Rodeo Queen (15 page)

Sydney smiled. “I was hoping you’d say that. It’s exactly what I’ll say when your father asks.” She spun on her boot heel and headed back to the barn. She looked over at Derek as they reached the porch. “You’re my witness.”

Derek laughed. “Now that was worth getting up early to watch.” He shook his head. “I don’t think she’s ever had anyone call her bluff.”

They went into the barn and began grooming the horses. Sydney put the entire ordeal out of her mind as Derek brought Cougar out for her second ride. She rode the young horses until lunchtime and sent Derek inside to eat.

“What about you?”

She didn’t want to chance a meeting with Liz or Scott. She waved him off. “I just want to get some notes down first. I’ll grab something in a bit,” she said, leading a cute sorrel paint toward the barn. “I’ll take care of this guy. You go on ahead.”

Sydney unsaddled the colt and brushed him down before putting him into a stall and tossing him a scoop of grain. As she made her way out of the barn, she spotted Scott riding in from the west pasture. She figured she could handle Liz and hurried out of the barn toward the house before Scott arrived, congratulating herself for good timing. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that he’d turned his paint in her direction and sped up. She didn’t want to appear to be running away, but definitely wanted to avoid him.

She’d barely reached the halfway point when he cued Noble to stop in front of her, cutting off her route. She took a deep breath and looked up at him expectantly. He looked like he wanted to say something, but she had no idea what could be left to say. She stood rooted to the spot as he spun the horse and wordlessly left. Her heart began to slow its racing pace and she inhaled deeply, her shoulders slouching before she rolled her head from side to side to alleviate the stress she could feel building in her muscles. How was she ever going to work, seeing him day in and day out?
I’ll just have to deal with that one day at a time
, she reasoned.

“Sydney,” Mike’s voice broke into her thoughts. “I’ve been looking for you.”

“Sorry.” Sydney rubbed her neck with her hand. “Just in the barn finishing up the paperwork for the two-year-olds. What did you need?”

“Just wanted to let you know that you’ll officially be working your first rodeo this weekend.”

“A rodeo? This weekend? But what about the two-year-olds we just started?” Butterflies seemed to flock to her stomach at the thought of a rodeo. She knew what to do with the animals, but the idea of spending a weekend at a rodeo with Scott had those butterflies doing cartwheels.

“Derek will stay here to keep working the horses. Just be sure to let him know if there’s anything special to be done.” He put a hand on her shoulder as if he could read her thoughts. “It’s a Friday-Saturday-Sunday performance in Oregon, so you’ll be leaving on Wednesday morning. Be ready for a long drive.”

“Okay.” She mentally ran down the list of things she’d have to tell Derek before she left. “Which horses do you want me to take?”

“We’ll sort them tomorrow with Scott and see what he’s thinking. It’ll be you, Scott, Jake, and a couple of the other boys.”

“You’re not going?” She was hoping there would be someone who could be a buffer between her and Scott.

“No, I’m going to stay here and visit with Liz since she’s home. You can stay in the trailer with Jen. I know she and Clay are going too.”

Sydney practically breathed an audible sigh of relief. At least she’d be able to stick close to Jen, and with his sister near there was little chance of confrontation with Scott.

“N
O,
M
IKE,
I’
LL
take someone else. Let Derek come.” Scott’s voice carried to the balcony just outside of her second-story room as if she were standing beside him.

“Look, I don’t care what is going on with you. Fix things with her.”

“Fat chance!”

“Stop it, Scott. You can’t blame her. Derek may have dropped hints about Liz, but have you told her the truth? Taking her this weekend will give you guys some time to talk this out where neither of you can run off and hide.”

“My past with Liz isn’t anyone’s business,” Scott insisted. “I don’t need to explain anything. She can believe what she wants.”

“The same way you are?” Mike’s voice sounded frustrated as he finally lost his temper. “Scott, I can’t believe you! Here is someone I know you care about, and you’re going to throw it away because of your stubborn pride?”

“I love you like my father, Mike, but leave this alone. I’ll handle it my own way.”

“Right. Well, ‘your way’ better not include driving my new trainer off this ranch. Dammit, open your eyes, boy! I never thought that you were stupid, but I’m beginning to wonder.”

