How to Lasso a Cowboy

An awkward pause hung in the air between them. Were they doomed to make innocuous small talk the entire summer?

“Let’s go inside so you can sit down,” she said. “I’ll get your duffel.”

“I can get it,” he said quickly, scooping it up from the ground and then trying to get his crutches over the threshold.

She moved closer. “What can I do to help you?”

“Nothing. I can do it myself.” She heard the edge in his voice.

What was she supposed to do to assist him? He seemed put out that she even offered to help.

They’d better figure out a way to exist in harmony. Didn’t he understand that, for the most part, they’d be living together? She’d have to watch out for him, cook for him, do his laundry and help him get around on those crutches.

Would she have to help him bathe, too?

Her face heated in embarrassment and her heart raced at the thought of seeing Dustin Morgan naked.

Well, she’d wanted adventure and excitement, didn’t she?

The cast was so awkward! It felt like he was lugging around an extra thirty pounds of dead weight. To make things worse, his duffel slipped off his shoulder, slid down his arm and crutch, and hit the floor of the porch.

He struggled to pick up the damn thing.

Jenna offered to help, but there was no way he wanted to impose on her—a woman that he barely knew but had adored from afar since high school. No way.

And there was that damn promise he’d made to Tom niggling at the back of his mind. Was this Tom’s idea of a joke, having Jenna and him live together for several weeks? Or didn’t Tom remember their conversation in the ambulance when Tom had saved Dustin’s life?

Dustin remembered it very clearly.

“Thanks for saving my life, partner. I didn’t see that bull heading for me. I owe you big-time,” Dustin said.

“Forget it. You’d do the same to me. And the only thing you owe me is your promise.”

Dustin held his breath. He knew what was coming.

“My sister. I see you looking at her.” Tom winced in pain. “She’s … not as … experienced as you are. She’s been protected her whole life, first by my parents, then by me. You’re like a brother, but you love the women too much. You’ll hurt her, you know. And you know, you’ll never be around for her, riding the circuit. She deserves someone who’ll be home all the time.”

Dustin looked at Jenna waiting for him to enter the house. He’d rather cut off his riding arm than hurt her, but his friend was right about him never being there for her—not when he was still riding—and he figured he had several good years left in him yet.

So Dustin renewed his promise to stay away from Jenna. But, again, maybe Tom had forgotten about it, or why else would he have asked him to stay at the ranch knowing that Jenna would be there?

As if on cue, Jenna snatched the duffel from him, and held the door open, giving him a wide berth to maneuver inside the living room.

Damn. He hated feeling like an invalid.

He should have holed up in his apartment, done things for himself. But the surgeon who’d operated told him that if he took it easy, he’d heal quicker, and he’d return to the PBR quicker.

That was his goal. He was poised to win the PBR World Finals in Vegas, and that was just what he was going to do. With the money he’d win, he could hang up his spurs and finally settle down on a ranch of his own.

That’s what he’d been saving for all these years on the road. His own spread.

But first, he had to heal, and Tom had convinced him that this was the best place for him. Maybe it was—but being with Jenna 24/7 was a bonus.

“Uncle Dustin! Uncle Dustin!”

Andy came running into the living room of the Santa Fe-style house and stopped two feet from where Dustin had collapsed into a side chair and stretched out his leg.

“Hey, partner! How’ve you been?” He held out his hand, and Andy shook it. “It’s been a long time.”

“I see you on TV all the time, you and my dad. Oh, and J.R., and Skeeter, and Cody and Robson and Adriano and—”

Dustin laughed as Andy named the entire roster of riders. The boy couldn’t be cuter. His eyes were bright blue, his hair sandy and he was probably taller than other kids his age. But ever since his mother had left, the spark had faded a bit from the boy’s eyes.

“I think you’ve gotten taller,” Dustin said.

Andy grinned. “Really?”

“I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it.”

As Andy read what his father and some of the other riders had written on Dustin’s cast, the cowboy eyed Jenna, who was sitting on the couch opposite him.

She was more beautiful than he remembered, all wholesome and not made up like the buckle bunnies he often met on the circuit. Her blond hair tickled her chin, and turquoise stones dangled from her ears.

