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“No, I’m fine. A little sun won’t kill me.” She attempted to wave us off, but her movement was clumsy, and her forearm grazed the horn of the saddle. The pain-filled gasp that followed twisted the poker in my gut deeper, eviscerating me.
“Cami, I think it’s time you let someone else make a few of the choices today. You’re not making good ones.” Atley stared at her with a hard-ass gaze that said a lot about how stupid he thought Cameron had been. “If you were on my payroll, I would have sent you home hours ago.” The cowboy pointed his flinty glare in my direction. I deserved the censure.
If I’d been paying more attention and not lost in my fantasy of buying this place, I would have noticed and could have done something sooner. She worked for me; this was my responsibility and my fault.
“Do you feel steady in the saddle?” I asked her.
Mute, she nodded, and we all kicked our horses into an efficient jog. Atley led us back to the barn. I fell in behind Cameron, watching her like a hawk for any signs that riding was more than she could handle.
Why the hell didn’t Atley speak up? He’d been aware of her suffering and might be the only rational one out here today. Anyone and everyone should look out for Cameron. She deserved it. The thought was more than a feeling; it was a truth that I couldn’t argue with.
She deserved it.
More so than any person I knew. She was an amazing mom. An integral part of her family and this community. A bold and beautiful woman. She was one of a kind.
Thump. Thump. Thump. My heartbeat felt like the hooves of a horse galloping across the Texas hills. Each thump declared the truth. She. Deserved. It.
Each beat was filled with the desire to give her everything. Today, that meant taking care of her. Helping her skin heal. What it meant for tomorrow or the days after, I wasn’t sure.
But I was here for it.
Well, fuck. I hadn’t seen this coming. So much for my two-date rule. Zero dates, and I’d fallen hard.
Old fears long buried tried to crawl up from the depths to remind me why my two-date rule existed. I’d learned not to invest, not to care, because it wasn’t worth the risk. The past had beaten that lesson into me. And suddenly, I need to reevaluate.
I glued my eyes to her, and every time she shifted in the saddle, my jaw clenched. She wasn’t nearly as steady as she had been this morning. A vision of her tumbling from the horse had me ready to call out to Atley that we needed to stop and walk. Or maybe one of us should take Cameron onto our horse because she was wobbling. Before I could say something, the barn came into view through a copse of trees, and I let out a grateful exhale.
Cameron’s horse, too, seemed to understand she wasn’t herself. He navigated to where we had mounted this morning almost without a cue from Cameron and stopped next to Atley and his mount.
I leaped off Flower, ignored the burning pain that shot up my thighs from a day on horseback, and tossed the reins to Atley. I’d pop one of the leftover pain pills from my knee surgery that had somehow ended up in the bottom of my travel bag later. Cameron took priority.
Holding my hands up toward her waist, she melted from the saddle and into my arms. She wasn’t unconscious, but she also wasn’t right. Her eyes were unfocused, and her body was nearly limp. The sunstroke I had feared sapped her strength. I kept my arm around her and hustled her the twenty feet to my rental car.
“Will you be okay in here for a minute?” I settled her in the passenger seat and had the AC on full blast to cool her skin. It was all l could do, and it felt painfully inadequate.
She nodded once and murmured her assent so softly, I barely heard it over the car’s air conditioning. Her head lolled on the headrest, and her eyes were closed. I gave her a last look and shut the car door.
Atley had secured the three horses to a fence rail behind him and stood near my car, waiting to talk to me. “I kept her hydrated as best I could. But she’s going to be a sick lady for a few days.”
“I should have noticed it sooner.” I shook my head at my stupidity.
“Cami is a stubborn woman, always has been.” There was an unmistakable hint of softness around Atley’s steely eyes as he talked about her.
She had an indescribable quality about her that drew people in and made them care. Atley, the hard-ass cowboy. Jethro, the overeager deputy. The guys playing darts at The Pub. The whole damn town was smitten with her. Including me.
“I’ll talk to her brother about coming for her car.”
“No rush, it’ll be safe here.” Atley tipped his hat and held out his hand for me to shake. “Take care of her.”
“I plan to.”
Thump. Thump. Thump. The horses thundered across my heart. I rubbed the center of my chest, trying to dull the hoofbeats.
He gave me an appraising look and a nod. “Anytime you want to see more of the ranch, let me know. If you’re interested in buying, that is.” He handed me two more cold bottles of water, and I got in my car.
It was about a twenty-minute drive back to the rental house. Far longer than I wanted to watch Cameron suffer. I gave her the water, and she held a bottle against her forearm with a pain-filled hiss.
Fuck. I clutched the steering wheel so hard my fingers ached.
