I smile, easy and deliberate. “Funny thing about damaged goods, Noelle, they don’t quit. They get stronger. Which is why I’m here working, and you’re still hanging on to a crown you won in high school.”
The women behind her snicker, then try to smother it when Noelle glares at them, shooting daggers.
“Well, whatever. No one wants you here. Especially not your ex…because he’s mine now.”
“Careful.” I chuckle. “I’ll start to think you’re feeling insecure about Cade ‘cause of little ol’ me.”
Noelle flushes red, her lips flattening. “Don’t get too comfortable, Sarah. Folks don’t forget.”
“Forget what?” Duke Wilder walks up to me. Kaz and Hunt are right behind him.
Noelle smiles sweetly at him. “You weren’t here then, Duke.”
“Iwas.” Hunt has his thumbs hitched into his belt loops, easy as Sunday morning.
Leah, with whom I went trick-or-treating, mutters, “Let’s go, Noelle.”
“Iwasn’t,” Kaz chimes in, as he shakes his head in mock despair. “You know what’s sad, Sarah?”
I purse my lips to hold back a smile. “Tell me, Kaz.”
“What’s sad”—he turns to now focus all his attention on the three women—“is that Noelle and her possehere want to shame you for something that isn’t your fault.”
“She lied about Landon,” Noelle cries out.
“And how would you know that?” Duke took a step toward Noelle. He’s calm as a lake and as menacing as a stormy ocean.
“I…I....” Noelle looks around at her friends, but they’re already retreating. No one wants a fight with Duke Wilder. Everyone knows he’ll rip you a new one just for the fun of it.
“There’s a special place in hell, they say, for women who don’t support other women,” Duke continues and then, over his shoulder, asks, “Who said that?”
“Madeline Albright,” Hunt says, surprising the hell out of me.
I didn’t think he'd have any clue as to who Madeline Albright was.
Well, color me impressed.
For a second, the air is as sharp as barbed wire.
Noelle flounces off, her entourage scrambling to follow, leaving me alone with the men who have taken their place as my protectors in the paddock.
“You feel like a drink, darlin’?” Kaz holds out his arm for me like we’re in a Victorian play.
“I can’t. Got to go check on some horses at the barrel racing for Bodie.”
“We’ll walk you.” Duke picks up my bag and slings it over his shoulder without asking for permission.
A bunch of rough cowboys who are gentlemen. Who would’ve thought?
“Bodie says you have a gift when it comes to animals,” Duke says conversationally as we walk to the drinks tent.
“Just years of practice,” I reply. “Horses don’t let you fake it.”
“No shit,” Hunt agrees. He checks his watch, then grins. “You gonna come watch me rope later, darlin’?”
“You header or heeler?” I ask.
In team roping, two cowboys work together to catch a steer—the header ropes the horns while the heeler ropes the back legs. It’s fast, technical, and one of the few rodeo events that still looks like what it is: real ranch work.
