Roping Her Christmas Cowboy

He needs a miracle...

A favorite to win at this year’s rodeo championship, Montana cowboy Toly Clayton should be flying high. Instead, he’s been handed the worst kind of Christmas gift—a diagnosis that could spell an early end to his rodeo career. Hiding his secret proves harder than Toly thinks...especially from stunningly sexy barrel racer Nikki Dobson.

The twin sister of Toly’s emotionally unpredictable roping partner, Nikki is completely and totally off-limits. Yet attraction still simmers, and the line between “friends” and “more than friends” is fading fast. With secrets piling up around him, Toly’s career, friendships and even his heart are on the line. But sometimes it takes a champion cowboy to wrangle one heck of a Christmas miracle.

She had been secretly waiting for this moment for a long time...

Nikki had never been this close to Toly’s rock-hard physique. They were both tall, and they fit together as if they were made for each other.

Toly smelled wonderful. Nikki loved the feel of his hard jaw against her cheek. It sent darts of awareness through her body. The temptation to turn her head and kiss his compelling mouth was killing her. Toly didn’t let her go and she could have stayed in his arms all night.

“If you hadn’t been involved with someone else, we could have relaxed like this before an event long before now,” he whispered into her hair.

Her heart jumped to think he might have been thinking about her on a more intimate level over the last few months, too. Still, he’d never let her know. They were all friends and she knew Toly kept his cards close to the chest.

But with the way she was feeling right now, he had to know she didn’t want to be anywhere else...

Roping Her Christmas Cowboy

Rebecca Winters

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Rebecca Winterswhose family of four children has now swelled to include five beautiful grandchildren, lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, in the land of the Rocky Mountains. Living near canyons and high alpine meadows full of wildflowers, she never runs out of places to explore. They, plus her favorite vacation spots in Europe, often end up as backgrounds for her romance novels, because writing is her passion, along with her family and church.

Rebecca loves to hear from readers. If you wish to email her, please visit her website, www.cleanromances.com.

To the continual existence of the rodeo, a tradition of the American West that’s part of our DNA. May it grow and flourish through the centuries to thrill young and old alike, as we watch exceptionally gifted men and women working with their magnificent horses in a symphony of unparalleled harmony.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

“Come in my office and sit down, Mr. Clayton.”

“Thanks, Dr. Moore.” Toly Clayton had driven the half hour to Missoula from the Clayton Cattle Ranch outside Stevensville, Montana, for an appointment with a neurosurgeon. He’d just undergone an electromyograph to get to the bottom of the numbness that had attacked his lower right forearm and hand.

“The needle I inserted in your arm muscle recorded electrical activity when it was at rest and when it was contracted. The procedure helped me determine that you have a nerve, not a muscle disorder. How long did you say you’ve been team roping?”

“I’ve done that and tie-down roping since my early teens.”

“That would explain the numbness that has come on. The constant strain over the years from roping has caused the nerves to be partially compressed or stretched. You say it has happened twice in practice?”

“Yes. Once in October, and again a few days ago. It was frightening to experience that loss of feeling. It only lasted a few minutes, but it was enough to prevent me from throwing the rope with any accuracy.”

“Did you feel sharp pains or discomfort in your forearm just before the onset?”

“No. That’s what worries me. Both times when it happened, I had no warning.”

“You told me in the examining room that you’ve had no sign of this affecting your feet or legs.”

“None. Does that mean I can expect that to happen too? What’s wrong with me?”

“You have a very mild form of peripheral Charcot-Marie-Tooth, a slow growing motor sensory neuropathy. It’s inherited through a gene carried down in the family. Do you know if you’ve ever had it in yours?”

“Not that I’m aware of.”

“Some people don’t even know they have it.”

“If it should happen while I’m throwing the rope during a performance at the National Finals Rodeo in December, everything’s over for that round and, of course, my partner suffers. We don’t get second chances.”

“I understand, but if such an incident occurs, you’ll still have strength in your upper arm.”

“I’m afraid that won’t be enough. Is there a medicine to stop this from happening?”

“Not that has been invented yet.”

“You mean there’s no cure for it?”

“No, but medical science is always working on a cure. I’ve been doing some research and can tell you they’re making strides with a new surgical technique.”

Adrenaline filled Toly’s system. “You mean there is one?”

“It’s been in the experimental stage for quite a while. The results aren’t a hundred percent yet.”

“What kind of results are you talking about?”

“In a few cases, surgery has slowed down the process. In a few others, it has stopped it.”

“What’s entailed?”

“The surgery would replace the damaged nerves in your forearm and hand with a new protein that would stimulate nerve cell growth. If successful, it could revolutionize the problem for those afflicted.”

“So there is some hope.”

“Of course. I’m still doing research on it. The procedure is being done in Paris, France, by a team of neuro and vascular surgeons.”

