Cowboys And Cradles

“Yeah,” he acknowledged, “when I was young and stupid.”

Although he’d certainly been young once, she didn’t believe for a second that this man had ever been less than intelligent. Reckless, perhaps. Stupid, never. “What happened?”

“I landed on the head I was trying to stand on.”

Now she gave in to the wince she’d held back earlier. “That’s a mental picture I can do without. Recent experience has proved it’s painful enough landing on the other end.” She let out a breath. “I have to admit I’ve been waiting to hear you say I told you so.”

“I told you so.”

His all-too-ready response had her grumbling. “Guess I should have kept my mouth shut.” But there was no real heat in that statement. “Is Sable following us?”

Ryder’s chin brushed her temple as he turned his head. “She’s there, all right, keeping her distance and having a great time, judging by the way she’s dancing around.”

Despite her exhaustion, Eve’s jaw set with determination. “I’m going to ride her again.”

“Eve—”

“But not outside a corral for the time being,” she assured him before he could continue the stern warning she was sure would have followed. “Not until I feel I can handle her no matter what we come across.”

His tone turned wry in a flash. “Does that include dead mesquite branches?”

Eve still had her pride, and she was sticking to her story. “It looked like a damned snake.”

RYDER VIEWED the sight of ranch buildings in the distance with sheer relief, grateful to know they were almost there. The return ride had seemed endless, and time had little to do with it. He assumed Eve was at least half-asleep, since she hadn’t said a word in some time and now leaned heavily against him, obviously totally relaxed.

He, on the other hand, was as tense as a steel fence post and quietly going crazy.

Even if Eve had been fully awake, her backside might be too numb to feel what pressed against it with growing enthusiasm, unmistakable evidence of a physical reaction he’d tried to curb. And failed. Thoughts of ranch business, which normally won his full attention, had proved to be no match for the lure of a woman’s softness.

And added to that, he supposed, was what he’d learned today about this particular woman.

Eve Terry could take it when the going got tough, and she did it without complaint. With some people, he knew the whining would have long since started. Hell, being thrown from a horse and then coping with a possible snakebite would have left more than a few shaken to the point of tears, not to mention hysterics.