Authors: Claire Adams
“Mom!”
I exclaimed. “We aren’t sleeping together. Oh my God.”
“I’m
teasing you. Just be safe and go get some beautiful pictures. I don’t want to
have to sell the land for less than it’s worth.”
“Thanks,
mom; I’ll see you in the morning,” I said as I hugged her and jogged out to
meet Garrett and Forest who were standing by the horses.
Chapter 7
Garrett
“I
think my father likes you,” Sarah said as we rode out toward the river.
“Why
do you say that?”
“He
wouldn’t have let me take any other man out to the river. I honestly didn’t
think he was going to say yes.”
“Maybe
he just knows that I’ll be able to keep you safe,” I responded, not even
believing my own statement. “Or maybe you’ve got him wrapped around your little
finger?” I laughed.
The
truth was, Sarah was probably much tougher than I ever could be in the
wilderness. Although I had started to really enjoy working outdoors and being
at the Miller ranch, it had been Sarah’s home growing up. She knew more about
horses and the wilderness than I could have hoped for. I constantly felt like I
was fumbling around and doing everything horribly.
“I’ve
got my gun, don’t worry I’ll keep you safe,” she said without turning to look
at me.
She
seemed to have softened up to me and I wasn’t going to complain at all. I
wasn’t exactly sure why Sid and Meredith were agreeable to me going out to the
river with Sarah, but I wasn’t going to refuse the offer. Except for one quick
trip into the city, I had been stuck at that ranch for months. I just needed a
different view.
My
body had adjusted to the long hours and difficult work, but I was excited to
get the rest of the day and the next morning away from physical labor. Gone
were the days of spending a Sunday morning curled up on my couch with the
newspaper. I hadn’t spent a single morning sleeping in since I had arrived at
the ranch.
“How
far away is the river?”
“It’s
about two hours ride, we basically need to go up over that mountain right
there.”
“What?
We are going over that? Oh, shit.”
It
was an actual mountain. Not a small hill or even a large hill; the land
structure that Sarah pointed out was an actual mountain. It was starting to
make sense why only the two youngest and strongest horses could make the trek
and why Forest had gone over with me the importance of staying in control of
Buckjoy while I rode. The path looked extremely dangerous and I felt very
undereducated in my riding skills to be taking on such a big and dangerous
path.
“We
couldn’t drive there?”
“Not
to get to the part of the land where the river is the most beautiful. It’s
actually easier to ride than drive since there’s no roads.”
“I
feel like I’m being punk’d right now. You’re not messing with me are you? One
time Forest told me the only way to bale the hay was for me to physically roll
it. I spent three hours trying to roll that son of a bitch before Forest came
over with the baler and did it in two minutes.”
“Oh,
my God. I can’t believe I missed that,” she laughed. “So you’re telling me
you’re gullible?”
“Well,
I’m glad you did miss it. It wasn’t a very masculine moment.”
“You
seriously thought you had to hand bale the hay? Oh, man, you really have never
worked on a ranch before have you? I’m surprised you’ve lasted this long.”
“I’m
more of an office job guy,” I said mistakenly. “But I need the money and I need
the job, so I’m more than willing to learn what has to be done,” I said as I
tried to cover up my mistaken comment.
For
a brief moment, I had forgotten that I was on Sarah’s ranch for protection and
I wasn’t the man she thought I was. My FBI back-story never had me working in
an office. Instead, I was a farmer’s son who lost his parents and was heading
to a new job in the northwest. I quietly hoped that Sarah wouldn’t catch my mistake.
We
rode in silence as we followed a winding path up and over the mountain. I
wasn’t deliberately being quiet, but I felt like it took all my concentration
to work with the horse and stay on the path. Luckily, Forest had been showing
me the tips and tricks to riding and occasionally Sarah would tell me to pull
my feet in tighter or hold the reigns tighter. When we finally reached the peak
of the mountain, Sarah stopped the horses and we let them take a break.
She
grabbed her camera and took a few pictures while I stood and held onto the
horses. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to be doing, but I knew enough to
hold the horses and prevent them from getting away from us.
“Grab
that pop up bowl in my satchel and I’ll fill it with water for the horses,” she
said.
“Sure
thing,” I said, just happy to feel like I was being of some use.
“You’re
doing a pretty good job riding; I can see you’re a quick study.”
“Yeah,
more like a lucky study. I swear I forget everything until I get my hands in
there and do it myself.”
“I’m
the same way. I’d much rather learn by doing something than by having someone
tell me what to do. You can imagine how hard that made business school for me,”
she laughed.
Again,
with that laugh, I couldn’t turn away and stopped walking mid-step to watch
her. Sarah’s entire face lit up when she laughed; it was like a sneak-peek into
the real her on the other side of the giant wall she tried to keep up most of
the time. I loved it. I wanted to see it more and more and found myself trying
to think of something else that would make her laugh. But I also liked actually
talking to her, getting to know her, and learning what made her tick.
“So,
what did your father say when you asked to bring me out here with you? He
probably didn’t like the idea all that much.”
“He’s
not as unreasonable as you might think. And I did promise him separate tents.
Plus, he wants to sell off this land and to get a decent price he’s going to
have to show just how damn beautiful it gets out here.”
“Then
separate tents it will be. I am truly grateful to your father and wouldn’t do
anything to go against his wishes.”
“Nothing?”
Sarah said with a mischievous smile.
“Well,
almost nothing,” I said.
The
look on her face was so mischievous that I couldn’t help but think that she was
thinking about something naughty. I could only hope. And yes, if Sarah made a
move on me, I would have to forget about Sid Miller and just enjoy the moment
with Sarah. But I wouldn’t make a move on her. Of course, I couldn’t help
teasing and flirting, but if we were going to take it further than that, Sarah
would be the instigator and not me.
