During the school year, when he’d been on the bull-riding circuit fighting bulls, doing his best to keep a half-ton animal from stomping the cowboy that had just ridden him, she’d often stayed with Danielle’s family. After Lex hit high school, she became the farm-sitter during the school year. When summer came, she’d traveled with her dad. By necessity, the father-daughter trips had become fewer and farther between after she’d gotten her first real job, but as luck would have it, she had been there for the final trip. The one when he’d died in the arena—not from a bull injury, but from a heart attack after saving a guy who’d been hung up in the rigging and beaten like a rag doll as the bull attempted to knock him free.
Even now, years later, the memory made her tear up—especially if it came at a time when she was worried about something else, such as, say, a close friend who was too nice for her own good. Lex blinked hard a few times before parking her truck next to her dad’s. She had two precious reminders of her father on the ranch that she refused to get rid of—his truck and his rank old horse, Snuff.
Three dogs bounded out from behind the house when she got out of the truck, two border collies and a rambunctious dusty brown terrier that’d shown up on the ranch and refused to leave. A small black-and-white cat trotted behind the dogs. Felicity was another orphan, found abandoned at the county dump before her eyes were open.
“Hey, gang,” Lex said as she closed the truck door. The dogs professed great joy at her return, while Felicity stood back, waiting for Lex to scoop her up on her way into the house. Once there, she shed her town clothes and climbed into a pair of well-worn jeans and a sweatshirt. She popped a John Deere ball cap on her head, grabbed her least offensive pair of gloves out of the basket by the door and headed back out the door to feed.
Somehow she had collected way too many animals after her father died, but she didn’t have the heart to let any of them go. It wasn’t as if she couldn’t afford to feed them. Her father had left her the ranch in excellent shape financially and he’d had life insurance, which she’d invested. Lex was pretty much set for life, as long as she managed the property in a sensible manner, and since she was all about sensible, that wasn’t a problem. She started across the gravel drive leading to the barn and was met halfway by two Mediterranean donkeys, which brayed at her, and a pygmy goat that bumped the back of her legs as she walked.
Okay, maybe she wasn’t totally sensible, but everyone had their foibles.
Followed by her entourage, Lex tossed hay, dumped grain, checked water troughs. The donkeys and goat abandoned her once they had their rations, but Felicity and the dogs—Pepper, Ginger and little brown Dave the Terror—stayed close to her throughout the daily routine. Once she got back to the house, she held the door open. The dogs raced in and Felicity turned and walked across the porch to a spot in the sun.
Lex understood. An independent woman could only take so much social interaction before welcoming time to herself. She was the same way, although lately the house seemed a little too lonely. It was the anniversary, she told herself as she changed back out of her feeding clothes and pulled a loose cotton dress over her head. Two years since she’d watched her father collapse onto the dirt of the arena, clutching his chest.
Last year she’d told herself that the pain would ease by the time the next anniversary rolled around, and it had, but not as much as she’d hoped. It hurt to be alone and it hurt to know she’d never again hear her father’s boots crossing the front porch as he returned from a trip.
In that regard, alone sucked.
* * *
GRADY WAS JUST putting the finishing touches on dinner when a car pulled into the drive. It wasn’t until it parked in front of the house instead of near the barn that he realized it wasn’t Annie and her girls returning from the big shopping trip in Bozeman. He didn’t recognize the car, but he definitely recognized the blond getting out of it. Danielle. Tall, cool, beautiful, just as he remembered her.
He pulled the dish towel off his shoulder and dropped it on the kitchen table on his way to the door, glad once again that his sister and nieces were late getting home.
Danielle smiled up at him as he opened the door, but it wasn’t the bright open smile he was used to. No. There was a definite touch of wariness in her expression, amplified by the taut way she held her body. Granted, two years had passed since he’d last seen her, but he was surprised at how unfamiliar she seemed, while his encounter with Lex had been like old times. Bad old times.
“Something smells good,” she said instead of hello.
“My famous pot roast.” He stepped back, silently inviting her into Annie’s cozy kitchen. She came inside, and he closed the door. Then for two or three silent seconds they simply stood, like two complete strangers that unexpectedly found themselves sharing a small space. Danielle cleared her throat and met his gaze.
“Lex said you came by today.”
He hadn’t expected that. He’d figured Lex would do her best to shield her friend from the evilness that was him and never mention his visit. “I did. She said you and your grandmas were busy talking wedding plans.”
She gave a slow nod. “That’s true.”
“Good guy?”
“The best.” She spoke with conviction. “I’m engaged. I’m happy.”
“And you don’t want me to mess things up.”
An expression of relief crossed her face as he said what was obviously on her mind. “In a nutshell, yes.”
Fair enough. When she’d broken up with him, over the phone, since he’d been in the middle of his season and she’d apparently taken all she could take, she sounded torn, as if she wasn’t entirely certain she was doing the right thing. But now...now she looked like a woman who knew her mind.
“I won’t mess up your life.”
“Thank you. I didn’t know if you’d come to see me—” her expression shifted to a tentative one “—with thoughts of us getting together again.”
“The thought might have crossed my mind.” It definitely had. He’d wondered more than once if they might now be in a place where they could reevaluate their relationship...maybe even pick it up again.
She gave him a suspicious look. “Might have?”
“Well, I hadn’t seen you in a while, but I thought about you a lot. I wondered...you know...” He gave a small shrug. “I wanted to see you one more time. To make sure.”
“And now?”
It was funny how standing here in this kitchen with Danielle, the flesh and blood Danielle, not the Danielle in his memories, made things so much clearer. He felt no strong urge to take her in his arms, hold her close, ask if it was too late. “I’m happy for you.”
Her expression cleared at the sincerity in his voice. “Thank you.” She reached out to gently touch his shoulder. “We were never meant to be, Grady.”
“What if I hadn’t ridden bulls?” A small part of him had to know if it had been the bulls.
“Ultimately...I don’t think it would have mattered.”
“I think you’re right.” He’d thought he loved her, but he hadn’t been able to sacrifice for her. “We had some good times.”
“We had some excellent times. You taught me a thing or two about taking risks.” Danielle smiled at him, the old smile he remembered so well. “If you’re comfortable with it, I’ll send you a wedding invitation.”
“I’d