A Cowboy For Christmas (15 page)

“
Mr. Henderson!” He greeted
the horse’s owner when the truck door opened. He’d picked up the
horse before, but Henderson seemed nervous about leaving him this
time.

Stepping out, the older,
thin man nodded at them both. “Hello, Brent.”

“
This is Missy Nelson.
She’s running the place along with me now,” he introduced her, not
caring if the way he did it implied they were more than business
partners. They were, whether or not she wanted to see it that
way.

Henderson flicked a thumb
back towards the horse. “He's anxious over this trip. So if he gets
too rowdy, please call me. We’ll turn around if this doesn’t work
out.”

“
We can handle it. I've had
tense hoses here before without any problems.” Brent motioned for
Missy to help lead the horse out of the trailer.

“
Well, Jumper here is a
Draft Cross
,
so I
didn’t expect him to . . . well, fit his name the way he does. We
love him, but he’s a handful. And the trip over shook him up pretty
bad.”

Brent let Jumper smell his
hand while he petted its muzzle. “Seems calm enough now. I can put
him in a stall, if that’s all right.”

“
Well . . . he’s been in
the trailer two hours longer than I planned. Our road turned into a
mud pit last night, and I had to do some digging on the way over.”
Mr. Henderson rubbed Jumper’s neck. “He might like to get out and
stretch.”

“
Alright. Come on, big boy,
time to stretch those legs,” Brent said as he led Jumper out into a
partitioned pasture. He expected Henderson to stay and watch the
horse at least a few minutes, but he looked at his watch and said
his family was already waiting for him.

“
That mud threw off our
schedule. I’m sure you’re right. He seems right at home,” Henderson
said as Brent closed the gate to the pasture.

They waved when Mr.
Henderson pulled his truck around the circle and headed
out.

“
So you think he’ll calm
down?” Missy asked as she watched the truck drive down the
road.

“
Seems to be doing fine
now,” Brent answered. “We’ll just keep him away from the other
horse. And us, as much as we can help it. Let’s give him
room.”

Together, they each hitched
a foot on a wood beam of the fence and watched the horse adjust.
Brent slid a sideways look at Missy while she focused on the horse.
Most folks without previous horse experience would be greenhorns
still. Not this lady.

While she still had a lot
to learn, she’d proved how easily she could learn it. She might not
be able to guess at a horse’s sickness, but she’d feel something
was off. That intuition was the best start she could hope
for.

Within minutes, Jumper had
circled the area and was now running and bucking. Brent got chills
up his back, but tried to shake off the unease starting to form
over him like wet dew.

“
What happened?” she asked
him. “He’s acting up again.”

“
He got scent of the
mares.” He watched the new boarder with unease as he bucked around
his section of pasture.

Missy watched Jumper, then
threw Brent a worried look. “I’m not sure Jumper and the fences are
getting along.”

“
The good news is that’s
flexi fence on the back half, and it won’t hurt a horse like wood
railing would, if they hit.” Brent paused. “But I’m starting to
wonder if he can jump them.”

No, he didn’t like this one
bit.

“
Can you calm him down or
should I bring in the mares?” Three mares grazed in their own
pasture, but it touched one corner of Jumper’s.

“
He’s spooked.” Brent
straightened. “Stay back if he gets out of control. I’ll get him
into a stall to calm down.”

* * * *

“
Don’t get hurt,” she
called to Brent before turning away. Not wanting to watch Brent
with Jumper, she entered the stables to see if Ivan had mucked out
a stall for their new arrival.

Inside, she stopped when
she saw Ivan leading Jeffery to a new stall. “What’s going on?”
Brent didn’t have anyone else care for his horse.

“
I’m almost done with a
stall for the new horse. But Jeffery’s upset about something, maybe
that new horse out there. I’m moving him further down.”

That seemed like a good
idea, but just then Brent came around the corner to lead Jumper
inside. She felt uneasy about the situation, especially when she
saw Brent’s eyes go cool and calculating. Straight fear shot up
into her stomach.

“
What’s Jeffery doing
out?”

“
Ivan’s moving him.” She
backed away from Jumper as he pawed the ground. Now closer to Ivan
and Brent’s horse, she hoped to help guide him away from Jumper and
back into a stall.

“
All right, I’m taking
Jumper back out for a minute.” Brent turned Jumper to leave just as
Jeffery reared up. Missy flattened against the wall, praying no one
would get kicked.

“
I lost him!” Ivan
exclaimed in a panic laced voice. She knew better than to get
underfoot as Jeffery charged to the exit.

Something
clanged
. Jumper bucked,
but Brent kept hold of his reins.

Still, the horses faced off
with wild eyes and flying hooves. Jeffery gave a startled horse
screech and charged past.

“
Jeffery!” The horse didn’t
slow his pace even as Brent called out. He wrestled Jumper into a
stall, slammed the door and took off at a run to find
Jeffery.

She knew she couldn't help
with Jeffery, so she tried to soothe the agitated animal they'd
just penned. She talked to Jumper the way she heard Brent talk to
the horses. “That’s right, boy, settle down. Everything’s
okay.”

“
Is he hurt?” Ivan asked
from behind her.

“
I don’t think so. Stay
with him a minute.”

She rushed outside and
spotted Brent. Jeffery hadn’t made it far. He was injured. He stood
by the fence, a hind leg lifted, as Brent approached.

“
Hey, boy, it’s just me.”
Brent took slow steps, coming up to Jeffery at an angle. He held
out his hand toward the horse’s nose. “Come on, boy. I need to see
your side.”

She stayed still to give
them space while Brent settled him down. She could make out the
wound on Jeffery’s side, where his stomach and hip met.

