by Lia Lee
Of course, he was going to have to figure that out for himself first.
Chapter Twenty
Maddie hadn’t managed to get more than a few hours of sleep. She felt as if she had tossed and turned all night long while Alex slept like a rock. Consequently by the time the sun was up, Maddie was out in the barn ready to get moving on the day’s chores. She didn’t want to think about Mama anymore, or worry about what was going to happen between her and Alex. She just wanted to put in a hard day’s work and forget about everything.
Picking up the handles of the wheelbarrow, she shoved it a little farther down the barn aisle. Once she was satisfied with the placement, she could begin scooping grain into the horses’ stalls one at a time. She loved to hear their low, welcoming nickers. She wasn’t deluded enough to believe that they were really glad to see her. It was the food they were excited about. But it still made her feel good to listen to their stomping as they eagerly waited for their breakfast. There were a couple of snorts and even a few enthusiastic bangs on the stall doors as they pawed to tell her that they were starving to death.
“I’m hurrying,” she murmured as she worked. “I would tell you to hold your horses, but that seems a little redundant, don’t you think?”
It was so relaxing to be there almost by herself. Curly and Lefty were both in the barn somewhere doing other chores. She could sense them, and yet they kept to themselves. It was soothing. The two grizzled veteran hands had been there ever since she could remember. They were probably more constant in her life than her father. God knew that man was never satisfied with anything she did. In stark contrast, the ranch hands were complimentary and encouraging.
Someone stepped into the aisle a few feet ahead of Maddie’s wheelbarrow. Assuming it was one of the other ranch hands, she didn’t pay him any attention.
Then he spoke, and the thin layer of Russian accent was unmistakable.
“You shouldn’t be down here pushing that around or lifting things,” Alex told her quietly.
“I’m fine.” She wasn’t going to justify herself to some guy who had probably never put in a hard day’s work in his life. “I like helping.”
“Then at least let me push that for you.”
Alex moved to grab the wheelbarrow’s handles. It was likely heavier than he thought, because he stumbled and the entire tub full of grain flipped over. He cursed in Russian and flipped the thing back upright. Maddie sighed. There was now grain all over the barn floor.
Kneeling, she began to use the scoop to return most of the faintly sticky stuff back to the wheelbarrow. It smelled pleasantly like molasses, but stuck to the dirt and stray bits of straw and hay on the packed earth floor. She carefully saved as much as she could, knowing they would have to sweep up the rest to avoid encouraging every critter within five miles to come hang out in their barn.
***
ALEX FELT LIKE an idiot. He hadn’t dreamed the wheelbarrow would be so heavy and awkward to operate. It made no sense that Maddie was hauling it around if it was that heavy and difficult to maneuver around the barn. Didn’t the men working down here know that she was a pregnant woman? She should have been at the house with her feet up and breakfast on a tray. She deserved a life of leisure, not labor.
“I’m sorry,” he said stiffly.
“No big deal.” She continued to scoop up the mess. “It happens all the time. Wheelbarrows are a little more difficult to push than you might imagine just by looking at them.”
“I just didn’t think it’d be so heavy,” he insisted. “You might hurt yourself or the child lugging that around.”
She made a noise with her mouth. Pfft. “Don’t be silly. Women aren’t rendered helpless just because they’re pregnant. I need exercise the same way I did before I got pregnant.”
“Still, it would make me feel better if you would go up to the house and lie down.” Alex thought he sounded very reasonable.
Her expression suggested that he had lost his mind. “Why would I do that? I just got out of bed!”
“You should do that because you’re carrying our child and an appropriate action for you is resting.” Why was she being so difficult? Did she not understand how vital her health was right now? Of course, her health was of importance to him all the time, but right now she was already in danger.
“Go back to the house.” Her voice was flat, the order delivered with an imperious wave of her hand. “You don’t belong here.”
