The Mobster And The Cowboy (A Cowboy Romance) (3 page)

It was another two weeks before
Melanie grew more and more restless. She needed to get out, to stretch her legs, to even learn the place she moved to a month or so ago. She had seen signs for the L.L. Riding Stables every time she ran an errand in town and looked it up on line and found out it was only fifteen minutes away by car.

Wearing a lavender colored tank top and black
jeans, she donned the new pair of boots she purchased at Geli’s and picked up her new cowboy hat and walked out the door.

At the stables, a middle aged man greeted her as she walked up to the corral.

“Howdy ma’
am. Looking to ride?” He smiled.

“Yes.” She smiled back.

“The name’s Hank. We’ll have a guide going out in about a half an hour. We’re just waiting on a few more people.”

There
was a young boy, and a man who looked to be her age, maybe a little older, also waiting. She found out they were father and son.

“Ok
ay.” She nodded, not offering her name. The less people knew, the safer she felt.

“Beginner?”

“Experienced,” she said, shaking her head. She’d been riding since she was a young girl over at the stables on Staten Island. Granted, it had been about three years since she’d been on a horse.

“Ok
ay, just getting an idea what kind of horse to give you.”

“I understand.”

“Excuse me,” he said and walked into the barn.

He came out a few moments later with a
dark brown gelding with matching mane and tail, and led him to her.

“Hey
, handsome,” Melanie said as she pet the horse in between the eyes and down to his nose. He seemed to like it and nuzzled up against her hand for more.

“This here is
Zeus.”

“H
i, Zeus.” She opened her palm, and he gently took the sugar cube from it. She had stuck some in her pocket for that reason.

“Ma’am, we ask that you don’t feed them.”

“Oh, okay, sorry,” she said. “He seemed to like it, though.” She chuckled.

“Yep, his favorite snack is carrots, but I recko
n he’ll eat just about anything,” he said. “Right, big guy?”

The horse moved his head to Hank and nodd
ed. Melanie’s eyes widened and she smiled and gave Hank an incredulous look.

“He understand
s just fine, don’t ya, Zeus,” he said as he pet the horse’s neck.

After filling out a form and true to Hank’s words, they headed out in a half hour. A middle aged couple who were intermediate riders had joined them.

Their guide was a
young cowboy named Cody Lawless. Melanie wondered if that was his real name, cause that sounded so befitting.

She liked him on first sight.
He was in his early twenties and had a bounce to his step. His eyes were bright and she thought he looked so innocent and full of life. He had dark blond hair and deep brown eyes with hardly any facial hair. She doubted he shaved every day.

Cody had everyone introduce themselves and then
they took off.

He took them through a riding trail Melanie thought was meant for beginners and she grew itchy. She wanted to, needed to, go for a run.

When they headed out, Me
lanie stayed in the back but then she expertly pulled to the side and trotted up to Cody.

“Hi.”
She smiled.

Cody tipped his natural colored
, straw Alamo cowboy hat up to her and smiled.

“
Would it be all right if I take off a little? It seems Zeus and I both need a run.”

“Zeus always needs to run, but I’m afraid I can’t let you do that.
The boss man finds out, he’d can me.”

“Ok
ay,” she said, sounding dejected. She didn’t want to be the cause of him losing his job, so she nodded and trailed back to her original position and continued on the walk.

They did come to an open pasture where Cody guided them into a trot.

Melanie caught sight of the young boy. Something didn’t look quite right. All of a sudden the young boy’s horse, a gray mare, bolted. The kid had a look of fright on his face.

W
ithout thinking, Melanie lightly tapped her heels at Zeus’ belly and took off after him.

The boy’s father, not an experienced horse rider yelled
, “Jimbo!”

Jimbo either wasn’t paying attention to directions before heading out or he panicked and forgot what to do.
Melanie contemplated it was the latter as she kneed Zeus to the left and wasn’t at all surprised how well the horse took direction.

She caught up to Jimbo
and told the kid to pull back on the reins. Jimbo followed her directions and he came to a stop.

By the time Cody caught up to them, Melanie had already calmed Jimbo down and took control of his reins.

Cody
had no choice but to rely on Melanie because if he took off after them, there was no telling how the other horses would react.

“Oh
man, thank you, Melanie,” he said nervously.

Melanie nodded her head.
Cody took Jimbo’s reins from her and held them for the rest of the ride. Jimbo’s father thanked her too and then quietly spoke with Jimbo, who was still a bit shaken up.

When they got back to the corral, they all dismounted and Melanie gave Zeus one last pat and walked to her car. She had just gotten in it when she saw Cody jogging up to her.

“Melanie, wai
t.” She thought she heard him say. She rolled down the window.

“
You still want to go on a run?” he asked.

“I’d love to, but I understand-”

“I spoke with my boss and told him what happened, and that you wanted to run. He said all right, as long as someone goes with you. So if you have the time….” He trailed off.

Melanie smiled, rolled her window up, shut the car off
, and got out.

“Thanks
, Cody.”

They walked back to the corral where Zeus was waiting.
She mounted up, and Cody was preparing to mount up when Hank went up to him.

