Read Kissing the Bull for Free Online Page A

her ears.

 
    Chapter
Five
     
    Baylor dropped her aunt and
uncle off at the Louisville airport the next morning. She’d insisted they go on
ahead to Florida. It was just too dangerous here at the ranch with theft,
murder, and now arson.
    Something radical was going on
here and she was going to find out what. It was no safe place for two elderly
people. Fortunately, her aunt and uncle hadn’t been hurt. Uncle Duane had
inhaled some smoke, but the doctor at the emergency room had released him later
that night.
    Baylor had booked them all a
hotel room and called Chris with the news. He’d purchased the airline tickets
and the decision was made.
    She would stay on at the ranch
and take care of business for now. This was her family and she wasn’t running
anymore.
    Wyatt had spent the night in
the hospital with his son, who was in critical but stable condition. She hadn’t
spoken to him since he’d left in the ambulance, but she’d checked in several
times for updates from the ICU nurses.
    As she drove back toward
Versailles, she thought about Wyatt and all the things her uncle had explained
about him during the two-hour drive this morning.
    Wyatt Winston had been a world-renowned
professional bull rider. He’d mounted his first bull when he was only nine
years old and never stopped. Two decades later, his career was over. After one
particularly nasty fall, he’d broken his back and shattered his knee. He was
told he should never ride again if he wanted to live.
    Through two years of difficult
therapy and recovery, he struggled to walk again. And as soon as he did, he got
back on a bull. Everyone called him stubborn and stupid. But he was once again
the best in the world.
    Until one fateful night when he
mounted a particularly nasty bull named Righteous Ride. During the ride, he was
thrown forward and smacked his face into the back of the bull’s head, something
in bull riding known as “kissing the bull”.
    The hit crushed one of his
facial skull bones back into his brain, causing a brain bleed. He was in a coma
for over a year. No one thought he would come out of it. No one thought he’d
walk, talk, or think for himself again.
    He proved he was not done being
stubborn, because he came back.
    But this time he sunk into a
deep depression and finally had to give up bull riding, the one true love of
his life. He had withdrawn from everything until Duane Markum had found him in a cheap hotel room on the outskirts of Lexington.
    Uncle Duane had followed the
story closely and had searched for Wyatt when he’d heard he might be in town.
    He offered him a job at the
ranch and Wyatt had been with them for the last year. He’d taken care of them
and the ranch. He’d taken the job as the local sheriff. The townspeople trusted
and respected him. The way they saw it, any man who could survive all of that
was worthy of their trust.
    Baylor gained a newfound
respect for Wyatt after hearing his story. She was so glad she’d had the chance
to meet him and to save his son.
    She’d asked Uncle Duane and
Aunt Melba about his son, but they suggested she get those details from him.
They didn’t feel it was their place to talk about his family business.
    She’d smiled when they told her
this. Those sweet old people were just as much parents to her as her own
parents were, and maybe, in some ways, more.
    She had to make sure they were
safe, and she would take care of their home…her new home. The decision suddenly
felt right, felt clear.
    Her cell phone rang just as she
crossed over the county line.
    She reached down to retrieve it
from the seat next to her.
    “Hello,” she said, feeling more
confident than she had in months.
    “I need to see you.”
    Wyatt’s voice needed no
introduction. It was deeper and had a more raspy quality to it than she
remembered, but she didn’t know if it was because of the smoke inhalation or
the emotions he was going through with his son.
    “Is Walker okay?” Her heartrate increased as she