He hadn’t meant to say that. It was more revealing than he’d have liked it to be.

“Because you’re older than she is,” McKenna said. “So she reminds you of being young.”

He scowled. “Maybe.” Hell, maybe that was it. Maybe she reminded him of his twenties. He didn’t think that was it, though. “Also, I’m thirty-three. I’m eight years older than she is. That’s not that insane.”

“All right, I’ll quit making fun of you.”

“Thank you,” he said.

“Great job,” McKenna shouted as Jamie approached where they were standing.

“Thanks,” Jamie said.

“I haven’t gotten to the reason I’m here yet,” McKenna said.

“And that is?”

“Wyatt wants to do a little rodeo show for the guests. Even Dane is going to do something. Next weekend.”

“Oh, yeah?” Gabe asked.

“And, well, he figured Jamie would barrel race. But he sent me to ask you if you would provide us with a steer wrestle and a saddle bronc ride.”

Gabe was surprised by the invitation. “Yeah, I can do that. Dane doesn’t want to ride the bronco?”

“Dane is going to do some steer wrestling. Grant is going to team rope with Dallas. Apparently, that’s Grant’s one rodeo skill. I’m very much looking forward to seeing it.”

“It’s not that impressive,” Jamie said. “There’s a reason he never competed.”

McKenna lifted her brows. “I don’t know. I think your brother has pretty good rope skills.”

“Can you not?” Gabe said, his tone dry. “Please.”

She grinned, and he knew that Jamie had missed the inference she was making.

“Well,” McKenna said. “I will leave you to the rest of your...chores. See you around.” She patted Gabe on the shoulder and sauntered off, setting herself like a cat in the sunbeam. Likely over the fact that she had managed to pry the truth out of him, even if it was all through implication.

“What’s with her?” Jamie asked.

“She knows,” he said.

Jamie swore violently. “She’s nosy.”

“Yeah, she is. And way too damn perceptive. I’m not bothered by it.”

Jamie blinked. “I’m not bothered by it. Especially not if you aren’t.”

“Nope,” he said.

“Well, that’s good,” she said.

“I’m not worried about McKenna. And this rodeo thing will give us something fun to work on over the next couple of days.”

“True. Hey, I bet you can use one of the horses here for steer wrestling. That would probably be just about right.”

“What do you think about Gus?” he asked.

She considered it. “I think he’d do fine.”

“As long as I’m not an idiot?”

A softness touched the corner of Jamie’s mouth. “Yeah. Especially then.”

“You’ll have to help me.”

“I think I can handle that.”

CHAPTER TWENTY

GABE HAD SPENT the better part of the week training with Jamie for the rodeo, which had been more fun than he had doing any kind of rodeo work for a long time. He wasn’t thinking about his own enjoyment, about winning. He was thinking about putting on a good show for the guests at Get Out of Dodge, and enjoying honing his steer-wrestling skills, which were not great.