The Heart Won't Lie Read online

  All things considered, she expected Michael to be in a somber mood when he put on this demonstration, assuming he put it on at all. Instead, he was grinning as he stood in the middle of the corral with Jack and Jack’s younger brother, Gabe. Gabe had inherited his mother Sarah’s fair coloring and was currently sporting a mustache.

  Each of the men held the reins of his horse, and they seemed to be having a jolly time hanging out together. From the way they were laughing, Keri thought they were trading insults or bawdy jokes as they waited for the steers to be brought in.

  Several other cowboys lined the corral railing, along with Emmett Sterling and his daughter, Emily. Putting a foot on the bottom rail, Keri pulled herself up to lean on the top rail beside Emily. She and Emily had liked each other from the first day Keri had arrived at the ranch.

  Emily’s blond hair was tucked up under her hat and she was chewing on a piece of straw. Keri got a kick out of that. Emmett had the same habit, and his daughter was mirroring him, either consciously or unconsciously.

  Emily took the piece of straw from her mouth and glanced over at Keri. “Hey there, girlfriend. Gonna watch the greenhorn do his stuff?”

  “I thought I would.” She looked around for Emily’s husband, who ran the stud program for the ranch. “Where’s Clay?”

  “He had to straighten out a shipping problem and he’s stuck inside on the phone. Somehow a canister of sperm arrived unfrozen and spoiled. Clay expects the shipping company to pay for it, but they’re giving him a song and dance.”

  Keri smiled. “They’ve picked the wrong guy to mess with.”

  “Yes, indeedy. I know from personal experience that he’s very persistent.” Emily’s blue eyes shone with pride. She was obviously crazy about Clay Whitaker.

  “The Last Chance is lucky to have him.”

  “Yep. And so am I.” Emily gestured toward the corral. “I hear Michael’s really coming along with this riding gig.”

  “I hope so. He wants to learn.”

  Emily hesitated. “This is clearly none of my business, but word around the ranch is that you like him a lot.”

  “I do.”

  “Good.” Emily looked happy with the answer. “I can see you two together.”

  “Uh...we’re not exactly together.” And wouldn’t ever be.

  “Okay, didn’t mean to imply anything. Whatever the deal is, you’d make a cute couple. Your accents are almost the same.”

  Keri latched on to that remark with gratitude. She blinked innocently. “What accent?”

  “Yeah, right. Don’t get me started. You have the accent. We don’t. End of story.”

  “Easterners set the standard.” She smiled at Emily. “Everything else is a variation.” It was a running joke between them, and Keri welcomed the chance to kid around, even about something as silly as accents.

  “Not a variation. An improvement.” Emily winked and returned her attention to the corral. “Here come the critters.”

  Six white-faced Herefords, the small herd the ranch kept for training purposes, trotted into the corral. The men mounted up. Michael swung into the saddle like a pro.

  Keri didn’t recognize all the Last Chance horses, but she knew the one Michael was riding. The chocolate-and-white gelding was featured in many framed pictures sitting in the ranch’s trophy cabinet, a cabinet Keri was in charge of dusting.

  She turned to Emily. “Gabe’s letting Michael ride Finicky?”

  Emily nodded. “He and Jack wanted Michael to learn on a well-trained horse, and Finicky’s the best. Michael looks good on him.”

  “Yes, he does.” Keri realized she’d said that with a little too much enthusiasm when Emily grinned at her. “They all look good,” she added quickly. “Are Jack and Bandit going to participate?” Everyone on the ranch knew Bandit, the most valuable stud on the ranch, had been laid up recently.

  “No, Bandit’s not up to it yet, although I’m sure he’s bored silly. Jack probably wants to give him a little outing without doing anything strenuous first. Jack can keep an eye on things while Gabe and Michael work the cattle. I love watching Jack on Bandit, though. He and that horse are a unit. As for Gabe, he can ride any horse and make it look like a champion.”

  “Who’s he up on?”

