Cowboy Take Me Away

Chapter 16


As Luke drove back to the shelter, he thought about how he hadn’t been quite up front with that kid at the rodeo. He’d acted as if that ride in Amarillo had been just one more. The truth was that he remembered every single second of that ride, because it had started the greatest year of his life.

But after going to the rodeo tonight, Luke realized how far his mind had wandered from where it should have been. He’d become so caught up in life at the shelter that sometimes a few days went by without him focusing on his goal. As he was working out, his mind should have been centered on performance-boosting mental replays of his best rides. Instead he found himself thinking about a cat that was having a hard time finding an adoptive family, or a repair that needed to be done, or the progress he was making with Manny.

But most of all, his mind drifted to Shannon.

But she could no more be his now than she could back then, because nothing had changed. She’d made it quite clear tonight that she intended to stay there forever, in the one place he’d never want to live again even if he gave up rodeo forever.

Bridget nudged the door open, came into his room, and jumped on his bed. He petted her for a moment, and she lay down beside him, purring loudly. He started to turn off the light, only to think about the text message he’d received when he was in his truck with Shannon. He pulled out his phone and read it again, hating Carter Hanson more with every word.

Guess who’s leading the pack now? Hint: It’s not Luke Dawson!

Luke’s stomach sank. When he saw that message, he realized he hadn’t checked the rankings in a long time, and when he pulled them up, he saw Hanson was right. He’d passed Luke up. Not by much, but Hanson still had the opportunity to hit a few more rodeos before the championship and amass even more prize money, while Luke was stuck here earning nothing.

He gritted his teeth, hating that feeling that his dream might be slipping away. For a minute, he had the crazy idea that he should leave town now, get back on the circuit, and make sure when he hit Denver he was leading in the standings again.

But what if he screwed his knee up again and knocked himself out of the championship altogether?

There was a limit to how much Hanson could earn between now and then with only a few more rodeos on the schedule. Luke was still firmly in the top ten, and the prize money was so great in the finals that a couple of good rounds could put him right back on top again.

He decided it was better to keep getting stronger so he was a hundred percent the minute he arrived in Denver. If he was in top-notch shape, there was no way that Carter Hanson, or anyone else, would be able to touch him.



On Saturday night at five o’clock, Shannon rounded the corner onto Calico Court and headed for her apartment, running so late she’d never be ready before Russell got there. She’d gotten hung up at the shelter with a family who was adopting a cat, and now she had less than an hour before he was supposed to be at her place. She still had to put dinner together, shove it in the oven, and hop into the shower before Russell arrived. Then, as she drew closer to her apartment building, she saw something that filled her with exasperation.

Her mother’s Mercedes sat in the parking lot.

Shannon steered her truck into a parking space. She grabbed Goliath’s leash, and together they trotted into the building. Shannon swept open her apartment door, expecting the worst. And that was exactly what she got.

The very worst.

Her living room was sparkling clean. The sofa pillows were fluffed. The dining room table was set with expensive linens that weren’t hers. In the air was a scent that might have been a cinnamon apple candle that she likewise didn’t own. The rugs were free of dog hair. The pile of books and magazines on her coffee table had shrunk by half. And her end tables…

Wait a minute. Was that what they looked like without dust? They were a whole new color. And shiny. Very weird.

She unclipped the leash from Goliath’s collar. “Mom! Where are you?”

Her mother appeared at the kitchen door. She wore a crisp blue oxford cloth shirt, a pair of beige slacks, and sensible but stylish shoes.

“Oh, hello, dear,” she said. “It’s about time you got home.”

Goliath took one look at Loucinda, whimpered a little, then trotted to his spot beside the fireplace, where his blanket was supposed to be. Unfortunately, it had not-so-mysteriously disappeared. He ducked his head and looked back at Shannon anxiously. I’m so confused! Did the scary lady steal my blanket?

“Where’s Goliath’s blanket?” Shannon said to her mother.

“In the wash. It was filthy.”

“But he’s used to it being beside the fireplace. He’s still uptight about his surroundings. The blanket helps.”

“The dog may not care about the blanket being clean, but Dr. Morgensen will care very much.”

