Jeannie Watt - The Bull Rider's Plan

“Stupid question,” he muttered.

She reached for her giant Western purse with the silver and the fringe and the bling and pulled out a folding cribbage board made of bird’s-eye maple. Jess reached out to run a finger over it.

“Len made it for me.”

“I remember.” A shadow crossed his features, but Emma pretended not to notice. Grief had been her partner for too long and, while she acknowledged it, she no longer let it take over her life—for the most part, that is. There were always weak moments, but she wasn’t going to let this be one of them.

She pulled the cards out of her purse, shuffled once and set the cards between them. Jess cut a deuce, she cut an ace and picked up the deck. “I think we should play for money.”

“You don’t have any money.”

“Exactly. I need some.” She picked up her cards, quickly choosing two for her crib. Jess debated, chose his cards, then cut the deck. She turned up a jack and pegged two points. “A dollar a point?”

“No.” He played his first card and Emma paired it, pegging two more points. And so it went. They played two games, with Emma continuing to have crazy luck. After pegging her last point and skunking him, she drained the last of her coffee.

“This is good,” she said as she gathered the cards and put them back in the box. “You used up all your bad luck tonight, so you’ll have a good ride tomorrow.”

He didn’t look convinced.

Emma reached out to lightly pat his face, as she would have done with Darion or one of her brothers, only realizing as her palm made contact that this was Jess, not Darion or one of her brothers. Dear heavens. What was she doing?

And why was her stomach free-falling at the feel of rough stubble beneath her hand?

This was embarrassing.

She forced a smile and casually dropped her hand before reaching for her coffee cup. It was halfway to her lips before she realized that it was empty.

Did she fake a drink or get a grip?

She chose to get a grip and set down the cup. She’d touched Jess’s face. Big deal. He’d been like a brother to her for years.

And that was probably why he was scowling at her so deeply right now.

“Sorry,” she said. “I do that to my brothers.”

“No worries,” he said gruffly, but she’d felt him go still beneath her touch, knew that it had startled him as much as it had startled her. “I need to turn in early tonight.”

“Yeah. I know.” She slid out from the bench. “I want to catch a shower anyway over at the public facilities.” It’d been a while since she’d traveled the circuit, and she’d never traveled it as intensely as Jess planned to travel this one, but she knew the drill. On the nights you weren’t celebrating or driving, you got to bed early. A worn-out body wasn’t capable of peak performance, and with the schedule Jess had ahead of him, he needed to get all the rest he could while he could.

“What time will it be safe?” He frowned at her instead of asking her what she meant. “At what time can I enter the camper and find you decent?”

“Seven?”

“Seven is good. And if you can have the coffee on, that will be even better.”

* * *

PLAY FOR MONEY. Right. If he and Emma played for money, she’d have to buy the gas instead of him. She was a good player, but she also had the most ridiculous luck. Nobody pulled the fourth jack on the turn up. But Emma did. Len had been good, but Emma was a natural with numbers. She’d gone to college with the hope of becoming an engineer, but had quit after the funeral, settling at home and choosing to work a variety of part-time jobs.

Jess hadn’t really kept up with her, but he’d seen her around town, working in various capacities. Funny how Selma was nuts about her getting married, but hadn’t hounded her about finishing her education. Maybe because she knew, as Jess did, that Emma would finish it when she was ready.

He rolled over in the bunk. Maybe Selma had wanted Emma to get married because it would help ground her while she mourned. It was a dumb idea, but Selma was also mourning, and people didn’t always think straight during rough times.

A good example was him agreeing to let Emma travel with him.

For a while anyway. He didn’t see her lasting for all four weeks of his tour, but if it helped her to get away for a while, then he was game.

The next morning he was up early—well before seven—so when Emma knocked, he’d already showered and the coffee was on. He never ate breakfast on the days that he rode, and he rarely ate lunch, unlike his brother, who was counting protein calories and doing yoga. He settled into his head and waited for his ride, going over it, anticipating every move the animal could make, so that his reaction would be automatic. So far it had worked. He had a decent record, but if there was one certainty in bull riding, it was that there was no certainty.

The same rule kind of applied to Emma.

“You have coffee, right?” She was on the pot in a heartbeat, making Jess glad that he’d left her a cup instead of waiting until she got there to make more. He might have to buy a bigger percolator.

She brought the cup to her lips, her eyes closing as she first inhaled and then drank. “Sweet manna of life.”

“I didn’t know you were a coffee freak.”

She slid into her spot behind the table, resting her elbows on the surface and cupping the mug with both hands. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” she said, her full lips tilting up on one side. She really did have an amazing mouth. “Telling me to scram didn’t make you privy to my many secrets.”

He thought about it and had to agree. He didn’t know that much about her. Not the things that she held close anyway.

“What do I need to know?”

Her lips started to twitch in a way he didn’t like, as if she’d just heard a great joke but didn’t want to let him in on the punch line. “What?”

“That jerk Benny Two Feathers just asked me all snide-like if we were shacking up and I told him we were on our honeymoon. That shut him up.”

“Good one, Em.” He let out a breath. It didn’t matter. It really didn’t. And knowing Benny, he fully understood why she’d done that. The guy was a jerk.

He just hoped word didn’t get back to Selma. The last thing he needed was for her to set her sights on him as Emma’s future husband.

Chapter Four

“You married Emma Sullivan?”

Jess stopped stretching and turned toward Benny Two Feathers, who was smirking at him, as if being married to Em was a bad thing. “We’re not married.”

“Maybe you should tell Emma that.”

“She was yanking your chain,” Jess said tightly, settling his hands at the belt of his fringed chaps. “Possibly because you were out of line.”

“Hey. I was just curious.”

“Yeah. Well, to satisfy your curiosity, Emma is traveling with me to help with the driving.” Benny’s smirk became more pronounced and Jess had to work to keep his fingers from tightening on his belt. It didn’t matter what Benny thought, even if he did have the biggest mouth around. “Em’s brother died not all that long ago and she just called off her wedding. She wanted some time away to get her head together. I offered to let her ride along.” Kind of. “She doesn’t need you spreading rumors about us on top of everything else.”

“I, uh—”

“She’s my dead best friend’s little sister.” Jess took a step closer to Benny. “And you’d better leave her alone.”

Benny put his chest up, but he didn’t have a lot of fight in his eyes as he said, “I meant no harm.”

“Doesn’t matter what you meant.”

Benny gave a curt nod and took a step back. “I’ll, uh, tell her I’m sorry next time I see her.”