Lone Rider by Lindsay McKenna

Author:Lindsay McKenna [McKenna, Lindsay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2018-02-02T05:00:00+00:00

May 24

Just the rhythmic movement of a horse between her legs lulled Tara into a dreamy state. Ahead of her was Harper on Ghost, a gray quarter horse gelding with a black mane and tail. They were repairing fence posts this afternoon under a clearing sky, the wind coolish, the sun warming her head and shoulders.

Socks, an eleven-year-old chestnut gelding with four white socks, was an old pro at this fence-fixing routine. Tara allowed the quarter horse to grab mouthfuls of the rich green grass that was growing swiftly now that most of the snow had melted. There were still stubborn white patches here and there along the pasture fence line where they rode. Harper wore his cowboy hat, had long, leather chaps that were splotched with the wet grass when he knelt onto the ground to dig around a rotted post. Her chaps were spotted with wet grass, too. She had on a gray down vest over her long-sleeved red-and-black-flannel shirt to drive off the cold air sweeping the valley after a chilly front had just passed on through.

When the grizzly had been killed, it upended their quiet lives on the Bar C. Neither had expected it. Both had turned down interviews locally, regionally and even from major news organizations out of the East.

She watched the way Harper rode Ghost, with that boneless ease. He was so damned sexy, and her dreams had escalated with each kiss they shared. They both had so much baggage to work through that she wanted the time to get to really know him, to show him their continuing compatibility in so many areas with each other.

Harper had some ongoing nightmares, too. The bear had been killed on the 15th, and since then, he’d been wrestling with his PTSD, which had spiked. Tara wouldn’t admit that his screams on some nights didn’t bolt her out of bed, her heart pounding, adrenaline coursing through her, trying to tamp down her own reaction. She’d heard screams like that before: her own. And it brought back memories of terrible firefights she’d been caught in, too. Neither of them were getting much sleep.

That’s why she looked forward to a whole afternoon out on the land. Nature always settled them, she’d come to find out. This was the first time they’d been assigned fence-mending duty together and she’d silently cheered over it. She knew how tough it was for Harper to speak about his emotions and what was bothering him. Tara hadn’t let him know he’d kept her up nearly every night, too. He didn’t need that burden right now. He was dealing with enough because he’d been forced to shoot that grizzly.

Since the bear killing, he’d retreated in some ways from her, and Tara had felt the loss of the warmth and intimacy Harper had given her. Inwardly, she had cried over it, but she understood why. Her parents, after being awakened by her screams during a nightmare, had wanted to help her, too. And now, Tara didn’t want to crowd him to tell her what the nightmare was about; that was something Tara wouldn’t do.

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