“Neither do you.” He was not giving this up without a fight. Or rather, he wasn’t giving it up at all. “There is too much dust and dirt out here. What if you should come in contact with something that compromises the babe?”
“That’s what you’re worried about the most, isn’t it?” She poked him in the chest with her index finger. The aggressive gesture made him even more irritated.
“And that’s what you refuse to see lest it infringe on your desire for independence!” His temper was rising, and he needed to stop speaking before he said something he would really regret.
“Did you know that you retreat behind your formal arguments and your regal attitude when you don’t get what you want?” The derisive note in her voice cut him deeply. “The next thing you’ll try to do is issue some royal proclamation! What then? Am I supposed to just follow your imperial edicts for the rest of my life? Are your opinions more important than mine because of your bloodlines?”
***
MADDIE SHOVED THE grain scoop at his chest and spun on her heel. She could have sworn she saw a look of satisfaction on his smug face. Did he really believe she was just going to march back up to the house and go back to bed? The imbecile! Like hell she was going to follow orders like some woman who had no notion of her own value!
Maddie stalked into the tack room and grabbed a bridle off the hook. Blue was in the end stall on the right. He was getting on in years now, but her aunt took good care of her horses even into retirement age. The gelding had more gray than blue roan on his body these days. His face had once been a beautiful, blue steel color. Now it was almost all grayed with age, but he still had that look of intelligence in his dark eyes.
Maddie opened his stall door and murmured softly to him. He had just finished licking his feed bucket clean and was still chewing what was left of his grain. She held the bridle in her right hand and lifted it up toward his ears. Keeping the bit in her left palm, she gently nudged it into his mouth before securing the headstall around his ears. The well trained horse didn’t argue with her like some of her aunt’s other horses had been known to do.
Tossing the reins over his head, Maddie led him out of the stall and straight toward the mounting block outside in the ranch yard. She could feel Curly and Lefty watching, but she knew neither of them would argue. Blue stood obediently beside the mounting block. She was thankful that he wasn’t the type of horse to try and step away at the last minute. It had been an awful long time since she’d thrown a leg over a bareback horse.
Oh, but how good it felt to settle her butt on Blue’s broad back. Her thighs fit perfectly on either side of his withers, and she let her legs hang loose, her heels down to help her balance. She picked up her reins and gave a little cluck to get Blue going. The horse moved out in a nice, energetic walk, and Maddie pointed him away from the house and the barn. She would see how Alex felt once she was gone out of sight and he had no freaking clue where she was at all. Maybe then he would get the message that Madison Castillo wasn’t going to be bossed around.
Once they were several dozen yards away from the barn, Blue pricked up his ears and looked around with interest. Maddie remembered this little trail from her youth. It followed the fence line all the way down to a draw where there was an old water tank and a working windmill. She and her middle sister had ridden there almost every day when they were girls because it was the best place on the ranch to catch frogs.
Maddie gave Blue a squeeze with her calves, and he picked up a smooth, slow jog trot. Her thighs began to burn a little with the unfa
miliar exercise. Fortunately, the horse had great gaits. Had he been one of the range hand’s horses with their teeth-jarring fast trot, Maddie would have been on the ground.
“Yep,” she told Blue. “Alex is going to think twice about bossing me around.”
***
ALEX STARED AT Curly and tried to remember that he had no authority to have this man throttled. “You’re telling me that you let Maddie ride out of here on a horse with no saddle?”
Curly shrugged. “Sure. That girl used to take Blue out pretty much every morning without a saddle. They’d get in a good gallop before breakfast, and she’d come back with some sparkle in her eyes and a smile on her face.”
“And it didn’t occur to you that the woman is now much older and pregnant?” Alex demanded. He was truly struggling now. “You didn’t think that perhaps it wasn’t a good idea for her to be riding at all, much less without a saddle?”
“Sorry, Mister Alex, but women out here don’t get slowed down much by being pregnant.” Curly pulled off his cowboy hat and scratched his frizzy head. “Being pregnant is pretty much a natural thing, you know? It’s nothing to worry about.”
