AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My breathing was starting to slow. Grass poked through my wet and destroyed socks. I smelled like old fish and decaying organic matter. My clothing was ruined, and if I hadn’t been driving by, that calf might’ve died. Not only was it a life that didn’t have to perish, it’d be like burying money in the mud with my shoes.
“You need to give these cows a better water source.”
Her surprised expression instantly morphed into ire. She smacked her lips. “Well, I’ll just put up a sign by the pond. ‘Please use the water tanks instead. Thank you, Management.’”
Of course they had better water for their cattle. They were seasoned ranchers, and I was acting like a dumbass.
I brushed my arm across my forehead, realizing too late that I was just transferring dirt to what probably had been one of the few clean spots left on me. “Sorry. It’s just…if I hadn’t come by, that calf might’ve died.”
Her brows popped. There was nothing in her expression that told me she took what I said as an apology. “If only there was another rancher around.” Her tone was as dry as the gravel on the road.
Right. I’d just insulted her. Again. On top of claiming my promotion was the most important day of my life. My wedding had been important. Even more, it’d been the best day of my life in a way that no client dinner would ever compete with. The client dinner would’ve changed my career and our lives for the better. I would’ve been partner. A level I never thought a hick kid from the country could attain.
I tried to make it better. “I mean, what are the odds that more than one person would’ve seen it?”
Her brows rose. “Probably the same as seeing Archer Barron’s designer clothes covered in mud.”
I clapped my hands together as if that would get the mud off. “You’ve said a few things that make me think you don’t believe I’ve ever gotten my hands dirty before.”
She kept a brow raised.
“I told you my dad managed a ranch.” We’d owned none of it. It was what had gotten me interested in being a land broker, in why some people could afford all the land in the world, but families like ours could only be the hired help. “Ansen and I were his free labor.”
She hmphed, and her horse shifted to the side. It was a nice-looking mare. Older, if I had to guess, but obviously a good quarter horse. I hadn’t even known she had a horse. “What’s her name?”
“Target.” Delaney leaned forward and patted the horse’s neck like she couldn’t help herself. “She’s almost twenty.”
I could see a seven-year-old Delaney naming a horse Target. I could also see this Delaney charging off her horse and wading into the muck. I couldn’t say that about the woman who was my wife in Texas.
I held my hands out and looked down at myself. “Can I clean up at your place?”
The moment of panic was fleeting in her gaze, but I felt like shit nonetheless. How had we gotten to this point? She was scared to bring me to her home.
“We’ve gotta talk anyway. All I need to borrow is a pair of shorts and a T-shirt.” I glanced down again. “Any chance your brother or your dad have shoes that would fit me?” Anything to get me to my motel room, where my suitcase waited for me on the dresser. There’d been no luggage stand. There wasn’t much of anything in the motel room.
Her lips were pressed together as her gaze dipped to my soggy socks. Would she send me on my way a muddy mess? Was there a place here that would detail the muddy insides of an Audi?
“Fine.” She slid down from Target. “But you’re cleaning the saddle when you’re done.”
She wanted me to ride Target? Would she walk next to me? She had boots, I had nothing, but that wasn’t acceptable. “No, I can walk.”
“I don’t want you dragging burs through the house. Target will be easier to clean than your car. I’ll drive that back.”
The car, yes. Adrenaline and my sexy wife were clouding my thinking.
She led Target to me, and I took a moment to let the horse get used to my presence. The mare didn’t seem like she got bothered by much. Due in part to her personality, her age, and being ridden by a young Delaney, who was probably wilder than I had ever imagined.
“Thank you.” Handing my keys to her felt like progress. The clock was ticking, but we could peacefully dissolve the marriage before I left.
“Yep.” She stomped through the ditch and up to my waiting vehicle. I swung onto Target and breathed a sigh of relief. I hadn’t gotten to ride nearly as much as an adult as I had as a kid. Muscles I’d forgotten about flexed and stretched, another thing the gym couldn’t replicate. I missed riding.
I adjusted the reins in my hands. Target probably wouldn’t need much encouragement to return home. I gave her a little tap with my heel. She started at an easy gait. The engine of the car fired up. Target tossed her head, but only as if to tell me she wasn’t changing speed or direction. An easygoing horse with a streak of stubborn.
How much like her owner was she?
* * *
Laney
