"It's good to see them having fun," Seth shouted over the music.

Chanel smiled and nodded. The music pulsed through her, and excitement started to push away her doubts about the evening. "It's good to have you here," she said.

They danced the rest of the song in silence. It didn't surprise her when Lila drug Maddox onto the floor and started to b.u.mp and grind despite the family environment.

A slow George Strait song began, and Chanel saw Fritz step up to Christine and take her hand from Mitch's. Her dad's face clouded for a moment, but he turned it into a smile and nodded at his longtime friend before striding toward the exit. Fritz pulled Christine close, and she laid her head on his shoulder. Chanel's heart melted. Hopefully someday someone would make her feel like that.

She spotted David and Faith dancing on the far side of the room. He'd placed second in steer wrestling, and when Chanel tried to congratulate him behind the chutes, he'd just given a curt nod and brushed pa.s.sed her. His att.i.tude was getting old, and Chanel wondered how long her dad would continue to play along. It'd been a couple of weeks since he'd been at work. The only time he'd come out to the ranch was with a borrowed horse trailer, so he could take his big sorrel roping horse and a few other things back to town.

Maddox met them at the table, minus his busty friend.

"Where's Lila?"

He shrugged. "Told her I was going back to the ranch tonight."

Seth gave his friend a little salute with his beer. Chanel wondered what those two talked about when she wasn't around but decided she was better off not knowing.

"So, Chel, wanna dance?"

Her skin p.r.i.c.kled hearing her nickname roll so naturally off Maddox's tongue. The answer was no, but it wouldn't find its way to her mouth.

"Sure," Seth answered for her, giving her a little push toward Maddox.

She shot him a death stare, and he grinned back as he swiped her cup from her hand once more. This friendship between the two men had become a real pain in her b.u.t.t.

Maddox took her hand and led her out on the floor. His big hands circled her waist making her shiver.

"You hate me that much?"

Chanel kept her eyes trained on his broad chest. "It's not that." Rather than wrap her arms around his neck she settled them on his shoulders, his body heat radiated through the thin fabric of his t-shirt.

"Then what is it?"

She shook her head and continued to move with him. "Why'd you let go of Lila?"

"There wasn't anything to let go of," Maddox said with a shrug.

"Right, she was just a one-nighter."

She felt a hand leave her waist, then found it pushing her chin up so she was looking him full in the face. His eyes were hard, blonde brows drawn into a deep scowl. That look, in combination with his size, made for an intimidating sight, but Chanel refused to let him bully her. She tried to jerk her head away, but he pulled her in tighter.

"Listen to me." Maddox's voice was so low it was almost a growl in her ear. "I'd just got here. You weren't exactly approachable. I was bored and lonely, so I met up with her in town. One thing led to another, but I never promised her anything."

"Why are you telling me this? I don't care who-" A loud crash cut her off mid rant.

Together they whirled to see what was happening. Seth was picking himself off the floor near their table. Blood streamed from his nose.

"What the h.e.l.l?" Chanel murmured to herself, trying to sort out what she was seeing.

Just as Seth regained his footing, Clint MacIntosh stepped up and slugged him in the stomach.

"HEY!" someone yelled. "Take that s.h.i.t outside!"

A couple of Clint's buddies grabbed Seth by the shoulders and tossed him out the door into the beer garden. The music stopped, and people shouted and milled about trying to figure out what was going on.

"That son of a b.i.t.c.h," Chanel said heading for the door, Maddox on her heels.

"Chanel, hang back," Maddox said, but she ignored him, charging out the door.

She hoped the cops were hanging around to put a quick stop to the attack, but they weren't in sight. Clint's crew had drug Seth clear out of the beer garden, and a crowd was gathering. Chanel fumed when she realized no one was stepping in, including David, who was standing on the fringes with a horrified looking Faith.

"You don't belong here, f.a.g!" Clint shouted throwing another punch into Seth's face. His two friends held him up between them. "You sure as h.e.l.l don't need to be queerin' up our rodeo and flirting with our boys!"

Bile crept up Chanel's throat as she clawed her way through the pack of looky loos. Seeing red she leaped onto Clint's back and tore at his hair and face with her nails. He screamed and reared backward but couldn't shake her loose. From the corner of her eye, she saw Maddox step up to Clint's cronies and start swinging.

"That's enough! Break it up!" Fritz and a couple other men crashed onto the scene. Clint froze, and Chanel dropped to the ground, landing on her feet. When she saw Seth crumpled in the dirt, she ran to him and knelt. Christine was already at his side running her hands over her son. Tears flowed silently down her cheeks. She didn't seem to register Chanel's presence.

