Taming a Texas Rascal (Bad Boy Ranch Book 6) Read online

  He stared at her for a long moment. She figured the cuddling was over and he was going to kick her out. But instead, his mouth tipped up into a huge smile.

  “You never let me get away with anything, do you? I give you a sob story, and you pretty much tell me to get over myself.” He laughed. “That’s what I love about you, Maisy Sweeney.”

  Love? Before she could fully absorb the word he’d chosen, he slid his hands through her hair and drew her down to his waiting lips. Then she forgot about everything as he made her feel like she belonged once again.

  The following morning, she woke feeling like she’d been rode hard and put away wet. But her achy muscles didn’t compare to the feeling of contentment she felt waking up in Sawyer Dawson’s bed. She opened her eyes thinking she’d find him lying next to her, but he wasn’t there. She rolled onto her back and found him sitting in a chair by the window. Gone was the fun, teasing cowboy she’d made love with the night before and in his place was a pensive, serious man. He stared out the window as if searching for answers.

  She knew what answers he was searching for. How did I end up in bed with Maisy Sweeney? How can I get rid of her without hurting her feelings? She could answer both. He’d ended up in bed with her because he was trying to mend a broken heart. He could get rid of her easily.

  She got up and started searching for her clothes.

  “You’re leaving?” he asked.

  She glanced at him and tried not to notice how sexy he looked sitting there naked with his hair all tousled and his eyes all sex-drugged. “It was real fun, rodeo bum, but the party’s over.”

  She put on her underwear and dress and waited for him to say something. Anything. When he didn’t, she had all the answers she needed. As she sat down to tug on her boots, she tried to come up with some sassy remark that would convince him her heart didn’t feel like it was being stomped. But she had nothing. She wished she could walk out the door and never have to see him again, but she couldn’t just leave him in Dallas without a ride back to Simple.

  After pulling on her boots, she headed for the door. “Text me when you’re ready to leave.”

  “Wait, Maisy,” he finally said. But the words came too late.

  She didn’t know how she made it to her room. Her legs were shaking as badly as a newborn foal’s. As she walked, she tried to tell herself she had gotten exactly what she wanted. One night with Sawyer. But with each step she took, she realized that she had never just wanted one night.

  She wanted a million nights.

  Unfortunately, that fantasy wasn’t ever going to come true.

  When she got inside her room, she called the one woman who would completely understand what she had done.

  “Oh, Mama,” she said as she let her tears fall. “I didn’t learn a thing from you and Daddy. I fell in love with a cowboy who can never love me back.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  “I thought I was screwed up before.” Sawyer ran a hand over his face. “But now I’m way past screwed up. My emotions are all over the place. Okay, I take that back. My emotions aren’t all over the place. They’re pretty much in one place. Maisy.” Angel stopped eating his morning oats and looked at Sawyer as if he knew who he was talking about.

  “Yeah, the cute little cowgirl who seems to have us both wrapped around her little finger.” Sawyer leaned his head back on the wall of the stall and closed his eyes. “Believe me, I feel the same way whenever I hear her name. And when I see her, my heart does this thing in my chest and I feel like my day has just gotten a whole lot better.” He lifted his head. “That sounds like love, right? But the thing is, I thought I was in love before and it turned out that wasn’t the case. And believe me, I don’t want to make the same mistake again. Yeah, this feels different. It feels way different from how I felt with Lauren. But what if it’s not love? What if all my emotions just have to do with Maisy possibly being pregnant with my baby? The last thing I want to do is hurt Maisy. And Lincoln would pretty much kill me if I did. So that’s why I’ve been keeping my distance from her the last few days. After our night together in Dallas, I needed time to think. But all the thinking has only made me more confused. And what if Maisy isn’t that into me? After our night together, she got up and left as if what had happened wasn’t a big deal. On the ride home, she turned up the radio and sang like she didn’t have a care in the world while I was one huge bundle of confused emotions.”

