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Now it was her turn to laugh. The Slades calling out that ridiculous name never got old. She was probably hysterical, but she was having the time of her life.
The calf lingered near the fence, staring over at them with big brown eyes as they approached. Eva’s gait was uneven, since she was missing a boot. The horse let out a nervous whinny at seeing the mud people descend on him.
“It’s me, Sleipnir,” Cole reassured the paint.
The horse seemed to relax at the sound of his voice, though its eyes shifted worriedly to Eva. She tried to make human noises to put the animal more at ease.
Cole pulled his phone from his pocket. He cleaned the mud off of the screen while he turned to her. “What kind of noises are you making?”
“I’m trying to let the animals know that I’m a human, and not some mud monster come to devour them.”
“Huh.” He was only half paying attention. He was trying to get his phone to work again.
The human angle didn’t seem to work on the calf, but the big baby wasn’t exactly afraid of her, either. The calf went back to sniffing her stomach. He gummed the ends of her muddy shirt with its oversized mouth. “No, no!” She waved her finger ineffectually at it. She glanced over at Cole. “This baby is hungry. He’s trying to eat me.”
Cole broke into another grin and stuffed his phone back into his muddy pocket. “My phone’s busted. Did you bring yours?”
“No.” She grimaced in apology. “I’m really sorry.”
His eyes went to the calf. “I have no idea where this little guy’s mother is. We need to take him back with us.” His gaze fell on Eva next, like he was trying to determine how to get themallhome. “I guess you’ll have to ride on Sleipnir with me.”
Her lips tightened. She didn’t trust herself to speak.
Cole rolled out his shoulders, squinting against the bright sun. “Ah man, we’re cursed.” He glanced over at her with a teasing expression. “You think you can keep your distance from me? You’re covered in mud.”
She let out a giggle, even while her stomach twisted nervously at the thought of being in Cole’s arms all the way back from the farthest part of the ranch. It had taken almost forty-five minutes for West to get here in his pickup. She forced her voice to stay light. “No problem, as long as I get the first shower when we get back.”
“The way things are going, we’re going to have to hose off in the barn.” His eyes drifted to her bare foot. Her sock was also missing. “You want me to go back for your boot?” he asked.
“No, I have no idea where it went, and well… I can’t risk you getting sucked up in that quicksand. You’re my ride back, after all.”
He humored her joke with a tight smile.
Yeah, she got it. The ride back was going to be tough. No matter how much she’d tried to keep her distance from him, they kept getting thrown together.
Cole packed the rest of their supplies onto the back of his horse in silence. She grabbed the shotgun and he slid it into a holster against the horse’s side. The calf tried to munch at her hair.
“Oh no you don’t, little guy.” Cole looped a rope around the calf’s neck.
Their extra traveler was going to slow them down a lot.
After getting everything in place, Cole held out his hand to her. She took it, feeling overcome with embarrassment as he guided her bare foot into the stirrup. She settled on the top of the paint’s broad back and tried to find her seat just as Cole got on behind her.
He took her breath away.
Cole moved his arms around her to get at the reins. His sheer immensity overwhelmed her as she tried and failed to find something witty to say to lighten the moment. She was completely enveloped in his familiar cedar and citrus scent again. His musky fragrance was beginning to feel like coming home. She noticed that he’d wrapped the rope around the saddle horn, the veins of his muscular forearm standing out as he guided the calf tied to the other end. He tapped Sleipnir’s side and they ambled forward at an awkward pace.
Yeah, this was going to take a long time.
Lizardman took the lead, occasionally stopping to bark at them to urge them on faster, but of course, they couldn’t with Dopey who kept stopping to sniff the flowers and whatever else came along. Cole shouted out at the lumbering calf, trying to drive the baby forward with his cattleman calls that worked maybe half the time.
And with that strange caravan, they slowly made their way back home through the meadow.
Eva did her best to inch as far from Cole as possible, holding herself stiffly so that she didn’t bump into his arms as they moved forward. Her shoulders and side began to ache. For just a moment, she slumped back and rested against his chest.
Oh, that felt so much better.
“You were supposed to keep your distance,” he said.
