Curves and the Rodeo Star (BBW Romance - Coldwater Springs 4) (4 page)

“
Emma.” He
answered on the second ring and she wondered if he’d had time
to check the caller ID.

“
Did you leave
Shadow’s gate unlatched?” She couldn’t avoid her
accusatory tone.

“
No.” He
sounded startled. “What’s wrong?”

“
Shadow’s
missing.” It was painful to say it out loud. How could it
have happened?

“
When?”

Emma looked at her watch.
“I found out twenty minutes ago, when I got home from work.”
She had to ask. “Were you there today?”

“
No.” He
paused. “I decided Shadow and I could do with a day off.”

“
Oh.” She
was glad he couldn’t see her flushed cheeks, and wondered if
the disastrous ending to their kiss had anything to do with him not
coming over today, even when he knew she’d be working at the
feed store.

“
Where are you?”
he asked briskly.

“
On Northgate Road.
I’ve already checked my road.”

“
I’ll check
my road and then Spring River Road. Stay where you are in case you
spot him. I’ll call you when I’m at Spring River.”

She wanted to bristle at
his take-charge attitude, but couldn’t deny that she was glad
he was helping her without even being asked
,
especially after
Wednesday.

Emma put the SUV into
gear and crawled down the road again. She and Cade would have
covered a decent sized area by the time he checked those two roads.
Shadow just had to be there somewhere!

Forcing herself to stop
clenching the steering wheel, she willed herself to take a few deep
breaths. Maybe the colt had grown tired of exploring already and was
back at the ranch, calmly munching the grass.

Emma came back to the
start of Northgate Road. No sign of the horse. Maybe she should go
down the next road, Spring River, and meet Cade there. It would be
silly to waste precious minutes here and wait until he called her.

She turned left down the
neighboring road. No sign of Cade’s truck, but if he searched
his own road first, then she didn’t expect there to be.

A flash of black caught
the corner of her eye. Her heart pounding, she whipped her head
around to the right. Shadow. It had to be. He pranced along the
road, his black mane flowing in the gentle breeze, as if he didn’t
have a care in the world.

Emma stopped her vehicle
and grabbed her phone from the passenger seat, making sure she kept
the horse in view. She stabbed the buttons
,
breathing a sigh
of relief when Cade answered on the first ring.

“
I’ve found
him!”

“
Where?”

“
Spring River
Road.” She sensed he was about to speak and continued, “I’d
finished checking Northgate and thought it would be best if I met you
here.”

A second of silence
passed. “Good call.”

She smiled, ridiculously
pleased with his praise - before remembering she didn’t know
what they were anymore, except maybe just agister and horse trainer.
Or a curvy girl and a hot, sexy guy who could have any woman he
wanted - but he didn’t want her.
Her smile disappeared.

“
I’ll be
there in a few minutes. Don‘t spook him.”

She shook her head as she
ended the call. Don’t spook him! Who did Cade think he was
talking to? She’d grown up around horses, had lost count of
how many ribbons she’d won on Pirate and her childhood horse
Jupiter, had a business looking after other people’s horses as
well as a fledgling horse stud, and he told her not to spook Shadow?!

She didn’t know
whether to kill Cade Winters or kiss him.
But you can’t
kiss him, remember?

Five minutes later,
Cade’s truck pulled up alongside her. She’d had to inch
along the road in order to keep Shadow in sight. Winding down her
window, she realized this was the first time she’d seen Cade
since…the kiss.

“
He’s up
there.” She indicated a spot further up the road and purposely
kept her voice business-like, hoping her face didn’t betray her
emotions. Why did he have to look so…so…masculine and
yummy?

“
You okay?”
She met his emerald gaze and saw the concern in his eyes.

She swallowed, her throat
suddenly tight. “Sure. But I’ll feel a lot better once
he’s back home.”

“
I’ve got a
rope.” Cade exited the truck and rooted around in the back.
He emerged holding a rope which he started to fashion into a
makeshift halter.

Emma hopped out of the
SUV. Don’t think about anything except bringing Shadow home
safely, she told herself, as they began to walk along the dusty road.

She kept her eyes on the
horse in front of them. Shadow didn’t seem aware of their
approach as he trotted along. Emma couldn’t help peeking under
her lashes at Cade. He looked as if the only thing he was thinking
about was the task ahead. And that was as it should be, she told
herself fiercely. So why did she feel a flash of disappointment?

Emma could now see that
the road dead-ended
in another couple of hundred feet.

Cade stopped and turned
to her. “You take one side of the road and I’ll take the
other. I’ll call him, and when he gets close enough, I’ll
slip the halter on.”

She nodded. “Okay.”

“
Hopefully he won’t
make a fuss and will come quietly when he sees it’s us.”

Emma hoped so too. The
last thing she wanted was Shadow getting spooked and charging off
down the road. She and Cade had parked on the side of the road so
there wouldn’t be any risk of the horse crashing into their
vehicles if he did bolt.

Cade whistled. The
horse’s ears pricked up and his pace slowed. The black horse
stopped and turned around at the second whistle.

“
Shadow.” He
kept his voice low and friendly.

The quarter horse looked
at Cade and Emma inquiringly. “Come on, boy.” Cade
whistled again.

Shadow snuffled and
started to walk over to them. Suddenly, a bird cackled from one of
the nearby trees and the horse’s ears flattened against his
head. Shadow hurtled
towards them, not caring about anything
but getting away from that frightening noise.

