Roping Her Christmas Cowboy by Rebecca Winters

Author:Rebecca Winters
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2017-01-10T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

As soon as they reached the center, the guys took off, leaving Nikki to make her way through the stands to the front where she could watch the team roping event. The place was filled to overflowing every night. As usual the atmosphere of the crowd was electric.

But Nikki felt distanced from everything because she was dying for Toly. Tonight he would have to make a split-second decision once he was in the box. His event would be coming up soon. The pressure on him had to be unimaginable because whatever he did would affect Mills too.

The roar from the steer wrestling event was pretty deafening. But when it came time for the team roping—clearly the fan favorite—everyone was on their feet and the noise was earsplitting.

As the fifteen teams came roaring out of the gates two at a time, she started counting down. Toly’s would be third to last. The scores were all over the place from 4.0 to 4.8, but there was only one set she cared about.

“Toly Clayton and Mills Dobson are up next. We’ll see if our top winners coming into Finals can top last night’s third-place score.”

Nikki could hardly breathe as the steer charged out of the chute. She could see Toly with the rope. It was in his right hand. He’d made his decision. “Please, please be all right, Toly.”

He shot out of the gate and roped the two horns almost instantly in his ocean wave loop. Mills followed with a superb throw that tied up both hind legs. Their speed and precision caused the audience to thunder their approval and give them a standing ovation. Their time: 3.7 and 3.8. Nikki thought she was going to burst for joy. She heard the announcer say, “No one’s going to beat those scores tonight.”

No they wouldn’t!

As the next team was announced, Nikki hurried through the crowd to the stalls in the back so she could get ready for her event.

Santos wore a huge smile when he saw her coming. “It’s a great night, Nikki.”

“I’ll say it is.” He’d been there to get Sassy bridled and saddled. She gave him a hug, but was embarrassed because tears were streaming down her cheeks.

She hugged her horse around the neck. “He did it. He did it,” she sobbed.

“Are you all right?”

She turned at Santos’s voice and laughed, brushing the moisture from her face. “I’m just so happy.”

“We all are. Now let’s see you pull another score that will make you even more famous than you already are.”

“Keep that bull coming, Santos. I love it.” She mounted her horse, hardly knowing what she was doing. “Come on, Sassy girl. Let’s get out there. I want to wow Toly. What do you say?”

Sassy neighed.

Nikki laughed in delight. “Nobody believes you understand me, but I know differently. Tonight is really important.”

She passed her competitors and took her place at the end of the line. One by one the girls exploded down the alley. Nikki watched the screen. Several finalists missed their barrels and one took a nasty fall.

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