“Zoey.” He dropped to his knees beside her, his hands cupping and lifting her face. “Are you alright? What were you thinking, jumping on her back like that?”
She flinched at the reprimand in his voice, then swatted his hands away. “I was thinking she had a rope around her neck, and that if we didn’t catch her now, she might get hurt wandering around like that. I’ve mounted horses bareback several times. It’s always worked.”
Gently, but firmly, he tilted her face to get a better look. “It’s always worked because those horses were broke. Perdie is only green broke. She’s not used to riders, and she’s been out on the range for a couple months. That was a stupid move.”
“I’ve seen you working with her,” Zoey snapped.
He stood and glared down at her. “You’ve seen me working with her sister, who is two years older. I’ve only trained the one.” He pointed. “Stay put. I’m grabbing my first aid kit.”
“I’m not your dog,” she barked. “I don’t just stay on command.” Though she did. Man, oh man, did her head hurt, and with the way her arms gave out, she wasn't ready to test her legs.
Hunter rushed to his horse and grabbed something out of his satchel while Zoey fumed. But she was also a little embarrassed. If she’d had any idea the horse was only green broke, she never would’ve made that move. But she hadn't known, and what exactly was she supposed to do, just leave the horse like that? No! And she wasn’t an idiot. She really had done that move dozens of times.
He knelt in front of her again with a kit in hand.
“You have a first aid kit?” she asked, trying to sound snarky, but her stomach felt a little woozy, so she wasn’t sure how it’d actually sounded.
“Of course,” he snapped. He tilted her head to the side and moved her hair off her face. Then he did a hasty job of taping some gauze to her head. “You need stitches. I’ll take you to the clinic.” He gritted his teeth and his eyes stared without seeing her.
She moved to stand. “I can take myself.” If he was so mad that he couldn’t even look at her, then she didn’t want to spend another moment with him.
He grabbed hold of her arm, helping her up on her wobbly legs. “Zoey, for crying out loud, stop being stubborn. You’re hurt, and I’m going to help you whether you like it or not.”
“I don’t like it—you’re being a jerk. Acting like I’m an idiot. I didn’t know you hadn’t trained both your Dalmatian horses, but even if I did, it was still the right thing to do.” She tried to yank her arm out of his grasp.
He tightened his grip. “Zoey, stop wigglin’.”
“You can’t just leave a horse with a rope around its neck,” she barked. “And besides, those are your prized horses. You can’t afford to lose one. You can’t just walk away—”
Hunter yanked her closer to him so they were nearly flush, so she had to tilt her head back to look at him. “Watch me.”
At that, he scooped her into his arms and carried her over to his horse. He swung her up onto the saddle and climbed on behind her in nearly the same move, then wrapped an arm tight around her.
“Don’t you dare leave Cher Bear up here.” She tried to sound like someone not to be messed with, but she was pretty sure her voice came out panicked. If they left Cher Bear up here all night, with that lead mare hissing and kicking, Zoey would be a mess of nerves for his safety and wouldn’t get a wink of sleep. That horse meant so much to her, he’d filled a space in her when her dad had passed and had given her an escape through the rodeo that she wouldn’t have gotten anywhere else. Plus, he was the sweetest, hardest-working horse she’d ever seen.
“Zoey,” he scolded as he secured her in his grasp.
“Don’tZoeyme,” she snapped, making her head pulse painfully.
He walked them over to Cher Bear, who waited patiently, and gathered his reins. “Zoey, if you think anything is more important to me right now than getting you help,” he whispered in a low, threatening tone, “then you’ve hit your head harder than we thought.”
But he had gotten Cher Bear. She might have smiled if she wasn’t so infuriated.
They made the trip back to the Westbrooks’ in a little over forty-five minutes in near silence. The sun set before they made it, and full dark surrounded them. Zoey’s head ached something fierce, but as they got closer, the pain started to lessen and she started getting cold. Her head lolled back against Hunter’s shoulder as she gazed up at the stars.
“I’ve never seen so many stars.” She sounded drugged and crazy but couldn’t seem to stop. “There’s billions of glowing balls of fire. Look, Hunter. There’s so, so many.”
Hunter kissed her head. “Yep. Lots of stars.”
“You’re so grumpy. I’m not talking to you anymore.”
The light of the Westbrooks’ farmhouse was a welcome sight. Several people sat out on the front porch, someone whooped, and someone else whistled at the sight of them on Hunter’s horse together.
That got Zoey’s ire up again. This was not romantic! She was mad. The anger helped clear her head and gave her a surge of desperately needed energy.
“She’s hurt!” Hunter called.
Her irritation fled as she watched in amazement how quickly Tom, Lucky, Maverik, and Swayzie came down off that porch. Hunter lowered her into someone’s arms.
