Sam could see it was going to go badly. From the hushed voices around him he knew he wasn’t the only one. “Get over to the other side and see if you can distract him. Use apples, he likes those.” He didn’t look around to see who was obeying him, but he heard them move as he carefully lifted the gate latch and let himself inside. He left it ajar as he moved in, closing in on the pair one step at a time.
Devil had to split his concentration between the girl and her tempting snack, and the men who were making a big fuss at the far end with even more interesting treats. Sam was the least interesting target which was exactly how he wanted it. He stepped up behind Charlie and was just about close enough to grab her when she noticed him.
He reached out and she jerked away, in the direction of the horse, of course, with a loud “Hey!” The sudden movement was too much for the animal and he reared up on his hind legs with a loud whinny of irritation. His front hooves came down hard right where Charlie was standing—but Charlie wasn’t there anymore.
Sam had snatched her off her feet and tossed her over his shoulder in one swift movement before taking off at full speed towards the open gate. The sound of angry hoofbeats thundered behind them as the horse chased after. A quick-thinking ranch hand slammed the gate shut the second they were through, and the stallion skidded to a halt, snorting loudly with frustration.
Scheme foiled, Devil wandered back to the center of the corral and began nosing at the abandoned apple while pretending to be the most innocent thing on four legs. There was a certain smugness to the innocence. He loved making people run from him; it was his favorite trick. He’d broken a man’s leg already with that littlegame.
Sam dropped his struggling burden on her feet, out of breath and nearly in a panic over how close he’d come to watching her get trampled. He didn’t expect a thank you from her, but the last thing he expected was for her to start telling him off at full volume in front of the whole crew.
His eyes widened in shock, and then began to narrow with every word that came out of her mouth. By the time she’d managed a complete sentence, his eyebrows were practically meeting in the center of his forehead. His lips were pressed closed in a firm line to hold back what he wanted to say to her.
She paused, waiting for him to say something, and when he just glared at her she started ramping up for another go at him, but he’d had enough.
His head snapped around, flashing an angry look at the watching crowd. “Don’t you all got work to be doing? Move your asses!” The order snapped out at a full bellow that sent everyone running for cover, and had the stallion racing off to the other side of the paddock, too. In seconds there wasn’t a soul in sight except the two of them.
Startled by the shouting, she stepped back with a wide-eyed look of surprise on her face. Maybe she thought he’d be yelling at her next, or maybe she had another reason for trying to get her defense in before he could open his mouth. “I had every right to be in there! You had no business picking me up and carrying me out like I was some child. Stomping in like that you’re lucky you didn’t scare the horse into…”
“Shut. Up.” He said it coldly, biting off each word, and her expression as her mouth dropped open was satisfying.
He watched her jaw working as she tried to form words, but he wasn’t going to let her get that far. “You almost got yourself killed, Charlie. If I hadn’t carried you out of there that horse would have stomped you into the ground! Do you know how many men he’s bitten or kicked? Four! And that’s with them being careful and staying out of his reach. Not one of them was dumb enough to stroll right up to him with an apple in hand!”
“But I…”
“But nothing! Didn’t I tell you he was off limits?”
“Yes, but…”
“Did they tell you not to go in there?”
“Well, yeah but…”
“Then you have no excuse, girl. And then, after I save your ass, you’re going to tell me off in front of my men? I don’t fucking think so!” The words practically vibrated with suppressed fury and it must have been obvious because she started looking more than a little nervous.
She fidgeted, shoving her hands into the deep front pockets of her jeans and hunching her shoulders like a teenager caught sneaking in after curfew. There was guilt underneath it all, but she was still trying to act like she’d been in the right.
“This is still my ranch too!” she said.
Well, he’d expected that to come up. It was probably best to get it out of the way now. “You know what, Charlie? This has absolutely zero to do with whose ranch it is—but apparently you missed the part where your dad putmein charge. I wanted us to be able to work together despite that, but Ithoughtmy partner would be an adult not a spoiled reckless child.”
She gasped, “I’m not acting like a child! Who do you think you are?”
He snorted, not bothering to hide his amusement at the one word she took exception to. “But youarespoiled and reckless right?”
“What? No! That’s not what I…”
“I don’t care what you meant. You and me, Charlie, we’re going to come to an understanding right now. Or you know what I’m going to do?” He folded his arms across his chest and glared down at her, waiting for her to ask.
“You think I’m afraid of you? Fine, what will you do then, spank me? Whatever, go ahead then if it will make you feel like a big man.” There was a breathless little catch in her voice and damn if he didn’t think that’s what she was hoping for. Well, she’d asked him to punish her when she needed it; it was obviously past time to take her up on that.
“If I were you, I wouldn’t even suggest that right now. I’mthisclose to wearing your ass out with my belt for this stunt, Charlie. In fact, let’s make that a definite plan. You’re finally going to get the real punishment you’ve been after. The question is whether I’m going to leave afterwards.”
Her eyes flew open wide and he decided to let her chew on that for a while. He forced himself to turn and walk away, knowing if he stayed, he’d do something he’d regret. As much as he wanted to bend her over the nearest convenient object and pull off his belt, he was well aware that people were probably sneaking looks at them while pretending to work, and he had no intention of giving them a show.
Besides he was too pissed to put his hands on her. That would wait until he calmed down and everyone had left for the day. Once they were the only two people on the ranch, he’d take care of business.
“Leave? Wait, Sam, wait!” she was saying as she trotted along behind him grabbing at his arm. “Sam, you can’t leave. If you don’t stay, the lawyer will put the ranch up for sale!” She sounded frantic, on the verge of tears and it was heart-wrenching not to give in to her on the spot, but that wasn’t going to fix anything.
