Even so, her eyes were warm, and he really wanted to reach out for her, so he rounded Tad and put the horse between them. The animal was slightly restless, tail twitching, and Dan needed to make sure there wasn't a burr under his saddle or rock in his hoof before it was time to wrap up and headhome.
She peered at him over the horse's back. "Do you really think the kids could be ready for the Bar O rodeo? It's only a monthaway."
He shrugged. "Just because they compete doesn't mean they'll win. Doesn't hurt to teach them and let them have atit."
She bit her lip. "I don'tknow."
He raised his brows. She might be too protective for that, but he let the offerstand.
"Are you going to compete? I heard you used to be a skilledroper."
Her unexpected question hit him like a punch in the gut. He sucked in a breath.Used tobe.
"No."
"Why not?" She never pulled herpunches.
"No partner." He'd killed any chances of that long ago. "Plus, I don't... I prefer keeping to the TripleH."
She knew why. He saw it in her eyes, but she asked anyway. "Why?"
And he didn't back down from it, even though saying it made his face get hot. "Too many folks know me. Or used to know me. I don't like it when they stare. Talk behind their hands. It's just easier to stay here andwork."
She frowned. "You made a mistake. And paid for it. What's the bigdeal?"
"Small towns have longmemories."
And his screw-ups had been happening long before thetheft.
"It seems kind of...lonely."
She had no idea. Matt and Kelsey had forgiven him, somehow. Carrie and Trey, too. But he interacted with Nate more often than with the others, and that relationship was a compound fracture. Too much torepair.
Except for his time with Megan and the kids, he mostly walked around in a state of perpetual loneliness. Nowadays, his horse knew more of his secrets than anyhuman.
"We’ve never talked about your childhood. Did you grow up in Taylor Hills?" sheasked.
He shrugged, not really wanting to get into it. But she'd told him about Emma and about her feelings of inadequacy. Friends reciprocated,right?
"Yeah,” he said. “My mom ran off when I was little. Found a winner of a husband and left me with my grandpops. We lived in a little tin can of a trailer on the poor side oftown."
He cast his eyes down because it was too hard to look ather.
"I always wanted to get out, you know? My best friend in high school got a scholarship to a D1 school, and I was jealous. I haven't seen him inyears."
Last Dan had heard, Jimmy was an accountant with a wife and two kids somewhere inKansas.
He glanced over her head. The kids were horsing around but weren't too near thefire.
"Where do you want to go?" Smart girl, using the present tense. Somehow she knew his desire to leave was as strong asever.
He pushed his hat back on his forehead and looked up at the sky, which was just starting to purple on the eastern horizon. "I don't know. Anywhere. If I could just getfree—"
He cut himself off, but he'd already said toomuch.
Her head tilted to one side, her eyes curious. "What do youmean?"
He exhaled noisily. "The Hales took me back, but sometimes itfeels…"
