Free The Cowboy Code by Christine Wenger Page A

she’d managed to stick with Lady.
    She had never been so glad to hear a whistle in her life.
    â€œI forgot to say ‘whoa,’” she admitted now. “But I heard you whistle.”
    â€œAs a safety measure, I also trained them to stop on a certain whistle command. Then two short whistles will get them back to you. All the Cowboy Quest horses go through vigorous training and testing.” He petted Checkmate’s neck. “This guy here is a little too frisky yet, but he’ll come along in time.”
    â€œSo what’s on the schedule later this afternoon?” she asked. “I think I just had my galloping lesson.”
    â€œRoping.”
    She felt a warm rush of confidence. She could do that. No problem.
    â€œBring it on.”
    He gestured to the gathering of the others bythe corral, where the roping lesson was about to begin.
    Joe waved his hand to one of the cowboys. “Would you mind taking care of our horses so we can join the others?”
    â€œNo problem, boss.”
    Joe gave him a slap on the back in gratitude, and motioned for her to walk ahead of him. Maggie waited for the usual snickers from the participants and eye-rolling from Danny, but they were mesmerized, watching as Ronnie twirled a rope overhead, brought it down to foot level, then stepped over it. Back and forth Ronnie stepped, moving the rope in figure eights.
    â€œThat looks as easy as pie,” Maggie whispered to Joe. At least she thought she whispered. As the group laughed at her statement, Ronnie handed her the rope.
    He smiled at her as if they shared a secret.
    Joe took the rope out of her hands. “Ronnie…uh…I don’t think that Maggie—”
    Maggie took the rope back. “Hang on.” She stepped forward to give herself some more room. “I may be a city slicker, but I’ll give it a try.”
    She tried to remember what she’d learned from Baxter Bello, a trick rope expert who was hired to teach her when she starred in Annie Get Your Gun. He’d called it the Texas Skip.
    She’d played Annie Oakley six years ago, andshe was certainly rusty in the roping department, but she wanted to impress Joe. She got a feel for the rope, letting out a little at a time from the knot, as she slowly began to spin it. Baxter’s voice rang in her ear, “Go slow. Don’t rush. It’s all in the wrist.”
    She concentrated, knowing that if she could pull off a couple of jumps, the kids and cowboys would be dazzled. Glancing at the astonishment on their faces, she saw they were already impressed that she’d gotten this far.
    Now!
    She jumped over the loop, again and again. When a loud whoop went up from the crowd, she lost her focus and the rope wrapped around her body.
    She got a round of applause from everyone, and she took a bow. Catching Danny’s eye, she saw a glimmer of admiration, and pride shot through her. Even his new friend Brandon looked impressed.
    But Joe looked the most surprised, and heat pooled in her belly as he looked her over.
    She spotted Ronnie, grinning from ear to ear.
    â€œHow did you know?” she asked him.
    â€œI saw you in Annie Get Your Gun. Your trick roping was great, so I got a video and taught myself.”
    Maggie handed the rope back to him. “What brought you to New York City?”
    â€œA wedding.” Ronnie looked around at the group. “My mother wanted to see you in Annie so I took her.”
    Joe clapped his hands once. “For the rest of us who can’t do Maggie and Ronnie’s trick, we are going to stick with the basics. Break down into teams of three, please.”
    They kicked up some dust, shuffling around until they stood in groups of one cowboy, two participants and one plastic cow head stuck into a hay bale per team.
    Danny quickly fell into step with Brandon with Quint as their staff member. She couldn’t understand why Danny gravitated to Brandon, especially since he