The kid should be afraid. Dade was going to kick his ass. You never left a rider alone, specifically not one that had never ridden the trail before. His mind began dredging up all kinds of horrible scenarios. Tightness gripped his chest, making it hard to breathe. Damn it, who knew what kind of trouble Lizzy could be in.
The dread inside him felt like an abyss, ready to swallow him whole. “Sonofabitch.”
“Calm down, Dade.” His brother placed a hand on his shoulder. “All our horses know the way back home. Who was she riding, Jesse?”
“Molly.”
Good. Molly was a good horse. She would get Lizzy back to the ranch, even in the dark.
The sound of thundering hooves pounded through the barn. Relief poured through him as he turned, fully expecting to see Lizzy atop Molly entering the barn. His relief was short lived as the horse came in without a rider. The mare trotted around, eyes wide, nostrils flaring. Something had spooked the horse which caused his fear to skyrocket. If Molly was spooked, and Lizzy was nowhere to be seen, then something bad must have happened.
“Saddle up Thunder.” The harsh demanded was torn from his throat.
Jesse hurried to comply, fear and guilt evident in his every move.
Yeah, you better be sorry.
Staying with a riding partner was rule number one. The kid screwed up. Dade was thinking about changing his opinion of liking him.
Grabbing one of the emergency saddlebags they kept on the wall, he tossed it to the hand who affixed it to Thunder’s saddle.
“What are you doing, Dade?”
“I’m going to find Lizzy.”
“That storm’s going to start pouring any minute now.”
He glared at his brother. “I know. That’s why I have to find her. Now.”
His little brother held up his hand in defense. “I wasn’t trying to stop you. In fact, I’ll come along.”
“No.” He held his brother back with a hand to the chest. “You stay here with Maggie. She’ll be worried sick enough as it is. I know the trails better than anyone. I’ll find Lizzy and bring her back home.”
Colton looked as if he might argue for a minute. Then he simply nodded his head and slapped him on the shoulder. “Good luck, and be careful.”
He grunted because, at this point, words were beyond him. In his mind, he just kept seeing Lizzy out in that dark storm all alone with who knew what manner of creature out to get her.
Shaking off the mental image, he took Thunder’s reins from a somber Jesse, and mounted the horse as the hand told him where he’d left Lizzy. The thoroughbred had a great nose for tracking. He just prayed he found Lizzy before it was too late.
Dade followed the trail for almost a half an hour before he reached the halfway point and continued to the rise at the top of a hill, a few miles from the ranch. It held stunning views, but at the moment, all he was hoping to see was Lizzy.
Thunder stamped his hooves and sniffed at the ground. Horses, sometimes they were better than tracking dogs.
“What is it fella? Was Molly here?”
Thunder and Molly had a thing going lately. The two could sniff each other out in a tornado.
He dismounted and scanned the area. Hoof prints. They had stopped here, but didn’t seem to go any farther on the trail. This must have been where Molly turned back, but where the hell was Lizzy?
It was getting darker. Shit. He was running out of time. He needed to find her before all the light was gone and the storm hit. Once that happened…
Dade didn’t want to think that.
He grabbed a flashlight from his emergency bag. Shining the powerful beam across the ground, he spotted something that made his heart stop and his body turn cold.
Blood.
It could be from an animal. There’s no reason to panic.
He knelt down and examined the blood smeared on a large rock. Looked as if something had fallen and struck itself. Animals weren’t known to just fall onto rocks, but people, people fell all the time. A fall from the saddle could cause someone to hit their head on a rock like this.
Shit!
“Lizzy!” he called out into the darkness.
Terror seized him. Where was she? Was she okay? Oh God, he couldn’t do this. Not again.
She was fine, she had to be fine.
Only the howl of wind answered him. The storm was picking up. He had to find her now. “Elizabeth!”
Thunder shifted nervously. The horse’s instincts were telling the animal to find shelter.
