Chapter Two

Two months later-

     Drina Skylard and her band sat back stage celebrating after the last concert of the season. Drina was small, 105 lbs soaking wet and barely five feet three, with perfect curves and long curly blonde hair, and glacier blue eyes. When she smiled she light up the room. Sleeping on a couch across the room lay her 8 year old half-brother Kyle, and his twin sister Kaylee.

Her mother and step-father had died in a plane crash Three years earlier, and she had taken responsibly for her younger siblings, and would walk on water for them. She knew however that this was no life for the twins. They loved traveling with her, but it had a price. They had no friends save for the Band members, and the crew. That is why she had decided to take a long vacation, and take them with her. Just the three of them.

Drina sat back exhausted and closed her eyes. "I think I need to turn in, guys. I feel like a limp rag." she said, never opening her eyes.

Her drummer Zack turned to look at her. "I thought you said you had a surprise for the rug rats?" he asked.

She nodded, "That's right I did. Anyway, I decided the three of us need a vacation. So I did some research online and found a working Dude Ranch in Montana called the Triple B run by none other than Beau Blanton himself."

Jack her guitarist breathed, "The Bull Riding National Champion?! I saw his winning ride! That Cowboy is said to this century's bull riding prodigy."

She nodded. "None other. As I was saying, I've already booked a two room suite for three months. I'm going on hiatus for a while. I'm burnt out, and need some time to reconnect with my brother and sister, as well as my country roots. The plan is to, relax, have fun, and get my flame back. And who knows......I may become inspired while we're there."

The band members all looked at each other. She could ride a horse with the best of them, but barrel racing, and driving cattle were two very different things. Each band member was thinking the same thing. Their little Drina was tough as nails, and had a temper to boot, but her kid siblings were even worse.

Kyle, and Kaylee were always finding themselves in some kind of trouble. Both were huge fans of Beau Blanton the Rodeo Star, and would jump threw the roof when they learned it was his ranch they were going to stay at. The hands at the Triple B weren't going to know what hit them, nor would Mr. Beau Blanton.

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     Beau pulled his stallion up short and watched none other than Drina Skylard herself stepped out of a large pickup truck. Two of the cutest kids he'd ever seen followed her. Both looked to be eight or nine years old and also a bit nervous. He sighed and nudged Apollo into a canter. As the boss it was his job to great and help his new guests get settled into their rooms for the night.

Kaylee grabbed her big sister's hand with a loud gasp of shock. Drina looked down and noticed both Kaylee and Kyle were staring toward the long drive. She looked up and saw the biggest, toughest, and sexiest man she had ever seen cantering their way. Her jaw nearly dropped when it hit her just who this man was.

Beau pulled Apollo to a stop and tipped his hat. "Howdy, folks." he drawled out then dismounted. "Welcome to the Triple B, where you come in as Greenhorns and leave as genu-ine Cowpokes. I'm......"

He never had a chance to finish when the twins both squeaked out his name, huge grins on their faces. "Beau Blanton!" they both cried excitedly.

Beau gave them both a smile and shook their hands formally. "And who might you be?" He asked.

Kyle stepped forward, hooked his thumbs through his belt loops, a mirror image of Beau's stance. "My name is Kyle, this is my sister Kaylee......we're twins." He turned slightly and thumbed toward his other sister, "this is Drina, she's older than us an she's our half sister, but we don't pay no attention to the half part. She's our guardian too since our mom and dad died in a plane crash. Our dad wasn't really her dad" she had a different one (thumbing again toward Drina) but we all got the same mom. She was married to both our dads but, not at the same time. Drina's sort of like a mom now 'ceptin she'd have to adopt us to be that an we all like the guardian thing cause that we all still only have one mom an' we don't think think we could get used to callin' her mom. Drina's famous like you only she don't ride bulls, jus' horses. She sings and plays the guitar an' makes lots of recirfings and personal appearances." Kyle took a huge breath and nodded his head once.

Beau, working hard to still a chuckle of pure joy nodded, "I see. That's all good to know. I hope you all are goin' to have a great time here."

Drina was dumbstruck by the ease in which their host had both kids talking and laughing. She had begun to worry about their unusual reticence of late. 'Maybe this really will be good for all of us', she thought to herself as she admired the cowboy before them. She had thought at first that he was a bit of a stuff shirt due to the way he deliberately avoided her eyes. She wasn't used to being ignored by the male population. She had hoped this would be a time of non celebrity ... now that she had experienced it, she wasn't sure she liked it.

"Well," Beau stated as he slapped his work gloves against his leg. "What say we get your horse settled. I bet he's mighty tired of being stuffed in that trailer. What's his name?" He asked, finally meeting Drina's gaze. "Is he goin' to require anythin' special?"

Taking exception to this, Drina frowned. "No, Odin does not require anything special, other than that a stall needs to be good sized as he is 16 hands."

"No problem there, half our stalls are oversized. Do ya need help gettin' 'im out?" he asked looking through one of the windows and whistling "That is one mighty fine horse." He looked her up and down and pushed his hat up with one finger. "Little thing like you rides that much horse?" he asked working hard to hide his smile. As soon as his mother had told him of the country star's reservations he had done some private research.

Drina took a deep breath, silently counted to ten and crossed her arms and frowned. "Thanks for the offer and concern" she said icily, "but no, I DON'T need any help, I can handle him and anything else that needs handling" then added sarcastically, "I'm sure I can manage. you must know some pretty sissified girls." And with that she opened the door, let down the ramp and stomped into the trailer cooing at Odin.