Rodeo Nights Read Online Free PDF

been seventeen.
    “I’ve already made a start,” he was saying proudly. “I won tonight, plus I got two seconds earlier in the week.”
    “What event?” The question kept him talking and prevented her from looking back to Walker—either the flesh-and-blood one across the way or the one in her memory.
    “Bareback bronc. I got a real rank one. Why, she—”
    “Matt Halderman. Good ride tonight.”
    Walker’s low voice stiffened the backs of both his listeners, but Kalli suspected the cowboy’s reaction was pride.
    Walker extended his right hand for a shake and put his left hand on Matt’s shoulder for a congratulatory squeeze.
    “Thanks. Thanks, Walker.” A two-time national champion praising a youngster just trying to make a name for himself was cause for a severe lump in the throat. Kalli admired Matt Halderman’s poise.
    She also admired Walker’s adroit maneuver, even while it infuriated her. A slight pressure on Matt’s shoulder with his left hand, a subtle tug with his right hand, still in a handshake, and he had the younger man turned. Without a ripple, Walker stood between Kalli and Matt.
    “I see you’ve already met the brains of the operation while Jeff is laid up.”
    Matt’s startled brown eyes came to Kalli. “Uh, yeah.”
    “It’s nice to meet you, Matt,” she said with a warm smile meant to ease any awkwardness, and extended her hand across the gap Walker had opened between them. “We haven’t made it official. I’m Kalli Evans—”
    “Riley.” Walker’s single word stepped on the heels of hers.
    “It’s Evans,” she said more harshly than she’d intended, shaking Matt’s hand, but glaring at Walker. The shadow of his hat brim hid his eyes; the bottom of his face was unreadable. “Kalli
Evans
,” she emphasized. “Call me Kalli.”
    “Sorry. Old habits die hard.” Walker’s tone was as neutral as what she could see of his face. “Say, Matt, how about we talk about that ride?”
    “That’s great, Walker. Thanks!” Matt touched the brim of his cowboy hat. “Nice meeting you, uh, Kalli.”
    “Nice meeting you, Matt. I look forward to your entering more rodeos.”
    * * *
    WALKER STOOD BESIDE the bed and looked at the man who’d taught him to ride—horses, bulls and the rough spots in life.
    The outside of Baldwin Jeffries had changed, dwindled since he’d started taking in his widowed sister’s only son every summer. But Walker knew the inside would always be the same. He held one inert hand between the roughened warmth of both of his.
    In his uncle’s eyes he saw frustration and bewilderment, but those feelings were relegated to a minor role. Concern dominated Jeff’s eyes, and Walker tried to answer that.
    “It’ll be all right, Jeff. I’ll keep the rodeo going. Hell, the way you organize, it’d probably run itself another century, but I’ll be here. Along for the ride.”
    And you
? the faded blue eyes asked.
    “I’m fine. No need to worry.”
    Walker?
He knew what his uncle’s eyes demanded.
    “I saw her... It’ll be all right, Jeff. It’s been years.”
    The blue eyes regarded him steadily a moment longer, and in those eyes Walker saw the memory of his own disbelief giving way to dazed pain. He guessed Jeff was remembering when Walker had flirted too long and too seriously with the bottle and danger, the years of careful, unacknowledged scheduling so two people who loved Baldwin and Mary Jeffries wouldn’t cross paths.
    He wondered if Jeff could see as clearly into him. Could he see the longing Walker had felt to touch Kalli when he’d seen her with Coat? Could he see Walker had fought that longing by digging at the scars between them, scars better left untouched if they were going to work together? Could he see that when it came right down to it, instinct had pushed Walker into staking a claim to her that he knew damn well he had no right to? And over a kid barely weaned, for God’s sake.
    “It’ll be all right,” he repeated.
    His uncle