Chapter 11 #2
Tarr moved right into Rosie and gave her a hug. “How was the drive, sweetheart?” he asked, really bringing out his Texas drawl and manners.
“Oh, it was a drive,” she said. “This place is so nice, you guys.” She beamed at Tarr. “I mean, look at this arena.”
“It’s huge inside,” Tarr said. “Come on, I’ll show you.” He stepped that way.
“This is my wife, Rachel,” Cole Young said before Tarr realized he hadn’t met everybody properly yet. He shook Cole’s hand, as well as Rachel’s, sweeping one kiss along her cheek before stepping back to Tuck’s side.
He introduced Bobbie Jo just as Ashton arrived and then took the truck keys from Cole Young.
“My own brother made me ride in the back seat,” Rosie said, giving Cole a death glare.
She wore a pair of jeans, cowgirl boots, and a sweater the color of autumn leaves—bright gold. It matched her hair, and though she barely had any curves at all, she possessed plenty of sass.
“I think you said I could ride one of your horses when we got here,” she said, hope entering her expression.
“Yep,” Tuck said. “Ashton here is going to get yours unloaded, and we’ve got our vet tech to check them.” He shot a look at Tarr.
Tarr pulled his phone out of his pocket. “I’ll text Briar right now.”
“I am so excited to meet Briar,” Rosie said, a new kind of energy pulsing out of her now.
Tarr abandoned his text-quest and looked over to Rosie. “You’re so excited to meet Briar?”
“Yeah. You know who she is, right?” Rosie grinned at him and followed Bobbie Jo as she and Tuck started toward the arena doors. “She’s only the best trick rider who’s ever lived. I mean, you should see some of the stuff she did from the back of a horse.”
She looked up at Tarr, who stumbled after her dumbly. Briar was a trick rider? “I think you’re thinking of her momma,” he said.
“No, I’m not,” Rosie said. “She was incredible. She was at every rodeo for so long—the biggest ones too. The Stampede, the NPR—everything. She even did halftime shows at professional football games.” She paused just inside the arena and glanced around. “I really want to meet her.”
Tarr wanted to meet that woman too, as he’d assumed Briar must’ve been an ambassador. But a stunt rider?
He quickly fired off a text to her just as Ashton pulled the truck around to the back side of the arena.
“Tarr,” Tuck said.
“I’m coming,” Tarr said, and he followed everyone into the arena.
The scent of dirt and wood reached his nose, and he loved coming in here. It reminded him of the Friday-night lights of the rodeo, and in moments like this, small and fleeting as they were, he did miss his time on the circuit.
“Briar’s right there,” Tuck said. “Looks like she’s got Pumpkin Spice ready.”
Tarr’s attention shot to the other end of the arena, where, sure enough, his gorgeous Briar was leading the pretty pumpkin-colored horse toward them.
“Wow, she’s pretty,” Rosie said, and surely she meant the horse. To Tarr, that statement was all about Briar. Always Briar.
As they closed in on her, Rosie squealed. She ran the last several steps to her and practically yelled, “I am so excited to meet you!”
Briar looked like she had been slapped across the face and then had ice water thrown in her open eyes. She blinked at Rosie rapidly, who grabbed onto her and hugged her.
“Oh, boy,” Tucker said under his breath, and Bobbie Jo gasped.
Tarr simply stared while Cole said, “Rosie, give the woman space to breathe.”
Rosie hugged her tight and then stepped back.
She clapped her hands and bounced on the balls of her feet.
“I can’t help it. You’re, like, a legend.
I’ve watched every single one of your trick-riding videos online.
And my daddy drove me to Calgary just to see the Stampede when you were headlining it. You were incredible.”
Briar stood there, and Tarr watched as every mask she’d ever worn stitched itself back into place. He could practically hear the bricks falling as she rebuilt the walls around her.
“I’m real sorry about your accident,” Rosie said next. “I haven’t seen anything about you online in so long.”
Dreadful silence filled the arena, and Rosie finally seemed to clue in that she’d said or done something to cause it.
Tarr stared at Briar, trying to put all the pieces of her together.
His chest pinched that he had to find out that she was a stunt rider and trick performer—and that was how she had gotten injured and left the rodeo scene—from someone who was a perfect stranger to both of them, though they knew Rosie by name through Tuck.
Cole moved to Rosie’s side. “You’ll have to excuse my sister. She gets really excited about other female legends in the rodeo.”
“I’m not a female legend,” Briar said curtly.
Tarr quickly moved to her side, wanting to touch her, but the electric energy she put off told him he’d better not.
“Briar is retired from that life,” he said as softly and kindly as he could. “She’s an amazing vet tech here at Deerfield, and she’s going to take great care of your horses.” He looked over to her. “Ashton’s unloading them now, sweetheart.”
Her eyes met his, and he almost fell back from the coldness she harbored there. She softened slightly and said, “I’ll go take care of them.” She nodded at Rosie, Cole, and Rachel. “It was great to meet you.” Then she turned on her heel and marched away.
Rosie stared after her, and Tarr wished he could fix the situation for both of them. “She’s just really private,” he said.
“I didn’t mean anything by it,” Rosie said, turning her attention to Tarr. “Have you seen her ride? She’s absolutely incredible. They said she wouldn’t walk again, and I haven’t really read or seen anything about her in years. I didn’t mean to make things so awkward.”
“I told you not to be so exuberant,” Cole said. “And to let her lead. I said there would be a reason why you hadn’t heard anything, and this is it.”
“Briar’s amazing,” Tuck said. “She just gets a little….” He glanced at Tarr. “Well, she gets a little nervous meeting strangers, that’s all. I didn’t even know she was a stunt rider.”
Tarr’s gaze flew to his. “You didn’t know she was a stunt rider?”
“She’s only the best one who’s ever lived,” Rosie said.
Tuck shook his head. “We didn’t know.”
“Like I said, she’s a really private person.
” Tarr really wished that didn’t hurt so much, and that if there was anyone Briar trusted enough to tell about her former career, it would have been him.
But she hadn’t, and Tarr watched as she disappeared through the far door that led into the stables attached to the arena.
“It’s fine,” Bobbie Jo said brightly. “I’m sure we’ll all hear more about it tonight at dinner.”
Tarr’s gaze flew to hers, his stomach now rioting.
Dinner at the mansion. He’d forgotten that he and Briar and Ashton were joining everyone there tonight, and he started praying that he could actually get Briar out of the cabin and over to the mansion for that meal, because after that altercation…
he didn’t believe for one minute she would agree to go.