Hearts in Defiance (Romance in the Rockies Book 2) by Blanton Heather

Author:Blanton, Heather [Blanton, Heather]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rivulet Publishing
Published: 2014-09-25T23:00:00+00:00

Twenty-Eight

Billy gasped and struggled to suck in a breath but his chest wouldn’t cooperate.

What the. . .

He heard Prince Valiant’s terrified squeal and realized they’d taken a bad fall. Squeezing his eyes shut, Billy forced his lungs to function. Air cleared his head some and he clawed up to a sitting position. A black headache thundered through his brain. Beside him, Prince Valiant flailed and kicked his way back to his feet. He wouldn’t put down his left front leg, but held it up, curled in.

“Oh, God, what have I done?” Billy moaned and climbed to his feet. The headache intensified, temporarily blacking out his vision. Gritting his teeth, he fought off the vertigo and staggered to his horse. Prince Valiant nickered, lowered his head, and pointed his ears straight out to the sides. “Boy, oh, Val, I’m so sorry.” Billy rubbed his horse’s nose lovingly. Slowly, he worked his way down until he squatted beside Val’s leg. “What have I done? What have I done?” he muttered over and over as he gently ran his hand up and down the horse’s cannon bone to his ankle.

He felt the heat in Val’s pastern but the horse shied away from Billy’s touch. After several attempts to assess the damage, he gave up. Heartsick over this new development, he grabbed the dangling rope and plunked down on the ground. He studied the vast empty pasture, cringed at the silence, and wondered just how far they were from town.

He eyed Prince Valiant’s leg again.

Too far.

He cursed and raised his gaze to heaven. “Is this your idea of helping me? Well, thanks a heap!”

The horse jerked at the outburst and Billy almost let the lead line slide through his hand. “Whoa, boy, whoa, it’s all right.”

Shaking his head, Billy wiped sweat and dirt from his forehead. The aches and pains from the fight, now compounded by the fall, battered him with a vengeance. Even his little toe hurt. He cursed again and wondered what the heck had happened to his hat.

He spotted it a few feet away, flat and crumpled. Stiffly, moving like his joints were greased with sand, he struggled to a standing position. Dizziness skewed his vision again. He pinched the bridge of his nose and waited for it to pass.

“Yeah, this is just lovely, God.” He sniffed, angry that his throat had tightened up. Feeling very small and alone in this big, green pasture, he wondered what he needed to do to stop being so stupid. Stupid for dallying with Hannah. Stupid for letting his father push him into abandoning her. Stupid for racing his horse across a pasture full of gopher holes and stumps.

Stupid for being angry with God.

He turned around so he could rub Prince Valiant’s nose. Seemed his stupid choices only hurt the ones he cared about. “Maybe I could use a little help, God,” he whispered, embarrassed he was even asking. After all, who was he to God? He leaned his head back to take in the wide azure sky, strung with thin strands of clouds.

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