“Mom? What are you doing here, and why are you cleaning things?”

“Don’t be silly, dear. I don’t clean houses. Rosalinda cleaned it.”

“What?”

“Why not? Heaven knows she can use the extra money.”

“You paid your housekeeper to clean my house?”

“Well, you certainly can’t afford it. Not on that salary you make at the shelter.”

This was it. The last straw. Shannon was going to have to get her key back so her mother couldn’t come and go as she pleased. But she could only imagine the fallout that would cause, and she just didn’t have the time to deal with it now.

She swept past Loucinda and went into the kitchen. “Mom, you have to go. Russell is going to be here in less than half an hour. I have to get dinner ready to—”

That was when she saw that her oven was on. Peering through the glass door, she saw her mother’s favorite French white two-quart dish.

“Mom?” Shannon said with disbelief. “What have you done?”

“It’s a casserole. I put it on low so it’ll be hot when you sit down to dinner. Don’t worry, though. I made something simple. We don’t want Dr. Morgensen getting suspicious about where it came from, now do we?”

“You made dinner for my date?”

“Considering what’s in your refrigerator and pantry, there wasn’t a way in the world you could have made dinner yourself.”

“I was just going to bake some chicken breasts. Stick one of those vegetable steamer thingies in the microwave. And put out some bread or whatever.”

“Bread? All I saw was a sandwich loaf.”

“Right. Toast it a little, butter it—”

“Good heavens! Are you trying to drive him away?”

“How did you even know I invited him to dinner?”

“Eve told me.”

“How did she know? I didn’t tell her.”

“I think it had something to do with that odd little woman who works for Dr. Morgensen, whose name escapes me.”

“Mom. No casserole. You shouldn’t even be here.”

“Be realistic,” her mother said. “Dr. Morgensen is coming at six. It’s almost five thirty. You have no time to cook and make yourself pretty.”

“Fine,” she said on a breath of frustration. “Leave the casserole.”

“There are rolls to go with it. They’re wrapped in foil on the counter. And there’s a Boston cream pie in the refrigerator.”

Shannon opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Sometimes her mother just left her speechless.

“Wear something besides blue jeans,” Loucinda went on as Shannon escorted her to the door. “Dr. Morgensen is a professional man with good taste. He expects any woman he dates to look like…well, like a woman.” She faced Shannon, looking almost teary-eyed. “I’m so proud of you for doing this. There’s nothing like a home-cooked meal to let a man know how much you care about him. Who knows where this might lead?”

Yeah, and Shannon would just bet Grandma North was looking down from heaven with tears of joy, too.

“Call me tomorrow and tell me how things went,” Loucinda said.

Shannon let her mother out. Then she heard a whimper and glanced at Goliath, who was standing in the living room near the place where he’d last seen his blanket, looking lost. Shannon ran to her laundry room, grabbed his blanket out of the dryer, and laid it beside the fireplace.

“There you go, sweetie,” she said.

He stepped onto the blanket. Sniffed it. Looked back at Shannon. It smells funny.

“I know,” she told him. “My mother loves April Fresh Downy. Stinks, doesn’t it?”

He finally turned a circle and lay down, looking up at Shannon with grateful doggie eyes. That’s okay. It’s still my blanket. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

She ran to the bathroom and showered in record time. She’d just thrown on a clean pair of jeans and a nice shirt when the doorbell rang. She blew out a breath of frustration. The man was so punctual you could set Big Ben by his departures and arrivals.

She opened the door to find Russell looking tall and handsome and impeccably dressed as always, wearing a sport coat and slacks, which practically screamed special occasion.

“I overdressed,” Russell said.

“No. You didn’t. I underdressed. The, uh…the dress I was going to wear…I didn’t get it back from the cleaners in time.”

He handed her a bottle of white wine. As she took it, it dawned on her that she hadn’t seen the casserole before her mother shoved it in the oven. Please let it be chicken.

“How was your day?” she asked as they went into the kitchen.

“I did Mrs. Hunsacker’s crown. A few fillings. Then a checkup and fluoride treatment on the Martin kid. He bit me.”

Shannon pulled the casserole out of the oven. “That’s kids for you.”

When Russell frowned at that, she said, “So do you want kids someday?”

