Page 29 of Spur of the Moment
She looked over at me like she almost forgot I was sitting beside her.
Without a word, I shook my head, fighting the smile that threatened to bloom. Thankfully, Travis had sent a few hundred extra dollars in case something like this happened. He knew what kind of trouble his wife could get into and had the good sense that Lettie would follow in her steps.
***
Three hours later, the last horse came through the pen, selling for sixteen hundred dollars. We’d won each bid we put out on Travis’s list, but instead of four horses coming home, there’d be five, thanks to Lettie.
I didn’t know what she thought she’d do with a green three-year-old that looked ready to stampede every person in this building. She was crazy if she thought her dad or brothers would let her near the gelding once she got him home.
Satisfied with how the night went, I stood from the bench, my ass sore from the wood. Lettie followed suit, speaking up for the first time since that gray horse came out.
“Now we go to the window?” she asked.
I nodded, seeing the excitement overshadowing the emotional toll the last few hours took on her. I saw her eyes brim with tears at some points as bids stayed low on a few horses. She knew their fate just as much as I did. We did the best we could, but it still hurt to see the ones thatdidn’t get so lucky.
We headed down the bleachers to the line in front of the window. Four people later, we approached the woman.
“Bidding number?” she asked, her voice scratchy.
“Forty-four,” I replied.
She wrote it down. “Tags?”
“Three, sixteen, thirty-seven, thirty-nine.” My eyes drifted to the number jotted on the bottom of the paper, then to Lettie before continuing. “And twenty-eight.”
Lettie beamed at me, and I couldn’t help but stare. Her smile, her heart, everything about her drew me in like a fish to bait. She sure had her hook sunk deep in me.
Maybe her dad never brought her to these things because he knew he couldn’t say no to her. If that was the case, I was in the same boat. There was no way I could’ve told her not to bid on that horse, not when I saw how passionate she was about getting that highest bid, the way her eyes narrowed in challenge at the guy bidding against her. She was dead set on getting that horse well before he ran through, that much was clear.
I handed the woman the money after signing paperwork, signing over the rights of the horses to the rescue.
“See you tomorrow morning, ma’am.” I dipped my chin, then turned, Lettie beside me as we walked toward the exit.
“So, that gray,” I started.
“Please don’t be mad at me.” From the corner of my eye, I saw her gaze locked on her boots as we walked through the dirt parking lot.
“I’m not mad, but you know your dad will be once we get home.”
“I’m going to pay the rescue back for him.”
I looked at her, drawing my brows together. “What?”
“He’ll be my personal horse.”
“What about Red?”
She shrugged, her eyes still downcast. “He’s getting older.”
“You can’t break a three-year-old, Lettie.”
Her lips twitched. “I’m not. Brandy is.”
“How do you know she’ll do it?”
She looked up at me then as we approached the truck, frowning. “She’s my best friend. Plus, she’s broken half the horses on the ranch herself. She’ll do it.”
I reached around her to open the passenger door. “I’m sure she’ll love one more horse on her plate.”
