A man knew when he was connected to a woman and he sure as hell knew he and Mindy had a connection. He wasn’t strong enough to cut it loose.
They had to be on their toes on the narrow path of the trail.
Loose rocks shifted.
Tree branches had fallen onto the path.
Every little sound echoed off the rock wall.
A silence fell between them—a comfortable silence.
They’d been riding for at least an hour when his radio buzzed. His brother’s voice came over the speaker. “Creed?”
He reached for the radio and pressed the button. “Yeah?”
“Any luck?” Boone asked.
“No. How about on your side?”
“No. Hank and Ruger are staying on the trail but I’m heading back for the tour.”
“Over and out.” He jammed the radio back into the leather pocket, cursing under his breath.
“You okay?” Mindy asked.
“The longer she’s out there, alone, the likelier it is that she won’t survive.” He didn’t care that he was showing weakness. Over the years he’d realized vulnerability didn’t lessen his manhood. Being a father had changed him. When Livvy was younger he’d let her use him as a model for manicures, pedicures and make up. Honestly, he didn’t like it one bit, but he couldn’t tell his daughter no. But she’d helped him grow, to allow himself some humiliation.
“What you do—what your team does—is a heroic thing,” Mindy said. “She’ll be found, Creed. I bet she’d hiding in one of the caves right now, waiting for someone to come find her. Remember that time we rode up here, hitched the horses to a tree at the base of a trail and walked about a mile? We lost track of time and couldn’t find our way back. We huddled down in that cave to wait out the rain. Eventually we managed to find the right trail. Actually, you found the right one. I was just a scared kid following you.”
“Yeah, I remember. I also thought your dad was going to wring my neck. When I got home Ma threatened to ground me for life.” He smiled at the memory. “I think we did a few crazier stunts after that but luckily Ma never found out.”
“Whose idea was it to sneak out all those times?”
He lifted his chin and smirked. “You can’t blame it all on me, Minnow. You were all for it.” He resituated his hat on his head, feeling guilt slice through him. He couldn’t count the number of times he’d come down hard on Livvy for the same things he’d done in the past. Maybe it was time he rethought some of the punishment.
“I know that look. What is it?”
“I’m thinking of Livvy. She reminds me a lot of myself.”
“Yeah, she does. She has spirit and that’s a good thing. Remember what our parents used to tell us. One day we’d have our own kids and they’d pay us back for all that we’d done. You were a feisty kid, Creed. What would you expect from your own child?”
“Damn,” he pushed out with an exhale. “Maybe I’ve gotten too used to looking at things from inside a box. No daddy wants his daughter to grow up, but I guess I’ve had my head stuck in the sand for a long time. She’s becoming a young lady at the flip of a switch. Got any pointers for me so I don’t screw this up and risk losing her to the circus?”
Her smile made his heart flip. “I can tell you a few of the mistakes my own daddy made when I was a kid. The tighter his rules became the more I rebelled. The more lack of trust he gave me the more I didn’t care if I broke his trust. I know it’s hard to watch our kids grow up, mature, become their own person, but the harder we make that for them the more likely we’ll regret it later. Give Livvy some space. Listen to what she’s telling you. She’s a good girl. This Alex fellow, I’d say he’s good for her, just like you were good for me. Imagine if our parents told us we couldn’t see each other. Would we have defied them? Probably so.”
“Alex,” he hissed. “That scares me. He also reminds me of myself at that age. Don’t forget, I know what teen boys think about and it ain’t all innocent.”
“Oh? You mean all those times we spent sleeping up in your treehouse or skinny dipping in the lake you had less than pure thoughts?” She gave a theatrical sigh.
“Yes. No reason to lie. You would’ve punched me if you knew what my thoughts were.”
“You kept your hands to yourself. You deserved a reward I guess.” She chuckled.
“I was afraid of Rusty. I knew better than to piss him off.”
“What changed your mind when we were eighteen?”
He looked across the short distance and caught her curious gaze. “Because I knew if he threatened to hurt me, I could tell him how much I loved you and planned to marry you.”
Chapter Twelve
“MARRY ME?” MINDY tightened her grip on the leather reins. The hair on the back of her nape lifted and her inner thighs trembled. “You planned on marrying me, Creedy?”
He kept his attention on the view from the path along the rocky ridge. “Don’t act so shocked. I told you how I felt.”
“No you didn’t.”
He jerked his gaze toward her, his lips were thin. “What if I had? Would that have changed things?”
Biting her bottom lip, she wrapped her thoughts around his question. “Believe it or not, I
