That was the problem. The damn jacket was white, well, off-white, cream possibly. Hell, Jack didn't know, he wasn't a freaking clotheshorse like Riley was.

"You're wearing white to a rodeo."

Riley cast another look down and then slipped his cell in his pocket and realigned the jacket.

"It's a nice jacket," he defended. "It's Hugo Boss."

"It's white."

"It's off-white—"

"Riley. We're going to a rodeo—"

"A gay rodeo," Riley interrupted and emphasized the word 'gay' with air quotes. "You think the guys there are gonna turn up in range stuff with shit on their sleeves? I want to look good."

Jack held up his hands in defeat. "Have you actually ever been to a rodeo before, het-boy?" If Riley had, then he would know about the dust and dirt and the air ripe with curse words. A fashion show it wasn't.

"You know I haven't," Riley answered.

"Is it an expensive jacket?"

Riley didn't get a chance to answer as Hayley sashayed into the room holding Eden's hand and grinning. She was a miniature Jack, right up to a child's Stetson on her head, and Jack felt some satisfaction that their daughter had actually listened to him. Sean was a few steps behind Eden, and Jack could feel the focus shift immediately in Riley.

"Sean," Riley said carefully.

"Riley." Sean tipped his hat and then stood quietly.

Trouble was brewing between the two men—even a complete stranger could see that. It seemed to Jack that Riley had a point when he said Sean was messing with Eden. Still, Eden was in love and appeared happy.

"Momma's out front," Eden said. She was skilled at breaking up these Riley/Sean face-offs and all too soon they were all outside the ranch house and clambering into cars.

"You sure you're going to be okay?" Jack asked Robbie as he stood to wave everyone off.

"Eli's still sleepin' and I'll be working Daisy and Catty."

"If you wanted to go—"

"No. I don't."

Jack didn't argue. Robbie seemed happy on the Double D and very rarely left, even on his downtime. Still, he and Eli were spending a lot of time together, heads down and talking. Talking was good—it was way more than he and Riley had done when they first met. He guessed murders and fires and pregnancies kind of took the peace out of a new relationship.

"Jack?" Eden called.

With a nod to Robbie he took his seat in the brandnew 4x4 Riley had brought home a few weeks before. His Ferrari had long since gone and Jack didn't want to admit how much he missed that spitting, snarling dream of a car. When Riley nearly broke an axle coming down to the ranch in the dark it had to go. He seemed happy with the new car; top of the line, it did everything, except train the horses. Hell, it even spoke to you—all kinds of shit about the weather and business. Thankfully Riley had dulled the annoying voice to a gentle insistent background noise and instead seemed intent on increasing the discomfort between himself and Sean.

"So how was Afghanistan, Sean?" he said.

Jack sighed inwardly. Even for Riley that was a provocative question.

"Messy," Sean replied quietly. "A lot of good men dying on foreign soil."

"I imagine you've seen a lot," Riley continued. "Why do you need to keep going out there? Why don't you go back to writing books about horses?"

"Riley," Jack warned under his breath. Still his husband continued. Idiot needed a gag. And damn if the thought of that didn't make Jack hard. Jeez, it was like Riley was wired to his dick or something.

"I've seen too much. We all have there."

"So why go then?"

"I'm a journalist at heart, I go where the stories are," Sean replied. Such a simple answer but Riley had to be blind not to hear the tension in Sean's voice.

"Riley, how did it go with your bid?" Eden interrupted.

Thank God for little sisters who decided their big brothers needed cutting off at the source. Of course mentioning CH and its work was exactly the right thing to say. Riley could talk for hours on that subject.

Peace reigned for the journey after that. Especially when Hayley began chatting about her friend at school who had just got a new sister.

"I sometimes wish I could have a sister," Hayley said softly to Eden. Jack only heard because the reporter on the radio had just had a small moment of blissful silence.

"You would?" Eden asked.

Jack wanted to turn in his seat and look directly at his sister-in-law. He didn't. Instead he glanced at Riley who was concentrating on joining the freeway and apparently hadn't heard a thing.

"Sometimes." Hayley's voice was wistful and its effect twisted in his gut.

Jack looked out of his window and caught sight of his face in the wing mirror. He was turning thirty-two next March and the signs of working outside and his age were starting to show on his face. Thirty-two wasn't old but if he and Riley were to think about adding to their small family it probably needed to be soon. Didn't matter how much money Riley had—these things took time.

"You do realize, Ri, your jacket is going to last three minutes," Eden said.

Jack didn't think he had ever laughed as hard as he did when Riley simply huffed his response.

Jack had attended a lot of rodeos in his time; as a horse trainer and breeder it was his job to know people. He recognized quite a few big name stars and wished, not for the first time, that he had actually done his research on gay rodeo before he came out. He wasn't sure what he was expecting, it was a rodeo, it was loud and dirty and sweaty and testosterone to the limits, but it was different somehow. Guys walked holding hands with other guys, women hugged and kissed each other in front of Jack. There were drag queens and rodeo clowns, and Jack loved it all.

There were differences here. Whereas in mainstream rodeo there were traditional roles for men and others for women, in the gay rodeo every event was open to men and women alike. There were also extra events like dressing a goat, but luckily Jack wasn't involved in judging that—he wouldn't know where to start. Nope, he was there for the barrel racing and the finest display of horseflesh he had ever seen.