Something Borrowed

Chapter 15

The horse didn't seem to agree.

It snorted and stomped, tossing its head and throwing itself about the enclosure with surprising agility for a beast so massive. It seemed to rear up its back end and throw back its front all at once, lurching whole feet to the side, driving forward, slamming to a halt...

I'll be a widow...

Josh's face was set in lines of hard concentration as he clung to his seat. No, that was wrong, Amelia thought. He wasn't clinging. He seemed to hover there, somehow leaning and twisting in just the right way to keep his place in the saddle, anticipating each move the horse made just a hair's breadth before the animal decided. Her hand dropped away from her mouth as she watched, fascinated in spite of herself.

Fascinated, anyway, until the animal gave one fierce, angry buck and her husband went flying. He sailed over the monster's head and landed with a heavy thud on the far side of the corral. Amelia's heart leapt into her throat and she wrung the handle of the basket with sweaty hands, struggling not to cry out. She didn't notice that none of the men seemed particularly concerned, and Melissa just laughed. Her eyes were on the flailing hooves, the powerful muscles, the angry wide-eyed malice clearly hell-bent to pound her husband into the tilled-up earth.

Except... one second he was in danger, the next he was beyond the safety of the fence, having rolled deftly beneath the lowest rail. He was grinning as one of the men hauled him to his feet and a few others delivered heavy slaps to his back.

"Damn near two minutes, boss," Amelia heard one of them say. "You're breakin' him down."

"You know, boss, it's cheating if you come down early and sweet talk him with apples," said another, scowling good-naturedly.

"How much did you lose, Owens?" Josh called back, retrieving his hat from a nearby post and dropping it back on his head.

"That ain't got--"

But Josh was brushing by the man, his eyes having lit on Amelia and Melissa standing nearby. His face darkened as he strode toward them.

"Melissa, what the--"

"Good morning!" his sister said sweetly, cutting him off with a quick hug and a peck on the cheek. "I want that one when you're done."

Josh scowled. "He's ranch stock, 'Lis, you know that. Why are you here?" His gaze passed over his sister's shoulder to land on Amelia and she couldn't help the way her shoulders curled forward. Melissa looked back and caught her eye before giving an exasperated huff.

"Okay, grumpy," she muttered, cuffing him on the shoulder as she backed away. "Be like that. I get the black one, though right?"

"Yeah you get the black one," he agreed, rolling his eyes. "Why are you here, Melissa?"

"I was just showing Amelia the way," Melissa said with a sly grin, stepping back and giving Amelia a gentle shove forward. "She didn't know where to find you."

With that, she spun in a whirl of fabric and loose hair, flouncing back up the trail the way she'd come. Josh glanced over his shoulder and caught the eye of one of the older men, jerking his head toward Melissa. The man nodded and jogged after her, and Amelia watched her friend link her arm through his as he caught her up.

"Are you okay?" Josh stepped forward, not closing the distance between them but reducing it. The men had begun to dissipate, moving pointedly out of earshot.

"I'm fine," she tried to say, but her voice caught on the dust in her throat. She cleared it and tried again. "I'm fine," she assured him, gesturing feebly with her basket. "I thought... you haven't been coming to lunch. I thought I might... I thought maybe you'd be hungry."