He sneered at her. "You sure about that?" He held the saddle out of her reach.
"Give me my saddle, Adam."
He never broke his stare from her face as he shook his head in the negative.
"Adam—" She'd given him enough warning. She braced herself and threw an uppercut into his stomach.
Only he'd guessed her intention and twisted to one side. With the bulky saddle in his arms, he didn't get far enough, and her punch hit him straight in the kidney.
"Ow!"
"Adam!"
He bent over, dropped her saddle to the ground.
She bent beside him, horrified that she’d hurt him. She was reaching for his shoulder when he surprised her by straightening. He grabbed her with one arm around her waist and backed her up two steps until her shoulders hit the wall. He pressed into her with his hip so that she couldn't get enough leverage to kick him. One hand captured her wrist, and her other arm was pinned where he held her.
She struggled against him, but it was no use.
She was trapped.
"Do you see how easily you can be overpowered?" His words were hot on her cheek, his head pressing close against hers. Otherwise she'd have head-butted him.
"You tricked me," she muttered, still trying to twist out from his grip, trying to find some kind of leverage. "I never would've let Scar-face that close to me."
She went limp, but he was expecting that too and braced her so she remained on her feet.
She glared at him. "I trust you. That's the only reason I'm not pulling my knife on you right now." As if she could reach it tucked in her waistband at the small of her back. She was completely vulnerable to him.
He moved his shoulders slightly, so she could see his face. The darkness in his eyes stole her breath.
"You don't trust me," he said.
And then he let her go, shaking his head.
When she reached for her saddle, he didn't block her way. She hefted it to her shoulder again.
But she hesitated. She should've been halfway out the door, but she couldn’t make herself move. He stood there, one hands pressing against his side where she'd connected. Staring at her.
"Would it really kill you to ask for help?" he asked quietly.
She was still breathing hard from their scuffle, though he hadn't hurt her physically. She hadn't pulled her punch and guessed his kidney was paining him right now.
What was wrong with her?
Seb and Oscar were right. She was fool enough to drive away any man who dared to care for her.
She blinked back sudden hot emotion that stung her eyes. Raised her chin. "Would you help me carry this saddle?"
Adam followedBreanna down the deserted small-town street as they made a beeline toward the leather goods store. They passed the telegraph office where he'd pressed a dollar bill on the ten-year-old son of the operator before dawn this morning.
They were the only riders left.
He didn't know what she planned to do with the saddle. Trade it in for a different one? Surely it would take too long for the stirrups to be repaired. Did she even have the funds for that?
The storefront was dark and the door locked when they neared.
You should take Domino. The offer stuck in his throat. He couldn't send her to complete the race alone, not knowing that she'd been threatened by two men. She hadn't even told him the details of what had happened. Had they advanced on her? Put their hands on her? Or just wielded words as their weapons? The thought of it opened a black emptiness inside him.
