Page 82 of Head Over Spurs

Before them, Lucky fell into place with the rest of the herd. He had put on weight over the last few months, filling out while simultaneously growing taller. He was healthy, and the sight of him so well acclimated to the other horses made her heart soar.

Despite the ache from the separation that she was feeling.

In all her horsemanship classes, she was warned about not letting a foal get too attached to the human handler. She received constant reminders that foals don’t stay cute and little forever. That was certainly obvious to her—but the reminders were to help her start setting healthy boundaries with the younganimals. Because cute foal behavior isn’t cute when they are grown.

So, she and Riley had set their boundaries while still nursing Lucky back to health. They had prepared for this. But a part of her liked to be needed by the little guy.

“Isn’t it great how he goes right up to Cinnamon now?” Riley asked, nudging his chin into the crook of her neck.

“Yes,” she conceded, dragging the word out on a stubborn hiss.

She was rewarded with another rumbling laugh.

They were in a pasture out a ways from the stables, trying to keep a buffer between the animals and the hustle and bustle of construction. The new barn for the wild’s rehabilitation center was being erected, and not a moment too soon.

Lucky wasn’t their only wild horse. As soon as the papers were signed, i’s dotted and t’s crossed, Brett put out word about the new expansion—and Riley reached out to Red up at Blue Sky Sanctuary personally. The whole community, Red especially, were thrilled by the news, and it took only a week for Riley’s old mentor to call them up.

A horse was brought to him with more medical needs than he could accommodate at his property, but it was just the thing Hayes Wilds could specialize in.

Jules peered over Riley’s shoulder at the mare Red called about. She was still in her quarantine stage, cloistered away in a separate pasture. Her black coat was getting a shine to it again, currently glowing in the sunlight. Queen Etta, grazed calmly, all the while stealing glances at the herd across the way. They had named her after Etta, Queen of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’s Wild Bunch. And Jules had a feeling that she would live up to the title.

“Think she’ll do okay too?”

Riley’s mustache tickled her cheek as he brushed a kiss across it. “We’ll make sure of it.”

She turned to face him, looping her arms around his neck. There was a confident glint in his blue-green eyes as they held her focus. There was no doubt in his mind, and after spending all energy running from her doubts, there was none in hers either. She trusted him, more than she had ever trusted anyone, maybe.

Tipping her chin up, Jules brought her lips to his. She savored the taste of coffee and cinnamon on his mouth, strong and spicy and sweet. The perfect combination, same as Sundance and his wild thing.

“Hey!” Grey’s voice carried from where he parked his truck on the other side of the gate. “Get in.”

“Where we headed?” Riley asked, taking her hand in his and starting towards their team lead.

Piercing blue eyes sparkled in the morning sun. “You two just got another mustang.”

Her eyes bounced from Grey to Riley, her heart kicking up. Another horse.

Throwing open the passenger side door for her, Riley grinned ear to ear. “Ready for another one, wild thing?”

“Absolutely.”

She climbed up into the seat as he moved around to the back row of the cab. When he slipped in and leaned forward onto the center console, Grey continued. “This one is a colt, definitely older than a year. And he’s got fire to him.”

“I love him already,” she smiled.

Nearing the compound, she spotted Brett standing beside a silver horse trailer. He crossed his arms as they reached him, an eyebrow quirking up.

“You’ll have fun with this guy,” he greeted them.

“Where’d he come from?”

“Bought at a mustang auction after a round up. Then the owner realized he was nowhere near skilled enough to train him. He tried to return him,” Brett ended with a snort of disapproval.

They had heard of this more than once. Someone thinking they can get a horse for cheap—maybe glamorizing the idea of owning a true piece of the wild west. But when they realized they were in over their head, the horse was the one that suffered.

Jules’s heart kicked once again. This is why they were here to help, and there was nowhere else she would rather be.

She turned off the water, reaching for a towel as she stepped onto the plush bath mat. The steam from the shower fogged the mirror over, save for the faded residue of a lipstick kiss. That outline remained clear.

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