He glanced at his duffel. It barely had enough clothes for two days. He’d only packed it for the Albuquerque bull riding, not for a stay in the hospital or for a long stay at Tom’s ranch. Beside it lay his crutches.

“I need to go shopping. All my clothes are in my apartment in Tubac,” he said mostly to himself.

“You live in Tubac? The artist colony?” Jenna asked wide-eyed.

“Yep. That Tubac.” He lived two floors above a shop that sold various types of jewelry, pottery and paintings.

“I’d be glad to drive you to your apartment,” Jenna said.

“I don’t want to impose on you any more.”

Tubac was an hour’s drive from Tucson. Maybe he could pay one of the ranch hands to drive him there and get some of his stuff.

He didn’t tell Jenna that he painted western scenes—riders on bucking bulls and broncs. Cowboys mending fence. The saguaros and mountains around Tubac and Tucson. It had been just for fun at first, but then he’d started selling his work through some of the local craft shops.

“Well, I’d better show you the guest room,” Jenna said, moving to hand him his crutches.

“I can do it.”

Her perfume drifted around him—something light and flowery. It suited her.

“You’re probably hungry, too. How about if I make you a sandwich or something?” Jenna asked.

“I promised Tom that I’d ramrod his ranch while I’m laid up. I’ll try and stay out of your way and not bother you.”

She shook her head. “It’s not a bother, Dustin. I’m happy to help.”

He was sure that she was trying to be polite, but he didn’t intend to be a burden on her, or anyone. That wasn’t his style. He was just here to help Tom while he was on the road, and he could do that on crutches.

And he was going to enjoy Jenna’s company while he was here.

In spite of his injury, one good thing could come of it—he would finally get to know her better. But no matter how much he was still attracted to her, nothing would come of their close proximity—he’d see to that. He’d made a promise to Tom. And Dustin Morgan was a man of his word.

Jenna’s senses were reeling as if she were back in high school. She tried to play it cool, just as she had back then, but her cool probably seemed standoffish.

Later, as she made Andy and Dustin ham-and-cheese sandwiches, she thought of Dustin’s blue eyes—his sexy gaze was more intense than ever. His lips seemed more sensuous and his black hair looked even softer.

But his smile and good nature were what always charmed the high school girls. When he turned on his smile, flashing those whiter-than-white teeth, no female was immune.

Jenna had attended several PBR events through the years, but to see him up-close and personal for the first time in ages made her heart race and her cheeks heat. She hoped that as they spent more time together, she’d get over her high school reaction. After all, her schoolgirl crush on him was over. Wasn’t it?

She was too old for crushes, darn it. She was just admiring a handsome man. That’s all.

At the table, Dustin and Andy were deep in conversation about bull riders and their statistics. Too bad that Andy didn’t pay as much attention to his arithmetic as he did riding percentages.

Jenna smiled as she set the sandwiches down in front of them. “Anyone want anything to drink?”

“Please,” Dustin said.

“Please,” Andy said, and Jenna figured that if Dustin asked for a glass of fish oil, Andy would want the same. Just looking at Andy, she could see that the boy was under the spell of Dustin Morgan.

Well, Jenna Reed was going to fight her attraction. Her thirtieth birthday was right around the corner, for heaven’s sake, and she wasn’t going to fall for one guy. It was time for her to live, to explore and to take risks.

But how was she suppose to do that at Tom’s ranch?

She set glasses of milk in front of Andy and Dustin. Dustin pulled out a chair for her from his sitting position as best he could. She smiled her thanks and sat down next to him, looked straight into his dark blue eyes and took a long breath.

“I prepared the guest room for you. It has its own bathroom and shower. I thought that would be more convenient.” Jenna took a bite of her sandwich, but she was too nervous to eat any more, sitting so close to Dustin and inhaling his musky scent.

“Thank you. I’m dying to take a shower.” He turned to Andy. “But I can’t yet due to this dang cast. I can only take a bath, and I can’t get it wet.”

A picture of Dustin naked flashed into her mind, and her throat went dry. She gulped down some milk.

“Jenna, you haven’t said much,” Dustin said. “We’ve got some catching up to do. What are you doing these days—are you still based in Phoenix?”

He leaned over the table as if prepared to give her his complete attention. That was another trait of Dustin’s that made the females swoon.

