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  Tex

  Wilder Brothers Rodeo Book 4

  Kali Hart

  Tex is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2020 by Kali Hart

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval systems, without express written permission from the author/publisher, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Epilogue

  1

  GEMMA

  “When are you getting married, Gemma?” The Wilder brothers’ Uncle Raine asks me as we wait for the rodeo stars to wrap up their interviews. This ritual after the rodeo has become my normal ever since my sister married into the Wilder family.

  “Have to find the right man.” The lie is easy enough to say. The truth though … I have found the perfect one. He just doesn’t know it yet.

  Tex Wilder. I’ve had it bad for months now. Maybe longer. Ever since that day in the coffee shop when an elderly woman at the counter couldn’t get her debit card to work. Tex stepped up and paid for her coffee. Not just for that day, but for the rest of the month.

  Tex didn’t notice me before he slipped out. But I never forgot his kind gesture.

  “Sure you’ve been looking in the right places?” Raine asks with a teasing chuckle.

  I like Raine a lot. He’s like the wise, comedic uncle I never had. If anyone suspects my long, pathetic crush, it’d probably be him. “I’ll find my knight in shining armor one of these days. You’ll see.” I pat him on the arm before I make a dash for the snack table to avoid where this conversation might lead.

  He’s only asking about my love life because my younger sister, Liz, just got married to Austin Wilder a few weeks ago. I scan the area again for my sister—she’s the reason I’ve been coming to so many rodeos lately—but I think Liz is celebrating with her husband in private.

  I’ve always known I wanted to marry a cowboy, ever since I was a little girl. But after Liz’s wedding, I want it even more.

  Tex Wilder is a mysterious, quiet man who keeps mostly to himself. He hasn’t dated a woman in well over a year; not since his ex pulled some stunt no one’s been willing to talk about. The only thing I’ve been able to figure out is she used Tex’s fame for her own gain.

  Though Tex is the entertainer for this particular rodeo circuit, he’s also famous in other ways. He’s played roles in a couple of big screen rodeo movies. For that reason, he attracts the cameras more than his brothers. I’ve even heard a rumor that he’s doing another movie. But rumors in this town can’t always be trusted.

  “Where is he?” I hear a shrill, female voice call about the crowd. “Tex? Honey?”

  Honey?

  My eyes narrow in search of the woman who dares lay stake to my claim. From what his brothers and uncle have let slip, Tex has no intentions of ever being in a relationship again. He didn’t even bring a date to his brother’s wedding.

  “You should go,” I hear Uncle Raine say to the woman.

  Abandoning my snack plate, I weave my way through the small crowd to get a better look. Dammit, the woman is gorgeous. Elegant, flashy, and thin as a toothpick. She looks sorely out of place in the private grounds of a small town rodeo.

  “Don’t be silly. I’m not going anywhere without Tex. Where is he?”

  “Gone home,” I hear the oldest Wilder brother, Colt, pipe up. “Leave, Maxine. I won’t tell him you stopped by.”

  The ex. It has to be.

  “His truck’s still here,” she argues, folding both arms across her chest. The flimsy tank top she’s wearing hardly hides anything. Not that she has much of a chest to hide. Not like mine. The thought makes me spurt a laugh, and her narrowed eyes shoot daggers at me.

  “Who are you?”

  Austin steps in front of me, protecting me like a big brother. “That’s my sister-in-law,” he says. Yep, my sister picked a good one. Even though she’s the one who married into this family, they’ve accepted me as one of their own, too.

  “What are you saying?” Maxine huffs.

  It occurs to me that she might think I’m Tex’s wife.

  TEX

  I make sure every bit of paint is off my face before I brave the after-rodeo crowd. I’m the entertainer that hangs out in the center of the ring to keep the crowd stimulated in between rides. I’m also a potential target for an angry bull during rides.

  Uncle Raine is a godsend to bring his RV to every event so I have a place to shower when it’s all over. It’s not just the face paint, it’s the dirt—and nights like tonight after a heavy rainfall—the mud. So much mud.

  This weekend we’re in our hometown, but that doesn’t mean I want to muddy up my truck on the twelve mile ride home. Besides, I promised a local reporter I’d give a quick interview about my new movie role. So, here I am.

  I stare at myself in the mirror, noticing the increasing number of lines around my eyes.

  I’m getting older. No doubt about it.

  If you’d asked me five years ago where I thought I’d be by now in life, this isn’t quite it. Sure, I have some fame and I love the rodeo. But everything else I wanted—a wife, a family, and a house that felt like a home— has slipped out of my grasp. My heart’s hardened too much.

  During a rodeo, I’m outgoing and funny. The crowd loves me. But after, I’m quiet and reserved. I keep mostly to myself. Outside of my brothers, I don’t have many people I’d call friends. It’s just easier that way.

  There was a time that wasn’t the case. But betrayal has a way of turning a man cold.

  “Let’s just get this over with, huh?” I say to myself in the mirror, ripping my gaze away.