“Well, sure. Eventually. That’s one of the steps, isn’t it?”

Russell lived his life as if he was painting by numbers. Fill in all the blue spots, then the red, then the orange and green, and pretty soon the picture was complete. He went to school. Got his degree in dentistry. Opened an office. Drove a certain kind of car, lived in a certain kind of house. Sometimes she felt as if she was a certain kind of girlfriend he eventually intended to make into a certain kind of wife.

The kind of wife her mother was.

Shannon cringed at the thought. She’d hated painting by numbers in kindergarten, and she didn’t like the figurative version of it now.

Russell opened the wine, and they sat down to eat.

“Smells good,” he said. “What is it?”

Let’s find out together, shall we?

She took the lid off and cringed. She couldn’t say exactly what it was, but there were definitely chunks of beef swimming around in it. Russell looked distressed.

“You said you were making chicken,” he said. “So I brought white wine.”

I don’t care about the damned wine!

“I don’t know what I was thinking,” Shannon said. “But it’ll be fine. What is it they say? Good wine is whatever you like. And I like white wine with beef.”

Russell was one of those men whose thoughts were written all over their faces. And right now his face was telling her what horrifically plebian taste she must have if she was even considering such a thing.

As they ate, Russell said, “Mmm. This is good. I wouldn’t mind if you cooked more often.”

Shannon realized she could either tell the truth and sound grossly incompetent, or lie and set herself up for the kind of future expectation that only her mother’s cooking could meet. In the end she just said nothing.

They chatted about nothing in particular through dinner, and afterward they sat on the sofa with another glass of wine. Shannon had been selling Russell to herself all evening long, but when he leaned in and kissed her, it was like point of purchase packaging on a candy bar. Good enough to get her attention, but the more she ate of the candy itself, the more she wished for something more substantial.

No. Knock it off. Give him a chance, or you may be alone forever.

Russell dragged his lips along her neck. “I’d like to stay tonight.”

The moment the words were out of his mouth, Shannon just about choked. In that moment, she knew just exactly how wrong this was. No, they hadn’t been dating long. But if he’d been a man she was truly interested in, her reaction would have been something other than sheer panic. Clearly she’d sent the wrong signals by making dinner for him at her apartment. What was she supposed to do now?

Tell him. Tell him right now this is going nowhere.

Then her phone rang.

“Don’t answer it,” Russell whispered, kissing her neck again. But she pulled it from her pocket and checked the caller ID.

Luke?

Her heart jumped halfway to the moon.

“Ignore it,” Russell said, but she leaned away and punched the Answer button.

“Uh…hi,” she said, glancing at Russell, then looking away again. “What’s up?”

“I’m at the shelter,” Luke said. “A woman just called about an abused dog.”

She came to attention. “Abused dog? Where?”

“I have an address about fifteen miles from here. The woman didn’t leave her name.”

She stood up and walked toward the kitchen, speaking more quietly. “Tell me what she told you.”

Luke related a story about a dog in a neighboring county staked out in his owner’s front yard, skin and bones, who rarely got food or water. Shannon’s stomach turned over at the very thought of it.

“Okay,” she said. “I’ll go have a word with the owner.”

“No. We need to call the sheriff.”

“Sheriff Sizemore can’t go. It isn’t his jurisdiction. And all law enforcement tends to do is issue a lot of warnings, which do no good. We need an animal control officer, but budgets are stretched too tight around here.”

“So you’re the unofficial animal control officer?”

“Just think of me as a concerned citizen.”

“With no authority. Nice people don’t abuse animals. That’s who you’ll be talking to. Somebody who’s not nice. You shouldn’t go alone.”

“Okay,” she said. “I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

She hung up the phone and turned to Russell. “I have to go. Luke got a call about an abused dog.”

The minute she said Luke’s name, Russell’s mouth twisted with irritation. “Why do you have to go?”

“Because it’s my responsibility.”

She went to her bedroom, kicking off her shoes and grabbing her boots. Russell appeared at the door.

“Send Luke by himself.”

“Russell—I’m going.”

“You need to learn to delegate.”

