Lassoed into Marriage

He shrugged. “You’re right. Bull riding isn’t something that occurs on a typical day on the ranch. I only got on bulls at the ranch to practice. Now I practice at my buddies’ ranches. Someone always has a spread near the events.”

Suddenly her eyes grew wide. “Wait a minute. You had a ranch?”

“Sure did. The Mountain View Ranch in Elsie, Montana. The best place in the world.” He’d loved the place while he had it. “But I sold it to a buddy. Riding the PBR circuit, I was never there.”

He and Sid Peterson had a handshake agreement. If Sid ever wanted to sell, Sully had first dibs on it, but that would never happen. Not now. Not when he had Rick’s daughter to raise back at the big old Victorian in Salmon Falls, New York.

He sighed. If he ever went back to Montana now, it’d only be to visit.

“Funny, I never pictured you as the ranching type,” Lisa said.

“Which means?” He raised an eyebrow.

“I guess I always had you pictured as tumbling tumbleweed.”

“Just drifting along, huh? Just like you? Isn’t that what our respective parents pointed out?” he asked.

She rolled her eyes. “I so want to prove to them that we can be good guardians to Rose.”

“I know.” But proving to his parents that he could do anything major like raising Rose seemed too much of a long shot. However, his brother Rick had been Gordon and Betsy Sullivan’s pride and joy. A Wall Street millionaire, who didn’t even have to work on Wall Street, he had been a total success. He’d even married the perfect woman. They’d adored Carol, and when Rick had put their first grandchild into their arms, he’d become even more perfect, if that was possible.

Sully could never be jealous of Rick. Rick was a great guy, a stand-up guy, a good-natured guy and a terrific big brother. Rick would have gone to the wall for him, and Sully would have returned the favor.

However, Brett Sullivan, second son, was a big disappointment to the Colonel and Mrs. Sullivan. He chose the cowboy lifestyle instead of a civil service job or the army. He did go to West Point briefly after high school, which got their hopes up, but he wasn’t there long enough to unpack before he hitchhiked to the first PBR event.

He’d be considered by many to be a nomad, a rolling stone, a carefree cowboy who was doing what he wanted and living from go-round to go-round. His relationships with the opposite sex were mutually satisfying and perfectly shallow. That’s the way he wanted it. Then he moved on.

How did that old country song go? Something about never loving a woman enough to stay—instead a cowboy saddles up and rides away.

“Sully?” Lisa said. “A penny for your thoughts?”

“They aren’t worth that much.”

“The day went well. Don’t you think?” Lisa asked.

He knew that she wanted him to say yes.

“Sure. It was a great day. We didn’t fight. Rose laughed a lot and enjoyed the long ride, mostly because you played with her. She loved splashing in the pool. And now she’s sleeping like a three-year-old should.”

“You were the one who made her laugh. I was the one who was making sure she didn’t drown.” Lisa yawned, then stood. “I’m still nervous about us raising her.”

“You have to relax, Lisa. You hover over her too much.”

“And you need to hover more!”

“Look, Lisa, anyone in their right mind would be nervous about raising children. We both love her, so it’ll be easy. I think that confidence will come in time. If not confidence, then at least competence.”

Her eyes grew large with surprise. “You are absolutely right about that!”

Her reaction made something in him wake up after a long sleep. Maybe he was lacking confidence and competence in his personal life. In his bull riding career, he’d always had plenty of both.

However, according to his parents, he had no track record of doing anything right.

So what made him think he could do right by Rose?

Chapter Four

Lisa never imagined that her life would consist of trips to the bathroom to assist her niece, playing dollies, feeding animals, picking up dog poop, cleaning a litter box and doing laundry. She looked forward to Rose’s afternoon nap when there was a bit of time to just sit and read. Thank goodness for microwave meals. They were a blessing to the unskilled cook.

However, microwave meals weren’t nutritious enough, so Lisa always made a nice salad and had plenty of fruit available. She’d even grilled hot dogs and hamburgers in the oven of the RV. She was pretty proud of herself that they were edible.

She walked to the front of the RV and sat down in the passenger’s seat. She was just about to ask Sully if he’d like hot dogs again for dinner, but he spoke first.

“Three days on the road is enough. I’m going to drive all night. We’ll roll into the arena in Fort Lauderdale in the morning,” Sully announced while checking his GPS. “Then we can park this rig at the arena for the next two days.”

“Park it where?”

“At the far end of the arena. The other guys and some of their families will be there in their RVs.”

Lisa had heard all about how the cowboys circled their wagons, so to speak, and partied day and night. She wanted no part of that, and it wasn’t appropriate for Rose.

“Have you lost your mind? Rose and I are not living on a parking lot.” She kept her voice as low as she could so she didn’t wake the little girl.

“But there will be children for Rose to play with and—”

“You never said anything about a parking lot. I thought we’d be camping at a campground like we’ve been doing,” she whispered, but it was a loud whisper.

“I didn’t think that it’d be—”

“That’s right. You didn’t think.”

Sully kept on driving, but Lisa could see his white-knuckled grip on the wheel. She didn’t care how mad he was.

Sully let out a loud breath. “I’m trying to tell you that the riders bring their families and there are children that Rose can play—”

“And there will be drinking and the buckle bunnies will be trolling, and … and … I don’t want Rose subjected to all that. Nor do I want to be subjected to it!”

“You have it all wrong, Lisa. It’s not like that. I—”

“This discussion is over.”

“But we haven’t discussed anything. You won’t even let me talk.”

“There’s nothing more to say.” Lisa shot the words at him like darts.

“Fine!” He said the word through gritted teeth. “I’ll rent a car.”

“Rent a car? Why?”