Looking For Trouble (24 page)

Angel was snuggled into his neck sleeping,
and he kissed her hair, then flicked the off button on the remote,
and laid her down beside him on the sofa. He put his hand on her
belly, then laid back against the sofa and dozed off. The squeaky
hinges on the screen door woke him up, right before the door opened
and Jess stepped inside, looking tired, but happy.

"Hey, sugar..." she said quietly then eased
the door closed.

"Ya'll have a good night?" he asked with a
yawn, and stretched.

"It was great...we brought the house down,"
she said smugly, then walked over and ran her hand over Angel's
head, before she leaned down and gave him a kiss. "How was
Angel?"

"A perfect angel," he told her with a soft
smile. "We watched the rodeo together...she's a cowgirl in
training."

"I should've known you'd be trying to give
her rodeo fever...that crap is dangerous, Wade...let's try to make
her a singer, instead," she told him with a chuckle, "The only
danger there is running after good looking cowboys in high
heels."

Wade snorted, then told her hotly, "I better
be the only cowboy
you're
running after...and as for her,
those cowboys will be running from my shotgun."

Angel squirmed beside him, and he rubbed her
belly, then leaned up to give Jess another quick kiss, "Bedtime for
all of us...I have a surprise for you," he said then picked Angel
up and put her to his shoulder, before he stood.

"I love your surprises," Jess purred then
put her arms around his waist and grabbed his butt.

"Stop, you're gonna make me drop the baby,"
he said gruffly then kissed the top of her head.

"You better put her down then, because I
plan on doing a lot more, cowboy," she warned him with a grin, but
stepped back.

Wade leaned down to give her one more kiss
then headed for Angel's bedroom. When he opened the door and
flipped on the light, Jess gasped. He had taken down the double bed
and stored it in the barn, and now there was a pink princess bed
he'd bought in Henrietta as the centerpiece in the room. There was
also a changing table, dresser and pink armoire.

"I didn't have time to paint, but the walls
are going to be a disgusting shade of pink soon too," he told Jess
with a chuckle. When she didn't say anything, Wade turned around to
look at her, thinking she must not like it.

Silent tears tracked down her cheeks, and
her lips wobbled, then she finally said, "It's beautiful,
Wade...Angel is so damned lucky you're her daddy."

"No, I'm lucky she's my little girl," he
told her equally choked up, as he walked to the bed and gently laid
her on the white eyelet comforter set, then twisted the knob on the
mobile with the little circle of sheep attached to the bed rail.
Soft music filled the room and Angel stared at it with sleepy eyes,
then closed them and smiled.

Wade tiptoed to the light switch and shut it
off, then grabbed Jess's hand and pulled her out into the hall and
shut the door. "I want to talk to you for a few minutes, you awake
enough for that?" he asked her quietly.

"I can think of a lot I'd rather do, but
sure..." she told him then walked with him back into the living
room to sit on the sofa. "What's on your mind?"

Wade decided the best way to break it to her
was a head on assault, so he said bluntly, "I entered in a rodeo
competition next weekend in Dallas."

"Oh yeah? For fun?" she asked with a
smile.

"No, for a hundred thousand dollar purse, if
I win...but it'll be fun too, I hope."

"But you haven't ridden like that in almost
a year, right? I thought you were retired?"

"Retired is a relative term, I haven't
officially given up my pro card, and this is a charity rodeo, not a
circuit competition, although it's sanctioned by the PRCA."

Suspicion filled her green eyes and she
asked him, "Why are you doing this, Wade? I thought you were done
with the rodeo...is this about the contract?"

"If I win it will be, because I'm going to
buy it out, and buy back the rights to your songs," he told her
gruffly, then added, "You shouldn't have done that, darlin'. I've
got to fix this...it's all my fault."

