an unobstructed view of the acre devoted to Emma’s trees.
Three mounted cowboys whipped and whistled a good fifty head of cattle across the creek. The storm-spooked animals trampled the trees that Emma had spent the day putting in the ground. Not a single green leaf showed beneath the clumsy beeves’ hooves. The planting field had turned into an acre mud puddle. Matt didn’t doubt that the cowboys had intentionally pushed the cattle so that every one of the trees lay buried in the muck.
A streak of white flashed against the mud-soaked land. It was Emma dashing to the rescue of her damned orchard! Even under the deluge of rain, Matt felt the cold sweat of fear break out on his skin. Did she think she could scare the beasts off by yelling and waving at them?
Anger shot out of his brain like nothing he’d ever felt. Those men of Pendragon’s had to see her running toward the herd, and yet they continued to whip them up.
Matt reached for his gun but let his hand lie tense and loose beside it. A gunshot might be just the thing to send the herd into a full-blown panic.
“Emma! Get back!” He knew she wouldn’t hear over the storm and the cattle. Even if she did, odds were even that she’d ignore his order.
“Thunder!” Matt let go a shrill whistle. The stallion pranced about his corral. He circled twice, then sailed over the fence.
The horse caught up with him in only a few seconds. He caught its mane and hauled himself up on the slick back without missing a step. A well-trained and fearless pony was the best friend a cowboy could have.
He was still a hundred yards off when Pendragon’s men spotted him. He must have looked like the devil coming down, for they turned on their mounts and lit off toward home.
If only his wife had such sense. She had run right into the throng of beeves, shooing them with the soaked hem of her nightgown. Memories of Utah’s broken body made his gut heave and twist.
“Get out! Go away!” He was close enough now to hear her scream at them. A huge brown bull lowered his head and pawed at the ground. Emma flapped her nightgown.
It wasn’t necessary to direct Thunder in what needed to be done. The horse kicked up a wall of mud weaving in and out of the cattle, making his way toward Emma.
Matt leaned low over Thunder’s back, blinking back mud and spitting it off his lips. The stallion’s bare back was too wet and slippery to catch Emma up as he would do in the solid leather of a saddle.
Thunder must have sensed that. He halted in front of Emma, using his living bulk as a shield. Matt reached down and pulled her up in front of him at the instant the bull began his charge. As soon as Emma’s weight hit his back the stallion dashed into the center of the herd.
A good horse was better than a friend. He could mean the difference between life and death.
The bull, confused at losing sight of its target, became just one more jittery steer.
Matt urged the horse toward the outer edge of the herd on them. He drew his gun and fired in the air. Between the gunshots and Thunder’s running herd, the cattle retreated to familiar ground.
With the beeves in retreat, Matt exhaled a pent-up breath of relief. He tugged one arm tighter around Emma’s waist then bent his head to her shoulder. Rain sluiced between his cheek and her neck.
“Good God, Emma. Where’s your sense? Those cattle were spooked and dangerous.”
A shudder that probably didn’t have a thing to do with the rain rippled over her skin. Matt rubbed his hands up and down her bare arms to smooth it away.
“I was so angry, I didn’t think.”
“Darlin’, you’ve got to think about every move you make out here. This isn’t like town where help’s right next door and the doc just up the block.”
Emma let out a deep sigh and laid her head back against Matt’s shoulder. Her neck arched backward, and sodden hair clung to bare flesh. All of a sudden Matt was the one not doing the thinking.
The scent of womanly skin, damp and steamy, filled his nose and boiled his brain. Her soaked nightgown might as well have been packed in her trunk in the dugout for all the modesty it provided. He’d have had to be a saint to keep from