Page 6 of Chasing Trouble
She followed him to the door, opened it, and watched him stride to the edge of the woods, then pull his horse out from behind a tree to mount him.So, that’s why they hadn’t heard him approach—sneaky devil.
She studied him as he easily swung a long, heavily muscled leg over the saddle and settled into the seat with practiced ease.Something fluttered in her abdomen.His physical form was very appealing to her—more than she cared to admit.
Now that she had a good look at him, she realized he wasn’t fifteen feet tall—or even bigger than her cousin Billy.Granted, he was very tall and broad-shouldered, and he practically dwarfed her, but he was a perfect specimen of a mountain cowboy.If only he weren’t trying to cause her trouble, she might even like him.Maybe even want to get to know him better.But right now, he was trouble she didn’t need.How could she get rid of him?
The horse pranced beneath him as he turned to send her a warning look.His hand held the reins firmly, and the horse recognized his master and settled down.How would those hands feel on her?Logic told her she needed to pack up and run as fast as she could.
Her unpredictable heart tittered as those amazing green eyes bored into hers with a promise that he would be back.And something else—she couldn’t define it, but it made her feel funny inside.
***
MAC STILLED HIS HORSE’Sdancing feet and sent one last look at Whitney, where she stood in the doorway of the little cabin, her blue-eyed gaze bold and clearly assessing her options—or plotting his demise.He wouldn’t put it past her not to be here in the morning when he returned, but he had no choice but to get back to the ranch.
He turned Acorn towards the road instead of back through the woods, where he tracked Whitney home.It was much faster to cover the eight-mile distance on the road, even with the potholes and patchy brown grass that created more of a wide trail than a road.There wasn’t a lot of vehicle traffic this far up, but after about four miles, the road widened to a more rigid ground surface that was easier to get his Land Rover or the four-wheeler around the property on.Another four miles, and he was riding into the front gates of Applewood Ranch and headed for the barn.
His foreman, Cole, looked up when he approached the pasture gate where he was watching two wranglers practice roping calves.They were his cousins and were both young, crazy, girl-chasing idiots as far as he was concerned.But they were family.
“Where have you been?”Cole asked lazily, leaning his long arms against the fence as Mac unsaddled his horse.
Mac grunted and shot him an irritated glance.“Had some business to take care of up north.That a problem?”
Cole had been the foreman of the ranch for years and was in charge of the thoroughbred breeding program his father had established from the beginning.No one knew horses like Cole, and he’d have been lost without him after his dad passed away.
Cole shrugged his broad shoulders, his wide, easy grin lighting up his face, but his shrewd hazel eyes missed very little.“Not a problem for me—it was a problem for you to lose a gobbler.I thought they were all sold for this year.Did you find the poacher?”
“I found him.”Mac hung the saddle over the fence and opened the gate, then smacked Acorn on the rump and sent her through.
“Well?”Cole’s tongue twirled a piece of straw around on his lips as the two young wranglers neared the fence.“Y’all get back now.You can’t rope those steers from here, so keep your distance.Don’t want any of them running blindly into the fences.”
“Did I hear that Mac finally caught his poacher?”Blue eyes beneath a shock of blond, unruly hair twinkled at them as Bobby Dixson grinned down at him from the seat of his horse.
Andy’s horse pranced over.Andy was practically a twin of Bobby, and they were both handsome young men who loved nothing more than girls and bars.Mac had begun to wonder if they would ever grow up.
“Congratulations, Mac,” he trumpeted.“You caught him—finally.It wasn’t a little gal, but then you don’t get the same practice that Bobby and I do.”He leered down at Mac.
Mac just shook his head.“You two get enough practice for all the rest of us.Besides, who said it wasn’t a girl?”
He regretted saying it and mentally castigated himself for stooping so low to get one over on his immature cousins.It was almost worth it, though, to hear dead silence behind him for a change.He turned around and strode off before the questions began.He had no desire to explain Whitney, and hopefully, his cousins would brush it off as wishful thinking.Not that he was competing with them.
Whitney was a secret that had crept into his mind uninvited.The simple truth was—he was highly attracted to her.Her situation was dire, and he knew he needed to do something, but his instincts were against notifying the sheriff.He completely understood why she was doing what she was doing—he’d feel the same if he were in her shoes.However, there was no way she could stay in that cabin all winter with those two small children in her care.His protective instincts wouldn’t allow it, but the girl was far too independent and as stubborn as a Missouri mule.Tomorrow, he’d get it all sorted out, but right now he had work to do.
At dinner that night with his mother and his sister, Mac still hadn’t decided what to do for sure.Even the steak in front of him wasn’t appealing as he mulled the situation over.
“What’s on your mind, son?”Caroline asked curiously.
His sister Adaline scoffed.“Probably the poacher he caught today, Mom.Andy said it was a girl, but that can’t be right.There aren’t any girls within miles around here unless you count the...”Her voice trailed off, and her baby blue eyes widened.“Is it one of the Johnson family’s kids?”
Mac’s eyes narrowed.“What do you know about the Johnsons?”
His mother smiled sweetly.“The Johnsons moved into the old Parker place last fall, son.You need to keep up.If you paid attention to the town gossip, you’d know these things.Daniel Johnson’s wife died this last spring, poor man.”She tsked with her tongue.“I’ve wondered how they were doing.I haven’t seen any of them since she died.I guess they are about as reclusive as you are.”She pointed her fork at him before spearing a piece of her steak.
“I don’t have time for gossip, nor do I care for it,” he growled back at her.“It’s a total waste of time.”
“And yet here you are, asking questions about the Johnsons,” Adeline purred.“If you don’t want to talk about it, why ask questions?”
Mac snarled impatiently.“I wasn’t the one to bring it up, Adeline.But since you did, I responded.”
She nodded her head, her dark hair up in its bun jiggling slightly, and grinned widely.“And now you know more than you did five minutes ago.See how easy that was to be socially interested in your peers?”