Seth's eyes were swelling shut, and he was breathing. Blood oozed from his nose and trickled from his lips. Clint's friends were out cold, Maddox panting beside them, looking like a giant.

"Somebody call the ambulance!" Chanel shouted.

"Already done," Fritz said. "Cops are on their way too."

"I'm pressin' charges! You Ebers don't own this place," Clint bellowed.

Chanel looked up, pleased with the b.l.o.o.d.y tracks she'd left on his chubby face. Her body began to tense up, but Fritz sensed it and put a hand on her shoulder to hold her down. "Stay put. He's not worth it. They've got him covered. Lots of witnesses, you're good."

"He's been hara.s.sing Seth all day," Chanel said.

"I know it. And Seth, as always, was the bigger man. Way to get in there, though." Fritz winked at her.

Sirens started small in the distance but quickly grew louder. Someone shouted for the crowd to clear out and make some room. Lights flashed, and the world seemed to swim with sound and rushing people. A firm hand took her by the elbow and hauled her to the fringes.

Chanel fought it. "No, I have to go with him!"

"Chel!" Maddox's firm voice brought her back to herself.

She lifted panicked eyes to his. They were steady. "We'll meet them at the hospital. Christine is with him. He's just knocked out. Bet he has some cracked ribs."

"How do you know?" She wriggled her arm free but didn't try to leave his side.

"See it all the time."

A familiar man in uniform stepped up to the couple. "Chanel, I need to ask you a few questions." He nodded at Maddox. "I'm Deputy Scott Travis. I'll need a statement from you too."

Behind him the sheriff and another deputy were cuffing a bl.u.s.tering Clint and shoving him in the back of a patrol car.

"They attacked him!" Chanel said, her voice bordering on hysterical. Medics were settling Seth's limp body on a stretcher, and it took every ounce of restraint she had not to shove the deputy aside and run to join Christine at his side.

"Tell me what you saw," Deputy Travis said.

"We were dancing, and I heard a crash," Chanel's stomach lurched as she recalled seeing Seth trying to stand up after being punched to the floor. She swallowed hard and felt Maddox's rea.s.suring hand rubbing her back.

After a moment, Chanel continued, "Seth was on the floor but managed to get up. Then Clint's friends, Blake and Cooper over there," Chanel pointed over Deputy Travis's shoulder at the two men sitting on the b.u.mper of the second ambulance. They looked groggy, but they were awake, unlike Seth, "grabbed him and pinned him against the wall."

A cup of water was pressed into Chanel's hands. She stared at it for a moment before lifting her eyes to meet a pair of puffy, tearful blue ones belonging to Faith Zelwicky-David's girlfriend.

"I'm sorry," Faith whispered.

"Faith, I'm taking down some information here," Deputy Travis said.

Faith nodded. "Sorry. Just thought Chanel could use some water."

The other woman hurried away, shoulders slumped. Chanel had forgotten about David until just now. Where had he been when his brother was being beaten?

"Continue," Deputy Travis said.

Chanel took a sip of water. "Someone made them go outside. Maddox and I followed. No one was helping him!" The tears broke free. Body shuddering, a loud sob brought a few glances from people standing nearby. A strong arm drew her against a hard body, and Chanel felt a little calmer. Maddox had helped Seth.

Deputy Travis's face remained neutral. Anger blazed through Chanel's veins. He probably wouldn't have stepped in either, despite it being his job. "So, I jumped on Clint's back, so he couldn't hit Seth anymore. Maddox stopped Blake and Cooper. Fritz showed up and got things stopped. That was it."

The deputy lifted his gaze to Maddox who stood several inches taller. "And your story?"

"It's the same," Maddox said.

Deputy Travis nodded and scribbled a little more on his pad. "Thank you. We're haulin' these boys in on battery charges."

"Good," Chanel said leaning a little heavier against Maddox, fighting against the tremors threatening to take over her body.

Deputy Travis returned to the vehicles and helped his coworkers cuff Blake and Cooper. The ambulance containing Seth and Christine started to pull out of the fairgrounds. Fritz appeared beside Chanel and Maddox.

"You wanna ride over with me?"

Chanel nodded and began to follow him to his truck. Maddox slipped his hand into hers, and this time she didn't let go.

Maddox turned Fritz's big diesel truck right, headed for the city limits sign. Fritz and Christine were spending the night at the hospital with Seth who was conscious, but as Maddox suspected was sporting three cracked ribs, a concussion, and one h.e.l.l of a headache. He'd be fine in a few weeks. For a small town inst.i.tution, Maddox had been impressed with the care Seth received at Clifford's Bend County Hospital. It was after two in the morning, when Fritz coaxed Chanel from her cousin's room and handed Maddox his keys.