  “Damn.” He covered his face with his hand. “I am one screwed-up dude. Especially since I’m sitting here talking to a horse.” He got up from the turned-over feed bucket and picked it up. On his way out of the stall, he gave Angel a good pat on the withers. The horse didn’t flinch, which made him happy. Or as happy as a screwed-up guy could be. “Thanks for listening, buddy, but I wish you’d talk to me the way you talk to Maisy.”

  He let himself out of the stall, and then stopped short when he saw Chester sitting on a bale of hay. Not nearly far enough away from the stalls that he hadn’t heard every single word Sawyer said.

  “Is there a reason you didn’t tell me you were in the barn?” Sawyer asked.

  Chester shrugged. “I didn’t want to interrupt your morning therapy session.”

  Sawyer rolled his eyes and hooked the bucket on a nail. “Gee, thanks.”

  “You’re welcome. So did that horse help you get things figured out?”

  “No.” He sat down on a hay bale across from Chester. “And I’m sure you’re chomping at the bit to take a shot.”

  Chester shook his head. “You’ll have to talk to Lucas about love. The one time I fell in love, I struck out. After that, I pretty much guarded my heart from the kind of love that makes your heart thump fast and you feel like your day got a whole lot better.”

  “So you think it’s love?”

  “Sounds a little like it. What makes it different from the first time?”

  It took him a moment to find the words. “Maisy and I are good friends. Which is why I’m not sure if what I’m feeling is actually love or just a whole lot of like.”

  “What is love if not a whole lot of like? I get so ticked at these shows on TV where people fall in love with people they don’t have anything in common with and they act like they live happily ever after. But how are you gonna live happily ever after with someone who doesn’t enjoy the same things you do? If love is some passionate emotion that sweeps you up in a whirlwind and sticks you with someone you don’t like, I’d rather not be in love. I’d rather be in a whole lot of like.”

  Chester had a good point. When Sawyer and Lauren had first started dating, it had felt like being swept up in a whirlwind. But when the winds died down, it left two people who had no common interests. Lauren liked the big city life and Sawyer liked country life. Lauren liked fancy parties and Sawyer liked honky tonks. Lauren didn’t even care for dogs and Sawyer loved all animals. And whenever he talked about the rodeo, her eyes glazed over and she made some excuse for why she had to leave the room. He had felt the same way when she talked about some party she had attended or some new outfit she’d bought.

  Why hadn’t he realized how different they were sooner? Probably because he had been traveling all the time. If he had stayed in Dallas, they would’ve broken up long before she and Mattie fell in love.

  He and Maisy, on the other hand, had everything in common. They loved rodeos, small towns, animals, bacon, riding, and teasing each other mercilessly. And they also had passion. It wasn’t a whirlwind that swept you up and then dropped you back down. It was more like the slow burn of banked coals. His passion for Maisy was constant. All it took was a touch or a kiss for the flames to catch and burn as bright as a bonfire. The night of Mattie’s wedding had been amazing. At least, he had thought so. Maisy had woken up and left as if it had just been another night of sex with a rodeo bum. Of course, maybe she had just been feeling like he had: A little dazed and confused.

  He still felt dazed and confused. “It could be I’m just getting my emotions all tangled u
p because she might be carrying my baby.”

  “It could be,” Chester said.

  “You’re absolutely no help. You know that, right?”

  Chester spit a stream of tobacco into the old Folgers coffee can he used as a spittoon and nodded. “If you’re looking for help from an old bachelor cowboy and a horse, you are screwed up. Seems to me that the only way you’re going to figure out your emotions is by spending time with Maisy. Not avoiding her.”

  “But what if I hurt her?”

  “She’s a big girl. I think she can handle it.”

  Sawyer paused. “What if she hurts me?”

  “Then you’ll learn from it and move on. You won’t be a lonely old bachelor like me who didn’t take a chance on love.”

  Sawyer got up. “Then I think I’ll go see Maisy.”

  Chester grinned. “I think that’s a good idea.”