Paris... “If it were possible for me, how long would I have to stay there?”

“Two to three weeks depending on complications.”

“When the rodeo is over, I’d like to be a candidate.”

“I’m afraid it couldn’t be that soon.”

“But you will call me when you know anything, and make the arrangements for me?”

“I’ll get back to you after I’ve looked into it more. Just remember it’s possible that you’ll never have more than the occasional manifestation in your right arm. Call me if you have any more questions, and good luck!”

“Thank you, Dr. Moore. Once the rodeo is over I’ll be a full-time rancher and need to get better. You have no comprehension of what it would mean to me to fix this problem.”

“If not cured, at least slowed down. We’ll talk again soon.”

Toly left the doctor’s office determined that surgery would help him. Right now he could only hope that he and his partner, Mills, survived the punishing ten days ahead of them.

Anything could go wrong during a rodeo, but the thought of his hand not working for a few minutes had him the most worried. The condition had only manifested itself twice so far. He had to hope against hope it wouldn’t come on during their performance.

To Toly’s relief, Mills hadn’t realized what had happened in practice and he didn’t want him to know. Toly didn’t plan to tell anyone, not even his family. All he had to do was get through Finals and pray another incident during an actual round didn’t cause them to bomb.

Too bad this hadn’t happened six months ago. Perhaps he could have gone in for the experimental surgery and be recovered long before Finals. But there was no chance of that now. After the rodeo he would tell everyone he was going off on a month’s vacation to do some sightseeing for a change.

If the operation wasn’t successful, no one would be the wiser. Life would go on the same. He’d wait until the doctor found another team of surgeons to help him beat the disease.

* * *

“IN CASE YOU’RE a listener just tuning in, this is Jeb Riker from KFBR Sports Radio in Great Falls, Montana. It’s Friday, December 2, here in Great Falls, Montana. We’ve been broadcasting our Christmas show from the Ford dealership here in town since two o’clock this afternoon.

“What a turnout we have had to meet the three rodeo champions from our fair state headed to Las Vegas for this year’s Wrangler National Finals Rodeo championship!

“All you dudes out there, come on in and meet the beautiful Nikki Dobson. She was last year’s Miss Rodeo Montana, and this year’s second-place finalist for the coveted national barrel racing championship. I don’t see a ring on her finger yet, guys.

“Guess what? She isn’t the only eligible celebrity who hails from the Sweet Clover Ranch here in Great Falls. We’ve got her twin brother Mills Dobson in house. He and his partner, Toly Clayton, from the Clayton Cattle Ranch in Stevensville, Montana, are the reigning team roping champions on the circuit headed for Las Vegas. Ladies? Get ready for this announcement. Both are still single!

“Guys and gals? Don’t miss this opportunity to meet these celebrities up close and personal. The next time you see them, they’ll be in Las Vegas where they’re scheduled to win national championships and be entered into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame.”

Wouldn’t it be a miracle if that happened. Knowing what he knew now that he’d been to see the doctor, a miracle was what it would take.

Toly looked around the showroom with its lighted Christmas trees, noticing that Nikki had been swarmed by every male in sight. She stood an exquisite five foot nine in her cowboy boots. With her long curly black hair and crystalline gray eyes, she was a sight! Ever since he’d asked Mills to be his team roping partner to compete on this year’s circuit and had met her face-to-face, she’d blown away all the other women he’d ever known.

In his teens he’d had lots of girlfriends, but his dream had always been the rodeo, ruling out any serious involvement with them. Over the years he’d met literally hundreds of women on the circuit. This last year there’d been a dozen or so who’d caught his eye and he’d done some line dancing with them before moving on to the next rodeo on the circuit.

But always in the back of his mind, the vision of Nikki Dobson got in the way. However, there were several reasons why he’d never acted on his attraction to her. For one, he knew from Mills that she’d been in a relationship that hadn’t worked out and was still dealing with her pain.

For another, she was Mills’s sister. Though they’d never talked about it, from the time Toly and Mills had hooked up to be team ropers together, he’d sensed that Mills wouldn’t like it if Toly showed a personal interest in Nikki. Much as he wanted to, Toly knew he needed to be careful not to let anything affect his friendship with Mills while they were in a competition to win.

Mills and Nikki had lost their parents in a car accident three years ago. Toly had never met them, but he admired the twins who’d overcome their grief and had gotten on with their dreams to be rodeo champions.

Until he retired from the rodeo at the end of this month, Toly would continue to keep it friendly with Nikki. Knowing Mills’s feelings, he’d decided not to explore a closer relationship with her...provided she was even interested. He thought she might be. But that was something he had yet to find out while they were all in Las Vegas.

