Wild Horses (20 page)

“If you will all excuse me for a moment, I need to make a phone call.” It was the coward's way out, but she'd used up all her up-front honesty. Now she just wanted to leave.

“I'll catch up with you in a few minutes,” Todd told her.

She stumbled off, pulling her phone out of her purse to look convincing. But it was just a stupid charade. Those women were so nice, and they were obviously very fond of Todd. What would they think when they found out that she was the one working for the DRM? And then Sandy's words came back to her, stopping her in her tracks. Todd's organization was going to try to discredit her work. Publicly. And that would mean disaster for this new and fragile thing she and Todd had found.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

T
HE
SOUNDS
OF
the rodeo buzzed around her, but all Nora could hear was self-recrimination. This was a disaster. What had she been thinking, getting involved with Todd? She hadn't been looking ahead. Instead, she'd been blinded by the torch she'd carried for him. If she'd been remotely thoughtful she'd have realized this would happen.

She walked through the crowd, everything a blur except her racing thoughts. She stopped at the corral. Leaning on a rail, she stared at a woman riding a quarter horse, probably warming up for barrel racing. What would it be like when Todd's group was in direct opposition to her? What would it feel like when they were accusing her of faulty science?

“Nora!” Todd jogged up put a hand on her arm. “I had no idea Sandy knew about the study.”

“Did you tell them it was me?”

“No. It's way too complicated.”

“It
is
complicated.” Tears were forming, welling up in the corners of her eyes and running down her cheeks. “Why didn't you just tell them what my job was in the first place? You obviously had no problem telling them about the flood and our date.”

“Don't cry.” He gently brushed her tears away with his sleeve. “Please don't. I don't know why I didn't tell them. I guess I was worried that it would be awkward when you met them.”

“Well, it was.”

“Yeah, I can see that now.” He pulled her in close and kissed the top of her head.

She was so comfortable in his arms. But that was a problem, too. Because once her study came out he'd be upset, and the people in his organization would probably hate her. “I don't see how this can work.”

“We just need to think. Your study isn't nearly ready for publication, right? We have time to figure things out.” He looked down at her intently, as if he could will her to agree with him. “I don't want this to come between us. We're just getting started and we're so good. I don't want to lose you.”

“I don't want to lose you, either.” But things had shifted. And in the darkest corner of her brain, resentment was building. His activism had come between them before. And it was happening again.

Todd brushed her lips with his. “Look. It's a special day. Our first date out in Benson. And as much as I've enjoyed having you to myself in my bed every night, I'm excited to show everyone who we are, that we're in love.”

She looked up at him. “Is that how you feel?”

He flushed, as if he'd just realized what he'd said. Then he pulled her close and brought his mouth down to cover hers, shutting out the crowd around them, enveloping her in the shelter of his arms. When he finally pulled away she was a little dazed. “Yes,” he murmured, kissing her again, very softly this time. “That is exactly how I feel.”

He loved her. It was everything she'd wanted for so long. But now it was hard to revel in it. Everything was dimmed by this sense that trouble was coming.

They wandered through the rodeo and Todd tried hard to make it perfect, taking her around the various booths, introducing her to friends, making sure she got to see her favorite events—the bull riding and the barrel racing.

And she enjoyed herself. How could she not? Todd was gorgeous and attentive and sweet, kissing her, holding her and telling her she was beautiful. Plus he made her laugh. But the issue of the mustangs was rearing up between them, and it grayed the brilliant edges of the day and lurked in the background, making her anxious.

Sandy was right. If the horses had a larger range they wouldn't be doing nearly as much damage to the land. But that wasn't the point of her study. She'd been hired to understand the impact on the land the mustangs
had
, not the land that they
should
have.

“You're looking as if you might be done with the rodeo,” Todd said. They were on the bleachers watching some of the roping.

“I think I'm ready to call it a day.”

“Can I talk you into calling it a day with me?” Todd asked.

“I need a shower. It's so dusty here, I can taste it.”

