Free Rodeo Riders by Vonna Harper

had forced her into.
    She climbed to the top of the wooden fencing and looked down at the bulls. Unlike the spacious corral they’d been in earlier, this enclosure kept the Brahmas closely bunched. They were restless and short-tempered, maybe because they knew what was coming. She became part of them, a small life-form caught in their current.
    “You think you’re pretty damn tough, don’t you?” she told Rampage. His heavy head swung up, and he stared at her. His small eyes were wet and reddened, his horns impossibly large. “You’d love nothing more than to kick this cowgirl’s butt again, wouldn’t you? You’ve got her shaking in her boots and messing with her mind when she should be thinking about—about her future and a certain cowboy.”
    Feeling a tug on her ankle, she turned and acknowledged Cougar. The sounds, sights and smells of the rodeo faded away. Even Rampage no longer mattered.
    “What are you doing?” he asked.
    “Ah, talking to an old friend.”
    Climbing effortlessly, he joined her. The time might come when her skin didn’t heat when he came close, but that was far from the case now. She needed to feel his fingers on her, his damp breath between her breasts. He’d changed into his show outfit, which only added to the impact.
    He indicated her own outfit consisting of bright-blue jeans and shirt, a silver belt and buckle, and a silver band in her blue hat. “You’re going to compete tonight, aren’t you?”
    “Old habits die—” she started, then stopped herself. “Yeah, I am.”
    “Will you be able to go full-out? Or will memories get the better of you?”
    A loud snort spun her head back toward the bulls. Rampage was closer, his head high and his horns pointed at her. “I hope not. I need to replace those memories with something new. Something better.”
    He blanketed her hand with his. “Like what? Your fastest time ever?”
    “No. I want to ride Rampage.”
    Nine hundred and ninety-nine people out of a thousand would call her a fool. Instead, Cougar studied her with his midnight eyes. “A lot of cowboys have tried. Most have failed.”
    “I know. Believe me, I know. Cougar, I don’t mean I want to try to ride to the bell. I don’t have a death wish. But if I could sit on him while he’s squeezed into a chute, if I could accomplish that simple thing…”
    He lightly kissed her fingertips. “I understand.”
    Of course he did. He’d been down the same road. “You’ll help me?”
    “I’ll make it happen. As for whether it’ll help, only you can determine that.”
    A few minutes later, Rampage had been loaded into one of the bucking chutes. Although several cowboys had shaken their heads, they hadn’t said anything. If they’d asked her why she was doing this right before the night’s events began, she would have explained that what she had in mind wasn’t going to take long—but the ramifications would last the rest of her life.
    “There’s no cinch on him,” Cougar explained. “He’ll be less agitated without that pressing against his gonads.”
    “I know. I just want— Hell, I don’t know how to explain it.”
    “I’m not asking you to.”
    From her perch above Rampage’s back, she struggled to remind herself that she wasn’t looking at some supernatural beast, but she’d never been this close to her nemesis. She knew what the Brahma was capable of, knew that no one, least of all his owner, trusted him.
    “Whenever you’re ready. He’s not going to be able to move around much, but that won’t stop him from trying to climb out of here. It’s one of his favorite tricks.”
    If you knew this, why didn’t you warn me?
    Because you believe I need this.
    She’d seen enough bulls jump straight up in the small enclosures. If a cowboy was on its back when that happened, the cowboy either rode out the explosion or bailed by diving for the fence. She didn’t want to do either.
    “Jordan?”
    “What?” With an effort, she took her attention off the