He left and she let her breath out. Okay, that had gone well. Warm fuzzies began to swirl inside her. She liked the way they felt.
Chapter 19
The Scotts did not give up. They only bared their teeth and advanced. That thought didn’t keep Nikki’s gaze from darting around. She expected a ferocious rabid bear to jump out from behind a tree and eat her at any minute. If there were ghosts, then there were probably bears. At the very least, aliens ready to swoop down and kidnap her.
She was losing it.
How the hell was she going to survive the camping trip? She was beginning to think maybe everything her parents had tried to teach her might not exactly fit with this situation, either. They hadn’t taught her anything about survival in the wilderness. Nikki didn’t even watch the reality shows. She’d only seen the occasional commercials. A lot of good that would do her.
If something happened to Cal would she have to exist on worms to stay alive until someone discovered her malnourished body? She’d read somewhere that worms were pure protein. Starving sounded a lot easier then eating a worm.
“How are you doing back there?” Cal asked.
“Just fine. Great, in fact. I don’t suppose you brought a compass with you or a radio of sorts?”
“Don’t need them.”
So in other words, if something happened and she perished out here, she could justify placing all the blame on her parents.
Great, now she was starting to question everything she’d been taught. If not for what she’d learned from her parents, she wouldn’t be where she was right now. She’d done damned good as a reporter, risen to the top in record time. She wasn’t about to let this silly little article be her downfall.
She grimaced. Sitting in the saddle was another story, though. God, her thighs felt as if they’d been rubbed raw. The Thigh-Master had nothing on straddling a horse and riding up and down hills all morning. She’d probably scraped off a good two layers of skin.
“We’re almost there.”
Since they’d been riding for at least three hours, she would hope so.
“It’s over that hill.”
Oh, good, another hill. That really stretched the muscles. Feel the burn.
But she and Taffy made it up the hill. And Cal was right again. It was beautiful. From this viewpoint, she looked down on the river and the lush greenness of the area. The water was so clear she could see the rocks on the bottom. And the trees must’ve been hundreds of years old, with limbs that stretched far and wide.
Taffy was surefooted as he made his way down the hill. It was all she could do to hang on, but they made it without her tumbling over headfirst. And then she could hear the water flowing over the rocks. There was a crisp freshness about the air, too.
Something stirred inside her, but she quickly tamped it down. She was not going country. It might be a nice place to visit but she certainly didn’t want to live there.
When they stopped beneath a tree, Nikki gingerly swung her leg over the saddle and eased her feet to the ground. She gripped the saddle horn until she thought her legs would hold her up, then turned and gritted her teeth as she smiled at Cal. “That was fun.”
He chuckled. “The soreness will go away.”
Okay, so he’d seen through her act.
“It happens to the best of us,” he said.
At least she knew why cowboys were bowlegged. It was from all the calluses they built up over the years on their thighs. Cal pulled a small jar out of his saddlebag and tossed it to her. She caught it, then frowned.
“Liniment,” he said. “It’ll ease the soreness.”
“Thanks.” For nothing. He was the one who’d made her sore. Oh, she wasn’t even going there. At least not right now. But later-look out!
She watched for a moment as Cal unbuckled his saddle. Something was bothering her. She glanced around. “Where’s the cabin?”
“Cabin?”
“Yeah, you know, where are we going to sleep?” If there was a cabin here, it must be hidden in the trees.
He pointed toward the extra horse that carried supplies. “Everything we need is right there.”
“No cabin.” Unless he’d brought an inflatable one. She didn’t think that would keep any bears out.
“Sleeping bags,” he said.
“Are there bears?”
He shrugged. “I’ve never seen one.”
“But that doesn’t mean there aren’t any.”
“Used to be black bears around. Like I said, I’ve never seen one.”
She breathed a sigh of relief.
He looked at her. “I’d be a lot more worried about mountain lions. Now they can get real nasty if you’re not careful.”
Great.
Her stomach suddenly rumbled. It had been a long time since her morning Danish and she was starved.
“What’s for lunch?” she finally asked as she watched him remove Tornado’s saddle and set it on the ground. It had to be way past noon.
“Fish.”
Fish? Oh, Lord, her mouth began to water. She could almost taste the succulent, tender meat. Her gaze went to the packhorse and the two fishing poles that were strapped to the horse.
“In the river, right?” she asked.
“You catch on real fast.”
“Yeah, I’ve been told that before.” She frowned.
“Not exactly like the pioneer women would’ve done it,” he continued. “Most of the time all they had was a cane pole, string, and probably a safety pin for a hook. We’ll have to pretend.”
“Darn.”
Taffy turned and looked at her as if to ask when he was going to get his saddle off. Another guilt trip. The horse had carried her all this way without complaint. She wasn’t that heavy, but she wouldn’t want to carry someone on her back for three hours.
How hard could it be to remove a saddle? Nikki pulled up on the strap to unbuckle it like she’d seen Cal do. Except nothing happened. She gritted her teeth and pulled harder.
“Need some help?”
“No,” she managed to say. Just another inch. There! She gripped the leather tightly with one hand and let go with her other one, unhooking the strap.
The leather straps through the metal rings were all that held the saddle on. She pulled up and loosened them-much easier than the other strap. Now all she had to do was remove the saddle.
She stretched on her toes and did exactly as Cal had done, sliding one arm under one end of the saddle and her other arm under the other end. She pulled the saddle toward her and slid it off, taking the weight.
The weight of the saddle surprised her. She staggered back and landed on her butt in the grass. Ow! Who would’ve thought a saddle would be that heavy?
“You okay? Need some help?”
She blew the hair out of her face. “No.” She wiggled out from under the saddle and stood, then bent at the waist and picked it up, but this time she was ready for the weight. She staggered over and dumped it beside Cal’s.
Then she smirked at him, except he wasn’t even looking. He was unloading the packhorse. Not that his
