Page 22 of Unforgettable Cowboy (Montana’s Rodeo Cowboys #1)

“People like to touch,” she said when Hayes asked her why she didn’t set the glass lids over the rectangular oak display boxes, which held the earrings and bracelets.

“Which means I have to polish tarnish on a daily basis, but it leads to more sales. Also, if you have things above a certain height, people might not see them. Watch when they come to the display. The first place they look is down.”

“But you have things up high.” But not as many things as usual, thanks to Chance. And she had very little stock to replace pieces people bought. He’d really done a number on her, but she couldn’t report it unless she wanted to open another can of worms.

“Fills the space. Gives off a vibe. You don’t want to overload your space, but you can’t underload it either. And the people who linger eventually look up.”

Hayes tipped back his hat. “I had no idea of the science behind this.”

“Neither did I until after a few abyssal shows. Thankfully other vendors are supportive and gave me some hints.” Bailey looked past Hayes at the handful of early birds perusing wares while the artisans set up their spaces.

When she looked back at Hayes, she could tell that he knew exactly what she’d been doing.

Then a flash caught her eye, and she did a double take, grabbing Hayes’s arm.

“That’s him,” she said pointing at the tri-color collie mix that was galloping through the area.

“That’s who?”

“That is the little dog that’s been running around town.”

“The thief?”

Bailey headed for the dog, knowing it was probably useless but wanting to see if she could get close. He stopped near a trailer and cocked his head at her as she bent low, speaking softly to him. He was obviously enjoying the attention. Hayes came up behind Bailey and leaned close.

“Are you going to catch the thief?” he asked in her ear. Bailey elbowed him.

“Shush. I’m gaining trust.”

Hayes obligingly stepped back as Bailey crouched and held out a hand.

The little dog approached cautiously, then he sat down a couple of yards out of reach and once again cocked his head, this time opening his mouth in a canine grin.

“Hey, buddy. Just think what it would be like to be adopted and to know where your next meal is coming from.”

The little dog rose to his feet, turned and trotted in the opposite direction. Hayes laughed softly. “Reminds me of you.”

“Does it?” she asked in an unimpressed voice as she pushed herself to her feet again.

He reached for her. “Yep. You can get close, but not too close.”

“I have my reasons.” She put a hand to his chest, more to keep herself from doing something stupid in the PDA department than because she wanted to escape him.

She had her qualms about allowing Hayes to help her set up, due to Chance seeing them together, but decided that he wouldn’t risk a confrontation with the Matthews brothers.

“We should discuss,” he said in a low voice.

A tiny shiver of desire went through her as she recalled the last time he’d used that tone with her and the events that had followed. Not the time or place, so she arranged her features into a prim expression and was met with an evil grin.

“Stop,” she whispered.

“No.” The sexy smile intensified, then he tilted his head toward her table where a man was studying her wares. As sometimes happened, the guy looked up as she approached, then moved along. A shy shopper. One who liked to look but not feel any pressure. Bailey was happy to oblige.

“Are you going to the street dance?” Hayes asked as they took their seats behind her table.

“Nope. It’s the lot of the vendor. You get to watch from a distance, but you do not get to partake in activities unless you get someone to watch the table.”

“Then I guess I’ll bring you some food, sit with you and people-watch.”

“I don’t want Chance—”

“Fuck Chance,” he said amiably, leaning back in the folding chair. He closed his eyes and let out a low hum.

She gave him a look. “What are you doing?”

He opened one eye. “I’m getting my Zen on for the ride tomorrow.”

“I still think you’re too old for this stuff.”

This time he elbowed her. She laughed and leaned into him.

*

True to her word, Bailey sat at her table during the welcome dinner, so Hayes loaded up two plates and joined her in the vendor area where a surprising number of people were perusing the open booths.

Bailey was making change for a customer as he approached, and she smiled when she saw the heaping plate.

“Thank you!”

“Made a sale?”

“If I keep it up, I won’t have stock come Sunday.” She gave a tight smile before unwrapping the napkin from around the plastic flatware.

“Jordan wants to search Chance’s trailer.” Hayes casually bit into a heavily buttered roll.

Bailey gave him a sharp look, not certain if he was kidding or not. “I suppose you have a plan to do that?”

