At first, my reaction was to bristle, but seeing the care in her eyes, the way she was looking at me was a reminder of exactly why I’d pined away for her. “So everyone keeps telling me.”
“I’ll continue to do so until you get it through that hard head of yours.”
When I leaned over, tweaking her nipple, she laughed and swatted my hand. “So, let’s deal with the elephant in the room. What does your father want from you?”
I wondered if she knew just how many times she’d rolled her eyes and how often she did when her family was mentioned. “To drag me into a nightmare. He has a cockamamie idea about how to get himself out of hot water.”
“Legally?”
“Undoubtedly, as well as politically. I don’t know why he believes I can help with that.”
“What kind of corruption did he get himself in the middle of this time?”
Her hand stopped halfway to her mouth, her lips twisting. “So you know. I’m the only one in this room allowed to hate him and I have plenty of that to go around. My father has done some terrible things in his life, but he is still my dad.”
Sighing, I nodded. “You’re right. Is there anything I do to help him in this endeavor?”
After she shoved a small handful of crackers into her mouth, I almost immediately noticed a spark in her eyes. “Hmmm… Well, maybe.” She tapped her finger against her lips and she shifted back and forth on the sheet.
“Uh-oh. What? I can tell you have something on your mind. What did I just walk into?”
“You’d do anything for me. Wouldn’t you?” When I didn’t answer right away, she pouted, batting her eyelashes. I could easily tell she was hyped up on something.
“It depends. First, you need to be honest with me. I know you too well.”
“You don’t know me at all. You said so yourself.”
“Spill it.”
“Okay. You just sparked a great idea. It would seem that my father invested in some decent properties, but put way too much on the line, including the ranch. You know that huge stadium built outside the city limits?”
I had to laugh. “Yeah, the one that will never sell enough tickets to make any money? Just head into any diner in town. People hate the monstrosity. The bastards took some park land.”
“I didn’t know that. It would seem he and his investors want to bring national rodeo championships to Missoula.” She cringed as soon as she mentioned the idea.
“You’re kidding me.” Wow. That was industrious but not possible.
She shook her head. “Nope. I didn’t know this until recently, but the Dallas stadium burned?”
“Yeah, right after the championships not long ago,” I told her. “Arson. From what I read, they never caught the person who did it.” What in the fuck were the chances of the stadium being torched and her father’s interest? “That means for the upcoming year, they’ll need a new venue.”
The two of us looked at each other and she sucked in her breath. “Just a coincidence.” It was obvious she was trying to convince herself.
“Maybe. Then where do you come in?” I had a very bad feeling about this.
“In both convincing the various national rodeo organizations to consider Missoula as an event location and to ensure the legalities are on the up and up. I already told him point blank that there will be nothing shady. Not on my watch.”
I could tell she was serious. “They’d need some proof that Missoula can hold an event people are willing to travel to.”
“Exactly what I told my dad,” she said as she tucked hair behind her ear. “His thought was to put on some tribute event with old rodeo stars.”
“Could work. There are a bunch of hams on the circuit.” The bad feeling continued to increase.
“Which is where you could come into the picture.”
The mischievous Kenzie had lowered her gaze.
“Oh, no, you don’t. What did you do?”
