Follow a Wild Heart: A Christian Contemporary Western Romance Series by Natalie Bright (top reads .TXT) 📗

“It’s not there, Nate.”

He mumbled something under his breath. Carli used her phone to punch in his number and they followed the buzz. It had landed in the middle of a pile of limbs and dead leaves. She punched Travis’ name and handed the phone to Nathan.

“We had a wreck. Bring a trailer. We’re under the big cottonwood in P2. Thanks, little brother.”

“What is P2?” asked Carli.

“Pasture 2, as opposed to pastures 1, 3, 4, or 5.” Nathan froze again and squinted his eyes shut to a shooting pain.

Carli laughed at the original names, but suddenly felt concern. “Your face has no color. You're as gray as a ghost. Should we keep walking or do you need to sit?”

“Let’s start walking. He’ll see us.” Nathan grew quiet for a moment as he clutched his arm. “Apparently, that horse needs more rides on him. He’s still green.”

“You couldn’t tell it from where you were, but that horse crow-hopped at least five feet in the air. No one could hold on to that.”

“I may not have had a good view, but I knew I was pitching. I sure felt it at the end. As my grandpa used to say, 'Don’t worry, the ground will catch ya.' All I know is, that dang horse sure did blow up on me.”

Beau followed behind Carli and Nathan as they bantered back and forth side-by-side a while, chuckling at the crazy mishap of their day so far. Some riding date. Carli smiled to herself.

At the top of the hill, they stopped and were about to let out a collective sigh when Beau scampered again, his whole body tensing, and the hairs on his back stood straight up.

“Beau got a whiff of something. That coyote must be around close.”

“Or it’s that crazy horse. No telling which direction he went. I don’t know that he could find his way back to the barn. I’ve only ridden him in the round pen until today.”

Within half an hour or so, Carli looked up to see a truck pulling a livestock trailer bouncing across the pasture and heading straight towards them. But as they got closer, she noticed it was Lank driving with Nathan’s brother in the passenger seat.

“You two need a lift?" Lank called out as they got closer.

“Looks like a cowboy without his horse to me,” Travis yelled.

He and Travis laughed, but Carli failed to see any humor in their situation. Nathan glared at them with his jaw clenched and unspoken pain reflected in his eyes.

“That buggery horse dump you, bro?” asked Travis.

“Coyotes. They surprised us,” said Carli. “Thanks for coming to get us.”

“It wasn’t any trouble,” said Lank. “Travis and I were fixin’ to load up and go to a ropin’ when you called.”

Nathan climbed into the passenger seat and Travis moved out of the way, took his hat off, and leaned back against the headrest. He shut his eyes, beads of sweat covered his forehead.

“You probably should go to a hospital.” Carli walked closer and put her hand on Nathan’s shoulder.

“Carli, put your horse in the trailer.” Travis walked to the back and swung open the latch gate with a creak.

“I’ve got a better idea. Carli, why don’t we make a wide sweep and see if we can locate Nathan’s horse. We’ll meet y’all back at headquarters.” Lank looked at her matter-of-factly with those blue-gray eyes. He turned to unload his horse and led it over to stand next to Beau.

“Let me drop off my big brother, and then I’ll head out from headquarters to meet you.” Travis shut Nathan's door and walked around to the driver’s side. “Between the three of us, we should be able to locate that horse.” Lank nodded his head in agreement to the plan.

Carli stood still. She looked at Beau and then at Nathan, avoiding Lank. She wondered if she should go with him. But why not? Maybe she wasn’t thinking clearly because of the coyote and Nathan getting hurt. It would be helping them out, but it would also be time alone with Lank. She didn’t have enough energy to argue and fire him again.

So, when Lank held out his hand to take Beau’s reins from her, she let him and then put her foot in the stirrup.

“I’ll call to check on you later,” she said to Nathan.

“You guys have fun, and Lank keep your mouth shut. Try not to get fired.” Travis busted out laughing. Carli couldn’t help but laugh too. Nathan’s little brother always seemed to keep everyone in stiches.

Lank urged his horse into a lope and Carli followed. She had no idea how to begin looking for a scared and frightened horse in a strange pasture. And then she remembered, Nathan hadn’t even told her goodbye.

Travis glanced over at his brother. “You don’t look well, man.”

“I’ve been better,” Nathan said.

“Taking Carli out to the big cottonwood, huh? What’s that all about?”

“It seemed like a good idea at the time.” Nathan gazed out the window at Carli and Lank as they rode side by side towards the far windmill on the horizon. He swallowed hard. He couldn’t ignore the feeling of dread as he watched them. This day didn’t turn out as he had hoped.

Chapter Twenty-Five

“How’s Nathan doing?”

Carli sat on a stool in the ranch cookhouse watching Lola make breakfast for Buck and Lank. She sipped on her coffee and felt a contentment like never before as she breathed in the aroma of the place she wanted so badly to call home. And truthfully, it was becoming more and more like home and Georgia seemed more and more like a lifetime away.

“He’s doing pretty good.” Carli stood and took the spatula from her to stir eggs while Lola opened the oven to remove the biscuits. “The doc checked him out yesterday. Said the fall gave him a mild concussion and his shoulder was out of place, but they fixed that. The doc said Nathan should still be careful with