  “That’s Rorschach. It’s tough to tell them apart if you’re not down here every day like I am. It’s especially hard when they’re both black-and-white, like Rorschach and Bandit. Rorschach doesn’t have the eye patches. Or the attitude.”

  “I see what you mean about Bandit’s attitude.” Keri’s gaze followed the horse as he pranced around the corral, neck arched and tail flying like a flag. He didn’t seem to be favoring his leg at all. “I think Jack encourages him.”

  Emily laughed. “You think?”

  But impressive as Jack and Bandit looked circling the corral, and as obviously accomplished as Gabe was on his horse, Keri couldn’t take her eyes off Michael. Seeing him now, she couldn’t believe he was a novice. As he sat easily in the saddle, his back straight and his hands loose on the reins, he looked every inch a cowboy.

  She turned to Emily. “I’m excited to see this demonstration. I’ve never watched team penning, before.”

  “You’re in for a treat. Gabe’s a super rider, and he’ll get the most out of Rorschach. Finicky’s a great horse, and he’ll get the most out of Michael. The pairing is brilliant, really. Michael should have a lot of fun if he can stay on.”

  “He might not?” Keri’s stomach churned.

  “He probably will. But I’ll bet that’s why Jack’s there, in case things get crazy and Michael needs a quick pickup.”

  Keri hadn’t even considered that Michael might get dumped in the dirt, caught in a whirlpool of churning animals and sharp hooves. Her heart beat faster as her anxiety level rose.

  “Don’t look so scared. He’ll be fine.”

  “He’d better be,” she muttered. If Jack had put Michael in danger just so they could all show off, she would never forgive him.

  As the penning operation began, she clenched her jaw and tightened her grip on the rail. At one point she felt a little dizzy and realized she was also holding her breath. And praying. This wasn’t fun at all.

  Michael, however, seemed to be having a blast. He was concentrating hard, but that didn’t stop the grin from popping out whenever he and Finicky executed a tricky maneuver. As dust flew and cowboys whooped, the two men and their horses cut a steer from the milling herd and worked it neatly into the pen.

  They repeated the feat again with no mishaps, and Keri began to relax. But the third steer wasn’t so cooperative. Finicky was determined and turned a corner with such blinding speed that Michael lost a stirrup and started to slide.

  Keri gasped and clutched Emily’s arm.

  Jack shouted something to Michael, who grabbed the saddle horn and righted himself. Finicky seemed to take no notice of Michael’s behavior. He focused on the steer and pivoted like a dancer as he blocked the animal’s attempt to escape. Gabe worked the steer’s other side, and Michael eventually regained his stirrup and became part of the action again. They penned the steer.

  “There, see?” Emily glanced at Keri. “He stayed on.”

  “Just barely.” She blew out a breath and let go of Emily’s arm. “Sorry if I left a bruise.”

  “Nah, I’m tough.”

  Jack called for a break and rode over to talk with Michael and Gabe. Keri was reminded of a coach coming out on the baseball field to consult with his players. Both Gabe and Michael nodded. Then they all laughed.

  That laughter did more to sooth Keri’s jangled nerves than anything else. “I guess everything’s okay if they can laugh about it.”

  Emily glanced at her. “I’ll bet you’ve never been in love with a cowboy before, have you?”

 
“I’m not...” She didn’t finish the sentence because Emily gave her a look that said she wasn’t buying any denial on Keri’s part. For emphasis, Emily held up her arm, with little pink spots where Keri had grabbed her.

  Keri sighed. “No, I’ve never been in love with a cowboy before.” She was beginning to wonder if she’d ever been in love before, period. No man in recent memory had affected her with this bone-deep yearning. Or this paralyzing fear for his safety.

  “The thing is, they’re modern-day knights. That means they take physical risks to challenge themselves, and you have to be okay with that. Sometimes they get banged up, and you have to be okay with that, too, because they don’t take well to being fussed over.”

  “I already know that about Michael.” She remembered Michael’s stubborn insistence that he was fine, when she knew he had to be in pain. “But he’s not really a cowboy yet.”