She stood up, grabbing an elastic band from the top of her dresser and shoving her hair up into a ponytail. “I really don’t have the time to discuss my management style with you.”

“We were having a perfectly nice evening. Why are you letting Luke ruin it?”

“This isn’t about Luke ruining our evening,” Shannon said sharply. “It’s about saving an abused animal. If you think it’s anything else—”

Russell held up his palm. “No. Wait.” He exhaled. “Of course you’re right. I’m overreacting.”

She looked away.

“No. I am. I just…” He came forward and took her by the shoulders. “I just hate that our evening is being cut short like this.”

“It’s okay.”

“If I had a patient who had an emergency, of course you wouldn’t stand in my way.”

“No. I wouldn’t.”

They went back to her living room. “You be careful driving,” Russell said, opening the door. He gave her a gentle kiss on the lips. “Another night?”

No. She knew now that she didn’t want another night with him. Unfortunately, now wasn’t the time to tell him. But the moment he asked her out again, she would. There was nothing really wrong with Russell. But tonight she’d finally come to the conclusion that, for her, nothing was really right, either.

“We’ll talk later,” she told him, already dreading the conversation.



The tip Luke had gotten said the place they were looking for was fifteen miles outside Rainbow Valley on a secluded state highway. He tried plugging it in to Google Maps, but that was little help. Finally they made their way to a rural property that fit the description. The house was two stories, with a paint-starved front porch and a rusted-out Thunderbird in the driveway. A dog was tied up in the front yard. Shannon turned onto the long driveway leading to the house and stopped.

“My God,” she said. “Look at that poor baby! He’s so thin. Do you see any food? Are they even giving him water?”

She began to inch up the driveway. The dog looked to be mostly pit bull with a few other things thrown in. The sun was nearing the horizon, but his ribs protruded so prominently Luke could see them even in the fading daylight.

“He must stay tied to that post every night,” Shannon said.

As she stopped behind the Thunderbird, a man came out of the house, the screen door slapping shut behind him. He had dark, scraggly hair, shoulders like concrete blocks, and a scowl that said visitors weren’t welcome.

“What do you intend to do?” Luke asked.

She jammed her truck in park and killed the engine. “Have a word with that guy.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“He clearly couldn’t care less about the dog. He’ll probably just let me take him.”

Maybe. But Luke still had a bad feeling about this. “No kidding, Shannon. He’s a big man. Don’t get in his face.”

But he’d messed with a dog, which flipped Shannon’s switch, which meant a confrontation of some kind was coming whether it was good for her or not. She got out of her truck and marched right up to the guy, who seemed to grow bigger and broader by the minute. Luke stepped out of the truck, getting ready to make right whatever was getting ready to go wrong.

“Is that your dog?” Shannon said.

“Who else’s would it be?”

“When’s the last time you fed him?”

“He gets plenty to eat.”

“Doesn’t look like it to me. You can’t just keep a dog on the end of a rope and not take care of him.”

“Says who?”

“Says the law.”

“He chewed up my sofa. What am I supposed to do? Let him loose in the house again?”

“Do you know the penalty for animal abuse? You could go to prison.”

“Good. I’ll be able to say hi to all my old buddies.”

Shannon must not have heard the guy’s mention of a prior stint in the Big House, because she moved even closer to him than before and raised her voice. Luke could tell she was only seconds from poking him in the chest with her forefinger. That kind of thing went over great with men whose self-images were tied up in lording their strength over weaker people. Women in particular.

Crap.

With a huff of irritation, Luke came up next to Shannon, who was going on about the advisability of messing with her, even though the guy was a head taller than she was, weighed twice as much, and had singlehandedly kept some lucky tattoo parlor in business. And he had plenty to say right back at her.

“Hey!” Luke shouted.

They both fell silent.

“Nice dog,” Luke said to the guy, nodding back over his shoulder. “I’ll give you forty bucks for him.”

The man blinked with surprise. “What?”

“You heard me. Forty bucks.”

The guy flicked his eyes over to the dog, who had settled down onto the ground and was panting like crazy. “Eighty.”

“Fifty,” Luke said.

“Seventy.”

Luke looked at the dog, then back again. “Sixty. Final offer.”

“Done.”