Todd leaned in. “Let me see.” He nibbled at her lip. “Naw...”

She giggled and kissed him back.

“No dust. Just popcorn, and Nora.”

“You know what I mean!”

“Take a bath at my house. I'll make you dinner while you soak. Plus, I have the best bathtub.”

“You don't have a bathtub. You have a shower.”

“Ah,” he said mysteriously. “That is where you're wrong.”

“What do you mean?”

“Come over and find out.”

How could she resist? He was smiling and it was pure and joyful and all for her. Plus, with his hat tipped down, his boots on the bench in front of him, his long legs stretched out in their dark denim, he was about the sexiest thing she'd ever seen. Todd was right—any trouble coming was in the future. She'd waited for him for so long, she deserved to enjoy her perfect right now. “Okay, I'll go. If you can lend me some clean clothes afterward.”

“I've still got my UC Berkeley sweats.”

“No way!” She used to borrow them back in college.

“They're a little more decrepit nowadays, but I could never bring myself to get rid of them.”

“Well, then I guess you'd better get home and get my bath ready.”

He stood up and offered his hand, gently pulling her to her feet. And then he pulled some more, so she was in his arms. “I am crazy about you,” he whispered in her ear.

“I'm glad,” she whispered back, putting her arms around him and pulling him close. “I'm crazy about you, too.”

* * *

T
ODD
LOOKED
OUT
to where Nora was basking in his outdoor tub. It was behind the house, under a couple of pines. An old claw foot that had been in his bathroom before he'd remodeled it. He couldn't get rid of it—it was way too cool looking. So he'd put the tub on top of a bunch of flagstones, close enough to the house that he could get hot water from a hose attached to his laundry room sink.

Nora had squealed in surprise and delight when she'd seen it. She'd poured in some bath oil and happily accepted the white wine he'd offered. He thought it was pretty cute when she'd made him turn his back while she took off her clothes. He'd gotten reacquainted with every inch of her body this past week, but he'd turned his back like she'd asked, only peeking once to take in the round curves of her behind as she climbed in.

Damn, she was beautiful. He wanted to climb in with her, but he'd sensed her melancholy today. And he'd been fighting off his own worries about what might go down when her study was published.

And then there was the news Sandy had given him after Nora had walked away. More horses had been rounded up, this time from a herd to the east of Benson. And they'd been corralled in the hot sun of the DRM holding station.

Maybe they both needed some space with their thoughts.

So he'd fed his horses and then returned to the house for a shower while Nora soaked in the tub.

Clean now, he grabbed his old Berkeley sweatpants and a T-shirt and brought them out to her. “You ready to come out of there?”

“Mmm,” she purred, stretching, her wineglass in hand. He got a glimpse of her cleavage beneath the bubbles. “This is incredible. I'm surprised you don't live in here.”

He grinned. “I considered it, but it's pretty tight quarters.” He handed her the towel. “You want this?”

She stood up, looking like some phenomenal mermaid with the bubbles slicking off her naked body, her long hair in a brown rope, coiling over one breast. “I want you.”

His throat went tight. Pure instinct moved him forward, had him wrapping the towel around her and lifting her, dripping and slippery, into his arms.

She kissed him as he walked, a desperation in her kiss that matched the way he was feeling. He wanted her close; he wanted to be in her, within her, tangled up so there were no boundaries between them. So nothing could keep them apart. “Nora...” He loved saying her name. Loved reminding himself that he held a miracle in his arms.

He set her down on the rug by his bed, in front of the open window that looked out over the high desert. With reverent hands he took her towel and dried her, running it over her pale skin, relishing the curve of her waist and rounding of her hips, the fullness of her breasts. He dried her long legs, even when she giggled and tried to take the towel from him.

He toweled her hair, trying to get most of the drips out. Leading the way to the bed, she got under the covers. He leaned down to kiss her, this gloriously naked woman in his bed.