  “Oh, I think he is.” Emily turned back to the corral where Gabe and Michael prepared to pen another steer.

  “How can you tell?”

  “He didn’t quit after the humiliation of having to reach for the horn.”

  “What was humiliating about that?”

  Emily looked at her. “Grabbing the saddle horn is not macho. I suspect he was willing to go down rather than hold on until Jack yelled at him not to be stupid. So now he wants to prove he can finish the event without doing that again.” She smiled. “That’s typical cowboy thinking.”

  Keri groaned. “I don’t know if I can watch the rest of this. If he falls, then he could get trampled.”

  “Jack and Gabe are there to keep that from happening.”

  “But you just said cowboys sometimes get banged up.” The image of Michael lying on the ground, bloody and unconscious, made her sick to her stomach.

  “They do get banged up. And I won’t kid you. He’s not perfectly safe in there. I hope you stay, though. If he’s like most cowboys, he’s doing this for you.”

  14

  MICHAEL WOULD BE damned if he’d grab the saddle horn again, despite what Jack had said at the break. In fact, Jack had mentioned several things. He’d alluded to Michael’s inability to write any more bestsellers if a horse or a cow stepped on his fingers. He’d added that choosing image over safety was ridiculous and that impressing a woman wasn’t worth getting stomped on by critters.

  Jack was probably right about all of that. Maybe if Keri hadn’t said she was staying in Wyoming, which essentially meant she wouldn’t be seeing much of him in the future, he might not have felt so hell-bent on showing off. But if he was going to become only a memory, he wanted to be a good one.

  Of course, he wouldn’t be such a good memory if he got himself trampled right in front of her. So he couldn’t let that happen. That meant he had to stop thinking and simply feel the motion of the horse beneath him. As Jack had said, it was a lot like having sex with a woman.

  All afternoon he’d considered how Keri’s announcement would affect their sexual relationship for the rest of this week. By choosing not to live in Baltimore she’d changed everything. He couldn’t blame her for that choice. He certainly didn’t want her to be miserable in Baltimore just so they could see if they were meant to be together.

  But now, instead of anticipating a continuation of their affair, he would leave knowing it was over. Tomorrow the wedding guests would arrive, and he and Keri wouldn’t be alone upstairs. That didn’t completely cut out the possibility of sex, but...it wouldn’t be the same.

  It wasn’t the same, anyway. He might be able to act as if nothing had changed when they were in bed together, but everything had. He’d foolishly started to fall for her, but he was finished with that nonsense.

  As he waited for Gabe’s signal to start working the cattle again, he glanced across the corral at Keri. Pain sliced through his heart, and he cursed softly. He hadn’t started to fall for her. He’d fallen, and hard. He couldn’t let her see that.

  If he called a halt to their affair, that protective move would telegraph his feelings. He might as well write it out in glowing neon. As he thought of that, he knew how tonight would go.

  Tonight would be all about physical gratification, and he would be fine with that. She’d be fine with it, too. He’d make sure she was so blissed out by multiple orgasms that she never noticed his emotions weren’t in play. Yep, if he was going to be a memory, she’d need a fan and a bucket of ice whenever she thought of him. Guaranteed.

  That decision brought a focus he’d lacked before. When Gabe nodded, Michael was ready to go. No more overthinking his actions. He’d let his body do its thing and simply roll with it.

  When it came to the team penning, Michael was stunned by the spectacular results. He didn’t miss a single cue Finicky gave him. Neither did he kid himself that he was a pro who could ride any cutting horse in the world. Finicky’s expertise was a big part of the smooth operation. But at least he wasn’t a hindrance this time.

  When it was all over, he got plenty of compliments from the cowhands lining the rail. Jack and Gabe both rode over to shake his hand. When he happened to look at Keri, she gave him a thumbs up and a big smile. He might be the only one who noticed that her smile trembled a little bit.

