Rafe: (Contemporary Western Romance) (New Horizon Ranch: Mule Hollow Book 2)

by Debra Clopton

  She shot him a glare right back. “What can I say, I love my job but I am a girl.”

  They continued to tease each other all through the meal. Sadie enjoyed being around the whole group.

  “Do you ride?” Rafe asked her when they’d finished eating.

  “I’ve…ridden at the stables some.” There was a stable near the exclusive neighborhood where she’d been raised and her parents had made it a point to have her ride. But she’d never ridden in the open pastures.

  “That’s good. I need to ride out and check on some strays, so would you like to come along? It’ll give you some fresh air and new perspective.”

  “I need to take the truck bac-”

  “Maddie was getting ready to head back to meet Cliff. Hey, Maddie instead of loading up your ride I think I’m going to take Sadie with me to check the calves. What do you think?”

  “That’s perfect. Sadie if you’re going to be here you need to see the ranch the way we do. You’ll love it. This place is amazing. Do you live in the country or in the city?”

  “I live in the city, not downtown but my apartment isn’t in the country at all. And my mother live close.”

  Everyone stopped eating to look at her as if she was an alien from outer space or something.

  Ty hiked a very nice eyebrow beneath his cowboy hat. “That should be against the law, living among all that concrete.”

  She laughed when several grunts of agreement sounded from the cowboys.

  “I happen to like living near the mall and civilization.” That had everyone halting their chewing to gawk at her.

  Maddie nudged her. “These boys would never, ever understand that statement so don’t even try to state your case. Just hop on my horse and see the other side of the coin. You don’t have to love it but I bet you’ll like it a lot. At least you’ll understand why you’re getting the evil eye from these spur wearing, slow drawling, handsome hunks of pure male ty-test-ter-rone.”

  The way she said testosterone caused the evil eyed cowboys to nearly fall over with laughter and more grunts of approval. Rafe smiled lazily at her and she was certain he had been having a very good time watching the exchange.

  Rafe didn’t waste any time in getting Sadie on Maddie’s horse and riding beside him across the pasture. He wanted to get to know her better and there was no time like now. He also wanted to know what she was thinking and feeling. If he could help her then he wanted to do that. And that included finding out more about this supposed ex-fiancé who believed she was going to show up on Saturday night despite what he’d done to her.

  Not if he could help it.

  “You ride good,” he said, watching her move easily with the horse.

  “I’m a little stiff.”

  “You looked nervous too, but that's probably because you needed some time to relax and get used to being in the saddle again. But you’ve got it.”

  She shot him an appreciative look between a smile and grimace and he laughed. “Come on, it’s not that bad.”

  “No, I was just thinking about being sore tomorrow after letting you talk me into this.”

  “Oh, yeah, you might be right about that if we ride too long. If you enjoy riding though there are plenty of horses so any time you want to just let me know.”

  “Thanks. This place really is beautiful and that pasture there is so green.”

  They’d ridden across the open pasture and were almost to a stand of oak trees surrounded by a carpet of lush green grass. He dismounted and opened the gate. “We’ve got oats planted in this area so we have to keep the cattle out for now. That’s what you’re seeing that’s so green.”

  “I imagine the cattle can’t wait. You know, with the grass truly being greener on the other side of the fence right now.”

  “So you have a little humor going on inside that pretty head of yours.”

  She laughed as he closed the gate behind her then swung back into his saddle. “I wear a bunny costume remember. I have to have a little personality to pull that off.”

  “True. So, tell me about that. What got you started wearing that cute little cottontail outfit?”

  She tossed her hair over her shoulder and her eyes twinkled when she looked his way. “I just wanted to make kids smile.”

  “Yes, but you chose sick kids to make smile.”

  “Not always. I go to women’s shelters and do programs for the children who are there like I’m going to do at the shelter here in town. I do a lot of different things.”

  “I admire you for that. What got you started?”

