“Nice work,” Grady called out to her.
The praise was met with a tense smile. “It was a little dicey there for a minute,” she said, her gaze cutting to Wade.
“Dicey?” he retorted as his heartbeat finally began to slow to something approaching normal. He saw her tense and softened his expression. “You scared the daylights out of me.”
“To tell you the truth, I scared the daylights out of me, too,” she admitted.
Suddenly her knees wobbled. Wade hit the ground and caught her just before she collapsed in a heap. She gave him an uneasy look.
“I guess the adrenaline’s worn off,” she murmured.
“Guess so,” he agreed, fighting the desire to kiss her senseless.
A spark flared in her eyes, and without warning she shoved against his chest with all her might. “Put me down,” she demanded. “I’m furious with you.”
Grady grinned. “I don’t think I’m needed for this part. I think I’ll be going now.”
“Smart man,” Wade said as he struggled to keep Lauren in place. He gazed into her flashing eyes. “Okay, darlin’, let’s compare notes. You’re furious with me—rightfully so, I might add—and I am sorely aggravated with you—also entirely justified. Let’s call it even, okay?”
“Not on your life, you pigheaded coward.”
“Coward?” Wade repeated softly. If a man had made that accusation, he’d be lying in the dust with a swollen jaw by now.
“When we have a disagreement, you don’t get to run off. Mature adults who care about each other talk things out.”
“You’re right,” he agreed, clearly taking the wind out of her sails.
“You recognize that?” she asked skeptically.
“Now I do,” he said, regarding her solemnly.
“Good.”
“Since we’re agreed on that,” he said. “Let’s calmly discuss what just happened here.”
She slid her fingers into his hair and lowered her mouth until it was almost against his. “Let’s not,” she murmured.
The kiss pretty much settled things for the time being, but Wade didn’t doubt for a second that it was not a precursor to smooth sailing from here on out. That image of Lauren within a hairsbreadth of getting herself trampled was going to stay with him for a long time to come. He didn’t intend to give the horse a second chance to complete the job.
Chapter Eleven
“I want to sell Midnight,” Wade announced as he and Grady sat at the kitchen table late that night. Lauren and Karen were having their weekly dinner with the Calamity Janes, this time at Tony’s. Gina was cooking some new pasta recipe she’d dreamed up so she could try it out on her friends before springing it on the customers.
“Because of what happened earlier,” Grady said, his expression every bit as grim as Wade’s tone.
“Of course because of that. Midnight could have trampled Lauren to death, and she’s too stubborn to admit that her life was in any danger. If it’s up to her, she’ll be right back in there tomorrow.”
“Because it’s what she does,” Grady reminded him. “She’s good at it. She won’t appreciate you taking this chance away from her. Her work with Midnight could go a long way toward giving her a reputation for being able to work with troubled animals.”
“At least she’ll be alive.” Wade retorted.
“If I agree to this—and I’m not saying I do—will you tell her before you sell him? You owe her that,” Grady said.
Wade sighed. “I suppose,” he conceded, dreading the conversation. He knew, just as Grady obviously did, that Lauren wasn’t going to thank him for trying to protect her. “I’ll have to find some way to make her understand.”
Grady gave him a commiserating look. “I don’t envy you that conversation. Midnight is a great horse, one of the best I’ve ever seen. He has a lot of heart. It’ll be a shame to lose him, but if it’s what you have to do for your own peace of mind, then put Midnight in the next horse auction over in Cheyenne.” He grinned. “And let me know how your conversation with Lauren turns out. I’d like to be a fly on the wall for that one.”
Wade wasn’t nearly as relieved by Grady’s acquiescence as he had expected to be. After all, the man was letting him get rid of a magnificent, promising stallion on what amounted to a whim. If Lauren’s safety hadn’t been involved, Wade would never have considered selling the horse. And if he’d been the one in the paddock taking the risks himself, he would have considered it part of the job.
Clearly some of his lack of enthusiasm could be attributed to losing a potentially great stud. The rest, no doubt, could be blamed on the certain knowledge that Lauren was likely to take a verbal strip out of his hide when she found out. He wasn’t looking forward to that nearly as eagerly as Grady seemed to be.
“Thanks,” he said sincerely. “I owe you, Grady.”
“You do, indeed,” the other man said.
“If you don’t mind, I think I’ll wait for Lauren on the porch. I might as well get this conversation over with tonight.”
“Good idea. Besides, I’m pretty sure there’s nothing out there she can throw at you the way there would be in here.”
Wade winced. “You think it’s going to be that bad?”
“Oh, yeah,” Grady confirmed. “In fact, I’m betting it’ll be worse.”
Wade regarded him wryly. “Thanks for the encouragement.”
“Anytime, pal. If you need somebody to patch you up later, give a holler. I’ll make sure the first-aid kit is fully stocked.”
“Very funny,” Wade muttered as he went on out to the porch to wait.
When Karen and Lauren drove up a half hour later, he could hear the two of them giggling as they emerged from the car. It made him wonder what went on at these gabfests of theirs. He sighed. That hardly mattered now.
The pair of them stopped in their tracks when they hit the bottom step and spotted him.
“Hey, Wade,
