Page 69 of Reckless Skye

Benji walked into the tack room. ‘Do you mind coming over to the ranch house when you’re done?’ he asked. ‘Mav and Nina want to say bye in person.’

Skye cocked one hip. ‘You do realize I’ve known about the farewell party for, like, a month, right?’

Benji took his ball cap off. He ran his hand through his shaggy blond hair. ‘Who told you?’

‘Nobody. Sierra randomly asked me what my favourite food and cocktail were. And I walked in on the guys having an epic battle with wrapping paper and tape in the wrangler’s cabin last night. There was literally a balloon floating in the rafters that said, Good Luck on your New Adventure!’

‘Oh. Well, shit.’

Skye laughed. ‘I’ll still act surprised?’

‘Appreciate it.’ Benji turned on his heel. ‘See you there.’

Skye took her time untacking Smokey and breathing in the smell of home one last time. She’d be on the road for most of the year, competing in over eighty rodeos and barrel races.

Travelling alone.

With only one horse to compete on.

‘What could possibly go wrong?’ she asked Smokey, and when the horse blew a puff of air out of her nose as if to say, ‘Well, we’ll certainly find out’, Skye grinned.

She gave Smokey one last pat and stepped out of the stall.

Bandit was lying outside waiting for her. ‘Bandit, come,’ was all she had to say to have the dog popping to his feet and heeling at her side.

As she drove the mile to the ranch house, Skye rolled down her windows and let the fresh air flood the cab of her truck. She looked out, smiled when she saw Farrah, the ranch’s tiny Shetland pony that lived to wreak havoc, zipping around the pasture, giving an occasional buck of pure evil glee as her blonde mane danced in the wind.

Skye pulled up to the ranch house, turned off the truck, and took a moment to prepare herself for the surprise. In the passenger seat, Bandit whined, prompting her to reply, ‘Yeah, yeah.’

She climbed out with a small groan for her tired muscles, walked across the front yard to the house.

Sierra opened the door before Skye could even ring the doorbell. ‘Come on in. Mav and Nina are in the kitchen.’

Skye barely refrained from rolling her eyes, but she walked through to the kitchen, gave an appropriate gasp when everyone jumped out and shouted, ‘Surprise!’

‘You didn’t think we’d let you leave without a proper send-off?’ Sierra asked.

‘This is awesome.’ Skye raised her voice. ‘Thank you, everyone!’

Maverick and Nina Hunt stepped forward first. To the rest of the world, Mav and Nina were Hollywood’s most iconic love story. The cowboy proprietor and revered movie star who’d fallen in love when Nina had escaped to Hunt Ranch to recover from an assault in her LA home. But to Skye and the rest of the staff at Hunt Ranch, they were just Mav and Nina. When they weren’t travelling for Nina’s filming schedule, they were working the ranch and resort, getting their hands dirty like everyone else.

‘We’re going to miss you around here, Skye,’ Mav said and handed her a sealed envelope. ‘Your last paycheque. I’ve also included a list of all the rodeo folks I know, their locations, and cell numbers, in case you run into any trouble on the road.’

Because her throat burned with tears, Skye barely managed, ‘Thank you.’

Nina wrapped her in a hug. ‘Be careful. We can’t wait to see what you accomplish, Skye.’

Nina stepped back, just as Poppy, Mav’s six-year-old daughter, wrapped her arms around Skye’s hips. ‘I’ll miss riding with you,’ Poppy whispered.

Skye crouched down to the little girl’s level. ‘I’ll come visit lots, so we can go riding together. Okay?’

‘’Kay. Maybe next time you come, Daisy will be big enough to ride too,’ Poppy said. ‘Or she can ride double with Daddy or Neens.’

‘We’ll see,’ Skye promised, though she doubted the five-month-old would be quite there by the time she returned for the holidays.

As Nina and Mav filtered back into the crowd, Skye saw two familiar faces behind the body of cowboys. She had a single second to blink before Stevie and Andrea’s combined ‘Surprise!’ rang through the room.

‘What? You guys …’