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asking is what you know about when I dropped out of the NRF competition.”
    There was a feed trough built along the back side of the barn, and Tacy sat on the edge of it now, looking up at him with intent eyes. He waited.
    â€œLook,” she huffed. “I only know what was on the cover of those magazines. That you had an on-again, off-again thing with a TV star named Jessica and that you were photographed with a new girl every other week in between that relationship. What I know about you leaving the NRF is less. I know you had a family emergency. The only article I ever read was one in the Horseman and you know that is a respectable magazine. You gave the interview, after all, so you know it didn’t deal with your dating life or your family. It was about you and your run for the National Rodeo Finals. Plus, you happened to mention that you loved meat loaf.” She raised her hand as if giving a solemn oath. “That’s the honest truth.” She sighed, letting her handdown. “I admit, I did believe what I saw on the front covers of those magazines. I’m sorry. Really.”
    His anger subsided. He couldn’t help but like her frankness. With each barrier they erased between them, the harder it was not to want to get to know her better…and she’d just said she didn’t date. Why was that?
    â€œForget it,” he said. “I’m the one who set myself up for the public scrutiny. I was a regular jerk back then…you don’t have anything to be sorry about.”
    She studied him, silence stretching between them like a soft breeze, promising cooler weather. Brent wrestled with his growing attraction to her. Looking at her, he couldn’t think straight. He wondered if she had this effect on everyone.
    â€œSo,” she said after a minute. “What about all of that made you not want women near horses?”

Chapter Seven
    â€œD o you want to go for a ride?”
    Brent’s question startled Tacy. She had expected evasiveness, but a ride…Pushing away from the feed trough she’d been half sitting on, she gave him a playful smile. “Are you kidding? I’m always up for a ride.” She whistled and Rabbit came trotting up from the pasture. “You are planning to answer my question—not to take me out in the pastures and do away with me so I’ll stop bothering you?”
    He laughed, short and quick. “No devious plans on my part, I promise. And yes, I’ll explain. You’ve been straight with me, so you deserve the same. First, let’s ride.”
    â€œI like the sound of that.” Tacy sauntered into the barn with Rabbit trailing. Birdy, who’d been abnormally quiet today, waddled behind Brent as he headed toward the pen where his big bay stood.
    A few minutes later, Tacy rode Rabbit down the barn alley and out into the morning sunshine. Brent was petting Birdy and straightened as Tacy rode up.
    â€œShe’s getting ready to have her pups,” he said as he swung into the saddle.
    â€œYou read my mind,” she agreed, moving Rabbit into a slow trot toward the open pasture back behind the cabin. Soon they were riding easily beside each other in companionable silence. Tacy stole a few glances at the mystifying cowboy. He seemed totally preoccupied as they let the horses warm up.
    â€œThis is where I let Rabbit pretend he’s in the Kentucky Derby,” she said after a few minutes, drawing Brent’s attention. She grinned and gave Rabbit his lead—which was all the horse had been waiting for. Leaning into the wind, she flew with the horse down the soft trail, heading toward the distant trees. Tacy loved the feel of the animal as it moved powerfully and gracefully over the land. As the wind filled Tacy’s lungs and rushed through her hair, she couldn’t help smiling. This was her element. This was where, when she’d been a kid and her daddy had refused to let her work alongside