Panicked, Mandy was set to run toward the gate and stop the craziness, when, with a terse nod from Ty, the chute gate opened and Mandy’s throat closed. Eight seconds was an eternity, as any rough-stock rider could attest.
The bull whirled to the right and then jumped, kicking its back legs out. Ty was still on, barely, as the bull switched direction and bucked hard and high. Ty flew through the air like a missile, landing with a thud on the hard ground. Things seemed to move in slow motion as Mandy tried to scramble up the fence. Any thoughts of the bull and the danger it represented had evaporated as soon as she’d heard the thud of Ty’s body hitting the ground. One of the cowboys distracted the bull as Mandy climbed toward the top rail. Her focus was on the heap that was Ty. But she stalled at the top. She saw a leg bend, then a torso lift, and Ty was on his feet. He unbuckled the helmet and swung it off, a big old grin on his dirt-streaked face.
The thin crowd of cowboys hooted and whistled. And that, Mandy realized, was the reason Ty had done it. To show the men he was one of them, that he had the true grit of a cowboy and wasn’t just some interfering suit. It was a lot to risk just to prove a point.
Mandy jumped back off the fence, no longer needing to enter the arena. Instead, she headed for the gate without waiting for Cody. The thump of footsteps behind her said he was following. In seconds she was within arm’s reach of Ty, who was getting congratulatory slaps on the back, while from behind her, Cody heartily declared the bull a contender and the rider not.
“I hung on as long as I could,” Ty said, shaking his head now covered by his Stetson. “Unfortunately, it wasn’t all that long.” The dirt on his clothes couldn’t take the shine off his smile. Damn if she wasn’t proud of him, crazy as he had been for getting on a bull.
“No, but all you thrown riders showcased just how well those bulls move. I’d like to see at least three of those bulls at our next Touring Division event being held in Casper in another two weeks. If they show well in the Touring Division, they’ll eventually graduate to the top AFBR series. That’s serious money,” he said, turning to look directly at Mandy.
She knew just how serious that money was. A good bull team could earn out six figures in the AFBR, even with the steep entry fees. She’d been trying to get on the AFBR’s radar for the last three years. Ty apparently did it with a phone call. And she thought he was selling her out.
It didn’t take long to sort out what bulls Lane wanted. After Cody refused an offer for lunch, saying he had to get on the road, Mandy hung back as Ty walked him to his truck. There was so much she wanted to say to Ty, and little of it she would say. No matter what she was feeling, in two months Ty would be leaving. As they’d agreed. As she had insisted. Baby or no baby.
She took a deep breath as she watched him amble back. He had a slight hitch to his gate.
“You all right?” she asked as he drew near.
He smiled, more of a grimace, as dust kicked up behind him from the departing truck. “Other than being sore as hell?”
She gave a laugh to cover up her relief. “That wasn’t the smartest thing you’ve ever done, or your finest hour, cowboy.”
He stared at her, looking at once sheepish and pleased. “I know. I’ve been practicing on that mechanical bull we have for classes. Thought it was an opportunity to give the real thing a try.”
She took in that news, rolled it around in her mind. This man was full of surprises and contradictions. “But why?”
“I wanted to prove something.”
“To those cowboys?” she asked, startled he would care about anyone else’s opinion.
“No. To myself.” He tipped his hat back, revealing a serious set of dark eyes. “That I’m good enough.”
“For what?”
He shrugged and looked over the fences to the mountains in the distance.
She was touched by the fact that a man like Ty, who always seemed so confident, so in control, would be insecure about anything. She walked to him, sliding her hand down his face in a caress.
His attention was on her now, those dark eyes drilling into her, asking her some silent question she couldn’t quite decipher, but which she knew was important to him.
“I’ve never felt like I’m good enough.”
Mandy touched his arm. “Believe me, you’re good enough, cowboy. You don’t have to prove it to anyone.” And she meant it. Ty had worked each rodeo alongside the men, alongside her. He pulled long hours in the saddle during an event and even longer hours before and after to assure that Prescott presented the best rodeo for the money.
“Neither do you, Mrs. Martin.”
She kissed him. She meant it to be a sweet, comforting kiss, but the moment their lips touched, it took on a fire-fueled passion. Her arms wrapped around his neck, his hand cupped her chin, and their tongues did a sensual dance, deeper and deeper, more and more until there was no one else, nothing else in the whole universe but the two of them, body pressed to body, mouth devouring mouth.