Page 16 of Harrison Hyde and the Runaway Bride

“And this is my cousin Trevor,” Maria said. She gestured toward her younger cousin, who was as darkly complected as Willow.

Trevor sent him a wave and a friendly smile. “Good to meetcha. Sorry about your… uh… face. You sure you’re okay to ride?”

“Um…”

“Have you ever ridden?” Deputy Willow asked with concern in her eyes.

He nodded. “When I was a kid, we took a family trail ride every fall to see the foliage. My mom was nuts about the foliage. She even made us take riding lessons the first summer.”

Maria said, “You’ll do fine, then.”

“Yeah, it’s like riding a bike,” Trevor said. “But more like riding a horse.”

“Adaline is the gentlest mare you’ll ever meet.” Maria moved to the horse as she spoke and as he suspected, it was the elder chestnut mare. She took the reins and stroked the mare’s muzzle. The horse closed her eyes in a slow blink of appreciation. “She’s not gonna spook and she won’t misstep. You can trust her. If you feel up to it, I mean.”

“Sure,” he said. “It’ll be fun.”

He saw the disapproving look Willow sent to Maria, and not wanting to be the cause of strife between cousins, walked right up to the chubby mare, pet her nose, and said, “I’m Harrison. Is it okay if I ride you?”

The horse blew as if answering him, and he said, “I hope that was a yes.” Introducing yourself to the horse and asking permission had been step one, according to his mom, though he’d never seen the riding instructor do that part. Just the rest. He stepped into the stirrup and swung his leg on over. The mare didn’t move at all the whole time. He patted her neck. “Good girl,” he said and when he glanced Maria’s way, he saw that he’d impressed her. His chest swelled a little bit. Dumb.

Maria got on the fiery black mare. Willow and Trevor mounted the thoroughbreds, and as one, they turned around, and started off at an easy walk. Maria led the way out past the barns, through gates opened for them by ranch hands who touched their hats as the group rode by. They crossed a wide meadow behind the larger barn, moving among grazing cows, through another gate, and then picked up a trail through a wooded area.

Willow said, “Harry, just so you know, I’m not goofin’ off here. Uncle Garrett has an APB out on your car, Billy Bob’s truck, and Billy Bob himself. He and Uncle Lash— Maria’s dad— are checking his known haunts, his friends. And I’m keepin’ an eye on you, here, just in case.” She glanced at Maria. “We got the guest list from his stag party, so we’re startin’ there.”

“He punched the stripper, you know,” Maria blurted.

“He didwhat?” Apparently, Willow hadn’t heard.

“The dancer at Billy Bob’s stag party. I knew her from college. I’ll send you the video.”

She pulled out her phone and did so.

“Either way,” Willow said to Harryison, “I expect we’ll find Billy Bob and your car before the day’s out.” Her phone beeped, so she pulled it out and tapped it to watch the video Maria had sent her. Trevor, who rode beside Willow, leaned over in his saddle to watch as well.

Harrison had not seen any video. He leaned up in his saddle to get a glimpse. Maria took pity and handed him her phone. He watched as Billy Bob tried to sexually assault an exotic dancer then punched her in the face when she resisted, in much the same way he’d punched Harrison the day before.

The impact made him wince. “What a jerk!” He looked up from the phone.

On the horse ahead of him, Willow’s face was as angry as a storm cloud. “Is the dancer okay?”

“Yeah. She sent me that yesterday mornin’.”

“At the weddin’?” Willow asked. Maria nodded and Harrison thought it had been way worse than he’d known. Some cave-man DNA sent up the desire for another shot at that woman-beating thug Billy Bob. Not that he’d fare any better, but the notion of landing a punch or two felt good.

Willow said, “Aw, shoot, hon, I’m sorry. You’d better believe Uncle Garrett’s gonna charge his ass with every bit of it when he catches up to him.”

Trevor was quietly fuming.

“Anyway, Harry,” Willow went on after a moment, “I expect we’ll have your property back by the end of the day. Meanwhile, I’ve been assigned to keep an eye on you until we have Billy Bob in custody. My personal theory is he blames you for bustin’ up the weddin’.” She winked at Maria. “You shouldhearsome of the speculation around town. It’d make those books you read blush.”

Maria rolled her eyes, nudged her horse, and moved in between the two thoroughbreds to cut ahead of them again. They rode in companionable silence for a little while. Soon, Harrison heard the burbling of a little stream that ran alongside the path and eventually spilled into a large pond.

“Swimmin’ hole,” Maria said, turning to call back to him. “Best place to cool off on a hot summer day.” But they didn’t stop.

“So, are you two siblings?” he asked Willow and Trevor, mainly for something to say.

Trevor laughed. “We get asked that a lot, but no,” he said. “I’m half-Mexican and Willow’s three-quarters Comanche.”

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