“You should be naked, too,” she whispered, and he quickly obliged, hauling his shirt over his head, shucking his jeans and underwear. He was in such a hurry that he practically dived under the covers with her.

All week they'd been frantic with desire for each other. But tonight something felt different. Maybe because they'd run into an obstacle, a hint of the hurdles they'd have to find their way over in order to be together. Whatever the reason, he felt worshipful, wanting to memorize every part of her. So he started at her mouth and kissed his way down.

Her belly was so sensitive, each kiss he gave eliciting an indrawn breath or a quiet gasp. When he pressed her thighs apart to kiss her there, she put a hand down to stop him.

“I'm not sure,” she whispered.

He moved back up so he was next to her, caressing her hair. “We used to do it,” he murmured, leaning down to kiss her soft lips. He smiled against her mouth. “You used to like it.”

“I used to be braver.”

“Let me try? Let me taste you there?”

She brought up her hands to cover her flushed cheeks.

He knew he could make her feel incredible if she let him. But this was Nora and she liked things to be concrete. “How about this. Give me five minutes. If you hate it, we can stop. But give me five minutes to make you love it.”

“Three minutes.” She was smiling now, realizing the ridiculousness of their bargaining.

“You must have a lot of faith in my skills,” he teased. “And knowing your relationship with faith, I'm kind of honored.”

She giggled. “Just get down there. Time starts now.”

It was the most unromantic way he'd ever jumped into oral sex, but he wasn't one to back down from a challenge. She tasted like honey and salt and he tried to show her just how amazing it was, listening to the tiny hitches in her breathing that told him where to kiss, where to touch. He was pretty sure three minutes were long gone but she hadn't called time. So he kept going, with her breathing turning to low moans that only encouraged him, sliding his fingers into her heat until she pulsed against him, her hips shuddering, her hands coming down to clutch his hair.

And then he kissed his way back up to her breasts and her neck. When he leaned on an elbow to study her face, he was met with a smile so totally satisfied that he couldn't keep the triumph out of his voice. “You know, they say faith will be rewarded...”

She burst out laughing. “I always wondered what that saying meant.”

“And now you know.” He grinned. “I love seeing you so happy.”

“I love being this happy,” she whispered, reaching up to kiss him. “Thank you.”

She looked serious, and he wanted to bring that satisfied smile back to her face. So he kissed the spot below her ear that she liked, kissed her sweet mouth until the frown was gone and she was kissing him back with tiny moans that fluttered in her throat and drove him crazy because his beautiful, controlled Nora was losing control. For him. Because of him.

He entered her, watched the tension build in her and held her close when she broke apart from the pleasure of it all. Then he shut his eyes as his own orgasm overtook him and he lost himself in all her heat and sweetness.

Later, when she slept, he stayed awake, holding her and watching the stars outside his wall of windows reel across the black sky. Thinking about the newly rounded-up horses, terrified in their barren corrals. Wondering if this new peace and beauty with Nora was strong enough to withstand it the conflict ahead.

He wanted her in his life. But that didn't mean he could stand by and do nothing about the horses. It was a long fight and each battle mattered. He just hoped that when the smoke cleared, they'd find themselves fighting for the same side.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

N
ORA
PULLED
INTO
the gravel parking lot of the BLM station and shut off her engine. It was another hot day, but she'd just have to deal with it. She had to turn in a summary of her progress next week, and she needed to get back out in the field and take an inventory of a couple of the areas she was monitoring. Maybe, if she hurried, she could get home in time to invite Todd for another swim at Whiskey Lake. It would be great if they could get Wade to go, too.

She opened the hatchback and grabbed her pack, tugged her sun hat more securely onto her head, and started across the lot to the trailhead, just beyond the corrals.

Corrals that were full of horses. Over a dozen horses, standing in ankle-deep dust and manure under the blazing sun. It was ten in the morning and already over eighty degrees. The horses' heads were low, their tails in constant motion against the flies. They seemed defeated, resigned to spend the day sweltering and miserable.

