had everything under control. I didn’t need your help.”
Exhausted himself from fighting against the current, Will fell back against the bank. It was still raining, but at this point, he was hardly aware of it.
“Right.” The single word mocked her.
She would have peppered him with biting rhetoric if she only had the energy. As it was, taking in a full breath was about all she could manage. She couldn’t remember ever being this exhausted.
The moment she had at least an ounce of extra energy to spare, she would direct it toward the baby whose cries had turned into subdued whimpers—and that, in reality, worried her more than the cries did.
So, for the moment, all she could say in response to Will as they both lay on the bank, getting wetter and silently grateful that neither one of them would become a statistic today in this latest battle with Mother Nature, was, “Thanks for the thought, though.”
“Any time,” he murmured.
In the distance, as the rain began to swiftly retreat, he could have sworn that he heard a horse whinnying.
Or maybe it was a colt.
His mouth curved ever so slightly.
Britches was safe after all.
Cassidy hated to admit it, even if it was just to herself, but there was no getting away from it. Laredo had a great smile that warmed up a cold room and could easily set even the coolest heart on fire, at least momentarily. It was exactly for this reason why she would never even allow him to suspect that she felt this way.
Ever since she could remember, Will Laredo attracted the female of the species as if they were thirsty jackrabbits and he was the only watering hole for more than two hundred miles. Cody and Cole—and even Connor on occasion—seemed to think that was one of Laredo’s attributes. She, on the other hand, viewed it in an entirely different light.
It just gave the man an even bigger head than he already had.
When she saw the corner of his mouth curve just now as they both lay on the bank, gasping for breath, all these other thoughts came crowding into her head. Like how this resembled the aftermath of a marathon lovemaking session with the two of them lying so close together, breathless and grateful.
She was delirious, she angrily upbraided herself.
Cassidy squelched her thoughts. She was exhausted and consequently—although she would have rather died right here on the spot than admit it—vulnerable. This was definitely not the time to have thoughts like that marching through her brain.
People did stupid things when they felt vulnerable—even her. Stupid things that would go on to haunt them for the rest of their lives.
Well, not her.
“What are you smiling about?” she demanded breathlessly, expecting him to say something about getting to play the superhero to her damsel in distress—or something equally irritating.
She braced herself to lash out and put him in his place.
But Laredo surprised her by saying, “Britches made it.”
Britches? Her eyes narrowed into probing slits. Right now, the baby they had saved was quiet, and she was beyond grateful for that.
Was Laredo referring to the baby?
“Is that some kind of a nickname?” she challenged.
Was this yet another way to talk down to her? Even so, she had to admit that she was glad Laredo had showed up when he did. Despite her defensive words to the contrary, she really wasn’t 100 percent convinced that she would have been able to make it back to the bank with the baby without Laredo’s help.
But if she even hinted at that, he would never let her live it down.
“No, it’s a name,” Will told her mildly, “for my colt.”
“Your colt?” she repeated.
Was he talking about his father’s old gun? As she recalled, Jake Laredo had kept an old Colt .45 that he claimed had belonged to his great-great-grandfather, handed down to him by Stephen Austin, the man who’d founded the Texas Rangers. There was more to the story, but she’d always pretended to be disinterested whenever he mentioned it. In her opinion, Laredo’s head was big enough. She didn’t need to add to it by acting as if she cared about anything he had to say.
“A colt’s a male horse under the age of four,” he told her patiently.
Some of her energy had to be returning because she could feel her back going up. Heroic endeavors or not, Laredo was talking down to her again, Cassidy thought, annoyed.
“I know what a colt is,” she snapped, or thought she did. Afraid of scaring the baby again, she lowered her voice. “I just didn’t know you had one.”
“It’s a horse ranch,” he reminded her, referring to the property that his father had left to him—something she was aware of since she was in Olivia Santiago’s office when he’d been called in and told about his father’s will. The fact that his father had left it to him had rendered Will speechless. She’d almost felt sorry for him—almost. “What else am I going to have?”
“Debts.”
The answer came out before Cassidy could censor herself. It was Laredo’s fault. He had that sort of effect on her. The next moment, remorse set in. He was the bane of her existence, but he didn’t deserve that.
“Sorry,” she mumbled, “I didn’t mean to say that.”
“Sure you did.” Instead of being annoyed, he let her words pass. “Because it’s true,” he admitted matter-of-factly.
Everyone in town knew that his father had had money troubles. They’d only gotten worse over time. There was no reason to believe that anything had changed just before he died. Jake Laredo had sought refuge in the bottom of a bottle, drinking to the point of numbness, after which he’d pass out. Subsequently, the ranch had fallen into disrepair and ruin. When he’d gotten the letter from Olivia about his father’s death, he’d returned only to put the old man into the ground. He’d been surprised that the ranch was still standing and that there were a couple of horses—rather emaciated at that—still in the stable.
Will saw it as a challenge.
“It’s probably why he left the place to me,” Will was saying, more to himself than to her. “It was his final way of sticking it to me.”
Still lying on the bank, Cassidy turned her head toward him. She decided it had to be what she’d just gone through. The experience had to have rattled her brain to some degree because she was actually feeling sorry for Laredo—a little, she quickly qualified. But the feeling was there nonetheless.
“Someone else would just walk away,” she pointed out to him.
“Someone