  Sawyer thought about saddling up Doris and Cookie and riding over to Maisy’s trailer. But now that he had decided to see her, he didn’t want to take the time. He’d missed her. He’d missed her a lot. He discovered how much when he pulled up to the spot on his land where her trailer had been parked and it was gone.

  Talk about heart thumping. Now his heart felt like it had stopped. He called Dixie. When she didn’t answer, he called Lincoln.

  “Maisy moved her trailer to the Lucky Lane Trailer Park,” Lincoln said. “She said she was tired of dry camping and wanted hook-ups.” Sawyer felt like he could breath again as Lincoln continued. “And I’m glad she moved. We’re bringing in more tracking dogs tomorrow to search for the rest of Sam’s bones. I think it’s best she’s not around for that.” He paused. “I ran into Boone Murphy the other day and he mentioned that he’s making a wooden cross for Maisy. He thinks it’s for some pet she lost, but I’m pretty sure it’s for her daddy.”

  Sawyer was pretty sure too. His heart ached at the thought of Maisy ordering the cross for her father.

  “She’s taken Sam’s death hard,” he said. “I didn’t get at first, but now I do. She didn’t know him like we did. All she had was a fantasy about her daddy being this handsome cowboy her mama fell in love with. That, and she didn’t have any real proof until recently that he was gone. I think getting a grave marker for him is a good thing. Even if you don’t find the rest of Sam’s bones, I think we should plan a funeral for him. I think Maisy needs that to finally let go.”

  “I agree.” Lincoln paused. “It sounds like things have changed between you and Maisy. Are you sure you don’t love her?”

  “I don’t know if it’s love, Linc, but it sure feels like it.”

  “And does she feel the same about you?”

  “I hope so. I damn well hope so.”

  There was a pause before Lincoln spoke. “I hope she does too, Sawyer. I didn’t see it before—I guess because I was so worried about Maisy getting hurt. But after seeing you together these last few weeks, I realize how perfect you two are for each other. Not just because you’re both bronc riders, but also because you complement one another. You need a strong woman who gives it to you straight. And Maisy needs a good man who won’t stifle her feisty nature, but at the same time will give her a shoulder to lean on when she needs it. You’re a good man, Sawyer. I’d be damn happy if the man I see as a brother and the woman I see as a sister ended up together.”

  Relief filled Sawyer. Lincoln’s approval meant a lot to him. “Thanks, man. I’ll let you know how it goes.”

  After hanging up, Sawyer headed into town. As soon as he pulled into the Lucky Lane Trailer Park, he spotted Maisy’s airstream. Dixie’s SUV was parked in front right behind Maisy’s truck, so Sawyer had to pull in on the other side of the road and walk across. The door of the trailer was open, and as he neared he could hear Dixie talking through the screen door. And just like the night at Cotton-Eyed Joe’s, what she was talking about had him freezing in his tracks.

  “You can’t tell Sawyer the truth yet, Maisy. All the boys can’t get together until Wednesday night and we can’t chance him leaving. And I don’t know why you have to tell him at all. Once you go to the doctor and Sawyer finds out you’re not pregnant, what difference does it make if you lied about having sex with him on your tequila night?”

  He blinked, wondering if he had heard Dixie right. Maisy confirmed it.

  “It matters to me. I’ve been riddled with guilt ever since he jumped into the arena and kept me from getting stomped. If I had told him he’d passed out before we had sex, he wouldn’t have gotten the last concussion. Before I leave town tomorrow, I have to tell him the truth.”

  Sawyer didn’t know what punched him in the stomach more. The fact that Maisy had lied to him or the fact that she was leaving. Both hurt like hell and proved that Maisy cared nothing about him. Having sex with him in Dallas had just been a whim. Or maybe a challenge. Maybe she’d just wanted to prove she could get him into bed. Now that she’d accomplished her goal, she was done with him.

  Well, he wasn’t done with her.

  Without knocking, he pulled open the screen door and stepped up into the trailer. Dixie and Maisy were sitting at the table. They both looked up in surprise.

