Asha King (3 page)

Chapter Four

She was going to kill him.

Sure, it might get her kicked off the farm. And arrested. But in prison, her stalker couldn’t get her
and
she could probably increase her blog hits exponentially by posting about the experience.

It was a plan.

Adam taught riding lessons to a handful of people from town on Tuesday morning and had tasked her with retrieving some of the horses needed from the field. Seemed simple enough except that the field stretched on for what felt like miles and the horses, of course, insisted on standing at the very
end
of it.

Damn him.
And damn the horses
. Honestly, it was like they
all
conspired together to make her insane.

She trudged up a hill through tall, weedy grass in patches that touched her knees, her borrowed cowboy boots pinching painfully as she walked. The sky was an almost inhuman bright blue, crisp and cloudless. It would be a good day to lounge around the pool, but thus far she’d only been able to gaze longingly at it by the house before being sent off to do another of Cooper’s tasks.

She had a baseball hat on since she hadn’t been shopping yet, and that along with shades managed to keep the bright, late morning sun from her eyes. Though she’d lathered up with sun screen, her bare shoulders and the back of her neck felt like they were burning.

Dani officially hated the ranch.

Two of the required horses previously went easy enough, but a pair of roan quarter horses stood near the far fence, staring at her as she approached with two leads. She hadn’t been stepped on again. Yet. But then the day was still young.

Dani clucked her tongue at the horses, hoping they might start following without her having to put the leads on and drag them, but no such luck. With a sigh, she went to the first and latched onto its halter. It tugged its head up, twisting back and forth.

This is promising.

She hooked the other lead onto the second horse’s halter. They both eyed her warily.

“If you step on my feet, you’ll be in big trouble,” she warned as she gave them a tug. “Probably. Stupid Cooper will probably laugh his stupid head off but
I
will be sad about it and we don’t want that, do we? C’mon.” She pulled again and the horses followed, one on either side. For a moment, pride swelled as she walked them back down the hill—they were listening. Maybe she wasn’t so bad at this after—

She didn’t get the thought out before she realized both horses were moving faster than her. A
lot
faster. She didn’t think she should jog on the uneven ground so she tried to speed up, quickening her pace, but their legs were longer and they had a whole lot more of them—both horses were well ahead, barreling down the hill, jerking the leads through her grasping hands and giving her rope burn. She struggled to keep up but a final tug and she lost her grip. Both horses trotted on and Dani tripped, flying, flying, the grass rising up and meeting her face as she landed hard.

The breath was knocked out of her and given the strong odor drifting toward her, she had a feeling she’d landed near something she really didn’t want to run into. The sun beat down on her back and she groaned.

This sucked. This sucked really, really
hard
.

For a moment she lay there, panting, blinking. Her shades had fallen off and she didn’t see where they landed—probably in manure, given her luck. Muttering obscenities under her breath, she pulled herself onto her knees and elbows and squinted as she surveyed herself. Dirt scuffed up her clothes and bare skin, but thankfully she’d avoided the pile of manure about a foot away.

Still no sign of her sunglasses.

She puffed out a breath, blowing the loose bits of hair that had drifted into her face and sat on her knees for a moment. The horses were long gone—where, she couldn’t say, but hopefully in the direction of the gate, or else she’d be chasing them all over.

The beat of horse hooves shook the ground, drawing nearer, and she glanced up to see the big brown draft who nearly trampled her the day before, Bud, approaching. Cooper rode bareback and she bit at her bottom lip when curses threatened to leave her mouth.

“Yeah, yeah, I suck,” she called as he approached.

He pulled the horse up next to her, gazing down with sunlight streaming around him. It was like something out of a romance movie and she blushed hard at the thought. Why did attractive men always have to turn out to be assholes?

His hands were wrapped around a length of rope he was using as reins and her gaze drifted up, over the corded muscles of his arms beneath tanned skin.

