Page 10 of Unforgettable Cowboy
“Or not.”
Bailey closed her eyes.Was this how it was going to end?With her calling Jenna to tell her that Hayes had turned the mare over to the sheriff?
“You have no brand inspection.Nothing to show ownership.What if someone asks about her?”
“I’m boarding a horse for a friend,” she stated flatly, before laying a hand on Hayes’s arm.She’d forgotten how solid he was, how solid he had to be to endure years of bronc riding.“Please don’t mess this up.”
His expression remained unrelenting.“Wade needs to know what he’s involved in.”
“It’s not illegal to board a horse.Also, I was given keys and permission to move the horse by the owner.”
Hayes cocked an eyebrow.“Who filed a stolen property report.”
He’d done some research.
“Chance filed.This doesn’t have to involve you, Hayes.Or Wade.He’s just a nice old man who let me keep a horse here while I worked for him.If things go south, it’s all on me.I mean that.”
“Nice old man?”
“You know what I mean.”
If she had any other option, any legitimate hiding place, she’d move the horse in an instant.That wasn’t currently an option.It wasn’t until she’d had the horse loaded in the trailer and was heading to Marietta, taking the back roads since she didn’t have the brand inspection needed to transport a horse she didn’t own, that she realized Chance might well put two and two together and come looking for the mare, especially since he was competing in the Copper Mountain Rodeo.That had brought her to Wade’s to ask a favor.Which he’d granted in exchange for work.
Hayes rested his hands on his plain brass belt buckle.“We’ll go with the status quo, but if any issues arise from this situation, the horse is either gone, or surrendered to the proper authorities.”
“You’re not going to rat me out?”she asked softly.
He gave her an as-if look, making her believe that he didn’t like fellow rodeo competitor Chance Meyers any more than she did.“I’m just trying to keep my uncle from being collateral damage.”
“I think Wade can take care of himself.”
“So did I, then I come back to this.”He pointed to a loose fence rail lightly banging in the breeze.
“You should see my place,” Bailey said dryly.Loose rails were the least of her worries there.
“How long do you see this going on?Are we talking weeks, months?”
“Weeks.I, too, have a life to live.”A nice solo life where the only complication was the occasional friend who needed her to hide a horse.“I’m taking off after the Copper Mountain.I spent most of the summer making stock and now I have a string of gear shows to attend.”
Hayes went silent, studying the ground at his feet in a way that made Bailey’s stomach tighten.
“I don’t like this.”Hayes raised his head.
Bailey almost said that he didn’t have to like it but managed to keep her mouth shut.
“That said, what you do withyourhorses is your business…as long as my uncle doesn’t get hurt in any way.”
Bailey broke into a relieved smile that quickly faded before she tipped her hand, showing that she wasn’t as in control as she was pretending.“Thank you.”
Hayes’s gaze traveled over her face, lingering briefly on her mouth before shifting back to her eyes.
Oh.My.
The first time he’d looked at her that way had changed Bailey’s life.The realization that the hot, hot man she was working with, teasing and tormenting in a friendly way, found her as attractive as she found him had been heady stuff.She swallowed dryly as their gazes held and she knew exactly where his thoughts had gone.How was it that, without a word, they’d arrived at the same place—the past?
“It’s elephant-in-the-room time, isn’t it?”she asked softly, halfway hoping he’d pretend not to understand.That was not Hayes’s way.
“You think?”
