meet you in fifteen minutes,” Grace said to the sheriff.
He tipped his cowboy hat. “Roger.” Then he was all business back on the telephone before Grace made it to the door.
Once outside, Grace strode toward Caveman’s truck, now fully in control of the muscles in her legs. She didn’t need to lean on anyone. Nor did she need help getting up into the truck.
Caveman beat her to the truck and opened the passenger door.
She frowned at the gesture, seeing it as a challenge to her ability to take care of herself.
“Just so you don’t think I’m being chauvinistic, I always open doors for women. My mother drilled that into my head at a very young age. It’s a hard habit to break, and I have no intention of doing that now. It’s just being polite.”
Grace slid into the seat and gave a low-key grunt. “You don’t have to make a big deal out of it,” she said through clenched teeth.
Caveman rounded the front of the truck, his broad shoulders and trim waist evidence of a man who took pride in fitness. She’d bet there wasn’t an ounce of fat on his body, yet he didn’t strut to show off his physique. The man had purpose in his stride, and it wasn’t the purpose of looking good, though he’d accomplished that in spades. And he was polite, which made Grace feel churlish and unappreciative of all he’d done for her.
When he slid into the driver’s seat beside her, she stared straight ahead, her lips twisting into a wry smile. “Thank you for helping me when I was unconscious. And thank you for giving me a ride to my house.” She glanced across at him. “And thank you for opening my door for me. It’s nice to know chivalry isn’t dead.”
His lips twitched. “You’re welcome.” Twisting the key in the ignition, he shot a glance toward her. “Where to?”
She gave him the directions to her little cottage sitting on an acre of land on the edge of town. She hoped Bear had found his way home after his earlier scare. The town of Grizzly Pass was situated in a valley between hills that led up into the mountains. Grace had ridden out that morning from the little barn behind her house.
As she neared the white clapboard cottage with the wide front porch and antique blue shutters, she leaned forward, trying to see around the house to the barn. Was that a tail swishing near the back gate?
Caveman pulled into the driveway.
Before he could shift into Park, she was out of the truck and hurrying around to the back of the house.
Her protector switched off the engine and hurried after her. “Hey, wait up,” he called out.
Grace ignored him, bent and slipped through the fence rails and ran toward the back gate next to the barn, her heart soaring.
Bear stood at the gate, tossing his head and dancing back on his hooves.
She opened the gate and held it wide.
Bear slipped through and turned to nuzzle her hand.
Grace reached into her jeans pocket and pulled out the piece of carrot she’d planned on giving Bear as a treat at the end of the day. She held it out in the palm of her hand.
Bear’s big, velvety lips took the carrot and he crunched it between his teeth, nodding his head in approval.
Wrapping her arms around his neck, Grace hugged the horse, relieved he wasn’t hurt by the bullet or by wandering around the countryside and crossing highways. “Hey, big boy. Glad you made it home without me.” She held on to his bridle and leaned her forehead against his. “I bet you’re hungry and thirsty.”
Bear tossed his head and whinnied.
With a laugh, Grace straightened and walked toward the barn. Bear followed.
Inside, she opened the stall door. Bear trotted in.
She removed Bear’s bridle and was surprised to find Caveman beside her loosening the leather strap holding the girth around the horse’s middle. “I can take care of that,” she assured him.
“I know my way around horses,” he said, and pulled the saddle from Bear’s back. “Tack room?”
“At the back of the barn. I can handle the rest. I just want to get him situated before we leave.”
“No problem.” He took the saddle and carried it to the tack room. Caveman reappeared outside the stall. “I’ll be right back.”
“I’m leaving as soon as I’m done here.”
“Understood.” He took off at a jog out of the barn.
With her self-appointed protector gone, Grace suddenly had a feeling of being exposed. Shrugging off the insecurity, she went to work, giving the horse food and water, and then closed the stall.
From another stall, she rolled her four-wheeler out into the open. She hadn’t ridden it in a month and the last time she had, it had been slow to start. She’d had to charge the battery and probably needed to buy a new one, but she didn’t have time now. She’d promised to meet the sheriff in fifteen minutes. Already five had passed.
The next five minutes, she did everything she knew to start the vehicle and it refused.
Just when she was about to give up and call the sheriff, a small engine’s roar sounded outside the barn.
She walked out and shook her head.
Caveman sat on a newer-model ATV. “Ready?”
“Where did you get that?”
“My boss dropped it off.” He checked the instruments, revved the throttle and looked up. “I thought you’d be gone by now.”
“I can’t get mine to start, and we’re supposed to be there in five minutes.”
“Let me take a look.” He killed the engine and entered the barn.
Okay, so she wasn’t that knowledgeable about mechanics. She knew Wally, who had a small-engine repair shop in his barn. He fixed anything she had issues with. That didn’t mean she couldn’t take care of herself.
“Your battery is dead.” Caveman glanced around. “You got another handy?”
She shook her head. “No. Fresh out.”
“Got a helmet?”
She nodded. “Yeah, but I won’t need it if I can’t get my ATV started.”
He spun and headed for the barn door. “You can ride on the back of mine,” he called out over his shoulder.
Grace’s heart fluttered at the thought riding behind Caveman, holding him around the waist to keep from falling off. “No, thanks. Those trails are dangerous.” She suspected the danger was more in how her pulse quickened around the man than the possibility of plunging over the edge of a drop-off.
“I grew up riding horses and four-wheelers on rugged mountain trails. I won’t let you fall
