A Real Cowboy Rides a Motorcycle (25 page)

"Why not?"

"She's scared. She's had a rough time of it. If an animal is in a constant state of fear, sometimes they can't relax enough to eat."

"She'll die if she doesn't eat. Look how skinny she is." Luke's voice was worried, and he didn't take his gaze off the animal.

Zane thought for a moment, then an idea formed. "You know what she needs?"

Luke shook his head. "What?"

"To feel safe. To feel like someone is going to protect her. She needs to bond with someone. Horses are herd animals, and they're not used to living alone. She doesn't know how to connect with other horses because she's lived alone for so long. She needs someone to be her champion."

Luke said nothing, his arms hooked over the door as he watched her.

"I don't have time," Zane said, choosing his words carefully. "Taylor and I are working on plans to get the cabins built for the summer camp for the kids. Steen's working with the horses that come to the ranch for rehab or training, but this one's not ready for that. Chase and Mira are swamped too." He paused for an extra moment. "We'll have to sell her, and find her a new home. One where someone has time for her."

Luke said nothing, and Zane waited.

Finally, the boy said, "What if they don't take good care of her? What if it's not as nice a place as this one?"

"We'll do our best. We won't let her go somewhere that's not safe."

Luke looked at him. "But how do you know? You never know what's going on inside another place, unless you're living in it."

Zane's heart broke for the lessons that had prompted that observation. "This is true," he said evenly, "but we'll make sure—"

"No." Luke shook his head. "No. I'll take her. I'll take care of her. She needs me."

Zane couldn't stop the grin from spreading over his face, but he quickly wiped it away when Luke looked over at him. "You think you're up for that?" he asked, keeping his expression solemn. "You'll have to gain her trust and get her to eat. When she's ready to be ridden, you'll be the only one she'll want on her back. So, you'll have to be ready for that. You'll have to learn to ride so that you'll be skilled by the time she's ready."

Luke nodded seriously. "I can do that. I'll start right away. Can we do a lesson today?"

Zane couldn't stop the grin this time. "You bet we can." He nodded at the mare. "She needs a name. What are you going to call her?"

"I get to name her?" Luke looked back at the mare, studying her. "Harley," he said decisively. "Her name is Harley. Like your bike. She'll be as fast as your bike when she's better."

Zane grinned. "Harley it is." He put his hand on Luke's shoulder as they both looked in at the mare, who was dozing in the back of the stall. "You'll have to talk to Chase and figure out what to feed her, and how to get her started eating again."

Luke nodded. "I can do that. Chase is a good guy."

"That he is." He pulled open the door. "Go on. Say hi. Introduce yourself."

"Really? Can I?" Luke couldn't keep the eagerness out of his voice, ducking inside the stall even as he asked the question. He walked right up to the mare, who raised her head nervously and backed into the corner at his approach.

Zane watched as the boy instinctively slowed down, and began talking in low undertones to the mare. Harley's ear flicked forward to listen, and slowly, ever so slowly, she lowered her head, still listening.

"Zane—" Taylor appeared beside him, and then fell silent when she saw Luke with the mare. She moved up beside Zane, her hand sliding into his as they watched Luke talk to the mare. Slowly, inch by inch, he moved closer. Harley kept lowering her head more and more as she relaxed, and her ears kept flicking forward, until he was standing right next to her. He leaned in, whispering into her ear, not attempting to touch her. Harley was absolutely still, listening.

Taylor pulled her hand out of Zane's and slipped into the stall. Neither Harley nor Luke noticed her approach, and she slid a carrot into Luke's hand before ducking back out. Zane grinned and put his arm around her as they watched Luke glance down at the carrot. He looked back at Zane, who gave him a nod, and then he held the carrot in front of Harley's nose.

She sniffed it, then turned her head away.

Luke resumed whispering in her ear, still holding the carrot out. Harley cautiously sniffed the carrot again, and then she carefully took it from Luke's hand and crunched it. Luke looked back at Zane and Taylor, a huge smile etched on his face, his light brown eyes dancing with delight.

Zane's heart tightened, and he pulled Taylor closer against him as they both gave him a thumbs up. This was it. This was what being a parent was. This was what being a family was. Sharing moments like this, with the people he loved.

He looked down at Taylor, and he saw her eyes glistening with happiness. "I love you, darlin'," he whispered.

She smiled. "I love you, too."

He kissed her, and then laughed when he heard Luke's groan. "You guys are kissing again? That's so gross."

But when Zane looked over at him, the kid was grinning, watching them as if seeing them together was the best thing he'd ever seen. "If you're done with Harley," Zane said, "the house is here."

Luke's face lit up. "The house? Our house? Really?"

"It's coming up the driveway right now," Taylor said. "I saw it myself."

"I can't believe they moved that old farmhouse," Luke said. "Is it on rollers? A truck? How are they doing it?"

"You'll have to see." Zane had decided the boys couldn't wait a year for a house to be built. Plus, who needed a brand new house, anyway? Together, they'd found a fantastic old farmhouse in the next town, and he'd bought it and paid to have it moved. The foundation was already laid, and it would take only a few days to get the house settled sufficiently for them to move into it. Four bedrooms, three bathrooms, and he was planning to build a serious game room on the back, the kind of game room that would keep the boys at home and not out on the town where they could get into trouble.

He knew what boys did, he knew what it took to keep them out of trouble, and he was going to give them everything he had to keep them safe. He was already figuring out the dad thing, learning how to balance love with rules. Who knew he had it in him? He smiled. Taylor had known. Without her, he'd never be where he was, living the life that he was meant to lead.