How far could she have gotten? How bad was her injury? Why the hell did she wander off? Didn’t she know you were supposed to stay put when lost? Unless, she hadn’t wandered off. Dade grew up in these mountains. He knew how dangerous they could be. Did she run into a bear or mountain lion?
“Goddammit, Lizzy, you answer me!” Fear, anger, and desperation choked him.
A sound so weak he almost dismissed it came from the bushes to his far left. Could be an animal scared from the storm, a rabbit, fox, or other kind of small creature. He shouldn’t get his hopes up—
“Dade?”
That was no animal.
Rushing over to the bushes, he pushed aside the leafy branches. Huddling on the ground, arms wrapped around her knees, sat a very scared looking Elizabeth Hayworth. His heart dropped back into his chest as he breathed a sigh of relief.
Her pale gray gaze rose to meet his. The fear immediately disappeared, replaced with stark relief. “Dade!” She launched herself up and into his arms.
He stumbled back from the force. Wrapping his arms around her, he sent up a silent prayer of thanks. She was safe. He had found her in time.
“Oh God, I was so scared. There was a rattlesnake, and Molly got frightened. She bucked me, and I must have passed out. When I woke up, she was gone, and it was dark and I just—”
She was babbling. Not surprising. She had had one hell of a scare.
“Why didn’t you answer me?” he asked, still clutching her tight.
“I was scared. I wasn’t sure it was you.”
“Who the hell else would it be?”
“Don’t yell at me!”
“I’m sorry.” He kissed the top of her head, smoothing a hand down her back for comfort. It wasn’t her fault she scared ten years off his life. Snakes scared horses, even the most experienced rider would get bucked. “I was just worried.”
She pulled back, those stormy gray eyes searching his. “You were?”
Damn, he wanted to kiss her. She’d let him. It was written all over her face. He wanted to pull her closer and devour her mouth with his. He wanted to rip their clothes off and confirm she was alive in the most primal of ways. But now was neither the time, nor the place. The storm was moving in fast, and they needed to get to shelter.
“We have to move. Are you hurt?”
“I don’t think so.”
“I saw blood on a rock. Did you hit something when you fell?”
Her eyes widened, hand going to her head. She winced. “I think I hit my head.”
Dade ran his hands through her hair, over her scalp. He tried not to notice how smooth and silky her hair was. How good it felt along his fingers.
There was a small cut on the right side of her head just above her ear. A lump was already starting to form, but it was slight. The loss of consciousness worried him. Might be a concussion.
A bolt of lightning lit the sky, followed closely by a crack of thunder. Thunder—the horse, not the weather phenomenon—whinnied. He was scared, and it was only a matter of minutes before the animal bolted.
He went to his horse, unhooked the emergency bag from the saddle, pulled a blue cloth out from a small zippered pocket and tied it to the horn of Thunder’s saddle.
Giving the horse a light smack on the rump, he called out a loud, “Heeyaw!”
The large animal ran, full out, back down the trail toward the ranch.
“What did you do that for?” Lizzy asked, her gaze wide.
“We can’
t make it back to the ranch. Not before the storm moves in. Thunder would freak with all the lightning and loud claps. I don’t want to risk you getting thrown again.”
Hugging her arms around herself, she looked like a frightened child instead of the sassy, sexy woman who handed his ass to him on more than one occasion.
“What are we going to do?”
Slinging the bag across his back, he motioned with the flashlight beam. “There’s a hunting shack less than a mile from here. It’s not much, but there’s a fireplace and warm blankets. We can ride out the storm and hike back down in the morning.”
“Won’t the others be worried about us?”
“I sent Colt a signal we’re okay.”
The blue cloth. Cell reception was spotty in these mountains, so he and his brother had a few ways to communicate. A blue, yellow, and red cloth tucked away in each of the emergency bags. Blue meant everything was okay, yellow things were dicey, and red was emergency status.
He held out his hand. She hesitated only a moment before grasping it, allowing him to tug her along. Another crack of thunder deafened them as lightning illuminated the growing darkness.