“Boss man
wants you.”

“Ok
ay.” He looked to Melanie, “I’ll be right back.”

“Ok
ay.” She nodded.

Logan was in his office, shuffling paperwork, and shook his head at what Cody told him about his trail ride. The kid was young but he’d learn.

When Cody
asked him if he could take the woman on a run, to thank her, Logan was going to say no, but there was really no reason. Another guide just went out with a group and there didn’t seem to be anyone waiting around so he gave in knowing it would be good for Zeus to stretch.

He happened to have picked up his head and looked out the window. He did a double take when he saw her. She had a black cowboy hat on but he knew it was her. Her long black hair was the tell tale. Not to mention that smokin’ figure of hers he had the pleasure of eyeing before.  She was walking toward the horses, side by side with Cody.

He
quickly sent Hank out to get Cody for him and told him to have his horse saddled. He was going to go on that run with her whether she liked it or not, and this time she wasn’t going to flee.

Melanie was in the saddle and petting Zeus as she talked to him. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a man walk up to her. She picked her head up and was surprised to see him.

He was wearing a
pair of faded blue jeans, ripped at the knees, a tight fitting, midnight blue Henley shirt with the sleeves rolled up and the first three buttons undone, and a gold cross hanging down around his neck. He wore the cream colored, straw Stetson and boy, did he look hot.

“Logan, right?”
she said as she blushed because he caught her checking him out.

“Yep.
Cody has some stuff to take care of. I’ll be taking you on that run.”

“Oh, ok
ay,” she said shyly as Hank walked out of the barn with a big black horse that changed color in the middle to white with black spots. Its mane and tail were black.

Logan pet the horse and whispered into its ear.
The horse leaned in and nuzzled Logan’s neck.

In a swift fluid motion
, Logan mounted up.

Melanie
was amazed at how awesome they looked.

He noticed her ogling him.

“He’s an Appaloosa.”

“Yes. I’m familiar
. He’s beautiful. What’s his name?”

“
Shils Aash.”

“
Shils Aash,” she repeated slowly and the horse picked its ears up at hearing his name. She laughed. “Does it mean anything?”

“
It means my friend, in Apache.”

“Beautiful,”
she repeated.

“I concur,” h
e said, but he wasn’t looking at his horse.

She felt him staring at her.
She had her eyes on the whole picture but lifted them to his eyes, and Zeus felt her slightly falter and stepped back. Was he flirting with her? Typical man. With a beautiful girlfriend like Geli he still needed to flirt.

Melanie now felt this guy wasn’t working for Michael but thought he was Geli’s boyfriend
, having watched them interacting at the counter of Geli’s that one time.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Ready.”

Melanie followed his lead.
They walked till they were a good way from the corral and quickly changed to a slow trot.

Logan took her on another trail.
This one was mostly open field. He picked up to a canter and then took off in a gallop. She was right on his tail. He looked back and slowed but just a little for her to catch up to him. When she got to his side, he nodded his head and picked up the pace. She was right there with him. He looked over to her and watched how her hair was blowing back into the wind and how her perfect female form was sitting in the saddle. Damn, she had all the curves in all the right places. He lifted his head to see her face. She had this big ass grin on it that touched her eyes and he felt his cock move as a blast of heat shot through him.

Logan guided them along a river and slowed then eventually stopped.

“We’ll rest here
awhile.”

“Ok
ay.”

They both dismounted at the same time and
she, following his lead, walked her horse to the river’s edge for a drink.

“You can drop his reins.
He won’t go anywhere. Even if he did, it would be back to the corral,” Logan said as he went to a boulder and sat on it.

“Oh, ok
ay. Wow, now that’s a well trained horse,” she said as she sat down on the ground, a comfortable distance away from him.

“Yeah, all of my horses are well trained.”

“All of your horses? Do you own the stables?”

“Yes.”

“Do you train the horses yourself?”

“Mostly.
I was having a problem with Zeus when I first got him but a buddy of mine in Fredericksburg worked it out with him.”

Melanie nodded her head in understanding.

“You obviously kno
w your way around horses,” he said.

“Yes, I used to ride all the time when I was younger.
I grew up not far from some stables in New York.”

“Mmmm, I knew you were a New Yorker
.” He smiled. “You have an accent.”

Melanie giggled.
“Me?”

“Yeah.” He chuckled.
“I bet you drink Cawfee.”

“
Seriously? You going there?”

Logan’s eyes shot to hers just as her face li
t with a ghost of a smile. He shook his head slowly and smiled, showing his dimples, thinking about her sassy New York attitude.

“Why’d you stop
riding?”

She hesitated, thinking about Michael not wanting her to ride any more. She blew out a breath.
“I got too busy, I guess. I sure do miss it. I especially loved riding along the beach. How about you? How long are you riding?”

“Since before I was walking and yeah, I like riding
on the beach myself.”

There was a long silence as Melanie took in the scenery. It was a beautiful day. Looking up, she saw a cloudless azure sky and looking as far as the eye could see, she noticed how vivid the trees were against that sky.
Beautiful
. She could stare at it all day. It gave her a sense of calmness.