The Ashtons - Cole, Abigail & Megan

for the fourth time as he prepared to help another one of his friends compete in the steer wrestling event. He and Dancer were apparently in high demand for the job of keeping the animal on a straight course while the competing cowboy slid from his mount to wrestle the steer to the ground. And Abby knew why. Moving as one, Russ and Dancer made the task look effortless and the cowboys they hazed for did well in the timed event.
    “And just where have you been hiding all my life, sugar?” a male voice whispered close to her ear.
    Glancing up, Abby found a handsome cowboy with a leering grin preparing to sit down beside her. She scooted over to put as much space between them as possible.
    “You sure are a pretty little gal,” he said, sitting a bit closer than she was comfortable with.
    She’d encountered his type before and giving him a quelling look, she turned her attention back to the action in the arena without comment.
    “What’s the matter, sugar? Cat got your tongue?” he asked, putting his arm around her.
    Without a word, Abby slapped his arm from her shoulders and stood up to find another seat.
    “Now that’s no way to be,” he said, rising to his feet. “I’m just trying to be friendly.”
    “Number one, I don’t want to be your friend,” she said, spotting an empty seat several rows down the bleachers. “And number two, my name isn’t sugar.”
    He caught her by the arm. “How can we get to know each other if—”
    She glared at him as she pulled from his grasp. “If you don’t want your hand broken, you’d better keep it to yourself.”
    Noticing that the steer wrestling event had concluded, she descended the steps and started walking towardthe bucking chutes. She spotted Dancer standing docilely just outside the arena gate. But when she looked for Russ, he was nowhere in sight.
    “You sure are a feisty little thing,” the irritating cowboy said, trotting to keep up with her.
    She kept on walking as flashes of the past and a persistent boy named Harold crept into her mind. She tried to quell the sudden twinge of panic that began clawing at her insides. She was longer a teenager and they were far from being alone in a crowd of fifteen hundred people.
    “What do you say we find a nice quiet place where we can get to know each other better?” The man slipped his arm around her waist and turned her to face him. “I’d make sure you enjoyed—”
    Before she could raise her knee and stop the harassment once and for all, Russ seemed to come out of nowhere to spin the guy around. “Touch her one more time, you son of a bitch, and you’ll be picking your teeth out of the dirt.”
    The man looked as if he wanted to argue the point.
    “Go ahead, give me a reason.” It was clear that Russ was furious and meant every word he said.
    “You’re welcome to her, buddy,” the cowboy said sullenly as he backed away. “She’s not worth that much trouble.”
    Once the man disappeared in the crowd, Russ turned back to her. “Are you all right?”
    She nodded. “I could have handled the situation.”
    “Not as long as I’m around you won’t,” he said, taking her into his arms. “You have my word that I’ll move heaven and earth to keep creeps like that away from you, Abby.”
    “I was just about to give him the same lesson in manners that I gave Harold,” she said, snuggling into his embrace.
    Russ’s arms tightened around her. “When I looked up into the stands and saw that bastard’s filthy hands on you, I couldn’t get off Dancer fast enough.”
    “Nothing happened.” His protectiveness caused a warm feeling to fill every fiber of her being and for the first time in her life, she felt as safe as if she’d been with her uncle, brother, or their hired hand, Buck.
    “Honey, I could stay here with you in my arms for the rest of the day, but the bull riding is about to start,” Russ said when the next event was announced over the loud speaker. He kissed he temple. “Will you be all right for a few minutes while I go kick some bovine butt?”
    Abby raised up on tiptoe to place a kiss on his lean cheek. “I’ll be fine, but I want you to promise me something.”
    “What’s that?”
    “Be careful.”
    “You bet.” His tender smile sent shivers racing straight through her. “I have a date tonight that I don’t intend to miss.”
    Two hours later, Abby led the bay gelding back to the barn at the campground and couldn’t help but wonder what was going on. Russ had been