Free Adrienne deWolfe - [Wild Texas Nights 03] by Texas Wildcat Page B

Mac," she interrupted gently, "we've already been through this. First of all, Nick and I never... er, mated." We have, however, seen each other as naked as jaybirds, which, I'm sorry to say, was my idea, not his. "Secondly, my reputation couldn't be any more tarnished than it already is." Thanks to my mother's legacy, and how I choose to live. "Thirdly, I have a lot fewer snake oil salesmen beating down my door, professing their undying love for me, when all they really love is my land. I have Nick to thank for that."
    "Maybe," Mac muttered. "But that bastard had no right saying the two of ye were to be wed."
    "You're right," she said soothingly, still regretting how deeply the news had shocked and hurt Mac. "And I like to think I put an end to that rumor." A rumor that, ironically, Nick had spread because he thought he was doing the right thing. However, as she'd expected, no one had been more surprised or relieved than Nick when she'd dug him from his hole and set him free.
    Mac's jaw hardened. Rising abruptly, he knocked the tobacco from his pipe bowl with sharp, fierce whacks against the wagon.
    "The fact is, lass," he said, "I blame myself for what happened to ye. When you came to me all those months ago, wanting me to..." His face reddened. "Uh, that is to say, wanting to become a woman, I didn't handle ye the best way. I should have been more understanding, but I was just so surprised, ye see—"
    "I know," she said quickly, her stomach clenching at the memory. Asking Mac to show her what she was missing, what all the cowboys joked about and what the sheep and cattle, hell, even the birds and the bees all seemed to know except her... well, that had been her most stupid idea ever.
    No, she took that back. Her most stupid idea had been seeking out Nick in an insulted huff after Mac had turned her down. When push came to shove, she hadn't been able to mate with Nick, and she'd slinked out of the hayloft hating herself and her weakness, but most of all, hating the burden of her femaleness.
    "Ye came to me because ye trusted me," Mac said, his ham-sized fist white around the pipe bowl, "and I let ye down. Now Nick Rotterdam's mouth will keep any decent man from asking for ye—"
    "You asked for me," she reminded him lightly, hoping to relieve the mounting tension between them.
    Instead, his gaze melded with hers, and the usual warmth there seemed to rise a couple of degrees.
    "Aye, lass. And my offer still stands."
    She drew in a sharp breath, not prepared to see, not wanting to see, what she imagined she saw kindling in the depths of his lonely eyes.
    Oh, damn , she thought, swallowing hard. He really was serious.

 
     
     
    Chapter 4

     
    All of Bandera County must have turned out for the Independence Day Rodeo. The usual events—roping, riding, broncing, and racing—were of course among the attractions, but the main draw for this year's phenomenal crowd, as Bailey well knew, was the long-awaited competition between the sheepherders and cattle ranchers.
    The grandstands were filled with cowboys, sheepmen, farmers, and townsfolk, each group assembled in its own loosely defined cheering section. A few early-morning arrivals had rigged canopies over their buckboards and jockeyed them into a ringside view; food and craft vendors had staked tents beneath the live oak trees beside the alarmingly low Medina River. Other than the occasional lady's parasol, however, little else offered relief from the sun.
    The shadeless location, coupled with the blistering heat, made barrels of whiskey extremely popular throughout the long day. Sheep and cattle ranchers alike fell under the rotgut's allure, and more than one drunken fistfight erupted near the livestock pens behind the arena. Nick proved to be the vendors' biggest customer, and Hank had to heave his firstborn into the river to soak some sense into him, since Nick was dead set on breaking his fool neck in the bronc-busting contest. Luckily for him, Nat got up enough nerve to