“Don’t worry, Lizzy, we’ll be okay.”
The moment he spoke the words, the skies opened up.
He should have kept his big mouth shut.
Chapter 16
Dade started running. Lizzy had no choice but to try and keep up. Their hands still entwined, he hauled her along with him. It was dark now, and the rain was pouring down, running into her eyes. Hopefully, he could see where he was going, because she was blind as a bat.
A loud crack of thunder reverberated in the air. She tried to squelch her fear. They had to get to shelter. Freaking out wasn’t going to help anything. The odds of getting struck by lightning were slim, right?
“It’s just a few more yards away. See it?” Dade’s voice, muffled by the storm, yelled back to her.
No. She couldn’t see anything. Not even his broad, sexy shoulders two feet in front of her.
“Watch the step.”
Step? What step?
She almost tripped as her foot hit a plank of wood slightly higher than the ground. Suddenly, the rain stopped. Swiping the wet hanks of hair out of her face, she looked around and saw the rain hadn’t stopped, they just found cover.
The shack.
Shack was the appropriate term, too. The tiny structure sported a small wooden awning, which they were currently huddled under, and looked as if a strong breeze could blow it down. Not a good sign considering the windy, rainy storm going on around them.
Dade opened the weather worn door and motioned her in with the flashlight beam.
It might have looked like it was ready to fall down at any moment, but it was dry inside. She’d take her chances. Dade quickly followed and shut the door, blocking out most of the noises from the storm.
It was dark and musty inside. She stood still, shivering from the damp chill. Now that she was out of the rain and the immediate danger was over, cold set in. She was soaking wet. Ugh, even her socks were all damp and squishy in her shoes. She hated wet socks.
At least I’m alive.
There’d been a moment there, before Dade arrived, she was afraid no one would ever find her. The unfamiliar noises she kept hearing were bears coming to eat her, she’d been sure of it. Hey, Boo Boo, there’s a stupid city girl lost in our woods. Much tastier than a picnic basket. Let’s eat her. She must have been losing her mind out there if the thought of a loveable cartoon bear was terrifying.
Dade moved about the small room. She heard some noise like paper crinkling and a match being struck. Then the corner of the room lit up as a fire crackled to life. The flames cast a warm glow over the small shack and over the big, sexy cowboy knelt next to the fireplace, stoking the small blaze to life.
Damn, the man looked good bathed in firelight. All the harsh planes of his face were softened. If she weren’t freezing her buns off, she’d think it was kind of a romantic moment. Two people, alone in the woods, cozy shack, roaring fire. It was like a scene straight out of those romance novels she loved so much.
Glancing about the shack, she saw it was very, very small. There was just the one room. A tiny table with one chair sat in one corner. A very old sink with a pump spout took up a side of the wall. There was a large trunk at the end of a small cot on the opposite wall. It was no hotel Ritz, but with the fire blazing, the small space warmed up fast.
“We need to get out of these wet clothes.”
She turned to face Dade. He stood now, unbuttoning the flannel, long sleeve shirt dripping rainwater onto the floor.
“That was the lamest come on I’ve heard in a while, cowpoke.”
He stopped undressing to glance up. She was both relieved and disappointed. Seeing Dade’s fine, naked bod would be a sight she would remember fondly for the rest of her life. She could take out the memory on a dark, lonely night.
But he’d made it clear he wanted nothing to do with her, so she’d just as soon not see what she was missing.
“If you wanted to see the goods, all you had to do was ask.” She was being sarcastic, but she was cold, tired, and just had an awful scare.
When she’d woken up in the dark, all alone, she feared she would never make it back to the ranch. Thoughts of being eaten by a wild animal, or getting lost and dying of starvation had swarmed her mind. So, she hid in the bushes like a coward. She wasn’t proud of it, but she’d been terrified. Still was to be perfectly honest.
Some of that fear must have shown on her face, because before she knew what was happening, he reached out, pulling her into his arms. She resisted for half a second before wrapping her arms around his waist and burying her head against his strong, soaked chest.