“I’ve been teaching fourth grade. In my spare time—which isn’t much—I coach the district’s spelling-bee team and debate team.”

Dustin took a bite of his sandwich. “That sounds like a full load.”

“It keeps me busy,” she said.

“So you’re teaching the same grade that Andy had trouble with. No wonder Tom asked you to help him out.” Dustin ruffled the boy’s hair. “So how are you doing with your math and reading, partner?”

Andy shrugged. “Okay, I guess.”

“He’s doing terrific,” Jenna said, handing Andy his napkin so he’d wipe his mouth. “He’s made a lot of progress already.”

“It’s bor-ring,” Andy said, resting his cheek on his palm. “Totally bor-ring.”

Dustin shrugged. “Well, maybe I could help,”

Andy nodded. “Cool, Uncle Dustin.”

It was very nice of him to volunteer to help Andy, but Jenna was a little put out. She was a teacher, for goodness’ sake—she could manage herself.

She tried to figure out something else to say. “How are your parents, Dustin? Tom told me that they like Alaska.”

“They love it. My father has taken up hunting again, and Mom has a nice circle of friends that she met at church.” He met her gaze. “I still miss your parents, Jenna. Your mom and dad were good to me.”

Jenna closed her eyes. She could still see the accident, although the police and Tom hadn’t let her approach the scene.

Damn that drunk driver.

She blinked back her tears. “There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t miss them, too.”

Dustin cleared his throat. “Well, if you’ll both excuse me, I think I need to rest a little. It’s been a long trip.”

“I’ll show you to the guest room,” Jenna said.

“I know where it is.”

Of course he did. He visited the ranch often.

“Do you need any help?” she asked.

“No.”

She frowned. “If you don’t need help, then why are you here?”

He raised an eyebrow. “To supervise the ranch operation.”

“You’re also here to rest and heal.”

Obviously, he wasn’t the type to be waited on, but if he refused to let anyone help him, then what was she supposed to do?

Jenna followed Dustin into the hallway that led to his room, so Andy wouldn’t overhear their discussion.

“Dustin?” she whispered.

He turned and raised an eyebrow.

“I can’t understand why you are refusing my help.”

“I’m not refusing. I just need to do things for myself.”

She rolled her eyes. “But you can’t do everything. Admit it.”

“Maybe not, but I sure as hell am going to try.”

“Why?”

“Because I always have, Jenna. I’ve always been self-sufficient. I don’t know how to be anything else. I’ve been on my own since I was eighteen. I’ve had a lot of responsibility. I’ve seen a lot, done a lot and no one has ever held my hand through my injuries.”

She felt a pang of sadness for him, although he didn’t seem sorry for himself at all. He didn’t have a home to return to in between bull riding events, not really. She knew his parents sold their ranch when Dustin graduated from high school and took off, and they continued to travel in a motor home. Dustin remained in the Tucson area. He didn’t have family around. At least she had Tom.

In a way, Dustin had Tom, too.

But still, he needed help, and he was here. So was she.

“I know you want to remain self-sufficient, and I’ll let you do that, as long as you don’t hurt yourself doing so. How’s that?”

He grinned and touched her arm. His hand callused from riding, was warm to the touch.

“It works for me.”

“Good,” Jenna said, nodding. “Have a good rest.”

She returned to the kitchen, and while Andy finished his lunch, Jenna busied herself in the kitchen, thinking of her conversation with Dustin. She washed a handful of dishes and put everything away.

She sighed as remembered that she would have been in Brussels today.

Just as she closed the refrigerator, she heard a crash and a muffled curse.

“Stay here, Andy,” Jenna ordered.

She ran to the guest room, where Dustin was on the floor facedown. Turning his head, he looked up at her, then winced in pain. He was wearing only a pair of white boxers.

“Are you okay?” Jenna knelt down on the floor next to him. She touched his shoulder and ran her hand over his arm. His skin was tanned and warm to her touch, his body tight and muscled. “Anything broken?”

“I’m fine,” he said quickly. “Just feeling foolish. I tripped.”

“Let me help you up, Dustin,” Jenna said. “I don’t see how you can do it alone.”

Dustin shook his head. “Thanks, but there’s no way you can lift me. I’m too heavy. Just get that chair over by the desk and hold it still. I’ll use that as leverage.”

