It had gotten so bad that BiBi and Madison couldn’t even be in the same room with Steve, who’d inconveniently fallen all over Madison every time he saw her, to BiBi’s dismay. Madison had actually had to drop a class they were all in rather than risk losing her friendship with BiBi, and had been forced to rebuff Steve’s overtures somewhat more brusquely than she would have liked just to get him to stay away from her. Eventually her relationship with BiBi had mended, and there had been other boyfriends, other youthful squabbles from which they had also recovered. They’d been kids, barely nineteen, and Madison had thought the incident was long behind them, but apparently BiBi had never entirely forgotten. Or forgiven?
“Let’s just leave that in the past, shall we?” she asked somewhat stiffly. “I promise I won’t do anything to ruin your wedding weekend, BiBi. Now, do you want a cookie or not?”
Grimacing in what might have been a slightly apologetic manner, BiBi spoke quickly. “Yes, sure. Thanks.”
Madison made a point not to even glance in Jason’s direction when she walked to the food table for the desserts. What was it about a wedding, she wondered in exasperation, that could turn the most intelligent, levelheaded people into players in a soap opera?
Back at the arena area, several activities were planned for the remainder of the afternoon. Groups assembled on the grounds for horseshoes, archery and roping lessons. For later amusement, a mechanical bull sat within a rope ring, surrounded by padded flooring to cushion the inevitable tumbles. Inside the arena, barrels and poles were being lined up for timed events prior to the dinner campfire. Once again, Madison was impressed with the ranch’s efficiency in entertaining the diverse group of guests. There really did seem to be something for everyone, even those who’d initially balked at the idea of a day on a dude ranch.
Madison joined several women lining up for archery lessons, which sounded like fun. BiBi and Corinna were among the group. Madison wasn’t sure what Jason was doing; she was making such an effort not to look at him that she’d lost track of him. She suspected he was participating in one of the noisy horseshoes tournaments.
Allen hurried to stand behind Madison when she lifted the bow to her shoulder after a rudimentary demonstration. “Want me to help you aim that, Maddie?”
He seemed eager to stand behind her with his arms around her to support the bow. She wasn’t sure whether it was because he was especially attracted to her or just liked the idea of being the gallant male, but either way, she didn’t want his assistance. She was quite capable of pulling the string back herself. Nor had she ever invited him to call her Maddie, she added silently. Berating herself for being grumpy—which she couldn’t help but blame, just a little, on BiBi—she made an effort to respond politely. “Thank you, but I’d like to try it on my own.”
Despite her attempt to be gracious, it was obvious that he wasn’t pleased she’d declined his most recent offer of assistance. “Yeah, sure. No problem. I’ll just go help Hannah.”
“Yes, you should do that.” Maybe Hannah would be more appreciative.
“Bet you’d have let D’Alessandro help,” she heard Allen grumble as he moved away.
Madison grimaced, hoping neither BiBi nor Corinna had overheard his disgruntled remark, though she suspected that Corinna had caught the gist of it. She blew a short breath out her nose as she took her stance to raise her bow toward the hay-bale target several yards ahead of her. More junior high drama. Great.
If she ever married, she promised herself, letting the arrow fly, she was going to elope.
The mechanical bull was unleashed after the games. A trained operator sat at the controls, overseeing the speed and spin direction of the automated ride. The operator took it easy on the true novices, though he was quick to toss them once they started to assert a bit of confidence in maintaining their seat on the twisting, bucking “bull.” Wearing helmets for safety, the riders landed on the padded flooring surrounding the device, wincing in chagrin, then standing to take a bow for the laughing, applauding onlookers sitting on folding bleachers set around the bull ring.
Madison was talked into trying it. Self-consciously avoiding looking at anyone in particular among the audience, she settled onto the back of the bull-shaped machine, sliding her right hand beneath the neck rope as she was instructed by Mickey, who helped her mount. Her left arm was to be used for balance, he informed her.
“Ready?”
She drew a deep breath, letting the cheers and encouragement from the other guests wash over her. “Ready as I’m going to be.”
The operator was gentle with her at first. It wasn’t easy to hold on, but she thought she was getting the hang of it—until a clever twist and buck sent her flying through the air before she’d even realized she’d left the machine. She landed in an ignominious heap, breathless but uninjured. She couldn’t stop laughing as she rose to take the obligatory bow. The spectators clapped and hooted in good-natured teasing.
A few of the men and a couple of the women had obviously ridden bulls, either real or mechanical, before. They were given the full treatment by the grinning operator, trying to hang on for the eight-second count that would be required of a rodeo bull rider. Somewhat to Madison’s surprise, Corinna was among that group.
“She’s ridden bulls?” she asked BiBi disbelievingly when Corinna walked into the ring as one of the experienced riders.
“Mechanical only,” BiBi replied. “She went through a phase in college where she and some of her friends hit the bars every weekend to ride the bulls and shoot pool. She actually made some money betting beer-soaked frat boys she could hang on to the bulls longer than they could. Dad would have locked her in her room if he’d ever found out about it,” she added with a laugh. “As it was, he had to threaten to stop paying her tuition if she didn’t buckle down and study more and party less.”
Madison remembered BiBi talking about her younger sister’s penchant for parties, but this was the first she’d heard of the bull riding. She wondered if perhaps Corinna had also kept that pastime secret from her older sister back then. It was amazing Corinna had managed to graduate with grades high enough to get her into pharmacy school if she’d really been as lax with her studies as BiBi implied. BiBi had always said her younger sister was brilliant, if a little flaky.
Madison wondered if her own older siblings said the same about her. Maybe she and Corinna had a bit more in common than she’d realized. Madison had never ridden mechanical bulls for cash, but she’d pulled a few crazy youthful stunts in college, making her mother and siblings shake their heads in exasperation on more than one occasion.
Corinna proved quickly that she hadn’t forgotten the skills she had learned making bets with the fraternity boys. She settled onto the bull with visible assurance, tossing her dark hair and posing in a way that demonstrated she enjoyed the attention. Madison noticed Brandon McCafferty crowding close to the rope barrier. He seemed unable to look away from Corinna as the device began a slow, bobbing rotation and she swayed sensually atop it, her left arm seeming to float in the air beside her, her breasts straining against her blouse as she arched her back to maintain her position.
Brandon’s Adam’s apple bobbed in his lea
n throat with a hard swallow Madison could see from several feet away. A few of the other men moved instinctively closer for a better vantage point, to the indulgent exasperation of a few wives and girlfriends.
Madison couldn’t resist turning her head just slightly to locate Jason. She wondered if he was as mesmerized as the other single—and not-so-single—male onlookers. She spotted him sitting on a bench to her right.
He wasn’t looking at Corinna. He was looking straight back at her.
Chapter Five
When their eyes met, Jason touched his hat, his lips quirking into a slight smile. Madison wondered if every time she looked at him during the remainder of the weekend, her gaze would be drawn to his very nice mouth. If every time she saw his lips, she would immediately be inundated with memories of how they had felt pressed to hers.