In a Cowboy's Arms (Hitting Rocks Cowboys) by Rebecca Winters Page B

Feeling seventeen again, she flew down the drive past her father’s truck to the barn. But when she rounded the corner, Jarod’s rig wasn’t there and her heart plummeted to her feet.
    After hearing her call to him, had he hoped she’d come after him? Until she had answers, she wouldn’t be able to breathe. While she stood there in a quandary, she heard Liz’s horses whinnying and wondered what was going on.
    She opened the barn doors. “Hey, you guys. What’s up?” She walked inside to check both stalls. All of a sudden she heard the neigh of another horse. It couldn’t be Mac’s. He was out working on his horse, Toby.
    Sadie spun around. The light from outside illuminated the interior enough for her to see a gleaming black filly in the stall where she’d once kept Brandy. Her body started to tremble as she moved closer to the three-year-old, which looked to be fourteen hands high.
    This couldn’t be the foal she’d seen in the purple lupine with Jarod when she was seventeen! That wasn’t possible, but the filly had those special hooked ears and broad forehead that tapered to the muzzle, just the way Sadie remembered. On further examination she saw the straight head and wide-set eyes of Chief, the wild stallion Jarod had tamed.
    “Oh, you gorgeous creature,” she whispered shakily. Sadie didn’t need to ask where this beauty had come from. “I’ll be back, but first I need to know all about you before this goes any further. I promise I won’t be long.”
    Sadie’s feet seemed to have wings as she flew up the road to the house. “Millie?”
    The housekeeper turned around. “I’m right here!”
    “I’ve got to find Jarod. Do you mind watching Ryan until I get back?”
    “Of course not, honey. What’s going on?”
    Sadie ran in the house to grab the keys off the peg. When she came out she said, “There’s a new filly in the barn. I can’t keep her. Jarod needs to come back and get it.”
    Before she reached the truck a voice of irony called out, “Good luck to that.”
    Five minutes later she drove through the gates of the Bannock Ranch. The spread resembled a small city. She took the road leading to the barn and corrals where Jarod would have parked the horse trailer. Intent on finding him, she wound around the sheds until she saw his rig in the distance. He still hadn’t unhitched the trailer.
    After pulling up next to it, she jumped down from the truck. As she reached the entrance, the man she’d come to see was just leaving the barn on his horse. Riding bareback, the magnificent sight of him ready to head out took her breath. His long black hair, fastened at the nape, gleamed despite the gathering storm clouds blotting out the sun.
    They saw each other at the same time. He was caught off guard for once, and his eyes gleamed black fire as they roved over her, thrilling her to the core of her being. While she stood there out of breath, he brought his horse close before coming to a standstill.
    She couldn’t swallow. “I have to talk to you, Jarod.”
    How she envied him sitting there as still as a summer’s day. “I’m going to ride to the upper pasture. Come with me.”
    Before she could respond, he reached down with that swift male grace only he possessed and lifted her so she was seated in front of him. He wrapped his left arm around her waist and tucked her up tight against him. The way his hand splayed over her midriff infused electricity in every cell of her body.
    “Reminds me of old times,” he murmured against her temple, “except this time I’ll be able to see where we’re going. Don’t get me wrong. I like your new hairstyle, but now I don’t have anything to tug.”
    That rare teasing side of Jarod had come out, the side she adored. Robbed of words, she was helpless to do anything but give in to the euphoria of being this close to him again. Though it had been eight years, their bodies knew each other and settled in as one entity.
    Once he urged his horse into a