  I stay to the shadows as much as I can, navigating my way around RVs and trucks to the pop-up tents. I’ve no doubt the reporter is at my family tent waiting for me, so I might as well grab a bite to eat before she pounces.

  My heart skips a couple beats when I notice the gentle wave of Gemma Hollingsworth’s dark red hair. She’s surrounded by my brothers and uncle.

  In another world, one where I wasn’t so heartless and cold, I’d ask her out. Hell, I’d do a whole helluva lot more than that. But it’s not fair to lure her in when I can’t give her all the love she truly deserves. I’m a broken man, and she’s an angel.

  With a deep breath, I brave my way into the gaggle of family.

  The roar of their voices grows louder with each step. Something’s up. An upset fan? Or maybe a rival? Who’d Colt knock outta first?

  I consider skipping out on the interview. Whatever’s going on could be bad press captured by a hungry reporter, and I know myself too well. Exhausted, weary to my boots, my fuse is too short to hear someone slur our name. Raine can handle whatever it is. Austin too. I should just go.

  But a shrill voice from my past lifts over the huddle and punches me square in the chest. “Where is he?” she demands, like it was for the fifth time.

  Maxine.

  The woman who betrayed me.

  What the hell is she doing here?

  2

  GEMMA

  “Maxine, it’s time for you to leave,” Austin says sternly, an unmoving barricade between me an
d her. Seriously, these Wilder brothers are like linebackers. I can hardly see around him.

  “Not until I talk to Tex. Don’t feed me some bullshit line about him being married to her, either.”

  The jab stings initially, but I brush it off. I may not be some cover model, but I love my curves. I own my curves. It’s all I can do to keep myself from putting her in her place. I’m pretty sure one sweeping kick under her knees would knock her right off those stilettos and onto her bony little ass. Seriously, who wears high heels to a rodeo?

  But the flash of a camera keeps me from pushing my way around Austin and playing out the fantasy in my head. The last thing I want is to be some headline in our local newspaper—or worse, the internet. I’m a high school teacher. I don’t need my students or colleagues confronting me about a questionably violent headline. It might be summer break, but I run into someone from school almost daily.

  “We can have security escort you out,” Austin adds, adjusting his stance to block me completely from Maxine’s sight.

  I briefly wonder where my sister went off too when I notice something move in the shadows behind the open tent. There’s a tall man with broad shoulders hiding in the cover of darkness behind the RV parked there.

  Tex.

  I don’t need to catch the wafting of his woodsy cologne to know it’s him. I can tell by the outline of that magnificent silhouette. I’ve practically memorized the lines of his muscular body. It’s all that pining and watching from afar. Pathetic, I know. But I’m hung up on him. Bad.

  As the arguing continues, I quietly slip backwards until I’m on the other side of the tent and free of the crowd. With extreme caution, I go to Tex.

  My palms are sweaty, and my heart is racing faster than a fighter jet. But I force my voice to work so I can warn him. “Maxine,” I say in a quiet voice, my eyes filled with both sympathy and longing. All I want is for this man to gather me in his arms. To claim me as his own.

  But I know better.

  “Great,” he mutters, scrubbing a hand over the back of his neck. Even in the shadows, I see the strain in his dark eyes. “Do me a favor?”

  “Anything.” And I do mean anything.

  “Don’t tell them you saw me.”

  I swallow hard as I give him my nod of agreement. It’s laughable how much I look forward to the nights after the rodeo is over. Tex is always the first to leave, but I cherish even the few minutes I get to be around him. When I have an ounce of courage, I even manage to pass off something like small talk with him.

  “She’s not married to him!” Maxine’s high-pitched voice turns both our heads. It’s hard to imagine Tex was ever with a woman like that. The physical part, I guess I understand. But she’s bitchy and rude, even to his family. The Tex Wilder I’ve gotten to know the past year wouldn’t tolerate that kind of behavior.

  “I didn’t tell her that.” I lift my hands in surrender. “She just—”

  “I know.” Tex touches my bare shoulder with his rough, hot hand. Shivers assault my entire body at the contact. If anything ever did happen between us, I’d probably turn to ash after minutes together. I can’t be imagining this insane level of chemistry between us. “She’s up to something.”

  “You’re not … back tog—”

  “Hell no.”

  “Then you should probably escape while you still can.”

  Tex nods, his hand sliding from my shoulder. I feel the absence of his touch immediately. “Right.”

  He’s two strides away when the cameras start flashing.

  “Tex Wilder, you get back here,” Maxine orders. “We need to tell these fine reporters about our official engagement, honey.” Though her voice is now sickeningly sweet, the shrillness is far from gone. Seriously, that woman could make nails on a chalkboard sound pleasant.

  Before Tex can say anything, at least five different cameras blind us both. Reporters talk over one another, asking Tex if this is true.

  “Of course it’s not true.”

  Maxine tries to shove her way around me, as I’m the only one keeping Tex from being bombarded. But I block her path. There’s muscle in these curves, Barbie.

  After a death glare, she turns a smile back to the cameras. “We are engaged. Tex!” she calls over her shoulder at him. “It’s okay, darling. We can tell them now.”