Ivan walked up beside her,
and they watched Brent from the stable entrance.

“
This isn’t good,” she
whispered to Ivan. “Jumper kicked Jeffery. See by his hind
leg?”

She glanced at Ivan and saw
the horror on his face.

“
It was just a
misunderstanding,” she added. As bad as things were, they could
have been much worse. She valued the horses, but not over
Brent.

She watched while Brent
looked over his horse and called the vet on his cell phone. After
squeezing Ivan’s shoulder, she walked halfway to Brent and the
horse.

“
Can I help?” she offered,
but he shook his head - a quick, don’t bother me shake - without
turning to look at her. All right, it was his horse. She backed up
to the stables, trying not to let her anxiety show.

Ivan looked nervous too, so
she suggested they clean up in the stables. A few things had been
knocked over, and the horses were making noises.

Dancer snorted when he saw
her, his way of calling her over. Ivan turned and saw her pet
him.

“
You two getting along
now?”

“
Yeah, we like each other,
don’t we?” She’d made the effort and he’d warmed up.

The worry in Ivan’s face
added to her own.

“
Why don’t you go home to
Tina?” she suggested.

Turning, she came face to
face with Dancer. “Hey, there, boy. It’s okay.”

He pawed and made noises
that she’d come to think were for agreement.

Night fell outside and the
temperature dropped. She sighed and watched her breath in the
air.

Would Brent be upset with
her what happened? She didn't know if anyone was to blame, or maybe
they all had needed to work together better.

She laid her face on
Dancer's muzzle. She enjoyed their friendship as he made soothing
noises to her. Then, at the crunch behind her, she guessed Dancer
had chosen to let Brent walk up unannounced behind them.

She glanced up and found
Brent's eyes were soft, questioning. He’d already taken his jacket
off, and pulled it around her shoulders. His cologne surrounded
her, underlain with the smell of his skin. She hugged it close
while turning to him.

“
Is Dancer calmed down?”
That quiet voice of his washed over her.

“
He’s doing good, and we’re
friends now.” She turned to the horse again, afraid to look at
Brent’s eyes because she needed to see something there, and she
wasn’t sure she would.

“
Missy.” His whisper made
her pause, and his arms wrapped around her and pulled her back
against him. She could see their breath in the night air. “Come
back to my house with me.”

That wasn’t anger in his
voice. It was flat out desire.

“
Okay.” She patted Dancer
before leaving. Brent put his arm around her. Shock ran through her
at how much she needed him.

“
It’ll be
alright.”

His words put tears in her
eyes, but she hid them by pressing her face closer to him. What had
happened today? It felt like more than an accident
occurred.

In his bedroom, he trailed
kisses all over her body while he undressed her. She felt the need
he always sparked, but her heart ached with strange emotions.
Unable to speak, she clung to him for comfort and warmth and the
fulfillment he offered. Spending their mutual need left them
entwined in each other’s arms. Cassie wasn’t sure who was holding
who, but she needed his arms around her.

“
Today reminded me of the
day Ben died,” Brent said softly. His words were soft, but she
jumped into alertness, her heart thudding hard.

Why hadn’t she seen
that?

Raising her head, she
looked into his face in the dim light. “Today wasn’t your fault.
Neither was that day.”

“
You weren’t
there.”

She didn’t care what the
facts were. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”

He shrugged, and since they
were lying down together, his shoulders moved under her. “I lost
control.”

This must be the male mind
at work. She wouldn’t argue now, but just let him talk. “Of your
horse, you mean?”

“
I wasn’t clear enough to
Ivan. I didn’t give enough weight to Jumper’s mood. I should have
checked before bringing Jumper into the stables.”

She wanted to say
what’s done is done
, but
that wouldn’t help him. This was the first time she’d seen this
side of him, one that worried and admitted weakness.

“
Jeffery will recover,
won’t he?” She grabbed unto that because she didn’t see any way to
relieve Brent’s guilt.

“
He’ll heal.”

So why couldn’t Brent let
go of it? They’d all learned something. She almost pointed out that
she was more to blame, but he’d feel bad for that, too.

“
How did you lose control
when Ben died?” she asked instead. She couldn’t have asked this
before, but he’d brought it up this time. He wanted someone to
listen, she could tell that much.

After several deep breaths,
he said, “I could have gone. I planned to, but he didn’t want to
wait. So he went and got in the accident.”

She could see why it was
hard on him, but he didn’t cause the accident or make Ben drive the
truck that day. “You didn’t ask him to go?”

“
No, but I should have just
gone.”

“
You can’t change the
past.” Wow, big revelation there. That should help him out. “I
don’t think it was your fault, and I don’t think Ben would want you
to regret that day for the rest of your life.”

What would he say to that?
He didn’t answer, but pulled her closer to him. She laid her face
on his chest and listened to him breathe.

He seemed to be waiting for
something. What else could she say? Minutes ticked by and he didn’t
go to sleep, but rubbed circles on her bare shoulders with his
hand.

She wanted to ask what he
wanted, because she felt stiffness in his shoulders. With a jump in
her heartbeat, she remembered what he wanted. Another conversation
came to mind, the tense talk they’d had that morning in his
kitchen. She’d asked him to share then, and he had demanded the
same from her.

Now what? Her heart took
off running, and she wanted to bolt from the bed, too. She noticed
his heartbeat was running a little fast as well while he waited for
her to say something.

This wasn’t something she
could throw out there on the spur of the moment. She didn’t know if
she could ever tell him.

Several slow and tense
minutes passed before he sighed. They didn’t speak again, but he
didn’t let her slip away that night.