Page 5 of Big Daddy Bull Riders

“When it comes to horses,” Jackson explained, “they tend to follow folks’ lead. Now, Rampage here just had a wild hair and decided to bolt. That’s usual for him. But when my pard here jumped on his back and stayed calm, the horse fed off him. He calmed down, too. See what I mean?”

Slater grinned as he watched the cutie pondering Jackson’s words. Finally, she nodded. “Pard?” she said with a funny look on her face.

Jackson chuckled. “My pardner. Orpartner,I reckon. If we’re being fancy.” He shrugged. “You’ve got to get used to cowboy talk, if you hang around us.”

She giggled.

“But you see what I mean about horses?” he promoted.

She nodded. “Yeah. That makes sense,” she responded. “Ooh. I’ll be sure and put that in the story! Thanks! Hey, maybe I can interview you two.”

Before they could respond, another truck drove toward them, this one towing a horse trailer behind it.

It came to a stop and an older, heavyset man with stark white hair and a matching bushy mustache slid out and hobbled over. “Ornery horse! I thought he was going to get away forever.”

Slater handed the reins to the man. “Nah. We wouldn’t let him. But after all the commotion, it’s best we work on breaking him in another day.”

The older man nodded and said, “Let me get him in the back.”

As he led the animal away, Sheriff Quinn Hardin stepped through the crowd. “Y’all okay?”

“Yep. Sorry for disturbing the peace,” Slater said. “Mr. Clemmons brought Rampage in for us to try and break in that open field just west of town. But I’ll be damned if he didn’t make a run for it as soon as that trailer door opened! Damn near knocked Mr. Clemmons on his ass.” He looked at all the Littles and tipped the black Stetson he wore. “Pardon my language, cuties.”

They all giggled.

“That makes sense,” the sheriff said. “One time I got a call that someone was breaking into a house just outside of town. The lady who lived there was terrified. Anyway, I got there to find it was just Rampage messing around, knocking stuff over on her patio. He’d gotten loose and decided to explore.” He shook his head. “He’s a wild one.”

“He’s aptly named, that’s for sure,” Jackson agreed.

“Anyway, we’re sorry for all that,” Slater said.

Quinn waved it off. “It happens. Just glad you got him and glad no one was hurt.”

“Speaking of no one getting hurt,” Slater said, turning his attention to the woman who’d suggested she write a story about the incident. “Why did you run into the street when we were coming straight for you?”

She looked uneasy as she shuffled on her feet and shrugged. “I wanted to get a good view. So I could remember all the details and accurately write about it.”

“That, little lady, was mighty dangerous,” Slater said.

She smiled. “But I’m a reporter, sir. It’s a dangerous job.”

“Oh, is it?” He put his hands on his hips. “Do you have a Daddy?”

“No.”

“Hmm.” He shook his head.

“What, sir?”

“That means no one is going to spank your bottom. And that’s exactly what you need. A good, solid spanking. After pulling a stunt like that…” He let his words trail off.

Jackson picked up where he left off. “Slater’s right. If I ever see you do something like that again, it might be me who takes you across his knee.”

The woman blushed hard.

The sheriff chuckled. “Slater, Jackson, meet Mina Palmer. She’s new in town. Came up from Dallas to run the newspaper.”

Slater couldn’t help but smile. He noticed Jackson had softened, too.

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