Luke reached into his wallet and pulled out three twenties. The guy snatched the money, went back into the house, and closed the door behind him.

Shannon’s mouth fell open. “What the hell did you just do?”

“Bought myself a dog.”

“Don’t you ever do that again,” Shannon said hotly.

“Do what?” Luke said, walking toward the dog. “Save you from getting knocked around by a very large, very angry man?”

She hurried along beside him. “I can take care of myself.”

“No, Shannon, you can’t. Not when he has a hundred pounds on you and picked up his attitude in prison.”

“Exactly. That guy should be in jail.”

“I agree.”

“He’ll only abuse another animal.”

“So report him. But right now, we need to get this dog out of here before the Incredible Hulk changes his mind.”

Luke knelt beside the dog, who stood up and whimpered, his ribs looking like corrugated tin. Luke pulled out his pocket knife and slashed the rope that held him, making it short enough to double as a leash. “Come on, Fluffy.”

“Wait a minute,” Shannon said as she walked beside them toward the truck. “Fluffy? Seriously?”

“My money. I get to name him.”

“Names generally roll right past me, but come on, Luke. That dog’s about as far from a Fluffy as a dog gets. He’s not even a long-haired dog.”

“His name’s Fluffy. Case closed.”

“You’re naming him that just to make me crazy, aren’t you?”

“Yes. I’m naming him that just to make you crazy.”

Luke grabbed a bottle of water out of the truck and poured it into his hand for the dog to drink from. Then he opened the passenger door of the truck. The dog didn’t have to be asked twice to jump in. Dogs had a pretty good survival instinct, and this one had undoubtedly decided his chances were better inside the truck than out.

Shannon yanked the truck into gear. “You’re out sixty bucks.”

“It’s only money.”

“Which you’re short on. The shelter will reimburse you.”

“Not necessary. I doubt you have a line item in the budget for animal purchase. You generally get them for nothing.”

Shannon shook her head with disbelief. “You bought a pit bull and named him Fluffy. You are so weird.”

Luke just smiled and gave the non-fluffy dog a pat on the shoulder. To his surprise, the dog lay down on the seat and rested his chin on Luke’s thigh. Nobody had ever accused Luke of being sappy or overemotional, but when those grateful doggy eyes turned up to meet his, he felt a funny twinge somewhere in the area of his heart.

Suddenly he knew. This was it. This was why Shannon had a look of determination permanently stamped on her face. Why she took on angry men twice her size. Why she rescued more animals than she had money to feed.

Because they looked at her like this.

He smiled to himself. Way to go, sweetheart. Keep up the good work.



Later as Shannon left the office, she looked toward the barn and saw Luke standing at the gate leading to the back pasture, staring across the field. Fluffy sat beside him. Luke had given him food and water while Shannon filled out the intake paperwork. They’d keep him in a quarantine cage tonight, then take him to the vet tomorrow to get him checked out. Shannon hoped there was nothing wrong with him that a lot of love couldn’t cure.

Judging from the way Fluffy hugged Luke’s side, Shannon had no doubt the dog knew who had saved him, and he’d instantly given Luke his devotion. Dogs usually knew good from bad at a single sniff. If Shannon hadn’t already discovered just how good Luke really was, she’d have taken Fluffy’s word for it without question.

She walked down the path. Fluffy met her, and she scratched him behind the ears before coming up beside Luke. Dusk had almost turned to darkness. Luke glanced at her, then turned his attention back to the horses congregated in the middle of the pasture. Manny was in their midst, looking like a toy version of the horses that towered over him. She rested her arms on the gate beside Luke. “A good meal perked him right up,” Luke said, reaching down to pat the dog. “I think he’s going to be just fine.”

“I think so, too. Thanks for calling me.”

“Hope I didn’t catch you in the middle of something tonight.”

She’d practically forgotten her evening with Russell already, making her realize once and for all how wrong a relationship with him would be.

“No,” she said. “Nothing important.”

Luke just nodded. After a few more seconds of restful silence, he said, “Want to see something?”

“Sure.”

“Manny,” he said softly, then made a clucking sound with his tongue. “Hey, Manny!”

