The Cowboy's Bride Bet - Holly Rayner Page 0,11

this is my bratty second cousin, Cassandra.”

“We’ve met.” Cassie glared at him. “And you, sir, will be the perfect gentleman while you show Ashleigh around the fairgrounds. Won’t you?”

She accepted the money and lowered her voice as she looked at me. “Please don’t let this guy get fresh with you. He’s a little…” She wrinkled her nose but didn’t finish the sentence.

“Oh.” My eyes widened as I looked back at him.

“I am always a gentleman, thank you very much.” Connor put his hat back on as Cassie rang me up and printed my receipt.

“You’d better be.” Cassie smirked, pointing two fingers at her eyes and then at him. “You’d best behave your damn self.”

“You’d best watch your damn language, young lady,” he said over his shoulder as he opened the door for me. “You get more like Grandma every day.”

“Grandma is an icon!” Cassie called as the office door closed behind us.

“Interesting.” I shot him an accusatory look. “Sounds like you’ve got a bit of a rep.”

“Before you pass judgment, you should know that my family is real old-school.” He held his hands up defensively. “My parents still believe in saving yourself for marriage. Cass is homeschooled, so she’s seventeen and never even been on a date.”

“Ah.” I smiled, pressing my lips together as I put my hands in my back pockets. “So you’re the black sheep of the family?”

“I guess you could say that.” He sighed. “I have decidedly loose morals by their standards.”

“Well, I can’t fault you there.” I shrugged. “I’m not exactly a saint myself.”

“I feel like I should apologize.” He turned to me as we crossed the street. “That seemed like a lot to unpack in front of a stranger.”

“No, you don’t have anything to be sorry for.” I laughed. “I guess it’s just one of the hazards of living in a small town. Everybody knows everybody.”

“Yeah, you can’t escape it.” He shook his head as we entered under the banner strung across the top of the rodeo entrance. “Come over this way. I’ll introduce you to the cool kids.”

“Oh, man.” I hesitantly followed him toward the back entrance of the arena.

Navigating a maze of corral panels, we found a group of bullfighters standing on a metal platform having a quick smoke break while the next rider prepared to get mounted up.

“Well, kiss my grits.” The bullfighter closest to us took a drag off his cigarette and slapped his friend on the shoulder. “Look who’s here.”

“Connor, my man!” The second bullfighter hopped down from the platform and threw his arms around Connor, slapping him on the back. “I thought you were done with rodeo.”

“I’m done getting trampled on.” Connor gave the guy a playful shove. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t laugh at you clowns from the sidelines. This is Ashleigh. I wanted to show her a more authentic side of the rodeo.”

“Well, it don’t get much more authentic than this.” The guy smiled. “I’m Miguel. This is Justin, Doug, and Clinton. It’s our job to make sure these fools don’t get their heads stomped in.”

“Basically, we do the dangerous stuff, and they get all the glory.” Doug shrugged. “It’s not glamorous, but at least we get free chili fries out of it.”

“And bragging rights.” Justin winked at me. “Ladies love the element of danger.”

“Why don’t you come up here.” Connor stepped up onto the platform and held his hand out. “You won’t get a better vantage point than this.”

I accepted his hand, stepping up to stand right in front of him on the platform. A few feet away, the bull stared at me through the corral panel, snorting as the cowboy on his back got situated, flexing his fingers and tightening the rope that went around the bull.

“Why don’t they do all the bull rides at the same time?” I frowned.

“Earlier in the day, the events are a little more family-friendly,” Connor spoke softly into my ear. “These bulls are dangerous, and the later it gets, the rowdier the crowd.”

As if to illustrate his point, a man in the audience screamed a battle cry, stripping his shirt off, and swung it around in the air like a lasso.

“You mean the drunker everyone gets.” I smiled up at Connor.

“Eh.” He winked at me. “Tomato, tomato.”

The box where the bull and rider were being secured was so close I could have reached out to touch them, and it was only at this proximity that I was able to see just how massive the animal actually was. Its