Shared By the Cowboys by Cassie Cole

30

Rebecca

We joked about new names for the horse during dinner. Hot Pocket and Pizza Roll were the going favorites. But in the end I decided not to rename him. I was used to calling him Wildfire by now, and it did suit him. Plus, what Cody had said was right: I was afraid a silly nickname would just piss the horse off.

I spent an hour a day riding Wildfire, both to burn off his energy and to get him used to being ridden. He was as tame as could be, now. I could even dismount and lead him around by the halter, and he followed along obediently.

One evening, Mason knocked on my bedroom door for something other than sexy fun playtime.

“Cody and I are making a little trip tomorrow.”

“Into town?” I asked, carefully closing the lid on my laptop.

He shook his head. “Up into the mountains. We’re scouting out the trees on the property. I’ve got a feeling the surveyor underestimated how much lumber we can harvest, so we’re gonna take our own count just to be sure. We’ll be gone a day and a night.”

“Oh, so you’re going way out on the property. Let me know if there’s anything I need to take care of while you’re gone.”

“We’re caught up on most everything, actually. Only work to finish is the fence and some of the house repairs, but those can wait until we get back.” He paused. “I was thinking you might want to come with us.”

“Up into the mountains?”

“We’ll be camping overnight. Got sleeping rolls and a five-man tent, in case it gets too cold at night. If you’d rather stay here rather than roughing it…”

“I’d love to!” I said. “I used to go camping when I was a girl. I don’t mind roughing it for a day.”

Based on the smile spreading across his handsome face, he was glad I had accepted. “We’ll leave before lunch.”

After completing our chores the next morning, we readied the horses and rode out. “Make sure the ranch doesn’t burn down,” Mason told Blake as we left.

“Make sure nothing happens to my girl,” Blake replied, deadly serious.

Mason nodded, matching Blake’s sober expression.

My girl, I thought as we headed east toward the mountains. I kind of like the sound of that.

“Blake’s always been the more possessive one,” Cody said as he rode alongside me.

“It’ll only get worse as time goes on,” Mason said on the other side of me.

I frowned. “I thought the three of you were good at sharing.”

“Oh, we are,” Cody said. “No doubt about it. But just because Blake can share his toys, doesn’t mean he still doesn’t think of them as his toys.”

“Just don’t break one of them,” Mason muttered. “He’s still pissed about that damn toy tractor…”

Cody roared with laughter. Mason glared at him, which only made him laugh harder.

“So you’re thinking of harvesting some of the lumber on the property?” I asked as the mountains drew closer.

“Supplemental income, for one thing,” Mason explained. “Plus we can keep some of it to use around the ranch. Needs to be treated and cut to length, but we’ve got a company that’ll do it all for us. If we have our own lumber, that’s one less trip we’ll need to make into town.”

“You really do want to be self-sufficient here,” I observed.

“That’s the way of life we want!” Cody said happily. “If we can grow it, raise it, or cut it down on the ranch, then it’s worth doing.”

I was pleased with how well Wildfire was riding in a group. Some recently-tamed horses didn’t play well with others, but he seemed to fall into the group like it was natural. Which, come to think of it, it probably was.

There was a chill in the air as we reached the fence on the eastern edge of the property. Cody opened the gate and we rode up into the forest. The terrain sloped upward, with occasional rocky outcroppings.

Mason halted us when we were in the middle of the forest. He tossed a metal object to Cody, then tossed me one too. It looked like a silver lighter, except it had numbers on the front and a button on top.

“That’s your clicker,” Mason explained. “We’re gonna ride north until we reach the property line, counting trees as we go. Spread out, each of you about thirty feet to either side of me. As we ride, count every tree within ten feet of you.”

“But that’s only a small strip of the forest,” I said, picturing the land in my head. “Are we going to count the rest later?”

“Don’t need to!” Code replied. “You see, the surveyor made his estimate based on satellite images. Basically he’s just guessin’ at how much lumber we have on our property.”

Mason nodded. “By counting a small strip of trees from here to the northern property line, we have a number we can compare to theirs. It’ll tell us how accurate his estimate is.”

“Makes sense,” I said.

We spread out, then began riding north at an easy pace. I clicked the button for every tree within ten feet of me, incrementing the number one by one. The terrain was sloped and rocky, and the horses picked their paths carefully.

It was mindless work, and it allowed me to zone out and enjoy my surroundings. The air felt fresher up here, filled with the scent of earth and pine. It soothed my soul in a way that was impossible back at my condo in Great Falls.

We counted our way north while the sun fell across the sky to the west. We crossed a small stream, rode for another minute, and then Mason dismounted.

“Only flat land around here to make camp. We can finish the rest in the morning.”

We hitched the horses and unloaded the gear. Mason and I pitched the tent while Cody gathered wood for a fire. The tent was a big dome shape, spacious enough for at least five people.

I wonder what will happen when we share it, I thought. Did Mason and Cody have fun plans for me? I was grimy from the ride, though. Dirt and dust weren’t exactly sexy.

I pulled a towel out of my pack and said, “I think I’m going to walk back to that stream and clean off.”

“It’ll be mighty cold,” Cody said while stoking the fire.

I shrugged. “Better than nothing.”

Mason opened a can of chili. “Should be safe. Haven’t seen any sign of wolves, and the smoke from the fire will keep them away.”

“You just had to go and mention wolves, didn’t you?” I replied. “Now I’m going to jump at every sound I hear!”

He smirked and pulled his revolver from its holster. “Want to take this?”

“I would probably just shoot my foot off, honestly.”

“Better bathe quickly, then.”

The sun had set, but I could still see clearly in the fading twilight as I backtracked to the south. It seemed to take forever on foot, but eventually I heard the bubbling sound of the stream flowing downhill.

I dumped my change of clothes and towel on a nearby rock and then sat down to remove my boots. Then I stripped down until I was totally nude. Most of the stream was shallow, except for a deep part next to a large boulder.

Cody was right: the mountain water was freezing cold. I sucked in my breath and splashed water all over my body, quickly scrubbing away the grime of the day’s ride. Despite the uncomfortable water temperature, I was reminded of swimming at the lake on my family’s ranch. In the winter, when we didn’t have anything better to do, dad and I would put on our swim suits and jump in the lake. The contest was to see who could stay in the water the longest. Dad always gave in first, but in retrospect I realized he was probably letting me win.

It had been a while since I visited the ranch. Holidays and birthdays were the only times I made the drive out there. I should visit more often, I thought as I began to shiver in the stream.

Content that I was sufficiently clean, I scrambled out of the stream and toweled off. The twilight had faded to night, although the moon above allowed me to see fairly well. The flickering orange of the campfire was barely visible through the trees in the distance.

I was shivering by then, so I quickly got dressed. There was nothing like a fresh pair of panties to make a girl feel like a new woman. A few minutes in front of the hot fire and I would be as good as new.

Then I can find out what the two of them have in store for me.

I took a step over a stick, but then the stick moved.

That’s not a stick, I thought as the thing lashed out at my leg. That’s a snake.