  The thought crossed his mind that she might be battling some feelings for him, too. Maybe ending their affair wouldn’t be a walk in the park for her, either. In that case, maybe he should ask her what she wanted, rather than assuming they’d head upstairs tonight for their last hurrah.

  Hell, he was back to overthinking his decisions. If she didn’t want to have sex with him tonight, she would say so. She’d never been particularly shy with him.

  He rode Finicky through the corral gate on his way to the hitching post in front of the barn. Clay Whitaker had arrived, and Keri stood talking with him and Emily. As Michael rode past them, Keri glanced up and he touched the brim of his hat the way he’d seen Jack and the other cowboys do when they met a woman.

  She smiled again, and this time there was no doubt. It was the saddest smile he’d ever seen in his life. She was miserable, and he couldn’t ignore that and pretend he didn’t see her distress. He wasn’t built that way.

  But now wasn’t the time to deal with it. He’d ridden Finicky hard, and the horse deserved a good rubdown and a handful of oats. Gabe and Jack had already tied their horses to the hitching post.

  “Great job,” Jack said as Michael rode up.

  Michael laughed. “Are you talking to me or the horse?”

  “The horse, but you weren’t so bad, yourself.” He pulled his saddle and blanket off and started into the barn.

  “Thanks!” Michael called after him.

  Gabe lifted his saddle and blanket off Rorschach. “You hit your stride after we took that break.”

  “Yeah.” Michael dismounted and tied Finicky to the rail. “I finally got in sync with this amazing horse. I’m sure he could do the job without me, though.”

  “He could, but he wouldn’t. He’s trained to do this with a rider on board. He’s not a sheepdog.”

  Michael unbuckled the cinch. “Well, I’m honored that I got to be that rider, Gabe. Thanks for letting me pretend to be the real deal for an afternoon.”

  “Hey, you’re well on your way to becoming the real deal. You’ve got the right stuff. Are you sure you don’t want to stick around a little longer?”

  “Unfortunately, I can’t.” He glanced at Gabe. “Wish I could, but I have to get back.” He had a meeting with his agent and his editor on Tuesday to discuss the details of his next contract, which should include a sizable bump in his advance money. On Wednesday he’d be on a plane to California, where the video would be made.

  “Could you schedule another week or two out here before the snow flies? I hate to see you go months without riding when you’re so close to really getting it.”

 
“I’ll think about that.” He wished he could, but with his book sales increasing, his publisher had pushed up the publication date for his next release. That meant some long hours at the keyboard. “Thanks for the invite. And the confidence in me.”

  “You bet.” Gabe left for the barn.

  Michael followed soon after, and he met Jack coming out with a bucket full of grooming supplies. He lowered his voice. “Don’t look now, but Keri’s headed this way.”

  “Oh?” Michael hoped he looked unaffected by that news.

  “If you want to take your time putting your saddle away, I could send her in there so you two can have a more private discussion.”

  “I can talk to her out here.”

  “I dunno. She looks like a woman who would like to have a word, and that usually requires privacy.”

  “Okay.” Belatedly, Michael realized they should talk and establish how things were going to be between them tonight. Maybe she would be the one to call it off. God, he hoped not. He wasn’t ready to let her go quite yet.

  He continued into the cool shadows of the barn and put his saddle and blanket away. Some shape he was in for a close encounter with a woman. He and Jack had worked up a sweat shoveling manure earlier that afternoon.

  The therapy had worked like a charm, too. Michael had relaxed into the rhythm of a working ranch, and his stress had melted away, until the moment he’d looked over at the corral fence and spotted Keri. Then he’d tightened up again.

  Needing to move, he walked down the wooden aisle between the stalls. He’d let this woman get to him, and that was entirely his fault. He’d wanted her from day one, and once the barriers were gone he’d been only too eager to enjoy the charms of Keri Fitzpatrick.

  That wouldn’t have been a mistake if he’d thought of it as a brief affair. But he hadn’t done that. When he’d seen the possibility for more, he’d let his imagination have at it.