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Sitting in a shallow section of the water, Alex turned to look in Jesse’s direction. He was looking her way. “Someone there?” he said.
Alex held her breath. She’d admired the strength in his back as he’d washed but it paled in comparison to the rest of him. She wasn’t sure what he’d been doing over the last ten years but it was strenuous work if the hard, toned muscle covering the expanse of his chest and stomach were any indication.
She ran an appreciative eye up his torso until she met his gaze. He was looking right at her. She felt faint as the seconds ticked away until he shook his head and turned his back to her.
He finished his bath and waded out of the water, that bright moonlight giving her a glimpse of his backside. Like the rest of him, it was tight and toned.
She sat in the water until she heard him walk away and crawled out as quietly as she could. She was wet clean through and knew she probably looked a sight. There was no way to explain why her clothes were wet and if Jesse saw her he’d know she was the “splash” he’d heard by the river.
It wasn’t time for her shift but she headed to the horses and saddled hers anyway before climbing into the saddle and heading to the opposite side of the herd. As always, Owen spotted her within seconds and rode her way.
“It’s not your turn,” he said. “You should be back at camp getting some sleep.”
Alex nodded and looked in the direction of the campfire. “Couldn’t sleep,” she said. “I don’t need much anyway.”
“Me either. Guess we’re probably the only ones. Everyone else has been groaning all evening about how tired they were. These new fellows might look like your average cowboy but I don’t think they’ve had much experience with herding cattle before.”
Owen talked for the next twenty minutes about this and that. Alex yawned despite her telling him she wasn’t sleepy. She wasn’t sure if it was the sound of Owen’s voice, the warm breeze blowing against her wet clothing, or just fatigue that caused it but staying awake was beginning to become a struggle.
When Owen stopped talking, Alex glanced his way. He was staring at her. “What?”
“I asked what you were going to do with the money you made on the cattle drive.”
“Oh.” Alex hadn’t given that a thought. Truth be told, she hadn’t wanted to come along for the money. She just wanted to prove to her pa that she was capable of being a rancher despite being a woman. “Not sure,” she said, not able to think of anything else. “What are you going to do with yours?”
Owen laughed. “Pay off those debts I have at the mercantile and try to hold on to what’s left. I’m hoping Holden will still need me around the ranch when we get back to Willow Creek. Being able to work for room and board helps when the money isn’t flowing in.”
The moment he mentioned her father, Alex sat up straight in her saddle. Once again she found herself looking in the distance for him even though she knew it was pointless. “Speaking of Holden Avery,” she said. “I haven’t seen him all day. Did he ride ahead for some reason?”
Owen shook his head. “No. He left.” At her wide-eyed look he said, “Where were you when his horse threw him?”
“His horse threw him?” She tried to keep the panic out of her voice and had to take several deep breaths to accomplish it. When her racing heart slowed to a normal pace she said, “I’m not sure where I was. What happened?”
“It was when we stopped for lunch. A snake spooked his horse and threw him off. He broke his leg when he hit the ground.”
Alex thought back over the entire day. She hadn’t seen him once. It had to have happened before she arrived.
She’d showed up sometime around noon and found the cattle scattered, some running scared. She turned her head to Owen. “Is that when the cattle tried to run?”
“Yep. The commotion got a few of them stirred up and those got the rest of them in a tizzy.”
“I see.” Her pa’s leg was broke. Vision’s of him getting thrown from his horse flashed across her mind’s eye. She didn’t like the images it produced and could only imagine what Holt had felt. Hearing about it was frightening enough. She couldn’t imagine seeing it. “What about his boy? Did he see it happen?”
“No. He was on the other side of the herd with Ben.”
“He went back to Willow Creek, then?”
“Yep. Isaac got his leg splinted for him and he and Jesse helped him back into the saddle. We wanted to turn around but he refused to hold us up and left Jesse in charge of everything and rode back home.”
The next half hour Owen told her how the rest of the cowboys took to the news of a new trail boss, which wasn’t good to a select few. Lewis, the oldest of all the men Holden had hired on hadn’t liked the thought of being told what to do by “some kid,” as he put it. He’d been riding around with an attitude all day because of it.
The hours ticked by slowly and by the time the next shift rode out to where they were, Alex was ready for a few hours sleep. Her clothes had dried and felt stiff when she laid down on her bedroll but she found little reason to care, not when she noticed Jesse. He was close enough to spit on and seeing him so close made her nervous.
What would he do when he found her here?
What would she do if he tried to send her home?
The answers never came. She turned her back to him so he wouldn’t see her and was asleep the moment her head hit the ground.
