Page 14 of Taken, Not Spurred (Lone Star Burn 1)
“Do you see him?” she asked urgently, her arms tightening around him.
He shook his head. He would have said something to comfort her, but her fear seared through years of numbness and unspoken words choked in his throat. Her emotion reached inside of him and pulled at what he’d long denied. Pulled at what haunted his nights and had driven him to this solitary life.
When he’d decided to invite her to stay for a bit, it had been because he enjoyed the idea of showing her how much pleasure she’d been missing. He’d chosen the pace. He’d been in control.
As they neared the barn, he didn’t see her horse as he’d expected to and hated the emotions that rushed in. It didn’t help that he felt her breasts pushing against his back with each shuddering breath she took. Something that normally would have turned him on instead revealed the depth of her fear and made him want to pull her into his arms and comfort her.
She’s here for a night of fun—maybe a week tops.
I don’t care about her or her damn horse. He grunted at the falseness of his desperate claim.
David walked out to meet them at the door of the barn.
“Have you seen the Paso?” Tony bit out the question.
David shook his head.
Tony turned his horse back to face the open field. He issued an order over his shoulder. “Send the men to do a perimeter check. I want a helicopter up in the air and every inch of the valley searched. No one comes home without that horse.”
In his often irritatingly calm manner, David drawled, “He couldn’t have gotten very far. With some on horseback and a few in trucks, we’ll find him before nightfall. You sure you want to involve Dean?”
As a tangle of emotions battered him, finding the horse was the only thing he was sure about. Spinning his palomino, he was on David, barking out his command. “I want that horse found. Now.”
David shrugged. “You’re the boss.”
Tense beyond what such an event should have made him, he snapped back, “I am.” With that, he urged his horse to move with more force than normal. Sarah clung to him even tighter as they surged forward into a gallop. He finally slowed at the top of a small hill that gave them a better vantage point, letting out a long sigh.
“Thank you,” Sarah said quietly from behind him.
“We haven’t found him yet.”
The grateful squeeze she gave him had nothing to do with holding on and sent his heart thudding painfully in his chest. “No, but we will. If anyone can find him, it’s you.” The faith she placed in him filled him with guilt. She deserved better.
He laid one of his hands over hers on his stomach and said harshly, “I have nothing to offer you outside of what we shared earlier. Don’t start thinking this is more than it is. When you find your horse you should probably go.”
He felt her take a shaky breath before she asked, “Is that what you want?”
He searched the open field and the edge of the surrounding wooded area as he answered, “No.”
They rode in silence down the side of the hill and headed toward the tree line. A helicopter flew overhead. The pilot tipped the aircraft in their direction. Tony directed him to the other side of the woods with a wave.
“I’m sorry that you have to do all of this for me.”
He didn’t answer her. What could he say? It’s not a bother? He wasn’t one to lie. He could only imagine what Dean had thought when David called him. The local TV news would love the story, too. He could hear the sound bite now: Carlton loses mind, now horses. Details on how far this reclusive horse trainer has sunk at eleven.
Oh yes, he couldn’t tell Sarah that she wasn’t a bother.
She’d been trouble since the moment he’d found her in his shower.
But, God help him, he didn’t have the strength to warn her to leave again.
What did I expect him to say? It’s a flipping joy to disrupt my ranch and chase down your horse for you?
He said he doesn’t want me to leave, but he also doesn’t want me to stay.
What’s a woman supposed to do with that?
As she and Tony entered the shaded covering of the woods, she felt another wave of panic overtake her. And as they often did, her thoughts scattered and tangled as she tried to calm herself. I am so sorry, Scooter. I never considered that you could be the price of a wild adventure.
But that’s me.
I can’t be trusted to care for anything . . . or anyone.
It always ends badly.
Tears filled her eyes, making it impossible to see past the plaid of Tony’s shirt. I don’t know why I thought Texas would be different. That I would be different here.
They say you should write what you know.
I should stop trying to write a romance and write a fucking tragedy.
Images of the intimacy she and Tony had shared just a short while ago rushed back to taunt her.
Okay, not all of this trip has been bad.
At least now I know that my bits and pieces work.
If I had tied Scooter to a tree, I could be having mind-blowing sex right now.
Oh my God, I’m a bad person. My horse could be hurt and calling for me, and all I can think about is how I’d like to be pressed this closely to Tony but without all these clothes.
No wonder he keeps suggesting I leave.
I’m a loon.
A loon who may have just killed her horse.
She hugged Tony’s strong back and said, “You’re probably wondering why I got so upset when we’ll likely find him and he’ll be just fine.”
“No.”
Her voice went up several octaves. “No, he won’t be fine?”
“No, I wasn’t wondering.”
Sarah stiffened in response. “Well, that’s not nice.”
He tensed beneath her touch. “I told you, I’m not a nice man.”
Sarah bit back an instant desire to agree with him. If she believed him, she’d leave the moment they found Scooter. But that was the problem: No matter what Tony said, she saw something in him that she couldn’t walk away from. Like on TV when people sit and talk to family members in comas, believing that they can be heard even when doctors tell them they can’t be.
Tony’s trapped inside this gruff man, but that’s not him. I know it isn’t. You could judge a person by what he said, but Sarah had always believed that a person’s true nature was revealed in his actions. Tony had taken her in when she’d needed a place to stay. He’d been unselfish in lovemaking and now was on a full-on hunt for an animal that meant nothing to him.
His tough talk was just that—talk.
Although she couldn’t see them at the moment, she could picture his soulful eyes looking down at her. I don’t believe you, Tony Carlton.
You and I were meant to find each other.
“Thank God,” Tony said, and for a moment Sarah’s heart soared until he added, “There’s your damn horse.”
Deep in the woods, quietly munching away on the short brush in the coolness of the shade, Scooter paused and looked up as they approached. He whinnied to the horse beneath them and received an answering call. Tony swung a leg forward over the head of his horse and slid to the ground, turning to help Sarah down.
“He looks unhurt. Does he come when you call?” Tony asked without taking his eyes off Scooter.
“When I have grain.” Tony turned to look at her and she said a bit defensively, “It was never an issue before.”
With no softening to the harsh set of his jaw, he said, “I could help you work on a few things with him.”
Hope welled within Sarah, but she fought to conceal it. She looked at him boldly and asked, “How long would that take?”
Desire lit his eyes and ignited a responding heat within her as she waited for his answer. “Could take a day.” A hint of smile pulled at one side of his
mouth as they continued to stare into each other’s eyes. “Could take a few weeks.”
And there it was—an offer of an extended stay.
An opportunity to learn something entirely different from what they were discussing.
A chance to see what was behind all that talk.
All she had to do was agree.