In the distance, the little horse’s head flew up. He pricked up his ears and looked in Luke’s direction. As quietly as Luke spoke, it surprised Shannon the horse could even hear his voice. After a moment, he started walking toward them.

Shannon couldn’t believe it. “He comes when you call?”

“Yep. I have something he wants.”

“That would have to be oats. Alfalfa. Strawberry cheesecake. He’ll eat anything.”

“Nope. It’s not even food.”

“Can’t be. Manny likes something better than food?”

Manny stopped near the gate. Luke swung it open and approached him. To Shannon’s surprise, he just stood there as Luke squatted down in front of him, rested his palm behind his ears, and began to scratch him there. Shannon held her breath, but to her surprise, Manny didn’t try to bite. He didn’t even flinch. Instead, his head dipped lower, then lower still, and his eyes slowly fell shut.

“I don’t believe it,” Shannon whispered.

Manny’s wariness had disappeared. He simply stood there peacefully, enjoying the touch of a human being instead of drawing away from it with apprehension. After a while Luke stopped rubbing behind his ears and stroked his face instead. Manny’s eyes opened, but instead of recoiling, he just stood there calmly, his ears in a neutral position.

Finally Luke stood up. Manny looked at him expectantly for a few moments, then turned around and walked back across the pasture toward the other horses. Luke came back through the gate and shut it behind him.

“I wouldn’t let anyone else try that just yet,” Luke said. “But it’s a start.”

Shannon shook her head with disbelief. “How did you do that?”

“You expect him to bite, and he bites. I just quit expecting him to.”

“I thought you didn’t have time to do any horse taming.”

He looked away, a tiny smile on his lips. “Turns out I was able to squeeze in a few minutes.”

The pasture was bathed in the faint light of dusk. It fell across Manny’s dappled coat in a way that masked his scars, and for a moment Shannon had a glimpse of what he might have been like if only he’d experienced from day one the kind of compassion Luke had shown him.

“He’s so calm,” she said, then fanned her gaze across the pasture. “This whole place is calm.”

“Well, that doesn’t happen very often,” Luke said.

Shannon laughed softly. Then her face faded into a gentle smile. They leaned on the fence for a long time, watching the horses. Evening became dusk, and fireflies danced in the fading light.

“What if that guy had demanded a hundred dollars?” Shannon said.

“What?”

“For Fluffy.”

“Then I’m afraid poor Fluff would have been out of luck.”

“No,” she said softly. “You’d have given it to him.”

“I didn’t have a hundred bucks on me.”

“You’d have gotten it.”

“Unlikely. I hear that ATM at the savings and loan is pretty unreliable.”

“Thank you for saving him,” Shannon said.

“You’ve saved a whole lot more of them than I have,” Luke said. “Or ever will.”

“But what if we find another Fluffy and we’re full up?”

“We’ve had a lot of adoptions lately. We’re not anywhere near full up.”

“Not now. But what about the future?” When you’re not here?

“You’ll find a way.”

“No. There’s a limit. We could reach it someday. Too many animals, not enough money. And even when everything’s done that absolutely has to be done, I start thinking, there are more out there. So there’s really no end to it, is there?”

“The more stressed out you get, the less effective you are. Take it easy, and things will turn out fine.”

She nodded, knowing he was right even though it was difficult for her. “I know you think I’m just a workaholic. That work is more important to me than a personal life. But it’s more than that. They haunt me, Luke. Seriously. Helpless animals I can’t save. I could put it in the back of my mind while I was in Houston, but the moment I came back here…” She sighed softly, looking off into the distance. “I had a dream one night the whole town was full of them. They were hurt and starving, looking at me with pleading eyes, and there was nothing I could do. There were just too many of them. And every time I blinked, I saw even more.”

“You can’t save them all,” Luke said quietly. “I know you think if you only do more, work another few hours, push harder than you’ve ever pushed before, you can finally right all the wrongs. But you can’t. You just can’t.”

“So I stop trying?”

“No. Never stop trying. Just give yourself a break. Sometimes you need to turn off your brain. Find a little peace and quiet. Just for a little while.”

“Easier said than done.”

“No, not really. Come with me.”

