Sweet and Wild (2 page)

She rode on for nearly ten minutes,
searching both sides of the fence, looking for anything that seemed out of
place, until a sound that didn’t belong rose up ahead of her. A human cry.

She and Piper jogged several yards in
the direction of the sob and halted. A girl sat against one of the old worn
posts, her legs drawn up tight against her chest, one cheek rested on a knee.
Whether her face was red from crying or the sun or both, Quinn wasn’t sure, and
even though she’d never set eyes on the girl before, Quinn knew this had to be
Marisol Lynch.

“Hey there, Marisol.” Quinn dismounted
and went to the fence. She knelt in the grass. “You’re awfully far from the
ranch house.”

The girl nodded and wiped at the tears.

“Everyone’s been looking for you. Did
you walk all this way?”

She nodded again. “I don’t know how to
ride. My dad wanted me to get to know the land so I decided to take a walk. I
got lost. I found the fence and thought I’d come to a road or something if I
followed it.”

Quinn sighed. The poor kid had had a
hard time these last few years. But she was at least relieved to know the girl
had inherited some of her parent's sense for the prairie, whether she knew it
or not.

“We have to get you back to your dad.
He’s frantic with worry. It’s too far to walk so I’ll give you a lift. The road
isn’t far, maybe another quarter mile. Another eighth or so and you’ll be back
at your place.”

Marisol looked hopeful for the first
time. She pushed herself up off the ground and brushed off the seat of her
pants, then eyed Piper, her brow furrowed. “You don’t have a saddle.”

Quinn grinned and stood too. “Don’t need
one. Piper is the best horse in the state. We can ride her together. You’ll be
completely safe.”

Marisol continued to frown and didn’t
budge.

“I promise. We can get you home in a
quarter of the time it would take to walk. You have my word, Marisol.”

Marisol shrugged but the frown remained
and she hugged herself with her arms.

Quinn held out her hand. “I’m Quinn Emery
of Long Knife Creek Ranch. Nice to meet you.”

The girl accepted her hand, her lips
lifting in a slight smile. Tightlipped and anxious, but a smile nonetheless.

The girl bore a strong resemblance to
her mother, Elise. Marisol’s hair fell long and straight, a light brown with
blond highlights. Her eyes were big and hazel and already she stood nearly as
tall as Quinn. Elise had been an inch or two shy of six feet. Marisol would
follow in her mother’s genetic footsteps.

Once upon a time Quinn had been
extremely jealous of Elise, but she’d been ten when Craig and Elise exchanged
their vows. That day left Quinn broken hearted because
she
was supposed
to marry Craig, if only he waited for her to grow up.

“Okay, I’m going to give everyone the
heads up I found you. You have quite a search party looking for you. I’m sure
they’ll be relieved to hear you’re safe.”

Quinn pulled the walkie-talkie from her
belt and called Jack. “I found Marisol. She’s fine. You can call in the troops
and get in touch with Craig to let him know. I’m heading to the Shady H.”

“Knew you could do it if anyone could.”

They signed off and Quinn returned her
attention to Marisol.

 “I’m going to hop up on Piper then give
you a lift up. You can sit in front of me.”

Quinn gathered the mare’s reins, put her
hand on her withers and swung her leg over the horse’s back. Once settled, she
held her hand out to Marisol. “Take my hand and put your left foot on mine. You
can use my foot like a stirrup and I’ll pull you up.”

Marisol hesitated, then followed her
instructions. Quinn had her mounted in front of her in a matter of seconds.

“You can hold onto Piper’s mane. I’ll
have a good grip on you. Believe me, riding this girl is like sitting on a
rocking chair.”

Marisol didn’t respond, but the tension
in the girl’s back was indication enough that she was going to need more
convincing. Quinn started Piper off at a walk even though a lope would get them
to their destination faster.

She shrugged off the backpack and put it
in front of Marisol. “There’s a bottle of water in the front pocket. Drink some
of it,” she suggested.