"Awesome!" Luke hurried out of the stall, taking time to make sure Harley's door was locked, before taking off in a sprint down the aisle.

Taylor started to go after him, but Zane grabbed her wrist and pulled her back, pinning her against the stall door. "I need one second with you," he whispered, tunneling his hands through her hair. "Sharing that bunkhouse with the boys has seriously cramped my naked time with you."

She melted against him, their bodies fitting together perfectly, as they always did. She wrapped her hands around his neck. "It's been perfect," she said.

He grinned, thinking of how they'd woken up this morning with Toby in bed with them, snuggled up beside Taylor. "Yeah, it has." They'd had to start sleeping with clothes on, but he learned that it was so worth it. "My wife," he said softly. "I'll never get tired of saying that.
Ever.
"

She beamed at him. "Good," she said. "I'm glad to hear it." She grinned. "I'm glad we didn't wait for Mira and Erin's double wedding. Our ceremony was perfect with just us and the boys."

"I couldn't wait, and I didn't want to share." He kissed her forehead, then her cheek. "If you'd said you wanted to wait for the big wedding, I think I would have had to kidnap you."

Her smile faded. "I had the big wedding, Zane. I didn't want another one. I just wanted you and the boys."

"I love you." He kissed her again, a kiss that seemed to melt away every last bit of tension in his body. Holding her in his arms was a gift he'd never dreamed of...until he'd met her. "I love everything about you, just the way you are."

She smiled. "I know you do, and I feel the same—"

He cut her off with a kiss, the kind of kiss that still shook them both to their cores, a kiss of forever, of commitment, and of a passion that would never die. With a deep sigh, she wrapped her arms around him, kissing him back just as fiercely.

His cock growing hard, he grabbed her legs and lifted them around his hips. There had to be an empty stall around—

"Mommy! Daddy!"

He swore and set Taylor down as Toby came hurtling around the corner, his little legs pumping as fast as he could go. "You have to come see the house! It's even bigger than I remember! Come see! Come see!" He grabbed Taylor's hand and started dragging her toward the door.

Taylor laughed, tossing a smile back at Zane as she let Toby lead her out. He grinned, laughter bubbling up deep in his chest as he followed them.

Yeah, this was good. Really, really good.

Ducking her head against the raging storm, Clare hugged herself while she watched the huge black pickup truck turn its headlights onto the steep hillside. She was freezing, and her muscles wouldn't stop shaking. She was so worried about Katie, she could barely think, and she had no idea what this stranger was going to do. Something. Anything.
Please.

The truck lurched toward the hill, and she realized suddenly that he was going to drive straight up the embankment in an attempt to go above the roots and around the fallen tree that was blocking the road. But that was crazy! The mountain was way too steep. He was going to flip his truck!

Memories assaulted her, visions of when her husband had died, and she screamed, racing toward him and waving her arms. "No, don't! Stop!"

But the truck plowed up the side of the hill, its wheels spewing mud as it fought for traction in the rain-soaked earth. She stopped, horror recoiling through her as the truck turned and skidded parallel across the hill, the left side of his truck reaching far too high up the slippery slope. Her stomach retched as she saw the truck tip further and further.

The truck was at such an extreme angle, she could see the roof now. A feathered angel was painted beneath the flood lights. An angel? What was a man like him doing with an angel on his truck?

The truck was almost vertical now. There was no way it could stay upright. It was going to flip. Crash into the tree. Careen across the road. Catapult off the cliff. He would die right in front of her. Oh, God,
he would die
.

But somehow, by a miracle that she couldn't comprehend, the truck kept struggling forward, all four wheels still gripping the earth.

The truck was above the roots now. Was he going to make it?
Please let him make it—

The wheels slipped, and the truck dropped several yards down toward the roots. "No!" She took a useless, powerless step as the tires caught on the roots. The tires spun out in the mud, and the roots ripped across the side of the vehicle with a furious scream.

"Go," she shouted, clenching her firsts. "Go!"

He gunned the engine, and suddenly the tires caught. The truck leapt forward, careening sideways across the hill, skidding back and forth as the mud spewed. He made it past the tree, and then the truck plowed back down toward the road, sliding and rolling as he fought for control.

Clare held her hand over her mouth, terrified that at any moment one of his tires would catch on a root and he'd flip. "Please make it, please make it, please make it," she whispered over and over again.

The truck bounced high over a gully, and she gasped when it flew up so high she could see the undercarriage. Then somehow, someway, he wrested the truck back to four wheels, spun out into the road and stopped, its wipers pounding furiously against the rain as the floodlights poured hope into the night.

Oh, dear God. He'd made it. He hadn't died.

Clare gripped her chest against the tightness in her lungs. Her hands were shaking, her legs were weak. She needed to sit down. To recover.

But there was no time. The driver's door opened and out he stepped. Standing behind the range of his floodlights, he was silhouetted against the darkness, his shoulders so wide and dominating he looked like the dark earth itself had brought him to life.

Something inside her leapt with hope at the sight of him, at the sheer, raw strength of his body as he came toward her. This man, this stranger, he was enough. He could help her. Sudden tears burned in her eyes as she finally realized she didn't have to fight this battle by herself.

He held up his hand to tell her to stay, then he slogged over to the front of his truck. He hooked something to the winch, then headed over to the tree. The trunk came almost to his chest, but he locked his grip around a wet branch for leverage, and then vaulted over with effortless grace, landing in the mud with a splash. "Come here," he shouted over the wind.