AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Hold on, Goldie. Let’s see what we can do,” I answered and spun back around.
Chapter 15
CASSIDY
With his nostrils flared, the stallion Briar had stolen and brought for me to train watched me, calmly and peacefully. His hooves plodded gently across the dirt to the center of the round pen, cautious, but he was giving me something. I stood still as he approached and then licked his lips. Chewing on the spit in his mouth, his ribs flared with a deep breath as I reached my hand forward.
“Good boy,” I whispered and ran my palm down his face. As I brushed my fingers through his forelock, he dipped his head toward the ground and stepped against my chest. “Good boy,” I repeated while scratching along his neck.
Five days, that’s all it had been. This guy was way too trusting for everything he’d been through, yet here I was, able to halter him without him flinching away, lead him, pick up his hooves, everything that made for a safe horse—mostly.
Now that he was good and sweaty, it was time to see how he reacted to any sort of rope laying across his back. Soft and gentle at first, but I couldn’t lie that I was a bit apprehensive. This was either going to reset all of my progress with him, or stay the same.
Burying my nose in his mane, I wanted one more moment where all there was, was him and I. A horse and man. A horse and me. It’d been too long since this was my sole focus day in and day out. I think Weston knew, somewhat, that I enjoyed this, since he let me work the new horses he brought in. But I’d never told a soul that the only reason I finished my welding schooling was because the man I was learning to weld from was also the same man teaching me how to train horses.
The horse inhaled deeply, matching the sigh that filled my lungs. Everything felt suspended, waiting for the next thing to occur. The excitement and buzz amongst the hands concerning the dead calf and cow made our return pretty much unnoticed. Livestock agents and the local sheriff’s office were already here, talking to anyone and everyone. Then they were off to see the mess left behind by the group of trespassers, who had caused more mayhem than needed. And, we were still waiting for anything useful to help lead us to these illegal hunters or poachers.
Weston and Cash had simply remained in charge despite our arrival back to the ranch. No one bothered to even ask Briar or myself what happened outside of the authorities.
Briar… Five days had passed where we’d barely spoken more than a brief “hello” or short conversations in passing. She was living in my house, yet it seemed like she was a ghost there. It was mostly unintentional on my end, wrapped up in busying myself with training this horse as I promised her. But this accidental space from her, not talking about what happened, was difficult for me. Especially considering the fact that I wanted to stick like glue to her side until she figured her thoughts out. More often than I cared to admit, I had caught her zoned out during the chores that had been assigned to her. She would be watching me, instead, as the stallion and I worked together, which kept me hoping that her avoidance of me would eventually subside and she’d have answers to whatever we weren’t doing.
Too often I would get lost in her gaze, which swirled with as much uncertainty and confusion as she’d held when arriving at the ranch over two weeks ago. The fear was nearly absent, so I knew the unsettled river that roared behind her eyes had less to do with her original reason for coming to Montana and much more to do with what was no longer acknowledged between us.
My bones ached to pursue her, and part of me didn’t really care if she was purposefully avoiding me or not. The moment she even gave me an inch of wiggle room, I would take a mile. I was not one to let awkwardness fester—although, this was more annoying than awkward for me. Maybe she was confused about how I felt about her considering the space. I knew what I wanted, however; my feelings were clear to me.
I was grateful that Weston hadn’t come to scold me for spending too much time with this horse, because once he did, that meant I would have to take over as Briar’s boss again. If she really wanted to avoid me, then that might cause her to take the stallion and leave before things became clear to her.
“When do ya think Weston will tell me playtime is over, and I have to get back to being foreman?” I muttered into the stud’s mane and then pulled my face away, glancing at his onyx eye. Part of me knew that Weston was diving this headstrong into work, taking over most of my responsibilities, because of how stressed he was. Tenley was now three days past her due date and still showing no signs of labor.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” I grumbled, knowing that the longer I stood here, the further I pushed my luck. “Alright, buddy. Let’s try this.” Stepping away from the horse, I slid my fingers down the soft, cotton rope. With my left shoulder to him, I lifted the end of the rope that dragged in the dirt as the muffled roar of a diesel engine permeated the all-too-familiar sounds of the ranch.
I paused and glanced over toward the entrance of the ranch. The high-pitched whine and groan of gears shifting inched closer and closer, bringing with it a plume of black smoke that curled above the treetops.
“Cassidy!” Briar’s voice shot through the air. “Cassidy!” she shouted again, and I turned toward her as she crashed around the corner of the barn. “I think Rooney is here!” Her chest heaved, gasps of excited air shallowly filling her body.
The sound of her voice saying my name was like honey and milk soothing a sore throat. It was the unintentional key that unlocked the beast I’d kept tamed for five days. That blasted distance from her had finally come to an end, regardless of what conclusions she may or may not have come to.
She’d voluntarily come and found me. Okay, maybe it had more to do with the fact that Rooney was here with the dead cattle and that was something of mutual interest between Briar and me, but she was here. As beautiful as ever. I couldn’t look away as she leaned up against the railing of the round pen, her cheeks rosy.
“Cassidy?” she said again and tipped her head. Her ashy blonde hair swayed behind her, a shadow from her hat hiding her gentle face from the harsh summer sun. Her oversized T-shirt clung to her body, sticky with sweat, and there was some cow manure splattered on her men’s jeans.
I couldn’t place a time I’d seen a woman look more incredible than she did right now. Unless you could count when we’d been all alone on that cattle-drive-gone-crazy and—
“Cassidy Duke! Wipe that look off your face,” she suddenly hissed, snapping me out of the trance.
“What look?” I managed to utter, shaking my head.
And we both looked down toward the entrance of the ranch as a massive, ugly burnt-orange eighteen-wheeler blared around the bend with a heave of the engine. The stallion beside me whipped his head upright, his ears darting forward, and tension pulled his features tight. I brought up a gentle hand and brushed it down his neck, quickly slipping the halter from around his head just in case.
With his nerves on high alert by the strange vehicle crawling this way, now was not the time to try anything new with this boy. As casually as possible, I walked to the edge of the round pen, looped his halter over a pole, and slipped through the railing.
Despite the time spent not speaking, there wasn’t tension in the air between us. Merely time that had passed with unusual circumstances surrounding it. Though, I really wanted to discuss the fact that we hadn’t said much. I wanted to know if that was what she’d wanted, because I didn’t like it, and I was about to go all in again like I had on that cattle drive, I could feel it.
Ugh. Why was chasing a woman so different than being pursued?
“Well, let’s go say hi,” I teased, winking at Briar as I left her behind.
“Rude,” she called out, the quick sounds of her footsteps arriving close behind me.