Luke put Fluffy into the quarantine cage, and then he led Shannon up the path to his truck. She started to ask where they were going, but he put his finger to his lips before she could even get the words out of her mouth. Finally she just put on her seat belt and went along for the ride.

Luke left the shelter property and turned onto the highway. After a few minutes, he made a left onto a dirt and gravel road that didn’t even look like a road. They wound through the trees, the truck’s headlights cutting through the night. Soon the road became just dirt. Then it was barely a road at all.

Finally they reached a point where the road ended and they could go no farther. As Luke grabbed a flashlight from his glove compartment, Shannon got out of the truck. It was official. They were definitely in the middle of nowhere.

Luke took her hand and they wove through the trees. Just when she was sure the overgrown brush was going to keep them from going farther, the trees parted, and Shannon couldn’t believe what she saw.

They were on the edge of a cliff. A full moon had risen, huge and yellow, floating over the valley. Shannon swept her gaze from left to right, taking in the most spectacular panorama of moonlit splendor she’d ever seen.

She put her hand to her chest. “My God. It’s beautiful.”

“Listen,” he said.

“I don’t hear anything.”

“Exactly. Soft breeze in the trees. A few crickets. That’s about it.”

He took her to a nearby fallen log, and they sat down. Luke flipped off the flashlight, and then it was only the moonlight between them. Now she remembered. She remembered how it had felt when they were teenagers, to be inches from him and wanting to touch him so badly she trembled with the feeling.

“I used to come here when I was a kid,” he said. “I was the only one who knew about this place. Nobody bothered me here. Nobody waiting for me to screw up. No sheriff hanging over my shoulder. No father…” His voice trailed off.

Shannon nodded. “I wish I’d known about this place. It might have made things easier for me, too.”

“What things?”

“When I was a kid, everything came with an expectation. You had to give to get.”

“What do you mean?”

“I had a lot to live up to.”

Luke was silent, waiting for her to continue.

“I remember one semester my senior year, I got a B in a math class,” Shannon said. “First B I’d ever gotten. Do you know my hands actually shook when I showed my mother my grades? She got this terrible look of disappointment on her face, as if I’d betrayed the family or committed a crime. She never got angry or yelled. There was just this horrible silence.”

Shannon hadn’t thought about that in a long time, and she was surprised at how it still made her sick to think about it.

“I know it doesn’t seem like a big thing to you considering where you came from,” she went on, “and you’re right to feel that way. But things like that added up, little by little, until I felt as if I was drowning. No matter how hard I tried, I never quite measured up.”

“Which is why you’re just a little bit of a perfectionist?”

“You think?” She smiled briefly. Then her smile faded. “But you know, the day I showed my mother that grade, I went to the shelter. I walked from cage to cage, talking to the dogs. They didn’t care what I did, how I dressed, what grades I got. They loved me anyway. That’s why I’ll do anything for them. And they don’t ask for a damn thing in return except for me to feed them and treat them right.”

Luke reached over and took Shannon’s hand, and together they stared out at the valley.

“I’m glad Mildred insisted the valley stay untouched,” Shannon said quietly, as if a louder voice would disturb the animal spirits dozing peacefully beneath the full moon. “On a night like tonight, it’s easy to believe the animals really are there.”

“So you believe the legend?”

She lifted one shoulder in a tiny shrug. “We’ve had all kinds of animals come through the shelter. Ones who’ve been horribly mistreated. Some who didn’t make it.” She paused, her eyes growing misty. “Sometimes I need to believe, you know?”

Luke nodded.

“On the hardest days,” she said, “sometimes I think about what it would be like if I were to die and go to the valley. If you believe the legend, every animal I’ve ever loved would be there.”

Tears welled up in her eyes, and Luke gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

“Any pain they’d felt in this life would be gone,” she said. “They’d have no memory of abuse or neglect or anything else they might have suffered. Finally they’d all be healthy and happy. Then…” Her voice faltered. “Then there would be that moment when they’d look up and recognize me. They’d come running across the valley to meet me. And then”—she ducked her head and put her hand against her mouth, her voice choking up—“then a rainbow would appear…”

She squeezed her eyes closed. Tears streamed down her face, and her shoulders shook with sobs. Luke slipped his arm around her. She fell against him, and he took her in his arms. He held her tightly, running his hand up and down her back in long, soothing strokes. For a long time he just held her like that, the warmth of his embrace countering the cool night breeze, the gentleness of his touch coaxing her tears to subside.