“She’s not a mare,” Alex shouted. “She’s a woman!” Although he had a feeling that the foaling mares on this farm very likely did not have closed circuit television cameras in their stall that allowed a midwife to keep an eye on them at all times when they got close to delivery time. Alex made certain his farm employees treated his horses as though they were made of gold. He certainly wanted to treat his woman with equal care!
Lori appeared on the scene, hands on her hips and looking confused. “What’s all the fuss down here? I could hear the yelling all the way up in my office at the house.”
“This man—” Alex gestured emphatically at Curly. “—allowed Maddie to ride off bareback this morning without even thinking to stop her!”
Lori glanced at Curly. “She take Blue?”
“Yep.” The cowhand nodded. “He’d already had his breakfast. The horse could use some exercise anyway.”
Lori bobbed her head up and down. “She’ll come back when she’s ready.”
“When she’s ready?” Alex was ready to blow his stack. “Do you have any idea what could happen out there?”
“That horse is twenty-two years old,” Lori told him quietly. “He was Maddie’s mount every summer she was here. He loves her more than anyone else. He’s always taken care of her. He’s far too range smart and cow savvy to let her get in trouble. The girl needed some time to think, Alex. Just let her be. You can’t stick her in a box and try to put a lid on her to keep her safe. She’s just not that kind of woman.”
“But,” Alex started, but Lori cut him off.
“Either you relax, or you’re going to lose her before you really have her.” Lori pointed at him. “Understand?”
Alex took a breath to speak, but realized there was nothing left to say. For all of his money, connections, and influence, he could do nothing about the situation in which he found himself. It was a most humbling experience.
Chapter Twenty-One
The breeze ruffled Maddie’s long ponytail. She gently smoothed part of Blue’s mane over to the left side. The horse was practically asleep beneath her. She had no idea how long they’d been standing on this little rocky outcrop overlooking the windmill, but the sun was starting to creep toward the high noon position. Soon it would be hotter than hell and she’d have to go back to the ranch. For now, it felt good to let the sun warm her as she sat on Blue’s broad back.
She rested one hand on the horse’s haunches and dropped the reins. It wasn’t exactly the smartest thing to do. There was always the chance of a prairie dog or something else startling her horse and causing him to take off. But Blue was as steady as they came, and Maddie was enjoying just lounging there on his back. It had been so long since she’d done this. Why hadn’t she come back? New York seemed so far away right now. She hadn’t talked to any of her clients or her boss in at least forty-eight hours. Somehow it was more tempting right now to just stay here on the ranch and raise her baby in a much simpler lifestyle.
Blue’s head dipped low, and he cocked one hind foot. The dip of his haunch made Maddie’s body weight list to one side. She rebalanced herself and sighed. It was time to go back to the ranch and face the music.
“No,” she told the gelding. “Not true. There isn’t any music to face. I didn’t do anything wrong. And if he’s going to treat me like that, I’m going to have the ranch hands throw him off the property.”
Maddie picked up her reins. She felt resolved. Blue lifted his head and sighed, but when she squeezed him with her calves he moved off obediently. She headed him down the side of the rocky hill while bracing one hand on his shoulders to keep herself from sliding right down his neck. Thankfully he was about as surefooted as a goat. They reached the bottom without incident, and she reined him back down the path toward the ranch.
She passed several of the ranch hands on her way back. They were mounted and heading out to check on cattle for the morning rounds. Each of them waved or tipped his hat to her, and Maddie realized that she got more friendliness and belonging here than she ever would have in New York. The thought brought a smile to her face. She could only imagine trying to wave to everyone she saw on her way to catch the subway each morning. They’d look at her like she was insane right before they shoved her out of their way. New Yorkers were always in a hurry and usually pretty grumpy to boot.
