Cowgirls Don't Cry

CHAPTER TEN - JESSE

I didn't really know why Luke's comment had got on my nerves- all he'd done was compliment Katie's riding. For some reason that annoyed me, and I felt weirdly protective of Katie. Protective against what? It was ridiculous and I knew it. Shaking my head, I pulled out my bull-riding gear. I went through the routine of checking over each item, making sure they still did their job, and weren't damaged in any way.

Beside me, Katie was buckling the girth of Marlow's saddle, a well-worn barrel-racing piece with a deep seat and leather detailing. The stocky bay gelding stood obediently, well-trained by Katie to handle well in any situation. He nickered and pushed against Katie's shoulder as she buckled the girth tight and stood up to stretch.

Dressed in competition wear, she was clad in a pair of bejewelled Miss Me jeans, a pink collared shirt and her favourite belt and buckle, all reserved for rodeos only - except for the scuffed, well-worn cowboy boots she wore almost everywhere. Katie's long blonde curls were woven into a loose braid down her back, a faded John Deere cap pulled low over her head.

All traces of the quiet, withdrawn girl from yesterday were gone, and Katie was in her element, focused and in control of both herself and her horse. Hallie was tacking up beside her, Flight standing quietly for once as the bridle was buckled over her head.

"Half-an-hour of warm-up before the barrels start," Kacey reminded them, as he sat on an upturned bucket beside me, checking his gear. Though technically old enough at nineteen to be given the choice of wearing a vest and helmet, Momma wouldn't let him ride without it, and Kacey had taken enough falls to know its value in a wreck. "You girls good to start working the horses?"

"Yeah, we'll mount up now and take them through some exercises," Hallie replied, tossing the reins over Flight's head and untying her from the trailer. "All good, Kat?"

"Yep," she replied, unhitching Marlow and leading him out from the side of the trailer.

"Don't forget your helmet," Kacey warned, tossing her the hat from his seat on the bucket. "I'd hate to see you in hospital after a fall,"

"Don't worry, I don't plan on falling off," Katie assured him, as she caught the helmet and exchanged it with her cap.

"You'd better not, we'd miss you if you died," Kacey agreed innocently, laughing as Katie pulled a face, throwing her cap at him. "Hey! Watch it, princess!"

"Knock it off, Kace," I elbowed him, and he chuckled. "If she dies, she dies,"

"Well, okay then," Katie stuck her tongue out at me as she swung into the saddle. "Contrary to whatever you two think, I'm sure at least Marlow would miss me if I died. Not that I'm going to die from seventeen seconds of barrel-racing, my goodness!"

"Of course you're not going to die from barrel-racing," Hallie agreed, her blue eyes dancing. "If anything, those boys' egos would suffocate the lot of us and then we'd be done for,"

"Alright, alright!" Kacey declared. "Calm down, ladies, you've got horses to warm-up. Jess, you coming?"

"'Course," I replied, standing up to toss my gear in the truck. "And no doubt you are, too, to see Ava if nothing else,"

I ducked as Kacey swung at me jokingly, then followed the girls as they headed for the arena. The girls' barrel-racing was the first event of the rodeo, and the sponsorship introductions were already underway as the PA system crackled and the crowds thickened.

Kacey and I leaned against the stock panelling of the warm-up yard behind the arena as Katie, Hallie and a dozen other riders, including the girls from school, trotted and cantered their horses through a series of exercises to warm them up.