She wasn’t ready for marriage back then, and she’d panicked at the prospect of putting her schooling on hold to follow him to Portland. It was all too much at the time. So she’d ended it between them.
She forced a smile as she pulled her Jeep up beside the rugged yet handsome cowboy.
His eyes widened in surprise, then a grin filled his face. "Boy, am I glad to see you!"
Riley felt her own eyes widen. That was not the reaction she'd expected from the man she'd dumped. "You are?"
"Yes. I need your help." He motioned to the herd of cows blocking the road.
Her brow furrowed. "Why are you herding cows down the highway?"
"I'm trying to get them back into the Dry Creek pasture, but they're being stubborn."
The small creek that ran through the southeastern most part of the land wasn't dry, but it was considerably smaller than any of the other water sources on the ranch, hence the name Dry Creek. The forty-thousand-acre ranch was so large they named the tracts of land to help them keep track of the locations of various herds.
Riley hooked a thumb over her shoulder. "Dry Creek is back there." Beyond where the rail fence ended, of course.
"I know, and I had them headed in the right direction, but then Madam Houdini decided she didn’t want to go back yet. She bolted the other way and the rest followed. I need someone to head them off."
They rarely named cows on the ranch, instead they put a numbered tag in their ear after they were born that linked them to their pedigree. D-258's behavior, however, had earned her a name. She was an escape artist, always finding a weak spot and figuring out how to exploit it. It never failed, she always took her herd with her.
During the summer Riley and Daniel had dated, they'd had to herd Madam Houdini and her crew back to where they belonged half a dozen times.
"Where are Jake and your dad?"
"At the auction."
"Give me five minutes. I'll get Misty saddled and come help you."
"Hurry before Madam Houdini decides to take her posse down the lane and onto the front lawn of the ranch house. Mom and Emily will kill me if I let that happen."
Riley wove her way through the herd of cattle doing her best not to drive them further down the highway. Parking beside the house, she jumped out of her Jeep and whistled for Misty as she jogged toward the corral where they kept the stock horses.
The beautiful, dappled gray Arabian, sporting a black main and tail, lifted her head and trotted over to the gate. She nickered as she put her head over the gate to nuzzle Riley.
"I've missed you too, girl." She rubbed Misty's neck, grateful thehorse was so forgiving considering Riley hadn't been home for over four months. She opened the gate. "Come on, we've got work to do."
An hour later, Riley and Daniel reined in their horses beside the stables after repairing a ten-foot patch of fence Madam Houdini and her girls had trampled.
Riley slid down and patted Misty's neck. "We'll go for a long ride later, girl." Then she set to work unsaddling her horse.
Daniel did the same. "Thanks for your help. Houdini and her herd would be halfway to Seattle by now if you hadn't shown up when you did."
The joking comment surprised Riley. They'd talked while they repaired the fence, but only about the job at hand. And although she'd talked to Daniel several times over the past few years, their conversations had always been stilted and awkward.
"She was in a mood today, wasn't she?" Riley didn't doubt that Daniel could have gotten the cows back in by himself if she hadn't come along. He was good with animals and a skilled horseman.
"She gets that way every few months." He set to work removing Rebel's saddle. "I was...surprised to hear you were coming home for the summer."
And there it is.
Everyone would want to know why she'd come home.
She didn't want to tell them. Never mind that they were her family—even Daniel's parents, who weren't related by blood, were like a second set of parents to her. Telling them would mean reliving the whole ordeal.
She shuddered with fear and revulsion at the memory of Collin's hard mouth bruising hers with greed and possessiveness. Bile filled her mouth as she recalled the predatory way his hands groped her body. Her left temple still sported a greenish-yellow bruise from the punch he'd landed to the side of her face.
"Hey, you okay?" Daniel's concerned face peered at her over Misty's back.