For the next half hour, he kept signing pictures as more fans continued to pour into the dealership. The ladies offered their phone numbers. Toly just kept smiling while they took pictures of the three of them with their phones. Soon they’d be able to call it a night. He wanted to get to bed early. Starting in the morning, they had a thousand-mile drive ahead of them with the horses.

But he never lost track of Nikki who was still being mobbed by guys snapping pictures of her. He imagined she’d had to ward them off since her teens.

“Let’s get out of here,” Mills suddenly muttered.

Toly jerked his head around. He’d been concentrating so hard on Nikki, he hadn’t realized his friend had walked over to him. Since a month ago when the girl Mills had been dating had broken up with him, he’d grown dark and morose. You couldn’t even talk to him.

“We’ll have to say goodbye to Jeb Riker first and thank the manager of the dealership.”

“Yep.”

The two of them walked over to talk to the radio announcer broadcasting from the back of a new truck. Toly thanked Riker for the great promotion and send-off. They were joined by the manager whom they thanked and chatted with for a few minutes.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see that Nikki was still involved with her fans. Since she’d come in a separate vehicle from him and Mills, there was no reason to wait for her.

They pulled on their sheepskin jackets and ate another hot dog before working their way through the throng of supporters to the entrance. Once outside, they walked through the brittle snow left by several storms and climbed into Mills’s Dodge Power Wagon truck.

The temperature registered twenty degrees and would probably drop to fourteen overnight. Las Vegas sounded pretty good right now with a temperature hovering near sixty degrees.

Mills gunned the motor and they took off, passing Nikki’s Silverado truck parked half a block down the street. The silence lengthened on their way to Dobson’s small Sweet Clover Ranch on the outskirts of town.

“Want to talk about it yet?”

“Nope.”

Toly pushed his cowboy hat back on his head. “If you change your mind, I’m your man.”

“Thanks, but I won’t.”

Until a month ago Mills had been dating Denise Robbins, a girl from Great Falls, for about four months. When she’d unexpectedly called things off, she’d knocked the heart right out of him. Until their breakup he’d never seen Mills so happy. Her action couldn’t have been worse for him. At their last two rodeos, his timing had been a little off. Toly had tried to get him to talk about it with no success.

Somehow Toly had hoped Denise would show up at the Ford dealership this evening to make up with him. Toly could have sworn half the town had turned out. She was a former barrel racer and couldn’t have helped but hear about it being advertised. With Finals only a few days away, for her to pick this particular time to part ways couldn’t have been more cruel.

En route to the Dobson ranch house, Toly received an email notification on his phone from their agent, Lyle. When he checked it, he saw that Lyle had forwarded him an email from Amanda Fleming. She must have gotten his email address off the website that his agent ran for them.

Toly figured she must have sent it from her office at the hotel in Omaha, Nebraska, where they’d met three weeks ago. He and Mills had stayed there while his rig was getting serviced. She had invited Toly to have a meal with her in the hotel after their event and he thought why not. The next day he and Mills left for their next rodeo.

Her email explained that she would be in the stands during the competition in Las Vegas. She hoped they’d be able to spend at least one of the evenings together.

He frowned. She hadn’t been on his mind since he’d left Omaha and knew what that meant. Only one woman had the power to remain in his thoughts and not go away no matter what else was going on. That woman was back at the Ford dealership.

Toly was sorry he’d eaten dinner with her. In a few days he would send her an email via Lyle. At that time he would tell her that every night was uncertain because of the gold buckle ceremony and parties after each rodeo. Perhaps there might be a night he was free, but he wouldn’t know until he’d ridden in his event. He would have to see. Hopefully she would read between the lines. Toly had no desire to be rude to her, but knew their relationship couldn’t go anyplace.

After Mills drove them up to the ranch house entrance, they both went inside and grabbed a snack in the kitchen while they made final plans for the next day.

Toly kept listening for Nikki to come in, but it wasn’t meant to be. Furthering his disappointment, Mills informed him that their crew, Andy and Santos, would be driving her horses in their rig. His sister would fly down on the sixth, negating any hope Toly would be able to talk to her at rest spots along their route to Nevada.

Earlier in the day, Toly had made the 190-mile drive from Stevensville to Great Falls in his rig with the horses and he was tired. After staying at the Dobsons’ tonight, they would load all four of their horses in the morning and take off on I-15 for their three-day trip all the way to Las Vegas.

The crew would be staying at a hotel near the Thomas & Mack Center and meet up with them on the sixth at the equestrian RV park. It was the place he reserved every year so he could sleep in his rig rather than at a hotel.

This year Mills would be living in the Dobson rig parked next to Toly’s rig. Nikki would be staying at a hotel, but during the day she’d drive out to the RV park to exercise her horses. Toly felt a heightened sense of excitement, knowing that she’d be around for those ten days. He would have a legitimate reason to talk to her, coming and going.