She held the chair in place and watched as Dustin slowly raised himself up from the floor, dragging his cast. She couldn’t help noticing the play of arm, shoulder and back muscles as he pivoted onto the bed, tired.

“Let me cover you up,” she said.

“Thanks,” he said, avoiding her gaze.

“Maybe you’ll let me help you more, Dustin. You could have seriously injured yourself.”

“I’m fine.”

“Blockhead,” she muttered under her breath.

“What’s that?”

“Blanket. I’ll get you a blanket.”

She found a brightly striped serape and covered Dustin with it, averting her eyes from his too-perfect body and noticing the circles under his eyes instead.

“Are you willing to admit now that you need my help?” she asked.

He chuckled. “Nope.”

She shook her head. “You stubborn … um … ah … bull rider.”

“Aww … such praise.” His eyes were half-shuttered, but she could still see the twinkling blue hue. “You’re the best, Jenna. I mean it.”

She’d waited years to hear him say that.

“Close those blue eyes, cowboy. We’ll talk later.”

“Can’t wait to catch up. I want to know what you’ve been doing. I want … to know … all about you.”

He was out. Sleeping. And she was walking on sunshine.

Maybe Dustin wasn’t Mr. Right. But he might be Mr. Right Now.

So what was she going to do about it?

Chapter Two

As Dustin slept, Jenna spent the afternoon helping Andy with his reading. He was making painfully slow progress, but it was progress just the same. They still had a lot of work to do yet.

“Sound out the word, Andy,” she advised. “You’d know the word if you broke it down to smaller words or sounds.”

“Cot … ton … wood,” he said slowly.

“It’s a tree,” Dustin said from the doorway.

He was hanging over his crutches and looked more than a little rumpled.

“Hey, Uncle Dustin!” Andy said, his cute little face brimming with happiness. “Did you have a good sleep? Aunt Jenna said that it’s important, that you’ll get better faster.”

“That’s just what my doctor said, buckaroo.” He smiled at Andy, then turned to Jenna. “I didn’t mean to disturb your lesson.”

Andy answered instead. “You didn’t.” He slid his chair away from the kitchen table and looked hopefully at his aunt.

“Can I go now?”

“Finish the paragraph first,” Jenna said.

He pulled his chair back and glanced at the page. “The cot-ton-wood tree is found in North America and can live many, many years.”

Dustin cleared his throat. “The cottonwood tree is a good, sturdy tree, Andy. We had one on my father’s ranch, and he found out that it’s been around for four hundred years.” He paused. “That’s almost as old as your father.”

Andy giggled until Jenna thought he was going to fall out of the chair. Then Dustin pointed to the reading workbook and Andy sobered.

“The cottonwood tree is found in North America and can live many, many years,” Andy read once again, then turned to her. “Just like Uncle Dustin said.”

“I think we can stop for today, Andy,” she said with a sigh.

Dustin put a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “I saw a basketball hoop hanging from the barn wall. What do you say we shoot some hoops?”

“Awesome!” Andy replied.

“You’re going to have to spot me some points,” Dustin said.

“Don’t do it, Andy,” advised Jenna. “Dustin was an awesome basketball player in high school, and an awesome quarterback, besides being a champion rodeo rider.”

Dustin raised an eyebrow and looked at her strangely. “So, you remember that much about me from high school?”

“Well, you were Tom’s best friend. He always talked about you. Besides, I went to the games. I saw you play.” Absolutely she remembered him. Who wouldn’t? He’d always been the perfect jock.

Dustin’s eyes twinkled and a smile lit his face. He seemed … pleased by her answer.

Then he winked at Jenna, and her mouth went dry. Darn it. One wink from him in her freshman year of high school would have provided her with four years’ worth of joy. But they weren’t in high school anymore—and she’d have to remember that.

“I want ten points,” Andy insisted.

“I’ll spot you ten points only, and that’s highway robbery,” Dustin protested good-naturedly, continuing the banter.

Jenna knew that the big, lanky cowboy would give Andy anything that he wanted. She knew Dustin’s generosity from talking to Tom, and it never failed to tweak her when it came to the boy’s birthday, just a bit.

It seemed like Dustin always knew the perfect gifts for a growing boy—a dirt bike, a basketball, a bat and glove—whereas she saw to it that he had a supply of nice clothes for school and books befitting his age.

