The Cowboy's Claim

by Nina Crespo

  Easy for him to say. His feet were firmly on the ground and not dangling high up. But what had Blake mentioned to her a while back? That if the rider was off balance, the horse would be, too. He’d also said that bad rider positioning and yanking on the reins could be painful for a horse. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt Moonlight.

  Chloe adjusted her hips until she felt more comfortable in the saddle.

  “Good. That’s it. Sit tall and straight and just let your legs hang down naturally.” He touched her calf, and the faint pressure of his hand through her jeans and boots was comforting. It also made her mind wander to last night, and how his caresses had felt on her skin.

  “You’re tensing up again.”

  No kidding. It was hard to relax when all she really wanted to do was go upstairs and get back in bed with him.

  “Good. That’s better. Now you’re ready. I’m going to hold on to the lead rope for now. It’s clipped to the side of the bit so she’s not going anywhere we don’t want her to go. We’re just going to walk around the arena. You’re okay. Now tell Moonlight you want her to move forward.” He took his hand from her leg and stepped back.

  The loss of his proximity made her heart pound and her mouth dry out, but she managed to make the clicking sound with her tongue against her teeth.

  Moonlight walked forward at a slow, easy pace and Chloe rocked slightly in the saddle. Every part of her wanted to pull hard on the reins, but Chloe resisted, focusing on taking complete breaths so she wouldn’t pass out.

  But her life was in the hands of a horse who could decide to bolt at any moment to chase a bird or a squirrel, leaving her hanging on for dear life! Okay, maybe horses didn’t chase things like dogs and cats, but they still had minds of their own. In fact, who knew what they were thinking? What was she thinking by letting Tristan talk her into the saddle?

  She focused on him, just ahead of her and off to the side, the end of the slack lead rope in his hand. Or more accurately, she focused on the way his shirt molded to his shoulders and back and his jeans to his taut butt. The way he looked, he could talk her into pretty much anything.

  Absorbed in the view, she almost missed it when Tristan told her to stop Moonlight near the end of the arena. He then talked her through using the reins and her legs to cue Moonlight to make turns.

  The first left turn, Chloe couldn’t stop her hands or legs from shaking. She tugged back on the reins confusing Moonlight, who took that as the sign to stop. Chloe felt as if she were about to fall.

  “Chloe, you’re fine. Balance your weight in the stirrups.” Tristan spoke to her in the same soothing tones she’d witnessed him using on the horses. She would have been irritated but it worked.

  On the second try, she managed to coordinate her hold on the reins and gently push with her foot and Moonlight made the turn.

  “Not bad. Now tell her to stop.”

  “Whoa, Moonlight.”

  The horse coming to a stop raised a hint of confidence in Chloe. Maybe Moonlight wouldn’t run off and not listen to her.

  Tristan unclipped the lead rope. “Now walk her down to the other end and keep going around so you can practice turning.”

  “You want me to go that far...on my own?” The end of the arena seemed like it was a million miles away.

  “You can do it, and I’ll be right here. I’m not going anywhere. I got you.”

  His reassuring smile and the lack of worry in his eyes melted away more of her anxiety. Tristan wouldn’t let her get hurt. After taking a long breath, Chloe clicked her tongue and Moonlight moved forward and he walked with them.

  He glanced over at her. “What happened to make you so afraid of horses?”

  “You want to know that now that I’m up here? Wouldn’t that have been a good question to ask before I got up here?”

  “Settle down. It’s okay.” Was he talking to her or Moonlight? “Now is the perfect time for you to talk about it. Moonlight probably needs to hear the reason so she can understand.”

  That was silly, of course. Moonlight couldn’t decipher what she was saying.

  Still, she released a deep breath as her mind went back in time. “When I was eleven, I convinced my mom to sign me up for a creative arts summer camp. My dad wasn’t happy about it at all. He thought it was a waste of money and I should have been going to math camp. Anyway, we had to participate in an outdoor activity every morning before we did the creative stuff. On day two, the choices were horseback riding, canoeing or miniature golf.”

  “Ahh, now I get it. A horse followed you around in your canoe, and that’s why you’re afraid of horses. That makes perfect sense.”

  “Ha ha, aren’t you the hilarious one?” But his silly joke made her smile. “If you’re going to poke fun, I’ll keep my compelling, drama-filled story of preteen angst to myself.”

  “Wouldn’t miss it. I’m listening.”

  “Well, obviously, I chose horse riding. Not because I was interested in horses, but there was a boy named Todd.”

  “You got on a horse for a boy?”

  “Don’t knock it. I’m up here because of you.”

  He huffed a chuckle. “Good point. Keep going.”

  “So, I’d noticed him when I first got there, but he hadn’t noticed me. I thought if I got on a horse...”

  “You’d get his attention. And did you?’

  “Yeah, but for all the wrong reasons.” Chloe brought Moonlight to a standstill. “We were outside the front of the barn with the riding instructor. I volunteered to be the one to help him demonstrate how to sit on a horse. A few of the boys were rowdy and the instructor pulled them aside. One of the teen camp counselors was supposed to be holding on to the horse I was on, but he was more interested in making eyes at his girlfriend who was also a camp counselor. Apparently, someone spotted a wasp’s nest and decided to poke it with a stick. The wasps got angry, people started running and screaming, and the horse got spooked and bolted.”

