Page 67 of His Tenth Dance

“Let’s go, then,” she said, and she let Mission go get Lady to her feet. The horse lumbered, and Kristie regretted not bringing a rope to help the horse gain her hooves. But she managed, and she moved with Mission easily.

Kristie shook off the last dregs of sleep as she reentered the sunshine that wasn’t really sunshine anymore. One glance up confirmed what Mission had said—it was going to rain. Really, really soon.

“Fun fact about me,” she said as she caught up to Mission. “I don’t like having water on my skin.”

He looked over to her. “Really? How do you shower?”

“That’s different.”

He chuckled. “It’s summer rain. It’ll be warm.”

The wind blew across them, moving from west to east, and it didn’t feel that warm. “Lady’s clean-up will be murder,” she said. “I really don’t want her to get wet.”

“I should’ve woken you sooner,” he said as thunder cracked through the sky.

Kristie didn’t dare tell Mission to hurry, though she really wanted him to hurry. But he kept on at the same slow pace they’d used to come out to the bunkhouse. She turned and looked behind her, and it didn’t seem like they’d put any space between them and her afternoon napping spot.

Nothing can be done, she told herself, but she hated feeling this powerless, this out of control of a situation.

“We’ll be okay,” Mission said as Lady tossed her head. “All right, Kris? I’ll help with whatever Lady needs, but I don’t dare push her faster than this.”

She grabbed onto his hand as the light changed above them, the clouds shifting and moving in a new pattern that only made Kristie’s nerves swirl too. Mission looked over to her as a gust of wind tried to steal his cowboy hat.

“It’s a summer thunderstorm,” he said. “Not a tornado.”

She nodded, and she trained her eyes on the structures in the distance. Thunder growled again, and she watched the sky for lightning but didn’t see any. Wind whistled past her ears, tugging on her hair and forcing Mission to remove his cowboy hat completely.

With her head bent, Kristie simply put one foot in front of the other, feeling very much like she and Mission and Lady were the last living creatures on the planet.

When the first raindrops touched her forearm, she flinched.

“Almost there,” Mission said. “Come on, Lady, it’s just right there.”

Kristie looked up, and sure enough, the open stall doors of the medical barn only another fifty yards away. But fifty yards in a summer downpour could be hazardous to her health, as well as Lady’s well-being.

The wind seemed to whisk the raindrops away, and Kristie finally hurried ahead to get Lady’s stall cleaned quickly and a few blankets out. She’d barely had time to do the fastest clean-up job possible before it sounded like bullets pelting the roof.

She looked up and groaned, because Lady and Mission weren’t inside yet. The rain sounded like a tsunami, with everything being so loud, and Kristie hurried to the open door as it got grabbed and slammed into the outside of the shed.

She yelped as a clap of thunder bellowed its voice into the shed too, and then a moment later Mission walked slowly into the stall.

“Praise the Lord,” she breathed out, quickly striding past him so she could secure the door. Lady huffed at her as she entered the barn, as if it was Kristie’s fault that it had started to rain.

Her shoulders strained as she pulled against the door, the wind, the very elements themselves. She groaned and cried out as she finally got the door to move.

And, boy, did itmove.

She yelped as it suddenly blew inward, and she got thrown into the stall with a dripping Lady, the scent of wet horseflesh, and all of her adrenaline shouting at her.

Thankfully, the stall was still padded with foam and straw, but pain still shot through her tailbone and up her back.

“Whoa,” Mission said, and he left Lady to come to Kristie’s aid. “Are you okay?” He put both hands on her, stilling her and holding her steady. “Look at me, Kris.”

She blinked and managed to move her eyes to meet his. He nodded and leaned closer. “Are you okay?”

“I got the door closed.”

“You sure did, kitten.” He cut a look over to Lady as the horse shuffled. “I’m going to get Lady cleaned up and secured for the night.” He helped Kristie to her feet and led her toward the inside door. “You’re going to sit right out here and sip on a bottle of water.”

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