Land of Enchantment Read Online Free PDF Page B

Single? What about your parents? How long have you been riding in rodeos?' Diana lightly rattled off a list of questions, hoping she didn't betray her intense interest in his answers.
    The corners of his mouth lifted in a faraway, indulging smile. 'I'm thirty-one years old and unmarried, which is the only way a man should follow the rodeo circuit with any success. My mother died when I was seven and my father a few years ago. I started out competing in high school rodeos, but I've been competing in RCA-sanctioned rodeos off and on for the last twelve years.'
    'What does RCA stand for?'
    'Rodeo Cowboys Association. Do you want any more coffee?' At his adept change of subject, Diana realized that Lije was as reticent to discuss his past as she had always been.
    She declined the coffee and rose when he did to leave. They strolled leisurely back to the stable area, ignoring the cold bite of the night breeze as Lije shortened his long stride to match hers.
    'Why do you ride in rodeos?" Diana glanced up at him curiously.
    'It's probably the cleanest sport there is. Although the spectator thinks of it as man competing against man, it really is a battle between man and animal. Not a life-and-death struggle like bullfighting, but a pitting of skills against a clock.'
    'Isn't it cruel, though, to the animals?'
    'Hardly,' Lije answered, chuckling softly. "In the first place, I don't recall ever seeing a horse treated for anything more severe than a strained muscle unless he accidentally got tangled in the chutes, but I wouldn't even want to attempt to count the number of riders who'd suffered broken bones or internal injuries. The odds are with the animals basically. I don't think there's a town where a rodeo plays that there aren't half adozen or more representatives from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals haunting the grounds. There are horses that are born to buck, just like some are born to run.'
    'Tonight I heard one of the cowboys tell you something about the bull you were to ride.'
    'Riders always pass along information to one another concerning the characteristics of an animal. You'll always see some cowboy helping another in the chutes or acting as a hazer in the steer wrestling or calf roping. As I said, you compete with the animal and the clock, not each other.'
    'Why do you ride?' Diana asked, aware that he had dodged any specific answer before.
    'Why do you model?' he returned.
    'For money.'
    'That's why I'm here in San Antonio.'
    'Don't you ever want to settle down? I mean, you can't rodeo forever.' She tried hard to see his expression in the dim light.
    They took several steps before he answered her. When he did Diana had the thought that he had weighed each word carefully before answering.
    'Another two years on the circuit and I'll be able to quit—as long as nothing changes,' Lije said firmly, too firmly for it to have been for her benefit.
    'What would change?' She glanced up to his face as they passed beneath a streetlight. The harsh expression in his eyes startled her before he turned his face away.
    'Nothing will,' he stated.
    'After two years, what then?'
    'I'll go back to my ranch in New Mexico.'
    'If you own a ranch, then why are you here? Surely you should be there running it?' They were walking past the stables to some parked vehicles.
    'I can't afford it,' Lije answered grimly. 'Eleven years ago, when my father was alive, we had a drought that just about wiped us out. It took a couple of years with me riding in rodeos and him working on the ranch to get it together again. I kept riding so we could make improvements to the place. Then three years ago he died and I got hit with all the inheritance taxes. I had to go back on the circuit to make ends meet.'
    His steps had ceased and unknowingly Diana had stopped also. His last statement explained a lot of things. Lije Masters was a man with roots, with a heritage and pride that made him stand out from the other rodeo cowboys she had seen who