Page 3 of Blazing Hot Nights
“I left the auction and decided to come straight here to tell you to keep your damn beasts out of my fields!”
She tipped to the side, and I grabbed her shoulder, holding her steady. “Maybe you should sit down.” I directed her back to the couch, and she lowered herself to a cushion before I released her. I hated how this little woman—the size of a child—always brought out the protector in me, even while she drove me banana sandwich at the same time. I put my hand on my hip. “I’ll have you know mybisonaren’tinyour fields.”
“Shows what you know,” she muttered, her eyes rolling around in her head again. “There were two bison cows onmyback forty this morning,” she griped. “Luckily, I don’t have cattle in that field, or I’d be as ticked off as a rattlesnake in winter!”
I scratched my head while I eyed her. “We don’t have rattlesnakes up here.” She lowered an angry brow at me in retort. “Was there a hole in the fence?” I asked with resignation.
“No, they jumped over it like sheep. One little bison jumping over the fence, two little bison—”
“I get it,” I snarled. “I’ll send Beau up to get them when he gets back. He’ll fix the fence too.”
Heaven waved her hand at me dismissively. “Already done. I couldn’t leave them in my pasture.”
“Excuse me?” I asked, my voice booming. “You messed with my bison?”
She instinctively shrunk back against the couch before stiffening her spine and thrusting her chest toward me. My blood rushed straight to my groin at the motion, and I bit back a groan. When she lifted her chin, I knew what was coming—a sassy attitude.
“What did you expect me to do? I couldn’t risk them finding my herd! You already know this! You have wild animals. Mine are domesticated. They don’t mix!”
My fists had balled at my sides, and I dragged air in through my nose, trying to calm my anger. “You aren’t trained to deal with those wild animals, Heaven! For God’s sake, they could have killed you!”
“Blaze, relax, it wasn’t hard to get them back to your side of the fence. Once they were distracted by the rest of the herd, I closed the hole the best I could one-handed. They were just curious. They weren’t aggravated or mad.” She stood on wobbly legs and held her hand out to me as she defended herself, but I wasn’t having it.
I shook my head at her, and she fell back to the couch. “You, of all people, should know how dangerous that was! You should have come and gotten me.”
“I didn’t have time, Blaze. I called Tex, and he went up to make sure the patch was solid,” she explained, tossing up a hand in frustration.
I softened a bit as I gazed at her. “How did you do it without freezing up, Heaven? You can’t ride next to the fence without having an anxiety attack.”
Her eyes rolled again. I wanted to grab her and shake her but I couldn’t, so I kept my fists balled at my side. “I’m made of tougher stuff than you think I am,” she grumped. “It wasn’t like I had a choice either. I wasn’t getting past them unless I got them back behind the fence, so I just put my big girl panties on and handled my own business. I didn’t have time to waste, and I sure as hell didn’t need a damn stubborn Texas cowboy to solve my problems!”
I lifted one brow in the air. “Damn stubborn Texas cowboy. Tell me how you really feel, Heaven.”
“Blaze,” she said, warning me that she was dangerously close to losing it. While it was tempting to see what she’d do, I knew better than to step into that rattler’s den.
“I know you don’t need me to solve your problems, but you also know how dangerous it is to mess with wild bison. I also know you aren’t going to sleep well for days now.”
“I’m better than I was five years ago. You wouldn’t know that though. Your head is never in the present.”
I chose to ignore her jab and relaxed my fists at my sides. “It wasn’t intentional that the animals were in your field. I’m not trying to start problems with my neighbor.”
“Ha!” she barked. “Sure, that’s what you always say. I know better. You’re trying to steal my ranch and get the acreage you need to expand your herd of beasts!”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Don’t rile yourself up, angel. I’m not trying to steal your ranch. I thought I’d made that clear.” When Heaven’s father, Duane, had passed away almost four years ago, I wasn’t surprised that she decided to keep the ranch, even though I was disappointed. We’d been trying to buy their lower pasture for years. Duane hadn’t budged then, and Heaven wasn’t budging now. “Would I take it if you were willing to sell? Absolutely. But I’m not going to steal it out from under you.”
Unfortunately, while I had no intention of stealing it out from under her, I was counting on getting it legally from the bank when she went into default.
“Do I look stupid?” Her voice was louder than it usually was, which meant she was yelling now, the veins at her temples pulsing. She stood back up and stuck her finger in my chest. “I’m not yourangel. You can’t play me with your stupid Texas endearments. I know you tried to snatch that land out of my father’s cold, dead fingers,” she hissed. “I won’t have it. Do you hear me? That’s Lane land and will remain Lane land, even if I have to sell myself to make sure of it!”
I grasped her finger with one hand and her shoulder with the other since she was swaying on her feet. “Saddle down, pip, before you have an aneurysm.”
“Saddle down?” The confusion in her eyes told me I had managed to diffuse the situation, even if I had to sound like an idiot to do it. I knew it would puzzle her enough that she would have to stop and think for a second.
“Let me put on some dry pants, and then I’ll take you home. Your clothes are soaking wet, but I know you won’t take a towel from me, much less take your clothes off in my house.”
“I feel like that was just a little bit sarcastic, Blaze, but you’re right, I’m not taking my clothes off within a fifty-mile radius of you.” She rubbed her forehead as though she forgot what we were talking about. “Oh … yeah … going home. I don’t think I can ride a horse right now. I’d probably go ass over tea kettle.”
I chuckled for the first time in an hour. “I know, so we’ll take the UTV and go over the ridge. Sit and rest while I change.”
