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

Carli ended the call and looked at Lola. “Remember Lexi, the girl who came to ride? She’s missing. Her mother thinks she might head this way.”

“I’ll put Buck on alert,” Lola said.

Carli imagined all the possible places Lexi might go, but she wasn’t that familiar with the area yet and didn’t know much about teenage hangouts. Lexi's mother must have noticed how much the girl loved horses to think she might show up at the Wild Cow. Carli took a deep breath and went hunting for her boots. Might as well join the search party. With everything else on her mind, how much more trouble could a teenage girl be?

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Instead of remaining in her house worrying about where Lexi might be, Carli decided to go for a ride. It would keep her busy and she could watch for Lexi too. She thought about the phone call from Lexi’s mother; their conversation ran over and over in her mind. She couldn’t think of any reason why a teenaged girl would run away to the Wild Cow Ranch, but maybe Emily knew her daughter better than Carli did. She saddled Beau and led him through the corral gate.

As Beau trotted a good stretch away from the ranch’s entrance, Carli thought of how mixed-up things had gotten lately—Nathan and Lank’s fight, then their sudden exit from her life. Were they afraid to come around? She could make no sense of what was going on in their minds. She missed Nathan, as a friend and confidant. And now she’d been dragged into the middle of Lexi and her family. Who knew what kind of drama was going on in her young life? But Carli wanted to help. Maybe she could prevent more heartache for Lexi, or just lend a compassionate ear, one that could relate to her struggles without judgment.

Up ahead a plume of road dust drifted skyward, evidence of a vehicle coming her way. And it was moving fast. She slowed Beau to a walk, urged him out of the road and across the bar ditch, gently pulling to steady his reins. “It’s okay, Beau. Easy, fella.”

As it approached, she saw it was older model bright blue Camaro. It slid to a stop, gravel and dust rolling out from behind the vehicle. Beau took a few antsy steps at the rumbling muffler, but Carli kept him calm. The passenger window was open, and Lexi leaned her arm out.

“Hey, Carli.”

“Lexi? Your mom’s looking for you. What are you doing here?”

Lexi rolled her black-lined eyes and rested her chin on her arm. “Thought I’d come and brush a horse." She pointed her thumb to the driver. "I want to show him where I come for riding lessons.”

“Who’s your friend?” Carli asked as she bent down to see a spiky-haired young man.

“This is Raven.”

“Hello, Raven. Now that’s an unusual name.”

The young guy didn’t really look at her but instead grunted a low sound.

“It’s his battle tag. He’s a gamer,” said Lexi.

Carli looked into Lexi’s eyes. “You are welcome here anytime, but you need to call your mother first and tell her where you are. Drive slow on this road and don’t scare Beau. I don’t want him to spook and dump me.”

“Sure, Carli. We’ll see you at headquarters.”

Raven lurched the car a little and it kicked up some road pebbles, which caused Beau to jump.

“I said slow!” Carli yelled after them. As they drove away, she could hear Raven laughing and saying something that sounded like, “Oops, my bad.”

Carli watched them drive on ahead and kept Beau walking slow and steady until the car had a head start. She didn’t want to get anywhere near that bucket of bolts or the juvenile delinquent driver. After a few minutes she nudged Beau into a safe trot.

Shaking her head, Carli wondered what the appeal was for some girls, and women, to go for the “bad boy”. Was she going for the bad boy with Lank? And was he really that “bad”? She mulled it over—Lank was a hard worker. Definitely loyal to the Wild Cow, following Buck’s and her orders to the letter, grateful and kind to Lola and others. He was close to his sister, and his mom too, who had recently passed away. He nearly gave up his life to fight the barn fire and was heartbroken to lose his horse Blackie. He had searched for Carli and didn’t give up until he found her lost in the snowstorm where she could have died.

In fact, Carli couldn’t think of any “bad” thing he'd ever done, except he made her act like a stark raving lunatic. Maybe it was just his smart-alecky jokes at times or the way he bucked her authority. Or maybe it was that she wanted to be in control of everything. He did know more about cattle and ranching than she did, and she really hated to have to fire him again. That was getting to be so annoying. Could she ever have an equal, more easygoing relationship with Lank and why did she spend so much time thinking about him? She pushed that irritatingly handsome face out of her mind.

Right now, she had to deal with the two teenagers who stood next to her barn. She hoped she could be a proper role model for Lexi and, if need be, chase Raven off her property if he displayed any troublemaking behavior.

She dismounted near Raven’s car and held Beau’s reins. Lexi wore her usual black ensemble, but this time her hair was neon pink, and she wore thigh high boots with a short skirt. She had added new piercings at the top of one ear and one side of her nose.

“So, what’s going on with you, Lexi? Have you called your mother, yet?”

With eyes rolling upward, Lexi sighed. “She’s driving me crazy. Won’t let me do anything. Always wants me doing chores.”

“Yeah, a real drag,” Raven grunted as he flicked a cigarette butt on the ground. Carli glared at