Page 3 of Overdue for a Cowboy

She inhaled a quick gasp as he reached down and swept up her legs. Cradling her body against him, he carried her out of theditch and to his truck. The dog raced up the grass beside them. He set her down then pulled open the passenger door.

Squinting, she tried to look along the road as he helped her get into the truck. “What happened to the llama?”

“Did you sayllama?” His voice sounded a bit strangled. “Now you’re really starting to scare me.”

“No, really. There was a llama standing in the middle of the road. I swerved to miss it, and that’s why I ran into the ditch.”

He scanned the fields on either side of the highway. “I don’t see one now. You sure it wasn’t a deer?”

“Yes, I’m sure. I saw itbeforeI hit my head, not after.”

He shrugged. “If you say so.”

She took one last look around before climbing into the truck. No llama in sight.Hadshe really seen it?

He helped her into the seat, holding her arm until he was sure she was steady. “I’ll be right back. I’m going to grab your purse and the car keys and see if I can find your glasses.”

The dog jumped into the seat next to her, pushing her closer to the center. His head was a blurry black blob as he sniffed at the cut on her brow then gently rested his chin on her shoulder.

Aww. Sweet puppy.

She leaned her cheek against his furry head.

“Found them,” Dodge said a few minutes later as he slid into the seat next to her and passed her both her purse and her glasses. “The frames were bent a little, but I tried to twist them back into shape.”

“I don’t even care,” she said, putting them on and gently pushing them up her nose. She let out a sigh as the world came back into focus. “I’m just thankful I can see.”

Turning toward him, those dang butterflies took off in her stomach again. When he was blurry, she could almost pretend that he wasn’t ridiculously good-looking, but now, looking at his chiseled jaw and scruffy blond hair, she was reminded again just how out of her league he truly was.

“I’m not sure you want to see your trailer,” he said. “It’s good and stuck in that ditch.”

She let out a gasp as she turned to see her camper trailer lying almost on its side. “Oh no.”

“Don’t worry. We can get a tow truck out here to haul it and your car out,” Dodge assured her as he pulled onto the highway. “Right now, I’m more concerned with getting you to the hospital.”

Her shoulders drooped, and she bit her lip to hold back a sob. “You don’t understand. It’s notjusta camper. I’ve spent all summer working on restoring it and turning it into a bookmobile for the library. Not only do I use it to take books out to kids in rural areas, but I entered it into a competition that could win a huge grant for our library. I don’t know what I’ll do if it’s completely wrecked. The competition is in less than a month.”

“It might not be that bad,” he said. “We won’t know the extent of the damage until we get the tow truck out here.”

She leaned her head back against the seat. It was nice the way he kept ‘we’, but she knew this was her problem, and she couldn’t stand the thought of letting the library—or the kids—down.

The dog laid his head on her lap and looked up at her with huge dark brown eyes. Now that she could see it better, it appeared to be a cross between a Bernese Mountain Dog and a pony. The dog was huge. Its fur was a mix of black and brown except for a white area on its chest and a tuft of white fur in the middle of its forehead.

“This dog is adorable,” she said. “In a giant teddy bear slash Sasquatch kind of way. Who’s is it?”

“Mine. I guess. I mean, I’m watching him for a friend, but on an extended basis. Sort of.”

“Sort of a friend or sort of an extended basis?”

“Both, I guess.”

“I’m confused.”

“Me too. I’m still not exactly sure how it happened.” He reached a hand over to pet the dog’s head. “It was a few weeks ago. I was in Creedence at The Perk, just standing in the lobby waiting for a coffee and a breakfast sandwich,” he explained, referring to the neighboring town a few miles down the mountain from Woodland Hills. “This guy was on the phone next to me. He was a soldier and about to be deployed, and I swear, he called like five people and practically begged them to take care of his dog while he was gone. Apparently, they all said no. The guy looked so dejected, and I felt bad for the poor dog, so I told him I’d help him out and take the dog while he was gone.”

She blinked at him. “You were in a coffee shop and just told a complete stranger that you would take care of his dog?”

“He wasn’t acompletestranger. I knew from his red hair and the name tag on his uniform that he was a Johnson. And you can’tthrow a rock in this county without hitting a Johnson. Or two.” His neck reddened as he backpedaled his statement. “Not that I would throw a rock at anyone. You know what I mean.”

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