Yep. Not fair that the hot ones were jerks.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

She glared up at him. “Don’t even pretend you weren’t over there laughing at me or something—”

“Jesus, I’m just checking to see if you broke something!”

Dani clambered up onto her feet with effort, determined that he wouldn’t see her in any pain. “I’m just
fine
, okay? I’m super! I don’t have boots that fit and I smell like manure and I’m getting a sunburn and this hat!” She dragged off the baseball hat as her fury rose and threw the damn thing as far as she could. With the breeze against her, it ended up landing four feet away and making her look even stupider. “This hat sucks and now I have hat hair and I bet this is real funny to you, right?”

Cooper shook his head and looked away, seeming to unclench his jaw with effort. “Look, princess, do you want a ride back or not?”

She almost snarked in return but then remembered the unpleasant trek up there in the first place. She trudged over, picked up the hat, and clutched it tight in her hand. “Fine.”

He extended his hand, big, calloused palm reaching toward her. She looked at it for a moment, then back at him, and at last relented and accepted it. He gave her hand a firm tug and reached down with his other one grasping under her arm to drag her up. Moments later he had her settled in front of him on the big horse. With no saddle, she had nothing to grip and knotted her free hand in Bud’s mane, letting out a sudden squeak as the horse started moving.

Adam’s arm came around her midsection, holding her firm against him as they started the awkward trek down the hill.

And then another heat altogether overcame her that had nothing to do with the sun.

She breathed deeply, focusing on trying to stay put on her own instead of relying on him. His free hand was around the rope-reins, urging the horse with care down the hill. Awareness prickled through her, feeling him there holding her close. It was stupid and irrational, but her body responded, electricity seemed to charge through her at the contact.

“So.” She cleared her throat and tried to get her brain on straight by distracting herself with conversation. “I kind of lost those horses. And by ‘kind of’, I mean ‘completely.’”

“They went to the gate,” his deep voice rumbled near her ear, sending shivers down the sensitive flesh of her neck. “Dewey’s got ’em.”

“Okay.” Her body’s urge was to lean back into him and enjoy the strength and security of his arms; her mind, however, thought that was insane and insisted she remain rigid, even if it was less comfortable.

“You need to loosen up.”

She glanced back sharply and bumped his chin. His gaze was steady ahead, not bothering to meet her eyes.

“You need to move with the horse, not against it, when you’re riding,” he advised. “It’s safer and easier.”

Dani swallowed a lump in her throat and tried to relax, allowing herself to lean into Cooper and loosen enough that she went up and down as Bud moved. Thankfully, they didn’t have far to go; the gate was soon in sight. He urged Bud to a stop beside it and then climbed off the horse’s back first. For a moment, she clutched the horse and prayed it didn’t spot grain and decide to take off on her. When Adam offered his hand, she gladly accepted and let him help her to the ground.

When she’d settled on her feet again, Dani brushed loose hair from her forehead and tried to straighten her back. Cooper’s hand lingered on her arm for a moment and a sudden blush rolled through her, aware she looked like something the horse dragged in—literally. “Well, um, thanks. I guess.”

Cooper released her and grasped Bud’s halter to lead him. “You should probably stay for the lesson.” He cut her a critical look. “Saddle up Bud and learn what the hell you’re doing.”

Whatever confused, girlish feelings that had briefly flared up died as her temper fumed. “I don’t want to ride, especially not with you ordering me around.”

“Fine. You want to increase the risk of injury by not learning, be my guest, princess. And next time, I’ll happily leave you out in the field if it’s that much trouble.” He led Bud through the gate and into the paddock.

Dani’s nails dug into the hat in her hands. She thought long and hard about trying to tear up the stupid thing but she’d just look like an idiot, so she stormed off in the other direction, climbing between the gaps in the fencing to get out. She crossed the paddock, still pissed off, and ducked through another fence to head for the house.

I need a shower. And I need to make a Cooper Voodoo Doll. If I can pop online and find the guest post from that voodoo mamba, I can probably remember how to put one together. And then I’ll throw the doll down a hill into a pile of manure and see how he likes it.

