Page 32 of A Cowboy Of Her Own

“Are you all right?”

“No, but I will be once we get back to the ranch.”

“Let’s go then. The sooner we get back, the sooner you can take it easy.” He glanced around then gave a shrill whistle.

Snowy came running from the woods and ran ahead of them. Roark tugged on Bouncer’s reins as Apache made his way through the tall grass. Glancing over his shoulder, Roark noticed Priscilla sitting stiffly in the saddle.

“Relax, darlin’. You’re only going to make it worse.”

“I don’t think it can get any worse.”

He reined his horse to a stop to wait for her. She stopped beside him and looked at him. He saw tears in her eyes.

“We can stop whenever you want,” he told her. “Just tell me when. Okay?”

“I want to get back as soon as I can. I don’t want to stop and get down then have to get back on. I’m never going to be able to feel my ass again.”

Roark laughed then covered it with a cough when her eyes narrowed at him. He shrugged. “Honest, I wish you would have told me. I never would’ve had you come along.”

“It’s okay… the great sex makes up for my sore ass.”

“I’m serious, Priscilla. You’re going to be hurting for a few days. I have some salve you can use when we get back.”

She nodded and he nudged Apache to go. Roark felt bad because he knew she had to be sore and it was bound to be a whole lot worse by the time they got back. They never should have had sex. Roark mentally snorted. The sexhadbeen fantastic and he was hoping she’d sleep with him in his bed once they returned to the ranch…sore ass or not.

Two and a half hours into the ride, he looked back at her and saw tears on her cheeks. He reined Apache to a stop. “Priscilla, do you want to stop?”

“No, we don’t have much farther, do we?”

“A little less than an hour but if you want to stop…”

She shook her head. “I don’t want to get out of this saddle until we’re back because once I get out of it I am not getting back in it.”

“All right but if you change your mind, let me know.” He waited until she nodded then nudged his horse. Snowy ran around them until they were close to the ranch then he took off running. The horses picked up their paces too, since they knew they were close to the barn and their oats. But Roark turned his horse back toward Priscilla and grabbed the reins from her hands.

“What are you doing?” she asked him.

“Slowing Dazzle… so she won’t run to the barn and hurt you even more.”

“Thank you,” she whispered as she blinked tears away.

Once they rode into the barn, Roark dismounted and walked back to where Priscilla sat on Dazzle and looked up at her.

“Can you get down?” She shook her head as a tear rolled down her cheek and his heart ached for her. “Come on, baby, I’ll help you.” He put his arms up to her. She put her hands on his shoulders and he pulled her off the horse then he pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Go on inside, I’ll take care of the horses.”

“Are you sure? I know the rules.”

“I’ll let you slide on it this time. Go.” He lightly kissed her lips then she turned and slowly—very slowly—walked to the house.

As he led the horses to the stalls, Roy came walking down the aisle of the barn.

“Hey, boss.”

“Could you get one of the guys to cool the horses down? I need to get Priscilla some salve. She’s sore from riding. She told me she could ride but forgot to mention that not for longer than thirty minutes at a time.”

“Damn. Yeah, I’ll get Raul and I’ll help him. Go help her. We got this.”

“Thanks Roy, I appreciate it.”

---