She shoved up off the couch and faced him
angrily, "I told you to leave it alone, Wade. I did what I wanted
to do with
my
songs, and
my
career. I don't need you
to bail me out! Especially putting yourself back in a situation
where you could get hurt! You quit for a reason, because you were
too old to hang with those green teenagers who were just going pro.
You're not any younger than you were nine months ago when you
quit!"

Wade groaned, because she didn't know the
half of it. If she found out about his injury, she'd really give
him hell. Taking the offensive, so she didn't have time to ask
questions, he asked her darkly, "You calling me an old man,
sugar?"

"No, I'm not calling you old, I'm telling
you that you're gonna break your fricking neck pretending you're a
teenager, and I need your ass around."

"Let me show you just what this
old
man
can do, darlin'," he said in a low sensual tone then yanked
her onto his lap and covered her mouth with his.

As a distraction, it worked for him, he
thought, as she moaned then slid her hands up his chest and put her
arms around his neck. He deepened the kiss, and then stood up and
walked with her down the hall.

CHAPTER TWELVE

The closer it got to the weekend and the
competition, the more Jess pouted. It was in two days, and she was
pretty morose when he'd left her this morning. She didn't want him
to ride this weekend, and she'd made that plain to him, but he
wasn't going to be deterred.

He was going to try to cheer her up, though
and take her mind off of it. He rode Titan into the barn, and
unsaddled and groomed him, then put him in the stall with some feed
and hay. Wade had been up early this morning, and checked on the
herd, then sent the hands out to fix some fence that he'd seen
leaning.

It was lunch time, and he thought taking
Jess and Angel to lunch at the Blue Bird would help her mood. He
also wanted to ask her about the books she had from when Ray Turner
was managing the band. The accountant he had used in Dallas when
he'd been with the rodeo was good, and he'd talked to him and asked
if he could look them over and see if anything jumped out at
him.

If they could get some leverage against that
bastard, it would help the cause. Jess said she didn't have proof
he'd cooked the books, but there had to be something somewhere to
incriminate him. Although Ray Turner being a criminal didn't
surprise Wade, the guy didn't strike him as overly intelligent, and
he'd bet there was a trail to his crimes in those books
somewhere.

Jess told him what went down at the bar had
been orchestrated by Ray, he'd planned the whole scene. That made
Wade even more determined to see him go down. The asshole had used
Wade and his past to get the upper hand with Jess, to control her,
and that made him madder than hell, but it worried him too.

According to Jess, Ray Turner had been
basically stalking her on and off, since she'd broken it off with
him three years ago. Now, it looked like he'd stepped up his game.
To know that the asshole had the balls to get his ass kicked to
accomplish his plan, spoke to his level of desperation and
greediness.

"Hey, darlin', you in here?" he yelled when
he walked into the bunkhouse. When he walked in the living he
smiled, because she was sitting on the sofa, barefoot in her bra
and panties, with an old straw hat on her head, strumming her
guitar, and writing.

"I don't think I'm hungry for food anymore,"
he said with a growl, and walked over to the couch, then leaned
down to kiss her hungrily.

"The sight of me make you lose your
appetite?" she asked with a chuckle, then set down her guitar.

"No it makes me hungry from something
other
than food," he told her gruffly, then sat down beside
her and his stomach growled, which caused her to laugh. He grinned
and conceded, "Well, maybe lunch first...then dessert." He pulled
her up on his lap and kissed her again, then asked, "You feel like
going to the Blue Bird? I thought we'd go show off Angel, and see
Sabrina."

He hadn't seen Sabrina in a while, and
wanted to see Will too. Supposedly, she had her office at the Blue
Bird set up for Will to say with her there during the day, while
she worked. Cole told him she'd replaced her big hulking desk, with
a smaller corner one and set up a portable baby bed for him.

"Sounds good...think I need to change?" she
asked him with a saucy grin. Writing always seemed to relax her, so
he was glad she'd been doing that while he was out, so she was
smiling again.

"Not on my account, but I'll probably get in
another scrabble before we get back if you don't..." he warned her
with a grin.

