Free Betting on Grace by Nicole Edwards Page A

shade, although
it wouldn’t do much for the one-hundred-plus-degree temps.
    Dead Heat Ranch’s event arena was rather impressive.
The thing rivaled in size any state fair arena that Lane had ever seen,
although the seating capacity was significantly less. The giant steel structure
had to have cost a freaking fortune — not that Lane had any idea how much — but
it was clearly worth the investment since it was always being used. Most of the
time, Gracie, or one of her sisters, was teaching beginning riders what it
meant to be on a horse within the steel building, and that was usually so they
could avoid subjecting the horses to the direct sun.
    From time to time, they would hold a miniature version
of a rodeo for the guests, complete with a couple of bulls that the wranglers
would try to outlast for that eight seconds of glory. Lane was proud to admit
that he was a damn fine bull rider, even though it had been nearly a year since
he’d been on the back of one. At thirty-two, he’d outgrown the need to be
bucked off a seventeen-hundred-pound pissed-off animal.
    But today, there weren’t any kids running around
chasing one another or any of the wranglers leading animals to and from. No,
right now the place appeared to be a ghost town. Lane didn’t even see Mercy
when he stepped into the shade, making his way toward the bleachers on one
side. The sound of clapping brought Lane’s attention up to the staggered metal
benches that rose up from the ground. There, on the bottom row, was a little
girl and a man, sitting side by side. Lane was about to question what she was
clapping about, but then he stopped dead in his tracks.
    No questions needed.
    Lane stood motionless, completely hypnotized by the
sexy, petite cowgirl making her way out into the arena, Astro Boy proudly
walking beside her. Gracie was dwarfed by the size of the horse, but even from
as far away as Lane was, she was what drew his attention.
    The woman was breathtaking. Long, golden-blond hair,
those interesting blue-green eyes, her cute little nose, and those lips… Oh,
damn. If he weren’t careful, he’d be sporting wood just by thinking of how hot
she looked in those sexy jeans, too.
    Truth be told, Lane was quite partial to watching her
with her horse. She loved that animal, and he was pretty sure she would’ve
found a way to keep him at her cabin if it was at all feasible. She spent a
significant amount of time with Astro Boy, refusing to allow anyone else to do
more than feed him. And she was a sight to behold when she rode Astro Boy,
which Lane suddenly figured out was her plan.
    The sound of footsteps shuffling in the soft dirt
behind him had Lane turning to see Grant walking his way. The scowl on his face
told Lane that Grant’s week wasn’t getting any better than the last time he’d
seen him.
    “Mercy text you?” Lane asked as Grant approached.
    “Yeah,” Grant grumbled.
    “Have you seen her?”
    “Nope.”
    Well, it sucked to know that Grant still wasn’t back
to his normal chatty self. The guy really needed to get out of his funk. Lane
wasn’t at all fond of the mood, but more important, he wasn’t happy with not
knowing what had spawned it in the first place.
    Turning away from Grant, Lane tilted his head in the
direction of the arena floor, where Gracie was currently leading Astro Boy.
“Look.”
    Lane made his way beneath the bleachers, trying to get
a better view of Gracie and her horse. Reaching up, Lane clasped his fingers on
one of the metal rungs of the benches that were standing tall and proud over
his head. He was peering through the aluminum steps, hidden from view of the
little girl and the man when Grant joined him.
    “Okay,” Gracie said, her voice echoing in the
cavernous arena. “Maddie, I’ve got a job for you. Astro Boy really likes when
you clap. So I expect to hear you loud and clear, all right?”
    Lane realized that Gracie was talking to the little
girl, Maddie, who was once again smacking her hands