Enchanted by the Rodeo Queen--A Clean Romance by Melinda Curtis

Author:Melinda Curtis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2020-01-10T15:51:05+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

EXTERIOR. THE STAGE ROAD. Mike galloping for the hills, a sack of gold tied to his saddle horn, dodging ruts and mud puddles. Ahead of him, Letty led the way.

DID DESPERADOS DODGE mud puddles?

Jonah didn’t know. Heck, he wasn’t even fighting the Letty plotline. He was more interested in the logistics of stagecoach robbery and escape.

Case in point: road conditions. It probably wasn’t good for a horse’s health to run through mud puddles. They might be deep or filled with rocks. A lame horse was like a flat tire. Did that mean most stagecoach robberies happened in good weather?

“I sense an online research session, Razzy,” Jonah said.

The horse blew a raspberry.

“What are you doing back there?” Emily had been riding ahead of Jonah on the old stage trail.

She’d been unusually quiet this morning, as if she was working something out in her head. She couldn’t be thinking about Adam’s teasing words at the firepit last night, the ones about them getting married.

Emily twisted in her saddle. “Jonah?”

“I’m plotting and evading mudholes.” True, but Jonah had slowed Razzy down so he could eat a banana and drink some water, items he’d stowed in the inner pockets of his lightweight jacket on this cloud-filled day. Jonah had hung back because he hadn’t wanted Emily to notice he was eating. She asked more questions than anyone he’d ever met.

Emily turned her scarred black horse around and headed back at a quick clip. There was nothing about the big gelding that was slow, even when he was walking.

Jonah took a bite of banana.

They’d joined the trail early in the morning where it was flanked by the Salmon River and a wildflower-strewn meadow. Farther north, the road had sharp S-turns and was crowded by trees and gentle rises, offering great spots for an ambush.

“There’s no mud, Jonah.” Trust Emily to poke holes in Jonah’s excuses.

“There would be if it had rained recently.”

She scoffed.

He cast about for a distraction. “I think I owe you an apology for that Bo-breakfast yesterday. I got all tangled up in Letty. Truth be told, I’m still tangled.” But now he was tangled with Emily, too. And only Emily’s knots were unraveling, revealing intriguing contradictions of vulnerability and strength.

“You’re apologizing and lagging behind?” Em shook her head, eyes hidden behind her sunglasses and beneath the brim of her cowboy hat. “Is that a banana?”

“It’s no big deal. I’m eating.” Jonah waved her off. “Go on. I’ll catch up.”

“Seriously?” Emily kept coming toward him, starting to grin. “For a person who doesn’t eat much, you sure eat often.”

“I’m on a strict diet, which is why I eat often.” He finished the banana and stuffed the rolled peel in the pocket of his lightweight jacket. “I have to eat several small meals a day.”

“You’re dieting?” Emily stopped her horse next to him, close enough that she could reach out and touch his leg, but facing the way back to the ranch. “Are you trying to keep your weight down?”

“No.” Jonah hoped the clipped response would discourage Emily from prying.

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