Winning the Cowboy's Heart

He glanced at Bernardi. “I’ll be taking care of this at home. What happens here?”

“We know there are others involved, but Kylie won’t name names.”

“I was the only one,” she said.

“We know that’s not true.” Bernardi sounded tired.

Kylie stubbornly shook her head, her straight dark hair shifting over her shoulders. She was no longer meeting anyone’s gaze. Instead, she stared down at the floor tiles.

Principal Bernardi let out a sigh. “We’ve already discussed this with Kylie. If she won’t tell us who else was there, then she’ll have to bear the brunt of the punishment alone.”

Will gave Kylie a long look. Her jaw was locked and she looked so much like his ex-wife at that moment that it almost frightened him. But even if she resembled Desiree, she mostly took after him.

“I understand why Pete is here, but…” Will glanced over at Miss Flynn. She hadn’t said a word and she didn’t appear as though she particularly wanted to be there. Unlike Domingo. The little general was enjoying this.

“They were outside my room,” she said. “There was a group of at least three, but Kylie was the only one I recognized.”

Will gave Kylie one last chance, even though he knew it was futile. “Kylie?”

She shook her head. Will stood. “Unless she needs to stay now, I think we’ll go home and discuss this.”

“This means an automatic three-day suspension, Will. School-district policy.”

“I understand,” Will replied. “Come on, Kylie. We’re going home.” Kylie got up from the wooden chair and headed for the door.

“If I get any names, I’ll let you know,” he told Bernardi, and followed his daughter out of the room. He was almost at the main entrance when he heard quick footsteps behind him. What now?

“Go to the truck,” he told Kylie, who went out the door without a word. Will turned to face Miss Flynn, fast approaching with purposeful strides, the expression on her face that of someone about to give helpful hints on how to handle his child. Well, he’d had enough input from educators for one day.

“Don’t worry,” he said, “I’m not going to beat her.”

“That’s happy news,” she replied mildly, and Will felt somewhat ashamed of himself. “I actually wanted to talk to you about another matter.”

“Like…?”

“I’m looking for a horse. A pleasure horse, and I heard you have some for sale.”

This was not what Will had expected. Not even close. He gave a slow nod of acknowledgment. “I did have some horses for sale, but they went fast. I only have one left at this point, and I’m afraid he won’t do for you.”

Miss Flynn’s eyebrows edged upward. “Why? I’m an experienced rider.”

“He’s a man’s horse.”

She regarded him for a moment. “There’s no such thing.”

“He was abused by a woman and now he doesn’t like women—not even Kylie. Some horses are like that.”

She looked as though she’d like to argue the point with him, but she didn’t. “Well, do you know of any other horses for sale around here?” She pushed her hair behind an ear, mussing the layers.

“Not right now.” It was true. There weren’t many suitable horses for sale in Wesley, Nevada, and he wasn’t going to direct her to the Taylors, who always had a horse for sale at some ridiculously high price. “You might try closer to Elko.”

One corner of her mouth tightened in obvious frustration and suddenly she didn’t look so teacherlike.

“I’ll let you go.” She rubbed the back of her neck in a way that made Will think he wasn’t the only one who’d had a bad day. “I knew this wasn’t a good time to ask, but I really want a horse. And since I was going to call about your newspaper ad anyway.…” She shrugged. “Bad judgment on my part.”

She turned then, walked back down the hall, leaving Will staring after her. He felt like a jerk.

He debated for a moment, then decided to rebuild his burned bridges later. Right now he needed to nudge the truth out of his daughter.

“So who are you covering for this time?” Will asked as he put the truck in gear. Kylie waited until they were officially off school property before she answered.

“Mark. You know what his dad would do to him.”

Will knew. Mark’s dad was a bully, but somehow Mark not only survived, he was a likable kid.

“What happened?”

Kylie gave a brief description of events, which played out pretty much as Will had expected. Mark, the geek, had been proving he wasn’t a geek by smoking, with Kylie watching his back. The part where Kylie had got caught and Mark hadn’t was still hazy, but Will let that slide for the moment.

“If you’re suspended, I can’t exactly let you go to the horse show this weekend, can I?”

Kylie’s jaw dropped. “But I didn’t do anything.”

“You were there.”

“But…”

“Smoking is wrong, and you were there,” Will replied, holding firm.

“I was there because of Mark. People pick on him because they can. It’s not right.” Kylie let out a huff of breath to emphasize the remark.

“Well, I really don’t think smoking was the answer. Do you?”

“No, but I couldn’t talk him out of it.”

“Then you should have walked away. You can’t go through life protecting people, Kylie. And I don’t see Mark standing up for you. He left you twisting in the wind.”

Kylie gazed at her father earnestly. “He doesn’t know. They got me after science and I didn’t have time to see him. I totally missed my last class while we waited for you.”

“And now you’re going to miss three days.”

“And the horse show,” she muttered sullenly.

“You aren’t going to be riding or working with your horse, either. I need some help fixing the pole corral and I think there’s some housework that needs attending to. We’ll stop by the school tomorrow and pick up your work.”

They drove a few miles in silence and then Kylie asked, “How come the new teacher knew you?”

“What makes you think she knows me?”