  “Well, hey there, Sawyer,” Dixie said with a bright smile. “We were just talking about . . . the fall festival rodeo.”

  “Funny,” he said, “that’s not what it sounded like to me.” He looked at Maisy. “It sounded like you were talking about how Maisy here played a real funny joke on me. Only I don’t think it was so funny.”

  Maisy’s face turned red as Dixie tried to explain.

  “Now, Sawyer, before you get all mad at Maisy, you should know that I’m the one responsible for keeping the lie going. Maisy wanted to tell you, but I talked her out of telling you the truth until the intervention.”

  He stared at Dixie. “What intervention?”

  “The intervention to keep you from going back to saddle bronc riding.” Dixie’s green eyes turned sad. “Maisy told us all about what the doctor said and all your friends here in Simple refuse to let you go back to rodeo without a fight. Maisy only went along with the plan because I convinced her that we were saving your life. And that’s exactly what we’re doing, honey. We’re trying to save your life.”

  The speech didn’t make him feel better. In fact, it made him even angrier that Maisy had broken her promise and told everyone what the doctor had said. She had convinced his friends he needed to quit rodeo and they had all been in on the charade.

  “You need to go, Dixie,” he said. “I want to talk to Maisy alone.”

  “Now, Sawyer, I don’t think it’s a good idea to talk to Maisy when you’re obviously so angry. I think we all need to take a break—”

  “It’s fine, Dixie,” Maisy cut in. “Sawyer is right. We need to talk alone.”

  “Are you sure, honey?”

  Maisy nodded. “I’ll be fine.”

  Dixie got up and grabbed her sheriff’s hat off the table. She pulled it on, and then gave Sawyer a stern look. “I get that you’re upset, Sawyer. But it really is all my fault.”

  “Except you weren’t in the room on our tequila night, Dixie.” He moved out of her way so she could get to the door. “Tell Lincoln and the boys that they can cancel the intervention. I’ll choose when it’s time to leave the rodeo and no one, not even my so-called friends, will convince me otherwise.”

  Dixie opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but then she closed it and left the trailer. When she was gone, Sawyer turned to Maisy. She didn’t look regretful. Or even upset, for that matter. She stared back at him with a direct gaze that didn’t hold a trace of tears.

  “Dixie’s wrong,” she said. “I’m to blame for all of it. If I had told you the truth the morning after our tequila night, none of this would’ve happened. I’m sorry, Sawyer. And if I could go back and do it over again, believe me, I would.”

  He snorted. “Sorry doesn’t cover making me think you were pregnant.”

  “I told you I wasn’t pregnant.”


  “But you didn’t tell me why. And how could I believe you when you lied about starting your period?” He jerked off his hat and ran a hand through his hair. “Not to mention that I beat myself up about breaking my promise to Lincoln and I hadn’t even broken it.”

  She stared at him in confusion. “What promise to Lincoln?”

  “The promise I made to stay away from his sweet little adopted sister. Why do you think I avoided you? Why do you think I was so upset to find you in my shower?” He tossed his hat on the table and leaned closer. “But you aren’t so sweet, are you, Maisy? Sweet women don’t pretend that they’re someone’s friend when they’re really plotting behind his back. And what makes it worse is that if anyone should understand why I don’t want to quit bronc riding, it should be you.”

  Her eyes suddenly filled with tears. Two fat droplets rolled down her left cheek. Even as angry and hurt as he was, it was hard to see her cry. “I do understand,” she said. “But I also understand that if you continue you’ll lose more than just a few belt buckles to show your kids, Sawyer. CTE is real. I didn’t understand how real until I did some research. And yes, I lied about my period because I didn’t want you to hate me for causing you to get a concussion that ended your career.”

  “It hasn’t ended my career!” He slammed his hands on the table. “No doctor, no friends, and no cowgirl get to make that decision for me. It’s like all the people who told you that bronc riding was too dangerous for a girl. You didn’t listen to them and I’m not going to listen to anyone either. Especially people who I thought were my friends, but who are really just a pack of lying, manipulating schemers.”