Marisol did as instructed, still silent.
She didn’t even make a move when Quinn put her own hat on the girl’s head.

“I knew your dad a long time ago. I used
to bug him nonstop.” Quinn hoped conversation would help ease the girl’s frayed
nerves. “I followed him around everywhere he went. As a matter of fact
he
rescued
me
from the prairie once.”

“What was he like then?”

Quinn smiled. “Outgoing. Hard working.
He could ride any horse around. He knew this land like no one else, except
maybe my brother. They were good friends back then.”

“I wonder why he left if he loved it so
much.”

“Because he loved your mom more,” Quinn
replied gently and smiled at the memory of what that had done to her.

She tightened her hold on Marisol.
“Okay, I’m going to let Piper go faster. Lean back against me. If you feel like
you’re going to slip tell me right away and we’ll slow down.”

The girl nodded and Quinn squeezed her
heels a bit and made a clicking sound with her tongue. Piper went into an easy,
ground-eating lope.

Marisol turned out to be a trooper and
didn’t say a word as they made it to the end of the fence line. They came to an
access road Donald Hahn and Quinn’s father built years ago between their two
properties. They followed the road the rest of the way to the Hahn ranch yard.

The Shady H looked a lot like what Long
Knife Creek Ranch had at one time. The buildings were faded in the sun. Grass
grew sparsely in the yard, except by the house and alongside the buildings. It
was a working ranch, no doubt about it, while Long Knife Creek had been
transformed into a luxurious tourist destination.

Quinn felt a hell of lot more at home in
this setting than at the neatly landscaped guest ranch.

She pulled Piper to a halt in the middle
of the stable yard. It was empty but she heard horses mulling around by the
barn and chickens across the drive, scratching and clucking. She swung down,
and helped Marisol off. The girl rubbed her behind.

“You did great. I bet you’ll be riding
on your own in no time. Now, should we look for your dad?”

Marisol’s eyes widened, lips pulled down
in a frown. “He’s going to kill me.”

Quinn smiled gently. “Doubt it. He’ll be
more relieved than anything. Hold on, let me go to the barn and see if anyone’s
around.”

She wound Piper’s reins around the fence
and left Marisol alone in the yard as she went to the barn.

“Hello?”

The barn was empty, except for the
flutter of a bird in the rafters. Quinn continued around the side of the old
building to the paddock. A lanky, well-worn man stood alone, breaking up a bale
of hay into a large hayrack in the center of the fenced-in area.

“Hal,” she called, recognizing the older
man who’d been employed by the Shady H for as long as Quinn could remember.
“Did Jack get in touch? I found Marisol”

Hal glanced up and gave a wave, finished
stocking the rack and came over to her. He had a distinct hobble to his walk, a
limp given to him by an old cantankerous bull ten years back.

“Hey there, darlin’. Yah Jack called,”
he said with a big grin across his weathered face. “Craig’s still out, though.
Didn't get through to him. Gotta wait 'til he's closer. Where’d ya find her?”

“By the Long Knife Creek fence. Which
direction did he ride? Maybe I can catch him.”

Hal followed Quinn to where Marisol
stood, looking at her feet. She must’ve known the consequences of her walk had
just begun. Hal gave her a disapproving look.

He pointed in the opposite direction
from which Quinn had found Marisol. “He’s been gone for quite a while. Hope ya
can find him.”

She hoped he was right. "Easy
enough to track fresh hoof prints," she said with a grin and turned to
Marisol. “I want you to get in the house, clean up and stay put. I’ll get your
dad back.”

“He’s going to kill me,” Marisol
muttered again.

“No, he won’t do that. I’m sure he’ll be
very fair. He’s probably more scared than anything. You have to remember the
prairie can be very dangerous. Now go on. I’ll see you in a bit. Make sure you
get something on your face. You’ve got the beginnings of a nice burn there.”