“Of course we do. I’ll keep Meyers busy by punching him, and my brothers will see if they can find your silver.”

Bailey glanced down at her plate, which she balanced in her lap, ready to set it aside if she needed to assist a customer. “Please don’t do that.” She stabbed a fry with her fork.

“Won’t be making promises I’m not sure I can keep.” Hayes gave her a serious sideways look. “I mean that.”

He wasn’t only speaking of punching Chance. He was talking about the two of them. Bailey felt her breath hitch.

What if she couldn’t uphold her end of things? What if she ruined this guy twice?

She was pretty certain that she loved him, but what did she know about love? What had she seen during her life with those close to her? She’d been so focused on protecting herself for so long that she hadn’t given much thought to the effect her actions had on others.

Pretty damned selfish, that.

Hayes gave her a gentle nudge and her head came up. Estelle was approaching from the parking lot with a cardboard box in her hands.

“I got here as soon as I could.”

“Thank you. I appreciate this so much.” Estelle had refused any kind of compensation, even gas. What she didn’t know was that she was going to receive a piece of silver jewelry before Bailey left the area.

Estelle lingered while Bailey opened the box. There were more pieces than she expected, and for once she was glad of slow consignment sales. She beamed her thanks at Estelle. “This will help so much. Thank you again.”

“It was not out of my way,” Estelle assured her before turning to Hayes and asking him if Wade was home alone.

“We’re bringing him to the rodeo tomorrow, but tonight he’s on his own. Jess is staying a little longer than usual to make sure he’s not wanting for anything.”

Estelle nodded her approval and it occurred to Bailey that the little woman might actually enjoy facing off with Wade.

The man could certainly keep a person on their toes.

Maybe Estelle liked a little spice in her life.

She certainly showed no signs of regretting her decision to go to work for the Matthews family, regardless of she and Wade having differing thoughts on the future of the community.

After Estelle left, Hayes got to his feet. “I do need to check in on Wade.”

Bailey also stood. “I appreciate your help.”

“You can come back to the ranch tonight, you know.”

“I’ve got a bed right here and I like staying close to my display.”

Hayes didn’t like leaving her—that much was obvious—but they hadn’t laid eyes on Chance all night. “I’ll be careful,” she said. “Would you do me a favor and feed the mare in the morning?”

“I will.” He looked down at her and Bailey was strongly reminded of the end of her eighth-grade prom when her date of the evening had wanted very much to kiss her but hadn’t known how to go about it. Hayes definitely knew how to go about it but was keeping it classy in the vending area.

“Thanks, Hayes.” She wasn’t only referring to feeding Dakota Sunshine, and the rueful smile he gave her told her that he got her drift.

She settled back behind her table as he walked away, feeling a touch lonely. They were growing closer, but Hayes was smart enough not to press matters so as not to scare her away.

It was working.

That didn’t mean she was changing plans or anything. Her plans were her security. Straying from them meant flailing about in the unknown, and she was not up for that.

Yet.

Stop , she chided her mouthy inner voice.

Before she had time to continue the argument with herself, she caught a glimpse of a tri-color collie trotting among the vendors.

Rascal. She smiled as she watched the little dog weave through the people.

Despite being the poster child for independent living, he seemed at home in a crowd—as long as no one got too personal with him.

He was doing just fine on his own and, Bailey decided as he disappeared around the corner of a tent, so would she.

The only adjustment she’d make to the plans for her immediate future was adding a little gray dog to the mix.

Bailey began closing up shop when the street dance started, following the lead of the other vendors who began covering tables, zipping up tents and hauling their more valuable items to their trucks and trailers.

She’d just loaded her boxes onto her collapsible transport wagon when someone cleared their throat.

She looked up and then wished she hadn’t.

Chance shifted his weight as he tucked his thumbs into his belt, looking every inch the alpha male as he gave her a silent once-over.

“Where’s my silver?” She dead-eyed him as she spoke, refusing to give in to the intimidation factor.

“Where’s my horse?” He wasn’t playing innocent, but he wasn’t looking guilty either.

Bailey gave him a guileless look. “You’re walking better than the last time I saw you.” It may not have been the wisest thing to say, but it got a reaction, so she pressed on. “Don’t harass me, Chance. I will not hesitate to call the authorities.”