“You’re okay now, Lizzy.”
The deep, soothing voice was the last straw. Tears she had been holding back broke free in racking sobs. He said nothing, just held her, running a soothing hand up and down her back.
When the waterworks finally subsided, she lifted her head and gave him a wobbly smile. “Sorry. I’m usually not such a crybaby about things.”
He smiled, revealing those twin dimples that made her heart skip a beat.
“Hey, you got knocked unconscious and left all alone in the woods. That would freak out anybody.” His smile turned to a frown. “It shouldn’t have happened. Jesse never should have left you alone.”
“Don’t blame him. I said I’d be right behind him. He didn’t know there was a snake there.” She didn’t want the nice, young ranch hand to get into trouble on her account.
“Rules of the ride, sweetheart. You never leave a trail buddy. And everyone knows this is rattlesnake country.”
She sucked in a breath and wondered if he even realized he’d used the endearment. Another one of his mixed signals? The man really needed to make up his mind already.
A shiver racked her body. The fire was warm, but her clothes were wet and cold. Her teeth started to chatter.
“We really need to get dry and warm. Hypothermia is no joke around here.”
Going to the large trunk, he opened it and pulled out an armload of what looked like quilts. He set them on the cot, grabbing one off the top and handing it to her.
“There’s a bathroom over there,” he said, nodding his head toward a door by the sink she hadn’t noticed earlier. “No shower, but there is a toilet and sink. You can change in there. Wrap yourself up in this and bring your clothes out here. I’ll set them by the fire to dry.”
Taking the quilt from his hand, she went up on her toes, brushed her lips against his cheek and murmured a thank you, before making her way to the door.
The bathroom was so small she had a hard time maneuvering in it, but she managed. Once she stripped off her sopping wet clothes, she made use of the toilet, thanking the powers that be for the convenience. She was really glad she didn’t have to go outside to find a bush in this weather.
The sink had a pump spout, just like the on
e in the other room. She pumped until a trickle of water came out. Using the cracked square of what she hoped was soap she found on the edge of the sink, she lathered under the cold stream. No water heater, she guessed. She scrubbed her hands and face, then wrapped the quilt around her, toga style. It wasn’t the steaming hot shower she had been longing for, but it was better than a night in the freezing rain. Grabbing her pile of wet clothes, she opened the bathroom door.
Dade spread a quilt on the floor in front of the fire. A smaller quilt wrapped around his lean hips. His clothes were laid out on the table to dry. She stared at the bare expanse of his chest. Firelight played tricks with the curves and planes of his sculpted body. He wasn’t like the men back in LA who had personal trainers and visited plastic surgeons to get the perfect body. Dade’s body was a road map of hard work. The definition from daily manual labor—those abs weren’t from CrossFit, they were from plain old being fit. Ranch life kept him in perfect physical shape.
Yeehaw.
Just thinking about running her hands down that delicious chest to those rock hard abs, curling her fingers around the quilt and pulling it free to see if every inch of him was just as perfect, made her want to scream. Instead, she kept her head and hormones in check. Stepping farther into the room, she carefully laid out her clothes on the chair by the table to dry.
He heard her movement and glanced up. His gaze roamed over her. A hunger lit the blue depths. It felt like a caress. Her nipples tightened, pressing insistently against the quilt, begging for him to reach out and touch them. Suddenly, it was very, very hot in the small shack. But then, just as suddenly, he broke contact, turning from her. The moment was gone.
He grabbed some things from the bag he had taken off his horse and beckoned to her. “I want to check your wound again before we turn in for the night.”
Her hand reached up to the spot where she had fallen on the rock. “It’s fine.”
He held out a hand. “Let me be the judge of that.”
Seeing Dade there in the firelight, nothing but a quilt covering each of them, his hand beckoning to her…it was too much of a temptation. He’d made his position clear, and she would not make a fool of herself by going over there and begging him to take her.
Love on the Wild Side Page 10
