Page 30 of Disarming The Rancher

“As I remember, you were pretty good at it,” she said, realizing she might have just given away the fact she’d kept tabs on him back then.

“I’m good at a lot of things I don’t care for,” he said. “Sometimes in life, you just have to put your head down and get through something unpleasant.”

“Well, that’s a true statement if ever I’ve heard one,” she agreed. “The minute I graduated, I hit the road.”

“Why is that?” He cocked his head to one side. The move sent a half dozen butterflies flitting around in her stomach.

“I needed to go. Start my career. I’d had this thing burning in my chest for so many years and Nana kept reeling me back in. She told me I could do anything I wanted the day I turned eighteen and graduated.” She smiled at the memory. On the road, she always pushed thoughts of Nana aside for fear they’d crush her. Talking about her here with Brax felt right.

“Didn’t you turn eighteen on graduation day?” he asked.

“Yep.” She wiggled her eyebrows and was rewarded with a genuine smile. “My bags were already packed. Not that I was eager or anything.”

“You made her proud,” he said and his comment filled her with warmth.

“I really hope so. She was everything to me. Grandmother. Mother. Father. Best friend. I can’t imagine how my life would have turned out without her.” A surprising tear sprang to her eye. Not a tear of sadness but of remembering. There’d been so many good times in this town.

“You were all she ever talked about.” He smiled in a show of perfectly white, perfectly straight teeth.

“My music and Nana are all I had.” She didn’t mean for that to come out like she was feeling sorry for herself. “Don’t get me wrong, I love both more than life itself.”

“No relationships?” His expression turned serious despite the fact he broke eye contact.

“Nothing worth reporting back.” Admitting her lack of a love life to Brax heated her cheeks.

“Mind if I ask about your relationship with your drummer?” This time, he looked up and she realized he’d picked up on something.

10

Brax shouldn’t be hanging on the edge of his seat for Raleigh’s answer. And yet there he was, doing just that.

“We’re in a band together,” she stated, picking up a piece of hay and picking at it with her fingers. “We’ve spent a lot of time together.”

“Is that all?”

“We dated a hundred years ago but that’s been over for a long time.” She rattled off the words quickly, like she didn’t want to get talking about it over with as fast as possible.

“Does he know that?” The question had to be asked. The fact she didn’t answer right away told him everything he needed to know.

“I’ve been clear with him there’s no chance of getting back together.” She blew out a frustrated-sounding breath.

“He’s not getting the message, is he?” Brax could feel his muscles tense up, and yet he didn’t have any designs on Raleigh. She was free to date anyone she wanted.

Which was the problem, an annoying little voice in the back of his mind pointed out. She didn’t want to date Hotshot.

“He will,” she said with the kind of confidence that showed her conviction.

“How long have you known him?” Brax needed to see how far their relationship went back for the investigation. Or so, he told himself this wasn’t personal.

“Since the beginning. And that’s when we dated,” she said. “It didn’t work out between us. We moved on. He got married…”

“When was the divorce final?” he asked, figuring that had to be the case.

“Recently. And that’s when he made it clear that he wanted to start things up again,” she said. “It just doesn’t work like that for me. I told him the truth and he’s been trying to win me over ever since.”

“How hard is he trying?” Based on the glares from earlier, the guy wasn’t letting go.

“It gets uncomfortable at times but I put my foot down. Believe it or not, I’ve gotten really good at taking care of myself.” Those last words came out sounding defensive. She crossed her arms over the guitar, a sign she was closing up.