Nora thought of the horses she'd seen with Todd in White Rock Canyon. Seeking the cool shade, relaxed but energetic, wandering, browsing, interacting with one another. If this group had been left on their range, she had no doubt they'd be spending the day in the same way, surviving the heat in relative comfort.

Her feet made the decision before her head caught up. She was across the parking lot and through Lee's office door before she had a conscious thought.

“Nora!” he said, dropping his pen and looking up at her with a startled expression. “What's going on? Are you okay?”

She dropped her pack on the floor and sat in the chair facing his desk. “There are new horses,” she said.

“Yeah, they had to round up a few more. Apparently the herd is really overpopulated.”

“Says who? They no longer have that last group grazing on the range, since someone swiped them. Why would they need to round up more?”

“I don't make these decisions.” Lee rubbed his hand over his brow. “I just got the email Friday afternoon from the Reno office that they'd be rounding up more horses this weekend.”

Nora sighed. “Why was my study commissioned if they're pulling so many horses off the range before they even have the results?”

Lee handed her a map. “They're fracking in Nevada, over in Pioneer Flat,” he said cynically. “It's part of the horses' range. That probably has something to do with it.”

Nora studied the map, noting the shaded areas where fracking plans overlapped with the mustangs' range. “What are they going to do with the horses?”

“Have an auction, I think. Hope someone will adopt them.”

Nora thought about the mullein they'd never cleared on Todd's land. The old sheep shed. If they got the weeds out, and the shed fixed, a better fence built, was there enough land to support this group? “It seems so unfair.”

“It is.” Lee picked up his reading glasses and slid them onto his nose. “Did you need anything else? It's just that I have this report to finish.”

“I'm worried about the horses out there. They have no shelter and it's going to be scorching today.”

“I submitted a request to get a shelter built months ago,” he said. “I haven't heard anything back.”

“Well, have you tried to find out what the holdup is?” Her voice was more accusing than she meant it to be.

He looked at her curiously. “A couple times. They just keep telling me they're working on it.”

“Maybe you could ask again. Explain how hot it's been getting down here.”

Lee's gaze held new interest. “I didn't know you cared so much about the horses.”

She remembered his suspicions when the last group of horses went missing. “I'm not really a horse person,” she said as casually as she could. “I was just walking by the corral, and
I
was so hot. But at least I have a sunhat and a bunch of UPF clothing. It made me feel bad for them.”

“Well, I'll see what I can do.” He sighed. Tapped his pencil. The quintessential frustrated bureaucrat.

“Thanks, Lee.” Nora grabbed her pack and headed back out to the parking lot, trying not to look at the miserable horses as she passed their corral. She started down the trail to study their range—though now she knew there wasn't much point. It wasn't their range anymore. And although it was good news for the local plants, it broke her heart to realize that the mustangs in the corral would never roam free again.

* * *

T
ODD
WENT
THROUGH
the mental checklist of supplies he might need tonight. Oat hay, nothing too rich to upset the mustangs' stomachs. A mineral block for them to lick. Items that would help them get by in their heat-scorched corrals.

And then there were his own supplies—a flashlight, his mask, bolt cutters—in case the mustangs' situation was just too dire and he ended up setting them free.

He was so engrossed in thought he didn't hear Nora come up behind him. “Dinner's ready. I thought we'd eat on the deck, it's such a nice eve— What are you doing?” She was staring past him, at the supplies in his truck.

He hadn't told her he was planning to visit the horses tonight. When she'd offered to make him dinner, she'd said she planned to go home and work afterward. He suspected that really, she wanted to check on Wade.

He'd been disappointed that they wouldn't have the night together. They'd filled every night with memories that made his blood heat when his mind touched on them. He would have been happy to make more. But he'd also been relieved to hear that she had other plans tonight. All through the past couple hot days, he hadn't been able to get the newly rounded-up horses out of his head.

“Just loading up a few supplies.” He tried to keep his voice as relaxed as possible.

“For what?” She reached in, grabbed the bolt cutters and held them up.

