Page 41 of Waiting for the Rancher
His horse.
No. She shook her head. She couldn’t ride his horse.
She’d run all the way to the ranch as fast as she could... it wouldn’t take her long. She guessed she had only a mile or so left at the most. It wasn’t far. She could make it easily enough.
But even as she scanned the rocky terrain ahead, sobs clawed against her chest and several more broke free.
“I love him too.” She forced her feet toward the gelding, tears rolling down her cheeks. When she reached the lead line, she didn’t hesitate to unwind it, even though her hands trembled so much that she could hardly make them work.
She led the gelding out from under the tree. With tears blurring her vision and sobs choking her, she stuck her foot into the stirrup. Then with shaking legs, she climbed up and into the saddle.
As she situated herself, nausea rose swiftly. She bent over the side of the horse and retched, not sure what she detested more—leaving Maverick behind or riding the horse.
But she didn’t have a choice if she had any hope of saving Maverick. She had to ride as fast as she possibly could for help. There was no other option.
She tapped her heels into the gelding’s thighs, nudged it with a shake of the reins, and then clung tightly to the pommel. As the horse began to trot forward, another swell of nausea rose, but she swallowed it, not wanting to waste another moment—not when Maverick’s life might depend on it.
Tears clouded her vision, but thankfully the gelding had been in Dead Man’s Gulch enough over the years to be familiar with the path that led to the Noble Ranch. When she finally crossed the bridge that spanned the Blue River and the south pasture came into view, her sobs came again. This time uncontrollably.
She loved Maverick more than anything or anyone. If he died, she didn’t know how she’d be able to go on without him. She had to save him, had to find a way to get a rescue party out to him immediately.
She scanned the pastures and the barns beyond, searching for anyone who could ride back with her, praying all the ranch hands weren’t out with the livestock far away. At the sight of several men in a corral next to the barn, her heart kicked at her ribs to go faster. She dug in her heels, lowered herself, and flew across the final distance of the pasture.
As she did so, she realized she was no longer afraid to be on Maverick’s gelding. In fact, she wasn’t afraid of the horse at all. She was grateful to have it, to be able to ride so swiftly, to havethe creature so intuitive to her need to help Maverick—because she had no doubt the gelding understood that something had happened and felt the urgency to intervene.
A tall fellow in the corral stepped away from the others to watch her approach. It took her only a second to recognize Sterling’s imposing build and the confident way he held himself.
She could tell the moment he realized she was on the horse when he hopped the fence in one easy motion and began to jog toward her.
As she drew nearer, she tried to rein in her sobs, but the tears kept slipping down her cheeks.
“What happened?” Sterling’s shout was filled with worry and his face taut with fear.
He, along with all her family, knew that she’d refused to mount a horse since that night she’d been lost. He and all her family understood how petrified she was of riding alone. He and all her family had gotten frustrated at her for her stubbornness in not riding because of the inconvenience it was at times.
Now to see her on a horse, galloping wildly? He had to have realized something was very wrong.
She reined in and the bile began to work its way back up her throat. “It’s Maverick. He’s hurt.”
Sterling stumbled to a halt, his body turning suddenly rigid.
In her rush to get Maverick help, she’d forgotten all about Sterling’s and Maverick’s falling-out. What if Sterling refused to help Maverick because of his anger and unforgiveness? She couldn’t let that happen. She had to make Sterling see reason.
“Maverick isn’t to blame for what happened, Sterling.” Her voice came out too forcefully. She wasn’t normally given to shouting or brazen displays. That was Scarlet’s forte.
But in this moment, with Maverick lying along the river, his body broken, his life ebbing from him—if not already gone—she couldn’t be gentle and patient with Sterling any longer.
“Everyone but you knows the truth,” she said through her sniffles. “Violet never loved you as much as you loved her, and she wasn’t ready for marriage.”
Sterling took a small step back as though her words had punched him in the gut.
“She was already getting ready to run off when Maverick saw her outside. He knew it. And so, because he cared about you, he scooped her up and tried to take her back inside the house.”
Beneath the brim of Sterling’s hat, his sun-browned face had turned pale—or as pale as it could get. He pressed his lips together, the sure sign he was holding back his anger.
“She kissed Maverick to sabotage the wedding. I know you don’t want to hear this, Sterling, but it’s the truth.”
He remained silent, but from the slight hunch of his shoulders, Hazel guessed he’d already been arriving at his own similar conclusions.
