How to Lasso a Cowboy

“Can I go now?”

“Finish the paragraph first,” Jenna said.

He pulled his chair back and glanced at the page. “The cot-ton-wood tree is found in North America and can live many, many years.”

Dustin cleared his throat. “The cottonwood tree is a good, sturdy tree, Andy. We had one on my father’s ranch, and he found out that it’s been around for four hundred years.” He paused. “That’s almost as old as your father.”

Andy giggled until Jenna thought he was going to fall out of the chair. Then Dustin pointed to the reading workbook and Andy sobered.

“The cottonwood tree is found in North America and can live many, many years,” Andy read once again, then turned to her. “Just like Uncle Dustin said.”

“I think we can stop for today, Andy,” she said with a sigh.

Dustin put a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “I saw a basketball hoop hanging from the barn wall. What do you say we shoot some hoops?”

“Awesome!” Andy replied.

“You’re going to have to spot me some points,” Dustin said.

“Don’t do it, Andy,” advised Jenna. “Dustin was an awesome basketball player in high school, and an awesome quarterback, besides being a champion rodeo rider.”

Dustin raised an eyebrow and looked at her strangely. “So, you remember that much about me from high school?”

“Well, you were Tom’s best friend. He always talked about you. Besides, I went to the games. I saw you play.” Absolutely she remembered him. Who wouldn’t? He’d always been the perfect jock.

Dustin’s eyes twinkled and a smile lit his face. He seemed … pleased by her answer.

Then he winked at Jenna, and her mouth went dry. Darn it. One wink from him in her freshman year of high school would have provided her with four years’ worth of joy. But they weren’t in high school anymore—and she’d have to remember that.

“I want ten points,” Andy insisted.

“I’ll spot you ten points only, and that’s highway robbery,” Dustin protested good-naturedly, continuing the banter.

Jenna knew that the big, lanky cowboy would give Andy anything that he wanted. She knew Dustin’s generosity from talking to Tom, and it never failed to tweak her when it came to the boy’s birthday, just a bit.

It seemed like Dustin always knew the perfect gifts for a growing boy—a dirt bike, a basketball, a bat and glove—whereas she saw to it that he had a supply of nice clothes for school and books befitting his age.

Of course, Andy’s excitement and thankful hugs would be for the fun things, rather than the practical, so Jenna was grudgingly glad that Dustin’s gifts made Andy happy. Sure, she could have given him toys and such, but he was growing so fast, and needed clothes. Besides, she always felt the need to be his stand-in mother in the place of the ever-unhappy and lethargic Marla who’d think about shopping for Andy when school was well underway.

As she put together a lasagna for dinner, she could hear the easy dialogue between Dustin and Andy through the open window.

“You shoot like a girl,” Andy said.

“I’m on crutches, for Pete’s sake.”

“I want twenty points from you. Twenty. Even though you shoot like a girl, you still can shoot,” Andy said.

“No way, kiddo. We settled for ten.”

“Hey, we didn’t shake on it.”

And on and on it went. Jenna slipped the lasagna into the refrigerator and went outside to join them.

“Want to play, Jenna?” Dustin asked when he saw her approach.

“I was just going to watch.”

“C’mon and play along with us. You can be on my team,” Dustin said.

“That’s not fair,” Andy whined.

“What if I give you twenty points?” Dustin asked.

“Thirty.”

“Done.”

Dustin tossed Jenna the ball. She took a shot. Perfect!

“Beginner’s luck,” she said with a grin. And it was beginner’s luck. She wasn’t much of a jock.

Ironically, as she started making the occasional basket, Dustin began to miss shot after shot. Unless he was letting Andy win.

How sweet of him.

But, she thought wryly, she didn’t have to let Andy win. She wasn’t that great a player, and most of her shots bounced off the rim.

Despite their good-natured fun, she was all-too aware when Dustin took off his shirt and she saw more proof of his strength.

Suddenly, she felt hot, breathless and shocked at her reaction to him. Mercifully, she’d thought to bring out three bottles of water. She grabbed one and took a long draw, desperate to cool herself and calm her racing pulse.

“Break,” she yelled, pushing her bangs off her forehead. She handed both of them a bottle of water. “Dustin needs to rest for a while.”

Dustin smiled his thanks, gingerly lowered himself onto a bench and took a long drink. Jenna could see his strong neck move as he swallowed.

She took another sip of water. Darn, it was getting hot out here …

Andy cupped his hands around his mouth. “Time’s up!”

Dustin stood up with difficulty. When he got the ball, he passed it to Jenna. She aimed and made the basket.

They gave each other a high five, but then Dustin’s fingers curled briefly around hers and an undeniable jolt shot through her body. It was nothing, she told herself.

She was overreacting.

Admittedly, she didn’t have much experience with men. She’d been a wallflower in high school, and her current lifestyle didn’t allow her much free time to meet anyone. That’s why her trip to Europe had meant so much. She’d needed that vacation for more than one reason.

Not only was it going to be a well-deserved vacation, but it would give her the opportunity to meet men.