  She looked almost embarrassed as she looked away and they rode in silence for a moment. “Okay, so, here goes. I was sitting at a stop sign one day and believe it or not I glance over at this car on the side of the road that has steam billowing from beneath the hood. It had obviously just pulled over because in that moment the door opened and a headless bunny stepped out-”

  “No way-”

  “Scouts honor. Very similar to the way you found me. She frantically waved me down and I pulled over as much out of shock as anything. She was on her way to see a bunch of kids at a pediatric ward and she was almost in tears worrying that she was going to stand them up since her car was broken down. I told her I’d take her and I did. She’d been very sick as a kid, had a brain tumor that they’d been able to remove but she’d spent a lot of time in the pediatric ward and this was her way of giving back.”

  “Wow. I never thought of something like that.”

  “Me either. I went in with her and it really kind of scared me at first. You know, I was just out of my element but when I saw the excitement on those little faces and the way they responded to Amber it just…oh Rafe, there are just no words to explain what it did to me. It grabbed hold of me and I knew I wanted to see more of that. Within a month Amber had me in a suit and helped me start my volunteer program. I’ve been doing this for about two months now.”

  “That’s incredible.”

  “I love it.”

  “So, what do you do to make a living?”

  “I-I live off of a trust.”

  He caught the embarrassed way she said the statement. He had to admit that she didn’t strike him as the type to live off of daddy’s money full-time. He wasn’t exactly sure how to react to that, it was such a different picture than what he’d assumed. “That must be nice.”

  She colored a deep burgundy. “Yeah, tell me about it.” She stiffened and didn’t look at him.

  He pulled his horse to a halt. “Whoa, I didn’t mean to judge you.”

  “Why not. Up until that day I had no real problem drawing my allowance and believing I deserved it just because my granddad had a few oil wells.”

  “I don’t believe that.”

  “Oh, believe it. It’s true. And thus, in part the reason I was engaged to Andrew in the first place. He’s everything my mother hoped for in a match for me. Ever since my father passed away a few years ago she’s been obsessed with finding me the right kind of husband. And I just went along with it because…”

  “Because why?” Rafe didn’t know what to think from the information he was getting. If he’d hoped to get to know Sadie better he’d certainly learned more about her but know her-he was completely lost in the dark now on that subject. Sadie wasn’t matching up to anything he’d assumed about her. And he wasn’t sure he was liking what he was hearing.

  They’d reached the other pasture and Rafe dismounted to open it and waited while she walked her horse through. He was silent and she didn’t blame him. Sometimes Sadie looked back on herself and wondered what had she been thinking. It was as if she’d been sleepwalking through her life until Amber had shown her another world. A world that grabbed her by the heart and had made her start questioning everything about herself. Even her engagement.

  And now, she’d met a man who stirred things deep within her heart and caused her to know that calling off the wedding had been the right thing to do even if she hadn’t caught Andrew with his girlfriend. It
was the right thing to do because she didn’t love him like she’d dreamed of loving someone one day. She’d simply been settling.

  And now, she’d met this wonderful cowboy who, as crazy as it seemed, had in the short time since they’d met captured more of her heart than anyone ever had. And now with his quietness she knew he was wondering how she could have lived her whole life in such a vacuum.

  “The calves and cattle we’re looking for are going to be in this pasture since this is where we moved them from last,” he said when he was back in the saddle. “At least that’s what we hope. If not then they’ve somehow gotten into other pastures and will take longer to locate.”

  “Could they be in those trees?” She asked feeling awkward suddenly. He’d asked why and she’d yet to answer him.

  “That’s where we’re going. We counted earlier and we’re missing one that should have been in the group we were vaccinating.”

  Sadie followed him into the shadows of the trees. The sunlight filtered through the thick canopy giving a hazy aura to the woods that reminded her of the haze in her emotions at the moment as she studied Rafe’s solid back. Tangled underbrush lined the area but the horses kept their feet on the thin trail weaving through the trees. “What made this trail?” she asked, more for something to fill the awkward silence between them.