Nothing felt better than being with him. Nothing.

Luke was warm and solid and comforting in ways she’d never expected him to be. He’d shown up there and reminded her what it felt like for her skin to prickle with excitement, only to turn around and show her how to breathe deeply and let her troubles go. Whatever she needed at the time, Luke always seemed to be there to provide it.

“The Rainbow Valley Overlook is nice,” he said. “But that’s for everyone else. This place was mine before. Now I’m giving it to you.”

She looked up at him, her eyes glittering with tears. “Can you do that?”

“I just did. It can be yours forever, as long as you don’t tell anyone about it.”

Long after he was gone, she could come here and remember this night. She didn’t know whether to feel comforted by that or start crying all over again.



Luke continued to hold Shannon, wanting desperately to protect her from anything that caused her misery, distress, or unhappiness. Then he remembered what Rita had asked him to do. While you’re here…will you watch out for her?

He’d met that suggestion with total disbelief that it was necessary, and even if it was, that he was the man for the job. But as strong as Shannon was, right now she felt small and soft and vulnerable, and he wanted to tell her that no matter how tough things got, he’d always be there for her.

But the truth was that he wouldn’t always be there. His life consisted of crisscrossing the country, riding bulls, driving hard for the championship he was sure would finally make his life complete. And she had her life in Rainbow Valley, with her friends and family and a bunch of homeless animals. He had no doubt that the man who eventually married her would have everything he didn’t. A college degree. A stable life. A lucrative profession. People who respected him.

And the woman he wanted more than anything.

Luke fought the memories, the ones that made him feel less than other people. And it was because of this town. Nowhere else on earth did he feel that way. Only here. He’d thought if only he knew for sure his father was in the ground, it would all be over. But it wasn’t. As much as he professed to have gotten past it all, it took nothing for old memories to be triggered, ones he still didn’t want to face.

The festival was starting in a few days. Soon he’d be getting on the road to Denver. He needed time to drive there. To acclimate himself back to the rodeo arena. To get his mind back in the game and let this life go.

To let Shannon go.

Lately, though, a daydream had filled his mind more than once. He imagined it was the final round at the World Championship, and he’d just gone the distance on the biggest, baddest bull he’d ever ridden. He’d turn to the stands and search the people there, finally locating Shannon’s beautiful face. For the first time in his career, there would be somebody he cared about in those stands. Somebody who cared about him. Somebody who searched him out afterward, win or lose, and then they went home together.

But that would never happen. Shannon would never leave this town, and he couldn’t stay. It was time to stop wishing for things that could never be.

“Thank you for this place,” Shannon said. “I won’t ever forget it.”

Her eyes were still glistening with tears, and her warm, sincere expression went straight to his heart. And I won’t ever forget you.

They drove back to the shelter. When Luke parked in front of the office and killed the engine, the silence just about drove him crazy. He didn’t want to get out of this truck. Didn’t want this night to be over. Didn’t want to walk inside to his empty apartment only to lie in bed and think about Shannon.

He turned to look at her. She reached out her hand, and he took it in his. Then she leaned over the console, put her other hand against his face, and kissed him on the opposite cheek. Instead of pulling away immediately, though, her hand lingered against his face, and he felt her warm breath against the side of his neck.

He didn’t know what it meant. It was too chaste to be a come-on, too sensual for just friends. Never in his life had he wanted a woman the way he wanted her, but this wasn’t just fun and games anymore. He couldn’t ruin this night by coaxing and coercing her, maybe even making promises he couldn’t keep. Damn it, he just couldn’t—

Then the warm breath on his neck became warm lips.

His heart jolted hard, then shifted into a chaotic rhythm. The warm lips moved closer to his, trailing kisses along his cheek. Her hand crept to his thigh, squeezing, releasing. When her lips finally landed against his, he felt a surge of heat that just about set him on fire.

This was no good night kiss.

“Let’s go inside,” she whispered, and all his reservations went right out the window.