Bad News Cowboy by Maisey Yates Page B

me and Kate,” he said, feeling unaccountably guilty. “We’ve got the whole amateur association involved. And I’m working toward reconnecting with some contacts in the pro association to get them to help, as well. So it’s a whole group effort.”
    â€œTo help Alison?” Connor asked.
    His question had a tone to it. A suspicious tone. “Yes. Her and other women in her situation. I’m impressed with what she’s doing, improving not only her situation but the situations of others.” Which didn’t sound defensive at all. Not that he had any reason to feel defensive about Alison. It was the entire situation.
    â€œIs there something going on with her?” This question came from Eli. “You and her, I mean.”
    Jack was almost grateful they were so far offtrack. “No. I’m sure she’s lovely but hooking up with vulnerable women is not exactly my thing.” Which was a nice reminder. “They want what I’m not going to give.”
    â€œYou seem to be giving things,” Eli said.
    Well, this was the story of his life. He couldn’t possibly be doing something nice just to do something nice. He must have ulterior motives. Probably extremely dishonorable ones.
    â€œBecause I’m a nice person, jackass.”
    Eli held his hands up, palms out. “Of course you are.”
    â€œI do selfless things.”
    â€œUh-huh,” Connor said.
    â€œI have.” Maybe not very many.
    â€œFine. I believe you,” Eli said.
    Jack snorted and stood up, making his way into the kitchen to grab another beer. Of course, he couldn’t be too mad, since Connor and Eli were his oldest friends and they had a lot more context for his behavior than most people did. Still, the citizens of Copper Ridge tended to sell him short. And yeah, some of that he’d earned. But not all of it.
    He liked to make people laugh; he liked to provide a good time. He liked to have a good time. And somehow people tended to mistake that to mean he didn’t take anything seriously. As though his ranch ran on charm rather than labor. As though he had lucked into his position on the circuit.
    Maybe if he did a good job organizing this charity thing, the town would have to realize that he had the ability to see something through. To do something right, to do something noble, even.
    Yeah,
noble
wasn’t a word typically used to describe him.
    Maybe, though...maybe he could get noticed for doing something good. Maybe he could change some things.
    Everyone liked him well enough, but no one took him all that seriously. He wondered if that would change if the townspeople had any idea that he carried the same genes as the venerable West family.
    No doubt it would, since the oldest of the West children had a fairly large scandal in his past, and yet the town never seemed to talk much about it. As though the influence of Nathan West was mixed into the mist, settling over everything. All-seeing, all-knowing.
    But he had no claim to that name; he’d sold it when he was eighteen years old. A little bit of hush money to get his life going, to permanently separate himself from a man who had never given a damn about them anyway. It had seemed like a no-brainer at the time.
    Now sometimes he felt a bit as if he’d sold himself. Pretty damn cheap, too.
    And the Wests were part of the town—the mortar in half the brick buildings on Main Street. Jack felt somewhat obligated to slide under the radar. Oh, sure, he’d been a pro bull rider; he was a ladies’ man; he lived in the same town he was born in. The people paid him no mind, because they thought he was harmless. Thought he was laid-back. Thought he was haphazard, that he came by his successes accidentally.
    They underestimated him, and he allowed it.
    And he was pretty tired of it.
    He jerked open the fridge and pulled out another bottle of beer before slamming the door shut again. Yeah, he was pretty damn