This time the bull clipped the hat from Teddy’s hand, snagging it on an upturned span of a shimmering, steel-like horn. Turning again, the bull shook its head, eyes rolling, as it tried to shake the impaled hat from where it dangled, but the item stuck fast.
“Miss Amanda, hide in them trees,” Teddy called, keeping his eyes pinned on the bull. “Get in the narrows where he can’t reach ya.”
A squeak behind him told Teddy that the girl had complied.
The bull bellowed again, foam and snot dripping from its nostrils as it charged once more.
Teddy risked a glance behind him, seeing a shimmer of white between the thick clump of trees. The pounding of hooves echoed behind him and Teddy broke into a run. If he made it to the trees, he could outwait the enraged bull. His boots thudded on the hard-packed earth. As Teddy sprinted, he could feel the immense power of the beast behind him as it gained momentum. His hands reached out, grasping a sapling and spinning into the thicket as something sharp grazed his back pockets, and he yelped in pain.
Teddy stumbled into the thicket, his hands grabbing his posterior as he tumbled to the ground between two heavy trees, biting his lip against the pain.
“Are you okay?” he asked, panting as his backside burned.
The young woman took one look at the prostrate man then looked up as the bull attacked a small tree, shredding the limbs to splinters and dropped to the earth in a dead faint.
Teddy sprang to his feet with a hiss of pain and gathered the woman into his arms, pulling her back into the heart of the clump of trees as the bull huffed and paced outside.
An eternity later, the soft lowing of cows was a sweet sound to his ears as Teddy watched the rest of the herd meander toward the pools on the other side of the trees. A rangy red and white cow lifted her head, bellowing as the rest of the stock fell in behind her on the trek to water.
With a final shake of his head, the big bull turned back toward the rest of the cattle, Teddy’s hat still dangling from one glimmering horn.
***
“Teddy?” Dan Gaines rode over the top of the rise, pulling his horse to a stop as his friend and fellow wrangler staggered toward him, cringing with every step. “What you got there?” the other man asked, a grin playing about his lips.
“This here is Miss Amanda,” Teddy shifted the unconscious woman in his arms. “We had a bit of trouble with a bull.”
Dan Gaines sat up straight in the saddle, his blue eyes glinting with concern. “Is she injured?”
“No, she passed out. I, on the other hand, may require a few days off and a new pair of trousers.” He turned slightly, exposing his torn pants and the blood-stained flesh beneath.
Dan pushed his hat back on his head of brown hair, this time, the grin flashing to life. “You did make a mess of things, didn’t you, Theodore?”
“Just give me a hand,” Teddy growled, handing the prostrate woman up to his boss. “We’ll get her back to the ranch.”
“You’d best get to the cabin and change,” Dan nodded. “You have company waiting up at the ranch. Rosa hasn’t stopped laughing since Olive and Orville arrived.”
Teddy swallowed hard but nodded, finally finding his voice. “Is Spence with ‘em?”
“No,” Dan adjusted the pretty young thing in his arms. She looked far too delicate for a rowdy cow town in Texas, and he wondered what her story was. “I’ll get her back to the ranch while you change. I don’t think this is a case for the law, but you have a lot of explaining to do.”
Teddy nodded, his face flushing red. “I’ll be along.”
Dan pinned him with his eyes one more time, but the smile remained. “Confound it, Ted, where’s your hat?”
***
Teddy slammed his old cavalry cap onto his head and trudged gingerly to the main house of the Double D ranch. He could see the buckboard from where he was, and for a moment, he wished that old bull had finished him off. He hadn’t meant any harm bringing Miss Amanda to his place. He was just tired of being alone. With his long days in the saddle and few trips to town, he had all but given up on the hope of a new bride coming to Needful. So far, every time a girl turned up in the town, she was married off before he’d had a chance to say howdy.
Teddy shook his head at his predicament. He had spoken to Olive on several occasions, and she had assured him that the right girl would be along, but when? He’d be an old man by the time the boardinghouse keeper and town matchmaker got around to finding him a bride.
Swiping the cap from his head, he sighed. It had seemed like a good idea at the time to bring the young woman to the ranch, but in hindsight, maybe he should have taken her to the Hampton women. Look at the mess he was in now. Miss Amanda would never give him the time of day, now that she thought he had kidnapped her. On top of that, he’d not be sittin’ a saddle for several days, and the Captain was bound to have a few words on that count.
Teddy shook his head again, shoving the cap over his dark locks. No, Dan was not a Captain anymore, and Teddy was his own free man. After the war, he had chosen to follow Gaines and his loyal crew to Texas, where they had built something, gathering a herd from the wild cattle that lived on the plains.
He was a free man with a free will, and he wasn’t going to give up so easily on the pretty girl
