Cody's pony nickered when he saw them and came trotting over for a treat.
"Please can I ride him, Care-line? Please? I'll forget how if I don't."
She debated it. His hand was much improved and, if he wore a glove, she didn't see the harm in allowing it. "Maybe when Nat gets home to help you saddle him, okay?"
"Yes!" Tanner made a triumphant fist in the air just as she heard adult voices.
She turned to find Wade walking around the barn with three others, two men carrying camera equipment and a young woman in jeans and new-looking boots with a clipboard and a cell phone.
She pondered how best to sneak out of their way before Wade and his companions spotted them. Before she could, though, the boys caught sight of their father.
"Daddy, Daddy!" Cody wriggled out of her hold like a budding Houdini and raced to his father, Tanner right on his heels.
Caroline hurried after them, arriving just in time to watch Cody hold his arms out for his father to lift him up.
"Sorry," she said a little breathlessly. "They're faster than me."
Wade's features looked annoyed but he didn't say anything, only gave in to Cody's demands and picked him up.
She had to admit, they made a charming picture—the sexy cowboy and his two very cute little buckaroos in their matching cowboy hats.
Apparently, she wasn't the only one who thought so. The woman with the clipboard seemed to melt into a gushy pile right there next to the horse pasture.
"Oh my gosh, they are so precious. We have to include them in the shoot."
Wade blinked. "The boys?"
"Absolutely!" The woman was young and attractive and had a look in her eye that reminded Caroline of some of her clients who became so totally one-dimensional they weren't able to focus on anything but work.
If she were one of her clients, Caroline would probably tell this young woman to quickly find a hobby outside work before she burned herself up like Caroline had done at social work.
"Just thinking out loud here," the woman went on, "but maybe we could do something along the lines of building a legacy for your children's future or something, as those who make their living from the land have been doing for generations. I'll have to run it past the reporter."
She turned to Caroline suddenly, her features friendly. "I'm sorry. I'm Darci Perez, Mrs. Dalton. I'm producing the story about your husband and the Cold Creek."
Caroline froze, unexpected heat flashing through her at the idea. Her gaze collided with Wade's and she found the aghast expression on his face the height of humiliation.
"He's not my husband," Caroline said quickly—too quickly, she realized, when the producer looked surprised at her vehemence.
The woman winced. "Sorry. I should know better than to jump to conclusions like that."
"Tanner, don't touch anything," Wade broke in sharply and Caroline saw that one of the cameramen had set his equipment on a bale of hay and Tanner, of course, had homed in on it like a bee on a honeysuckle bush.
Tanner froze and Wade turned back to the conversation. "I'm a widower," he told the producer. A muscle flexed in his jaw, as if just saying the word was difficult.
Darci Perez looked even more uncomfortable. "That's probably in the background information I have about you. I should have read it more closely. I'm so sorry."
"Don't worry about it," Wade said, then glared again at Tanner, who, despite his father's warning, had sidled closer to the equipment. "What did I tell you about not touching anything?"
If Caroline hadn't survived six days with the boy, she might have been taken in by his angelic expression. "I'm just looking, Daddy. With my eyes, not my hand or my mummy claw of death."
"Keep it that way, bud."
The producer was studying her expectantly so Caroline stepped forward, her hand outstretched. "I'm Caroline Montgomery, a friend of the family. I'm staying here for a few days to help Wade with the children while his mother is out of town."
The woman shook her hand. "That name is familiar. Have we met?"
"I don't believe so."
Darci frowned and then her expression brightened. "I know! Didn't you write an article for Glamour a few months ago about top ten best ways to guarantee yourself a happy, fulfilling life?"
Caroline was flattered, she had to admit. "I did. I'm shocked you remembered the byline. Most people skip right over them."
"Only because I practically have the thing memorized." The woman grinned. "I've done the exact opposite of at least half of the things on your list but I'm working on it."
Caroline smiled. "Progress is good."
"Don't you think you should be going back to the house now?" Wade asked and she saw that it was all he could do to hold onto Cody, who'd decided he wanted down now and was wriggling for all he was worth.
Darci observed the boy's struggles with interest. "He looks like a handful. That must be an interesting challenge, a single father trying to raise his young children and run a ranch of this size as well."
"Interesting is one word for it," Wade said.
"I'll mention that to the reporter, too. He might want to follow up on that angle."
Wade would absolutely detest discussing his personal life on camera, Caroline knew. She wondered how to help him avoid it, then remembered it was none of her business.
"Come on, boys. Let's go," she said. She took Cody from Wade and turned around for Tanner, then drew in a quick breath when she found him trying to heft the large camera off the hay bale.
"Tanner! Put that down!" Wade barked. The boy jumped at his tone and hurried to obey but the camera slid out of his bandaged hand and landed in the dirt with a heavy, sickening thud.
"Tanner! I told you not to touch anything." Wade's features looked harsh and angry. "Now look what you've done!"
Tanner's lip trembled. "I'm sorry, Daddy. I didn't mean to. It slipped out of my hand."
"You shouldn't have been messing with it in the first place. When are you ever going to learn to listen to me?"
