Page 17 of A Rancher's Vow

Thankfully, both Kelli and Luke laughed. “Sheiswicked smart,” Luke agreed. “Thanks for being there. We’ll see you at the house.”

Charity passed back the phone. “What’s the secret path we’re supposed to take to the ranch house?”

Kelli grinned. “Brilliant idea. We’ll hide in plain sight. Come back to the barn.”

Charity stopped at the office to drop off the unsigned paperwork. That was a trouble for another day. “Ready if you are.”

Opening the gate to a stall, Kelli patted the nose of a beautiful brown mare. “Here she is. Secret Path.”

They had to be kidding. “The path is through a horse stall?”

Kelli swung herself up on the horse’s back as if magic was involved. She held a hand down to Charity. “Secret Path is thenameof a horse. Come on.”

Charity stared. At the hand reaching out to her. At the horse.

The very, very tall horse.

She swallowed hard. Probably not a thing a person working at a ranch should admit, but it was too late to hide the truth.

“I can’t ride.”

4

The expression on Kelli’s face—

“You look as if I just confessed to murder,” Charity offered with reluctant amusement.

The other woman dropped her extended hand, clutching the horse’s mane under her fingers instead. “I didn’t know this. Why didn’t I know this?”

“Because there was no reason for you to know?” Charity stepped a little farther back as Secret Path shifted on her feet.

Kelli patted the horse’s neck and soothed her as she spoke softly to Charity. “You afraid of her?”

“No. Not really,” Charity corrected. “Not more than being massively aware that she’s bigger than me, and I don’t speak horse. I don’t want to do something wrong and upset her.”

“Well, that’s good. Thenot really being afraidpart.” Kelli took Charity in with a long assessing gaze then nodded firmly “If you’re okay with it, how about I do the driving? It’ll get us past the crowds faster than trying to scurry around the entire perimeter. Path is a sweet horse. Trust me.”

Charity considered. Riding made a ton of sense. She really wished she’d been a typical horse-crazy kid when she’d been younger so that this wasn’t her first time, but riding had never been in the picture. “Okay.”

Kelli snorted. “A very enthusiastic response.” She pointed to the side of the hallway where a couple of bales rested. “Climb up on that. It’ll make things easier.”

It wasn’t perfect—the horse still looked huge as Kelli brought the beast beside where Charity balanced on the top bale. But the hand Kelli offered steadied her as Charity followed instructions. She swung her leg over Path’s butt and wiggled until she sat tucked behind Kelli.

“Arms around my waist,” Kelli ordered. “And I will not break if you hold on tight.”

“I have extraordinary upper body strength,” Charity warned.

“I’ve had Luke behind me while on a bucking horse that was trying to send us both into the stratosphere. Trust me, I’ll be fine.”

Charity tightened her hold.

Once she had a good grip, it was easier to look around. “How do we get out of the barn? We won’t fit through the regular door anymore.”

Kelli twisted Path on the spot then pointed to the end of the hall. “Out through arena four. I’ll keep Path walking for a bit. See how it feels. Okay?”

“So far, so good.” Charity took a deep breath and allowed the experience to wash over her.

Being perched on Secret Path’s back wasn’t scary. It was…odd? Unusual. There was no other experience that Charity could compare the movement to.