“
Arms out,”
Cade shouted, but Emma already had her arms stretched out from her
sides. She and Cade formed a human barricade. Shadow would have to
flatten them if he wanted to get past them.

Emma’s heart
thundered in her chest just as the horse’s hooves thundered on
the dirt road. Shadow was usually a calm, steady horse but he’d
already had a taste of adventure today and now he was spooked.

Cade quickly glanced at
her. “Stay steady,” he commanded.

Shadow came bearing down.
The dust from the road swirled around him, and Emma blinked to keep
her vision clear. Even though it was frightening to have one
thousand pounds of horseflesh galloping towards her, there was no way
she was going to break her nerve and risk Shadow’s safety.

The horse veered to the
left at the last possible moment. Emma’s knees wobbled when
she realized the danger had passed. Before she could catch her
breath, Cade slipped the halter over Shadow’s head.

She stood still for a
couple of moments, watching Cade talk reassuringly to the horse.

“
I’ll walk
him home.” Cade led the colt over to her.

Emma nodded, suddenly
feeling shy, and patted Shadow on the neck. “Okay. Thanks.”
She really was thankful Cade had helped. Although Shadow knew her,
Cade was the one training him nearly every day. If Cade hadn’t
been here… Emma didn’t want to think about the might
have-beens.

“
You okay?”
He gently touched her hair with his free hand. Their gazes collided.

Emma yearned to lean into
the caress, but reminded herself he didn’t feel about her
that
way. He was only being kind.

She forced a smile.
“Sure.” Looking away from his rugged features, she
focused on his vehicle. “What about your truck?”

“
Once we get Shadow
settled, we can come back for it.”

“
No problem.”
She hopped into her SUV.

Cade leaned into the open
window. “You go first in case he doesn’t like someone
driving up behind him.”

His face was so close to
hers that if she leaned forward the tiniest bit, their lips would
touch. She drew back slightly, hoping he couldn’t read her
expression. The last thing she wanted to do was to make a fool of
herself - again.

Emma inched down the
road. Although Shadow was used to her SUV entering and leaving the
ranch, she didn’t know how he would feel about it right now.
But she needn’t have worried. When she glanced back in the
rear-view mirror, Cade and Shadow seemed to be sharing a man to horse
conversation. Lucky Shadow.

Once she arrived home,
Emma flipped up the sun visor and checked her hair in the small
mirror, smoothing it into a tidier ponytail. She knew it was
ridiculous to do a little primping since Cade wasn’t attracted
to her, but that didn’t mean she had to walk around with
tangled hair.

Pacing the driveway, she
waiting for Cade and Shadow. Was the horse behaving himself? Or had
Cade run into trouble? She debated whether to jump into the SUV and
look for them when they came through the front gate, Shadow plodding
beside Cade.

“
Is he okay?”
Emma headed over to them, knowing she wouldn’t be completely
satisfied until the quarter horse was back in the south pasture with
the gate securely locked.

“
He’s fine.”
Cade patted the quarter horse’s neck. “I think he’s
tired from all the excitement.”

They shared a relieved
glance. “Then let’s get him tucked in for the night.”
Emma smiled.

They walked Shadow to the
south pasture. Emma had already put in some hay for him to munch on
when he and Cade returned. Cade stood close to her as she latched
the gate, checking twice that it was locked properly.

“
It’s fine,
Emma.” His hand closed over hers, stopping her from checking
the lock for the third time. She closed her eyes, savoring his
touch.

Raising her eyes to meet
his, she asked, “But how did he get out? I’ve been
racking my brains and I don’t know how it’s possible.
The last time I locked this gate was yesterday evening. And I’m
sure it was secure then.”

Before he could answer,
she heard the faint ringing of her phone from the SUV. “It
might be a client.” Hurrying to the vehicle, she grabbed the
phone from the passenger seat and checked the caller ID. Bernie.
Her heart sank.

“
Hey Emma,”
her client’s gravelly voice greeted her.

“
Hi, Bernie.”
Surely he hadn’t heard about Shadow’s escape?

An embarrassed chuckle
filled her ear. “I visited Shadow today while you were at work
and my phone rang when I left. The thought’s been nagging me
all afternoon that maybe I hadn’t latched the gate properly.
Can you go check?”

Relief
flooded
her. It hadn’t been her fault Shadow had escaped! She
hesitated. Should she pretend that nothing had happened or should
she be totally honest? She didn’t want anything like this
happening again.

“
I don’t
think you did latch it securely, Bernie.” She took a deep
breath. Total honesty. “I came home to find the gate open and
Shadow missing.” Before he could say anything, she continued,
“But don’t worry. Cade and I found him on Spring River
Road and brought him home. He seems to be perfectly fine.”

“
Thanks, Emma. I‘m
glad Shadow’s okay. I’ll make sure I never make that
mistake again.” And judging by the self-condemnation in his
voice, Emma knew he wouldn’t.

She put the phone in her
pocket and returned to Cade, unable to stop smiling. “It was
Bernie, not me. He got distracted with a phone call and didn’t
check the gate when he left.”

“
Did you tell him
the whole story?” He cocked his head.

Awareness rushed through
her when she realized only an inch separated them. She nodded.
“Yes. He was okay about it.”

“
Good
call. It’s best to be honest.” He flashed a smile.