Tanner gazed around at the circle of adults looking down at him, then at his father's glower. He let out a little distressed cry then took off running around the side of the barn.
Wade stared after him like he wasn't quite sure what to do. Exasperated, Caroline handed Cody back to him and started out after the boy.
Chapter Eleven
Caroline followed the upset boy around the corner of the barn, wondering how on earth his little legs could move so fast.
She assumed he was heading for the house but then he seemed to catch sight of something distracting. Suddenly, in mid-stride he switched directions and headed toward the pens to the east of the barn.
Caroline stopped dead, her blood suddenly coated in a thin, crackly layer of ice, when she saw what was inside the corral. At least a dozen range cows and their calves munched hay, their wickedly sharp horns gleaming in the afternoon sun.
She remembered Wade's warning about the range cows and what she'd learned in the few days she'd been on the Cold Creek. The cows were bred to be tough and aggressive to survive predators and weather conditions in the mountains, and she remembered Wade's warning that they could be nasty and bad tempered.
Tanner knew that. What on earth was the rascal thinking to go anywhere near them?
"Tanner, get back here," she yelled, but he either chose to ignore her or didn't hear over the cattle's lowing.
He moved closer to the corral, his attention fixed on something inside and Caroline had a sudden terrible foreboding that left her sick. He wouldn't go inside. He couldn't.
She held her breath as she raced after him but Tanner had at least a ten-yard head start. Even if he hadn't, she had learned during her time at the ranch that the boy could be quick and wily.
"Tanner Dalton, you get back here," she called again.
To her relief, this time he slowed a little and looked back at her.
"Stop," she called out.
Her relief was short-lived when he shook his head. "
One of the kitties is in there," he called. "I have to get him."
She tried to see where he was looking but all she could see were milling, deadly looking hooves.
"No you don't! Let your dad go after him."
"He'll die in there and then the mommy kitty will be sad."
She was within ten feet of him now. "And if you go in there and get hurt, your dad is going to be sad and mad. You don't want that."
Bringing up Wade was apparently the wrong tack completely. Even from here she could see the sudden stubborn light in the boy's eyes.
"He's already mad at me," Tanner said as he reached the corral fence.
She was close, so close, but just as she reached out to grab his shirt, he slipped under the wooden slat and was inside the pen heading toward the tiny gray kitten she could now see trembling in the middle of the milling cattle.
"Tanner, get back here," she snapped, keeping a careful eye on the cows, who were paying them no attention for now.
"I will. Soon as I get the kitty."
Caroline stood on the other side, torn about what to do. Should she go after him or go get help? She didn't know the first thing about range cattle other than they were huge and horned and scared the stuffing out of her. But she didn't dare leave even to call for Wade's help.
She had no choice. She was going to have to go after him. Oh, she was going to have a head full of gray hair by the time she made it back to Santa Cruz, she thought, then drew in one last terrified breath and slipped through the slats of the fence.
They seemed even more huge on this side of the fence, as big as small cars, and those horns looked sharp and deadly. She moved through them carefully, as slowly as she dared, her eyes on Tanner as he finally reached the tiny kitten safely after what felt like a dozen lifetimes.
"I got you," she heard him murmur, holding the little creature in his bandaged hand and stroking him with the other. "You're okay now. Nobody's going to treat you like a big baby anymore."
Caroline wanted to scream and yell and shout Hosanna when he started toward the other side of the enclosure. She followed, doing her best to keep her body between his and the animals, who so far were paying them little heed, to her vast relief.
Twenty yards had never felt so endlessly long. Finally they were within five yards of the fence, safety almost in reach. She could taste it, feel it, even as she wondered whether she would ever be able to breathe again.
After this, she was swearing off beef forever, she decided.
They were almost there when the stupid, self-destructive kitten suddenly jumped or slipped out of Tanner's arms. He gave a cry that drew the attention of a few of the nearby animals, then went down on his hands and knees to grab it.
"Come on. We've got to get out of here," Caroline ordered.
"I know. I've almost got him. There!" he pounced on the wriggling kitten then stood up again.
Caroline grabbed for his hand—at this point she would damn well carry him and the blasted kitten out of here—but just as she caught his fingers, she heard a snort behind them. She turned slowly and found herself facing the beady eyes of a cow, not placid and gentle as she'd always imagined, but red-rimmed and wild and not at all happy to have them in her space.
The cow started loping toward them and Caroline's stomach dropped. "Tanner, move!" she ordered, but before the last word was out of her mouth, the cow came toward them so fast she never would have believed it if she hadn't seen it herself.
"Run!" Caroline yelled harshly and the startled boy obeyed. She half dragged him, half carried him as they headed at full speed for the corral fence and safety.
They weren't going to make it, she realized grimly. The blasted cow would get to them a split second before they reached the fence.
She didn't think about it, she just reacted totally on instinct, picking up Tanner and the kitten and shoving him in front of her, then she pushed him through the wooden slats of the fence.
She had time only to breathe a quick, frightened prayer before the cow reached her.
