He took a step closer. “I don’t plan to come out until you turn around.”
She nodded and whirled. “I didn’t mean to interrupt you. I swear. I was just riding and I thought you’d be at the dance, so you wouldn’t be home and I could ride on your land without anyone bothering me.” She was rambling, but she couldn’t seem to stop. She didn’t want him to think that she was looking for him, or worse, spying on him. “I know I’m trespassing, but you’ve been gone so long I didn’t think about anyone being on the place.”
“Laurel.” He barely whispered her name, but he was so near she jumped. “You can turn around now.”
Squaring her shoulders, she faced him. He’d pulled on his jeans and had a towel wrapped around the back of his neck. The same towel she’d given him that morning. She couldn’t say another word. She could only stare. Until this moment she’d thought she saw the boy she remembered from school when she looked at Rowdy, but no boy stood before her.
“I’m glad you came.” He shoved his wet hair back. “I looked for you after the rodeo. I wanted to say I was sorry I snapped at you. I was nervous about the ride and didn’t feel much like talking.”
“You were right. You did know what you were doing. That ride was magnificent.”
He didn’t seem to hear her as he continued. “I’m not used to much conversation, but you had a right. We’re partners after all.” He smiled at her and she swore he could see her blush. “If you ride by here often, I might want to change my bathing habits.”
“I’m sorry . . .”
He reached behind her and grabbed his shirt off the cottonwood. “How about we stop apologizing to each other and relax? Deal, partner?”
“Deal,” she managed. “Why aren’t you at the dance?”
“Why aren’t you?” he countered as he buttoned his shirt.
“I . . . I . . .” She could think of no answer but the truth and she didn’t want to tell him that. He could figure it out for himself. She wasn’t the kind of girl anyone asked to dance. First, she was taller than half the men. Second, she was so shy she couldn’t talk to them and, third, everyone knew she was the captain’s plain daughter. The old maid.
“I can’t dance either,” he said.
She smiled. He’d given her a way out.
Without a word, he took her hand and led her to a spot of moonlight shining near the water’s edge. She sat on a log and he stretched out in the grass as if they were old friends settling down for a long visit.
Somehow the shadows made it easier to talk. She told him everything she’d heard about the stock and the other riders. He said he’d drawn calf roping for tomorrow. She mentioned all the extra things going on around the rodeo. Besides the dance, there was a box supper one night and a horse race, as well as a sharpshooting contest.
When they talked of the competition, she told him of her dreams of working in a bank and maybe buying her own little house one day on a quiet street. With the money they’d get if he won, she might have enough for a down payment. Though she planned to put most of the money away for a rainy day. A woman alone has to prepare for that.
He told her of living on a ranch, a busy, productive one, not a dead one like his father’s place. She had the feeling as he talked of what he wanted to do that he was voicing a boy’s dreams he’d tucked away at fifteen and hadn’t brought out again until tonight.
They settled into an easy silence, listening to the sounds around them. Finally, he said, “I talked with Dan O’Brien after I rode. He said he’d heard I’d been in prison and wanted to know if it was true.”
“What did you say?” She knew it wouldn’t be a secret for long, but she thought they might make it through the rodeo without everyone knowing.
“I said I had.” Rowdy stared up at her. “No matter what folks say I’ve done, I’m not in the habit of lying, Laurel. Not now, not ever.”
Even when she looked at the water she could still feel his dark eyes watching her. “What did Dan say?”