"Take care of her," he'd said.

Maddox had nodded, gently taking Chanel by the arm and guiding her to the truck. She hadn't said a word since they'd pulled out of the tiny hospital lot, just laid her head back on the seat and closed her eyes.

Suddenly she sat forward and pointed. "Turn left up there."

"Why?" He knew he shouldn't question her right now, but he was exhausted and just wanted to get them home. Morning would be here before long, and they'd have to traipse back to town to get Fritz and Christine. There were also the rodeo finals to think about in the evening. Chanel was supposed to rope again.

"Just do it," Chanel said, her voice tired.

Maddox turned off the paved road onto a rutted dirt lane.

"We'll follow this around the hill and up. Slow down, you're beating the s.h.i.t out of Fritz's truck."

Reminding himself she'd had a traumatic night, Maddox held back his comments and shifted down, slowing the rig. A couple of minutes later, they were climbing a steep hill. The road came to an abrupt stop at a wire fence near the top.

"Now what?"

Chanel reached into the back seat and pulled out a plaid blanket. "We walk."

Maddox killed the lights and motor knowing he was better off just to humor her. She handed the blanket to him once they were outside and pried apart two strands of barbwire and somehow shimmied through without catching her clothes.

"Yeah, that's not going to happen," Maddox said eyeing the small hole she propped open for him. The moon was bright, so he could see her roll her eyes.

"Fine, come over to the gate, but we need to hurry."

Her urgency was palpable as Chanel hustled over to the wire gate and worked the loop over the wooden post. She dragged it open far enough to make room for him to pa.s.s. Once he was through, a train whistle sounded in the distance.

"Come on!" Chanel broke into a run grading around the gra.s.sy hill. When they reached the far side, she stopped. A single light pierced the darkness in the valley below as the train chugged closer. Taking the blanket from his arms, Chanel spread it on the ground and plopped down. She tugged off her boots and socks. Figuring they were going to be there for a while, Maddox joined her.

The night hadn't cooled much, and his skin was sticky. A shower would be perfect. Then bed. But Chanel needed him right now. He couldn't think of a time when he'd put himself last like this. If he'd been with anyone else, he would've sweet-talked them into what he wanted.

Chanel wrapped her arms around her knees and sighed. "Thank you for helping tonight."

"It wasn't an option. Seth was in trouble. He's my friend."

The train blared its horn as it thundered below them. When the sound faded and there was just the rumble of the wheels on the tracks, Chanel laid her head on her knees, her face turned toward him. "You really don't care that he's gay, do you?"

"Nope. Seth's a good guy. I've never been anywhere like this before. Somewhere where, where," he couldn't find the words in his tired brain.

"Somewhere where the people are so ignorant?"

"Yeah. I mean that's everywhere, but I guess I've just been above it." Maddox shrugged feeling his cheeks grow warm. G.o.d, he was a spoiled p.r.i.c.k. His parents' position had held him apart from a lot of things. Life was pretty peachy in the president's box. He was surprised when a hint of a smile touched her lips in the moonlight.

"You've surprised me this summer," Chanel said. "I'm not sure what to do with that."

Maddox didn't know how to respond, so he said nothing.

Chanel turned her gaze back to the train, which was dwindling down to its last cars. "This was where Seth and I would go when school got rough. We snuck out here when we were supposed to be at football games and dances. He didn't come out publically until our senior year, but I'd known for a long time. Those high school events were hard for him. He didn't know where he fit in."

The train disappeared around the corner, leaving them in dark stillness. Not wanting to disturb the peace, Maddox had no idea what to do next. He knew what he wanted to do: lay her down on this scratchy blanket and run his fingers through her hair, get her nice and relaxed, and then kiss away her pain. It didn't have to lead to s.e.x, but despite that, he had a feeling she'd just think he was trying to take advantage of the situation.

He was so lost in his thoughts, he missed Chanel moving closer until she was kneeling right in front of him. Her hand cupped his face, b.u.mping a bruise he didn't know he'd received. Sucking air between his teeth, Maddox pulled back.

"Sorry," Chanel said. "I forgot about that. Saw it at the hospital. Guess you haven't seen a mirror."

"I'm good," Maddox said. He'd had far more painful injuries, which was why he hadn't noticed this one.

She moved her hands from his face to his hair. "I've been wanting to do this since you stepped out of your car in May."