A Cowboy's Claim

Tanya ignored the giggles and shouts of the buckle bunnies and focused on Vic as he prepared for his ride. He straddled the bronc and adjusted his grip. Then he looked up into the stands and Tanya sucked in a quick breath. Was he searching for her?

“Oh my God,” Darcy said. “He’s looking right at me.” She waved a poster with her name and phone number in black and pink glitter.

Vic dropped his head, then nodded and the gate swung open. Sidewinder spun wildly, but Vic rode the bronc like a walk in the park. Man and beast danced and sparred to the cheers of the fans. When the buzzer sounded, Vic hung on until he saw an opening and then launched himself at the ground. He hit the dirt, rolled twice and popped to his feet. The crowd went crazy.

“Scar or no scar, he can ride me anytime, any place,” Darcy said.

Tanya left the bleachers before she said something to the women that she’d regret. She made her way to the cowboy ready area, her eyes peeled for Vic.

“You looking for me?”

She turned and smiled. “As a matter of fact, I am.”

His glance skipped across her face before he locked gazes with her.

“Nice ride,” she said.

“Thanks.”

An awkward silence settled between them before she asked, “Do you have plans after the rodeo?”

“I ride at eight o’clock in Vernal tonight.”

The town was three hours north, and it was only one-thirty in the afternoon. Vic had time to eat before he hit the road. “Want to grab a burger at the Muggy Rim?” If Darcy and her friends saw Vic with Tanya, maybe they’d leave him alone and focus on another unsuspecting cowboy.

“Sure.” The tense set of his shoulders relaxed and Tanya read it as a signal that Vic wanted to spend time with her.

“I need to turn Slingshot loose in the corral before we leave. I’ll meet you in the parking lot in ten minutes.” Tanya hurried off to take care of her horse, telling herself that the only reason she’d suggested the Muggy Rim was that the bar was close by and not because she wanted to prevent Darcy from sneaking off to a motel room for an afternoon quickie with Vic.

* * *

VIC TURNED HIS pickup into the gravel lot of the Muggy Rim and parked near the front entrance. The rodeo was still in full swing and the majority of the cowboys and fans wouldn’t arrive until after the bull-riding event.

“Have you been here before?” Vic asked, the question breaking the silence that had accompanied them during the five-minute ride into Nephi.

“Once,” she said. “What about you?”

“A few times. Their burgers are good.” He got out of the truck and shut the door, then took a deep breath, hoping the fresh air would clear the lingering scent of Tanya’s perfume from his head. The earthy aroma made him think of dark corners, slow music and naked bodies pressing together.

Whoa. This wasn’t a date—even though he found her attractive and wouldn’t mind getting to know her better. The only reason he’d sought Tanya out at the rodeo was that he was lonely. He’d been lonely a long, long time—by his choice—and he couldn’t say for sure what it was about her that had drawn him into the open. No matter, nothing could come of his interest in her, because he couldn’t afford any distractions this season. He had too much riding on the line.

He opened the saloon door, and a gust of wind lifted Tanya’s hair off her shoulders, the long strands brushing his chest as she stepped past him. A wave of lust gripped his stomach. He’d inhale a burger and then hit the road before he did something stupid like ask her to dance.

“I don’t know about you,” she said, “but I’m starving.” She led the way to a table near the dance floor.

“What can I get you folks to drink?” A waitress wearing a black T-shirt with Muggy Rim printed in white letters across the front stopped at their table.

“I’ll take an iced tea,” Tanya said.

“Make mine a sweet tea.” He’d need the sugar to keep going the rest of the day.

“If you know what you want to eat, I’ll put your order in before I get your drinks.”

“Sure,” Tanya said. “Cheeseburger, hold the onions.”

“Fries?” the waitress asked. Tanya shook her head.

“I’ll have a double cheeseburger with everything. And fries.”

“Comin’ right up.”

Someone dropped a quarter in the jukebox and a Miranda Lambert song came on. Tanya glanced toward the dance floor, but Vic pretended interest in the baseball game televised on the TV behind the bar.

“I wish I had just a little bit of that winning streak you’re running on,” she said.

“All winning streaks come to an end eventually.” He hoped his streak ended after winning a buckle in Vegas later this year.

“So...” She peeked at him from beneath light brown lashes.

Alarm bells went off inside his head, and the cushioned seat beneath his backside turned to cement.

“Are you seeing anyone?” Her cheeks flushed pink.

“No one steady.” No one period. He didn’t want to give Tanya the idea that he was open to a relationship, but he was curious. “You?”

She shook her head. “Who’s got time, right?” A shadow covered her blue eyes. Then she blinked and it disappeared.

“Is your ex making it tough for you to date?” He wasn’t an expert on relationships, but he was a guy and he knew firsthand that guys could be jerks.

“Not in the way you mean.” She opened her mouth to explain, but the waitress appeared with their drinks.

“Food should be up in ten minutes.”

Against his better judgment, Vic prompted Tanya to confide in him. “I’m a good listener if you want someone to unload on.”

“I don’t want to bore you with the details.”

“Nothing about you is boring.” Damn. Like an inexperienced poker player, he’d just shown his hand. Tanya was too easy to talk to and he hadn’t had a meaningful conversation with anyone in months. Each day he spoke to numerous people—convenience-store clerks, rodeo personnel and waitresses—but they were just words.

“Beau said he’d always dreamed of marrying the girl next door.” She sipped her tea. “Then after I caught him cheating—which I later came to find out was actually the fourth buckle bunny he’d slept with behind my back—he admitted that I wasn’t exciting enough for him.” She snorted.

Holy hell. Beau Billings was a bigger fool than Vic first believed. Tanya McGee didn’t have a buckle bunny body, but that didn’t make her any less hot in Vic’s eyes. “His loss.”

“Thanks.” She blew out a soft sigh. “Beau’s a sore loser. At first he tried to talk me out of filing for a divorce, insisting we should start a family. That being a father would keep him grounded.”

Family. The word made Vic nauseated. His only brother died years ago, killed by police during an armed robbery. Vic’s older sister by one year had committed suicide after she was raped by a gangbanger and discovered she was pregnant. His younger sister by ten years had gotten pregnant at seventeen and ended up in jail for prostitution, leaving his mother with custody of her only grandson. “Do you want kids?”

“Not with Beau, that’s for sure.” Her gaze softened. “But yes, someday I’d like to have a family of my own.”