It was probably best just to come clean. He didn't want deception between them. “I've been worried about the horses they rounded up. It's been so hot.”

“So you're going to turn them loose? If you do, they'll just round them up again.”

“But maybe by the time they get organized enough to do it, the weather will have changed. I can't stand to think of them out there with no shade.”

She sighed. “It is pretty bad.”

“You saw them?”

“Yeah. They've got about a dozen horses in the corral. I talked to Lee about it.”

He stared at her in shock. “Really? And?”

“He said that he sent in a request to get a shelter constructed.”

“Which is what he told me last summer. And what he told Sandy the summer before.” Todd couldn't keep the frustration out of his voice.

Nora paused and he could practically see the wheels in her mind turning, straining to put that information into a neatly ordered compartment. But there was no neat compartment for routine cruelty and neglect.

“Don't do something drastic,” she said quietly.

“What else can I do? I can go to their auction and adopt them myself, but it's not scheduled until next month. I'm not sure they'll be alive next month.”

“But you'd adopt them?” she said eagerly.

“I'd need to get that pasture ready. There's a lot of fence that still needs to be rebuilt and all that mullein and other weeds to clear. And I'd need to raise some funds to get it all done. But yes, I'll take them if I can. It's just not fair that they'll suffer until then.”

“What about your journalist friend?” Nora suggested. “The one who wrote the article about how the other horses were going to be slaughtered for meat? Can you ask him, or her, to write an article about this?”

“We tried that last year.” He felt the tendrils of frustration and despair working their way beneath the surface of his skin. How did you make people care?

“Well, that's your story, right there! An update, maybe documenting the many times your organization has requested this shelter. And have them include photos. Trust me, they'll be devastating. Plus there's an added twist.”

“What?”

“Don't you dare say that you learned this from me, but the DRM just leased Pioneer Flat out for fracking. That's a big chunk of the range these horses were on, right?”

“Those idiots,” Todd said quietly.

“So you have your story? Can you leave these bolt cutters at home?”

“For now.”

“Todd.” Her voice was firm but he could hear the emotion underneath. “I can't be with someone who breaks the law. You understand that, right? I just can't. I'm not bailing anyone out of jail again, or getting interrogated by Lee, or the police or anyone who might want to know if I'm involved in whatever you're doing. I've had way too much of that in my life.”

He knew it and he understood. But hearing her say it out loud sent a chill through his bones. He didn't know if he could promise her what she wanted.

“Todd?”

“I know,” he said softly. “I know.”

“So you'll leave the horses alone?”

“I'm bringing them good hay. And a mineral block.”

“That's fine. But I need them to be there when I go to work in the morning.”

“They will be.”

She stepped forward and kissed him, and melted some of his worry and sadness. “You're a good person, Todd,” she murmured. “And I love you.”

He looked at her, stunned. He hadn't expected her to say it. To take that risk. He pulled her in and held her close, inhaling the scent of her hair. “I love you,” he whispered in her ear. “So much.”

She pulled back just a little to kiss him on the lips. “Now come eat,” she told him.

She loved him. And he loved her. Gratitude chased away his other cares as he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close and kissing her thoroughly on her luscious mouth. “Can we start with dessert? Please?”

Her brow furrowed and he smiled against her lips. He knew exactly what was going on. Her ordered mind was working on the novel concept of postponing dinner for something far more delicious. He waited and saw the exact moment when the promise of pleasure beat out her innate practicality. Her lips curved in a sensuous smile and there was a warm sparkle in her gray eyes. “Okay,” she murmured against his lips, kissing him softly while she answered. “Dessert first.”

That was all he needed to hear. He took her hand and ran with her back to the house, to the sanctuary of his bedroom, pausing only to shut off the stove and shed clothing before they tumbled onto his bed.

She was laughing and breathless and everything he wanted. And he tried, during the longest, most decadent dessert of his life, to show her just how much her love meant to him. And how much he wanted to treasure it, and her, forever.