Page 18 of The Runaway and the Rugged
And that’s why I chose to check this one first. It was the most inviting, the most alluring trail we had on the ranch, and thinkin’ like a soon-to-be bride who needed a breath of fresh air, this would be the way to go.
Because why wouldn’t a defenseless woman wearing a wedding gown and heels choose our most dangerous trail without knowing it to walk through?
We were about halfway as Ella stomped her way through a mixture of mud and rainwater before heading down a slight decline in the trail. As I steadied the reins, my gaze caught on to something in the distance.
Something that stood out.
Something white.
As my eyes began to adjust to what I was looking at, something had spooked Ella, causing her to lift a hoof off the ground in a jerky manner.
“Whoa, easy, girl.” I tightened my hold on the reins and once I knew I had a firm grip, I ran my palm along her shoulder. It only took a few moments to calm her down. A few rubs and praises, and she was good to go.
“Hello?” a frantic voice shouted as it echoed its way in my direction.
My eyes lifted, searching for whoever called out to me, and sure enough, my stare captured a blur of white.
The missing bride.
An enormous sense of relief washed over me, not only for Greta, but for this incredibly stupid woman who decided to getlost on her wedding day. About two hundred feet in front of me I could see arms flailing in the air as if to capture my attention. Back and forth, up and down, you’d have thought she was stranded on some island the way she was signaling for me.
Yeah, sweetheart, I fuckin’ see you.
A long, drawn-out sigh escaped from the confines of my chest, while a rush of irritation began to overlap with my relief. “Come on, Ella, we got a missing bride to save,” I muttered, then with a gentle tug on the reins we forged ahead.
Keeping my eyes trained forward, I slowly began to digest the severity of what this situation could have been. There was somethin’ about a vulnerable woman wandering around this trail at dusk that didn’t sit right with me. Whether it was her severe lack of judgement, or the fact her dipshit fiancé didn’t have a clue where she was; it was all enough to bury its way underneath my skin.
As we drew nearer, every feature, every graceful arc on her body became more noticeable. It nearly stopped me in my tracks with the unfamiliar way my chest tightened from just looking at this woman.
“Oh, thank God,” she muttered to herself as her head fell back with a smile.
A blinding one at that.
It became clear to me I was in the presence of sunshine incarnate. From the prettiest shade of sunset hair that framed her face, down to the way she carried herself, she was the focal point. The array of colorful wildflowers, the vibrant, warm hues of a Texas sunset, it was all truly breathtaking, otherworldly, but nothing compared to this. To what I was looking at now.
I’d seen thousands of sunsets, thousands of views that stole my breath away, but nothing was as impactful as looking at her.
Perched on a boulder with a pair of heels dangling from her fingers, her wide, jade eyes had not once strayed from mine. A mixture of shock and tangible relief glimmered back at me.
“You found me.” Her voice cracked on impact, yet still sounded like something out of a dream.
Ella came to halt just a few feet where she sat, both her and I perplexed by what we were looking at. It wasn’t every day you stumbled across a bride on the ranch, let alone a woman who rendered me speechless from just one look.
“You're lucky it wasn’t somethin’ else that found you,” I grumbled, taking her in from head to toe, gauging for any injuries she may have gotten. Besides the dirt and dust on the bottom of her dress and arms, she otherwise looked unharmed. “What the hell were you thinking wandering off like that? Do you have any idea what could have happened?” My eyes lifted while my tone was thick with irritation.
Visibly shaken, her glossy eyes widened.
“I didn’t… I wasn’t…” She stumbled over her words, clearly affected. Then dropping her stare from mine, she mustered up enough confidence to answer. “I just needed air, and I couldn’t find any in that room.”
Ella chuffed.
“You needed air?” I repeated.
She glanced at Ella. “I needed fresh air. I needed away.”
I needed away.
A nervous bride, that’s what I was dealing with here. One that had wandered off too far and missed her own ceremony.