Blue’s walk got a little faster the closer they got to the barn. No doubt the old horse was ready for some hay and a nap. She kept him to a walk and stroked his neck to calm him down. She wondered what was going to greet her when she got back. Would Alex be waiting with arms crossed and foot tapping?
“A little dramatic, aren’t I?” she commented to Blue.
The gelding didn’t seem to have an opinion, and it made Maddie laugh to realize that she was so used to having people around that she was apparently determined to talk to her horse if there was nobody else available.
The house came into view. Maddie admired the way the sun glinted off her aunt’s two stained glass windows. The old rosebush patterned glass had been part of the house since it was built four generations ago. Maddie had always loved the feeling of connection she had when she saw them. This was the house her ancestors had lived in. Now it was her aunt’s, and when she was a kid Maddie had always assumed she’d be the next Castillo to own the place. When had that changed? When had she changed?
Maddie and Blue returned to a deserted ranch yard. Maddie actually paused for a minute because she was absolutely certain it was some kind of trick. Surely Alex was hiding out somewhere waiting for her to dismount so he could yell at her. Right?
Except there was nobody. Maddie frowned a little, but then she dismounted. Her immediate response when her feet hit the ground was to groan. It had been far too long since she’d been on a horse. Her riding muscles were out of practice, and her inner thighs and lower back were screaming a reminder that she’d been neglecting exercise of pretty much every kind lately.
“Let’s get you back to your stall, boy,” Maddie murmured to Blue. “If you don’t mind, I’m just going to hang off your neck until I’m sure I can stay upright.”
If horses could laugh, Maddie was pretty sure Blue would have been chuckling to himself as she hobbled her way back to his stall. She put him in the roomy box stall and then pulled the bridle off over his ears. He shook his head and turned immediately to the pile of hay in the corner. Obviously their ride hadn’t affected the old guy one bit.
Maddie had a little smile on her face as she went to wipe off the bridle and hang it in the tack room. So Alex was going to wait for her up at the house to yell. Fine. She could take whatever he had to dish out.
***
“AH, AH, AH!” Lori wagged her finger at Alex, causing him to glower at her. “You promised you were going to play it cool. Remember?”
“I remember you told me that if
I didn’t promise to do just that, you were going to send me on an errand to town with Lefty,” Alex retorted.
He stared at the tabletop and forced himself to drink the bitter coffee in his mug. The scalding hot beverage was nothing like the sweet European coffees he was used to drinking or the Russian coffee laced with vodka he often enjoyed while in Moscow. Right now the taste didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was somehow finding a way to make things right with Maddie. If that meant he was going to sit here at this table and pretend that he wasn’t freaking out about her early morning ride, then he would pretend like hell.
“Here she is,” Lori said warmly as Maddie stepped into the kitchen through the back door.
“Just took Blue for a little ride,” Maddie told her aunt. “You know how nice it is down at the windmill in the mornings.”
“Did you go up the hill?” Lori asked. “You always used to do that when you were a girl.”
Maddie nodded and took a seat. She was moving stiffly, and Alex was fully aware that so far she seemed to be ignoring him on purpose.
Lori poured Maddie a cup of coffee and set it on the table. Then she dished up a good portion of bacon, eggs, and pancakes to put on the table for Maddie as well.
Maddie stared at Alex. “You’re not eating?”
“I already had my breakfast.” Why would she talk to him about food but not about anything important? She hadn’t even acknowledged him other than to ask why he wasn’t eating. Preposterous!
“Maddie, can we talk?” Alex ventured.
She picked up her fork and cut a big wedge of pancakes. “Not if you’re going to be bossy.”
He watched her shovel food into her mouth and realized she was probably famished. Perhaps letting her eat would make her more reasonable?
“I’m not trying to be bossy,” he said slowly. “I’m concerned.”
“You want to put me in a box and keep me in your pocket.” She waved her fork in the air and chewed until her mouth was empty once more. “I can’t do that for the next seven months or so.”