Without another word, Marisol headed for
the house.

“If Craig gets back before I find him,
tell him to give Jack a call. He’ll be able to get in touch with me.” She
didn’t wait for a reply, but mounted up, swung the mare around and headed in
the direction Hal had indicated.

Quinn put the mare through her paces,
leaning over her neck as the horse galloped along the narrow cattle path that
headed north. She hoped Craig had kept to the path, but just in case, she
slowed Piper and veered off the trail toward a hill. From there she’d be able
to see much of the land around her and spot any other riders out and about.

In the distance, she saw a lone rider,
heading toward the Shady H. It could be Craig. Quinn pulled her hat off and
waved it. When he waved back, Quinn moved Piper off the hill and down to meet
him.

It was Craig. As soon as she got within
ten yards of him, she recognized him under the brim of an old cowboy hat and
looking right at home on the back of sturdy Buckskin. She couldn’t see his
eyes, but she didn’t have to, to know he was thinking the absolute worst. His
mouth formed a tight scowl.

Mentally she compared him to his
brother. They were as different as night and day. Even after all these years,
after traveling and a career as a best-selling author of books and articles
featuring exotic travel destinations, Craig still looked as if he belonged to
this land, a rancher through and through. Robby, while as good in the saddle as
any man raised with horses, possessed more pizzazz, had a showier personality
that demanded attention. If it weren’t for his brief stint in Hollywood, he
probably would’ve gone onto the rodeo circuit. He loved the limelight, the
flash and glamour that could accompany being a cowboy. That’s why he chose
employment at Long Knife Creek instead of some working ranch. He was an
attraction amongst the guests, whether she wanted to admit it or not.

“She’s okay,” Quinn called.

Craig’s upper body slumped, as if he’d
been held up by strings, and suddenly they were loosened. “Thank God,” he said
with relief and pulled the hat off. He wiped his brow with a red bandana.
“Where was she?”

Quinn pulled Piper up to Craig’s side,
turned the mare around and walked her next to Craig’s mount. “She was at the
fence line next to Long Knife Creek Ranch. She was really upset.”

“Damned right she should be”

Deep down he’s relieved
.

“Go easy on her, Craig. She’s had a
rough time of it.”

Craig glanced at her, his gaze holding
hers. For the first time she knew he really looked at her. “We both have.”

“She’s just a kid. I know what she had
to go through when her mom died. I was about her age when my parents died. At
least this was my home. I knew where I was. She’s been taken away from
everything she’s known.”

Craig pursed his lips together. “She
should’ve known better.”

“She said you wanted her to get to know
the land.”

“God. With me. On horseback. Not
wandering out by herself without telling anyone where she was going.”

“She’ll learn. She seems like a smart
girl. It won’t take her long to understand and maybe even like this place.”

A smile crossed his face as he nodded. Better.
The smile took years off him and transformed him into the Craig she’d fallen in
love with. Eyes as blue as the South Dakota sky, she liked to think in her more
poetic moments. His nearly black hair was still too long, but the way it waved
and curled made her want to run her fingers through it. That had nothing to do
with poetry.

Thinking like this, Quinn realized she
could still very well be quite sunk.

“Welcome home, Craig.”

Marisol sat on the front steps, knees
drawn up to her chest. All Craig could see was the top of her face, her eyes
wide and apprehensive.

Anger melted away and he forgot about
everything but his daughter. He jogged toward the house. When he reached her,
sat, put his arm around her trembling shoulders, and pulled her close. The
sweet scent of shampoo wafted from her damp hair.

“I’m sorry Dad,” she mumbled into his
shirt.

He gave her a squeeze then lifted her
chin so she peered into his eyes. He had to make sure she understood how
dangerous it could be out there.

“You know even though I’m angry, I’m
even more scared. I love you more than the world. If anything happened to you,
I don’t know what I’d do. I know I told you I wanted you to get to know the
land, but never on your own. Or on foot.”