Page 41 of Cowboy's Sinful Bargain

I squinted at Jos for a moment. "What is graze?"

"Oh." Jos looked perplexed for a moment. "It means to eat grass, I guess. Not sure what the actual definition is, but when the cattle are out eating the grass on the range we call it grazing."

The word was a little weird, but the concept was good. I knew a bit about rotating crops since I had to grow a lot of my own vegetables growing up. Horses weren't crops, but I imagined the concept was similar.

"Miko!" Jos suddenly grabbed me, jerking me hard enough to make me stumble. "Get back to Bucky now!"

"Wha—" Before I could ask what was going on, I was picked up and tossed over Jos's shoulder. It was a bumpy ride as the man took off running. I held on as tightly as I could, but there wasn't much to grab onto except Jos's belt buckle.

I seriously thought about grabbing his ass...right up until he tossed me up onto his horse. Jos mounted up in front of me this time, grabbing my arms and wrapping them around his waist.

"Hold on tight."

I knew exactly why he said that when he jerked the reins and Bucky took off running back toward the main house.

I held on for dear life.

That little instinct button every human being has was flashing bright red right now, screaming at me that something was seriously wrong. I just didn't know what it was, and that made it just a little more frightening.

My heart was thundering so hard in my chest I almost missed the low rumble that started filling the air behind us. One glance over my shoulder and I wished I had never looked.

"Jos!"

"Hold on, Miko," Jos yelled at me. "Don't let go."

I glued myself to Jos's back and held on for all I was worth. I knew there was a word for all those cows running toward us, kicking up dust and dirt, but in my panic I couldn't remember what it was. I just knew I didn't want to be here right now.

I forgot to swallow when I glanced behind me and saw the cloud of dust and horns headed in our direction. "Go faster," I shouted to Jos. "They are catching up."

I felt a spurt of speed in the horse underneath me, but realized too late that it wasn't going to work. Bucky stumbled, sending Jos and I went flying through the air.

I heard a terrified scream and didn't realize until it had suddenly cut off when I hit the ground that it came from me. Something heavy came down on top of me, stealing the air from my lungs. I could barely breathe. Spots danced in my eyes, warring with the tears of pain flooding them.

I gasped and tried to push the heavy weight off of me so I could suck in some much needed oxygen, but whatever was holding me down had me surrounded.

Panic started to set in.

Was I going to die?

With my last grasped of air I called out for the one person I knew could save me. "Jos."

It came out as more of a croaked murmur.

"Stay still, Miko!" The words were whispered into my ear, but they echoed like thunder.

I heard Jos grunt a few times and felt him jerk against my body. I was terrified of what was happening to him. When I looked into his eyes I was surprised to find tears in them. We stared at each other, no words spoken, for what seemed like forever.

And then the noise suddenly stopped.

Jos lifted his head and glanced around for a moment and then looked back at me. "Are you okay?" His hands started moving over me inch by inch, going over my shoulders, down my arms, and then to my legs. "Are you hurt anywhere?"

I mutely shook my head. I was terrified, but I didn't feel any pain anywhere. "What happened?"

"Cattle stampede." Jos closed his eyes for a moment, the corded muscles of his neck straining. When he opened them again, the tears were gone, but his cornflower blue eyes were faded with pain.

I frowned as I watched him stagger a couple of steps when he got to his feet. I quickly got up and went to him. "Where are you hurt?"

"I'm fine, Miko. Just a couple of kicks from the cattle."

---