He didn't. He looked weak as a baby as he struggled to a sitting position right there on the bank.
Adam exchanged a glance with her. "I think we're done here."
She agreed. They'd saved the man, and that was enough.
"Where's... horse?" Scar-face asked breathlessly.
Adam pointed to the opposite bank, where the horse with the white blaze waited with empty saddle.
Breanna swung up onto her gelding's back. Adam did the same with his stallion.
It might be hours until the creek subsided. Or days.
It appeared the race had one fewer rider.
And Scar-face seemed to know it. They were already yards away when Breanna caught his cold, calculating glance.
"Terrible manners," Adam said as they began to walk their horses, leaving the man sitting where he was. "Not even a thank-you for saving his life."
"We don't need his thanks," she returned. "That wasn't why we did it."
He winked at her. He knew. "If it were up to me, I'd have let him drown."
"You wouldn't have."
He shrugged, and his expression was inscrutable again. She'd never forget the look he'd worn after Scar-face had knocked her from her horse.
Maybe he would've let Scar-face drown.
But at least neither of them would have a stain on their conscience.
She'd been clutching the rope in one hand, eager to put some distance between herself and the creek, and now she began looping it.
"That was some fine roping," he said with a nod to her rope. "The best I've seen."
She felt a slow flush rise into her cheeks. Felt suffused with pleasure at his praise. "Exactly how much roping have you witnessed?"
He winked. "Enough."
She had half a mind to send a loop over his shoulders but thought that might just encourage him.
"You were cool under pressure," she said. "Good idea about using that spit of land."
Not everyone could keep his head in a life-or-death situation.
"I told you I wouldn't go swimming in that creek again."
She rolled her eyes, grateful for the man beside her.
They picked up the horses’ pace, and as they raced through the muddy terrain toward the last check-in, she imagined herself having many more adventures with the man beside her.
The question was, between the rain that had slowed them and they time they’d spent saving Scar-face, would they be able to beat the sunset check-in? It was hard to tell as the hours passed with the rain pouring down on them. It would be a near thing.
Even if they made it to the check-in today, would she have anything left for the big push tomorrow? Twenty-four hours of riding would be nearly impossible under normal circumstances, and these were anything but.
She glanced over at Adam, whose eyes were squinted against the rain.
They'd almost made it. Another thirty-six hours, and he'd be leaving for home.