"Oh, hell no," she said then shot up off of
his lap, then told him, "Let me go get dressed...be right back.
Wanna get Angel up?"

"I'm on it," he told her then followed her
down the hall.

When he walked into Angel's room, his heart
clenched, because Angel was already awake and cooing to herself
like she was singing. She had probably heard Jess in there playing.
He walked up to the bed and lifted her out and she waved her arms
and hit him in the cheek, then he grabbed her fingers in his mouth,
and she giggled. Her beautiful green eyes were filled with
excitement at seeing him, and she gave him a toothless smile, which
took his breath away.

"I'm taking my two best girls to lunch, you
wanna go to lunch with daddy, sugar plum?" Angel gurgled then
drooled down her chin, and he laughed and wiped it away with his
thumb. Wade carried her to the closet and pulled out a yellow
sundress, then took her to the changing table, and changed her
diaper and dressed her.

Jess walked in behind him and picked up a
yellow and red polka dot bow then pulled her hair up in a little
tuft on her head and clamped it there. "Daddy did a good job,
didn't he, sweetie. He's the best daddy, isn't he?" Jess asked her
and Wade swallowed hard on the emotion that clogged his throat.

"I love you, Jess..." he told her then put
an arm around her waist and hugged her to him.

She looked at him and smiled, then said "We
love daddy too, don't we, dumplin'? He's the handsomest daddy in
the world, isn't he?" she asked Angel and she cooed, then Jess
laughed. "See she thinks so too...let's go eat, I'm starving."

Wade nodded, then picked up Angel and
grabbed the car seat as they went through the living room, and out
the door. When they got to the Blue Bird, it was packed, and there
wasn't a table available, and he groaned, but then he saw Karlie
and Gabe at a big table toward the back and headed over there. "Hey
ya'll...got room for us?" Wade asked then sat Angel's car set by a
chair and pulled it out for Jess."

"Yep, we took this big one, because it was
the only one open, but it looks like that worked out just fine!"
Karlie said then waved him to the other seat.

"Thanks," Wade said then sat down beside
Jess, and looked around the cafe. "Sabrina's doing good...looks
like she's gonna have to add more tables soon," he said with a
chuckle. For a former detective, she'd sure charmed this town with
her home cooking.

"Yeah, I know...the menu is awesome now. The
new stuff she added is fantastic. I love the daily specials, but
they're starting to show up on my hips," Karlie said with a
laugh.

"I happen to like your hips, sweetness,"
Gabe growled, then hugged her and kissed her hair.

Karlie turned her bright blue eyes on him
and tilted her head then asked, "So I hear you're riding this
weekend in Dallas?"

Wade jerked back in surprise, then asked
her, "How'd you hear that?" He hadn't told anyone, and he didn't
think Jess had either.

"I entered the team roping event with
Katie...couldn't pass up the purse...I saw your name on the saddle
bronc roster," she told him then her smile faded, "What about your
back, Wade...aren't you worried?"

Wade's eyebrows shot up and his gaze darted
to Jess then pinned Karlie, silently pleading with her to drop it.
He'd forgotten about her being in the rodeo circuit too, and that
she had probably heard about the injury that ended his career.
"It's fine...couldn't pass up the purse either," he told her then
tried to deflect the situation, so he said, "So the dynamic duo
rides again, huh?

Karlie grinned and said, "The Wild Child and
the Mild Child are gonna tear it up...they better look out!"

Gabe groaned, then said, "I haven't ever had
a chance to see them in action, so I'm looking forward to it. Maybe
we could sit and cringe together, Jess," he said with a
chuckle.

"We'll get ya'll tickets in the family
section, so you can see the action up close and cheer us on, won't
we Wade?" Karlie said brightly.

He felt Jess's eyes burning the side of his
face, and he knew he was in deep shit, she hadn't missed what
Karlie said. "Yeah, we'll get them great tickets...Jess hasn't seen
me ride before either...and I can show her and Angel off to the
guys."