Adam (13 page)

Adam shook out the lasso and started looking for something he could use as a snubbing post. Not too far away stood a mediumsize live oak.

Adam didn't hesitate. He walked slowly toward the Brahma, which began to snort and paw at the ground in agitation. The bull's attention was definitely on Adam now, not Tate.

“Please don't come any closer, Adam,” Tate said quietly.

“Don't worry. I've got this all worked out.” If he missed his throw, he was going to run like hell and hope he got to the fence before the Brahma got to him.

But Adam's loop sang through the air and landed neatly around the Brahma's horns. He let out the rope as he ran for the live oak. He circled the tree several times, enough to make sure the rope was going to hold when the bull hit the end of it.

By then, Tate had realized what he was doing. She raced her mare to the live oak, took her foot out of the stirrup so Adam could quickly mount behind her, then kicked the mare into a gallop that took them out of harm's way.

The Brahma charged after them, but was brought up short by the rope that held it hog-tied to the tree.

Tate rode the mare back to the gate, where Adam slipped over the horse's rump, and quickly opened the gate for her. Once she was through, he fastened the gate, and reached up to pull her off the mare.

They clutched each other tightly, well aware of the calamity they had barely escaped. As soon as their initial relief was past, they began talking at the same time, amazed by the fact that they had found each other alive and well and unhurt.

“Maria told me the bull had stomped you!”

“She told me you had been thrown from your horse!”

“I wasn't thrown!”

“I wasn't stomped!”

The realization dawned for both at the same time that they had been manipulated into coming here under false pretenses.

“I'll kill her!” Adam said.

“I think you should give her a raise,” Tate said with a laugh.

“Why? She nearly got us both killed!”

“Because she made me realize I've been a fool not to believe what I know in my heart is true.”

“I do love you, Tate,” Adam said. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her hard. “I do love you.”

“I know. And I love you. When I thought you might be dying—or dead—I realized just how much.”

“When I thought something might have happened to you, I felt the same,” Adam said. “I should have been saying ‘I love you' every day. I love you, Tate. I love you. I love you.”

Adam punctuated each statement with a kiss that was more fervent than the one before.

Tate was having trouble catching her breath. She managed to say, “Adam, we have to do something about that bull.”

“Let him find his own heifer,” Adam murmured against her throat.

Tate laughed. “We can't just leave him tied up like that.”

“I'll send Buck and the boys back to take care of him and to pick up your mare. We have more important things to do this afternoon.”

“Like what?”

“Like plotting how we're going to get even with Maria.”

As they drove back toward the ranch house, Adam and Tate plotted imaginative punishments they could wreak on the
housekeeper for lying to them. It wasn't an easy job, considering how they had to balance her dubious methods against her very satisfying results.

“I think the best thing we could do is have about five children,” Adam said.

Tate gulped. “Five?”

“Sure. That'll fix Maria, all right. She'll have the little devils sitting on her lap and tugging at her skirts for a good long while!”

“Serves her right!” Tate agreed with a grin.

Adam stopped the pickup in front of the ranch house, grabbed Tate's hand and went running inside to find the housekeeper.

“Maria!” he shouted. “Where are you?” He headed for the kitchen, dragging Tate along behind him.

“Here's a note on the refrigerator,” Tate said.

“What's it say?”

Tate held the note out to Adam.

Adam laughed and pulled Tate into his embrace—where the first of Maria's little devils promptly kicked his father in the stomach.

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