Rancher and Protector

“How come I have this feeling it’s a lot harder than it looks?”

He pulled the saddle off and demonstrated again. But the whole time he worked with her, he found himself wondering if Logan might be wrong about her. Was that possible? Was there more to the story than met the eye? And why the hell did Colt keep thinking about his ranch all of a sudden? He hadn’t been back to Texas in years, not since he was seventeen….

Don’t go down that road again, buddy.

“Is that thing going in there?” she asked.

They’d reached the part where it was time to bridle the horse. Colt realized it was the bit she was staring at.

“It is,” he said, telling himself to smile. Except he couldn’t bring himself to do much more than say, “Don’t worry. Doesn’t hurt. He knows the deal. Watch.” He showed her how Flash had been taught to take the bit.

Could Logan be wrong? Or worse, lying?

Damn it. Colt wished he could just ask.

“Doesn’t that hurt?” she asked when the metal clunked against the gelding’s teeth.

“Only if you don’t know what you’re doing,” he said. Just focus on what you’re here to do. “But you will,” he quickly reassured her. “Here. I’ll show you.” Because that’s what he’d been hired to do—help out with the horses.

“Can I try?” she asked.

“Sure.” He slipped the bridle off again and handed it to her.

Just tough it out.

When the camp closed in eight weeks, it was back to rodeo—with his pockets full and a new horse to ride.

“Hold it from the top,” he instructed when she looked at the bridle, baffled. She moved the bit close to Flash’s mouth, but when the gelding jerked his head back, she jumped as if he’d tried to bite her.

“You know, I’m starting to think you don’t like horses,” Colt said.

“I don’t.”

He thought he misheard her. “Excuse me?”

“They intimidate the hell out of me.”

“Then what the heck are you doing here?” he found himself asking.

She looked at the animal, then at the stable where he’d come from. “This is the wave of the future,” she said. “Or at least that’s what research shows. There have been studies recently, really amazing studies, that prove an animal can connect with special needs children in a way that defies explanation. I have to do this.”

“Why?”

She flicked her chin up. “Because.”

Was it because of her nephew? Logan had admitted his son wasn’t quite “normal,” but said he just had a learning disability. Was that what drove Amber’s passion?

“If you don’t want to be afraid of horses, you need to realize something.”

“What’s that?” she asked, the bridle in her hand forgotten.

“They’re like dogs.”

“Excuse me?”

“Like a gigantic Mac,” Colt amended. “Really. Most horses are just as smart as Mac in there—sometimes smarter.”

As if his dog had been listening, Amber heard him yelp.

“Is he okay?”

“He’s fine. He just wants to be out with us.”

“That’d be okay with me.”

“No,” Colt said. “You need to focus on what I’m saying.”

“I am paying attention,” she said, eyeing the horse. “What you just told me was not to worry. That if a horse wants to kill me, it’s smart enough to know the best way to accomplish that goal.”

Against his better judgment, he smiled, but only for a moment. “Horses don’t want to kill humans. I’ve seen half a dozen jump over a rider unfortunate enough to land in front of them.”

She tipped her head sideways, her ringlets hanging over her shoulder like a bunch of grapes. “Yes, but how did that rider get in front of those horses in the first place?”

“At rodeos cowboys fall off all the time. As a matter of fact, it’s what I do for a living—jump off horses.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m a tie-down roper.”

“What’s that?”

“Someone who jumps off a running horse and wrestles steers to the ground.”

“And you do that why?”

It’s a living.

They were the first words to come to mind, even though he knew well and good there were easier ways to do that. Hell, he worked ranches during the off season. He owned a ranch. But full-time ranching? Nah. That’d been his dad’s deal. And his mom’s. And his baby sister’s—

Colt snatched the bridle from Amber. “Sorry,” he said when she looked up at him in surprise. “Let’s just get you mounted. That way you can see for yourself there’s nothing to fear.”

And he could get out of here.

“Find yourself a helmet,” he snapped.

“Helmet? You think I might fall off?”

“No,” he said. “It’s a safety precaution. I was told everyone here rides with a helmet.”