Page 2 of Reaching Little Robyn

“You’ve done nothing wrong, Hears With Her Heart,” Moses signed, using the name he’d given her in a hidden cavern on this same mountain. “You just made a mother remember her babies aren’t at her side.”

“Stuck to her like glue is more like it.” Jagger chuckled when his wife slapped at his chest. “Can you tell me that’s not true?” he asked, capturing her hand and kissing her fingers before dropping their clasped hands to her lap. “When was the last time we all got together without little ones running amok or trying to climb up our bodies like the little monkeys they are?”

At a giggle, they looked to see Derek unceremoniously dump his wife off his shoulder and back onto the blanket. “I think you might need to clarify that statement, my friend.”

Jagger sent the couple to his left a look. “Which part? The fact that I’m not talking about the Littles here or climbing all over us?”

“More importantly, how on earth did that cookie survive all that running around?” Moira asked.

Sadie laughed and lifted the mostly intact cookie in the air. “Guess Daddy’s magic extends beyond the Ranch’s boundaries.”

“Thought you said you were gonna pop?” Jayne gave the Little a look that had Moira instantly picture Jayne as the Nanny J every single Little who’d ever stepped foot on Rawhide Ranch property both loved and feared a bit.

“Daddy made sure I burned off enough calories to make room for a cookie,” Sadie said with a giggle as she took a huge bite.

“What she means is that her Daddy made sure more than calories were bur… Moses?”

The change in tone from humor to total authority in Derek’s voice had everyone turning their attention to Moses. The man’s hands were no longer dancing, but one was raised, effectively cutting Derek’s words off mid-sentence.

“What is it?” Jagger asked as Moses stood. Moira found herself rising as well when her husband got to his feet, still secure in his arms before he set her down beside him.

“Is something wrong?” Sadie asked, looking between her husband and Moses, the man she considered her big brother.

Moses didn’t look at her, his focus on the land spread out before them. It was another several moments before Jagger’s head turned a fraction and understanding dawned.

“Stampede,” he stated decisively.

“What? Where?” Moira asked, looking around, half expecting to see a herd of cattle racing toward their group. Instead, all she saw were the horses they’d ridden up the mountain on. Horses that had all lifted their heads from where they’d been grazing, each pair of ears at attention as if sensing danger. “Jagger?—”

“Look!”

Moira turned at Sadie’s shout and followed her pointed finger.

“Go!”

The shout came from Jayne but was unnecessary as all three men were already halfway to their horses.

“Stay here!” Derek shouted, his foot in the stirrup as he swung himself up onto Bolt’s back.

Jagger hit the saddle of his blond mare, Star, at the same time Moses flung himself onto Thunder’s back.

A dance.

The word didn’t fit and yet Moira knew that it did. The fluidity of movements, the precise steps and leaps taken as the three men mounted and turned their horses on a dime might not have been choreographed by a director or performed on any stage, but they were definitely steps of a dance practically bred into the men’s DNA. She watched as the trio reached a gallop within seconds of seeing what had brought Moses to his feet before anyone else had a clue as to what was about to unfold.

“Moira!” Sadie called as Moira grabbed Cha-Cha’s reins, releasing the loose knot she’d tied to a branch with nothing more than a flick of her wrist. “Daddy said stay here.”

“You can stay and finish that cookie,” Jayne said, already following Moira’s lead by mounting Magic.

“And miss the fun? No way!” Sadie shoved the remainder of the chocolate-chip cookie into her mouth as she climbed onto the last horse’s back. “Come on, Snickers, let’s show these cowboys how girls ride!”

“You do understand that we’re talking about helping them, not riding them, right?” Moira asked, causing what sounded suspiciously like a snort to come from Jayne.

The sound of Sadie’s giggle came from over her shoulder as she took off, shouting, “Yippie-ki-ya!”

With that, Moira followed her friends as they tore off after the men and toward the stampede, not of cattle, but of horses. Wild, beautiful horses who had stormed over a ridge of the mountain and were even now racing across the plateau’s flat top.

CHAPTER 2

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