Page 70 of Dark Side of the River

“Can’t see how that can happen. Can you?”

“You planning on leaving?” Cooper asked, realizing that his friend hadn’t answered earlier about whether or not he was the man in Leann’s life that she was leaving with.

“No, as a matter of fact, I’m not.” His gaze locked with Cooper’s. “But I think one of us needs to.” He finished his beer, handed Cooper his empty bottle and pushed himself off the ground to stand swaying on unsteady feet. “You taking me home or what?”

THEMARESPOTTEDthe fence and reacted by rearing up just feet from it. Holly Jo went off the back, coming down hard in the dirt. The horse ran a few feet away from the fence and stopped.

Holden raced up to the girl, leaped off his horse and went to her. “Is anything hurt other than your pride?”

She looked as if the fall had knocked the air out of her. All she managed to do was shake her head as he helped her up.

“You’re sure nothing’s broken?” he asked.

“I’m fine,” she finally said as air returned to her lungs.

Pulling away from him, she walked over to where her horse stood. Grabbing the reins, she began to beat the horse with them, yelling, “You stupid, stupid horse!”

Holden came up behind her, grabbed the reins and snatched them out of her hand. “If I ever see you hurt another animal on this ranch...” He looked into her face, anger and pain twisting it, and dropped the reins to pull off his belt.

Her eyes widened in alarm. “You wouldn’t dare,” she said.

“Like hell. I think you need to know what that horse felt.” He struck her across her denim-covered legs, once, twice, three times, the same amount she’d hit the horse—just hard enough that she felt it. He saw tears shine in her eyes, but she held them back by sheer stubbornness, he was sure. He put his belt back on.

“You can’t make me stay here,” she cried. “I don’t care what you promised my mother.” He walked over and picked up her horse’s reins. “I’ll run away!” she yelled at him.

“And I’ll come find you and bring you back,” he said over his shoulder as he walked her horse over to his. “And, believe me, you’ll regret it.”

Turning back to her, he watched her kick a boot toe at the dirt, tears coming now as frustration won out. “She hated you! She hated your guts!” she yelled. “She said you killed my dad!”

“I did,” Holden said. “It was an accident. I lost my temper. I did something stupid. I hated myself for it. I promised your mother I would make up for it and I have tried, and I will keep trying. Now get on your horse and apologize to her. Honey is a nice, gentle mare who deserves better. I gave her to you because I knew she would be good to you.”

“She threw me off!”

“She threw you off because you tried to make her run through a barbed-wire fence. She was smarter than you. She saved you both. You owe her.” He waited as the girl walked over to the horse, laid her hand on its neck and mumbled something he couldn’t hear. “Give me your foot.” He hoisted her up into the saddle. She reached for the reins, but he shook his head. “Your mother wanted you here. She trusted me to take care of you. That’s the way it is. How good or bad it is going to be is up to you.”

He mounted his own horse and led hers back toward the stables. He glanced back only once to make sure she was still there. He could tell that she’d been crying. His heart went out to her. He thought of his own father and the way he’d been raised. Turned out, he was a lot like the old man, good or bad.

Deacon came riding out when they were almost back to the stables. He looked worried, even more so when he saw Holly Jo’s horse being led and the girl’s tearstained face. “Everything all right?”

“It will be,” Holden said as he dismounted and helped Holly Jo down. “Now put your horse away,” he said to her. “Brush her, feed her and make sure she has fresh water, and maybe she’ll forgive you.”

“Are you ever going to let me ride her again?” she asked, her voice breaking.

“You live on a ranch. Of course you’ll ride your horse again once she trusts you again,” he said, and went to take care of his own tack and horse. “That’s if you want to.”

“I want to.”

He smiled to himself, hearing something in her voice that gave him hope. He was probably wrong; he often was. But he wanted this to work out. He wasn’t one to break a promise. As he’d told Holly Jo, he owed her mother, he owed her daughter. He’d do whatever he had to to keep that promise.

But he worried. If she wanted to run away, would he be able to stop her? She had no idea what the world was like out there. A girl of twelve on her own? He shuddered to think of it. Which meant he had to convince her to stay. Problem was, he didn’t know how to do that.

Probably taking his belt to her hadn’t helped, but if she was going to stay, she wasn’t going to be abusing the animals. Of that, there was no question. He’d seen too many cowboys beat their dogs, their horses, often their wives. It made him sick to his stomach to see animals mistreated like that. It had gotten him into more fights than he should have taken on—including the one that had gotten Holly Jo’s father killed.

CHARLOTTEREINEDINher horse as she saw the rider waiting for her. When she’d heard about the meth lab on the old homestead, she’d felt gutted. She had no doubt that it was what Oakley had been doing on the McKenna Ranch when she’d been shot. That old homestead had been part of the Smith Ranch. Her best friend growing up had been Margie—right up until Holden had married Margaret Louise Smith and all that land was added to the McKenna Ranch.

She’d never forgiven Holden. Or Margie. It wasn’t in her nature to forgive. At least that was what her mother had told her, and apparently it had been true. Even when she’d heard that Margie was sick, she hadn’t been able to bridge what she’d seen as an unforgivable betrayal. She’d been stuck on the other side even as Margie died, making it impossible to grieve alone. Regret was a hard pill to swallow. She’d had to learn to live with it, shifting all her anger and regret onto Holden.

Now it was as if the past refused to die, taunting her with soured memories and tormenting her with the precious ones she still couldn’t let go of as much as they hurt.

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