Chapter 9
Winter
“Tighter on the edge,” Ade calls gruffly across the herd, signalling the guys on the other side to ride closer, redirecting the cattle.
Even though we’re mid-November, fall in Kentucky feels like summer, with sweltering rays of sparkling sunlight making the jasper valleys shimmer and glow.
But in preparation for the impending winter season inevitably on route to Hartstrings Ranch, we’re starting to bring the herds down to the barns, so that we can make sure they’re well-fed and warm.
I glance at Ade as he locks eyes with Carter, and his strong jaw flexes before he looks my way.
Carter shakes his head and turns his attention back to the cattle, his shoulders swelling with the movement as he adjusts his hat over his brow.
Carter still hasn’t formed a bond with his unbroken Quarter Horse and, even though Ade is staying silent, I know that he’s secretly stressing about the lack of progress.
“Maverick, come hold up the rear,” Deacon, Caden’s dad, says from the back of the pack, and I glance over my shoulder as Maverick carefully manoeuvres his stallion, riding effortlessly toward the back of the herd.
And when Maverick catches me looking, he shoots me a playful wink as we reach the gate, making me grin back at him as I slow my pace, allowing the cattle to walk carefully past us.
“I love herding days,” Maverick rumbles, smiling as Gratitude sidles cosily beside his horse, and both of us wait at the back of the line so that we can make sure the cows walk safely through.
I peek up at him, my cheeks dimpling when he reaches his large forearm out toward me, and he gathers me carefully against his side for a brotherly hug while we sit astride our horses.
“You miss coming up the valley, now that you’re teaching the kids throughout the week?” he asks, and I rest my head against his shoulder as I stroke my free hand through Gratitude’s mane.
I like all of the ranch duties, and I never mind which task Ade assigns me, but secretly I love riding the valleys, seeing as it’s one of the first things that Caden taught me.
“A little,” I admit, and Maverick nods in understanding as he squeezes my shoulder, his eyes on the cattle as they enter the gate, and then on the ranch-hands by the barn. His brother is a couple of feet ahead of us, his broad shoulders rising as he oversees the herd.
Ade watches them silently for a moment, and then he does an effortless one-eighty, giving me an easy-going smirk as he loops a rope around his arm.
“Are you going to go pamper the cattle tonight, when you think that we can’t hear you?” Ade rumbles teasingly, and I roll my eyes as I breathe out a laugh, glancing at Maverick as he jumps down from his stallion.
He moves around the back of our horses and pulls closed the heavy metal gate at our rear, grunting when he lifts up the thick silver chain and wraps it slowly around the bars.
“Of course she is,” Maverick chuckles, before extending his hand to help me dismount.
I don’t need the assistance, but Maverick takes quiet pride in being a gentleman, so I let him help me down from Gratitude, loosely holding the reins as Ade does the same.
Then the three of us start walking back toward the stables, Maverick’s attention flicking to the ranch sign before he shakes his head and drops his gaze.
“Had the weirdest encounter this morning,” he says, his deep voice reverberating around the stable, as we breach the wooden threshold and make our way inside.
Ade glances across at his brother. “What do you mean?”
“Two local guys pulled up in their truck, just idling by the ranch sign as we rode up the valley. Nash and” – he narrows his eyes in thought – “I can’t remember the name of the other guy,” he rumbles. “I recognised their faces. They’re hands at another ranch.”
Ade stops walking and blinks at Maverick. “Just before Caden left, he said something similar.”
We all pause, standing between the stalls, but Gratitude nudges my curls and brings me back to the present.
After a long day of riding, he wants his well-deserved unwind-time.
I smile up at his pretty face, and I move around Ade’s stallion, heading to Gratitude’s compartment.
He practically purrs as I settle him in for the evening, allowing me to run over the basic checks before I close his half-door, and then I walk back to Ade and Maverick, who are talking quietly in brusque tones.
Ade frowns at something Maverick says, but when he looks down at me, his expression softens. He drapes his heavy forearm around my shoulder and tucks me against his side as they continue talking.
“So what you’re saying is that we have less than three months until the rodeo, and now some fuckers on the other side of town are scoping us out for weaknesses.” Ade’s chest swells as his voice deepens. “Nice try, but that’s not happening.”
“Maybe we should do something about it, if they stop by again,” Maverick drawls, unravelling the rope that he carried in the valley and whipping it across the stable, lassoing a dummy-bull.
He tightens his hold on the rope and, with one quick pull, he hauls the bull in front of us, showing us exactly just how easily he could get his hands on the guys who were watching us.
Ade runs his palm down his stubble, the rough scraping sound low and rasping, and he nudges the bull with the side of his cowboy boot, running through all of the options in his mind.
“None of this would even matter if Carter actually had a handle on that horse,” Ade murmurs. “If Nash and those guys saw him in control of that thing, their ranch would withdraw their rodeo entry in ten seconds flat.”
Maverick meets his brother’s eyes and rumbles softly, “But he doesn’t.”
Ade exhales, his biceps bunching against me, as he nods his head. “But he doesn’t.”
And then Maverick’s gaze meets mine, his broad chest rising as if he’s about to say something, but as soon as Ade notices he immediately steps forward, giving his brother a shake of his head.
“Don’t,” Ade tells him simply, and my cheeks burn crimson as he stands between us.
