Page 14 of Huckleberry Hill (Saddles & Spurs #1)

Chapter Thirteen

The Ranch

Late the next morning, I opened the front door and smiled in surprised confusion. “Hey, Wade.”

“Hi,” he greeted. “Sorry I didn’t call.”

“That’s okay.” I stepped back to let him inside and closed the door behind him.

“Did I catch you at a bad time?”

“Bad time?”

He pointed to my face. “You’ve got dirt on your cheek.”

My hand went to my face and I rubbed it absently. “I was in the garden.”

“Ah, yeah. The get up makes sense now.” He winked.

I was wearing a pair of patchwork overalls, and my hair was parted into two French braids.

I headed into the kitchen. “Something to drink?”

“No. I’m good.”

I opened the fridge and pulled out a pitcher of iced tea. “So, what brought you to my neck of the woods?”

“Two things,” he said. “One, I wanted to check on you.”

“Check on me? Why?” I went to the cupboard and got a glass.

“You left the bar last night without a word,” he explained. “And I saw Declan run out after you.”

“Ah,” I said, keeping my back turned.

“That’s all you’ve got to say?”

“What do you want me to say?” I asked, finally facing him, my eyebrows raised.

“I want to know if you’re okay. It looked intense.”

“I’m fine,” I lied.

“Okay.” He nodded and then reached into his pocket to extract his wallet. “Declan left his card. I thought maybe you could give it to him.”

“Oh. Yeah, I can do that. Thanks, Wade.”

He set the card down onto the kitchen table and then put his wallet back into his pocket. “So what’s going on with you and Declan?”

I choked on my iced tea. “Going on with Declan? Nothing.”

He cocked his head to the side and studied me. “Something’s going on there.”

“Nothing is going on there,” I assured him. “He works for my dad. He’s a friend. That’s all.”

Wade suddenly smiled. “Good.”

“Good? Why is that good?”

“I know your engagement just ended,” he said, running a hand through his dark hair. “So I don’t want to pressure you into anything. But I was wondering if you want to have dinner. With me.”

“Dinner,” I repeated slowly. “With you.”

The front door opened, and someone tromped through the house into the kitchen.

“Wade,” Muddy said in surprise.

“Hey, Muddy.” Wade smiled.

She looked at me and then back to Wade. “You staying for lunch?”

Wade shook his head. “I gotta get going.” He glanced at me. “Call you later?”

I nodded absently.

Wade walked from the kitchen and after a moment, the front door opened and shut.

“What was he doing here?” Muddy asked.

“He came to return Declan’s credit card,” I said, gesturing with my chin to the table. “And to ask me to dinner.”

“Declan left his card at the bar last night?” Muddy asked slowly. “The bar you were at last night? The one where you said you didn’t see him?”

“ Muddy ,” I warned.

“Well, it looks like you have two fine options in helping you get over Gianni.”

I rolled my eyes. “How’s Mirabelle?”

“Restless,” she said. “Your father’s right. She’s going to foal any day now.” Muddy picked up Declan’s credit card. “He’s out in the barn now, so you can go return this to him.”

I took the credit card. “Playing matchmaker, are you?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Muddy said, hazel eyes twinkling.

“Salem and I might be twins, but she’s cut from the same cloth as you,” I said with a laugh.

Muddy patted my cheek as I passed by her.

I walked to the barn, my heart hammering in my ears. Declan was setting up a cot in the empty stall across from Mirabelle.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

Declan slid a pillow into a pillowcase. “Mirabelle’s gonna foal soon, so I’ll be sleeping in the barn until she does.”

“You? Why you?”

“Because I have experience birthing horses.”

“Oh, I didn’t realize.”

“I’m more than just a pretty face,” he joked.

I smiled slightly. “I know.”

“Do you?” He looked at me, pinning me with a blue stare.

I held his gaze for a moment and then reached into my pocket. “Wade came by and asked me to give this to you.”

He looked at the credit card for a moment before taking it. “I’d forgotten I even opened a tab.”

