The Ashtons - Cole, Abigail & Megan

acting strangely since the conclusion of the bullriding event and immediately afterward, he’d told her he had something he needed to take care of and asked if she minded getting Dancer settled into his stall for the night. Then, handing her his keys to the trailer, he’d given her a quick kiss, got into a truck with another cowboy and left the rodeo grounds in a cloud of dust.
    “Your owner is up to something,” she told the gelding as she brushed him down. “He has a great ride on an ornery bull, makes the eight-second whistle, then takes off for parts unknown, leaving me and you to fend for ourselves.”
    Dancer snorted and stomped his foot.
    “I couldn’t agree more,” she said, laughing as she patted his dark brown neck.
    Making sure the horse had a fresh bucket of water and a scoop of oats, Abby walked up the path to the trailer. She’d just started to unlock the door to the living quarters when the truck Russ had left in came to a sliding halt a few feet away.
    When he got out, he waited until the truck drove on down to a horse trailer several yards away. Then, holding his arm behind him, he walked toward her.
    “Did you take care of whatever you needed to do?” she asked.
    “Sure did.” His smile made her insides quiver when he brought his arm from behind his back and handed her a single red rose in a cut-crystal vase. “Happy Valentine’s Day, honey.”
    Touched by his thoughtfulness, her eyes filled with tears and her hand shook when she took the rose from him. “Oh, Russ! It’s beautiful!”
    Putting his arms around her, he held her close. “I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
    “I can’t help it.” She rested her cheek against his wide chest. “This is one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me. Thank you.”
    “These are happy tears. Right?”
    She nodded. “Oh, yes.”
    His chest expanded and she knew he was breathing a sigh of relief. “I wanted to buy a dozen, but the florist was closing for the day when J.B. and I got there. We bought the last two roses she had left.”
    “This is perfect,” she said, meaning it.
    “I’m glad you like it.” He kissed the top of her head. “Now, let’s go inside so I can take a shower and change clothes before we go out to dinner and the dance.”
    “Where’s the dance being held?” Abby asked as they left the steak house where they’d had dinner.
    When they’d arrived, Russ had said something to the hostess, who’d smiled and led them to a cozy, candlelit table in a corner of the crowded restaurant. On their way to the table, they’d passed a couple of Russ’s friends with their dates. But other than polite greetings, the couples, as if by unspoken agreement, had stayed to themselves, and Abby decided it was probably because of the romantic holiday they were all celebrating.
    “Some of the guys tried to get a private room at one of the restaurants, but everything was already booked up. That’s why we’re having the dance at the campground activity center,” Russ said, helping her into the passenger side of his truck. “The owner is going to fold the divider back and open up the two rooms for us.” He chuckled. “Otherwise, we’d be dancing between the pool and Ping-Pong tables.”
    She grinned. “I’ll feel right at home.”
    He frowned. “You’re kidding.”
    “No.”
    He shut the door, then rounded the front of the truck to slide in behind the steering wheel. “How big is Crawley?”
    “You should be asking how little it is,” she said, laughing. “It only has a population of between five and six hundred.”
    “That’s all?” He looked surprised as he drove out of the restaurant parking lot. “I know you said you came from a small town, but I didn’t realize you meant that small.”
    “That’s all of the people.” She grinned. “But the cattle population is a different story. I think the last survey report from the Ag Department listed about five thousand head of cattle on the farms and ranches surrounding Crawley.”
    “It sounds like it would have to have a lot of wideopen spaces,” he said as he drove the short distance to the campground.
    “You’ll have to visit sometime and I’ll show you around,” she said, before she could stop herself.
    When he parked the truck beside his trailer, Russ turned and gave her a smile that curled her toes inside her Tony Lamas. “One of these days, I’m going to take you up on that offer.”
    “Do you mean it?”
    She knew she sounded