  “The cows. They come in here when they’re hot and nosey.”

  They had ridden fairly deep into the woods and she could hear the gurgle of water and realized there was water, a stream or a river or something further into the woods. And sure enough within moments they were at the edge of a pretty good sized stream.

  “Rafe, a calf. It’s stuck in the mud.” She headed her horse down the bank. Rafe was behind her but she hurried toward the calf. It was mired deeply in the mucky water. Sadie scrambled out of her saddle before Rafe caught up to her.

  It wasn’t too big of a calf but it wasn’t tiny either and yet it was lying on its side with all of its legs but one front one out of sight, buried in the mud.

  “Sadie, stop,” Rafe called but she was already ankle deep in the mud determined to help the poor calf.

  The black calf had been in the mud long enough that it barely had made a sound as she headed its way. She didn’t hesitate as she reached the baby and despite that she was so knee deep in the mud she slugged to stand behind it, bent forward and tried to lift it.

  “Sadie.”

  She looked at him, his shock at her actions was written on his face. “We need to get him out,” she said, ignoring the idea that he probably thought she was crazy.

  He didn’t hesitate but dismounted and slogged through the mud to stand at the calf’s head. “You push and I’ll pull,” he said and that’s what she did. Rafe dipped his hands into the mud and grabbed the calf by the front legs. She was already in position and pushed. The calf didn’t move at first but it did bawl better than it had since she’d spotted it. Without needing to be told she pushed again. Then working together the calf came loose from the mud-the problem was that when it did Sadie had pushed so hard-the calf jerked and propelled forward out of the mud. Sadie and Rafe weren’t so lucky as they both lost their balance and landed in the mud.

  They looked at each other and began to chuckle.

  “Sadie,” he said, lifting a hand out of the mud to tap her on the nose with muck. “You are full of surprises. Hauling off into the mud was not what I expected.”

  She sobered, wrinkling her nose that was now dotted with mud. “The calf needed help and that’s all I thought about.”

  “Despite the mud.”

  She pushed up to her knees. “It washes off.”

  He grinned. “Yes it does.” And then he startled her when he hauled her into his arms and marched straight into the stream with her.

  Chapter Nine

  Rafe had lost his mind. He knew it the moment he’d watched Sadie tromp into that mud after that calf. Yup, all thoughts, coherent or otherwise vanished replaced by the glaring desire for this woman. Not just desire for her, but to have her. He wanted Sadie.

  Wanted to kiss her, to hold her, to have her-and not just in a physical way, he wanted her in his life. And he had known her for less than one day! He was not an irrational man. He was serious. Jaded. Cautious.

  And right then and there he didn’t care about any of that.

  He didn’t analyze his feelings he just scooped Sadie out of mud and into his arms and carried her into the stream and strode right out into the chest deep water with her. He wasn’t thinking straight, certainly wasn’t thinking with the calculated reasoning that he was known for. All he was thinking was about Sadie and this moment.

  She gasped at the coolness of the water or maybe from his actions. Her arms instinctively wrapped around his neck and she laughed again, the fullness of it filling him, as if filling every hidden dark corner of his soul with light. He let her slide to her feet and then without another thought he kissed her.

  Water swirled gently around them as his arms tightened protectively around her and when she didn’t pull away from him he deepened the kiss.

  “Sadie,” he said, breaking the kiss. “I hope I’m not scaring you, but I’ve been needing to do that since the first time I saw you.”

  Her eyes were huge and he was pretty certain the dazed look he saw in the deep pools of green matched what she was seeing in his dark eyes.

  “I know what you mean, but Rafe, I’ll be honest and tell you that I’m in a really mixed up time, with all I have going on in my life. I, I don’t really trust my emotions right now.”

