Chapter 5
Cord lether slip around him and out the door, feeling her need for space as much as he could see the heat rising on her cute, dirt-smudged cheeks. She practically ran down the barn as he eased his way down the small step from the tack room, balancing the majority of his weight on his left leg. Judging by her hasty retreat, Samantha Bishop had been as shocked by her body’s reaction to him as he’d been by the primal need that had pushed him to take her into hisarms.
The strength of his reaction stunned him. He’d come out to the middle-of-nowhere, Texas to get as far from the female species as he could…and yet all his reservations had blown away like smoke the moment he laid eyes on her. His only thought had been to put his lips onhers.
Cord scowled. If Matt hadn’t intervened, he wouldhave.
You should be glad for the guy’sinterruption.
Logically he was, but that logic did nothing to ease the ache in his cock. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d reacted like that to a woman. Definitely not since his accident. He hadn’t even kissed anyone since then, much less thought aboutit.
Now, he couldn’t tear his eyes off of Samantha’s perfect ass filling out those blue jeans. She glanced nervously at him over her shoulder and then stepped up next to Matt, easing in closer to the horse’s stall. Matt stared at Cord, his crystal blue eyes full ofsuspicion.
The kid rolled closer to Sam and Cord found himself taking an unconscious step in their direction. He was acting like a jealous teenager. And for what? Samantha didn’t belong to him. Besides, it wasn’t like he’d have to worry about a kid like Matt cock blockinghim.
The guy had no legs and only one arm. How much of a threat could he be? Matt’s eyes narrowed on Cord, and he reached out and touched Sam on the hip.Son of abitch.
Cord didn’t take time to analyze the situation, and for a moment he completely forgot about the fact he needed to take it easy on his bad leg after such a long drive. He strode forward, determined to make his presence known. By the time he crossed the fifteen or twenty feet to Samantha, sweat beaded his temples and an unyielding cramp had taken hold in his right thigh. He gritted his teeth together and hooked an arm over the top of the horse’s stall, pointedly ignoring Matt’s warning stare. “What’s hisname?”
“Diablo.” Matt bitout.
Sam didn’t say anything. She slathered a thick gob of ointment onto her fingers and crouched down, slipping her hand beneath the slats in the fence. Cord took one look at the horse’s tense shoulders and forgot about the pain in his leg. “He’s going to break yourhand.”
The horse neighed and shifted closer—his ears flat, his nostrils flaring in the patchwork of bright white scars standing out on his grayfur.
“It’s okay. He’ll let me touch him. I just have to get this medicine on his wound.” Sam, to her credit, spoke in a soft singsong voice to soothe the horse’s nerves. It did nothing to soothehisnerves.
Matt seemed to realize the severity of the situation, at least, and kept his mouth shut. Cord bit his tongue and slid his arm from over the top of the fence, ready to throw Samantha back as soon as he saw the horse lunge. If he had to choose between that animal getting an infection and her hand getting smashed, it wasn’t even adecision.
But in order to properly judge the situation, he’d have to squat down and watch her apply the appointment through the same break in the slats her hand currently occupied. Knowing the agony he was setting himself up for, Cord took as much weight as he could on his good leg and squatted, holding himself level and ready. Every single muscle in his body shook with the effort of holding the unnatural and painful position. If he had two good legs it wouldn’t have even be a thought. Hell, if he hadn’t spent the past ten hours cramped up in the cab of a truck, this position probably wouldn’t have felt this bad. But he had, and it did, and his hips felt like they were on fire. To top it off, ghost pains in a calf and foot that were no longer there singed his nerveendings.
Samantha, completely focused on her mission, inched her hand through the wooden fence, her tongue pressed to the corner of her mouth in concentration. Out of nowhere the memory of sitting next to her in math class, stealing glimpses at her as she pressed that same tongue to the corner of her mouth while she concentrated on taking a test, hit him in the solar plexus. He’d thought more than once about asking her out on a date, but he’d known better. He’d mess up their relationship just like his daddy messed up everything hetouched.
She’d been too good for Carter trash and he’d known it from the moment he’d set eyes onher.
Diablo whinnied and stomped his foot. Matt leaned forward. Cord tensed. Samantha kept inching her way closer. Just outside of her line of sight, Cord eased his arm closer, ready to snatch her back. He wouldn’t do anything stupid to startle her now, but as soon as the stubborn woman was safely away from the threat, he intended to have a very long talk to her about personalsafety.
“It’s okay boy, it’s just me. You know me. I want to help you. I’m not like that mean man who used you hurt you. All I need is for you to hold still for one more second.” Sam leaned forward, stretching out her arm. Cord sensed the moment the horse made hisdecision.
He threw his arm around Sam’s waist and flung her to the ground. Hoofs cracked on the wood slats at nearly the same moment and the top plank of the stall split in half. Cord tried to roll and take the brunt of the fall on his back so that Sam landed on his chest, but he ended up landing on his side, barely cushioning her from the ground. Blinding pain gripped his insides. Nausea rolled up his throat. Cord slammed his eyes shut and his teeth together, fighting back the urge topuke.
Sam’s fingers, feather light, brushed across his brow. “Cord? Are youokay?”
Forcing his eyes open, Cordnodded.
“Are you sure?” she askedhesitantly.
His stomach rolled. No, he wasn’t okay. With his last remaining strength, he pushed up with his arms and limped outside, barely clearing the barn door before heretched.
“Cord? What’s wrong? Did the horse hit you?” Sam touched hisshoulder.
He flinched away, using the wall of the barn to straighten up and then wiping his mouth. What he wouldn’t give for a pain pill now. But he hadn’t brought any with him, determined to do this 100% on his own, he refused to fall back on the weakness of pills. “I’mfine.”
“You’re not fine. Tell me what’s going on. I can’t help you if you don’t tell me where you’rehurt.”
He could tell by the tone in her voice she wasn’t going to leave him alone and let him recover until he gave her what she wanted. “I just landed on my leg wrong. Give me a minute to walk it off. I’ll befine.”
Determined to put some distance between them before he did something totally embarrassing like throw up again, Cord took a hesitant step away. The first one was fine, but the moment he put any load-bearing weight on his bad leg he buckled and went down to aknee.