I took a deep breath. “About last night?—”

“Forget it,” he said. He shoved his credit card into his back pocket.

What if I don’t want to forget it ?

The words tangled my tongue, and they wouldn’t come out. They dared not be spoken.

I turned around and walked out of the barn. My conversation with Salem played in my head. Was I still raw from my broken engagement? Yes. Even under the anger, there was deep-seated hurt that wasn’t going to go away just because I found Declan attractive.

But I knew that if I kissed Declan, my relationship with Gianni was truly over. Along with the dreams of the life I’d planned on building with him. My present was murky. My future undecided. And I wasn’t ready to leap without looking. That was Salem’s territory. I’d never been that way.

Every time I was around Declan, I felt foolish. I rebuffed and rejected.

I needed a ride to clear my head, but I wasn’t going to go back into the barn to saddle Goldie.

So I decided to grab the truck keys and go for a drive. Two hours later, I was no closer to working out my feelings.

My eyes flipped open, staring into the darkness of my bedroom. Anxiety clogged my throat, but I wasn’t sure where it was coming from.

I sat up and waited for my pulse to stop racing. I looked at the clock. It was just past midnight.

Before I knew what I was doing, I was flinging off the covers and getting dressed in an old pair of jeans and a flannel shirt.

I tied my hair back and pulled on a pair of thick wool socks.

I quietly turned the knob of my bedroom door and crept down the wooden stairs, making sure to skip the second stair from the bottom, which was known to creak.

I lifted my coat from the hook, picked up the bear spray, and then unlocked the front door. I crept outside and breathed in the crisp night as I shrugged into my coat and then slid into my boots.

My strides were long and brisk. I felt the tension in the barn as a horse huffed out a breath of air.

I padded toward Mirabelle’s stall. She was pacing, her black tail swishing back and forth.

“What are you doing here?” Declan asked from the stall behind me.

I turned to look at him. He was sitting up on the cot he’d set up earlier, his feet touching the ground. He was in a pair of jeans and a black thermal. His dark hair was mussed, but his eyes were clear.

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I just . . . woke up and . . .” I rubbed my chest. “I can’t explain it. It’s weird.” I gestured to Mirabelle. “How long has she been like this?”

“About an hour,” he said.

“Ah. Has her water broken?”

“Not yet.”

“It’s not her first baby. When she gets going, it’s going to be a fast delivery.” I peeked over the stall to watch Mirabelle for a moment. She was pacing and pawing the fresh hay. Her tail kept swishing back and forth.

We were at the back of the barn, away from the draft, but Declan had set up a heater to keep the foal warm.

“Someone else is more than a pretty face,” Declan said. “You know what you’re talking about.”

Pleasure at his words skated through my belly.

“So I’m guessing you’ve assisted with deliveries before?” Declan asked.

I nodded. “I helped my mom from time to time. She was a vet.”

“Interesting,” Declan murmured. “You didn’t have any interest in following in your mother’s footsteps?”

“No,” I admitted. “A big part of being a vet is being with people on one of the worst days of their lives. It wears on you after a while. I saw that with my mom.”

“Here, take a seat,” Declan said, gesturing to his cot. “I didn’t think I’d have company, otherwise I would’ve brought a chair.”

“Thanks.” I sat on the cot with my back against the stall.

Declan leaned against the far wall that faced me. “Nothing to do now but wait.”

“Yeah.”

“You need anything?” he asked. “Something to drink?”

“I’m good.”

We fell into a companionable silence, listening for the sounds of Mirabelle’s impending birth.

“Was I right?” he asked suddenly.

“About what?”

“About Wade.”

I paused for a moment and then nodded. “Yeah, you were right about Wade. He asked me to dinner.”

“You gonna go?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

My heart drummed in my ears. I forced myself to meet Declan’s gaze when I replied, “You know why not.”

His hands clenched at his sides.

Mirabelle grunted and then there was the sound of whooshing water.

Declan pushed away from the wall and grinned. “Showtime.”