One Night Rodeo Read Online Free PDF Page B

Hank until she got the okay from you two. But I wouldn’t put it past Devin to blab far and wide, so if I were you, I’d start making calls.” She muttered something. “Sorry, C, gotta go. Traffic is a bitch on this road so I need to concentrate on my driving, bein’s I lost my traveling partner to the hottest bull rider on the circuit. Call me later.”
    Celia studied the floral-patterned carpet, trying to force any memory at all to the surface. Maybe she was trying too hard. Maybe if she let it…jell, it’d all come back to her.
    Her phone buzzed in her hand with a text message. From Lainie.
    I can’t believe you and Kyle got married last night! I haven’t said a word to Hank, but this isn’t a secret that’ll keep for long. Be best for your brothers to find out from you. In person, not over the phone. I expect you’ll come home ASAP.
    As much as Celia loved Tanna, she’d seriously fucked up this situation by blabbing. Wait a second, Kyle had told his mother too. How many people had she told? How many people had Devin told? In the last thirty minutes Celia had lost any chance of getting a quiet annulment.
    What was she supposed to do now? How could she tell Hank and Abeher marriage to Kyle was a drunken mistake? They already treated her like a flighty kid who couldn’t make up her mind. She rolled to her feet, returning to the room to find Kyle gazing out the window. His tension was obvious in the tight set of his shoulders.
    “What did your mom say?”
    He didn’t respond for the longest time. Then he said, “She told me my father’s name. I’ve been asking her since I was five years old and she finally told me today.” Another long pause. “Marshall Townsend is my father.”
    “The name isn’t familiar to me. Do you know who he is?”
    “Yeah. I’ve crossed paths with him a couple of times, but it’s not like I know him. The summer after your folks died, this rancher named Marshall Townsend called Hank out of the blue and hired us to hay for him. We both thought it was weird at the time, since he didn’t know Hank or me, but we figured he must’ve known your parents. Anyway, he wasn’t friendly at all. He was cheap. He paid us the bare minimum but promised us hunting rights for the fall. When we tried to collect on the hunting rights, he said he’d changed his mind and chased us off his land.”
    “That’s harsh.”
    “What an asshole, right? And come to find out, that asshole is my father.”
    Her heart broke for him. Celia went to him without thinking. She rested her cheek on his shoulder, hating to hear happy-go-lucky Kyle so resentful, although he had a right to be. “What can I do?”
    He stiffened. “Don’t take a shot at me right now, Cele. I couldn’t handle another fuckin’ thing today.”
    It hurt that he assumed she’d kick him while he was down, so she stepped back.
    He remained quiet for a few moments. Then he sighed. “It’s easier for us to snipe at each other, isn’t it? Here I’ve been telling you it doesn’t have to be that way between us and what’s the first thing I do? Snap at you.”
    Slightly mollified, she said, “This news about your father is a big shock for you, Kyle, so I’ll let it slide…this time.”
    “So noted,” he murmured.
    It bothered her that he hadn’t turned around to talk to her face-to-face,almost like he expected her to get fed up and leave. So naturally, she dug her heels in. “So, what else do you know about him besides his assholish tendencies? Where does he live?”
    “West of Rawlins. About thirty miles from your place. As far as what I know about him? Nothin’. Except my mom says he wants to see me because he’s dying.” He shook his head. “He’s acknowledging me as his sole heir on his deathbed? That’s TV-movie-of-the-week bullshit.”
    “Kinda like us getting drunk and ending up hitched in Vegas, huh?”
    Kyle snorted.
    “So what will you do? Blow him off like he’s blown you off?”
    “What can he possibly