Sydney chanced a peek over the railing of the balcony to see Scott’s back as he stormed off toward the barn. Mike followed him down the steps and, shaking his head, glanced toward her window. She jumped backward to avoid being seen and stumbled, crashing into the chair beside the window. The chair shifted sideways and jarred the lamp and pictures on the small table so that the frames clattered loudly to the ground.
Way to stay inconspicuous
, she scolded herself. Maybe Mike hadn’t noticed.

She heard Mike’s chuckle from downstairs as he entered the house through the back door.
So much for him not noticing
. She picked up the frames that had fallen. He’d obviously realized that she’d heard the entire conversation but didn’t seem too upset about it. She paused as she placed another on the table.
Unless his intention had been for her to hear what was said
. She thought back, recalling the men’s conversation.

Everything had seemed so cryptic. Scott had never confessed having a current relationship with Liz, just that they’d had one in the past. Was it something ongoing or was it over? He never said he had feelings for her, although Mike insisted on it.
But he never denied it either
, her heart whispered to her mind.
No,
she rationalized.
I can’t start hoping
.
Especially when we aren’t even on speaking terms.

S
COTT LEFT
M
IKE
and headed toward the barn to find Clay. He needed to get everyone in place and settled with their duties for the rodeo. Clay could let Sydney know which horses they wanted to take for riding stock. The less he had to be around her, the better. He could still see her face, tear stains on her cheeks, and it tore at his heart to know that he was the one causing her pain. He didn’t want to be that guy and wasn’t sure how to fix the situation. Every time he tried, he only seemed to make things worse. Especially since he wanted nothing more than to take her in his arms and kiss her until nothing else mattered. There was no way he was even going to start thinking about collaborating on a grand entry for this weekend’s rodeo. He’d just stick with the same one he’d been doing on Noble.

“Clay,” Scott called, meeting up with him at the barn door.

“What’s up?” Clay stopped to wait for him. “You’re in a hurry. Where’s the fire?”

“Pack up. We have a rodeo this weekend. We’re leaving tomorrow morning.”

“Are you kidding?” Clay threw his hands in the air. “My anniversary is on Thursday.”

“Not a paid vacation day.” Scott laughed.

“Very funny, Scott. Your sister is going to kill me for this one.” He pulled open the barn door and started to walk inside.

“Hey, don’t get mad at me. Wait and see what she says when she finds out she’s going.”

“She’s going?” Clay stopped suddenly. “Why is she going? She never goes. Not that I mind,” he clarified.

Scott shrugged. “I think she’s going to make it easier on Sydney.”

“Things are going that good, huh?”

“Could be worse,” Scott said, reaching for his saddle. “Liz could be going.”

“What’s going on with her? She’s been awfully possessive of you since coming home. Something going on that we don’t know about?”

Scott frowned at him. “Are you kidding? I learned my lesson where she’s concerned a long time ago. The only thing I want from Liz is for her to leave town.” Scott tossed the saddle blankets they’d need onto the floor of the tack room. “I thought you knew me better than that by now.”

“I’m glad to hear it.” He shot Scott a look of warning. “Why don’t I finish this and let the guys know? You go get everything else situated.”

Scott dropped his head back on his shoulders and sighed. “You mean I should go talk to Sydney and straighten things out before we leave?”

Clay smiled. “Something like that.” He threw his hands up in defense. “Hey, I’m married. I know what it looks like when a man is in the doghouse.”

Scott shook his head and walked back to the house. Why couldn’t everyone just let him take care of his personal life?
Because you’re making one hell of a mistake
, his inner voice warned. Smothering the urge to go and find Sydney, Scott headed toward the tack compartment of the trailer and took inventory of the gear for the bucking stock. As much as he wanted to tell Sydney about Liz, he wouldn’t risk looking weak and stupid. He wasn’t the same naive kid who lost his head for love.
Love
, he scoffed. He knew better than anyone that there was no such thing as a fairy-tale romance.

Chapter Ten

“S
YDNEY?
” J
EN’S VOICE
at her door wasn’t unusual. They’d become good friends over the last week, and Sydney assumed she wanted to talk about the coming rodeo plans. “Are you in there?”

She rose to answer the door, pasting a smile to her face, hoping the conversation wouldn’t steer toward Scott. “Come on in.”