  He wanted to hug her harder for her honesty. “I understand. It was just a kiss.” He picked her up again and walked out of the water with her, heading to a spot down the stream where there was dryer land than the low muddy area where they’d been. His boots sloshed water as he strode onto the packed ground and set her on her feet.

  It was just a kiss. They just stared at each other for a moment then he strode to where his hat lay at the edge of the mud and picked it up while struggling to convince himself that yes, it was just a kiss.

  There were a thousand questions he wanted to ask her, needed to ask her. She was a rich kid who’d been engaged to a man with political plans, and a mother and probably her dad too before he died, expected nothing less from her than that.

  He turned toward her. “We better get back.”

  “But what about the calf?”

  “He’s fine. More than likely he’ll be out in the pasture now that he’s free. We’ll head him toward a pond where he can drink safely and then I’ll come back for him with a trailer and move him. He’s a little big to get on the back of a horse and haul back.”

  She laughed at that. “I was wondering. He’s almost too big to call a baby anymore.”

  “Yeah, believe me, I knew that when he used me as a rug to cross the mud and walk out of that sink hole.”

  She grinned. “But you were so gallant.”

  He wanted to kiss her again right then and there. “So, now you know, I’ll do anything to impress you.”

  She tilted her head, eyes sparkling. “I’m impressed, cowboy. And as much of an emotional mess with my life right now, as I am soaked to the bone. But I’m completely impressed with you. Just so you know.”

  She strode toward her horse, water dripping from her as she went. He couldn’t take his eyes off her and knew whatever this was between them was going to take patience but there was no way he wasn’t planning to find out what exactly it was. He wasn’t sure who the first woman was she’d described when she’d talked about herself, but the woman who wore bunny suits to cheer sick kids up and who strode fearlessly into the mud to save a struggling calf did not seem like the kind of woman who liked afternoon tea at the club and hobnobbing with power players, which was exactly what he pictured when she’d been talking about her parents and this Andrew guy. But that bunny wearing, mud diving female who had just kissed him in the stream-that woman mesmerized him.

  Sadie made it through
the next two days, with mixed emotions. Rafe had kissed her. She’d kissed him back and her stomach had been tied in knots ever since. She called her best friend, Amber, at long last and braced for a well-deserved tongue-lashing.

  “Where are you? And why haven’t you been taking my calls?” Amber demanded the moment she answered.

  Sadie rubbed the pain between her eyebrows. “Amber, I’m sorry. I’ve been a little freaked out this week.”

  “About what? It has something to do with Andrew doesn’t it?” She said Andrew’s name like it was a dirty word.

  Amber had never been a fan of Andrew, her fiancé, never trusted him. Nor did she like the fact that Sadie was settling and she’d been very vocal about it. Only agreeing to be her maid of honor because she’d decided to support Sadie in her march to unhappily-ever-after. Sadie hadn’t called her because she wasn’t prepared for I-told-you-so.

  “Be nice, Amber. And yes, it has something to do with Andrew.”

  “I knew it!” she erupted. “What did he do? Is the wedding off? Something just didn’t feel right at the party when you didn’t show up and he told that cockamamie story about you being sick. I went to your house and you weren’t there and I have been about to go berserk. Well if you’ve gotten my messages you should have a pretty good idea just how crazed I’ve been-”

  “Amber-”.

  “It’s a good thing you called today because I was about to go confront the man-”

  “Amber stop. Take a breath. Breathe.”

  “Okay, okay.” She huffed in a breath that could be heard across the phone line. “So, I’m good. Now what is going on?”

  “Last Friday after I went to the hospital to visit the kids I went to Andrew’s to tell him that I was having second thoughts and that I wanted to call off the wedding-”

  “Yes! Thank you, Lord. Seriously.”

  Sadie had to hold the phone away from her ear because of Amber’s shouts of joy. “But when I got there he was engaged in some really heavy kissing with this gorgeous woman-”