* * *
When Wade caught up with that kid, he was giving him a serious lecture on following orders. A ranch could be a dangerous place for children who didn't learn early to mind their parents the first time.
If they hadn't gotten that message yet, maybe he'd been too soft on Natalie and the boys in his efforts to be as unlike his own father as possible. Tanner obviously didn't understand, so he was just going to have to drill it into the kid's head that when Wade spoke, the kid had to jump. The consequences of doing otherwise could be deadly.
He didn't have time for this today, not with the TV crew there. He almost just let Caroline deal with Tanner and his tantrum. But as he had been the one to yell at his son, he also knew he needed to be the one to explain why. They had a head start on him, though. It had taken a few minutes for him to take Cody to the outbuilding they used as a machine shop, where Seth was fixing a tractor part.
He'd given the baby to a greasy-fingered Seth, had asked him to watch him for a minute, then had taken off after Caroline and Tanner.
As he rounded the corner of the barn, he heard a shout. He jerked his head around and his heart stuttered in his chest when he saw Caroline and Tanner in the middle of a small herd of range cows he'd culled to take to market first.
Inside the pen, Caroline's butter-yellow sweater was a small splash of color in the middle of a sea of huge russet bodies, and he could barely see Tanner.
What the hell were they doing? Did the woman not have a single brain cell in her head? He'd told her range cows were dangerous and here she was wandering through them like she and Tanner were tromping through a field of daisies.
At least they were heading out, he saw. They were moving toward the opposite side of the pen from where he was; he had just started around the perimeter when he saw Tanner bend down for something. A few seconds later, Caroline picked him up and headed fast toward the fence.
Just before they made it through, one of the cows got excited by the ruckus and headed toward them, head down.
His blood iced over and he yelled at them to move.
He vaulted the fence where he was, though he was still half the length of the corral away, and raced toward them, waving his hat and yelling to try to distract the angry cow.
She didn't even turn her big head, focused only on Caroline and Tanner, and Wade could do nothing but watch, horrified, as she charged.
As he ran through the milling cattle, he saw Caroline bend down and shove something through the slats—Tanner, he realized—but an instant later the cow reached her and tossed her into the air like she was a sack full of straw.
She landed with a hideous thud against the fence and the cow lowered her head, her nostrils flared. She snorted and bawled, looking for any excuse to charge the unwanted intruder again, and Wade didn't stop to think.
He raced in front of the cow, scooped Caroline up in one arm as gently as he could under the circumstances, and used the other to haul them both up and over the fence.
He made it over to the other side just as the huge cow slammed into the fence, shaking it hard.
He felt like he had been the one to take that crushing hit—every ounce of oxygen in his lungs seemed to have been sucked out and, for one horrifying minute, he felt shaky and light-headed as he lowered a limp Caroline to the ground.
With effort, he forced himself to stay calm, especially as Tanner seemed hysterical enough for the both of them, his eyes huge and scared in his pale face.
"What's wrong with Caroline, Daddy? Why are her eyes closed? Is she sleeping?"
"Something like that."
"Should I go find Uncle Seth?"
"No!" With visions of all the trouble the chaos-magnet could get into on his own, Wade spoke to him sternly. "You should sit down right there and stay put."
"But I…"
He didn't have time to deal with two crises right now, not when Caroline's eyes were still closed, but he knew his son well enough to see by th
e obstinate jut of his jaw that a little child psychology was in order.
"Look," he tempered his tone. "I might need your help, so it would be better for Caroline's sake if you stick close to me for now, okay?"
That seemed to do the trick. Tanner nodded and settled onto the dirt outside the pens, a kitten Wade assumed to be at the heart of this whole damn fiasco still clutched tightly in his arms.
No, he was at the heart of this fiasco. If he hadn't yelled at Tanner, the boy wouldn't have run off and none of this would have happened.
He pushed the guilt away for now and focused on Caroline, sick all over again to see her pale, chalky features and the blue tracery of veins in her closed eyelids.
"Come on, honey. Wake up," he ordered as he did a rapid medical assessment.
Growing up on a cattle ranch had, unfortunately, given him plenty of experience in first-triage and he quickly put those skills to work. Her pulse seemed fast but strong and he hoped she had just had the wind knocked out of her.
No bones seemed to be broken but her head had taken a pretty hard crack and it wouldn't surprise him if she had a concussion. A couple of bruised or cracked ribs weren't out of the question either.
If that was the worst of it, she'd be lucky, he thought, but when he was checking her legs for fractures, he felt something sticky at the back of her thigh. He pulled his hand away and his stomach dropped when he saw it was covered in blood.
What was it from? he wondered, not sure whether he dared turn her over to see.
His mind replayed the scene in his head, relived that sickening moment when the cow had charged, and he realized exactly what must have happened, where the blood was coming from.
The cow's horn must have caught the back of Caroline's thigh as she'd tried to get away.
He swallowed a raw oath, not wanting to scare Tanner any more than he already was, and turned her over slightly so he could see what he was dealing with.
His worst fears were confirmed at the jagged puncture wound in her thigh. Blood was already pooled underneath her and the sight made his own blood run cold.
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