Sydney silently envied the grace Jennifer had as she made her way across the room and settled onto the end of the blue checkered comforter on the bed. She could read the uncertainty in Jennifer’s eyes as her friend took a deep breath before glancing at her.

“What?” Sydney cocked her head to the side. She could see that Jennifer was struggling to decide how to approach the conversation.

“Scott.”

“I don’t want talk about Scott.” Sydney shook her head and shut the door.

“I know, but Sydney,” Jennifer paused and shook her head and frowned, looking unsure. She shrugged. “Okay, we’ll talk about something else then.”

Sydney knew that Jennifer was not one to give up easily, and she raised a questioning brow at her friend. “Like . . .?”

“Let’s talk about Liz.”

“Couldn’t you have at least picked something nice to talk about? We could talk about the weather, horses, even the rodeo this weekend,” Sydney offered as she crossed the room to sit in the chair by the window.

“That’s Liz, all right.” Jennifer laughed. “She always brings out the benevolence in others.”

“I don’t know what I did to her, but she’s really got it out for me.”

Jennifer furrowed her brow and bit her bottom lip. “You know why, right?”

Sydney shook her head. “I didn’t realize she needed a reason.”

Jennifer sucked in a breath and her mouth formed a circle of disbelief. “Scott didn’t tell you?”

“I thought that subject was off limits.” Sydney held her hand up defensively. She certainly didn’t want to discuss any topic that included Scott and Liz.

Jennifer shook her head emphatically. “Oh, Sydney! I can’t believe Scott didn’t tell you himself. There’s a lot you don’t understand, especially where Liz is concerned.”

Sydney thought of Scott’s earlier comments to Mike. “I guess he just feels like his relationship with her is none of my business.” Sydney couldn’t meet Jennifer’s eyes. She was afraid that all of her feelings for Scott would be reflected in her eyes.

“Maybe. And he may kill me for telling you this, but I’m going to tell you anyway.” Jennifer reached over and took Sydney’s hand in her own. “I know you care about him.”

Sydney looked up, her eyes filled with tears, in spite of her attempts to will them away. She didn’t want everyone to see her humiliation, and she certainly didn’t want the truth to get back to Scott. It would only make the situation between them harder to face.

“Let me finish the whole story before you say anything.” Jennifer released Sydney’s hand and settled herself at the foot of the bed. “You know a little about what happened to our parents, right?”

Sydney nodded. Derek had told her a bit about how his parents had been partners with Mike. When they were killed in a car accident coming home from a rodeo, Mike had accepted guardianship of all three of them.

“Before our parents died, Liz was just a little nuisance to Scott and his friends. Her mother had died when she was two, so Liz didn’t remember her. My mother had been the only woman she’d really known as a mother figure. When she died, Liz looked to me and I was only a girl as well. Somewhere along the line, she decided she wanted to go to a fancy boarding school. Mike always gave her anything she asked for.” Jennifer lowered her voice. “It’s his only real flaw.”

“There could be worse flaws than a father loving his daughter too much,” Sydney commented, smiling as she thought of her own father.

“I know. And in most cases it wouldn’t be too big of a deal. But Liz was beautiful.”

“Is this supposed to make me feel better? If so, it’s not working,” Sydney interrupted.

“Just listen,” Jennifer instructed. “Most of the time, she just stayed at school for vacations or competed in high school rodeos. But late in her junior year of high school, she visited. She was a rodeo queen by then and used to plenty of male attention. She flirted with every guy on this ranch and every single one of them was head over heels for her. Especially Scott. Mike and I tried to talk him out of dating her, but he wouldn’t listen to us and he refused to see her flirting with other men. Once they got engaged the next summer, it was even worse. It seemed like the more he committed to her, the more openly she’d flirt with anyone else. Even Mike recognized it and tried to talk Scott out of it, pointing out that Liz was too much of a ‘free spirit,’ which I think was his way of admitting how spoiled she was.”

Jennifer shook her head as she recalled the memories. “Scott was working every day with Mike by then. He came back early one afternoon and found her in the barn with his best friend.” Sydney met her gaze and could see the compassion Jennifer had felt for her brother’s broken heart. “She tried to lie to him and say it was rape, but he’d seen their lovemaking and knew better. He broke off the engagement and she took off again. She’d barely been back since and he hasn’t seen her at all since that day . . . until now.”