Page 13 of Rebel Moon

“You hear how she talks to me, Cash?” Cash’s ears flicked. Knox patted the horse’s thick neck. “Cash sure isn’t in a hurry, though, are you buddy?”

We rode a while without talking, snow falling all around us. I’d figured it would be uncomfortable, but we’d seemed to have arrived at some kind of unspoken truce. “You don’t have to stay with me,” I said at one point.

“I know.”

“Why are you then?” I asked.

“You smell good.”

“What?”

“I’m just kidding. I promised Ivy I’d look after you today. She said you have a fear of large animals.”

“Not a fear exactly. I just don’t know anything about them.”

“No horses in the city, huh?”

I puffed out a breath. “I’m not from the city, actually.”

“Oh yeah? Where you from?”

“Just here and there,” I said.

“That’s still your answer?”

“What do you mean, still?”

“Never mind.”

By that time, we’d fallen behind the group. I wasn’t sure how far ahead they were. I was just about to ask Knox what we should do when a bird the size of a football exploded out of a drift practically under Duchess’s nose.

Apparently Duchess was afraid of football-sized birds with wings that spanned several feet because she squealed, spun on her haunches, and bolted sideways into the trees. I screamed and hung on for dear life. Some ancient instinct deep inside me must have come out because I grabbed the saddle horn with one hand and tightened my thighs to stay put. By a miracle, I didn’t fall, ducking a branch that tried to take my hat. We stopped twenty yards into the thick forest, both of us quivering.

Knox and Cash came galloping through the thicket. He jumped off Cash and sprinted over to where Duchess and I were breathing heavy and shaking so hard my teeth rattled. I can’t say if Duchess’s large teeth were doing the same.

Cash placed a hand on Duchess’s neck. “Whoa—easy, easy now, girl.”

He was speaking to the horse, not me.

Duchess pushed her nose into his chest, still shaking as he stroked the side of her face. “You’re okay, Miss Duchess,” Knox said, so gently it made my eyes sting. “That ol’ bird didn’t mean no harm to you.”

Darn, I could hear the Alabama in him. Alarmingly, it was sexy.

“You okay?” He looked up at me, green eyes bright through the falling snow. “You two scared me.”

My heart continued to slam against my ribs. “I’m fine now. However, I thought I was going to die.”

“Well, let’s not be dramatic.” He chuckled. “Anyway, you stayed on like a boss. Well done.” He ran a hand down the mare’s neck again and smirked, which could also be interpreted as a smile. “That was decent riding for a newbie.”

It was then I realized how quiet it was. No hoofbeats. No voices drifting back. Just wind moving through the firs.

“Knox, where’s the group?”

He straightened and turned a slow circle, his eyes narrowed, clearly taking in the bend of the trail and ridgeline through the trees like he’d done it all his life. “Around the bend and gone. They’ll miss us quick. Like he said, once Soren notices we’re gone, he’ll turn them all around and head back to the ranch.” He glanced up at the sky, then at me. “I can’t see any smoke from the ranch. Not in this snowfall. But Cash knows the way back. Soren said he knows every trail. We give him his head, he’ll walk us home.”

“You want to trust the horse that should be in the old folks’ home?” I asked, only half joking.

“Cash won’t let us down.” He swung back up into the saddle. “Unless you’d rather have Duchess lead and end up somewhere with valet parking and an expensive glass of wine.”