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was a basket of apples.
She picked one up and used her penknife on her keychain to cut it into
quarters. Not that she’d actually put her hand out to a horse. Their teeth were
too big. She shuddered at the thought. There were three stalls along the back
wall, so she headed toward them. The first two were empty, but the third one
was where she found the beautiful beast.
    “Hello gorgeous,” Olivia whispered to Cochise. She frowned
when he backed away from her, tossing his head and kicking at the wood shavings
on the floor of his stall.
    “Come here, Cochise. I have an apple for you.” She held her
hand out and tried to keep it steady. She wondered if horses smell fear like
dogs did. If so, then Cochise was getting a hell of a dose of it. He stood in
the back corner, his ears pinned back. She gulped. “I won’t hurt you, and
hopefully, you won’t hurt me. Come on. Come and get this apple. You’ll love
it.”
    Cochise stared at her, and then whinnied. He pawed at the
shavings. If a horse could glare, he was doing it. Olivia held her hand out
again.
    “Listen, Cochise. I’m not a fan of horses. It’s nothing
personal. I’ve just never been around them until lately and the thought of
being on one terrifies the shit out of me but you see, I think you’re perfect.
Just like your master. Is that right? Is he your master, like a dog owner is?”
She chewed on her bottom lip. “I really have no idea.”
    She smiled when Cochise moved closer to her but he still
didn’t take the apple. His ears were up and he wasn’t stomping anymore. He
seemed to be looking past her. She glanced over her shoulder and gasped. Wyatt
stood in the doorway. He just stood there leaning against the doorjamb with his
arms folded across his chest and his booted feet crossed at the ankles. His hat
sat low on his forehead, but she knew his eyes were on her. Shit! Could the floor just open up and
swallow her now?

 
    * * * *
    Wyatt stared at her. Why was she here? God damn it. He pushed himself away from the doorjamb and sauntered
toward her. He halted in front of her.
    “What are you doing here?” he asked.
    “What are you doing here?” She threw back at him.
    He raised his eyebrow. “I live here.”
    “I meant, you’re supposed to be in Butte.” Olivia glanced
away from him.
    “I came home last night.”
    “I didn’t see your truck.”
    Wyatt grunted. “So, if you had seen it, you wouldn’t have
stayed?”
    “I…yes. I mean, no.” She waved her
hand. “I wouldn’t have stayed.”
    “You still haven’t told me why you’re here.”
    “I was so bored at home and so I went for a drive. I ended
up here. I wanted to see Cochise again. He won’t even come to me.” Olivia
shifted her eyes toward the horse.
    Wyatt took the apple from her hand and held it out to
Cochise. The horse gently took it from him. Wyatt rubbed his velvet nose.
Cochise butted his head against him.
    “He’s a Paint , isn’t he?” Olivia
asked.
    Wyatt glanced at her. “He’s an American Quarter Horse.”
    Olivia frowned. “I thought if they were spotted like this,
they were Paints or pintos.”
    “Paints are a breed of horse, like a Quarter Horse is a
breed. Pinto is a coloring.” He jerked his chin at Cochise. “His coloring is
pinto.”
    “You lost me.” Olivia frowned at him.
    “Not all pintos are Paints, but most Paints are pinto.”
Wyatt rubbed the horse’s nose. “Hey, buddy. Looks like that
ride’s going to have to wait.” Wyatt glanced at Olivia. He heard her
sigh.
    “I’ll go so you can go for your ride.” She turned to leave
but Wyatt grasped her arm, and turned her to face him.
    “I’d rather go for a ride with you, Olivia,” he said in a
low voice.
    Olivia stared at him. “What?”
    Wyatt huffed. “I can’t get you out of my damn head.”
    “Really?” Olivia murmured.
    “Yes.”
    She smiled up at him and his heart slammed into his ribs.
This was not a good idea but he had to have her. Maybe once he had, he’d get
over