The Comeback Cowboy

Was she also reluctant for their afternoon encounter to end?

“Thanks for letting me tag along during your lunch,” Ty said.

“Are you serious? It couldn’t have been that much fun for you.”

“There were a few high spots.” Like the seating arrangement.

“Next time I try to warn you—” she gave him a stern look “—pay attention.”

“How ’bout next time we go to lunch just the two of us?”

The pause that followed lasted a little too long.

“I…uh…” She inhaled slowly and squared her shoulders. “Thank you for asking, but I don’t date guests.”

He hid his disappointment with a joke. “Is that one of those rules on the list I haven’t read yet?”

“No, a personal one. Less messy that way when the guest leaves.” Without another word, she pushed open the passenger door and hopped out, giving him the briefest of waves as she climbed the steps to the lodge entrance.

Her abrupt departure had Ty wondering if she’d been there and done that, and been left behind with a wounded heart.

And since he was leaving after the Buffalo Bill Cody Stampede, he certainly couldn’t argue the logic behind her rule.

“WHAT’S WRONG?”

“Nothing, Pop.” Adele had practically steamrolled her grandfather in her haste to get inside.

“You sure?” He studied her with concern.

She suspected he’d been watching her and Ty from the lobby window. “Absolutely. Why would you think there was?” She made her way around the registration counter and into the sanctuary of her small office.

Pop followed her, shutting the door behind them except for a narrow crack—just in case someone rang the bell.

“You’re upset, and Ty looked none too happy, either.”

She was never any good at hiding her feelings. “Reese and I ran into him at the feed store. He wound up joining us for lunch. Garth was there, too.”

Pop harrumphed. “Guess I can’t blame the boy for being a touch prickly after that.”

“Actually, he handled it pretty well.” She gave her grandfather a brief account of the lunch.

“Then why are you acting like you two tangled? Is he mad about taking the beginner class?”

“Not at all.”

Pop lowered himself carefully into the office’s single visitor chair, wincing slightly. When he was settled, he let out a long groan. “Damn hip’s giving me fits today. Must be the rain.”

It hadn’t rained in over two weeks and didn’t remotely look like it was going to anytime soon. “You taking the new medicine your doctor prescribed?”

“Yes, and quit nagging me.” They both knew he should have hip-replacement surgery, but Pop insisted he wasn’t going under the knife unless it was a matter of life and death.

Adele thought his refusal had more to do with her than any fear of hospitals. He worried about leaving the entire responsibility of the ranch and Cowboy College to her.

“And quit changing the subject,” he scolded.

“What?”

“From you and Ty.” His wizened features softened. “You like him.”

Hoping to distract her grandfather, she shook her mouse and roused her computer from its hibernation. “He’s just another guest.”

“You don’t date enough. You need to get out and have a little fun now and then.”

“I went to lunch today.”

“With friends. That’s not the same.”

No? It had felt a little like a date. Part of the time, anyway.

“You’ve haven’t gone out with anyone since that Joe kid from Phoenix.”

“Yes, I have.”

“When? Who?”

Adele searched her brain and came up blank. “I’m sure I have.”

Pop just grunted. His way of saying he was right.

She skimmed the contents of her email in-box, hating to agree with her grandfather. Joe had been her last relationship, and it could hardly be called serious. In fact, none of her relationships since she’d graduated high school had been serious.

“Ty’s a good man,” Pop continued, oblivious to her diversion tactics. “And he’s taken a shine to you. I can tell by how he looks at you.”

“I’m not interested in him except as a guest of this ranch and a student in my class.”

Pop chuckled. “I guess that’s why you were walking away from him earlier like a bee flew up the back of your shirt.”

“I was not!” Adele’s heated denial was met with another grunt. She clicked on the unopened emails in earnest, ignoring her grandfather.

He abruptly sobered. “Is it because he’s a professional roper?”

She didn’t respond.

“They’re not all bad,” his said, his gravelly voice dropping in pitch.

“I know.” She turned and gave him a soft smile. “But men like you are the exception, not the rule.”

“It’s been a lot of years, Dellie. Time you moved on. Put your parents and what they did behind you.”