Rancher and Protector

Could Logan be wrong? Or worse, lying?

Damn it. Colt wished he could just ask.

“Doesn’t that hurt?” she asked when the metal clunked against the gelding’s teeth.

“Only if you don’t know what you’re doing,” he said. Just focus on what you’re here to do. “But you will,” he quickly reassured her. “Here. I’ll show you.” Because that’s what he’d been hired to do—help out with the horses.

“Can I try?” she asked.

“Sure.” He slipped the bridle off again and handed it to her.

Just tough it out.

When the camp closed in eight weeks, it was back to rodeo—with his pockets full and a new horse to ride.

“Hold it from the top,” he instructed when she looked at the bridle, baffled. She moved the bit close to Flash’s mouth, but when the gelding jerked his head back, she jumped as if he’d tried to bite her.

“You know, I’m starting to think you don’t like horses,” Colt said.

“I don’t.”

He thought he misheard her. “Excuse me?”

“They intimidate the hell out of me.”

“Then what the heck are you doing here?” he found himself asking.

She looked at the animal, then at the stable where he’d come from. “This is the wave of the future,” she said. “Or at least that’s what research shows. There have been studies recently, really amazing studies, that prove an animal can connect with special needs children in a way that defies explanation. I have to do this.”

“Why?”

She flicked her chin up. “Because.”

Was it because of her nephew? Logan had admitted his son wasn’t quite “normal,” but said he just had a learning disability. Was that what drove Amber’s passion?

“If you don’t want to be afraid of horses, you need to realize something.”

“What’s that?” she asked, the bridle in her hand forgotten.

“They’re like dogs.”

“Excuse me?”

“Like a gigantic Mac,” Colt amended. “Really. Most horses are just as smart as Mac in there—sometimes smarter.”

As if his dog had been listening, Amber heard him yelp.

“Is he okay?”

“He’s fine. He just wants to be out with us.”

“That’d be okay with me.”

“No,” Colt said. “You need to focus on what I’m saying.”

“I am paying attention,” she said, eyeing the horse. “What you just told me was not to worry. That if a horse wants to kill me, it’s smart enough to know the best way to accomplish that goal.”

Against his better judgment, he smiled, but only for a moment. “Horses don’t want to kill humans. I’ve seen half a dozen jump over a rider unfortunate enough to land in front of them.”

She tipped her head sideways, her ringlets hanging over her shoulder like a bunch of grapes. “Yes, but how did that rider get in front of those horses in the first place?”

“At rodeos cowboys fall off all the time. As a matter of fact, it’s what I do for a living—jump off horses.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m a tie-down roper.”

“What’s that?”

“Someone who jumps off a running horse and wrestles steers to the ground.”

“And you do that why?”

It’s a living.

They were the first words to come to mind, even though he knew well and good there were easier ways to do that. Hell, he worked ranches during the off season. He owned a ranch. But full-time ranching? Nah. That’d been his dad’s deal. And his mom’s. And his baby sister’s—

Colt snatched the bridle from Amber. “Sorry,” he said when she looked up at him in surprise. “Let’s just get you mounted. That way you can see for yourself there’s nothing to fear.”

And he could get out of here.

“Find yourself a helmet,” he snapped.

“Helmet? You think I might fall off?”

“No,” he said. “It’s a safety precaution. I was told everyone here rides with a helmet.”

He wasn’t cut out for this, he decided. Dealing with her while trying to keep quiet about why he was actually at Camp Cowboy. And then there was this … this whatever it was that reminded him of his family and the life he used to live.

“Do you know where the helmets are?” she asked.

“Never mind,” he said. “I’ll go get one.”

He thrust the reins at her. But as he walked into the barn, blinking in the sudden dimness, he wondered if maybe it wouldn’t have to be so difficult. And maybe he wouldn’t have to lie to her. Maybe he could discover some other way to unearth her nephew’s location.

Because even though he wanted to help his buddy, he wasn’t at all convinced he had what it took to do. She might be a deceitful you-know-what, but he wasn’t. And that might present a problem.

HE’D GONE ALL QUIET on her. Since they’d walked to the arena together, helmet in hand, he’d said hardly two words to her.

“Climb on board,” he said.

Okay, make that four. “Sure,” she said. “If you tell me how.”

He looked at her as if butterflies were spitting out of her mouth. “Haven’t you ever seen someone getting on a horse before?”

He seemed angry. Or frustrated. Or … something. “Haven’t you ever worked with beginners before?” she retorted.

He didn’t answer her.

“Haven’t you?” she pressed.

“No,” he finally admitted.

That got her attention. “Then how the heck did you get this job?”

“Frankly, I don’t know. Luck, I guess.”

“No way,” she said.

“I faxed in a résumé last Monday, had a phone interview on Tuesday. They did a background check and verified my references by Thursday and here I am today.”

Today being Sunday. But she’d known Gil and Buck had been desperate to find someone to help out. Scuttlebutt was that finding qualified horse personnel in the middle of San Francisco had been a challenge, especially someone willing to work with special needs children.

“So this is your first time teaching people to ride?”

He nodded. “And so I guess we all have something to learn.”

She squared off with Flash. “Well, all right then. Tell me what to do, cowboy.”

He crossed his arms, the motion highlighting the muscular bulge of his biceps. She liked the way his shirt hugged him, emphasizing how fit he was.

“Okay,” he said after a moment’s pause, as if he’d been mentally gearing himself up for the task, too. “Put your left foot in the stirrup.”

“And my right foot out?”

She could have sworn he fought back a smile.

“So after the left foot, then what?”

“Grab the saddle horn and pull yourself up.”

He made it sound sooo easy.

It was not.

She felt as if she was playing a game of Twister. Once she managed to get her foot into the stirrup, it slipped out the minute she went to grab the saddle horn. Forget about pulling herself up.

“This is impossible,” she said. “You’d have to be double-jointed to get close enough to drag yourself onto a horse’s back.”

“Try facing the front of the animal,” he said.

Amazingly, that seemed to do the trick. But even after getting her foot into the stirrup and taking a firm hold of the saddle, she couldn’t pull herself up.

“I’m too fat,” she muttered.

“You are not fat,” she heard him pronounce.

“Easy for you to say. You’re not the one trying to pull it all up.”

“You are not fat,” he said again.

She turned to look at him, drawing back instantly. He was right behind her. “You’re the perfect weight,” he stated.

Amber wondered if he was attracted to her, too.

“Thanks.”

“I’ll help lift you up,” he said.

“If that involves putting your hands on my rump, forget it.”

He had an amazing smile when he chose to use it. “Just try and swing yourself up. I’ll do the rest.”

She thrust her foot in the stirrup, grabbed the saddle …

He did the rest.

He clasped his hands around her waist as if she were a figure skater and he was her partner. She didn’t need to use the stirrup so much as clutch at the saddle. The end result was less than graceful, but before she knew it she found herself sitting on the worn leather.

Amber sighed loudly, out of breath. She could still feel where his hands had been. “And they make it look so easy on TV.”

“It’ll get easier,” he said.

She kept clutching the saddle horn, even though she knew she should be looking around for the leather strap thingy. What did they call them? The reins. She should be holding on to the reins in case the animal beneath her—a very big animal—decided to bolt, or to charge, or to buck and twist to throw her off.

“Maybe it’s nothing to you,” she said. “But it’s a big deal to me. I feel like I’ve conquered the world.” She smiled.

“You’re right. No big deal.” He turned on his booted heel and began to leave.

“Hey!” she cried.

But he didn’t turn back.

“Hey!” she called again, louder.

He walked away.

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