Once Bitten, Twice Shy

“Are you all right?” Alex asked anxiously.

Too breathless to respond, she nodded, and he lowered her to the ground.

“Can you get Brutus to take the goats back to the barn?” She nodded again. “Then do it. I’ll be down in a few minutes. I want to see if I can track them this time.”

“Be careful,” she finally gasped.

“Go!”

“Brutus,” she yelled. “Bring them in.”

Brutus stopped and eyed the dogs reluctantly. Finally he abandoned the chase and started rounding up the goats. Together they got the goats in the barn and locked the doors. It was in her mind to go back up the hill and check on Alex when she saw Josh pull up at the gate. She ran up the drive toward him.

“Josh, hurry. The dogs are back. Alex went after them on Ed.”

Josh pulled his truck through the gate and leaped out, grabbing his shotgun from the rack behind the seat. “Did he have a gun?”

She nodded, and then stiffened as Ed came out of the hills, riderless. “Alex!” She screamed, and raced toward the field.

“Carmen!” Josh grabbed her arm. “Stay here. I’ll go after him.”

“Hurry!”

Josh vaulted the fence and raced up the hill, only to stop in surprise as Alex emerged from the trees riding a horse colored enough like Ed to be his twin. He shook his head and turned back to Carmen, leaping the fence again in a single bound. Together they watched as Alex put the horse down the hill, his body moving gracefully with the motion of the horse.

“I’ll give him one thing. Your little st . . . Texan is quite a horseman.”

Carmen glanced up at him and smiled. “He’s quite a man, and he just saved my life.” She shrugged. “For what it’s worth.”

He put an arm around her shoulder gazed down at her thoughtfully. “It’s worth a lot to me, little sister.”

She smiled and hugged his waist. “I can’t tell you how wonderful those words sound.”

He squeezed her shoulder. “I took your advice, and I got myself engaged. Now I’ve got me a score to settle.” He strode up to Alex as he joined them.