Page 21 of Wilder Heart

Another whuff of sound.

“Yeah, maybe not. What about… Blaze.”

The mustang raised his head, liquid black eyes meeting Wilder’s. They just stared at each other for a long, quiet moment, and then the horse raised his head further, nosing Wilder’s cheek.

“Blaze it is,” Wilder said softly, a warm feeling spreading through his chest. He was earning this beautiful animal’s trust, one day at a time. Maybe he wasn’t as broken as he thought, if a creature so amazing was willing to let him in.

CHAPTER 9

CASH

It had been a long day. An unexpected storm had hit the ranch in the middle of the night. Cash spent the day pulling fallen trees off a broken section of fence. They were lucky the trees had landed in a way that still blocked the cattle from being able to escape. The last thing they needed to worry about was tracking down lost animals. There had also been an issue with thieves lately. Cattle were valuable here, and plenty of people would jump at the chance to pick up lost animals wandering around outside a fence.

He worked tirelessly through the day with several of the hands, cutting up wood and loading it into a trailer to be hauled back by work trucks. Cash preferred riding a horse when it came to traveling the ranch, but sometimes engines just made more sense. After they finally had all the lumber taken care of, they had to repair the fence.

It was late by the time they were done, the sun slouching toward the horizon. He was exhausted and famished. The hands who’d been tending to the rest of the ranch while they worked were probably already eating dinner—or done with it completely. A secret part of him was disappointed that he’d probably missed Wilder. He’d been at the ranch for almost amonth now, and he still mostly kept to himself, hiding away in his room after dinner or going out to the paddock with the mustang. Either way, he avoided the people. But Cash enjoyed his dark, unassuming sense of humor, the way he smiled, and the golden glow of his fresh tan in the sunlight.

He let Darryl drive them back to the house, lounging in the passenger seat with his water and wondering whether to reheat leftovers in the kitchen or head to his room for a shower first. He was close to dozing when they made it over the hillside that overlooked the house and the main barn, and Darryl broke the silence for the first time.

“I’ll be damned.”

Cash turned his head—and his breath stalled in his throat. Wilder was in the paddock with the mustang again, but now he was on the horse’s back. Bareback and with nothing but a rope attached to the halter, he was guiding the horse in an easy gallop around the edge of the paddock. Haloed in sunlight and wearing the brightest grin Cash had ever seen on him, Wilder looked like the years had been washed away.

“How in the hell did he do that?” Darryl asked. “Didn’t think that horse would ever tolerate being ridden.”

“It just needed the right rider, I guess,” Cash said breathlessly.

He could barely contain himself as Darryl parked the truck. As soon as it stopped moving, he was off, plopping his hat on his head and marching across the lawn to the paddock.

“Looking good!” he called, bracing his hands on the top rung of the fence.

Wilder turned to look at him, his mouth stretched into a wide, excited grin. It made him look downright boyish. “Hey! Finally let me get on him!”

“I see that! How long have you been riding?”

As they came around to Cash’s side of the paddock, Wilder tugged back on the rope with a gentle, “Whoa, whoa,” and the horse slowed, dancing to the side a bit before settling in front of Cash. “I don’t know, about twenty minutes, I think? He’s doing amazing. Just wants to run. The minute I can get a saddle on him, I’m taking him out into the fields. I think burning his energy’ll help him settle down.”

“Definitely. We’re bringing the cattle down to the southern field in a couple of weeks. You think you’ll be able to ride him then?”

Wilder brightened, like that hadn’t occurred to him, and Cash lamented that he hadn’t brought it up sooner. He’d do anything to keep that light on Wilder’s handsome face.

“I hope so. I’ll keep working with him. Blaze’ll make a great ranch horse. He just likes to run.” As he spoke, the horse began to circle restlessly, tossing his head up and down and forcing Wilder to twist in order to keep Cash in sight.

“Blaze, huh?” Cash said, chuckling. “That seems fitting.”

“Boy, if you don’t quit circling,” Wilder said around a laugh, patting Blaze’s smooth neck. “He can’t stay still for nothing. I’ll try to put a saddle on him soon. If he can handle me sitting on him, I think he can handle it.”

“I’d say so. I’m a little surprised you started out bareback.”

Wilder lifted one shoulder. “I used to love riding bareback as a kid. And sometimes it helps, if the horses are unfamiliar with the saddle. It’s less restricting to them this way, helps get them used to having weight on their back. I had to hop right back off the first couple of tries, because he didn’t like it, but he settled after a bit.”

“Sure,” Cash allowed. “Maybe a little more dangerous for you, though.”

“Nah, he’ll let you do just about anything if you give him enough apples.”

“Apples and running, huh?”

“His two most favorite things,” Wilder agreed. “Hold still, now, let me down.” He clicked his tongue as he tugged back on the rope, and Blaze stilled long enough for Wilder to swing his leg over and hop down.

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