After texting his mom that he’d be heading out in the morning with Mills, he said good-night and clicked off. He wouldn’t be seeing his family again until everyone flew down for the final night of competition on the seventeenth to celebrate en masse.

Turning to Mills he said, “I’m going to go on up and hit the hay.”

“Before you do, come in the den with me for a minute.”

Wondering what this was about, he followed him through the cedar-plank-and-brick ranch house to the room where all the Dobson family pictures, awards and trophies were on display.

“Sit down for a minute.”

“Sure.”

Toly perched on the end of the couch and waited for his friend to speak. Though Mills had darker gray eyes than his twin, their black hair and basic features were so alike it was positively uncanny. They took after their mother he could see in the photographs, but got their height from their father. Every time Toly looked at him, he saw Nikki.

“I’ve been an ass for the last month. Sorry.”

“Forget it, Mills.”

“I wish I could.” He started pacing, then stopped. “I thought I knew Denise. Geez—how wrong could I have been! I could have taken it if she just plain didn’t like me anymore, but her timing after we’d made plans to celebrate when it was all over... I had big plans,” he murmured.

Toly had an idea what they were and was heartsick for his friend. “I know, dude. It surprised the heck out of me. I thought you two were tight.”

“Join the club. It makes me wonder something. I keep asking myself, did she shut me down right before Finals because she didn’t qualify and that’s why she dropped out?”

“Whoa. I don’t believe that, and neither should you.”

“I have a reason for saying what I did. As you know, I met her through Nikki. They’d been contestants at the same time for the Miss Rodeo Montana Pageant the year before and became friends. Five months ago she invited Denise to the ranch while I happened to be home that weekend.”

“I remember.”

“The chemistry between us was amazing. Though you and I were on the circuit part of the time, she and I talked on the phone for hours when we couldn’t be together. I thought she was the one.”

“Don’t I know it.”

Mills planted himself in a chair. “What you don’t know is how devastated she was when she didn’t place in that pageant. For the first two weeks into our relationship, it seemed like all she wanted to do was talk about her disappointment. Then the subject changed when she told me she’d decided to drop out of barrel racing. I’m afraid I didn’t immediately connect the dots.”

“So what are you saying?”

He took a deep breath. “I’m not sure, but I’m wondering if it’s because she’s been comparing herself to Nikki and doesn’t want to be around her anymore, which means shutting me out. I guess I never told you Nikki made a clean sweep of all the categories in the pageant, including personality, appearance and horsemanship, and she won the Queen Speech award. The folks would have been so proud.”

That didn’t surprise Toly, who shook his head. Deep inside he had to admit Nikki would be an almost impossible act to follow.

“Look, Mills—even if your supposition contains a kernel of truth and she has some envy issues, I can’t comprehend that she would deny herself the happiness you two have found since meeting each other. It doesn’t make sense.”

“Maybe it does because deep down Denise is more into herself than I’d realized. I found out from my friend José that he went to the same high school with Denise. She was big into barrel racing back then and ran for Miss Teen Rodeo three years in a row.”

“How did she do?”

He looked at him. “She never placed in the top three.”

“Neither did the majority of the other contestants.”

His friend let out a sound of frustration. “But I don’t think she ever got over it.”

Toly got to his feet. “If that’s really true, and you believe she’s too obsessed with past failures to see a bright future with you, then she did you a favor by breaking up with you. Let me give you a piece of advice my big brother once gave me. He fell in love with his high school girlfriend and planned to marry her after college.

“But she met an actor from Hollywood while she was in Europe who swept her off her feet. After she came home, she ended it with Wymon. He thought she’d wanted a ranching life with him. It shocked him to realize he could never have given her what she really wanted. But before he finally got over her, he nursed a broken heart for a long time and grew bitter.

“I’m telling you this because when I first got into tie-down roping on the circuit—before my brother Roce and I started team roping—Wymon sat me down because he was worried about me. He knew how much I liked the ladies and feared I might get dazzled too soon by a woman who could never love me. My brother feared that if I wasn’t careful, I’d be like he had been and wallow in pain instead of getting on with life.”

Mills stared at him. “What did he say to you?”

“To quote him, ‘The last thing you ever want to do is get hung up on one of those rodeo beauty queens. They’re in love with their own image and probably have been all their lives. The dude who’s hooked and can’t see through it is doomed to be an afterthought, if that.’

“Later on, I realized he’d said that while he was in a bad place, but after hearing what you’ve just told me, maybe there was some truth to his words.” Toly didn’t know what else to say. His friend needed to try to get over Denise or he was going to be miserable for a long time.

Mills stood up. “In the beginning I would never have thought of her like that. But the more I think about it, there has been a pattern of high expectations and bitter disappointments she can’t get over. Your brother might have had a point when he gave you that advice.”