Page 26 of Nashville Cowboy
The sudden and unexpected sound of a horse’s hooves behind her startled her and she whirled around, heart pumping. Since she only had half of an average person’s hearing, she always worried she’d heard something too late.
The figure of a man sitting atop Taco moved into the moonlight.
Jackson.
She took a breath. Both he and Taco looked pissed.
His eyes narrowed, jaw tight, he almost spit the words out. “What’s wrong with you?”
Chapter 11
Jackson noticed the lone and slight figure of someone walking in the distance and rode Taco to catch up to who he assumed was a night ranch hand who might appreciate a ride. He’d spent all day with the old man checking on the calving every two hours along with the day hands, and the night help would now take over.
When Eve whirled around, a wild-eyed look of terror in her eyes, it stopped him cold.
“Are you seriouslyafraidof me?” he managed to grind out.
No matter what went on between them, no matter how pissed he’d been, she knew he’d never lay a hand on her. Just the implication insulted him.
“No!” She still held a hand to her neck like a pearl-clutcher. “I thought you were someone…I didn’t hear…I just…I got startled.”
He’d believe that if she didn’t look like a beaten animal, a wild look in her eyes. Far more than startled, she seemed terrified. Horrified.
What the hell.
“Thought you were a hand who might want a ride. What are you doin’ out here anyway?” He hopped off Taco and gathered the reins.
She should be inside about now, cooking supper for his grandmother. Doing the job he couldn’t fire her from. So, he was going to have to go on watching her walk around in those very tight Wranglers. Always been curvy, now she resembled a 1950s pin-up girl. He sure in the hell didn’t appreciate noticing this. It was only making him meaner.
The anger made sense, but she could make him irrational, too, and that’s not how he normally rolled. He needed to get a handle on his emotions. Let the anger go.
Some of his bandmates thought he should tell Eve how he’d managed those first few weeks in Nashville. To share how low he’d come after she’d jilted him. But he hadn’t seen the point of letting her hear how pathetic he’d been. Except for now, when it seemed that everything unsaidwasbeing said anyway, loudly, and in ways which didn’t make much sense.
Naturally, he believed that Sadie would show up to this wedding becauseshewasn’t Eve. And Lincoln wasn’t Jackson.
They would have a different story.
“I’m takin’ a walk. We’re having leftovers tonight.” She jammed her hands in her jean pockets and could barely fit the tips in they were so tight. “Anyway, you should be happy to have me out of the house.”
“Not out here alone in the dark I’m not. Hank and I heard a coyote earlier.”
He realized the implication meant he cared about her well-being. But who would want to find a young woman attacked by a coyote? A monster.
“That coyote is probably miles away. They’re just loud and sound like they’re much closer.”
This was the Eve he remembered. She’d never been afraid of an animal. Even wild ones.
“Walk with me,” he said, as he led Taco toward the stable. “That coyote sounded a hell of a lot closer to me.”
“Oh,” she said and looked stricken. She played with the hair on the left side of her face.
He stopped moving when he realized she wasn’t following, and Taco halted beside him. “I’d rather not leave you out here alone.”
“I’m okay. Really.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“What? Whynot?”
