Grant (Riding Hard) - Jennifer Ashley Page 0,3

the mockery. She had no use for groupies, and most of the time, Grant couldn’t blame her. He’d pretended to have fun with the girls and ignore Christina, but it had been hard.

His ex looking at him with her beautiful eyes and deciding Grant was a fool wasn’t easy to take. And the trouble was, he agreed with her.

He drove his pickup back through town and out the other side to the trailer he’d bought on a patch of land down the hill from Circle C Ranch, his family’s home.

They were using Grant’s double wide for the party tonight, it being large enough for all the poker tables, once he shoved his furniture against the wall. Plus they could flow outside into the fine spring night. Set on a foundation, his trailer had a green lawn and a grove of trees in back on a big piece of land. Plenty of room for barbecuing and just hanging out.

The others had already arrived by the time Grant made it back with his groceries. Adam greeted him with a bear hug, happy.

Grant had never seen Adam so exuberant. Though one side of Adam’s face was permanently scarred, his eyes were free of the darkness they’d held since his accident—the last six months had done wonders for him.

No—Bailey Farrell, who’d marry Adam tomorrow, had done wonders for him. She’d picked up the broken-down Adam Campbell and set him on his feet again. Grant would love her forever for that.

Grant’s contribution to the bachelor party, besides opening his house, was his famous hotter ’n’ hell Texas chili. The heady aroma greeted him as went into the trailer. He’d left Ross, the youngest Campbell and a sheriff’s deputy, to tend it. Ross was doing it dutifully, giving the two vast pots a stir after he waved the wooden spoon at Grant when he walked in.

Ross kept his dark hair very short, unlike the rest of them who let their hair get unruly before cutting it. But then, Grant, Adam, Tyler, and Carter were the bad boys of the family, and played Wild West bandits in their trick riding performances. Ross had decided to go into law enforcement rather than the horse business—to keep his older brothers in line, he always joked.

“’Bout time,” Tyler sang out from one of the poker tables he was setting up. “Where you been?” Tyler, the best of them at being a bachelor, had taken charge of the food—except for the chili—drinks, and entertainment.

“Had to give some girls a ride into town,” Grant said, hanging up his hat and smoothing his hair. “Then I had to have a beer with them—you know, to be polite.”

The guys in the room burst out laughing. “Figures,” Tyler said.

“What did you do with them?” Carter asked, his hazel eyes softening for the moment. “Making them wait in the truck?”

More laughter. Grant waved away the teasing and headed for the kitchen. “I left them at the bar. I’m sure they’ll find something to do.”

“Not tonight, they won’t,” Tyler said. “Everyone’s here.”

True, Grant’s house was filling up with testosterone. It overflowed with Campbell brothers as well as all their friends from town, around the county, and a few from farther than that.

Grant relieved Ross of his duty, broke the seal on the bottle of hot chile powder he’d gone into town for, and measured out the amount. Some more time bubbling, and the chili would be perfect.

Kyle Malory lifted a beer from the cooler and watched Grant give the chili another stir. There was something in Kyle’s look Grant couldn’t decipher, but he didn’t pay too much attention. The Malorys and Campbells had been rivals for years. The Malorys were champion bull riders, and kind of looked down on the Campbells, who were stunt riders. Doing tricks, they’d say. Not real riding. To which Grant would say Falling off bulls isn’t real riding either.

But the rivalry mostly stayed friendly, and Adam and Kyle had cleared the air between them about Bailey. Once it became obvious that Bailey and Adam were madly in love, Kyle had bowed out with dignity. Grant had to respect him for that.

Adam and Kyle still weren’t best friends, but Adam had made sure Kyle and his brother, Ray, got invited not only to the wedding but the bachelor party.

Grant set down the spoon, got a beer for himself, and made for the poker tables. “Ray coming?” he asked Kyle as they both sat down. He’d seen Ray at the bar talking to Christina,