Of course, Andy’s excitement and thankful hugs would be for the fun things, rather than the practical, so Jenna was grudgingly glad that Dustin’s gifts made Andy happy. Sure, she could have given him toys and such, but he was growing so fast, and needed clothes. Besides, she always felt the need to be his stand-in mother in the place of the ever-unhappy and lethargic Marla who’d think about shopping for Andy when school was well underway.

As she put together a lasagna for dinner, she could hear the easy dialogue between Dustin and Andy through the open window.

“You shoot like a girl,” Andy said.

“I’m on crutches, for Pete’s sake.”

“I want twenty points from you. Twenty. Even though you shoot like a girl, you still can shoot,” Andy said.

“No way, kiddo. We settled for ten.”

“Hey, we didn’t shake on it.”

And on and on it went. Jenna slipped the lasagna into the refrigerator and went outside to join them.

“Want to play, Jenna?” Dustin asked when he saw her approach.

“I was just going to watch.”

“C’mon and play along with us. You can be on my team,” Dustin said.

“That’s not fair,” Andy whined.

“What if I give you twenty points?” Dustin asked.

“Thirty.”

“Done.”

Dustin tossed Jenna the ball. She took a shot. Perfect!

“Beginner’s luck,” she said with a grin. And it was beginner’s luck. She wasn’t much of a jock.

Ironically, as she started making the occasional basket, Dustin began to miss shot after shot. Unless he was letting Andy win.

How sweet of him.

But, she thought wryly, she didn’t have to let Andy win. She wasn’t that great a player, and most of her shots bounced off the rim.

Despite their good-natured fun, she was all-too aware when Dustin took off his shirt and she saw more proof of his strength.

Suddenly, she felt hot, breathless and shocked at her reaction to him. Mercifully, she’d thought to bring out three bottles of water. She grabbed one and took a long draw, desperate to cool herself and calm her racing pulse.

“Break,” she yelled, pushing her bangs off her forehead. She handed both of them a bottle of water. “Dustin needs to rest for a while.”

Dustin smiled his thanks, gingerly lowered himself onto a bench and took a long drink. Jenna could see his strong neck move as he swallowed.

She took another sip of water. Darn, it was getting hot out here …

Andy cupped his hands around his mouth. “Time’s up!”

Dustin stood up with difficulty. When he got the ball, he passed it to Jenna. She aimed and made the basket.

They gave each other a high five, but then Dustin’s fingers curled briefly around hers and an undeniable jolt shot through her body. It was nothing, she told herself.

She was overreacting.

Admittedly, she didn’t have much experience with men. She’d been a wallflower in high school, and her current lifestyle didn’t allow her much free time to meet anyone. That’s why her trip to Europe had meant so much. She’d needed that vacation for more than one reason.

Not only was it going to be a well-deserved vacation, but it would give her the opportunity to meet men.

For someone about to turn thirty, she hadn’t dated much at all. In fact, Jenna could count her dates on one hand—none of which resulted in a serious relationship.

As someone who wanted to get married and have a family, in that old-fashioned order, she hadn’t exactly had the time or the opportunity to meet many men.

But now she and Dustin were living together, so to speak, and she had the perfect opportunity to find out if she liked him as much as she’d always thought—and heaven knew she’d thought about him a lot throughout the years.

And she certainly wasn’t going to think twice about her brother’s silly command to stay away from Dustin, issued after her parents died when she was in her teens. Now, she could truthfully say they were acquaintances who only spoke when Tom was there to chaperone, come to think of it.

Dustin’s reputation and occupation spoke of experience with women. He’d always been a player, whereas she hadn’t even been in the game.

But she could change that. She remembered a magazine that she’d bought and stuck in her suitcase. It had advertised a specific article about how to catch a man and keep him.

Now, where did she put that magazine?

Dustin pretended to drop the ball, letting Andy retrieve it.

But his mind wasn’t on basketball. It was on Jenna and the increasingly obvious attraction between them. She’d ignored him in high school, but surprisingly, she was being nice now. And she’d changed so much. She seemed more relaxed and less stressed. He’d never lacked for female companionship, but this one girl from his past still had a hold on him—and she was the only one he could never have.