  Moonlight shifted around sparking memories of how the horse that day at camp had suddenly taken off down the path from the barn. Too frightened to scream as the horse jostled her, she’d tried desperately to hold on to the reins, but she couldn’t. In the present, Chloe could feel the echoes of that fear climbing through her chest.

  Tristan stroked up and down her thigh, soothing her through the memory.

  She cleared her throat and her gaze dropped to the reins in her hands. “I fell into a stack of hay bales on the side of the path. They cushioned my fall, but I ended up breaking my arm.”

  Tristan squeezed her leg. “Did you go back to camp?”

  “No.” A sad, quiet laugh slipped out. “My dad thought the accident proved that going there was a mistake. He didn’t want me to go back and my mom was so upset about me getting hurt she agreed.”

  “So you never got a chance to move past your fear.” Tristan looked down as he scuffed his boot on the ground. “As well as a few other things.”

  No. She was pretty sure her fear had to do with turning her life over to a creature with impulsive tendencies. But still... “Like what?”

  “Trusting yourself.” He looked up at her. “I’m sure your parents meant well, but I think not letting you go back to that camp and face your fear, and maybe even try riding a horse again, made you believe that falling off the horse was your fault.”

  “But it was. I made the stupid decision back then to ride one without understanding everything I needed to know.”

  “Not a stupid decision. Just a decision and in the midst of the experience you fell off a horse. And as far as learning everything you need to know, even experienced riders fall off horses. Lack of understanding isn’t what’s going to stop you from riding well. You walked away from it physically, but mentally...” He tapped his temple. “You’re still there, judging yourself.”

  She opened her mouth, prepare
d to deny it, but she hesitated, remembering what her dad had told her back then.

  People will feel sorry for you now because you got hurt, but all they’ll remember in the future is how you fell off...

  But today, “people” weren’t remembering and judging what had happened to her...only she was.

  “Let’s give your legs a rest.” Tristan motioned for her to get down and he held on to Moonlight’s bridle as she swung her leg over the saddle and dismounted.

  As she faced him, he rested his hands on her waist. “If you want this part you’re auditioning for, Ace, it isn’t about mastering how to ride a horse, you need to trust yourself and your decisions while doing it. You told me once that your parents and your brother are amazing at what they do.” His gaze held hers. “You’re no less amazing in what you do. Believe that.”

  * * *

  Tristan continued with Chloe’s lesson, making sure to take frequent breaks to give her legs and Moonlight a break. Late in the afternoon, they stopped for the day. After grooming Moonlight and getting her settled in a stall in the small stable, they went in through a side door next to the garage that led straight into what would be the laundry room once he got the washer and dryer installed.

  Chloe leaned against the wall, struggling to remove her boots.

  Tristan went over to her. “Let me help.” He bent over and as she grasped his shoulder for balance, he tugged off one then the other. “You accomplished a lot today. You did well.”

  “Thank you.” She sagged against the wall. Undoubtedly, she was stiff and sore.

  “Want some help?”

  She gave him a weary smile. “I think I can make it.”

  The laundry room opened to the kitchen. After drinking a glass of cool water, she started walking toward the stairs, but every other step Chloe winced. She wouldn’t make it up to the second floor, at least not anytime soon.

  “Come on.” He swept her up in his arms and carried her up to the bedroom.

  She nuzzled her face into his neck. “Are you going to take advantage of me?”

  “I could, but I think a long soak in the tub might hold your attention more than I could right now.”

  “Not if you were wearing your Stetson.”

  The low, sexy tone of her voice made him look twice at her face.

  “My Stetson? Why?”

  She kissed his neck and he almost stumbled as he reached the landing. “Because you look so darn sexy in it.”

  If he would have known that he would have packed it first. As he set her down in the bedroom, she winced again as she stood straight. As much as he’d love to follow through on her Stetson fantasy, she needed the tub more.

  He led her toward the bathroom where he planned to fill up the tub for her. “Since I don’t have it with me, I’ll see what I can come up with to hold your attention.”

  Chloe definitely liked his idea.

  After a long soak in the tub, she lay front down on the bed. As she rested her head on her folded arms, he massaged her tired muscles, and she moaned in pleasure and relief. He’d mixed together a concoction of oils using the jojoba and lavender-scented oils she used in her facial routine with virgin olive oil.

  “Feel good?” He kneaded the top of her right thigh.

  Under any other circumstances, touching her would have raised desire, but the loosening of her knotted muscles and the way she melted under his touch satisfied him more.

  “Better than good.” She sighed. “Did you get a lot of massages when you were bull riding?”

  He moved down her thigh to her calf. “Every now and then.” Honestly, the majority of the time, he’d just iced up and taped up. Massages were a luxury he didn’t have time for.

  “Do you miss it?”

  “Massages?”

  “Very funny. No, competing.”