  Still not quite sure what this insane woman is up to, I do the only thing I can think of to help. Well, actually I don’t think. I just act.

  With cameras flashing, I close the distance between me and Tex, snake my hand around his neck, and kiss him right on the lips.

  TEX

  I’m taken by surprise at Gemma’s impulsive gesture, but even my lips don’t seem capable of being shocked. They’re too busy moving against hers. As if it were the most natural thing in the world, my hands cradle her jaw and allow me better access to her mouth. She tastes of cinnamon. She moans, my tongue tangling with hers.

  “Tex Wilder, are you with someone else now?” The scandal-hungry reporter’s voice snaps me of the spell. I pull back from the kiss, but my hand cups Gemma’s arm protectively.

  She kissed me to save me.

  “Don’t be ridiculous!” Maxine bulls her way through, flames in her eyes. She wasn’t always this … intense. Hollywood hasn’t been kind to her, or she wouldn’t be desperate enough to show back up here. I’m not sure what she wants, but I can guess.

  Protect Gemma. It’s the only coherent thought I can sort out of this mess.

  “I’m with Gemma,” I say to the recorder shoved up in my face. “That’s all you need to know.”

  “Tex! Tex!”

  I have seconds to make my escape before this becomes ugly. Our escape. Maxine’ll make a scene if I let her. She’s never cared about what kind of press she gets, only that she gets it. I turn my back to the mob gathering behind us, protecting Gemma like a shield. “We have to go,” I say.

  “We?”

  Whether she likes it or not, we’re in this together now. I wouldn’t dream of leaving her behind to the wolves. “Take my hand. We’re making a run for it.”

  Gemma doesn’t hesitate. Her fingers intertwine with mine, and I hustle us through a maze of vehicles on the way to my truck.

  “The black one,” I say, pointing to my truck a few yards away. A couple of reporters have gained on us, so it’s a mad dash to the vehicle. Gemma and I just get inside and lock the doors as one of them reaches us. They tap on the glass as I crank the engine. Shifting gears, I spot Maxine glaring at me, broken heel in hand. How did I ever think I loved her?

  “Buckle up.”

  Gemma doesn’t say a word until we hit the paved highway. “Where are we going?”

  If my ex wasn’t involved in this shit-show, I’d drop Gemma off at her house and head back to my cabin on the Wilder ranch. But my companion is no longer safe from nosey reporters, and Maxine will certainly raid the ranch. I turn to Gemma and take her hand in mine. “Do you trust me?”

  “Yes.” The quickness of her answer surprises me.

  “You shouldn’t.”

  Gemma lets out an easy laugh that lifts some of the tension of the pursuit we just experienced. “What are you going to do, Tex Wilder? Take me to some remote place and have your way with me?” With the glow of the moonlight and dashboard lights, the mischievous twinkle in her eyes is unmistakable.

  I don’t dare tell her that very thought has crossed my mind. Especially after that heated kiss. I’ve wondered a dozen times already how far that kiss would’ve gone had it just been the two of us in the shadows without any prying eyes.

  “Be careful what you wish for, Gemma.” I mean it as a tease, but my words come out far more serious than that. “I have a remote cabin, off the main ranch. No one knows about it but me. Not even my brothers.”

  “We’re going there?”

  “Yes. Do you need to call Liz?”

  “I’ll text her. Let her know I’m with you.” With her head tucked down toward her phone, I admire the soft wave of her
long hair. My eyes linger too long on the edges of it brushing against her voluptuous chest. If only Gemma knew how much I’ve wanted her, she wouldn't dare be alone with me now. It’s going to be a long night in a small cabin.

  3

  GEMMA

  I’ve never seen so many stars in my life before. The sky seems to stretch forever, painted in entire galaxies. It’s simply breathtaking.

  But it is remote. Not a soul, or even a porchlight, around for miles.

  “I know it looks a little scary, but it’s safe. I promise,” Tex says before we get out of the truck. “And not just from reporters.”

  I wonder if he means coyotes and mountain lions. Or him.

  “No one knows about this place?” A sensible person might be worried, but I’m just a ball of nerves. Tex isn’t exactly a stranger. I’ve been around him and his family for over a year. Ever since my sister started dating Austin. But Tex is still very much a mystery to me. One I hope to unravel tonight without making a complete fool out of myself.

  “Nope.”

  “Not any of your brothers? Or Uncle Raine?”

  Tex lets out an easy laugh as he takes my hand and leads me to the covered front porch. “Are you kidding? They’d be up here all the time if I told them about this place. A man needs some secrets, even from his family.”

  “But now I know your secret.”

  He opens the door, reaches around for a light switch, and waves me inside. I wasn’t sure if the place had electricity until now. “Consider yourself special, Gemma Hollingsworth.”

  I’ve had a lot of special days in my life—the first day I started teaching, the first day a student told me I was their favorite—but this might take the cake. For months, I’ve pined for time alone with Tex. Time away from eavesdroppers and fans.