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She glanced once over her shoulder and was astonished to see him still standing at the other end of the breezeway before turning around. She didn’t care what he was up to; that was going to prove to be a costly mistake on his part.
* * *
Spence walked into Tank’s stall and brought the big gelding out. He led him down to the tack room and like Harper, left him ground tied while he saddled him. He was glad that Dusty had brought in his lariats. Apparently, Harper had forgotten that he held a myriad of championship roping titles. He chose his favorite; it had never let him down. He looped it over the saddle horn and led Tank out the back gate of the barn and into the arena. He saw Harper closing in on the gate that led to the pasture. She’d be tougher to catch if she got completely away.
Spence swung up into the saddle and put Tank into a hard gallop after her. She was having trouble with the back gate. She had mentioned to him that it sometimes stuck. He was glad he hadn’t yet tried to fix it for her.
Maybe he wouldn’t.
* * *
Harper heard Tank thundering down the middle of the arena.
“Damn it, open!” she cried, struggling with the latch on the gate.
She turned her head to see Tank closing the space between them and Spence swinging the rope overhead.No fucking way!The sonofabitch meant to rope her. Part of her brain was outraged. The other part told her to get a move on because even if he missed the first time because she was a human and not a steer, he wouldn’t miss a second.
The damn latch would not open. “Shit,” she cried as she darted towards the side, human-sized gate. She thought for a split second she might have a prayer of making it. That hope was dashed as she felt the loop settle over her head, past her shoulders and around her waist and arms before feeling it pulled tight.
She felt the jerk as Tank hit the brakes and started running backwards to take up the slack in the rope. She leaned against the rope, digging in her heels, trying to get away. She watched as Spence dallied the rope around the saddle horn, got off, took hold of the tightened line and walked it down to her. She had to admire how good Tank was at his job. Regardless of where she tried to go to get some slack to loosen the rope enough to remove it, the big horse took up the slack. He had to be dog-tired from their escapade today, and still he did the job he’d been taught to do.
About ten feet away from her, Spence stopped with one hand on the taut rope. He beckoned her with the other one.
“He’s a hell of a horse, isn’t he? You can quit struggling. It won’t work. He can hold a two-thousand-pound bull all day if he needs to. Some nasty-tempered female who’s trying to get out of a spanking she knows she has coming to her is not much of a challenge.”
Spence still seemed pissed, but also mildly amused at her predicament.
“You can’t do this,” she cried.
“I already did.”
His other hand grasped the rope as well and he started to reel her in. Harper tried to dig in her heels, but all that did was allow him to drag her through the dirt even more easily.
“This isn’t funny, Spence. Let me go this instant.”
“You’re right, Harper, it isn’t funny at all.”
“Fuck you!” she cried at about five feet out from him right before she charged at him.
Spence let go of the rope and stepped out of the way. Immediately Tank went backwards, keeping the rope tight. She hadn’t improved her situation one little bit. She was still just as close to Spence and just as caught. He walked around her until he was about ten feet away and then grabbed the rope with both hands again. Again, Harper charged, trying to get some slack and find a way out of this damned loop, to no avail. Spence was right. Tank was really good at his job.
Tears of frustration and anger started to flow. “No. Damn you. You won’t make me cry.”
She felt Spence take hold of the rope again and begin to draw her close.
“I guarantee you I’ll make you cry tonight. I mean to teach you a lesson about minding me and not trying to run away to avoid the discipline you have coming. Trust me, Harper my sweet, you’ll be crying plenty before I even think about letting you go.” He drew her to him despite her protests and struggles. At about three feet away from him, he stopped. “You want to stop struggling and get this over with, or do you want to continue to fight?
Not knowing anything else to do, she spat at him. “You touch me, and I swear I’ll…”
“You’ll what? Tell the authorities that a federal officer you’ve been sleeping with and who has already disciplined you did it again?”
“No,” she cried.
“And I’m telling you, yes.”
He walked up and took hold of the rope where it formed the loop that was used to tighten it around her. He had her caught, and there was nothing she could do about it. They both knew it. She looked at his groin and saw the hard bulge there.
“You even think about it, and you’ll regret it,” he said as he followed her gaze.