  He hesitated, letting the multiple rodeos he’d been in roll through his mind. “Yeah, there are days when I do, especially the camaraderie with the other riders.” He huffed a chuckle. “But my body doesn’t—that’s my past. Making Tillbridge the best that it can be—that’s my future.”

  Her eyes drooped shut and her breathing steadied.

  Careful not to wake her, he covered her up with the sheet and comforter, then crept from the room.

  Downstairs, he grabbed the second-to-last lemon poppy seed muffin from the plate. He’d been snacking on them all day and had eaten most of them, along with the glaze.

  Bypassing the hammock he opted to sit in one of Adirondack chairs to take in the peacefulness of the early night while enjoying the last of the surprise Chloe had made for him. Did she have any idea what the muffins meant to him? Rina definitely did, but it didn’t seem that she’d told Chloe.

  As he finished and sucked the glaze off his thumb, time turned back to when Aunt Cherie made lemon poppy seed muffins for him and his father because they enjoyed them. But she had to bake them when he and his father weren’t around, and hide them in the kitchen, so he and his father wouldn’t eat them all before anyone else had a chance to get some. But the extra glaze she’d tuck away in the back of the fridge always gave it away. If he or his father spotted it, they immediately knew to start hunting around and whoever found them first, he or his father, would let the other know. And the amount of glaze they used to put on them was all kinds of wrong. They had to use bowls to eat the muffins because they were soaked with it.

  As soon as he’d tasted the glaze Chloe had made and found the muffins, he’d honestly just wanted to kiss her, and keep kissing her. To take her upstairs to his bedroom and show her how much he’d appreciated what she’d done for him. He didn’t have the words.

  He didn’t know how to explain to Chloe how easy it was to be with her, laugh with her, talk with her about everything including some difficult things from his past. Or what it had felt like those past few days, there at his home, to wake up and see her sleeping next to him. Or what he’d felt, being the one to teach her to ride a horse and watch her little by little, as the day went on, conquer her fear.

  The rightness of having her there, along with all he couldn’t put into words actually scared him a little, but it also made him happy in a way he hadn’t felt since... He couldn’t remember it had been so long.

  He released a deep breath, and sank back in the chair. But rightness didn’t change the facts. Like she’d said, being there with him for her was like a vacation. Chloe had a life to get back to...and it didn’t include him.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chloe walked from the guesthouse to the stable. As her black boots landed solidly on the gravel trail, birds chirped, welcoming the sun inching up over the horizon. A morning breeze stirred the smells of rich green pasture, fresh hay and the faint smell of...horse manure. Funny. She was actually used to it now, just before it was time to leave. She was heading for the airport in Baltimore in a few hours to catch a plane to LA...and away from Tristan. But she’d promised to meet him at the stable one last time.

  Since being at his home, they’d tried to make the most of the time they had left in between her continuing her riding lessons and his busy schedule.

  Whenever she caught a glimpse of him during the day, they had traded smiles, or when no one was watching he’d wink at her, and she’d smile even more knowing the day would end with them being together. But last night, she just couldn’t imagine resting her head on his chest, listening to his solid, steady heartbeat, and not cry her eyes out. Having to return to California early was taking away the time she’d planned on and needed to reconcile in her head and her heart about leaving Tristan.

  After the surprise party the staff had thrown for her at the stable, she’d told him she couldn’t spend the night with him because she needed to pack. Instead, she’d spent the majority of that time soaking in the tub and lying in bed awake, wielding the sharp edges of reality to cut the invisible yet tangible tie she
felt to him. She couldn’t let herself fall for him. Her life was in California and her next job could be anywhere. Tristan was just about to get back what mattered to him the most. Tillbridge. And the running of it along with the expansion he couldn’t wait to implement would take up his attention as it should.

  Chloe reached the intersection with the path leading from the stable to the arena.

  Tristan waited for her outside the stable. He had on his Stetson. Her heart tripped. He never wore it around the stable. He’d clearly done it to please her, like taking her away, teaching her how to ride a horse, massaging her aches and pains away...and all of the little things he’d done for her lately, like letting her eat the last of the strawberries they’d picked or remembering to grab the extra blanket from the closet when they’d curled up on the couch to watch TV. And how he supported her and encouraged her without hesitation. The other day, she’d confessed to him that she wanted to be a director and a producer someday. He hadn’t given her a strange look or questioned why. He’d just asked her how and when she planned to make it happen.

  Tristan believed in the ambitions for her future as easily as he believed he could teach her how to ride a horse. Suddenly, the truth hit her where there was already a hollow, dull ache growing in her chest. Her heart. She wasn’t falling for Tristan. She’d already fallen for him.

  When she reached him, he took her into a loose embrace. “Did you finish packing?”

  “Yes.”

  “How’d you sleep?” He looked more tired than usual.

  “About as well as you.”

  “Then I feel sorry for you.” He tightened his arms around her. “I tossed and turned all night. I missed having you with me.”

  “I missed you, too.” His soft morning kiss had her lifting up on her toes as warmth uncoiled and expanded through her middle.