“Then why haven’t you?”

She’d slipped into a trap there—a trap she was saved from by a group of young women who called Chance’s name.

He gave her a we’re-not-done look, then slid into his macho rodeo guy persona, with just enough aw-shucks to melt a heart or two.

His admirers were a giggly lot, maybe a little drunk, and soon surrounded him, asking questions and wishing him good luck.

Bailey started pulling her wagon to the parking area, glad to have made an escape, only to be stopped within sight of her trailer by a shout from Chance who’d sent his adoring fans along their way. He jogged up behind her, forcing her to turn to face him.

“Give Jenna a message from me.”

“No.”

She once again started pulling the wagon forward, stopping only when Chance came to stand in front of her.

She looked around. They weren’t alone, but there weren’t many people in the area.

Just an elderly woman walking an equally elderly dog, a couple closing up their trailer for the night, and little Rascal, dodging in and out of the trailers, possibly looking for food.

She drew herself up and decided that Hayes’s plan to punch the guy until he confessed the whereabouts of her silver was not a bad idea after all.

“Tell Jenna that if she doesn’t do the right thing, then it won’t play out well for the horse. She can change all that by cooperating now.”

It wasn’t hard to understand what he was getting at.

“You’d put down Jenna’s horse for revenge?”

Chance tipped back his hat and she saw the chilling conviction in his gaze. Jenna had made him look bad, and yes, he would do that. “Accidents happen. Dakota is insured.”

“You’re sick.” She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so disgusted by someone.

She stepped closer to him, wagon in tow.

He had a good six inches on her, but she was beyond caring about the tale of the tape.

“If my silver isn’t returned by the end of the rodeo, I’m reporting it.

Even if they never find it, even if you deny it, I’ll just keep telling my story.

Maybe your sponsors would like to hear it. ”

His eyes narrowed, giving his handsome face a hawkish look.

“My sponsors know a crackpot when they see one.” He smiled, his lips twisting unpleasantly in the process. “You’ve heard the term ‘fuck around and find out’? Watch yourself or more than your silver will be missing.”

She had no idea what that meant, but an icy sensation went through her. She squelched it and started pulling the wagon around him. “I don’t own anything worth losing.”

“You may be wrong there.”

The words would have had a more chilling effect if she hadn’t looked past him at that moment to see the cavalry coming.

Chance, sensing a shift in her demeanor, looked over his shoulder in time to see three broad-shouldered men emerge from the peripheries of the street dance crowd, walking in unison as they approached.

Alpha Cowboy Meyers knew when to make a retreat.

He didn’t say a word as he pushed past Bailey and disappeared into the maze of trailers. A few seconds later Hayes, Jordan and Dylan came to a stop near where she waited by her trailer.

“I thought you went to check on Wade,” Bailey said to Hayes.

“I sent Trev.” He lifted his chin in the direction that Chance had disappeared. “What’d he want?”

“He insinuated that he’d destroy the mare if Jenna doesn’t give her up now.”

“Bullshit,” Hayes said.

“I don’t know. Behind that charm lives a vindictive son of a bitch.” Dylan shot Hayes a look. “I think he’d do it.”

The last thing Bailey needed to hear. “Then we need to see that he doesn’t get the chance.”

“I think so.” There was a hint of steel in Dylan’s words, which made Bailey think there was more to the man than his easy-going outward persona indicated.

“You should come to the ranch tonight,” Jordan said, catching Bailey’s attention.

“And return to find my trailer tires mysteriously slashed? I don’t think so.”

“What would you do about that if you were here?” Hayes asked seriously.

She met his gaze. “Call upon the cowboy staying with me to help me do something about it?”

Hayes touched his chest in a me? gesture, ignoring the look his brother and Dylan Kent exchanged.

“You can have the sofa bed. It’s plenty big enough.” Bailey took hold of the wagon handle, then looked at Dylan and Jordan. “There’s a pull-out, too. A pain to undo, but I don’t mind if anyone else wanted to stay.”

“Uh…” Jordan looked at Hayes, who did not move, but somehow sent a silent message. “I think Hayes can handle this.”