She
continued to take care of the horses and went around to check each of their
hooves while they drank their water. It was mesmerizing to watch her work with
the horses, even with Buckjoy; they loved her and seemed more than willing to
comply with anything she asked of them. It was clear that Sarah had the
confidence that animals needed in order to trust her. Even though Buckjoy
wouldn’t let Sarah ride him, he allowed her to look at his body and check how
he was holding up on our journey so far.
“So
teach me more about taking care of the horses. Why are you looking at their
shoes?”
“Come
here,” she smiled.
I
got up and tried to hold back the moan that my body felt. Riding for an hour
had used different muscles in my body than I was used to and I was already
feeling extremely sore. I did my best to straighten up and walk normally as I
made my way to Buckjoy and Sarah.
“Okay,
stand right next to his body and let your hands slide down to his hoof. You
want to give him a warning of what you’re doing and then gently lift it up so
we can look at it. Move slowly so he doesn’t feel threatened by you.”
Sarah
stood next to me and allowed me to lift Buckjoy’s right front hoof up. I looked
at it and didn’t see anything that seemed unusual. He was calm and balanced on
his other three legs while I took my time looking around to make sure he was
all right. I didn’t really know what I was looking for though and I didn’t want
to tell Sarah I had no idea what to keep my eye for.
“Okay,”
I said as I started to put it back down.
“Wait,
look right there,” she said as she pointed to a small needle looking thorn that
was poking into the middle of his foot. “We need to remove that before it gets
pushing in any further.”
She
had her body pressed up against mine as she looked at the animal and all I
could think about was how delicious she smelled. I wasn’t sure if it was her
hair shampoo or some sort of lotion on her body, but either way, she smelled so
distracting that I thought I had misheard her.
“Um,
remove?”
“Yes,
it’s long enough. Just gently grab it and pull firmly and see if it will come
out on its own. Go slow so you don’t scare him. It will hurt, so I’ll hold onto
his reigns to prevent him from running off. But be ready in case he tries to
kick you.”
I
felt my body tense up at the idea of inflicting any sort of pain on Buckjoy. I
had come to love that horse and knew he was still a wild animal. I was afraid.
It wasn’t the same kind of fear I had for the men who might try to kill me
because of my testimony, but I was afraid I would cause harm to this horse that
I cared about. Then Buckjoy would be angry with me and try and cause me harm.
“Um,
just grab it? Won’t he get angry?”
“Trust
me. He’ll be angrier if that thing gets pushed into his hoof any further. Do
you want me to do it?”
“No.
I can.”
I
already felt like Sarah was better at every task there was around the ranch, I
couldn’t show her that I was weak in this area as well. I needed to touch it
out and just do it. I held my breath and grabbed a hold of the thorn then
pulled it out quickly. Buckjoy moved a little as I pulled the thorn out, but
otherwise he stood relatively still and didn’t seem to be in pain at all.
“See,
he’ll trust you even more now because he’s not going to be in pain later.”
“Does
he know that I was helping him and not hurting him?”
“I
think so. He was probably feeling that thorn in his hoof a bit and now he knows
it’s gone. That’s how you build trust in animals. Take care of them and make
their lives easier and they’ll appreciate it.”
“Have
you always loved animals?” I asked as we finished checking Buckjoy and then sat
down.
She
paused for a moment before answering. I watched her face as she seemed to go
through several emotions before deciding exactly what she wanted to share with
me. The time she took in answering a question was one of the things I liked
about Sarah. She didn’t just give the first answer that came to her mind,
instead, she took the time to think about what she wanted to say. I wish I was
more like that.
“There
was a time when I hated it here. All I could talk about was going off to
college and then never returning. But as soon as I got to college, all I could
think about was getting back home.”
“How
did you end up in New York?”
“Really
it was all my father. He didn’t want me just returning home after getting my
fancy degree. He kept saying he wanted me to do something with myself. But I
think it was just because I had been such a rotten teenager.”
We
both laughed. I couldn’t imagine Sarah being rotten. She was kind to her
parents and kind to all the men that worked on the ranch. Even when she was
slightly annoyed with me, I could tell she was still kind under it all. She
didn’t strike me as the kind of girl who had been wild at any point of her
life.
“Well,
I bet your family is glad to have you home now.”
“I’m
not so sure about that. They are having financial troubles with the ranch and
the more I try to help, the more he pulls away. My father doesn’t want to show
me his books or let me really help him. He just wants to do it all himself.”
“I
would think with your background you probably have some great ideas for how to
make the ranch more financially successful.”
“You’re
just trying to butter me up because you’re stuck with me all night,” she
teased.
I
wasn’t just trying to butter her up. It was clear that she had a vision for the
ranch that was bigger than what was going on at the moment. With her background
in business and marketing, I would have hired her in a second to help me with
my firm. Her father could certainly use her skills with his ranch as well.
“I
think my father still sees me as a little girl. Every now and then, I see a
look in his eyes that shows me he understands I’m all grown up, but most of the
time I feel like he sees me as a teenager. One who is all about flirting with
the boys and not at all interested in farming or ranching.”
“Well,
you certainly aren’t a little girl,” I said.
My
eyes scanned over her body and lingered on all the parts that proved she was
very much an adult. The curve of her hips, her perky breasts and pouty lips—all
had my body wanting her. Craving the thoughts of her that came at night and
enjoying the ones I was having at that very moment it was distracting to me to
even allow my thoughts to linger on her.
I
couldn’t help but think of what it would be like to lay on our stretched out
blanket and make love atop that mountain. Certainly there was no one for miles
and miles, her father would never know; no one would have to know. But I stayed
in my spot and let the thought move past me as I refocused on our conversation.