Desert Heat by Kat Martin

Author:Kat Martin [Martin, Kat]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Romance, Contemporary, Romantic Suspense
ISBN: 9780821773819
Publisher: Gale
Published: 2003-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

Button danced with impatience as Patience collected the reins, shoved her boot into the stirrup, and swung up on the sorrel’s back. She had never ridden western style before and the saddle felt strange beneath her, but the cantle curving against her bottom felt solid and reassuring. Shari was so petite the stirrups were inches too short, but riding hunter-jumpers required a shorter stirrup so it didn’t feel all that awkward.

Patience walked the horse, letting him stretch his legs, then went into a trot, posting in the English manner. A slow canter followed, guiding the horse in lazy figure eights at the end of the arena. Button settled down right away, performing like the perfectly trained animal he was, responding to her silent commands as if they had ridden together a hundred times.

She was grinning when she left the arena, exhilarated by her brief return to riding, enjoying the bond between horse and rider as she always did. She dismounted outside the fence, led Button back to the trailer, and returned his reins to Shari.

“That was wonderful. You’ve got yourself some horse there.”

“Thanks.” Shari patted Button’s neck and spoke to him gently. “You ready to do your thing, sweetheart?”

Button nickered as if in reply and Patience laughed. Western music drifted toward them, the Charlie Daniels Band’s “The Devil Went Down to Georgia.” Then the distant sound of the announcer’s voice boomed over the loudspeaker. Applause from the grandstand said the rodeo had begun.

The show started with a patriot display of fireworks, then a flag-waving run up and down the arena by two local rodeo queen contestants mounted on big white horses. A loud, swelling version of the National Anthem filled the crowd with rodeo excitement.

The show clicked along without a hitch, Charlie doing his usual good job behind the scenes, keeping things running smoothly. With the Circle C bucking horses out of commission, he was forced to use Jack Stiles’s Flying S stock—for a fat fee, of course. But the horses were working well and so far there hadn’t been a problem.

Dallas had told Stormy and Shari about the sabotage that had been done to the trailer hitch and asked them to keep their eyes open for anything out of the ordinary, but Charlie had insisted they keep the information to themselves. The sheriff had sent a couple of extra officers out to the rodeo grounds but so far the afternoon had been peaceful.

The rodeo progressed. In the steer wrestling, Wes brought down his steer in three point six seconds, which was a damned fast time and put him in the lead for the money. The saddle bronc section followed. Patience looked around but didn’t see Dallas. She spotted Junior Reese running into the arena and turned to watch him do his skit.

In big, baggy, size fifty-plus Wranglers and a red striped shirt, he told the crowd, “Me and my wife was drivin’ by a field full of pigs and mules. ‘Them your relatives?’ I asked. My wife just nodded.

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