The Cowboy Way

“Mr. Dixon, may I impose on you to watch Kevin a while longer while I get dressed?”

“Of course. I’m just going to let Kevin walk Killer around the paddock. Take your time.”

“Be careful, Kevin. Nothing fancy, okay? And listen to Mr. Dixon.”

“I will. I will.” His voice had that “quit nagging me” tone to it, but she couldn’t help herself. She always worried.

As she was about to go back into the cabin, Emily Dixon turned the corner and waved to her. “Beth, you’re just the person I’m looking for.”

“Good morning, Emily.” She slumped over in another attempt to make her nightgown appear longer. “Please come inside. I need to get dressed.”

“Good morning, boys.” She gave Kevin and Jake a wave. Turning back to Beth, she said, “Stay put. I’ll make it quick. I need another volunteer for the overnight campout, a woman to assist the girls in the program. Now, I know you are on vacation, and you need a break from— Well, I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t desperate. Can you help us out?”

“Certainly,” she said without hesitation. If she was assisting Wheelchair Rodeo, she could keep an eye on Kevin.

“But, Mrs. Dixon, my mom doesn’t know how to ride,” Kevin said. “She won’t be able to go on the trail ride and campout.”

“I can take care of teaching your mother how to ride,” Jake said.

His blue eyes sparkled in the morning sun like twin sapphires. She didn’t particularly want to be in Jake Dixon’s company all that much. In just the short time she’d known him, she was already feeling a pull toward him. And now she was having erotic dreams about him. Why?

He was stirring up feelings that she hadn’t known she had, as well as fears about Brad and his drinking that she’d tried to bury, along with her husband.

She saw an amused look on Emily Dixon’s face. It was as if she knew that Beth was trying to fight an attraction to Jake.

“Thank you, son.” Emily kissed Jake on the cheek as she walked by him, then she was off down the path that led to the ranch house. “Breakfast is still being served in the mess hall, Beth,” she said over her shoulder as she disappeared around the corner.

Beth was suddenly too nervous to eat. “I’ll be ready in a half hour,” she said to Jake. “I guess I should pick out a horse.”

“I’ll pick one out for you if you’d like,” Jake said.

She nodded and turned to go into the cabin, then turned back. “Jake? Mr. Dixon?”

“Yes, ma’am?” He waited patiently for her to continue.

She didn’t know if she could ask the question she wanted to without sounding like a fool. But what the heck? “Do you have a black horse with four white socks?”

He studied her as if trying to figure out the reason for her request. To his credit, he didn’t laugh. “I believe I do.”

Well, she was in this far, she might as well let him think she was completely out of her mind. “Do you have a horse with four white socks named Thunder, by any chance?” she asked.

“Thunder?” He raised an eyebrow.

His eyes met hers. The moment hung between them and then he smiled. A look of gentle understanding crossed his tanned face.

“Yeah. Yes. I do have a horse named Thunder. And he has four white socks.”

She knew he wasn’t telling the truth, but the white lie moved him up a couple of notches in her estimation.

“Could I have that horse?” she asked.

“Sure.”

Smiling, she hurried into the cabin and shut the door. Leaning against it, she clamped a hand over her mouth to control the giddiness that bubbled up from somewhere. She felt happy, euphoric, as if she were flying. She released her hand and her laughter overflowed.

Maybe her strange mood was due to her relief that Kevin was okay. Maybe it was because she was going to ride a horse after all these years. Maybe it was because she got a good night’s sleep. But it was not, definitely not, because she had dreamed about Jake all night, then awoken to see him so attentive toward her son.

Kevin would have memories that he’d cherish forever, and she’d always be grateful to Jake Dixon for that.

She was glad that she was going to help out with Wheelchair Rodeo. Since they’d both received a “scholarship” to WR, it gave her the opportunity to contribute something to the program. WR was something special.

She rushed to her room, plucked a pair of jeans and a T-shirt out of her suitcase and hurried to the shower.

Twenty minutes later, refreshed and dressed, she stepped out onto the porch of her cabin. She walked toward the barn and saw Jake sitting on the corral fence, waiting for her.

Jake felt Beth’s gaze on the back of his neck, watching his every move with Kevin. A prickle of irritation shot through him. What did she think he was going to do? Toss the boy, wheelchair and all, into his pickup and hit the honky-tonks?

Finally, with her reluctant permission, he handed Kevin and Killer over to bronc rider K.C. Morris and sent them to the Chisholm Trail, a short, easy walking path that meandered behind the dining hall and the bunkhouse, then circled back to the barn.

That would be enough for Kevin for the day. He was using new muscles, and Jake didn’t want to overwhelm the little guy. Then K.C. could help Kev unsaddle Killer, brush him down and clean the tack.

“There isn’t anything K.C. doesn’t know about kids or horses,” he reassured Beth. “He comes from a family of nine kids and owns some of the finest horses in Texas.”

That didn’t seem to impress her. It was Kevin’s hopeful “Please, Mom?” that did it.

Jake felt sorry for the kid. Although he liked the thought that Beth would be helping out on the overnight, she was a bit too overprotective and stifling. He’d bet his last saddle that Kevin needed a break from her.

And she needed to relax.

As Kevin disappeared behind the pines, she bit her nails.

“You’re next,” Jake said, jumping down from the fence. He winced from the pain.

“Maybe when Kevin comes back.”

“Beth, Kevin’s fine. He’s on a short, easy walking trail that we call the Chisolm Trail. I guarantee he’s having the time of his life. C’mon, it’s your turn. You’re going to love the horse I picked out for you.”

He gave a shrill whistle and a horse came trotting over. He watched Beth’s face for her reaction. It was just as he’d expected. She broke into a big grin, and he swore she was going to jump right out of her skin.

Sidewinder, with his two white socks, belonged to his friend Dan Montague’s son, Danny. Luckily, they’d loaned the gentle horse to Wheelchair Rodeo, along with several others they’d raised on their neighboring spread. Jake had painted two more socks on Sidewinder with white shoe polish. Beth’s bright eyes and grin told him that it was well worth the trouble.

“She’s a beauty, Jake. I don’t know how to thank you.”

“She’s a ‘he.’” He shook his head. “I can see my work is cut out for me!”

“What’s his real name?”

“Thunder.”