And maybe I should’ve thanked him for the ride back down.

Yeah, that would’ve been a good idea—sometimes she didn’t think all that clearly and forgot her manners. Her mother, if she lived still, would have more than a few chastising words about it.

Dewey approached as she stalked toward the house, a huge grin splitting his friendly face. “I was going to drive into town. Want to come? Maybe pick up, um...” He glanced at her feet. “You know, clothes and stuff?”

Shopping. Shopping sounded
wonderful
.

But so did a shower and a change of clothes.

Shopping
...

“Gimme ten minutes!” she called over her shoulder as she raced for the house.

She was in the truck waiting for him in eight.

****

Stirling Falls Tack Shop was vast and smelled like leather. Dani skipped the saddles, bridles, and horse care equipment and went straight for the clothes. Dewey chuckled, muttered something about women, but she was too tired to argue about the stereotype. Yes, she loved clothes, and she’d particularly love ones that made living at the ranch more bearable.

There was also an assortment of horse-theme jewelry up by the cash counter that sparkled in the bright overhead lights. Jewelry would, of course, make things even
more
bearable, she was sure. At the very least, she needed a chunky belt buckle.

For now, she skipped the jewelry and paused next to a navy velvet riding hat, running her fingers along the soft surface. Navy wasn’t really her color—something brighter would be nice—but it was lovely. Dani grinned as Dewey walked by. “I had one of these as a kid.”

“Ah.” He smiled widely. “English rider.”

“That’s what Cooper kept saying.”

“Well, when you’re at a Western ranch, they’ll talk down about English. But if you’re with English people, they say the same about Western. Best to just go with wherever you are.”

That was true and she had no intention of riding anyway. Instead, she moved to the left and plucked a light brown Stetson off the rack. She set it on her head and turned to see her reflection in a mirror between the boot racks. Not bad at all—she’d need autumn toned clothes to match, but it would be cute to wear while filming vlog entries. Maybe tie her black curls into loose pigtails behind her ears. A perfect new profile pic.

She swung it by the strap as she moved toward the boots. Maybe dark brown for those and something all purpose—though the red caught her eye.

Dewey hung near, perhaps to see if she needed advice or something, and she decided to pick his brain for a while. “So is there any particular reason why Cooper is always a jerk?”

He chuckled, plucked off his Stetson, and ran his hand back through his short blond hair. “He’s not
always
,” Dewey said, and then amended that as well, “I mean, not ever. He just...likes order. He likes everything in its place, sort of.”

“Doesn’t strike me as a neat freak.” She pulled down a box of boots and lifted the lid—now
they
were nice. Beautiful detailing up the side. She decided not to look at the price since she was putting everything on her credit card anyway. Surprises were always nice.

“Not like that. Just...likes life predictable. Get up, go to work, eat, go to bed. Hates variation.”

And I’m nothing if not a variant.

“And disruption,” Dewey added.

She glanced at him and cocked a brow. “Yeah, I caught the drift the first time.”

“
And
distraction,” he added for good measure.

She sat down to try on the boots, ignoring the comment. “Traumatic childhood?”

“Adulthood.”

There was nothing teasing in his tone; she glanced up sharply as dread sunk heavily in her stomach. “What do you mean?”

Dewey’s lips parted, then he seemed to think the better of it and closed them, glancing away. “Not my place.”

“C’mon. You can’t leave it at
that
.”

“I can and I plan to, Jackson.”

“Aww,
please
, Dewey? Pretty please?” She could be an irritating whiner, she knew, and already he was getting antsy.

“Nope. Nothing from me. Just trust me on this one—don’t go poking around none.” Dewey backed up in a hurry. “Just cut him some slack. Okay? Great. Want a basket for your stuff?”

Before she could reply, he was off in search of a shopping basket, leaving her to stare after him and wonder precisely what dark secrets Adam Cooper held.