cowboys like Jason Till were about as rooted as a tumbleweed.
From his seat in the saddle, Jason glanced toward the grandstands. He needed to concentrate on his ride, which was only moments away, but he couldn’t keep himself from trying to catch a glimpse of Sloane.
The sound of laughter drew his attention back to the area around the chutes. Bo was sitting atop one of the gates and he hadn’t missed where Jason had been looking.
“I thought you had some sense,” Bo said.
Jason snorted. “And you’re the authority on good sense?”
“Never claimed that.”
Jason shifted his focus to the business at hand as he rode into the box, the steer was loaded into the roping chute and his hazer, Travis Morgan, got into position on the other side of the chute. Jason took a slow, deep breath, visualizing the next few seconds, something he’d done countless times before. He pictured tonight as another step closer to a national championship. Then he gave the chute man a quick nod of his head. The chute opened and the steer took off, shadowed by Travis. The moment the barrier rope around the steer’s neck popped off, Jason gave chase. Maybe a couple of heartbeats passed as he leaned off the side of his horse, got his right arm in position on the steer and let his feet slide free of his stirrups. He dug his heels into the dirt, grabbed the left horn with one hand and the right horn in the crook of his other elbow. He pulled the steer off balance but the animal wasn’t going to make it easy. Jason’s boots furrowed the dirt as the steer tried to free itself. Finally, after what seemed like forever, he managed to throw the steer to the ground.
