Free A Cowboy's Heart (Hitting Rocks Cowboys) by Rebecca Winters

him. “Since you’re probably wide-awake now, do you want me to turn on the TV for you?”
    “Thanks, but no.”
    On impulse she said, “Want to play a little five-card stud? I brought a couple of decks with me. I don’t know about you, but cards have a way of settling me down when I’ve got stuff on my mind.”
    He’d reached the floor before she could blink and turned the lights back on. “You’re exactly what the doctor ordered.” Excitement lit up his brown eyes.
    Pleased by that positive reaction, Liz reached into her suitcase for the cards and walked over to the table. “That’s because I am the doctor. Here. Take this pill. It will help.” She threw him a Kit Kat bar.
    Connor let out a happy yelp before they both sat down and started playing. After a dozen rounds they turned to Pineapple and then Crazy Pineapple, both variations of Texas Hold’em poker.
    “You’re good at this.”
    “Same to you. If nothing else, waiting around for a rodeo event to start has produced a ton of crack poker players. We could be dealers in Las Vegas after we’re through with the rodeo.”
    Connor squinted at her. “Does your daddy know about this surprising side of his daughter?”
    “Between my parents and your grandparents, who do you think taught me and Sadie how to play in the first place?”
    He sat back so the front legs of the chair were off the floor. “I didn’t know that. We’ll have to get up a game after we’re back from finals.”
    “Then you’re asking for it,” she teased to contain the rush his suggestion produced. “Sadie told me she outbluffs Jarod all the time.”
    He sat forward. “I have news for you. He lets her win to keep her happy, except when it comes to his favorite poker game.”
    The way he was staring at her brought out the heat to prickle her face. She put her hands palm down on the table. “Speaking as your doctor, I can see our card game has put you in a better frame of mind. We both ought to be able to sleep now.”
    Connor’s grin was wicked. “You keep thinking that, sweetheart.”
    That image of him stayed with her long after she’d scuttled back to bed and put the covers over her head.
    Soon it was dark and quiet. Her thoughts turned to the woman who still anchored for a television show out of Los Angeles. Did his good-looking ex-wife still go by the name Mrs. Bannock when she wasn’t in front of the camera?
    Liz knew nothing about her and had formed no opinion of her. Liz had been away at vet school during that year he’d been married. As she’d told him earlier, she’d had no clue that he’d gotten a divorce until months after the fact.
    But tonight she decided Reva Stevens had a fundamental selfish streak. Even if they still loved each other, it was cruel to call Connor with the kind of news she’d sprung on him right before his first round of competition to win a sixth world title.
    That insensitivity proved to Liz that his ex-wife didn’t value his former achievements or what he was hoping to achieve now. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have dared interfere with his concentration.
    According to Connor, his ex didn’t recognize boundaries if she wanted something. It sounded as if she wanted him back. Liz had no way of knowing if Connor wanted the same thing.
    But couldn’t Reva have waited until the pro rodeo finals were over? Ten crucial days out of his life to accomplish what no other bulldogger had done before? Liz decided his ex-wife didn’t deserve Connor.
    But in all fairness, Liz couldn’t rule out physical attraction and chemistry, those potent forces a person might wish to escape because of other problems, but couldn’t. Was that the case with Connor and his ex-wife?
    In turmoil, she turned over on her back.
    Before you start finding fault with Reva, better take a good look at yourself first, Liz Henson.
    * * *
    A LATE - MORNING SKY of high wispy clouds over Las Vegas greeted them as Connor pulled into the RV equestrian park at eleven. The temperature