Page 3 of Some Cowgirls are Worth Protecting

Perhaps it was the fact that she looked like her sister. They both had a similar bone structure and noses. Their hair was pretty much the exact same. It was only their eyes that were different. While Athena had green eyes that occasionally looked blue in different lights, Rachel’s eyes were a brilliant blue that put the sunny Colorado skies to shame.

And he refused to linger on her a second longer.

2

Rachel Walton

Rachel glanced toward the building, then shook her head. She didn’t know what she was thinking. She couldn’t go chasing after him. But the country club had begun to feel too claustrophobic. It reminded her of those early days when she’d been forced to attend all the charity galas she helped her parents plan.

Now, she could remain behind the scenes and still make a difference. Her gaze swept over to Hudson’s retreating form. She’d hoped that one of the Keagans would end up coming out and saving her from the party. The family didn’t seem like the sort who would spend their whole Friday night at a place like this.

She should have known better than to carpool with Athena and Henry. Of course they’d want to stay long and participate in all the fun activities going on. And she couldn’t blame them.

If Hudson was her only option for getting out of there, then she would need to catch up with him quickly. She sprinted forward, chasing after him and reaching him as he arrived at the street. He gave her a double take, then stopped suddenly. “What are you doing?”

“I’m walking with you.”

He lifted a brow, his eyes flashing with warning. They were like little smoldering balls of kryptonite. She hadn’t realized they could get that bright. Most of the Keagan men had brown or blue eyes. Hudson shook his head and held out his hands. “Nope. Get back to the club.”

“Or what?” she demanded. “I drove to your place. And no one is headed in that direction except you.”

“Then ask someone else to bring you back.”

“But you’re going.”

“I’m walking.” He groaned and dragged a hand down his face. “You realize that between here and the ranch there’s a lot of open pastures and fields.”

“Yeah, so? It’s not like I’m wearing unreasonable shoes.”

He growled this time, and her eyes widened. He jerked his finger toward the building, where the music could still be heard faintly. “You need to go back. Call a cab or something. But you’re not coming with me.”

“You’re not the sheriff,” she sputtered back. “And I’m not going to ruin someone’s night by making them take me back when you’re already on your way. That would be pretty selfish of me, don’t you think?”

Hudson scowled at her. She didn’t know what she’d ever done to make him hate her so much, so it was probably a good thing that she didn’t like him either. She placed her hands on her hips as they glowered at one another. Finally, he threw his hands into the air and started marching along the road.

She hurried after him, keeping up with little difficulty.

They managed to walk for a good ten minutes without speaking to each other, which had never happened to her before. Rachel didn’t have a problem with long silences. She could sit in the company of anyone and be just fine listening to the quiet whispers of the breeze or the way the reeds in the grass swayed. Out here in Copper Creek, there were plenty of those pretty sounds.

“I hope you know that I wasn’t trying to get you to go back to the club because I didn’t want your company.”

She peeked at him out of the corner of her eye but didn’t say anything. She didn’t care why he wanted her to stay back. She just wanted to get back to the ranch and get her car. This wasn’t exactly her idea of fun, either. Thankfully, she was pretty good at keeping her thoughts to herself.

“There are coyotes out here. You realize that, right?”

“Well, I have been living here for nearly a year,” she said. “I’m pretty sure I know what to expect with the Colorado fauna.”

He snorted.

“What’s that for?” She scoffed. “It’s not like I live under a rock.”

“You might as well,” he shot back. “You didn’t grow up here. You might have been hanging around with Athena a lot lately, but that doesn’t mean you belong. There’s a lot you will never understand about this place.”

“Oh yeah? Like what?” He didn’t know what he was talking about. She’d already been reading up on the charities and organizations that Colorado was proud of. She’d spent hours in the saddle wandering through the rolling hills and the mountains that this place had to offer. She’d talked to locals, and she knew what they liked and didn’t like about the state of their growing town. If anyone was living under a rock, it was Hudson.

He stopped short, his scowl even more brooding than before. “Like that.” He jerked his finger toward the field they were passing. There was a large “for sale” sign staked into the ground. A dangling piece of wood hung from it with the word “foreclosure” in big red letters.

Her focus swept from the sign to Hudson. “It’s for sale. Do you seriously think that in the city we don’t have signs like that? Because I can assure you, I’m very familiar with real estate.” The sarcasm dripped from her voice, and she didn’t even care. If he was going to be a jerk, then she wasn’t going to be nice either.

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