Because I know what Maverick wants to ask me. It’s the same thing that his father attempted before Caden stopped him.
He wants to know where I stand on being a competitive athlete again. Because I may never have done a rodeo, but it’s undeniable that riding is in my blood.
“It’s okay,” I start, laughing in surprise as Ade spins me around, hauling me along to his horse’s stall so that I’m no longer looking at his brother.
Ade glances down at me with a protective expression, his gaze slightly guarded as he slowly searches my eyes.
“I know what you want to ask me,” I whisper up at him, “but maybe Carter and his horse just need a little more bonding time.”
“Winter, he’s been bonding with that horse for months,” Ade rumbles quietly. “And by bonding, I mean getting his ass handed to him.”
“True,” Maverick grunts, wiping his palms down his jeans when he finishes with his stallion, locking the large stall behind him before making his way back toward us.
“After the fall he took yesterday, I don’t think that Carter should go near that horse again.
And Carter never has issues with horses, especially not ones with the lucky glow. ”
“The ‘lucky glow’?” I repeat teasingly, yelping with laughter when Maverick pokes my dimple.
“It’s what Carter says a horse has got, when he gets a gut feeling about it,” Ade explains.
“I mean, just look at him, Winter,” Maverick teases, grinning as we stop outside the Quarter Horse’s door. “He’s glowing, right?” he says good-naturedly, but then our boots stop as we stare inside the stall.
The empty stall.
Which is supposed to have Carter’s horse inside of it.
Ade sucks in a breath, his eyes widening as he stares at the untouched bedding.
The lock hasn’t been damaged, meaning that the horse hasn’t been stolen, but there are only a few ranch-hands with keys to the Quarter Horse’s stall…
“Ade,” Maverick says slowly, his rough voice deepening as he watches his brother.
And Ade looks back at him with a shake of his head, his brow creasing as we all try to work out the same thing.
Where the heck is Carter’s horse?
Because while we were herding the cattle, Carter wasn’t riding his competition horse, but now that we’re back from the valley…
My gaze flashes to Maverick’s, and then all three of us are running out the back, dust exploding around our boots as we skid to a stop in the adjacent stable – the one that houses the horse that Carter was riding with us this morning.
And the horse blinks up at us innocently, completely unfazed by our shocked faces.
I stumble back from the door, my limbs trembling with foreboding.
Because if the horse that Carter was riding earlier is safely inside its stable, but his Quarter Horse isn’t…
“Shit!” Ade shouts, and then we’re racing toward the exit, our soles pounding against the floorboards as we reach the wooden doorway.
It’s as if Ade, Maverick, and I suddenly have a collective consciousness, a heightened sense for what’s about to happen as the world unfolds in slow-motion.
Before the training paddock even comes into view, we know what we’re about to see when a heavy thud hits the ground.
Horseshoes scuffle on the dirt and a deep voice stifles a grunt of pain.
“Shit, shit, shit!” Ade exclaims, taking off like a shot when it finally comes into view.
My boots falter on the gravel, my breath stalling as the horse rears back, and Carter’s large body curls up on the ground as he scrunches his face, gritting his teeth in agony.
But Maverick wraps his palm around my wrist and suddenly I’m jolted back to the present, running as fast as I can with the guys as Ade rips open the gate. He raises his palms toward the Quarter Horse, backing him up with a thunderous expression.
The second that all four of his legs are on the ground, Ade’s gripping his reins in his fists and immediately hauling him out of the pen.
The horse’s large eyes meet mine for a moment as I stare up at him in shock.
And I can’t help but notice… his eyes are so blue.
But there’s no time to delay as Carter grunts quietly on the ground, and I drop to my knees and look him over while Maverick tears off his jacket, searching for his phone.
“Fuck, I can’t find it!” he shouts, his voice rasping and panicked, so I quickly unlock my phone and hold it up for him to take.
“Thank you,” Maverick rasps, punching in the digits for the hospital, and my eyes stray to the small pool of red slowly spreading beneath Carter’s leg.
“Mav,” I say warily, keeping my voice steady for Carter’s sake, but when his eyes meet mine, he knows exactly what I’m thinking.
Maverick stares at the blood for a beat, before shoving his hand through his hair and barking into the phone.
“Winter,” Carter croaks, and I tentatively place my fingertips over his, not wanting to move him when his body could be seriously injured.
“I’m right here,” I tell him quickly, swallowing hard when his pinkie finger brushes against mine.
“I fucked up, Winter,” he whispers hoarsely, and he looks up at me from under long tear-drenched lashes.
Carter has always been such a confident rider, and seeing him beat this badly is knocking me for six.
“You’re one of the strongest riders I know,” I whisper softly, and he swallows hard before breathing out a shaky sigh.
“Ade’s gonna kill me,” he murmurs roughly, and I touch his cheek so that he opens his eyes.
“Ade’s not going to be mad at you,” I promise. “We’ll do whatever we can to get you better.”
“It’s my leg, Winter,” he rasps, and I search his eyes, trying to understand what he isn’t saying.
The stable door slams open and I watch as Ade strides in our direction, his huge body rippling with adrenaline as his gaze lands on the pool of blood.
And then it finally falls into place.
Because if it’s Carter’s leg that’s injured…
“Oh no,” I breathe out in a whisper, and Carter’s eyes meet mine.
“I know,” he murmurs softly. “I’m not going to be able to ride.”