Page 12 of August’s Cowboy Braxton

That was all she gave me, but the tension in her shoulders eased, and when she turned back to the junior queens waiting outside, something in her posture had shifted.

We were heading back toward the registration area when a battered gray truck pulled up by the livestock gate.

The man who climbed out was tall and lean, his dark hair shoved back from his forehead, faded jeans and work boots covered in enough dust to tell me he hadn’t spent the morning standing around watching other people work.

He headed straight for one of the stock hands. “Who moved a trailer through the south pasture this morning?”

The kid looked toward Addison like he wanted someone else to answer.

She sighed. “Hi, Travis.”

His attention shifted her way. “Addison.”

“Is there a problem?”

“Depends. You consider somebody cutting a chain and using leased pasture as a shortcut a problem?”

“Usually.”

“Then yeah.” He held up a length of broken chain. “There’s a problem.”

“I’ll tell Orville.”

“I already told Orville.”

“Then why are you telling me?”

His mouth tipped at one corner. “Because people listen when you smile at them.”

I glared at him.

Addison gestured between us. “Braxton, meet Travis Cole.”

Travis looked me over once. “You’re the bodyguard?”

“Yeah.”

“Good luck.”

Addison put a hand on her hip. “With what?”

He started back toward his truck. “Didn’t say.”

She waited until he was out of earshot before muttering, “He enjoys his reputation way too much.”

“What reputation?”

“Trouble.”

I watched Travis toss the broken chain into the bed of his truck.

“It doesn’t look like he caused this.”

“No.” Addison’s expression turned thoughtful. “That’s the problem with reputations. Sometimes people stop checking.”

Later that night, after a full day of watching her smile at strangers, I went through her equipment.

Addison had returned to the ranch with me, exhausted and moving like someone who'd been putting on a performance for too damn long. She'd gone straight upstairs, which told me more about how tired she was than anything she could have said.